by Geli Cake
Humans are fragile. They die easily from losing too much blood, from illness, or even from weather that's too cold or too hot.
Resting his head on Chahyun's chest, he could feel his heartbeat. A little slow, but steady and regular. He hated that he felt relieved that Chahyun was alive. He didn't want to be involved in anyone else's death.
"I was helpful, wasn't I?"
"...?"
Chahyun spoke to him again, saying something he couldn't understand.
"I told you before, I would prove my worth."
He chuckled, his voice full of excitement. It wasn't often that he experienced the frustration of seeing someone's smiling face.
'He did something like that just to be helpful to me?'
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Reckless. Suicidal. But why couldn't he hate him anymore, even so?
He didn't bother saying that someone else would have dealt with it even if Chahyun hadn't interfered. It felt wrong to dampen the mood in front of someone injured because of him.
"...Don't ever do that again."
"I don't want to."
"What did you say?"
"I said I don't want to. Anyone would hurt the same if they were injured. But I don't want it to be Haylan."
What was this?
Chahyun's words were subtly different from other people's concerns. Chahyun wanted to prevent Haylan from getting hurt in the first place. The reason was incredibly simple. Because it hurts.
…Because it hurts?
Who would worry about him for such a reason?
"...What are you… talking about? I…"
"I'll interfere next time too. Because Haylan is my favorite character."
True to his oblivious nature, Chahyun chuckled even in this state, saying something incomprehensible. So foolish… He should be resentful after getting hurt because of him.
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His gaze was suddenly disconcerting. Chahyun was like that from the beginning. There was no wariness in his eyes when he looked at Haylan. Only a slight curiosity… and affection.
"Don't look."
Don't look at me. Why are you staring at me so intently?
Haylan conspicuously turned his head away, hiding his feelings under a pretense of indifference.
Humans die for such trivial reasons. And there were also people who started to care about him for equally trivial reasons.
─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───
I felt weak and listless.
Could this be considered being sick? So, I guess I'm a bit sick right now.
'Wow, I can't believe Haylan got so angry…'
That was a bit unexpected. While his attitude towards me had changed somewhat, it wasn't exactly affectionate. Haylan was usually quite cold towards me.
Yur asked me, "Why did you do that?" I thought for a moment and replied that I had done it unconsciously because I was worried about Haylan.
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But that was half true and half false. Was I really that worried about Haylan at the time?
'Rather than worry…'
I just instinctively rushed out as soon as I heard his name.
I found Haylan cute, and his dishonest personality was childish and endearing in its own way. But did I cherish him enough to act so recklessly?
Haylan was once my favorite character. Seeing him alive and moving always felt new and strange.
Thinking that far, I realized my feelings.
I was practically parenting!
'Honestly, he acts like a child.'
Even though I knew Haylan had lived many times longer than me, I kept treating him like a child.
Perhaps his maturity was shallow. While it was true that he had accumulated a lot of miscellaneous knowledge over the years, it felt like mere "imitation" to me.
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Haylan wasn't much different from the neighborhood kids I knew. And the most frequent instance where I felt this was…
'He keeps trying to act mature…'
Unlike me, the people in this house treated Haylan as a grown adult, and I knew that. But that sight felt awkward, like watching a poorly staged play.
It wasn't just because of Haylan's youthful appearance that I felt this way. He was literally "pretending."
He acted like he didn't have any desires when he clearly did. He pretended not to have an appetite, not to like things, to be okay. Pretending, pretending…
If the mercenary guys found out I was having these thoughts, they'd burst out laughing, saying 'the kid's sick and having all sorts of strange thoughts,' and tell me to buy myself a snack.
But they were the ones who were wrong. I was always thoughtful and mature, and now I'm a real adult.
'…Compared to Haylan, that is.'
Feeling a prick of conscience, I corrected my identity to "relatively adult." My impulsive action a few hours ago was also driven by my protective instincts as a relatively adult towards the relatively childish Haylan.
I believed Haylan's heart hadn't fully matured yet. Having experienced significant hardship from a young age, he probably didn't have enough time to act like a child to adults.
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'I should treat him well while I'm staying in this house. It's only natural since I'm the more mature one.'
The moment this world ends will definitely come. I will make sure of it. Until then, I wanted to pamper him like a child to my heart's content.
'Huh?'
I must have fallen asleep while recuperating. Awakened by a rustling sound nearby, I thought I was dreaming when I saw a face that was incredibly familiar yet one I hadn't seen in a long time.
"Aaack! You scared me!"
"Isn't that reaction a bit rude after seeing my face?"
"Why are you here?!"
"Is it that surprising to see me here?"
Where am I? I sat up halfway and looked around.
'I'm still in my room…'
I scratched my head and asked Lena,
"Where have you been? I haven't seen you around…"
"...I've always been here. You just didn't notice."
Lena said, sitting backward on an old chair with his arms crossed over the backrest.
He had always been here, but I hadn't noticed?
I tilted my head at his incomprehensible words and looked away.
[Main Quest: The Ghost's Identity
Something is roaming the mansion at night. Is it really a ghost, with its eerie presence…?
The ghost seems to perceive you as an intruder. The only way to be safe from the threatening ghost is 'that'…
Reward: 1 Quest Point, 50 Solra]
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I see, there was a quest… It seems Lena only appears when there's a related quest.
I belatedly bowed to Lena.
"It's been a while."
"Are you hurt?"
He responded to my greeting rather abruptly. I answered calmly,
"Don't I look fine?"
"You do look stupid."
I pretended not to hear his blunt remark, which seemed even more curt after not seeing him for a while, and got out of bed.
'Finally, time to give this to him.'
As I bent down and reached under the bed, Lena flinched and grabbed my arm.
"...You… why can't you hold yourself up?!"
"Huh?"
"You almost fell!"
What is he talking about?
I gave him a brief look of exasperation, before reaching deep under the bed and pulling out a hidden box.
"Found it on the street."
Seeing Lena's blank stare at my joke, I felt awkward and just told him the truth.
"I bought you a present when I went out. I remembered you always walk barefoot."
"You're giving it to me?"
"Yes."
"...Why?"
"Because I bought it for you?"
What is this? Did he not like it?
I couldn't read Lena's expression, which I had never seen before.
He was usually expressionless, and when interacting with me, he occasionally varied it with looks of annoyance, furrowed brows, or sneers.
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This was the first time I had seen such an expression on him. I asked cautiously,
"You don't like it?"
"That's… not it."
He hugged the box and muttered as if he thought I would take the present back.
"Can ghosts not wear shoes?"
I shouldn't have bothered. I said that since he always stole and wore other people's clothes, I assumed he could wear shoes, too. Lena finally returned to his usual expression and looked at me with a slightly annoyed expression.
"Of course not. And like I said, everything in this house is mine, so it's not stealing—"
"I see. Then these shoes are the only things Lena hasn't stolen."
"Shut up."
Thwack, he lightly flicked my forehead with his palm. It didn't hurt at all, but being an expert at feigning pain, I pretended to be dying, clutching my forehead dramatically, and then…
"Ah."
My nose started bleeding.
[Caution! The 'Trazenta's Poison' debuff is active.]
This was just my body fighting the poison.
After I coughed up blood earlier, I had a high fever, and my stomach felt nauseous all day, so I couldn't eat anything.
The cute Haylan stuck to my side the whole time. Even though he wasn't exactly providing meticulous care, he seemed quite worried about me.
"Lena, can you hand me the handkerchief over there? It's on the desk…"
"Don't tilt your head back."
He handed me the handkerchief without a word. Then, he pushed my head down, preventing me from tilting it back reflexively, and nagged me in my ear, asking if I wanted to choke to death.