Gyeoul walked out of the portal with a blank expression.
She looked at the floor, then brushed off the dust on her stomach.
What had she seen and experienced to leave her so drained?
Yeoreum urgently knocked on the curtain.
"Gyeoul!"
Tap tap-
Hearing the knocking, Gyeoul ca to her senses and scurried out of the portal.
She was still holding Gaeul's hand tightly.
"I'm back."
"Y-yeah. How long were you in there?"
"Um... about ten minutes...?"
"Ah..."
She thought they'd been gone for a long ti.
It was shorter than expected.
Yeoreum sighed in relief and hugged both children tightly.
"Did anything happen inside?"
"No, nothing happened."
"Hmm...?"
She looked like sothing had happened.
Yeoreum swallowed hard as Gaeul handed her the smartphone.
It was the smartphone she'd given Gaeul to record with.
"Ta-da!"
"Oh, yeah. Thanks."
Yeoreum clutched the smartphone tightly.
After a while, she connected it to the tablet she'd brought.
She wanted to watch the video on a larger screen.
"Is it okay if I watch the video?"
"Yes. I'm curious too, let's watch together."
Gyeoul sat on Yeoreum's lap as she sat on the grass.
Then Gaeul sat on top of Gyeoul.
Yeoreum smiled at the children stacked like a tower, then carefully played the video.
-G-Gaeul...
The video started with Gyeoul's image.
There was also a house that could be called abandoned, having been unmanaged for a long ti.
Since it was fild clumsily, the cara sotis moved to the chest or stomach area.
-Master's house.
-House? Is this Gaeul's house?
-Our house! Our house!
In the video, Gaeul pointed at Gyeoul with her finger.
Then she bent her wrist to point at herself.
Yeoreum understood what this ant.
This must be the survival base for the two children.
-Our house...?
Gyeoul looked around puzzledly.
Gaeul also looked around here and there with the cara.
-Huh?
-What's wrong?
-No dust?!
Gaeul's surprised voice.
What did it an that there was no dust?
Had soone co to clean?
She couldn't understand any of it.
Yeoreum found all of this frustrating.
-What do you an there's no dust?
-No dust! Paper stuck!
Rip rip-
Gaeul mimicked tearing paper.
Then she pointed to a single sheet of paper with her finger.
It was a clean paper with no signs of being torn.
She seed to want to say that the torn paper had been put back together.
'No way...'
The accumulated dust had disappeared, and the torn paper had been nded.
It felt like 'ti reversal' was happening.
Things she'd only speculated about were actually occurring.
'My goodness.'
Yeoreum's heart pounded.
In this reversed ti, if they could just deal with the source of the zombie virus, Gyeoul's world could regain peace.
'Are they asking us to intervene while they turn back ti?'
Because if ti was reversed but nothing changed, the sa future would just repeat.
The role of changing the future fell to Yeoreum.
What kind of will of the world could make such a miracle possible?
To calm her trembling hands, Yeoreum stroked the children's heads.
Even then, the video continued to play steadily.
-Gaeul, why did we co here? Can we go back out?
-Yeah. Sleep.
-Sleep?
Gaeul flopped down on a rag.
She also patted the space beside her.
Everyone could understand that she ant for Gyeoul to lie down next to her.
-O-okay...
Gyeoul lay down on the rag following Gaeul.
Then the screen went dark.
Gaeul had stuck close to Gyeoul, covering the cara between them.
In the darkness, giggling sounds could be heard.
The screen rolled around as the two children played.
So that's why their clothes got dirty.
They were playing on the rag.
Yeoreum brushed off the dust on the children's clothes for no particular reason.
-Master good.
-Yeah. I like Gaeul too.
The children, who had been lying down playing, moved to a nearby deflated ball.
They happily played with the ball that didn't roll well.
In the short ten-minute video, Yeoreum could see a lot.
Unmanaged items.
Among the objects that had exceeded their usable limits, sothing caught her eye.
On one wall, there were many Chinese characters for "正" drawn.
Yeoreum knew well what this ant.
Survival period.
A quick count showed over a hundred "正" characters.
It ant they had lived like this for at least 500 days.
'Since they were babies...'
Gyeoul was eight years old.
She first saw Gyeoul two years ago.
If Gyeoul ca to this world at six years old, it ant she had lived like that since she was four.
Had she lived alone like that in a ruined world?
Or was there soone who took care of Gyeoul?
Yeoreum's face turned pale at that mont.
Tap tap, Gyeoul patted Yeoreum's thigh.
"Um, you know..."
"Yes...?"
"Is that place my, my..."
Gyeoul trailed off, fidgeting with her fingers.
In the tense silence, Yeoreum bit her lip.
She instinctively realized what Gyeoul was about to say.
"What's wrong?"
"...Nothing, it's nothing."
Gyeoul swallowed her words.
Even so, Yeoreum could tell.
That Gyeoul had realized sothing.
Yeoreum could only open and close her mouth silently.
---
---
"Hmm..."
I walked alone in the park.
I wanted so ti to think.
Yeoreum and Gaeul were slowly following from a distance, but I didn't have the mind to care about that now.
The 'our house' Gaeul had ntioned and the nostalgic feeling strong enough to cause hosickness.
I thought that place might be my ho and hotown.
'What is this?'
The lifeless world was very different from the hotown in my mories.
Yeoreum seed to know sothing, but she didn't look like she was going to tell .
'Is she hiding sothing from ?'
I wasn't particularly disappointed.
I knew how kind she was.
If she was hiding sothing from , it must be for my sake.
'I've been hiding things from the kids too.'
I had told Yeoreum that I ca from another world.
Most of the adults in the guild had found out, but I hadn't told the children yet.
It was because I feared that if I returned to my original world, I might have to say goodbye to this world forever.
So I hid it.
Because it was hard to see Levinas and Saebyeok facing farewell.
Yeoreum might be hiding the truth from for similar reasons.
"......"
Does she only want to show good things?
I'm the sa way.
I wanted to show the children good things and let them experience happy events.
However, there was no need to cover the children's eyes with my hands.
Sharing sadness together is what makes a real family.
'If I want to know the truth, I need to be honest first.'
I heightened my senses to detect the children's presence.
Just then, Levinas was coming out of the guild building.
"Levinas!"
"King! Let's play!"
Levinas greeted energetically as always.
Sohow, I felt like a criminal.
"Levinas, I've been hiding sothing from you until now..."
"Hiding?! What did you hide?! Did you hide carrots?!"
"Well, you see..."
"Huh?!"
Levinas's rabbit ears perked up.
Closing my eyes slightly at her attentive attitude, I said,
"I actually ca from a different world."
"Wha! Really?!"
"Yeah. So soday I might have to go back to my original world."
I carefully opened my eyes after finishing.
Contrary to my expectation that she'd be shocked, Levinas just opened her eyes wide.
"Are you going on a trip?! Is Levinas coming too?!"
"Ah, no, Levinas has to stay here. Everyone's here, you know."
"Huh? But it's not everyone if King isn't here?"
"W-well..."
It was a statent full of kindness.
That's why telling the truth was even scarier.
"When will King co back if you go?!"
"I don't know. I'll try my best to co back, but I might never be able to... Of course, this isn't happening now, it's for later..."
"Never co back...?"
"Maybe... But I'll do my best to co back again."
"......"
Levinas pressed her lips tightly together.
She stared at for a long ti with an expressionless face, then suddenly ran towards the guild building.
"L-Levinas...!"
Levinas took the elevator up to our ho.
I hurriedly got into the adjacent elevator.
Although the elevator rose quickly, that ti felt like an eternity.
Is she disappointed in ?
I clasped my hands together as if praying, then ran out quickly as soon as the elevator doors opened.
The door to our ho was open.
As I entered, I saw Levinas packing sothing into a bag.
"L-Levinas..."
What is she putting in there?
I slowly approached Levinas.
Then Levinas held out the bag with a serious expression.
"King, here!"
"What's this...?"
"It's a travel bag! If you have this, you won't be sad even if we're apart!"
The bag was filled with items full of our mories.
There was the floating disc we rode once, and horned rabbit cards filled with carrots.
"You're not angry?"
"Why would I be angry?!"
"Because I hid the farewell..."
"I'm not angry! You said you'd try your best to co back! King is soone who does what they say they'll do!"
Ahem.
Levinas puffed out her chest.
It was the confident Levinas I always saw.
That confidence was blooming from her faith in .
"Yeah. I'll try my best... no, I'll definitely co back."
"Got it! Levinas will be waiting! So... so co back quickly...?"
Sniff.
Levinas sniffled.
Looking closely, her eyes were a bit red too.
She wasn't completely okay after all.
Levinas was just holding back her sadness for my sake.
2/6( 1) Enjoy the bonus chappy!
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