“Huh?”
“I have a few spare rooms. Until you’ve adjusted to this world and can manage on your own, I’ll stay by your side and help you with this and that.”
Truthfully, as Seomun Hyeok said this, he worried that Haram might refuse. He had figured that someone like him might dislike living in close quarters and rubbing shoulders with another person.
But fortunately, Haram seemed to welcome the suggestion.
“Ah, so you’ll be my manservant?”
With that kind of nonsense tacked on.
“No, no, manservant is a bit much. Hmm. Then a butler? Yes, butler suits you perfectly.”
The smile on Seomun Hyeok’s face cracked. First treated as an S-rank mana supply battery, and now an S-rank butler.
Is this really happening.
He could practically feel the tears welling up.
* * *
“Samchon!”
6 PM. It was time to pick up Sua from the all-day class at kindergarten. Haram headed to the kindergarten as always, wearing a stretched-out t-shirt and grey sweatpants with saggy knees.
“Hello, Sua’s guardian.”
“Yeah.”
The casual informality that came out as a matter of course prompted an awkward smile from the teacher. She had been finding it strange — the complete 180-degree personality shift in Haram since the day he had shown up looking a mess to pick up Sua a few days ago.
“Huh? Samchon, what’s this?”
It was then. A child’s bright voice cut through the awkward atmosphere.
Only at that moment did the teacher notice that Haram was carrying a bag she hadn’t seen before. A rustling duffel bag. Anyone could tell it was a travel bag.
“Going somewhere, are you?”
“Yeah.”
“Samchon, what is this? What’s in it?”
“I packed your clothes and a few other things. Don’t make a fuss — just stay still.”
Haram hushed Sua, who was chirping away like a sparrow beside him, then gave the teacher a casual farewell nod.
“Then I’ll be off.”
“Oh, yes. Take care. Bye, Sua — see you tomorrow.”
Haram readjusted his grip on the bag handle and started walking ahead. His uncomfortable leg had adjusted enough by now that he no longer swayed unsteadily the way he used to.
“Sa, Samchon….”
Sua fell into step beside him. She stuck close to Haram’s side, her anxious eyes darting around constantly.
“This isn’t the way home. Where are we going…?”
“Somewhere I need to go.”
“Where?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
It was a rather inconsiderate explanation to give a child.
Sua’s fidgeting hand tightened around Haram’s sleeve. She was gripping it so hard that the bones on the back of her hand went white.
Haram glanced at Sua briefly, then fixed his gaze straight ahead again. He had been too absorbed in his own thoughts to pay her much mind.
Now that the mana problem has been resolved, the first thing I should research is a spell to seal the memories of this body. I recall there being a few similar spells….
Magic that meddled with the brain was something even Haram found tricky.
Even the slightest error in the formula could leave someone a complete fool, or cause physical impairment. The risk of the brain being destroyed outright, resulting in instant death, was not something that could be dismissed either.
And so Haram decided to approach the task of sealing Pyo Haram’s memories with greater care.
“Samchon….”
He had been lost in thought — how long had they been walking? A sudden call snapped Haram back to his senses. They had passed through a tangle of alleyways and emerged onto a main road without him even noticing.
“Ah.”
Haram, who had been moving at a brisk pace, came to a stop. As if this was exactly where he’d intended to come, he stepped closer to the roadside and scanned the passing cars.
“Samchon….”
Amidst that, Sua called out to him again. She normally talked a lot, but for her age she was fairly mature and not the type to whine.
“What is it.”
Only then did Haram look at Sua carefully. He was checking whether something was wrong with her. But the color of Sua’s face, as she gripped his sleeve tightly, was off somehow.
Pale — no, not just pale, but blue. Tears pooled in her eyes, ready to fall at any moment. A reddened nose and lips bitten so hard they were close to bleeding.
“Why are you—”
Why does she look so frightened?
He had just tilted his head at the child’s state when a jet-black car pulled up from the far end of the road, slowing to a stop. Haram’s expression relaxed, as if things were going just as planned.
Skreee—
The car came to a precise halt in front of the two of them, and a large man wearing a deeply pulled-down cap stepped out. Haram, as if addressing someone familiar, immediately started giving him a hard time.
“Well, aren’t you prompt. How dare you make me wait. You’ve got some nerve.”
“I’m sorry for being late. It’s rush hour, so the traffic was a bit—”
“You should have accounted for all of that and set off earlier.”
“Yes. I’ll do that next time.”
A wry smile tugged at the corner of the man’s mouth from beneath his cap. Sua looked back and forth between Haram and the mystery man, having no idea what was going on.
Who is this…?
Just then, the man with the cap noticed Sua and approached. He crouched down in front of her as she shuffled nervously backward, and greeted her at eye level.
“Hi there. You must be Sua.”
“Wh, whoa…! Seomun…!”
It’s Hunter Seomun Hyeok!
Sua, having recognized the man’s face, startled and tried to cry out. Fortunately, Seomun Hyeok — who had anticipated the reaction — cut her off quickly.
“Shh. Can we talk about that later?”
Nod, nod!
The pallor drained from Sua’s cheeks, replaced by a rosy flush. Her eyes shone brightly as she looked at Seomun Hyeok.
“Do you know him?”
Haram, watching Sua, asked plainly. Sua shot him a look from beneath narrowed eyes.
“Samchon, who in this country doesn’t know Seomun — mm, that Hunter.”
“…Is he really that famous?”
“Of course! Incredibly, incredibly famous! A national hero!”
At Sua’s chatter, Haram looked at Seomun Hyeok with what seemed like surprise. Seomun Hyeok, embarrassed to have his own praises sung right in front of him, pretended not to have heard and stood up, opening the rear door of the car.
“Let’s get in first. We can’t keep standing here.”
In the backseat, a car seat sized perfectly for Sua had been installed — it wasn’t clear when that had been arranged. When Seomun Hyeok moved to get Sua seated there first, Sua recoiled in alarm and shook her head.
“I, I don’t want to go….”
The child, who until just moments ago had been bright-eyed and perky looking at Seomun Hyeok, was now hunched in on herself for some reason, clinging to one of Haram’s legs with both arms wrapped around it.
“What’s gotten into you. Let go.”
“Sa, Samchon, I don’t want to go.”
“You’ll fall. Let go first, then talk.”
“Can’t I just keep living here with Samchon? Please?”
Sua’s voice was trembling like a baby goat as she said it. Both Haram and Seomun Hyeok looked at the child in bewilderment. Sua was letting fall the tears she had been holding back all this time, sobbing quietly.
“I, I’ll eat less too… and I won’t be a bother, hic! to Samchon…. Please don’t throw me away, Samchoon….”
“What? What is all this. Why are you going to eat less. You’re little, you need to eat a lot to grow.”
“It’s okay, I don’t have to grow….”
“Stop that, right now. I can’t understand you when you’re crying and talking at the same time.”
“Hic!”
“Calm down and talk slowly. No one listens to you when you cry like that.”
Haram crouched down on his sore leg, took Sua by the shoulders, and met her eyes. Then he held her gaze with a calm, unruffled expression until the child settled down.
Thanks to that, Sua’s crying subsided quickly. Seomun Hyeok watched the whole process with fresh eyes.
Given how utterly reckless he is and how little regard he has for others, I was worried — but he handles her better than I expected.
By then, Sua had composed herself and was speaking her mind clearly and steadily.
“You’re going to send me to a children’s home. I don’t want to go. I want to be with Samchon.”
“A children’s home? Like an orphanage? Why would you go there. You’ll continue staying with me. At least until you can take care of yourself.”
“So I get to keep staying with Samchon? Forever and ever?”
“…Yes.”
Haram’s answer came half a beat late. Promises are made to be broken — he brushed off any guilt with that thought.
“Then what’s this car, and who’s that Hunter? You said my clothes were in that bag.”
“I’ve already packed most of my things and had them moved over, so all that’s left is to bring yours. We’re getting in this car and going to that guy’s place. Honestly, wasn’t the place you were living a bit too cramped and awful?”
“……?”
Sua clearly hadn’t understood even half of what Haram said. Understandably so, since Haram had skipped both the beginning and the end of the story.
Seomun Hyeok, who had been watching them quietly, swallowed a sigh as the people passing by started glancing their way, and stepped in.
“Let’s talk while we drive. Want to get in, Sua? You too, Pyo Haram — please get in. You can sit in the seat next to the car seat.”
“Alright.”
Since Sua was still anxious, Seomun Hyeok had Haram get in beside the car seat first. That seemed to do the trick — Sua then obediently accepted Seomun Hyeok’s help getting into the car seat and buckled her belt.
“Haah….”
Seomun Hyeok let out a small sigh as he closed the rear door. He had assumed Haram would have at least briefly explained the situation to the child on the way here.
He just dragged her along without any explanation at all.
Seomun Hyeok got into the driver’s seat and glanced in the rearview mirror. The child had pulled Haram’s hand over and was clutching it tightly, looking around the inside of the car with an anxious face.
“Were you very startled, Sua?”
“…I’m otay.”
Her voice came out nasally, probably from all the crying. Sua’s face flushed as she sniffled, and Seomun Hyeok pulled out a tissue and passed it back to her.
“…Fank you. But, why is Hunter Seomun Hyeok here?”
“Hm? Me?”
“Yes, hic! What are you to our Samchon?”
Seomun Hyeok was momentarily at a loss for words. What was he to Haram?
Good question….
What kind of relationship is this, exactly? A contractual one? The relationship between an archmage and his mana supply battery? A master and his butler?
