# 058. Day and Night (12)
“Ha, shit… Castle of Desire, they call it. What kind of name is this crap?”
The Castle of Desire station was an outdoor platform. Despite its name, the overall atmosphere of the surroundings was like a children’s amusement park, with a white castle visible in the distance. The moment I saw it, I knew that must be the Castle of Desire. Everything else was decorated in childish red, yellow, and green colors, but only that castle had no color, just pure white.
Even without any explanation, I knew I had to go there. But the problem was Jeongwoo. It was already difficult to carry Jeongwoo on my back for just a few steps, so going that far distance would be impossible.
I laid Jeongwoo back down on the bench and scratched my head.
“Ah…”
Come to think of it, I still hadn’t kissed Jeongwoo. I didn’t know if a kiss would wake him up, but shouldn’t I at least try?
As I approached Jeongwoo, I heard a strange sound.
Ring, ring, riiiiing
“Huh? Wh-what’s that?”
It was the telephone ring I’d heard at the previous station. I looked around for the telephone. Being the second time, I could react faster than before.
There was a cute pink cat-shaped telephone. I picked it up.
“Oppa!”
“Yeong-i? How did you call… Mother…”
“Shin Jaehee.”
Suddenly, goosebumps ran from the top of my head to my toes. This was Yeong-i’s voice, but it wasn’t Yeong-i.
“You are…”
“The medium is too young to convey the message properly, so I contacted you again. This method isn’t good for the medium either, so this will be the last time. Listen carefully. Woo Jeongwoo is currently disconnected from his Constellation. If left like this, he won’t wake up.”
“Wh-what… What does that mean?”
“I can’t explain in detail. That’s part of the contract. But what’s certain is that Woo Jeongwoo cannot live if his connection to his Constellation is severed. And there’s not much time left now. It would be romantic if a kiss could wake him up, but unfortunately, that method won’t work. That was just something Yeong-i said.”
“Then what should I do? What do I need to do?”
My face turned bright red when I heard the word “kiss” from the Constellation.
Had it been watching me from somewhere? I couldn’t tell if it knew everything and was saying this based on that knowledge, or if it was just referring to what Yeong-i had said, but I was so embarrassed I wanted to crawl into a hole.
“The one who forcibly severed the connection is the Dawn of Whispers. Dawn’s minion is hiding inside, preventing the reconnection. To maintain the severed state, it needs to stay close. So find it and eliminate it.”
“How do I find it? And how do I eliminate it? You need to tell me the method too!”
“Ask Ouroboros for help. He will help you. Time is up now. Even just this much will make the young medium bedridden for a while. She lent me her body because she wanted to help her oppa. I must go now. I don’t want Yeong-i to get hurt either.”
“Hey, wait, then how do I find it? Hey! Pretty Oppa!”
I shouted, but it was already too late. I glared at the pink cat telephone and sighed. So this is what a medium is like. I hadn’t thought deeply about mediums before, but now I realized how extraordinary they are. At the same time, I was worried about Yeong-i. I felt both sorry and grateful to Yeong-i, who might be bedridden for days.
It couldn’t be a lie that Yeong-i had given permission because she was concerned about me. Even before, I often felt that Yeong-i understood situations well, despite having difficulty expressing herself.
“When I get back, I should buy something delicious for Yeong-i. Stepmother must be worried too.”
Yeong-i had been weak and often ill since childhood. That was also why my stepmother was overprotective of her.
Thinking about it again, the call just now was truly a creepy experience. It was clearly Yeong-i’s young voice, but it was clearly not Yeong-i. The clear pronunciation through a child’s voice was beyond strange—it was eerie.
When I returned to the bench where Jeongwoo was, rubbing my goose-bumped arms,
“Huh? Wh-what is this?”
Jeongwoo’s body was floating in mid-air. As if tied by something. His body, floating upward, wobbled precariously and then began to move in a certain direction.
“Jeongwoo! Jeongwoo!”
I tried to grab Jeongwoo, but it was too late. Jeongwoo’s body shot away at an increasingly faster speed. In the end, I could only watch helplessly as Jeongwoo disappeared.
In the direction Jeongwoo was heading was the white castle. It wasn’t hard to guess where he was going.
“Ha, Jeongwoo. A castle, seriously. Now you really are a sleeping princess. Just know that when you wake up, I’m going to tease you about this for years.”
I sighed.
Constellation ‘Pretty Oppa’ said there wasn’t much time. It said Jeongwoo could be in danger. If that’s the case, I need to do my best.
I tightened my shoelaces firmly. And I started running.
“Huff, huff…”
Even though I was out of breath, I didn’t stop. I must have run non-stop for about 30 minutes, but that damn white castle seemed to get closer yet wouldn’t actually get any closer.
I stopped briefly to drink some water and glared at the castle.
It seemed like just running wouldn’t get me there.
“Damn it. I’m really not good at using my brain.”
I scratched my head. At this point, it seemed like I needed to find a method rather than just running blindly.
I began to slowly walk around the area, looking for any peculiarities.
Everything in this space looked strange, but I still looked for anything that stood out. I scanned the area until my eyes hurt and walked around, but I didn’t even know what I was looking for, so there wasn’t much I could do.
“Sigh… Fuck. I really can’t figure this out. I was never good at this sort of thing. I’m the kind of person who can’t find anything in a treasure hunt.”
The pressure of running out of time made me less inclined to search for anything more.
It felt too much like spending real money, but I had no choice.
If Jeongwoo complains about me using too many points, I’ll make him earn some for me. I wheezed as I opened the Galaxy Shop.
[**<Galaxy Shop lv1.> Welcome to the Galaxy Shop**
. Eternal Slumber Potion (P2000): A potion of eternal slumber that tastes good and works even better. Effective when you can’t sleep!
. Lethe’s Kiss (P1800): Do you have memories you want to forget? Come, kiss Lethe! Effective on me and others too.
. Health Potion (P200): Temporarily recovers your strength when you collapse from exhaustion. See more Search
**1 point will be deducted each time you use the search function.^^**]
I stared at the Galaxy Shop window, deep in thought.
I was about to type “exploration” in the search box, but changed my mind.
I didn’t even know what I was looking for, so I wasn’t sure if there would be any exploration items available.
Instead, I entered “explosion.”
[ >>>Search: explosion
. Boom-Boom Mini (P2): Small DIY bomb. Cheap because you make it yourself! Effect cannot be guaranteed! Sometimes the power may be greater than expected, or it may fail to detonate. However, the price advantage covers these drawbacks.
. PowerBoom (P70): A bomb with considerable power, made by professionals. The failure rate is significantly reduced. Special sale period: Buy 10 get 1 free! How about getting a good bomb during this opportunity?
. Whatever OK (P150): A bomb made with special care by professionals, requiring careful handling. You can set the degree of explosion yourself.
Whatever OK makes everything you want possible.
Want to blow up a building? OK!
Want to blow up the entire castle of your annoying enemy? OK!
Anything! Everything! Cleanly! Refreshingly! We’ll blow it up for you.
Amazing performance that resets everything! A super-strong premium bomb with a whole spoonful of dragon’s breath.
Special sale period: Buy 10 get 1 free!
As much as you want, whatever you want!
With Whatever OK, even revenge isn’t scary.]
“Found it.”
I smirked. What I purchased was, of course, Whatever OK. At 150 points, I bought 10 to start with.
And immediately threw a bomb around me.
With a thunderous sound, the ground began to turn into a wasteland.
Yes. If I can’t find it, let’s destroy everything.
