[Too high!]
The second I stuck my head out through the hole, the ground looked impossibly far away. It was only the third floor, but maybe because I was so much smaller now, it felt even higher.
[You’re a cat. Jump.]
No, not every cat is great at jumping from high places. Some of them get hurt, and some climb trees and then cry because they can’t get back down. The mouse, annoyingly enough, scampered down through the cracks in the wall. Then it looked up at me from below like, What are you waiting for? Hang on. I should at least get down to the windowsill beneath me first—
[You’ll get caught that way. Just jump.]
[Nooo, that’s not—]
[Well, look at that.]
[I’m making a lot of typos—]
I’m clumsy, okay. Clumsy. And how do you even know what that means when you’re not from my world?
I hung from the windowsill, slid, scrambled back up, and repeated that over and over until I finally made it down to the ground. Ah, my nails— no, claws. They hurt.
Thorn bushes had already risen in a high wall around the mansion. Their sharp black thorns gleamed dully under the moonlight. I lifted my head and glanced up at the sky. The moon still hung there alone, blotting out the stars and even the sun, looking down on everything.
[Do you think Crescent Moon might be watching?]
[Not yet. Interfering more than this still isn’t possible. It’d be hard for her to even perceive us.]
The mouse led the way toward the thorn hedge. If it had been an ordinary wall, getting out would’ve been difficult, but the thorn bushes were full of small gaps. In the distance, I could see Park Hayul working on the garden. It looked disturbingly similar to the rooftop garden at the Breeding Facility.
[The way he’s obsessing over it, he probably won’t notice for another three or four hours.]
[Good thing he’s bad at controlling his own power. If he weren’t, we’d already be caught.]
True enough. If he were a skilled transcendent, he would’ve withdrawn his magic only from the room I was in and kept sensing everything else around him. Park Hayul clearly wasn’t capable of that kind of fine control yet.
We slipped through the thorn bushes and ran into the forest. I didn’t stop until the mansion was completely out of sight.
[I arranged for a helicopter to wait outside the forest. Head that way for about two hours.]
[Can’t you use teleportation?]
[If I could do that while carrying you, we’d already be gone.]
Fair point.
Since I was on four legs, running was easier than it would’ve been as a person, even with my small size. The mouse climbed up my body and settled on top of my head.
What is this.
I started running in the direction the Puppeteer indicated.
[But why were you trying to kidnap Chief Song?]
I leaped over a long tree root and asked what had been bothering me. I meant when he’d tried to have Hwang Rim take him.
At the time, I’d assumed it had something to do with Crescent Moon, since Chief Song was the target.
[Because he’s dangerous. If you were me, wouldn’t you deal with it too? If there were exactly one person who could completely erase your brother.]
[…I’d at least try talking first.]
I didn’t think I could just pretend not to notice and do nothing.
[Sigma is still connected to Seong Hyunjae. If something happens to him, Sigma can’t help being affected. So I was going to take him. The Gardener wanted that too.]
The Gardener again.
The transcendent who had helped the White Bird and planted the seed that became the eclipse—Chief Song.
[Who is the Gardener? And whose side are they on?]
[No one’s. They’re only interested in tending their own garden. One of the very old transcendents. They usually appear in the form of a butterfly, though I doubt that’s their true shape.]
A butterfly.
At least it didn’t sound like they were our enemy.
[You know the White Bird’s goal, right?]
[Yeah. He’s trying to stop Seong Hyunjae from becoming the full moon and erasing the Source.]
To protect the Source of our world—the tree under falling snow—that he loved.
[The White Bird received the Gardener’s help, which is why the Gardener knew about the little moon. But there was a restriction in place that kept them from speaking about it. When you entered the dungeon in Japan and our timeline overlapped with the present, Sigma fell asleep. And once the existence of the Puppeteer became clearly recognized among the transcendents, the Gardener contacted me first.]
[Since you already knew, I guess that restriction didn’t apply to you.]
[That’s right. They told me about the seeds they’d scattered in your world and asked me to retrieve the eclipse. I had no reason to refuse. I was uneasy about the eclipse remaining near Seong Hyunjae, and I needed a way to interfere with your world.]
So that was how Hwang Rim had ended up working for the Puppeteer. I’d been wondering why the Gardener, who planted the seeds, wasn’t the one directly using Hwang Rim.
[But why does the Gardener want to take Chief Song? The White Bird would want him to stay by Seong Hyunjae’s side.]
If things went bad, Chief Song might have to stop Seong Hyunjae himself.
[Who knows. Maybe they got interested. Maybe not.]
[You’re not still planning to kidnap Chief Song, are you?]
Because if you are, I’m seriously going to eat you.
The mouse flicked its long tail.
[Based on the information Hwang Rim gathered, he doesn’t seem that dangerous after all, so it’s on hold for now. And I only told the Gardener I’d try, so there’s no issue.]
He had almost been kidnapped once already.
A low growl came from the brush nearby. I immediately crouched low and slipped away as quietly as I could. Monster or wild animal?
[Originally, I was thinking of making Seong Hyunjae my subordinate. That would’ve been the safest option for my child.]
…I almost missed my footing.
He was talking about taking both Sigma and Seong Hyunjae.
[Is that even possible? With Crescent Moon still hanging on?]
[Ordinarily, no. Crescent Moon wrapped herself around the little moon for a very long time. But I was only a little later than she was.]
The mouse smiled.
[I have the child who slipped free of Crescent Moon. From a time both brief and impossibly long ago.]
There was no transcendent who could go beyond the span of time bound by Crescent Moon’s contract. But the Puppeteer had gotten his hands on Sigma—the little moon—from an era when Sigma still wasn’t deeply entangled with Crescent Moon.
And Sigma was connected to the present-day Seong Hyunjae.
For a moment, my heart kicked hard in my chest, then slowly settled again.
[Seong Hyunjae would definitely refuse.]
He wasn’t the kind of person who’d try to dodge things that way. Crescent Moon had already done a number on him once. There was no way he’d want to get tangled up with another transcendent. And he shouldn’t.
In the end, it would just be the same leash with a different owner. And there was no way to know how the Puppeteer might change in the future, either.
[Seong Hyunjae would want to stay Seong Hyunjae.]
[Yeah. He would.]
[Then how did Sigma accept it so easily? Seong Hyunjae is still Seong Hyunjae, after all.]
[He’s still young. And we belong to each other. I was originally Sigma’s puppet.]
Well, if it wasn’t one-sided, maybe it felt less suffocating.
Maybe the fact that the Puppeteer had belonged to Sigma was exactly why he’d been able to push Crescent Moon aside so easily and forge that subordinate contract. Because his bond with Sigma had become deeper than hers.
[Come to think of it, Seong Hyunjae was young once too, right? Though not exactly a little kid. Pure… well. Anyway, back when life hadn’t worn him down as much, he did go and sign that contract with Crescent Moon. And now look at him.]
Sigma felt younger because of the memory issue, but Seong Hyunjae probably hadn’t exactly been an easy mark even before contracting with Crescent Moon. How on earth had she lured him into putting on a leash? Now I was curious.
Really, you had to be careful where you stamped your seal.
After running through the forest for what felt like forever, we finally reached a path. The rough little trail gradually widened. It was still quiet, which meant Park Hayul was probably still totally absorbed in building his garden.
[Other than protecting Sigma, do you have any other goal?]
[What else could matter more than that? The problem is that the one he’s connected to happens to be the little moon.]
Seriously. If it had just been some ordinary person, none of this would be necessary.
No, actually, then it’d just mean there was no telling when they might wind up in danger.
At least Seong Hyunjae wasn’t someone who’d die easily.
[Can I ask your name? There’s something that’s been bothering me.]
[Sigma did keep trying to call me Han Yujin.]
Yep. Knew it.
And with me, he called me C-rank.
[I have a different name now. It’s a secret.]
[Because you’re a different person.]
[Right.]
Even if he’d been created based on me, he’d lived a completely different life. The identical face kept making things feel weird, though.
…The base body really had been exactly the same as mine, hadn’t it? It was probably still similar now, right? Did we even have the same taste in food?
[Unlike Sigma, I became an independent individual after becoming a transcendent. But that doesn’t mean I’m completely unrelated to you.]
[…So what kind of relationship do we have, exactly?]
[Genetically, we’re identical, for one thing. I’m a copy. That’s why this world accepts me, faintly at least. Enough that I can contact Hwang Rim and enter this dream world under the pretext of a contract violation.]
[Does that affect me at all?]
[Not much. I do feel some affection toward you. When I say I genuinely want you to live well, I mean it. Sometimes you feel like a distant descendant.]
[Wouldn’t it be the other way around?]
[Baby, how old are you?]
[…Thirty-one. But I’m the one who made you.]
It felt a little unfair.
[For me, it was only about half a year ago.]
[Time is separate in each world. Just as if only your world had gone backward. Though our case is somewhat unusual.]
The Puppeteer went on for a while after that, explaining in more detail, but I mostly tuned it out.
I have no idea what you’re saying.
Beyond the gradually widening path, the edge of the forest finally came into view. In the wide-open clearing ahead, a helicopter had landed. I ran straight for it.
– Hey!
Chief Song, who had been standing outside the helicopter, turned toward me.
No, that isn’t me speaking casually— I literally can’t talk like a person right now.
Maybe he heard my voice, because Seong Hyunjae appeared from inside the helicopter. So the two of them had come together.
What were the number one and number two targets of Crescent Moon doing out here like this? Then again, maybe that was why they’d come alone.
Though the Puppeteer was here too— oh. Right.
Through the open helicopter door, I could see a face like mine sitting inside. Of course. The mouse wasn’t the real one. The tiny weight on top of my head vanished like it had never been there.
“Han Yujin?”
– Mm.
Still not me speaking informally, for the record. Maybe because I’d just used the Delroux transformation skill, making human speech was hard. It felt like I should be able to do it, but I couldn’t.
After Chief Song, Seong Hyunjae stared at me too.
“You’re small.”
Well, yeah. I’m a cat right now.
“You were small before, too.”
I bit down hard on the finger he held out—then immediately jerked back in horror.
B-blood! That tasted like blood!
Right, his stats were lowered right now. I forgot.
“Let’s go.”
The Puppeteer gestured toward us.
I was about to turn back into a person when Seong Hyunjae suddenly picked me up. My claws shot out on reflex, but then I froze, worried I’d draw blood again. Maybe because the Puppeteer had been supplementing my magic while I used the skill, but right now I felt stronger than Seong Hyunjae.
Why are you looking at me so closely? Quit inspecting me.
“Put me down and go fly the helicopter.”
I dropped the Delroux skill as fast as I could and spoke. Seong Hyunjae set me down once I was human again. His gaze fell to my legs.
“You can rest.”
My mana detection had to be at rock bottom right now, and he still noticed fast.
Seong Hyunjae climbed into the pilot’s seat, and Chief Song lifted me into his arms.
I mean, really, you could just sit me in a chair.
“Don’t push yourself.”
“Mm. Then don’t be alarmed. I can’t see right now. My arms won’t move either.”
A deep crease formed between Chief Song’s brows.
He got into the helicopter, and the door shut.
I was exhausted from forcing this useless body to move the whole time, so I let the mana flowing through me loosen completely. Darkness swallowed everything at once. My arms and legs went limp. With my senses dulled, the sound of Chief Song’s heartbeat seemed unnaturally loud.
Then it was buried under the chop of the helicopter blades.
And I drifted off.
“…Hyung.”
A tiny whisper reached me.
I snapped my eyes open—then panicked when all I saw was darkness. I tried to struggle on instinct, but my body only twitched. My heart dropped. Then I felt arms wrap around me tightly, pulling me in as my breathing turned ragged.
Oh. Right.
I forced myself to calm down and used the teacher skill on Yuhyun. My vision flooded back in an instant, and I saw my own terrified face reflected in his eyes.
Great.
“Where are we? Everything okay?”
I cleared my throat and asked like I was perfectly fine. Yuhyun answered with a quiet yes. Even then, the hand soothing me never stopped.
I’d scared him.
I slowly moved my arms and legs and climbed down. When Yuhyun turned his head, I saw a castle wall.
That was…
“Wait, is this Gyeol and Mari’s place?”
“Yeah.”
The castle beyond the wall looked exactly like a blend of the two of them.
The gates opened, and Yerim, Peace, and Ms. Hyunah came running out. So Yuhyun had been waiting outside the gates this whole time. Even though it could’ve been dangerous. Stubborn brat.
“Mister! Are you okay? I did try to stop Han Yuhyun from going out, but he said he’d stay put right here and not move an inch.”
– Kkiiing!
Maybe because of Gyeol, Peace had turned intangible and came running over, circling in front of me. When I hugged him, he rubbed his face against me over and over, whining much more than usual like he’d been miserable all this time because he was too big to do this.
“Hyung, welcome back! Gyeol and Mari say they’ve got a way.”
“A way?”
“Yeah. And…”
Ms. Hyunah shot the Puppeteer an awkward glance. Yerim looked about the same.
Fair enough. He looked like me, but wasn’t me, and on top of that he was a transcendent tied to Sigma. He was the kind of person you had no idea how to treat. He was old, but also not old at all.
…That still felt a little unfair.
If you got technical, he wasn’t even a year old yet.
“Um, Mr. Puppeteer.”
At Moon Hyunah’s words, the Puppeteer gave her an easy, friendly smile.
“Relax. You’re one of the candidates to take care of my child.”
…What now?
Without bothering to explain, the Puppeteer strode forward.
“Let’s get inside first. The moonlight’s getting irritating.”
As if to escape the light pouring down over our heads, we all hurried through the gates together.
–TL Notes–
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