YM778.TV Chapter 56 - I'll be here with you
"Hello, Ms. Hye-Rim. Please excuse me for a moment."
"It\'s so nice to meet you! I\'ve heard so much about you from Ha-Yeon, but this is the first time I get to see you in person."
Jung Ha-Yeon and Lee Yoon-Seo greeted me with bright smiles. I bowed my head and invited them in.
"Welcome. It\'s a bit shabby, but please make yourself at home."
After some formal conversation, Jung Ha-Yeon and Lee Yoon-Seo took off their shoes and entered the house. Once in the living room, Lee Yoon-Seo\'s eyes lit up as she sniffed the delicious aroma that filled the house.
"Something smells so delicious, doesn\'t it?"
"Seo-Eun was just preparing a meal."
"Oh, are you both here?"
As I spoke, Yoo Seo-Eun appeared wearing an apron. She told me she had already finished cooking and just needed to set the table. The food she prepared was Western-style, ranging from pasta to paella to pizza made from scratch. Drawing from her past experience cooking as a hobby, she ensured the food was as authentic as possible.
......It\'s nice to see a lot of heart, but there was a bit of flour splattered while kneading. I\'ll have a hard time cleaning that up later. Of course, Yoo Seo-Eun was worried about it, but I told her to do whatever she wanted.
"Wow! Did you make all of this yourself?"
"Yeah, I like to cook, so I hope you like it."
"It looks absolutely delicious!"
"Hehe, thank you. By the way..."
Yoo Seo-Eun\'s gaze shifted to Lee Yoon-Seo\'s arm as they talked. Lee\'s arms, which had become like a bird\'s wings, were definitely eye-catching. Since I hadn\'t told her about Lee Yoon-Seo\'s condition, she must be curious.
"Ah, this is a bit unusual, isn\'t it? I didn\'t ask for this body, but the Monster Association made it happen."
"Monster Association?"
Lee Yoon-Seo explained her situation to Yoo Seo-Eun, who was curious, causing her eyes to widen in surprise.
"Well, I\'m going to make good use of this body. It\'s more comfortable than I thought. I can fly at will, too!"
"I see. You must be similar to me, then."
"Similar? Come to think of it, Seo-Eun also has horns on her head..."
At this point, Yoo Seo-Eun was at home, so she had reverted to her original form. Her appearance seemed unfamiliar to Lee Yoon-Seo.
It appeared that Jung Ha-Yeon hadn\'t told Yoo Seo-Eun everything.
"Seo-Eun\'s identity is only known by the Awakened Criminal Division and some heroes, so I only told others that she lives with Ms. Hye-Rim for one reason or another."
"Aha, I see."
Reading my expression, Jung Ha-Yeon explained what had happened.
In fact, I didn\'t say anything even when Yoo Seo-Eun was in her original form because I trusted Yoon-Seo. I don\'t think she\'s the kind of person who would tell anyone about this. So, I didn\'t stop Yoo Seo-Eun and Lee Yoon-Seo from talking about each other.
In fact, I think it\'s better to be honest.
When Yoo Seo-Eun finished her story, Lee Yoon-Seo looked at her with a look of sympathy.
"Haha, we\'ve become a weird pair."
"That\'s right. In this world, you\'re bound to encounter strange things."
"Still, I don\'t think it\'s bad. In fact, there are some people who use their bodies like this to live broadcast on the internet, right?"
"Oh, you mean the cat beastman?"
She must have seen the broadcast of the person with the cat ears and tail that I saw yesterday. Honestly, it was a shock to me too.
I got to see the furries with the most money in the world throwing money at them, and it made me realize that the world is a funny place.
We exchanged pleasantries and started eating right away. Then, Lee Yoon-Seo handed me a gift she had prepared in advance.
"Ms. Hye-Rim, this is to thank you for saving me and the other victims."
Lee Yoon-Seo handed me a luxurious gift set. It contained beef, abalone, and other expensive-looking foods.
"I didn\'t know what to give you, so I bought the most safe gifts I could find. It\'s not just from me, but the other victims also saved up their money."
"Oh... thank you."
I thanked her and took the gift. It\'s fortunate they gave me food; if it had been something else, I wouldn\'t have much use for it.
But my fridge is already overflowing with gifts like this. People I\'ve saved regularly send me such items. Even when I ask them to stop, they persist in thanking me for saving their lives and asking me to do something for them. It feels like there are more of these people now.
"I wish I could give you something better, but this is all I can do for now."
"No, you didn\'t have to give me anything, but I\'m grateful you gave me this."
I\'ll have to ask Yoo Seo-Eun to cook these as well tomorrow.
In the meantime, Jung Ha-Yeon also brought out something she had prepared.
"What I brought is nothing special, but it\'s a rice cake."
"Rice cake?"
I wondered if she brought it for dessert after we finished eating, but something unexpected came out of her mouth.
"We\'re going to be neighbors soon, so I brought some rice cakes as a housewarming gift."
"...We\'re going to be neighbors?"
"Actually, I\'m moving in next door next week."
Jung Ha-Yeon is moving in next door?
I\'m not sure whether to be excited or not about my favorite magical girl becoming my neighbor. We\'ve all imagined scenarios like this at one point or another: your favorite idol moves in next door, and you become good neighbors. It\'s a situation where you\'d welcome your favorite person with open arms, but honestly, it feels a bit weird.
Why my neighbor? I mean, did she just look for any house that seemed suitable, and it just happened to be next door to mine? Either that, or she was deliberately...
"I\'m sure we\'ll see each other often in the future. I\'m so pleased to get to know you, Ms. Hye-Rim. I\'m very happy to have you as a neighbor."
There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but when I saw her smile, I decided to hold back. I\'m not sure why she chose to move in next to me, but I\'ll just have to accept it. Although, for some reason, I felt a bit apprehensive.
"......Gulp."
Looking to the side, Yoo Seo-Eun swallowed, looking a little stiff, just like me.
"I wonder how she became such a clingy girl."
I still didn\'t understand what Lee Yoon-Seo said with a bitter smile.
After we finished eating, we looked at the pile of dishes in the sink, and Jung Ha-Yeon offered to help. I told her it was okay, but I didn\'t stop her because she insisted on helping.
I let the other two relax in the living room while I washed the dishes. Yoo Seo-Eun offered to help instead of Jung Ha-Yeon, but when Jung Ha-Yeon showed her determination, she backed down.
Yoo Seo-Eun seemed a bit uneasy, though I couldn\'t quite place why. There might be a subtle dynamic between them that I didn\'t fully understand.
"Ms. Hye-Rim, where do you think I should put this bowl?"
"Oh, you can put it in the cupboard upstairs."
We chatted for a while, and I was about halfway through washing the dishes when Jung Ha-Yeon asked me a question.
"How is your life with Ms. Seo-Eun?"
There was a hint of worry in her eyes. It\'s not easy to live with someone, so she was probably worried about whether there were any inconveniences.
"It\'s better than I thought. I\'ve been living alone all my life, but it\'s fun and nice to live with someone."
"...You\'ve lived alone your whole life?"
She didn\'t say it out loud, but I could tell she was asking what it was like growing up.
"I am an orphan. I\'ve been on my own since I was a kid; I\'ve never lived with anyone."
This was true even before I came to this world. I\'ve always lived alone. So I\'m comfortable being alone, but I\'m not uncomfortable now that I\'m living with Seo-Eun Yoo. There are advantages to living with someone.
After hearing my words, Jung Ha-Yeon was silent for a moment. I wondered if she felt sorry for me. The way she looked at me wasn\'t very pleasant either. I didn\'t think anything of it, but from her point of view, I must have looked pitiful.
I wonder if that\'s why.
"Then, Ms. Hye-Rim, do you want me to make sure you don\'t feel lonely in the future?"
She didn\'t hesitate to say such bizarre things as this.