NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3
“Ack… my stomach…”
It’s… so weird, and I’m dizzy…
The teetering girl clings to a nearby tree, bending over.
“Ugh…”
An uncontrollable wave of nausea surges forth.
Chirp—chirp!
A family of sparrows flits above the girl’s head, chattering away.
They’re worried about me, huh?
It’s truly touching, but I barely have the energy to react.
Heat floods through me, and now I feel like not only will I vomit, but I might also embarrass myself in my pants.
As the girl sways, she ultimately succumbs and collapses right where she stands.
Thud—
Her whole body seizes up, muscles twitching, and she feels utterly drained.
Her vision blurs, and her breath quickens as if she’s just sprinted at full speed.
[W-What on earth did I eat?! My insides are going haywire!]
Ah, that’s Mia’s voice.
[Are you seriously not insane?! Take good care of this body because it’s mine!!]
Bubbling… bubbling…
Even while her insides are churning like mad, the girl manages a awkward smile.
When I was picking mushrooms and chatting away, she didn’t so much as respond once.
But hearing her voice like this is nice.
Even if it’s just an auditory hallucination, I don’t care.
At any moment, if the girl puts her mind to it, she can wish and bring Mia back to life.
[Hey! Get a grip! Don’t lose focus!]
Chirp—chirp-chirp-chirp—!
Thunk.
The girl’s head droops, losing strength as it touches the ground.
Even the once gentle chirping of the birds fades away.
Three sparrows gather, circling above her, calling others to join.
Chirp chirp chirp chirp—
In the already dark night, the noisy chirping continues without tiring.
Was it the efforts of these little creatures trying to save her?
Clop, clop, footsteps echo from not too far away.
Bright light cuts through the darkness, parting the shadows as it comes closer, pushing back the gloom.
With it emerges an old man, gripping a staff.
“What’s a child doing out here at this hour…?”
The elder soon spots the unconscious girl beneath the gathered sparrows.
Her hair, strangely shimmering like the sky, brings to mind the colors of the river.
Despite her small stature—only about six or seven years old—there’s something promising about her delicate features.
If not for her clothes being a muddy mess, you might suspect she was a kidnapped child from a noble family.
“…Is this poison? Did she—heavens forbid—eat a poisonous mushroom?”
This area around the valley is known to have various types of toxic mushrooms growing.
The old man carefully extends his hand toward the girl’s forehead, gauging her condition.
It’s hot.
So hot that his palm almost feels like it’s burning.
If this little one truly ate a poisonous mushroom, it’s a miracle she’s still alive.
“Now I see why the birds were chirping so fervently at this hour; they must have been trying to help you. I should thank the mercy in those sounds that sought to aid a creature of the world.”
And just like that, the old man’s wrinkled hand began to glow softly.
A warm, fuzzy light erupted, enveloping the girl’s body with a gentle caress.
“Cough! Cough!”
Moments later, a fist-sized mass of poison ejected from the girl’s mouth.
“Hah, ha ha… this little body has certainly consumed a lot.”
With that amount of poison, it would be akin to drinking cyanide.
Given the sparrows’ incessant chirping, it seems she’s not just an ordinary girl.
The question now is.
“What am I to do with this child…?”
There are several villages in the vicinity.
This isn’t even Seoul.
A child as beautiful as this wouldn’t be alone by chance.
Even if he is a monk, it’s not right to take the girl without a word.
“Well, I suppose I have no choice. I have to take you to the temple first.”
It looks like this late-night stroll is only going to get longer.
Just as the old man steadies himself with his staff and prepares to lift the girl’s arm—
“Don’t you dare touch me with those filthy hands!”
Wham! The girl’s eyes snap open, radiating a malicious glint.
“…An Awakened one!”
What an extraordinary power!
There’s an aura of danger that could rip a person apart in an instant.
Should I subdue her?
Just as the old man wrestled with this thought—
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, the girl’s form vanished without a trace.
She moved so fast that it was nearly impossible to so much as guess where she’d gone.
“Well, now that’s downright eerie.”
The old man merely chuckled.
“If this encounter is meant to end here, then so be it. If fate still ties us, we’ll surely meet again someday.”
With such a fierce personality and formidable abilities, it’s unlikely she’ll end up in trouble elsewhere.
“Ugh… But now, how do I get back….”
As the old man leaned on his staff and made his way back to the temple, the girl, who had just regained her senses, looked around cautiously.
“…Huh?”
Something seems off; the surroundings are much different than she recalled.
Was she kidnapped?
Chirp, chirp—
Spotting a sparrow chirping away on her shoulder reassures her that she wasn’t abducted.
Well then, that’s a relief.
Seeing that her pains have faded, it appears Mia has come through for her once again.
“Really, Mia should have been the one to survive.”
Regardless, she needs to scavenge for a proper place to stay soon.
Sure, she had food sorted, but sleeping on the dusty ground forever isn’t an option.
Sleeping itself isn’t an issue, but this body belongs to Mia.
It wouldn’t be very polite to let bugs crawl on such fair skin.
But the very first thing that captured the girl’s attention as she sprung up was—
[Almost died twice in a single day? Three times? There won’t be a third. If you don’t want to see me dead, you’d better start taking care of yourself.]
A letter brimming with fury.
“Uh…”
The words etched into the dirt looked as if they could be seen from the heavens above given the force with which they were written.
This isn’t just in her head.
Right next to those words lay a blunt stone, carelessly set aside.
The problem? One side of that rock was cut with a sharp, right angle, resembling a bird eraser.
Mia… the boy knows how powerful she is.
But seeing that stone carved so carefully makes her break out in a cold sweat.
This is a different situation than before, when there were no eyes, arms, or legs.
If Mia truly intended to harm herself, the boy would be forced to witness that.
“Ugh… What did I do wrong…?”
The girl felt utterly wronged—she had no inkling that the mushrooms she scavenged were poisonous.
Tears welled up.
Frustration surged within her.
Did Mia have to act so cruelly?
Reluctantly, the girl sank back into her previous spot.
Whoosh, whoosh—looking around—
“…Well, I have my own ways to deal with things!”
With her delicately grown nails, she summoned a cozy cotton blanket.
A blessing from the gods.
It was the first time she had used it for herself, and the feeling of wasting such a miracle left her unsettled.
But since she had taken over Mia’s body, her well-being must always come first.
Having promised not to let her get hurt, she cautiously wrapped herself up, leaving just her head poking out.
Leaning against a protruding tree trunk, she felt sheer perfection.
So comfortable!
So warm!
Surely, this way she won’t get hurt for the rest of the day…?
Chirp, chirp!
As if they sensed the coziness of the blanket, a family of sparrows fluttered over and settled on the girl’s chest.
Though their warmth was slight, it doubled her cheerfulness.
“Hehe, sweet dreams,” she murmured before drifting off to sleep.
Her body had been completely restored thanks to the old man’s powers and Mia’s abilities, but being young, physical exhaustion was inevitable.
“Whew—”
She yawned widely, exhaling heavily, clearly worn out.
Then—
“…Sis, what’s up with that girl? Is she lost? Can we just leave her like this?”
Not too far away, two sisters on a camping trip stumbled upon the girl, who had fallen into a deep sleep.
They had heard gunfire from a nearby village, went to check it out, greeted the absent monk, and were on the way to find a spot for their tent past nine in the evening when they spotted her.
And then—
“W-What? Is this some kind of hallucination?”
“Sis! Get a grip!”
What on earth is going on?
The sisters stared at the girl, seemingly spellbound, as if her face was a mesmerizing painting.
How could someone so young have eyelashes that long…?
When I was young, I looked like a half-formed steamed bun…?
Is she the child of some famous celebrity?
But wait, why is this extraordinary child sleeping here on a mountainside under a blanket?
Where are her parents? Her guardians?
They still couldn’t snap back to reality.
Even when they faced the dangers of the forbidden gate or endured attacks in the spirit realm, they had never experienced something like this.
As one of the sisters tentatively reached her hand out towards the girl, the smaller-chested one urgently raised her voice.
“—Sis!”
Fearing that the girl might wake up, she transmitted an inaudible sound wave through her magical power.
“—What kind of madwoman screams while a child is sleeping?”
The bigger-chested sister was practically trembling with frustration, her shrill voice harsh to the ears.
It was as if they had shared a silent agreement, and they simultaneously whipped their heads around to gaze at one another.
Like two cats hissing over territory, they leaned forward, foreheads nearly touching.
“Ugh… don’t raise your voice like that, Sis. You look weak.”
“Of course! I’m your older sister! Who do you think you’re trying to outdo?”
“If you’re so great, why don’t you go earn that S-rank?”
“…Sigh. You, with your small chest.”
“…You cursed girl!”
In the end, the sisters, unable to snap back to reality, began attacking each other earnestly.
If not for this, they might have dashed over to the girl and begun squealing in excitement.
But this little scuffle didn’t last long.
Chirp, chirp!
The sparrow that had been resting on the girl’s chest suddenly took flight, smacking both sisters on the cheeks as it passed by.
That was its way of saying, “Shut it; you’re being too loud.”
“…Sis, let’s really be quiet now.”
“…Yeah. We should.”
Even if they were squabbling siblings, they knew how to keep work separate from play.
“So, what are we going to do with her?”
The child couldn’t be just left alone; that was out of the question.
Yet, it wouldn’t do to simply scoop up a sleeping child and carry her off either.
It was a dilemma—each direction led to trouble.
The sisters averted their gazes, waiting for someone to offer a solution.
Eventually—
“…Well, how about we just pitch our tent here?”
“You really are the best, Sis!”
The sisters decided to set up their tent on this unfamiliar mountainside instead of the valley they had planned.
The best they could do without physically intervening was to keep someone from bothering the girl.
Thus, a luxurious tent costing three million won was erected next to the sleeping child.
To an outsider, it might have looked like child neglect.