NOVEL NEXT Chapter 668
Cheon Saetbyeol descended the stairs, her lips tightly closed.
She thought that while it’s impossible to be loved by everyone in the world, at least she hadn’t done anything to deserve being bullied.
With each step down, her feelings of absurdity and shame gradually morphed into contempt.
Insults directed at Virtual YouTubers.
Who do they think they are, what achievements have they made in life, to look down on and scorn Virtual YouTubers as if they’re ‘inferior beings’?
Cheon Saetbyeol would rather they openly yelled at her.
Because then she could unleash her aura or punch the concrete wall in response.
Unfortunately, the students at the Acting Academy knew the line they could cross—calculatingly or instinctively.
Whispers barely audible were directed her way.
Overwhelmed, Cheon Saetbyeol held back her tears, but they burst forth.
Patter—
“Ugh, is it raining now?”
As if her sorrow wasn’t enough, she glared up at the unkind sky in an annoyed tone.
A heavy downpour began to sting her skin.
She briefly considered running to the bus stop, but she’d have to move at least a block.
Just as she was about to pull out her phone to call a taxi—
“…!”
A girl dressed in maid attire burst through the rain, holding an umbrella.
“Were you blubbering all day, afraid of retribution? How pathetic.”
Luri spoke with her bleary eyes half-open.
“What are you doing here…? What’s with the outfit?”
“Why?”
“I mean, what’s with the maid outfit…? You really came all the way here dressed like that?”
“You trampled on my pride as a maid, Cheon Saetbyeol. Consider this a proper demonstration.”
Caught off guard by Luri’s blunt words, Cheon Saetbyeol’s tears dried up.
“Did you bring an umbrella?”
“Use this.”
Thud—
Luri extended a yellow umbrella toward the interior of the building where Cheon Saetbyeol stood.
“Hey, then you’ll get soaked… huh?”
Right there, Luri spun around and stepped into the middle of the street.
The pouring rain drenched her, but not a single hair or piece of clothing got wet.
“Hmph.”
Then came a light chuckle.
“Ugh, what’s up with that?”
“The elder said that in this world, it’s called the external manifestation of aura. A maid should always be ready to sacrifice her umbrella for her master, but it seems you lack even that much ability.”
A thin layer of black aura enveloped Luri like a cloak.
Raindrops slid off the barrier.
“The bus stop to your house is that way. Let’s go.”
“No, let’s just share it like normal…! It’s kind of weird if you don’t use it!”
The umbrella was more than big enough for both of them.
Unable to ignore the stares of passersby, Saetbyeol ran toward Luri.
*
A black background with a white apron, a neatly tied red ribbon at her neck.
Cheon Saetbyeol gazed intently at Luri’s maid outfit sitting next to her on the bus, her curiosity getting the better of her.
“Where did you get that outfit?”
“I picked it up from a nearby clothing store.”
“Is there even a store open at this hour?”
“Yeah, they’re open until 9 PM.”
“Aah… huh? It’s past 10 now. Did you wait for over an hour?”
Luri kept her gaze fixed out the window, silently avoiding eye contact.
“Thinking of my sister. I bought it to reminisce. Not to serve you.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“By the way, do I scare you?”
“Gasp!”
Pinch—
Luri pressed her hand on Cheon Saetbyeol’s thigh.
“Why do you think that? When did I say I was scared?”
“You can’t even look me in the eye right now. You were deliberately avoiding me this morning.”
Cheon Saetbyeol felt a jolt of embarrassment, her head turning stiffly.
Could this dragon really be so perceptive?
“Whatever. I have no interest in destroying my sister’s possessions.”
“You really are something… Is the honorifics part of your act as well?”
“No. I was told to use honorifics until I got used to Korean culture.”
“Na-me Unni?”
“Yeah.”
“Looks like you didn’t waste 10 years, that’s for sure.”
“Hmm?”
Cheon Saetbyeol silently applauded Na-me’s foresight.
If given various conditions, this four-dimensional dragon must have made some huge mistake somewhere.
“You seem to have received some pretty harsh bullying today, huh? Blubbering like a loser.”
Luri said casually while shaking off the white apron.
How did she know? Cheon Saetbyeol’s eyes widened.
For now, she was too busy denying it.
“No, that’s not it.”
“Well, you’ve been envied by your classmates at the Acting Academy, and you rushed out without even zipping your bag, while you’re not exactly weak enough to get beaten by regular folks.”
“Ugh.”
As Cheon Saetbyeol hung her head, Luri popped her head into view.
“You pretended to be friends in front of me, only to betray me behind my back, didn’t you?”
A pair of deep, dark eyes stared intently at Cheon Saetbyeol.
Caught off guard by the sharp deduction, she breathed in sharply.
‘What’s up with her? How is she so smart?’
Cheon Saetbyeol’s image of Luri was simple.
Just a clumsy food, laundry, and cleaning machine that only sought NoName.
“If you want, I can tell my sister.”
“No. If I tell Na-me Unni, she might… get really, really mad. It’s not something that serious, anyway.”
“I need to know how serious it is to judge.”
“Nothing much. A new kid at the academy asked me to show my donation reaction, and the others laughed at me for it.”
“That’s certainly not something you’ll die from.”
“True.”
“About two or three of your four limbs.”
“Is that all? My gosh, I almost spilled it!”
Cheon Saetbyeol shivered.
The standards of those who live and die by honor in the medieval sense are terrifying indeed.
“Just kidding.”
“That sounded more like a serious truth.”
[This stop is Gaepo Parthenon Complex Apartments. The next stop is—]
Luri chose to skip the response.
“Whoosh. We’re back!”
When the two girls arrived home, they were greeted by Nureongi.
“Our Nureongi stayed up, huh!”
“Woof!”
The tail wagged like a helicopter, bouncing around as if they hadn’t seen each other in ten years.
But that only lasted a moment.
“Huh?”
Slurp, slurp, slurp—
As if to say it never welcomed them, Nureongi swiftly sauntered off to drink water.
“Dude, is our relationship purely business?”
As if to say it had done its job until now.
Nureongi threw a sharp glance at Cheon Saetbyeol and flopped down on the cushion.
“I guess that means it doesn’t want to be disturbed while sleeping.”
“I think I can understand that.”
*
At the end of a tiring day, Saetbyeol had finished her shower and lay down in bed.
In the dark room.
After a schedule like this, she would usually fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
But today’s events replayed like a panorama, keeping Saetbyeol awake.
She turned towards Cheon Luri’s bed.
“Thanks for bringing the umbrella today.”
“You should’ve come out a little earlier. How long do you think I waited?”
“And I’m sorry for what I said this morning. I think I might have had some kind of insecurity towards you, like the academy kids did to me.”
“Well… okay.”
Cheon Saetbyeol smiled comfortably.
She felt she could become good friends with Luri.
“While Na-me Unni is away, can one of us use your room?”
“No.”
“Why not? You’re uncomfortable sleeping with me anyway.”
“I’d rather not invade my sister’s room.”
“Geez… This dragon just won’t budge!”
She couldn’t find common ground with this girl.
Saetbyeol stared blankly at Luri, thinking.
‘You said you have known Na-me Unni for 10 years.’
In comparison, Cheon Saetbyeol had spent only about 3 years with Na-me.
Even just looking at it from a time perspective, that was a threefold difference.
Especially since they died once and crossed dimensions to reunite.
It was clear how special their bond must be.
“Just a thought I had on the bus earlier… Luri, you’re surprisingly sharp. You don’t look it, but you catch feelings pretty well and hit the mark…”
It was a sincere compliment.
After all, knowing Na-me, she wouldn’t have hired a dim-witted child as her aide.
As silence fell, Saetbyeol closed her eyes.
“My mother received a lot of threats against her life, so I had to become quick-witted.”
Luri spoke calmly.
If she didn’t notice first, her life could be forfeit.
It was a sense developed naturally for survival.
“Ah… that’s quite a heavy topic. I can’t imagine it in a peaceful world. It must feel scary when faced with it.”
“Not scary so much as… rather absurd situations happened repeatedly. Like a disciple I cared for over three years participating in the assassination, or the familiar bakery lady who visited over a hundred times randomly conspiring to murder her. Those who were saved from demons betrayed my mother countless times.”
“Yikes.”
Especially against an outlier like Na-me, assassins were never dispatched.
“Instead, they constantly bribe those around me, gnawing away at the mental fortitude. Humans can slack off at least once. That method turns out to be much cheaper.”
“But you’re not human like Na-me Unni and you.”
“Honestly, that’s the secret to survival. We trusted no one.”
Trusting no one was unexpectedly a hard feat to accomplish.
Because sometimes you have to sever ties with those who lend a helping hand during tough times.
“If you’ve been together with Na-me for ten years, shouldn’t you have some good synergy?”
“True. But I didn’t just stick around her for a decade straight.”
“Really?”
“I should say with my mother… more precisely, I was with my mother’s physical body all along. Though I didn’t even realize it was her original self back then.”
“Wait, what do you mean? You were with Na-me’s body? I feel like I just heard something I shouldn’t have.”
Click—
The lights in the room turned on.
Luri shot up, her bloodshot eyes glaring at Saetbyeol.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping? How long do you plan to talk?”
“Ah! Sorry…! If you’re tired, go ahead and rest first.”
Luri pinched Cheon Saetbyeol’s soft cheek.
“You’re definitely a golem with an independent identity. I don’t really understand how you move without erosion yet.”
“Call me Homunculus instead of Golem. Golem sounds like a boring old rock!”
“Either way. My mother molded golems to spread all over the world to break free from spatial constraints. Usually, erosion holds control, but in emergencies, my mom takes over. That’s how it works.”
“What?”
Golem? Spreading across the world? Control?
Her words were a chain of utter nonsense.
Cheon Saetbyeol frowned and tried to understand what Luri was saying.
“So, are you saying that souls can swap? Is that even possible?”
“No. When my mother gains control, erosion enters a briefly inactive state. Those controlled won’t even have insight into the fact they were under manipulation.”
“What about Na-me Unni’s original body?”
Cheon Luri’s eyes glanced upward toward the ceiling.
Then in a slightly jaded tone, she spoke.
“You seem to understand well. In my mother’s body, Schadenfreude awakens.”