NOVEL NEXT Chapter 61
061 – Hiding Trees in the Forest
The police thoroughly searched our house, the house next door, and the houses in front and behind us.
They said they had to investigate because someone had reported.
I don’t know what they were looking for, but it was a futile effort.
There was nothing worth digging up around here.
In fact, there had been Seoga-eul and Yu Yeoreum—but that was in the past tense.
What happened, you ask?
Let’s rewind a bit…
After finding out about Jin Eun-byeol’s birthday party through Jeon Som-i and Jang Hyeon-ah, I went straight home without diverting anywhere else.
Having obtained the “Cage of Shrinkage,” there was something I absolutely needed to do.
So I arrived at the basement.
“Hey, why are you only just coming? You’re late!”
Seoga-eul was grumbling at me as usual.
Yu Yeoreum was curled up under the blanket, shivering.
What on earth was going on?
I knew something had happened, but I couldn’t figure out what.
However, what was important right now was something else.
It was moving to a new house via the “Cage of Shrinkage.”
“Hehehe, come here!”
“Ahhh! What are you doing?”
I reached out and stuffed Seoga-eul into the cage.
Yu Yeoreum, who was all bundled up in the blanket, was treated the same way.
“What the… What is this?!”
“……!”
Panicked expressions on Yu Yeoreum and Seoga-eul’s faces.
Those two had shrunk to 1/10 their size and were flapping around cutely.
“I just wanna pop them in my mouth and swallow them whole!”
I secured the cage in my bag and headed towards the Great Labyrinth.
Upon seeing me, the security staff at the entrance of the Great Labyrinth recognized me.
“Are you Hanam-jin? You’ve been coming in and out quite a few times today.”
“Gotta study hard to get good grades on the midterms.”
“That’s right.”
I entered the Great Labyrinth and made my way to the “Fairy Princess’s Room.”
There, I released Yu Yeoreum and Seoga-eul from the cage.
“Hey! What the heck are you doing?!”
Seoga-eul was utterly furious.
Yu Yeoreum looked like she wanted to say something too but held her tongue, seemingly mad at my actions.
Were they so angry that they couldn’t speak?
“I figured staying in the basement was reaching its limit, so I moved you to a new room. This place is a part of the Great Labyrinth and is good for being hidden since only a few people know about it.”
The issue was that I had approached Seo Do-cheol recently.
Since I had shown apparent hostility towards CEO Seo Do-cheol, he would have started investigating me too.
If I had been in his shoes, I would have done the same.
There was a chance he might send people to search our house unexpectedly.
If that happened, the girls would be found out in the basement next door almost immediately.
So I needed to move their place as quickly as possible.
The problem was how to relocate Seoga-eul and Yu Yeoreum without being detected by others.
Then, I got the “Cage of Shrinkage.”
What incredible timing!
The goddess of luck surely smiled upon me.
“Anyway, for the time being, this place is your home.”
At my explanation, Seoga-eul rubbed her stockinged foot on the grass.
After being on the cold stone floor, she seemed refreshed to be in a place filled with grass and flowers.
“Well, this is nice and spacious.”
Compared to the cramped basement that felt like a studio apartment, this place was roughly the size of a two-room.
Unlike the basement that reeked of dog, the air here was fragrant with flower scents, and there was even a bathroom.
It should be more than enough space for two of them, right?
Even with various furniture, there would still be room left.
“So, why are you all tucked in under that blanket, Yu Yeoreum? Is it cold?”
“A mature young lady mustn’t casually expose her skin to a man.”
Oh? That was somewhat reasonable.
But it was strange coming from Yu Yeoreum, who usually didn’t think twice about revealing her armpits or belly.
Especially since we’d watched adult videos together.
I could only guess Seoga-eul had had some influence during my absence.
“What happened, Seoga-eul?”
“Haha! I helped Summer be all modest. I transferred the concept of ‘modesty’ to her.”
“Indeed, my beloved Seoga-eul knows a thing or two! Every woman should have a modest side!”
“…If Yu Yeoreum has become modest, why do you like her even more? That’s disgusting! That concept I gave you cannot be taken back! Annoying!”
Once I settled them in, I returned home to sleep, when suddenly the police barged in.
Bang bang bang!
The timing was so absurd that I suddenly wondered.
“Who made what kind of report?”
“There was an anonymous tip. They said strange lights and sounds were coming from your house. We have to investigate since it’s our principle to respond to reports.”
“The neighbors could only find this cloud-like thing. What on earth is this? A doll?”
—…….
The police were busy touching and shaking the fluffy cloud-like Ying-ing. Ying-ing remained silent, acting like a doll, but was quite clever.
If it suddenly cried out, the police would whip out their guns and cause a ruckus.
“What kind of doll is this? It smells nice… Sniff sniff…”
If I stayed like this, they’d surely discover that Ying-ing was a mysterious creature.
I had no choice.
“Hey, officer, that’s just my cushion. Give it here.”
“Whaaat? Ugh!”
The police officer was startled when she smelled Ying-ing, tossing him onto the floor.
In the end, the police left with nothing to show for it.
“Anonymous, huh? Transparent. So transparent.”
It was definitely a plot orchestrated by Seo Do-cheol or someone related to him.
What would have happened if I hadn’t moved Seoga-eul and Yu Yeoreum to the “Princess Room”?
I would’ve had to treat the police like enemies.
That would have been a hassle in many ways.
“Such incredible luck!”
After moving to the new house, Seoga-eul began to explore various corners. Walking on the grass that felt like carpet was refreshing, and the flowers blooming here and there smelled delightful, much better than before.
“Still, something feels a bit off…”
There was a bathroom and plenty of furniture like a vanity.
Seoga-eul speculated that this room must have once belonged to a “girl.”
A rather young or youthful girl, too.
“But how can grass and flowers grow indoors?”
Glancing at the ceiling, Seoga-eul caught a glimpse of the beautifully shining jewels embedded there, radiating brightness like tiny suns.
In her mind, she decided to call those jewels “Sun Stones.”
Then, she remembered to glance at Yu Yeoreum.
What if that “Sun Stone” also affected Yu Yeoreum’s “photosynthesis”?
It was a valid hypothesis.
In fact, Yu Yeoreum seemed to be in better condition than before, even practicing yoga poses.
Was it just her imagination, or did the ‘solar battery’ seem a bit bigger?
“If Yu Yeoreum regains her strength, I won’t be able to torment her as I please.”
The real problem wasn’t Yu Yeoreum.
Swish.
Seoga-eul touched the flower-covered door.
It didn’t budge.
“With this, I won’t be able to escape at will.”
Seoga-eul was actually considering escaping her ludicrous kidnapping life if it ever came to that.
If she wanted to break the chains and flee, she could do so anytime.
In other words, her kidnapping life with Hanam-jin was merely a temporary amusement.
But now?
Trapped in a bizarre room, she was truly confined.
Not escaping when she could—
—Was tantamount to being trapped without chance of escape.
The mindset between these two situations was fundamentally different.
Seoga-eul felt suffocated and slightly afraid.
What if she could never leave this place forever?
What if people forgot about her?
What if she died here, becoming a toy for a perverted kidnapper?
Thump thump thump—
The fear she had temporarily forgotten began to resurrect.
In the midst of this, Yu Yeoreum spoke to Seoga-eul.
“Seoga-eul, your heartbeat is rising rapidly. Calm down.”
“Huh? My heartbeat?”
Startled by the unexpected words, Seoga-eul turned her head to find Yu Yeoreum’s eyes sparkling with a strange green light.
“How do you know my heartbeat?”
“I think I just acquired a concept I have been aiming for a long time. Thanks to the ‘modesty’ you gave me, I’m feeling calmer and can help.”
Yu Yeoreum had been secretly and unethically conducting experiments in the lab for a long time to awaken her third concept.
It involved a lot of sacrifice.
However, there hadn’t been much progress, like facing a massive wall, until she entered this “Flower Room,” which gave her newfound confidence that she could surpass her enclosing walls.
“Remember Dr. Wi Seon-a from special classes? According to her, there are substances in the Great Labyrinth that amplify and enhance the concepts of awakened beings. Maybe that’s it.”
Yu Yeoreum’s researchers referred to substances that affected awakened beings as “mana.”
It was said to be the element that allowed magic, often referenced in novels and games.
And it seemed that this room was abundant in that “mana.”
Thanks to that, Yu Yeoreum had been able to acquire the concept of ‘clairvoyance.’
It meant she could recognize how rapidly Seoga-eul’s heartbeat was thumping.
“What the hell, you freaky pervert! Why are you looking at my heart?!”
Seoga-eul blushed fiercely, covering her chest with her palm.
Somehow, it felt like she was exposed in front of Yu Yeoreum.
“In the end, you were scared of being kidnapped too.”
“What are you saying! That’s not true!”
“It’s perfectly normal to be afraid of a kidnapper. You don’t have to be embarrassed. Especially since the kidnapper is a guy and the hostage is a girl, the probability of going through perverted things rises.”
Of course, Hanam-jin hadn’t done anything perverse.
He had merely said he would train Seoga-eul—
Looking at it from a different perspective, that seemed even more perverted.
Why was Hanam-jin doing this?
“Seoga-eul, why were you kidnapped in the first place?”
The fact that Seoga-eul was kidnapped marked the beginning of everything.
“How would I know? I don’t know! I don’t know!”
“No, that sounds like a lie.”
Seoga-eul clammed up.
Yu Yeoreum, having figured out Seoga-eul’s stubbornness through her few days of experience with her, didn’t expect to hear a straightforward answer.
After quite a long time had passed, while Yu Yeoreum was repeatedly practicing yoga poses.
“…I thought I was a princess. To be precise, I wanted to become one.”
“……?”
A princess? What did that mean?
What connection did that have with her kidnapping?
As Yu Yeoreum felt a vague emotion inside her, Seoga-eul glanced around.
This place was filled with flowers and grass, making it seem like a princess’s room.
It felt like everything that Seoga-eul dreamed of in her childhood was right here.
“When you see movies or fairy tales, princesses usually marry handsome princes, right? I wanted that too. So I ended up getting kidnapped like this.”
Dreaming of a life like a fairy tale princess led to her kidnapping—
That reasoning still didn’t make sense.
“My dad did all sorts of things to grant my dream. You know there were talks of an engagement between me and Nam Tae-geon’s grandson? That was also arranged by my dad.”
“The grandson of Nam Tae-geon…?”
The current president, Nam Tae-geon, had many daughters and sons.
Jin Eun-byeol, the daughter of Samjin Group, was one of them, and so was Nam San-ho.
“Were there talks of an engagement between you and Nam San-ho?”
Yu Yeoreum had met Nam San-ho a few times.
Because their fathers were friends, they occasionally ran into each other at gatherings or banquets.
It wasn’t a good impression.
There were many rumors about his relationships with women.
“Didn’t Nam San-ho go missing during the N Mart incident?”
The president’s grandson had gone missing due to an arson by a crazy awakened being—
It was the trigger for the inhumane “Awakened Control Act” being unanimously passed.
“Nam San-ho wasn’t actually missing. He died from a broken neck after tumbling down the stairs.”
At Seoga-eul’s words, Yu Yeoreum’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
There were many parts she couldn’t quite understand.
But judging by her heartbeat, she didn’t seem to be lying.
“How do you know whether he broke his neck or not, Seoga-eul?”
“I was at N Mart that day too. Two hours before the fire.”