LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 196
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Da-eun exploded with frustration.
“No way, this doesn’t make any sense!”
“What are you going to do if it doesn’t make sense?”
Yuki replied bluntly.
“So what can you do about it?”
“…Yuki, are you out of your mind? How can you say something like that?!”
“Kana, I’m really sad…”
Da-eun said this while subtly leaning on me.
Swish-
“…!”
As I dodged, Da-eun looked at me with a shocked expression.
“Kana…!”
Da-eun cried out, resembling a sorrowful movie heroine.
Of course, I wasn’t going to be swayed by such words.
Instead of me, Yuki raised her mouth in a crooked smile.
“Karma, you know?”
“…Did I really do something so terrible to be called karma?”
“Did you know you’ve said ‘Does this make sense?!’ over ten times? By the way, you’ve said ‘The world is going crazy!’ more than five times. If no one responds, you should know when to give up.”
“Is this my problem? On the contrary, if I’ve said it that much, they should respond, right?!”
“They did respond at first, but since you keep repeating the same thing, it stopped. I’m sure Kana felt the same way.”
“…Kana, is that true?”
“Don’t mind me, just have fun you two.”
As if trying to drag me into the mess.
I turned my body, not hiding my disinterest.
“You seem a bit out of it today, Kana. Is it because of the rain?”
“Ah, that’s how she usually is in the mornings. Yuki, you don’t know how cute Kana looks when she just wakes up, groggy? …Ah, now I get it.”
“I agree that a groggy Kana is cute, but she’s been up for a while now.”
“Maybe she’s still sleepy? Kids usually need a lot of sleep.”
“…Hmm. You have a point.”
“It makes sense, doesn’t it?”
After asking me to not pay attention, they began whispering about me.
They really don’t listen at all.
“By the way, this is a big deal. Even if the plane cost is whatever, we might not be able to go back today.”
Da-eun muttered in a mock-serious tone.
“Yuki, are you okay? Do you have a schedule or anything…?”
“I don’t have anything special scheduled. I wouldn’t mind staying here longer.”
“No, that’s pushing it.”
Then she sighed heavily.
“I feel kinda sorry…”
“Sorry for what again?”
“If I hadn’t suggested going out, none of this would have happened.”
“Do you really need to feel guilty for something you didn’t do intentionally?”
“And besides, it was me who suggested going out first.”
I chimed in with Da-eun’s remark.
“Everyone…”
I was just stating the obvious, yet for some reason, Da-eun’s eyes began to well up.
No, I shouldn’t have said “for some reason.”
Da-eun always acts like that.
“I thought you didn’t like me… but I was wrong…. Sniff…! I’m so touched…!”
“Yeah. I think I’m starting to dislike you now.”
“So do I.”
“…That’s cruel! It was a touching moment just a second ago! Why did it suddenly turn cold?!”
“It’s your karma.”
“Yeah.”
It’s nice to have someone who thinks the same way beside you.
They can say what I want to say without me having to open my mouth.
This used to happen a lot back in the day.
When my subordinates would speak for me or act before I did.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Huh?”
“You don’t need to trouble yourself, Commander. Just sit back… no, relax.”
“I feel like it would be easier for me to just get it done quickly.”
“…I didn’t want to say this, but if you get involved, the cleanup becomes even harder. With how you tend to break everything…”
“…”
“…So just stay out of it. Okay?”
“…Okay.”
“…Hmm.”
Since it was none other than Aaron who told me that, I remained seated and just watched.
This situation seems a bit different, but in the grand scheme, it’s not that far off.
While I was lost in memories, Da-eun set down her phone.
“Just in case, I extended the pension stay. Luckily it’s the off-peak season…”
“What if it doesn’t stop tomorrow?”
“Hey, don’t say such ominous things! Haven’t you heard that saying?”
“I’m half-Japanese, so I don’t know stuff like that.”
“…Don’t be ridiculous! If you’re going to say that, at least say it in Japanese.”
“What’s Korean? Jaru morayo.”
“…”
Da-eun sunk under the weight of Yuki’s sharp comeback.
Or maybe it wasn’t sinking; she was just too dumbfounded to respond.
I turned my eyes away from the bickering duo and looked out the window.
The rain, stronger than yesterday, was pounding against the glass.
“…”
I can’t explain it as a prediction, but for some reason, I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that this rain wasn’t going to stop anytime soon.
* * *
Swish-!
“Now it’s really pouring. Just pouring.”
Da-eun said, looking drained.
She didn’t even expect it to stop anymore; she didn’t even look outside.
As I vaguely felt, the rain continued even into the evening.
Not only did it not stop, but it even intensified to the point where I worried whether we might drown.
According to Da-eun, the news was already making a fuss about “unprecedented weather anomalies.”
They say it’s impossible to pour this much rain without having it observed or whatever.
“There’s such a thing as Murphy’s Law. If you wash your car after a long time, it rains, or if you go shopping, the store is closed. Isn’t this one of those things? It’s as if the world’s malevolence has surpassed the impossible to mess with us.”
“Is that how it is?”
“I was just saying that, but doesn’t it sound somewhat convincing? Kana must have had a similar experience once in a while; you know, when you put a lot of effort into something only for it to go to waste?”
“I can’t say I haven’t. That’s just how life is.”
“Well… I wasn’t expecting such a profound answer…”
Since I had been grumbling in the morning, I responded, and then was taken aback by her surprisingly deep reply.
What kind of rhythm am I supposed to follow here?
“I’m grateful, but you don’t have to go out of your way to respond. I like all of you, even that side of you!”
“Yeah. That’s true.”
“Wow… it cooled down so fast. No matter what, that was too quick a change of pace for you.”
After adding some humor into her voice for a bit, Da-eun soon returned to her worried expression.
“This must be due to global warming, right? At this rate, we might end up being wiped out by dimensional beings before anything else.”
“They say things are gradually returning to normal these days.”
“Well, they say that, but… it makes you wonder, ‘Is that really the case?’”
“Hmm. That’s true.”
Yuki agreed for a rare change.
“But are you okay? Schedule-wise.”
“Yeah. I generally plan for trips with plenty of flexibility since who knows what kind of situation might arise? Though I am a bit worried about the broadcast…”
What can we do?
“With the weather like this, they say they can’t get the planes in the air.”
“Want me to tell you a good way?”
“I’ll pass. I don’t think it’ll be helpful.”
It was then.
Bzzz-
“Huh? What’s this? Why?”
The TV I had turned on to stave off boredom and gather information suddenly went static.
Instead of the clear announcement from the caster, annoying noises began to fill the room, and everyone’s eyes shifted to the TV.
Da-eun, flustered, tried turning it off and on again, but it was useless.
The TV still displayed only “No Signal.”
“Wow, could it possibly be because of the rain?”
“That seems likely.”
“This is insane. I wonder if calls are also down?”
Da-eun brought her phone to her ear.
After a moment of stillness, she put down her phone with a blank expression.
“…No calls. No internet either. It’s raining a lot, but is this even normal in this day and age? It’s not like we’re living decades ago.”
“…Right?”
Yuki was also frowning for a change.
Even after coming back soaked yesterday morning, she didn’t look this way.
In light of this obvious abnormal situation, it seemed even Yuki’s usual nerves couldn’t stay calm.
“…No internet?”
That also struck me, who had been ambivalently watching the situation all this time.
Even though the pension we were in was quite spacious for just three of us, indoors is still indoors.
Being trapped like this meant we had nothing to do.
Am I supposed to go for a walk inside this pension, or do some sightseeing?
Da-eun’s board game was already boring to the point of being tired of it, so our only means of entertainment was now taken away.
…There’s no choice.
It’s my time to step in.
Swish
“Whoa, Kana. Not that. Sit down nicely, okay?”
“…”
I’d gotten up energetically but sat back down instead.
I didn’t do it because of Da-eun’s persuasion; I restrained myself with logic.
Absolutely.
“Should I feel relieved that you seem to have adjusted well to Earth, or is it too much to where it’s a problem…?”
“Probably the former?”
“That would be good, but sometimes I worry that Kana gets too absorbed in the internet.”
“You sound just like a mother worried about a teenage kid.”
“It’s pointless worry.”
I’m not a kid or anything.
As I said this, for some reason, Da-eun looked at me with even more complex eyes.
“Hearing you say that doesn’t help ease my mind at all. …I shouldn’t ask to see your phone history, right?”
“Teenagers are super detail-oriented. Of course I wouldn’t let you. If you say that and then Kana refuses to talk to you again, can you handle that?”
“…Ugh. Just thinking about it makes me breathe heavily…!”
“You both know I’m listening, right?”
It’s like they’re talking about someone who isn’t in the room.
As I shook my head, suddenly I felt a little vibration in my phone hand.
“…?”
Did I get an alert or something?
Checking the screen with little thought, I tilted my head.
“Da-eun.”
“Yeah?”
“Didn’t you just say it wasn’t working?”
“Yeah. It’s not, right?”
Checking just in case, Da-eun tapped on her phone, but her face changed to one of surprise.
“Why? Is something going on?”
“Something…”
If you consider it work, it definitely is, but I wasn’t fully sure what was going on myself.
Shrugging at Da-eun, I looked back down at the screen.
On the glowing screen was an incoming call icon along with the name “Edel” clearly displayed.
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