Chapter 28: Why That Expression?

“It’s not that I dislike it.”

Just as he was about to answer that he didn’t particularly like it, Jin-yeop caught sight of the Shamar’s expression and answered with a somewhat troubled face.

‘It seems this kid picked it out.’

Jin-yeop instinctively realized that the reason the large tub was filled entirely with mint chocolate was the Shamar.

Does it even know what this is?

Or did it just like the color?

He reached out and patted the Shamar’s hair.

“I used to eat it often.”

“…”

“Because there was someone who liked it.”

At those words, the Shamar’s expression visibly brightened, and it started scooping up the ice cream again.

Jin-yeop scooped up a small amount of mint chocolate with his spoon and put it in his mouth.

The cool, sweet taste, felt after such a long time, relaxed his hardened lips.

On the other hand, Eun-ru, sitting in the chair quietly watching this scene, cautiously asked.

“Someone you liked?”

“Yes.”

“Who was that?”

At Eun-ru’s question, Jin-yeop’s hand, which had been scooping ice cream, stiffened.

He seemed to ponder for a moment, then put down his spoon, turned his head, and looked at Eun-ru.

“Guide Lee Eun-ru, do you like mint chocolate?”

“Yes, I like it.”

“I see.”

“…”

“That’s strange.”

He said this, reaching his hand towards the tissue box on the bedside table.

Eun-ru quickly, reading the mood, pulled out a tissue first and handed it to Jin-yeop.

Taking the tissue, Jin-yeop skillfully wiped around the Shamar’s mouth.

The Shamar naturally offered its face to Jin-yeop and then suddenly asked.

“Why aren’t you eating, Jin-yeop?”

“Yeah, my stomach feels cold.”

“Your stomach feels cold?”

“If you eat too much ice cream, your stomach gets cold.

So you should eat just a little bit too.”

The child was eating so enthusiastically that the edge of the tub was already caved in.

Jin-yeop wondered if he should tell it to stop now, but then thought, since it wasn’t even a real human, did he need to?

Monsters inside dungeons usually only had a single spatial pouch inside their stomachs.

It could be considered they didn’t really have internal organs.

So the ice cream the Shamar had devoured would probably remain, in its slightly melted state, inside its spatial pouch.

But he couldn’t be sure of that either.

The Shamar had definitely followed him out of the dungeon, but for now, he couldn’t properly identify its true nature.

‘This is a doll made by Alice.

I remember that much.’

But no matter how hard he tried to recall, everything was hazy.

The memories were so fragmented that he didn’t even know how to piece them together.

Looking at the Shamar, who was hesitating with the spoon in its mouth, Jin-yeop gave a small smile.

“Just five more bites.”

“…”

“Hmm?”

“Okay…”

The Shamar reluctantly nodded, and Jin-yeop patted its head as he looked at Eun-ru.

He felt that, regardless of others, he should tell the truth to Eun-ru, who had been inside the dungeon with him.

But for some reason, Eun-ru’s expression as he stared at him and the Shamar looked somewhat dissatisfied.

“Why that expression?”

“What about my expression?”

“Just, kind of…”

‘Looks like you’re sulking.’

Jin-yeop swallowed the rest of the sentence.

For some reason, Eun-ru, who seemed to have taken offense, was speaking in a somewhat sullen, grumbling tone.

Well, well, looking at it now, there were two children here.

He hadn’t done anything particularly wrong, but seeing Eun-ru tilting his head as if to make a point and fidgeting with his toes, Jin-yeop couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

When Jin-yeop let out a soft, deflating laugh, Eun-ru, who had been quiet, pouted his lips.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Do you know what kind of expression you’re making right now?”

“What about my expression?”

“A child who’s had his candy taken away?”

“…”

“I can’t cheer you up if you don’t tell me where you got offended.”

At Jin-yeop’s words, Eun-ru let out a disbelieving scoff.

“Ha, I’m not a child, you know?

It’s not that…”

Just then, he remembered what his uncle Ah-sung had said to him and clamped his mouth shut.

It seemed that if he even protested that he wasn’t a child, he’d just look like one, inviting being treated like one.

“It’s not that?”

“…”

“Are you not going to tell me?”

Having apparently decided to soothe and cajole him, Jin-yeop asked in an unusually gentle tone.

At that, Eun-ru shot up from his seat and strode over to Jin-yeop.

Then he snatched the spoon from Jin-yeop’s hand, scooped up some ice cream, and pushed it into his own mouth.

“That was mine…”

“I know.”

“…Don’t tell me you were upset because you wanted ice cream?”

At Jin-yeop’s question, Eun-ru swallowed the ice cream and stared at him as if he couldn’t believe it.

Just how much did he treat him like a child for his thoughts to jump to that conclusion?

“Would I be upset over that?

Ha, really…”

Watching Eun-ru slump down at the foot of the bed and run his hand through his hair, Jin-yeop awkwardly scratched his cheek.

But other than that, he couldn’t figure out what had upset him.

“That’s so mean, really.

If you think I’m a child, then sit me next to you and wipe my mouth too.”

“Huh?”

Eun-ru muttered quietly, but Jin-yeop, not hearing it, asked back.

But Eun-ru, as if saying ‘never mind,’ started eating the ice cream as if competing with the Shamar.

“Guide Lee Eun-ru.”

“…”

“I have something to tell you.”

At that, Eun-ru looked up with the spoon still in his mouth.

The sight was somehow cute, and a laugh almost escaped him, but he quickly composed himself and continued.

“This child came out of the dungeon.”

“What?”

Eun-ru answered, forgetting he still had the spoon in his mouth.

“What do you mean, came out of the dungeon?”

“Exactly what I said.

It’s a child that was inside the dungeon after the re-awakening.

I don’t know why, but my memory has been hazy ever since I came out of the dungeon as well.”

“…”

“I don’t know for what reason, or how, this child followed me outside.”

“No, that’s…”

“I thought I should tell you, even if not others.

You were in that dungeon with me, after all.”

“So, what are you going to do from now on?”

He was asking what he planned to do with the Shamar.

Jin-yeop couldn’t easily answer that either.

He could report it to the Management Department right away, but for some reason, he couldn’t do that.

Because he had no idea what would happen to the Shamar if it was taken away by the Management Department.

He didn’t know what purpose it had followed him out for, but it didn’t seem to be with the intention of harming him.

Honestly, keeping the child around just because it looked young and cute would be absurd.

Wasn’t a monster from a dungeon, first and foremost, a dangerous entity to ordinary people?

He himself might have ways to defend himself if something happened, but ordinary, non-awakened people didn’t.

“Well…

I’m not really sure what to do.”

“…”

“As you can see, it doesn’t seem to be an entity that followed me out to cause harm.

I didn’t receive any physical damage after the re-awakening either.”

“But you said you don’t remember.”

“Even if I don’t remember, if there had been some kind of impact, wouldn’t my body remember it?”

“There could have been a mental attack…”

Eun-ru added worriedly, looking at the Shamar eating ice cream.

Having apparently completely forgotten Jin-yeop’s instruction to eat only five more bites, the ice cream tub was already empty.

The child was still just focused on eating, with a happy expression over a simple ice cream, but for some reason, Eun-ru couldn’t see the Shamar the same way as before.

But looking at the child with suspicious eyes didn’t change anything immediately.

Just as Jin-yeop said, the child truly seemed to have no ulterior motives.

Just then, Eun-ru’s expression turned strange as he asked.

“But this kid told me that you like mint chocolate, Senior.”

“…What?”

“When I asked how it knew, it didn’t answer…”

“Jin-yeop likes mint chocolate!”

The Shamar looked up at Eun-ru’s words and shouted.

Then, as if seeking agreement, it looked at Jin-yeop and smiled shyly.

Seeing that face, Jin-yeop involuntarily narrowed his brow.

The Shamar tilted its head in puzzlement, then scooped up some ice cream and held it out to Jin-yeop.

“Right?”

The ice cream, which had melted quite a bit, looked precarious, about to drip at any moment.

Jin-yeop stared blankly at the Shamar holding out the spoon, then silently took the ice cream and ate it.

Grasped by an inexplicable sense of déjà vu, Jin-yeop unconsciously grabbed the Shamar’s cheeks and examined its face closely from side to side.

Silver hair, blue eyes.

Deep double eyelids and pale skin.

Though none of it matched the image in his memory, Jin-yeop kept having a strange thought.

He didn’t like mint chocolate ice cream.

But for the sake of his younger brother, who did like it, he had often made that excuse.

‘No, that’s overthinking.’

It was an absurd suspicion, so Jin-yeop quickly erased the thought from his mind.

But the fact that the Shamar, which should only have existed inside the dungeon, had suddenly mentioned a food called mint chocolate, wouldn’t erase itself.

“Senior?”

Eun-ru called out to Jin-yeop, who had been holding the Shamar’s face for a long time.

Only then did Jin-yeop snap out of it and withdraw his hands.

“Lee Eun-ru-ssi.”

“Yes.”

“I know you won’t understand, but I think I need to keep this child with me for the time being.”

“…Keep it with you?

You’re not going to send it back to the dungeon?”

“Yes.

So I’d be grateful if you could keep the fact that this child came from the dungeon a secret.”