Chapter 40 : Yulia yekarcina (2)

Yulia, carrying me in a princess carry—how humiliating—returned to where we first met.

It seemed the Minotaur’s attack had ended; perhaps she had run out of bullets.

“Ha… Just… bear with it a little longer! I’ll… bear with it too…”

“Do you really think *that* needs worrying about??”

[Well… it’s no different than Yena’s usual behavior, is it?]

Yena…?

What have you been up to while I wasn’t looking?

“So, do I pass?”

Carried in her grasp, I eventually arrived at the spot we first met, and had to answer.

Though it held a completely different meaning to me.

The moment I agreed, it felt like there would be no turning back.

‘I lost… Female over there! It’s been a while since I’ve worked up a sweat. I’ll specially hire you as my bodyguard. You don’t have to wear a maid outfit! Or I’ll even allow you to yield to that male. This is how I grow.’

“…If I say no, will you give up?”

“Of course… I’ll have to give up. Your opinion is the priority after all.”

Thankfully, at the very end, she showed some common sense.

Like I’d be crazy enough to have someone like *you* as a bodyguard?

Who knows what you’d do to me under the guise of protection.

“However, if that happens… I think I’ll go on a rampage out of despair, until only you and I are left in the world. Then will you hire me as your bodyguard?”

[A dilemma.]

‘Hmm hmm! Male. You showed some pretty decent moves. I feel like you, you… could become my rival.’

“Haha. What a joke. Then, that quiet-looking lady we saw earlier? Could I perhaps talk to…”

“Ha. Ha. Ha.”

[If *that* seemed like a joke, then there must be something wrong with WooSeok’s eyes.]

Then it *should* be a joke! What am I supposed to do if she’s serious!!

Even the woman I’d pointed to had retreated behind me at some point.

I stared at the Minotaur, who had been rampaging earlier, wondering if she might help, but she just nodded her head with a satisfied grin and gave me a thumbs-up.

‘Mother! Do you see? I think this body has finally made a friend! Mother? Mother? Why are you looking at my friend like that?’

“Have I… been rejected?”

‘You said you were doing an internet broadcast…? I’ll… definitely be waiting…’

‘Aaah! Let’s go home for now! Something’s wrong with Mother!’

Yulia’s gloomy voice broke the brief silence.

As I hesitated, unable to find a suitable answer, Yulia began to act.

She reached into her bag!

I couldn’t bear to watch.

The carnage that would unfold because of me…

[Squeeze!]

Thinking it was time for slaughter, I squeezed my eyes shut, but nothing unusual happened. When I cautiously opened my eyes, I saw Yulia weeping pitifully.

“Waaaaah!!!! I tried so hard! I believed it was a fateful encounter, and I gave it my all!! Waaaaah!!! To be rejected like this. My heart hurts so much!”

[Oh. She’s crying! WooSeok, our self-proclaimed gentleman, has made a woman cry!]

Unexpectedly, what she pulled out of her bag was a handkerchief embroidered with a few flowers.

Using it to wipe her eyes, Yulia wailed sorrowfully.

Taken aback by her unexpected reaction, my response was a little delayed.

The blunt, emotionless woman I thought I knew was, in fact, someone who expressed her feelings more openly than anyone.

That ecstatic look when we first met, the sticky-sweet expression she showed me.

The demonic face she directed at the Minotaur and the other woman, and now this.

Perhaps it was *me* who had been prejudiced and misunderstood her?

I started to see her a little differently.

“Yulia! Yulia! Don’t cry! I was just looking for a pen to sign the contract! It’s a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”

Vowing to reduce Gaia’s waiting room by a tenth, I approached Yulia.

After all she’d done for me, and despite everything, she’d saved my life.

It’ll be okay.

…Right?

“I, Yulia Yekateryna! Accept your command! From this moment on, everything I have belongs to you. I swear on this blood that I will live only for you!”

Yulia actually made a small cut on her palm, drawing blood.

The crimson liquid stood out starkly against her snow-white skin.

Heavy.

It felt so heavy; I was already starting to regret it.

Moreover, seeing her instantly switch from tears to this made me wonder if I’d been tricked.

I wanted to declare it void right there, but it felt like there would be no turning back if I did.

[Still, that contract is one of the most important documents guaranteed by the country. You don’t have to worry about it being broken. With this, your safety in reality can also be guaranteed!]

The Minotaur had disappeared at some point, and Yulia had also gone somewhere to fill out paperwork.

Minotaur. I wanted to at least exchange contact information.

[Mission, com~plete! Now the scoreboard will appear. Please wait a moment.]

Gaia was unusually high-strung today.

When I met her in the previous game, she was more composed, each action carefully considered.

She was so attentive to me back then; even if we weren’t directly observing, she was a bit too much today.

“It was strange, come to think of it. You were planning on Yulia from the beginning, weren’t you?”

Gaia had guided me to this place—a place with global shared bodyguards—not a place close to home or with other Koreans.

In a situation where she would normally worry or advise me, she had only laughed or rambled on about strange things.

As if she was trying to hide something important.

[Ultimately, it was WooSeok’s choice. It’s hard to find someone as perfect as her, and I thought she would choose you. You are superior to any other man.]

“I was originally going with Yena. Then everything you planned wouldn’t have worked, would it?”

[I told Yena about this place too. Wherever she went, she would have ended up here.]

I moved according to Gaia’s words from beginning to end.

Watching Yulia tearfully bid farewell to her colleagues, I spoke to Gaia.

“…Thanks for looking out for me.”

Unaware of anything, I would’ve chosen one bodyguard regardless.

Because the burden I felt was the biggest factor.

I would’ve decided right then and there without much thought about who that person was or how they would help me.

Because I didn’t know what true danger was.

I could confirm that with the Minotaur’s gun just now.

You never know when or how danger might strike, so I needed a reliable means of protection.

So Gaia led me to Yulia.

Seeing her being comforted and blessed by the other bodyguards, I knew she wasn’t a bad person.

Honestly, the past… She said she’d forgotten it all.

Gaia must have worried a lot in her own way.

She didn’t want to force anything on me, but I think she wanted to give me the safest bodyguard.

The fact that she hid it is a bit… but ultimately, it was 100% for my sake.

“I’ll return all the WooSeok points you deducted. You’re back to 0 points total.”

I had to make up for the misunderstanding.

[So you’ll keep my room too, right?]

“That’s separate. What would it have hurt to explain beforehand? Prepare to upgrade using WooSeok points.”

[You said 0 points! 0 points!!!!]

Imagining Gaia’s expression, I chuckled and put my phone back in my pocket.

Now that I had a bodyguard, I needed to focus on Yulia.

“Yulia!”

“You called!”

“No, it’s okay to finish your goodbyes…”

As soon as I called her name, the Yulia who had been laughing with her colleagues moments before came running with a dopey expression.

Honestly, to anyone else, the only thing that would suggest ‘bodyguard’ was her well-toned, muscular physique.

Who would think someone with that expression was a bodyguard?

“Since we’ll be together from now on, I called you to get to know each other. It’ll be easier to interact if we know the basics, right?”

“I’m fine with anything! Please treat me as you see fit!”

“No no. I’m the one who’s uncomfortable. I mean, we’ll be living together.”

I heard that when you have a bodyguard, they usually live in the same house.

Since men, no matter how poor, live in mansions, there are plenty of rooms.

“Ugh! This kindness! I had no idea I was such a blessed woman! I’ll never forget this day.”

I felt I could now ignore her slightly exaggerated behavior.

Familiarity is a scary thing…

“Fortunately, there are plenty of spare rooms at home, so I’ll assign you one you like.”

“Huh? I’ll naturally be living in your, I mean, Master’s room, won’t I?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

…It seemed we needed to talk a lot more.

“It wouldn’t be bad to share the same bed… Slurp, ah, I apologize. …wouldn’t it?”

Forget familiarity.

We really needed to talk.

[So, despite the Grim Reaper talk and all that, she’s basically the Choi Yena fanatic cool beauty version~]

I needed to talk to *her* too.