Chapter 154. Extravagant Meals (2) (1/2)

The inside of Seo Yuhui’s house wasn’t a complete mess, but he could see familiar sacks strewn around the floor.

‘This is…’

The Daughter of Luxuria’s house.

It was a humble place compared to her fame, but it had a warm atmosphere.

‘Hugo would have been green with envy if he knew.’

After getting caught sniffing the aroma of sandalwood around the room, Seol Jihu blushed a bit before he rolled up his sleeves and began to help tidy the room.

The work wasn’t too hard or tiresome, but Seol Jihu struggled to keep his distance from Seo Yuhui while he helped her clean.

It was because desires that were too embarrassing to even word out would assault his mind if she came too close.

He wanted to play pranks on her, whine about things, and…

'What’s wrong with me?'

His mind knew that he couldn’t, but he felt as if his instincts were throwing a fit, screaming ‘I wanna hug! I wanna hug!’

It was to the point where he was confident that even if he went ‘Screw this! I’m hugging her!’ and embraced her, Seo Yuhui would only let out a helpless sigh and forgive him.

'What the fuck am I thinking?'

While he ended up not doing anything as even he believed his thoughts were retarded, Seol Jihu was completely bewildered.

Was it weird if he felt like his body was automatically reacting?

He could almost understand why Chohong and Hugo ran away; there wasn’t anything harder than the situation he was in.

Upon sneaking a glance at the fine neckline of Seo Yuhui who was hard at work, Seol Jihu moaned inside and forcibly tore his gaze away.

And as he did so, a sack placed in the corner of the room came into view. While he was staring at it since he had nowhere else to place his eyes on…

“They’re ingredients.”

”Huk!”

Seol Jihu jumped up in surprise at the sudden voice.

”Are you okay?”

When Seo Yuhui approached him, Seol Jihu shrank back instinctively.

”Yes, yes.”

Seeing the youth go ‘Haha’ and stumble away towards the sack, Seo Yuhui made a surprised expression.

”…You’re holding out surprising well, aren’t you?”

”Huh?”

”No, it’s nothing.”

Seo Yuhui who had mumbled to herself, laughed it off, waving her hands as if nothing happened.

Suddenly feeling that the conversation had gotten awkward, Seol Jihu hurriedly searched for a new topic.

“Oh, they were ingredients. Ingredients, huh. I almost thought…”

”Thought what?”

“There were all sorts of weird rumors because of these sacks.”

“Really? They’re really just ingredients… You can check them yourself.”

Urged by curiosity, Seol Jihu opened the sacks and found familiar things inside.

They were normal food ingredients no matter how he saw.

‘She is right.’

He had thought there would be something special inside. Receiving the answer to the question he had had for a while, his anxiety dropped significantly.

“The residents of Ramman Village settled down faster than I expected. I had prepared a lot thinking they would take longer, so I ended up having a lot of unused ingredients…”

The Order of Luxuria had actively supported King Prihi’s decision and did not spare any efforts doing so.

Seol Jihu nodded in acknowledgment remembering that Seo Yuhui had been at the center of this support.

'She’s a good person.'

Seo Yuhui gathered her hands and made a beautiful smile.

”Speaking of which, you’re an amazing person.”

Seol Jihu doubted his ears.

“Is it true? That after solving the unsolvable mystery of the Ramman Village, you turned down the gold bar and asked the king to use it for the residents instead?”

Seol Jihu’s cheeks flushed.

Whether she did or didn’t know Seol Jihu’s complicated mind, Seo Yuhui happily chirped on.

“Normal Earthlings would find it hard to make such a decision. You must really be… a kind person.”

He stopped breathing. His face also became stiff.

His heart started pounding as if he was a child that finally got caught for doing something wrong.

‘Why all of a sudden?'

An unexplainable feeling enveloped his body.

It was like he was placed in a moment of choice. Although it wasn’t a big deal, it definitely felt as if he was at an important ‘fork’ in the road.

Seol Jihu who had been standing there stunned with his hands on his chest, ”…No.”

He unconsciously spoke out.

”That’s not it.”

A slightly hoarse voice.

“It’s not like that.”

Seo Yuhui’s eyes widened at the three consecutive denials.

It wasn’t out of humbleness; it was what Seol Jihu really thought.

Thinking back, he felt like this ever since the Forest of Denial— no, since the Neutral Zone.

Every time people around him praised and raised him up for being kind and amazing, he had felt an unexplainable sense of burden and discomfort.

Seo Yuhui asked.

”What do you mean?”

”…I don’t know.”

Seol Jihu let out a deep sigh. He knew he was speaking gibberish, but once he tried to explain, no words came out.

Only, while it could have been his misunderstanding, he felt as if Seo Yuhui was expecting a certain ‘image’ of him, and he wanted to just say that he wasn’t it.

“It’s just that the sins I’ve committed… they’re too much to count.”

Seol Jihu bit his lips.

“I wanted to lessen the guilt I was feeling…”

He continued on as if he was lamenting.

“And I hoped that if I kept living right, I might be forgiven one day…”

Even while knowing it wasn’t going to happen.

Seol Jihu bitterly pursed his lips.

“I’m… I’m not a good person.”

Seol Jihu realized he slipped up after saying that.

What fault did she have? It wasn’t that they were complete strangers, but he had unconsciously spilled out all his worries to her.

Seo Yuhui no longer had the gentle smile on her face. She was staring at him with sunken eyes.

Her fine lips slightly parted as if she was going to say something before closing them again.

Feeling her quiet eyes penetrate through him, Seol Jihu lowered his head.

“I’m sorry.”

He began to concentrate on cleaning, feeling like he had spoken unnecessarily.

The conversation that had awkwardly ended only resumed when they were almost done tidying up the room.

”Are you free tomorrow too?”

Seo Yuhui was making an ambiguous smile like the one Mona Lisa had. Her current expression seemed more natural than the always-smiling face she had put on.

”Tomorrow?”

”Yes. There are a lot of ingredients left, so…”

”Oh, what should I do… I’m not sure if I’ll have time from tomorrow onwards…”

Seo Yuhui blinked her eyes.

“Our team decided to go to the Huge Stone Rocky Mountain tomorrow. The new recruits are going to receive training from Master Jang.”

Then a second later, Seo Yuhui’s eyes widened.

”Oh my! Huge Stone Rocky Mountain?”

”Huh? Yes.”

”That’s great!”

Lightly clapping her hands, she requested to accompany him after explaining that she too had things she had to do at the Huge Stone Rocky Mountain.

“It’s a danger zone after all. I’m not too comfortable going alone so it’s fine even if you view it as an official request from me.”

”Ah, it’s okay.”

Seol Jihu easily accepted after hearing her situation.

“We’re planning to be there for a while anyways. Since our destinations are the same, let’s go together.”

He accepted her request because having her could only be beneficial to them.

‘But wasn’t she supposed to be a High Ranker?’

After Seo Yuhui saw him off, a suspicion arose in Seol Jihu’s mind. But he quickly brushed off the thought, reminding himself of her occupation as a priest which was known for its poor combat abilities.

As expected, Jang Maldong did not refuse but rather welcomed her.

He wondered what someone like her would have to do in a mountain, but he did not dig further into it as it was her personal business.

The next day.

The Carpe Diem team boarded a carriage headed for the Huge Stone Rocky Mountain with Seo Yuhui who had come wearing a neat set of robes.

The company was originally composed of five people, but with the addition of Phi Sora who decided to come at the last minute, the sum added up to six.

*

As soon as they arrived, Seol Jihu immediately headed towards the hideout that the village chief had told him before.

They were planning to stay for at least a couple weeks, and it was difficult to find a better place to use as a base camp than there.

The cave was occupied by six Cave Ettins, but they were all massacred by Seol Jihu who suddenly attacked them.

The siblings shouted in surprise seeing the six monsters sent to their deaths with exactly six spear strikes.

They knew he wasn’t normal, but they didn’t imagine that the skill gap between them was this big considering that they were all from the same year.

Jang Maldong who was proudly watching from the side commented, “This is what I expected the first time we came,” before proceeding to take off his gear and prepare for the upcoming training.

‘Finally.’

It was time for training.