196 – Nymph and the Ugly Chick #6
I had to hang various IVs, syringes, and medicines on my body.
Even the resurrected Demon King, who started coming back to life through the scientific power of evil forces, probably isn’t decked out in such devices.
It was inconvenient to move, and I felt a little embarrassed at how overboard it seemed, but Ari kept insisting.
“There might be some problem with your body, so we definitely need to run some tests…! Even if it’s a bit uncomfortable, you have to endure it for the sake of your senior…! Do you understand…!?”
Smack.
The hand that hit my back was quite forceful.
Because I had always been good at listening to doctors, lawyers, and police officers since I was young, I decided to follow Ari’s words obediently.
“This injection is going to sting a bit. Sting. Stiiiing.”
Suddenly, laughter bubbled up from deep inside my stomach.
“Muha-ha!”
“Senior, why are you laughing? The injection I just put in your arm was supposed to hurt a lot. Are you perhaps feeling sensations incorrectly or something…!?”
“No, it’s just that I can’t believe how much you’ve really become a doctor, Ari! Back during our trainee days, you were the one who would cry alone behind the building. When did you become so amazing?”
Eight years.
Eight years was certainly enough time to change many things.
It was enough time for the ostracized Ari, like an ugly duckling, to elegantly frolic around in a white coat like a swan.
Of course, at my admiration, Ari puffed out her cheeks and frowned.
“What are you saying? Right now, you’re surprised that I’ve become amazing…? I’m really hurt. Of course, I couldn’t have imagined being like this back then…! Hmph!”
It seemed Ari misunderstood something.
In fact, I thought Ari would become even more amazing.
The proof was right here.
“Ah, Senior…!?”
Swipe.
I grabbed Ari’s wrist and turned her palm towards me.
Ari’s cheeks flushed slightly as if she was a little flustered.
Was she embarrassed?
“I knew that you were working harder than anyone else where no one could see you.”
Ari’s palm felt smooth, with wear on her fingerprints. It was similar to my condition, having started my Awakened life two years earlier than Ari.
I still vividly remembered how much training, hardship, and drops of blood and sweat spilled down my palm to get to this point.
I had pushed myself so hard that I wondered how I managed to do it.
Ari must have done the same.
Why did we work so hard?
It must have been because we could endure it since it was something we wanted to do.
“Madam, you once mentioned that there is a way for Ari to live healthily without receiving divine punishment, right…? What is it…?”
When I asked, Madam Jo Mo-ryeong, who was watching us, let out a long sigh.
Then she said softly.
“That’s—‘Deception.’ In the spiritual world, it’s hiding and concealing myself completely so that the gods can’t sense me. It will take about a day to perform the deception ritual.”
# # #
“Senior, that cheek… I’m so sorry. It was an emergency, but because of me…”
Yu Ari mumbled as she faced Haildo, who was about to leave. The cloth and bandage stuck to the man’s cheek were very conspicuous.
Soon, Haildo rubbed his cheek and said.
“It was an emergency, so it can’t be helped.”
“Do the same to me…! I must pay back what I suffered from others, or I can’t feel settled. On the other hand, if I did something wrong… then I think it’s only fair to receive that much in return…!”
Karma.
That was another key word that had supported Yu Ari.
Ari thought that since she had sucked on Haildo’s cheek without permission, it was only right for Haildo to suck on her cheek back.
Of course, Haildo responded in a rather ordinary rejection.
“No, even so, that seems a bit much, don’t you think?”
“Then I can’t feel comfortable!”
Yu Ari firmly pushed forward.
Soon, Haildo, looking troubled, glanced around and, noticing no one was around, finally cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Well, still…”
“Come on, do it right here! Hurry!”
Tap.
Yu Ari pointed to her white cheek with her finger.
It was a clean, flawless cheek, as white as snow without any blemishes, despite not having applied any cosmetics.
As Haildo hesitated, Yu Ari ultimately couldn’t hold back, stood on her tiptoes, and bumped her cheek against Haildo’s mouth.
Squish.
Yu Ari’s cheek immediately felt like it was on fire.
As Haildo exclaimed, “Ugh…,” Yu Ari said.
“So now it’s fair…!”
Yu Ari felt a great deal of embarrassment.
She couldn’t help but turn around and dash home.
Madam Jo Mo-ryeong, her grandmother, said to Yu Ari as she fled.
“Can you let her go like that? Ari, when the red thread was tied to your pinky, you must have seen that man. I’ve been in this field long enough to know just by intuition.”
Madam Jo Mo-ryeong was a person who had gone through various experiences and efforts. She could intuitively know the compatibility and fortunes of couples just by looking at them.
To her, the young man disappearing in the distance and her granddaughter seemed like a very well-matched pair.
After all, he was the kind of man who would jump into a dangerous place just to save Yu Ari. If that’s not love, what is?
That is why Madam Jo Mo-ryeong felt pity for Ari.
“Ari, you also like that man, don’t you? If you inherit karma from me, you will be able to marry that man by fate and destiny. But…, if you deny your karma…”
Denying one’s inherent karma was akin to rejecting fate and destiny.
It could lead to cutting off the thread and bond that connected her to that man.
However, Yu Ari, looking out the window with a distant gaze, spoke as if she had made a resolution.
“Grandma, I don’t believe in fate or destiny. And even if it means that my senior would come to like me because of such things, I don’t want that. I will seize my path on my own. With these hands—.”
Swipe.
Yu Ari looked at her palm, which had struggled and worked hard.
Now, she stated that she needed to undergo a day of intense training in isolation for the ‘Deception Ritual.’
Yu Ari then looked at her cellphone.
And, as always, searched the name ‘Haildo’ on the internet.
“Title: The Past Shared by Haildo’s Training Camp Classmate
I, Squirrel Beast, trained with Haildo at the same training camp, but honestly, it seems like all this popularity is just hot air? And he was just trying to look good to the girls, haha. Here’s a photo from back then; I’ve covered the faces.”
This really looks like a 8 years ago training camp photo.
Dude, Haildo is so gender-biased.
Is this for real? I’ll stay neutral here, lol. Last time there was a fabricated post too.
“Who would write such nonsensical stuff…!”
Famous figures often ended up being torn apart over unfounded claims.
Recently, Haildo, who suddenly gained fame, was also receiving all kinds of malicious comments.
“Grandma, I’m going out for a bit.”
Yu Ari shifted her steps.
Using a device resembling a cellphone, a privilege obtained as a black agent, she tracked down the IP of the person who fabricated the ‘past story.’
In fact, that address was a familiar place for Yu Ari, too.
“Is anyone home? It’s delivery. You ordered baby supplies, right?”
Knock knock.
Yu Ari knocked on the door of an expensive apartment located in downtown Seoul.
“Yes, I’m coming out─.”
Then a woman with her hair tied back, holding a baby, appeared. She was dressed tightly in leggings and a sports bra like the sporty newlyweds of the new city.
It seemed she had been exercising on a mat on the floor, covered in sweat and looking very healthy, but her expression turned a dark color as she saw Yu Ari.
“Huh, you, you’re Yu Ari…!”
“Kang Do-young. You’re living in a nice house. You have a baby too. I heard your husband is a doctor, but why didn’t you invite me to your wedding? I also saw your husband’s face a few times during practice. Were you scared of what I would say to him?”
“Th-that’s…”
“Enough. You’re the one who posted that malicious comment.”
Swipe.
Yu Ari held up her cellphone displaying the post in front of Kang Do-young.
“W-what are you talking about? You suddenly show up out of nowhere…! I already repaid my debt to that… Lee Joon-Hun guy while working under him…! Can you go away? My husband will be back soon…! I have to make dinner!”
Kang Do-young was afraid of Yu Ari.
Once, she had trouble her back during training days, but now, the relationship had flipped as Yu Ari surged up as ‘Seo Ye-rim’s’ rival.
Kang Do-young remained a mediocre E-rank hunter and worked at Lee Joon-Hun’s pharmaceutical company, going through various illegal experiments but ultimately ended her Awakened life as an E-rank.
Now she was just an ordinary housewife.
The reason Yu Ari visited her was baffling to her.
“You wrote that absurd, false post. My senior is hitting on the girls? You’re just harboring resentment because you always bullied me and got scolded by my senior, right?”
Tracking down and confronting the person who left the malicious comments.
Yu Ari was able to realize that dream that everyone in the 21st century had always wished for.
“Just because you’re unhappy with your life doesn’t mean you can put others down.”
“W-what are you going to do…!”
“Kang Do-young, do you want to end up like Do Joo-hee? Don’t you know what happened to her? The comments and posts she had written online were sent to her husband. Didn’t you hear what happened?”
“Huh, huh…!”
“I heard you told your husband you had never had a boyfriend before marrying him? Then who were those guys you met in Spain and Brazil?”
The sensation of being choked caused Kang Do-young’s vision to darken.
She considered grabbing Yu Ari’s hair, but it was clear she wouldn’t stand a chance against Yu Ari, who had risen from E-Rank to at least B-Rank.
“And your husband went on a trip to Jeju, right? Then who’s the guy coming over here right now? Kang Do-young, I won’t beat around the bush. You know how you should behave, right?”
Kang Do-young felt her vision fade.
The fact that the seemingly insignificant Yu Ari was pressuring her made her uncomfortable and afraid, as her past felt like a noose tightening around her neck.
“From now on, write ten recommendations and good stories about Senior Haildo. I’ll check them. I’ll invite you to the same group chat with people who left malicious comments similar to you, so when the coordinates get posted, report and downvote those malicious posts.”
Swipe.
With those words, Yu Ari turned and left.
“I will do anything to make my senior look great and wonderful. Until now, I haven’t been determined enough, but now I’ll definitely choose my own path. To do that—”
Yu Ari confirmed the database that listed the information of A-Rank Awakeners in Korea.
The A-Rankers who had been sidelining Haildo for fear of losing their spots.
She had believed that Haildo would win without losing and had been patient until now, but it seemed like it was finally time for her to take action.
# # #
“What an embarrassing experience it was.”
Kissing Ari’s cheek.
Even thinking about it again was an embarrassing and surprising matter.
But upon returning home with some hope, I checked ‘The Hero’s Path’ and found the quests for receiving and giving cheek kisses from the Core were completed…!
I received my rewards and definitely felt that the time for hyper-evolution had become longer.
“Ari has become a Core.”
Soon, Inoi said.
“For the witch Medea, who undertook all manner of dirty work and wrongdoings for her partner, was originally known as Core…! It is said that in the future, she went to the heaven Elysium and married Achilles, living happily ever after…!”
I didn’t quite understand what Inoi was saying, but it seemed to mean that Ari had evolved into a Core as a reward for her efforts over the years.
Evolution.
That should be a good thing.
Thinking back, Ari had a determined expression as if she had made a resolution.
Her usually timid and shadowed expression from hiding something had brightened significantly.
Pababab-.
At that moment, Illinois popped out of our house.
“The house master is asking you to come over…! Welcome…!”
What was the Nymph Illinois doing at our house?
Wondering if Seo Ye-rim had come as well, I glanced around, but Illinois laughed mischievously.
“Core Ye-rim isn’t here…! That’s because I, Illinois, like George Washington, who was independent in England, have declared independence from Core Ye-rim…! From now on, please call me Freedom Illinois…!”
Freedom Illinois.
It sounded like a Gundam name.
No, wait, did Illinois just claim independence from Seo Ye-rim?
What on earth could have happened…?
“On that note, I’m going to introduce you to my new partner…! Come this way…!”
Swipe.
As Illinois fussed, someone came out from inside the house.
She was a former electric-type Awakener ranked second among A-Rankers known as ‘Lightning Strike,’ Han Ju-ryun.
“Haildo, I have something to tell you. If you’re aiming for a higher position in A-Rank, you should listen carefully to what I’m saying and think it through. I want to make you a proposal that wouldn’t be bad for you.”
