I am back – Chapter 80

I had a great time all day.

After looping around the amusement park and lucky enough to ride a few attractions, it was already late afternoon.

To be honest, the food stands inside the amusement park were all expensive, but I decided to keep my mouth shut about it. After all, I was rich enough not to worry about food costs right now.

In reality, I filled my stomach more with snacks than an actual meal. My companions showed interest in street foods like hot dogs, churros, and waffles.

Even in Irrelaysia, there were street foods. However, we couldn’t really enjoy them freely because we were busy celebrating the festival, so we couldn’t indulge in those street foods like we wanted.

Most of those street foods were meat-based. There were ways to preserve dairy products for a long time, but generally, most magical tools used for that were quite expensive and not commonly used. While it might be different during festival times, it wasn’t common for street foods to include dairy products.

Maybe that’s why, the most popular food among the four of us was waffles topped generously with whipped cream.

“Indeed, refrigerators are truly useful things. When we go back, I should research magical tool production, and that should be the first thing to study. The more it spreads nationwide, the better the quality of life will be. Especially, it will drastically reduce the number of people who die from food poisoning.”

That was Dana’s conclusion while munching on a waffle piled high with cream.

Honestly, the whipped cream in these waffles was more likely to be plant-based cream than cream made from milk, but I didn’t want to shatter their dreams, so I just pretended not to know.

*

Our schedule wasn’t limited to just the amusement park. There were plans to visit the rooftop of that skyscraper next door and a large aquarium. It seemed like a day plan for foreign tourists who came to experience ‘Seoul tourism.’

Well, it wasn’t just to celebrate my birthday; there was also the intention to broaden their perspectives. No matter where we went from here, it would be a first time for them.

“Hmm.”

Finally, sitting in a rather posh restaurant located high up in the building, Kalia cleared her throat in embarrassment.

“… I think we might have enjoyed ourselves a bit too much while celebrating your birthday.”

“No, it’s fine. The mere fact that I can celebrate my birthday is thanks to you all, and honestly, just watching you have fun made me happy.”

I really did have a fantastic time.

From my perspective, this was my first time here as well. Honestly, looking down at Seoul from the top of the building felt quite refreshing in many ways. Walking through the dense spaces of the buildings made it hard to grasp that it was wide due to the density, but now that I was up here, looking out at the endless sea of buildings, it brought new feelings.

Moreover, it was late October. The weather was cold, and the sky was clear. The dust had been swept down below, making for a great view that extended far away.

As the sun began to set, even more impressive lights were visible than the ones I saw from my apartment. I took photographs with the camera I brought along.

Despite this being my first sight, surprisingly, I was quite calm. That’s because even though I had never seen it in person, I had seen it several times in videos. Expecting that I would see such a scene and experiencing it in person for the first time was quite different.

Kalia, Dana, Pia, and Arna were lost in the scenery outside, forgetting to even talk.

They shivered as they stepped onto the glass floor, and took their time walking slowly from end to end at the observation deck, as if they wanted to engrave the view in their minds, turning back to the outside multiple times.

When I showed my smartphone, they awkwardly smiled at the camera.

My smartphone captured many moments of them in various ways.

“Did… did I look that excited?”

Dana, who had been earnestly asking me about the construction methods of this building, blushed as she asked. When I told her that it was too specialized for me to know much about, she finally realized what question she had been asking and stayed quiet for a while.

“You don’t have to be too embarrassed. I was incredibly surprised when I first saw magic in Irrelaysia, right?”

As I sliced my steak while saying that, Dana’s expression brightened a little.

“Oh, right! Here, magic isn’t something you see in everyday life.”

The place we were dining was empty apart from us, so we only had to be cautious when staff entered. Therefore, we didn’t have to worry about outside eyes while discussing stories from Irrelaysia.

In fact, if you made a regular reservation here, you couldn’t just book a table only a month in advance, but for some reason, one spot was left vacant, and Dana seemed to have booked it on a whim.

…Perhaps all that luck might be thanks to the Goddess.

Once I got home, should I pray together with Pia or something?

“Even the World Tree isn’t this tall.”

Arna glanced out the window, sincerely impressed. The city at night was still bright and lit up splendidly.

“The World Tree is still growing, isn’t it? It will probably get taller in the future.”

“It’s a different story whether the World Tree grows or not, but I do think it should be welcomed with joy if it does.”

Arna said with a smile at my words.

“… But really, the fact that we were able to spend such a day together is all thanks to Siyun.”

“Hmm?”

My ideas didn’t contribute at all to planning today’s schedule. So I reacted with some confusion, and Pia said with a smile.

“If you hadn’t come to us, we might not have been able to defeat the Demon King and might never have had this chance to explore this world.”

“Uh…”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s all thanks to you. Honestly, I can’t thank you enough.”

Hearing Kalia add to that made my face redden even more. No, in fact, my face wouldn’t blush purely by my will; it’s better to say that it was more accurately reddening. Well, it didn’t make much of a difference either way.

After that, we continued our meal in silence for a while.

But it didn’t feel awkward or strange.

For some reason, having them beside me felt incredibly natural.

Perhaps, I had relied on them quite a lot over the past five years.

“… Thank you, really.”

I said softly, but I’m sure they all heard me.

They all exchanged glances, looked at me, and just smiled each.

As if it was something natural for them.

*

Two days later.

On my actual birthday, I received birthday wishes from my companions as I headed out to work.

Usually, I felt good when heading to work, but this morning felt even better than usual.

Although it might be difficult to receive birthday wishes from my sister today, I was still grateful just for the greetings from my companions.

Originally, I would have been living alone in that apartment now, still having irregular seizures every night.

“Hello!”

“Oh, Siyun, you’re here.”

As I entered the store with a smile, my sister greeted me with a tired-looking smile.

…It was the same face I had seen last time, when she couldn’t sleep at night.

“Uh…”

I hesitated to ask if she hadn’t slept well again last night but thought of the reason before the words could slip out.

Today is my birthday.

And to my sister, I was already a dead person.

“…”

So, I couldn’t say a word.

Just a little while ago, the feeling of soaring skyward had settled down.

My sister still couldn’t forget me…

It was a complex mood. How should a dead person speak to those left behind? Should I ask them to forget, or should I ask them to remember? It’s not that one can just forget by being told to forget, and asking to remember might forever become a wound as well.

I quietly bowed my head and slipped into the dressing room behind the counter.

*

Even until the morning shift ended, my sister still had a slightly dazed expression.

I felt very worried, but knowing the situation made it difficult for me to find the right words to say.

How could I ask if they were okay when I knew they weren’t okay?

“… Siyun.”

But while I was deep in thought, my sister spoke first.

“Oh, yeah.”

“Um…”

My sister hesitated for just a moment and then slowly opened her mouth.

“I have something I want to give you.”

“Me?”

“Well, um, it’s a present. I bought something for you because I wanted to give it.”