READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 271. We’re Friends, Right? (2)
Seonwoo-yeon’s expression was soon turning serious.
This was not the intention. I had thrown a joke meant to lighten the mood, but somehow, the atmosphere only sunk further.
Indeed, was it still too early to share humor across alien races?
“By the way, just to ease your worries about our planet’s technology level, I’ll assure you that no other Alphauri will be visiting Earth.”
“Excuse me?”
“Let me give you a hint: I cast an incredible high-level magic that transcends intergalactic distances before I died. And… it was from a planet struggling with resource depletion.”
The pursuit back home was a considerable danger, but there was a specific reason for my ease here.
I made sure to feign laughter during our conversation to ease Seonwoo-yeon’s tension.
“Probably due to my reincarnation, things are in chaos back there. To sort that out, the planet’s top scholars will need at least a few months to prevent total extinction. Even if there’s a mage who wants to chase me, calculations show they no longer have fuel to waste.”
However, just a few seconds later, her facial muscles returned to a neutral expression.
“I’m sorry for draining the energy my fellow countrymen used to conserve. But aside from that engineer, there were no other altruistic individuals, so is it really a problem?”
There was simply too much magic power spent between our conversations to even pretend to manage expressions or waste gestures.
“Moreover, even though technology had advanced so much, the people back home couldn’t extract proper information from the brain I left behind.”
Hmm.
I took a breath to avoid revealing my magic depletion state.
Having completed the necessary spells, I was somewhat out of the woods, so I decided to blurt out something I had wanted to say.
“By any chance, what do you think the components of a soul are, Ms. Seonwoo-yeon?”
That girl sitting there was an Earthling, after all.
Thinking about it, even the same question could elicit different opinions based on perspective.
Since I had already revealed secrets, it wouldn’t hurt to have an enriching conversation with an alien.
“Actually, I still don’t know the exact truth.”
“….”
“But at the very least, I’ve figured out that a soul is a blend of the material and the immaterial.”
“….”
“Just as you can’t discuss self without mentioning memories, the concept of a soul heavily relies on memory. So the chances of Alphauri stealing my reincarnation magic? Zero.”
“….”
“If you touch the material aspect, the immaterial memories naturally get affected as well. I scraped all the soul particles clean, leaving none behind when I reincarnated, damaging the corpse’s memories. I circumvented the constraints placed on my body.”
“….”
“Honestly, the spectral entities we imagined turn out to be quite like that. You can distinguish between child spirits and adult spirits. When I was younger, I thought it was funny? But when I delved into research, I realized that a soul genuinely influences physical growth, which is fascinating.”
Even after my first reincarnation, the concept of the soul still felt mysteriously captivating.
It’s been ages since I could express my curiosity like this.
“I’ve spent nearly my whole life studying, and yet there’s still so much that’s wondrous…”
I finally turned my attention back to my listener.
‘Oh.’
Until now, I had thought merely that the Earthling had a good listening attitude.
Upon taking another glance, Seonwoo-yeon was staring blankly at the air, unsure of what to do.
Well, I had never thought I’d directly meet an alien either, so how bewildering must this situation be for her?
‘It makes sense she’d be dazed.’
Rolling my eyes, I quickly reflected on my previous actions.
And at the conclusion of this contemplation, I decided to give Seonwoo-yeon a chance to speak. Coincidentally, the question that tumbled out was a genuine curiosity from my heart.
“By the way, since we have an opportunity here, do you have anything you want to ask me?”
Seonwoo-yeon showed no reaction until I returned to my original position.
But just as I plopped down, she finally began to speak cautiously.
Realizing the actual existence of aliens, it was natural to expect that the nonchalant response of having nothing to ask wouldn’t arise.
“…Do you mind if I ask… your name?”
“What?”
Shocking.
A moment later, after pondering for a while, Seonwoo-yeon’s first question turned out to be no other than my name.
What is your name?
After realizing that I was merely a mage residing within Kim Gi-ryeo’s corpse, she needed a new moniker to distinguish my spirit from the previous one. Her question turned out to be completely different from what I had imagined.
Oh my gosh. Here I am, facing an entity from a binary star system, and her main concern is such a trivial matter.
‘Her mindset is completely different from mine!’
If I were in the same situation…
If I were the ignorant native seated across from her, I would at least have asked over 500 words worth of questions.
Of course, I wouldn’t stop there; I’d probably pester her about what substance she breathed, be it anhydrous sulfate, nitrate, or something else.
‘Now that I think about it, Seonwoo-yeon’s approach seems more civilized than my pestering.’
I snapped back to reality after immersing in thought.
Whatever the case, it was my turn to respond to Seonwoo-yeon.
Let’s see.
Name. My name.
“Um.”
Looking back, aside from the civilization’s twilight, my hometown mostly used a dual-tone and single-tone system.
And since dual-tones require various sounds overlapping, they’re generally difficult for Earthlings to both hear and pronounce.
So most Alphauri probably wouldn’t even be able to answer such a simple question.
But I got lucky.
Fortunately, I was quite old-fashioned, and my name was short and simple due to my low status at birth.
“Um… yes. I see.”
Swish.
What followed was the act of extending my hand, palm-wide open for her to see.
A request for an Earth-style handshake.
“Thinking about it, I realize it’s pretty late for me to formally introduce myself. My apologies. Let me reintroduce myself then.”
I produced a sound resembling the vibrations stored in memory as closely as possible through Kim Gi-ryeo’s vocal cords.
Not a pointless title like the First Mage Commander, but rather, I uttered my real name for the first time in decades.
“— Hello. I am ‘Lemming.’”
“…!”
“From now on, please take care of me. Since we’ve completed our identities, we’re friends now, right?”
At that, Seonwoo-yeon responded in a daze.
She seemed a bit startled at the notion that sharing my real name marked the start of our friendship, according to Alphauri customs. Yet, there was no sign of displeasure.
In fact, if anything, she seemed slightly thrilled.
“Uh, uh… yes, sure. Me too, please… always.”
However, the awkward smile that had barely risen took only a few seconds to find its balance.
“Oh!”
A moment later, Seonwoo-yeon let out a high-pitched sound.
The reason behind her reaction was most likely because, right after our handshake, an inexplicable tingling hit her palm.
“Static electricity in summer?”
Plus, for just a brief moment, a blue light had flickered through our briefly touching hands.
Seonwoo-yeon tilted her head, quickly recalling the common explanation.
But that wasn’t the correct answer.
It was time to correct my alien friend’s knowledge.
“Ms. Seonwoo-yeon.”
“Yes.”
“But you see, this is a secret. Actually, I really dislike being called Lemming.”
“Huh.”
“Now that I’ve forgotten all the old stuff and am starting anew, I want to be called by an Earth name as much as possible. Honestly, I’ve become quite attached to Kim Gi-ryeo’s name.”
I brought this up lightly.
To the casual listener, it seemed like a simple request to continue calling me by Kim Gi-ryeo.
However, in truth…
“Oh, by the way, this isn’t merely a request, it’s a warning.”
“Excuse me?”
“When you mentioned the name Lemming just now, I placed a spell that would shatter your head through your hand.”
Seonwoo-yeon dropped the cheap heat-resistant cup she had been holding.
“Magic activated based on a specific trigger point. Let’s see, in this context, it would be called a curse ‘skill’, right?”
Of course, I continued speaking, indifferent to whether her teacup hit the floor.
“And it doesn’t have to be the two letters making up the name Lemming. If you carelessly spill the secrets you’ve heard in this room to someone else, you’re bound to meet the same fate.”
Seonwoo-yeon, unlike the first time Justitia appeared, now began to sweat coldly, taking the baton of discomfort from the landlord.
Although someone might have been deeply lost in thought, the actual conversation had only taken about ten minutes in this studio, making the situation quite shocking for an Earthling.
An alien even managed to complete a curse that could blow someone’s head off in the time it takes to boil a cup of instant noodles?
But this is how reality is.
Now, I was free of any external constraints from a great mage.
“Want some good intel?”
I rested my chin on my palm and looked at her.
I maintained this posture while delivering such words in Korean, the country’s own language.
“Ms. Seonwoo-yeon, when a mage suddenly starts talking about their past, it usually means they’re buying time to cast a skill.”
“….”
“This was common sense back in my hometown.”
“….”
“So, when a sorcerer suddenly stretches their tongue, rather than remaining passive like you, it’s more appropriate to strike their neck right away.”
Hahaha.
I said that while chuckling lightly.
“But alas, it’s too late for that. I’ve already finished modifying the conditions of the barrier in this room, which means from now on, you can’t leave without my permission.”
Clatter.
At that moment, since Seonwoo-yeon was gripping Justitia’s body like a lifeline, the consequences began to manifest.
Truth.
Truth.
Truth.
“If you were hoping for the damn scale’s [Judgment] effect, please give up. Given how confidently I’ve become, I assume you understand, right?”
With the continuous reactions of truth.
Thank goodness the struggles of the past 10 minutes weren’t in vain.
How many hundreds of years’ worth of stories did I have to mumble through to deal with that damn Justitia?
“Now, pay attention. I’m an alien who could take out a B-Class Hunter with just a finger. So, rebellion is utterly pointless! From this moment on, you need to act very cautiously.”
Clatter.
The scale tilted toward truth without moving an inch.
The evidence that the scheming of the great mage had successfully taken hold was becoming increasingly apparent.
Seeing this, Seonwoo-yeon trembled in despair.
A few days ago, I might have felt sorry for someone appearing in such a way, but right now, I had no room for sympathy.
“But you’re not actually feeling unjust about this situation, are you?”
“Huh… unjust?”
“If you look at it, you’ve been the one intruding on the realm of a mage.”
I frightened the technician in front of me, preventing her from making foolish protests while simultaneously adopting a soothing demeanor.
My ultimate goal wasn’t to antagonize her; it was to enlist her on my side.
“Regardless of what kind of nonsense Kang Chang-ho spewed, you, Ms. Seonwoo-yeon, actively engaged with our business, right?”
“Huh….”
“So, from now on, let’s pay the price for that choice. I’m just asking for help for my poor, victimized alien friend. And don’t worry too much; I actually think highly of you.”
Yet before I could start the main topic.
There was a question lingering at this point.
“As long as you don’t initiate any trouble, I won’t get angry. No kidding. I genuinely hope my newly acquired friend can leave this room safely, you know?”
A truly friendly statement expressing my wishes for her safe return.
This was clearly meant to serve as the carrot, but why did Seonwoo-yeon start to shrink even further, like she’d been lashed?