“Anyway, I get it. I’ll talk to that senior myself.”
I had a history of failing to dump Skadi-related problems onto Reysir in chapter 64, so I was worried he might refuse again.
Fortunately, Reysir gave a positive answer this time—even if he followed it up with something unnecessary that made me blush.
“Karbaldr, you really are someone who knows how to think calmly and find the positive side in any situation, aren’t you?”
“W-what are you talking about all of a sudden…?!”
“That I’ve come to like you even more?”
“…Stop saying strange things and just finish your meal.”
“Puhahaha!!”
“……”
When I silently resumed my meal, Reysir’s laughter gradually subsided.
However, the mirth didn’t vanish completely.
It remained on his face until the very moment we finished eating.
‘I suppose it’s a fair trade if I can lift the protagonist’s mood at the cost of enduring some embarrassment, right?’
I tried hard to look at the situation positively, but Reysir’s earlier words came back to me, doubling my embarrassment.
He even asked why my face had suddenly turned so red.
Ignoring him and focusing on the act of eating, I managed to finish the meal without further incident.
“Now then…”
“Since I bought the lunch boxes, you’ll at least treat me to some tea, right?”
“…I was just about to tell you to leave.”
“And?”
“……”
Why did I think Reysir would just leave quietly after finishing his meal?
Since we both had the same schedule of going to Seminar Room 1 by 4:00 PM, it was obvious he would try to stay here until then.
“…Is coffee all right?”
Well, if you invite a guest—or if they invite themselves—it is only proper to serve a drink.
Besides, it didn’t seem like I could kick him out even if I tried.
It was clear he would resort to sly, fox-like tricks with a persistent attitude until he got what he wanted.
‘There’s no need to waste energy arguing!’
With that thought, I offered coffee as a way of letting him stay.
However, there was one thing I had overlooked…
“You drink coffee even though you have insomnia?” Reysir asked, narrowing his eyes as if interrogating me.
To be honest, it didn’t feel bad to have someone care about my health and get angry on my behalf.
But I didn’t want to be nagged about insomnia that didn’t actually exist.
‘Is there any other drink I can serve in this room besides coffee and water…?’
As I pondered this, I reflexively looked at Yor.
My Baby Dragon let out a deep sigh as if he had no choice, then pulled out a 1.8-liter glass bottle from the Aether mini-fridge installed in one corner of the room.
The liquid inside was dark, which drew a gasp from the nagger.
“Are you telling me you brew that much coffee at once and drink it?! No wonder your insomnia won’t get better!”
“Calm down. That drink isn’t coffee.”
“Huh? Now that you mention it, it does smell different.”
Reysir calmed down and relaxed his glare.
This was the time for an excuse.
“I only drink coffee very occasionally. Usually, I drink this beverage that Yor makes himself.”
In that sentence, the only truth was that Yor made ‘this drink’ himself.
But it wasn’t like this was the first or second time I had told a lie.
“It’s a precious drink filled with Yor’s sincerity, so I didn’t want to give any away… but since my Familiar has given his permission, I will give you a special treat. Be grateful.”
I spoke in a deliberately arrogant tone as I placed three wide teacups from the cupboard onto the table.
Yor then brought over some dried persimmons from the fridge and placed one in each cup.
I tilted the glass bottle and poured the liquid over the persimmons.
Finally, My Baby Dragon finished it off by floating some pine nuts on top.
Watching our perfect teamwork, Reysir didn’t dare raise any doubts.
Instead, he simply asked a question.
“It’s a very unique drink. What’s it called, and how do you drink it?”
My readers have probably realized by now.
The drink Yor and I served Reysir was sujeonggwa, a traditional Korean beverage.
I had to hesitate for a moment before answering.
‘Should I call it by its real name? Or should I make up a name and play it off?’
After a brief internal debate, I concluded it would be fine.
I had already revealed the name of Yeolguja-tang while eating it from a sinseollo back in chapter 72.
I had omitted it from the narration because there was no good timing to fit it in, but Reysir had actually ordered the same food as me a few times since then.
“It’s a drink called sujeonggwa. These are dried persimmons… well, you wait a bit for the liquid to soak into them so the flavor and scent seep out. You eat the persimmon first, and then you drink the liquid.”
It was too late to hide the name now.
And I was certain that the author, Senna, wouldn’t be observing this scene.
‘Because in Nas-e, the amount of “daily life” content was extremely small.’
As an author who aimed for healing stories, I used to insert peaceful daily life scenes if the previous chapter had too much information or if a major incident had occurred.
But Senna, perhaps because she aimed for the angst genre, always kept the story moving at a breathless pace.
Even when it seemed like she was showing a daily life scene, the characters were usually discussing something important.
If not that, she only used such scenes right before killing a character to max out their intimacy with the protagonist and maximize the impact of the tragedy.
“It’s a drink that captures the beauty of waiting. I haven’t even tasted it yet, but I already like it.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Aren’t you going to ask why that’s the reason I like it?”
“……Hmph.”
I could guarantee it.
Even if Senna had been observing our conversation all this time, she would have placed a scene transition marker immediately after Reysir spoke the first sentence of this chapter and stopped watching.
‘The narration will probably only resume from the scene where we arrive at the seminar room!’
In short, this moment was a time hidden ‘between the lines’ that wouldn’t be recorded in Senna’s novel.
Realizing this, I felt my tension relax.
I no longer had to feel confused, wondering if the original author’s will was mixed into the other person’s words and actions.
“Oh, right. I went to the library for a bit earlier, and the spot where Hoe-ak-beop usually sits was still empty. Have you still not finished reading it?”
Now that I thought about it, because the original work rarely showed Reysir’s daily life, I only found out he frequented the library after I possessed this body.
Was Reysir’s hobby of reading novels a hidden setting the original author had decided on but never revealed?
Or was it a ‘blank space in the setting’ that Reysir filled in himself because it hadn’t been decided?
The question popped into my head, and I was curious about the answer, but it would be impossible to get a straight answer even if I asked him directly.
So, I just decided to answer his question.
“It ended up that way because I’ve been reading it in between other things.”
“What kind of things?”
“Just some stuff related to Aether Attribute skills…”
It wasn’t a lie, as my [Character Analysis] skill would often activate while I was organizing the settings of Hoe-ak-bang and planning future developments.
“I wondered what you were doing in your room all day since you only show up at the Public Training Hall at dawn. You were practicing Aether Attribute skills with Yor?”
“The Public Training Hall can be used by anyone, and quite a lot of people walk by, don’t they? It’s quite uncomfortable…”
“True. Even though I’m used to training there, it does get on my nerves sometimes. But what kind of skill were you practicing? If it’s something you can practice in a room, I guess it’s [Goyang]?”
As he asked that, the face of the protagonist of another novel was filled with mischief.
He wasn’t asking because he was truly curious; he was doing this because he wanted to see me get embarrassed by the word ‘Goyang.’
I couldn’t just let him win when I knew exactly what he was up to.
So, I hurriedly blurted out something to change the subject…
“By the way, is it LF for you to abbreviate How the Repentant Villain Saves the World as Hoe-ak-beop?”
“Do you abbreviate it differently?”
“I read it as Hoe-ak-bang.”
“Why? You can take the ‘beop’ from ‘bang-beop’ and use it on its own, but you can’t do that with ‘bang.’ So using ‘beop’ is correct, isn’t it?”
“That may be true, but ‘beop’ feels too rigid, doesn’t it? On the other hand, if you say ‘bang’…”
“If you do?”
I definitely chose the wrong topic.
“Why did you stop talking?”
“…Because I feel like you’ll laugh and tease me if I tell you.”
“I won’t laugh, and I won’t tease. So tell me.”
“The sound is the same as the word for ‘room,’ so… it makes me feel good to think of the characters all gathered together in a room, chatting…”
“……”
“……”
“Uh… I have a lot of thoughts coming to mind right now, but since you’ll think I’m teasing no matter which one I say, I won’t say anything.”
Reysir kept his promise, but I still had to feel the shame.
Looking back, it was a comment that could be considered out of character, but I must have let my guard down unknowingly because I thought I didn’t have to worry about the original author’s gaze.
“But you know, I’ve been debating whether to bring this up… You live here with just Yor, so the fact that there are three teacups…!”
“I just bought a set of four teacups in case I broke one.”
“It wasn’t because you wanted to sit in a room with your friends, drinking tea and chatting?”
No matter how I thought about it, that line was clearly quoting what I just said.
“You said you wouldn’t tease! You said you wouldn’t say anything! You liar!!”
“Kh-hemp..! Still, I didn’t laugh, so give me a break.”
“You just laughed! You went ‘kh-hemp’ and laughed!”
“If you’re going to imitate the sound of laughter, why don’t you follow it up with a laughing expression too?”
“Even in the middle of this, you really are…!!”
Overwhelmed by a sense of absurdity, I looked at the protagonist of the other novel with disgust before gulping down the cold sujeonggwa to cool the heat in my face.
“Huh? Didn’t you tell me earlier that I had to eat the persimmon thing first?”
“It’s just a recommendation. It’s not like there’s a rule that says you must.”
“You still explain things even when you’re sulking?”
“……”
“I’m really trying my best not to laugh, so can’t you forgive me?”
How shameless of him to say that when his eyes were crinkled and the corners of his mouth were curled upward.
He must think that as long as he doesn’t make a sound, it doesn’t count.