Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 144

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even Hastily Made Ones Keep Stacking Up as EX-Rank (144)

 

This is Reality

 

…Lee Si-hyeok was sipping coffee from early morning.

 

The place where he sat was the mansion terrace.

 

The antique interior harmoniously blended with the lush mountain scenery. Since it was just the time when the sun was rising, warm sunlight wrapped around him pleasantly.

 

“The weather is nice.”

 

Was it because the rain had cleared just before sunrise?

 

The air was also nicely humid, and the distinctive smell that comes after rain gently permeated his lungs. Though he had stayed up all night working, it was perhaps a privilege only those who pulled all-nighters could enjoy.

 

The inexplicable refreshing feeling was also good.

 

Lee Si-hyeok smiled contentedly and asked.

 

“Should we go for a walk, Blackie?”

 

“Maang.”

 

“You don’t want to?”

 

“Mang!”

 

“You’ve gained a lot of weight, so you need to exercise a bit, you know?”

 

“Maang. Maang!”

 

“You really hate it.”

 

The way it was hopping around was closer to feeling wronged.

 

It seemed to be asking, wasn’t it you who made me grow this big?

 

“No, that’s true. But I couldn’t help it either.”

 

“Maaang!”

 

“If I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have woken up, you know? Hey. I almost died too, man.”

 

“Ma, maang…”

 

When he grumbled back, Blackie’s spirits dropped rapidly.

 

In fact, the creature probably knew everything about Lee Si-hyeok’s struggles.

 

When he worked from last night until dawn and connected with the creature. He had faintly felt the creature’s consciousness.

 

Even while unconscious, it would have roughly understood what was happening to its own body.

 

That’s why it was feeling so sorry.

 

It really knew that Lee Si-hyeok had reached the point of coughing up blood.

 

“I’m joking, just joking. When people live, they can almost die sometimes, that’s just how it is.”

 

“Maang! Mang!”

 

Still, when he chuckled and petted it, it quickly revived.

 

How could it be so simple?

 

Then, suddenly curious, he asked.

 

“By the way, where did you go? You suddenly disappeared while I was making coffee.”

 

After the creature woke up, he had tried to rest a bit, but since the connection had strengthened and his mana had fully recovered, he came out of his room to drink coffee.

 

But while he was making a cup with the surprisingly modern coffee machine, the creature suddenly disappeared somewhere.

 

‘I roughly guess where it went, but…’

 

He asked because he wanted to hear it anyway.

 

But instead of answering, the creature fidgeted and came down from the table. He worried it might get hurt since it was quite a high table, but that didn’t happen.

 

“Is it because you’ve gotten bigger? You feel sturdier than before.”

 

If until yesterday evening it felt close to glutinous rice cake or Japanese mochi, now it was at least the size of a proper doll. The creature that used to fit in one hand was now big enough to hug.

 

Of course, its limbs hadn’t gotten longer, so it was more like only its fur had gotten fatter.

 

Patter patter…

 

Its back view was quite cute, so he was watching with his legs crossed, when someone came hurriedly up the stairs beyond the terrace where the creature was heading.

 

But just before she revealed herself, Blackie quickly hid under the chair.

 

Why is it acting like this? Just as Lee Si-hyeok narrowed his eyes, the Snow Flame Empress who entered first spoke.

 

“Th, thou!”

 

She was gripping the door frame and breathing heavily, seeming to have run here urgently. Lee Si-hyeok greeted her.

 

“Good morning, Snow Flame Empress. Did you sleep well…”

 

“I did not sleep! For I had nightmares!”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Ah, no. More than that! Blackie, hast thou seen Blackie!”

 

“…?”

 

At the sudden question, Lee Si-hyeok’s gaze shifted slightly. When his eyes met with Blackie crouched under the chair, the creature deliberately avoided his gaze.

 

“Hmm. Why do you ask that?”

 

“…I had nightmares.”

 

The Snow Flame Empress didn’t seem to notice Lee Si-hyeok’s gaze. That made sense, since she was too urgent. She bit her lips repeatedly and came to sit across from him.

 

“I am thirsty and need something to drink… ah, here it is.”

 

Then she took the coffee Lee Si-hyeok was drinking and gulped it down before meeting his gaze again.

 

“I had nightmares.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“They were incredibly unpleasant dreams.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Enough to make me shudder.”

 

“No, so what kind of nightmare was it, I asked.”

 

“Ah, right. I was out of my mind…”

 

She certainly seemed that way, repeating the same words.

 

Lee Si-hyeok ignored the gaze he clearly felt from under the chair and listened to her words.

 

“I definitely brought our child… that is, Blackie to my bedchamber last evening and fell asleep together. I held it in my arms and fell asleep, making sure never to let it go. But when I opened my eyes, Blackie had disappeared.”

 

“Oh ho. How interesting.”

 

“…That’s when I realized it was a nightmare. My sharp ki sense would not allow anyone’s intrusion, so there was no reason for Blackie to disappear while I slept.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“Yes! It was definitely a nightmare!”

 

Though she didn’t even notice when he entered last night. Even at the moment he secretly took Blackie away.

 

“Anyway, so what happened?”

 

“So! I somehow managed to escape the nightmare and successfully opened my eyes! Since I realized it was a dream, there was no need to remain trapped in that hell any longer. But an even stranger thing happened.”

 

“Did Blackie perhaps become obese?”

 

“…How, how did you know?”

 

“I just had a feeling it would be something like that.”

 

“No, n, no. Do not use such vulgar words for Blackie. That was not Blackie’s form. What I saw when I escaped the nightmare was a monster wearing Blackie’s mask…!”

 

The Snow Flame Empress trembled.

 

“That monster pressing down on my body was definitely not Blackie! That’s when I realized once more. I was having a double nightmare!”

 

“N, no way!”

 

“Though I thought I had escaped the dream, even that thought was happening within yet another dream! Perhaps even this moment of conversing with thee might be a dream!”

 

“This is crazy…!”

 

Lee Si-hyeok shifted in his seat and gaped.

 

Pleased by his empathy, the Snow Flame Empress became even more excited and spoke passionately.

 

“My heart is torn! If Blackie becoming such a monster is something happening in a dream, how much effort must I repeat to return to reality!”

 

“Huh-eok. B, but you know, Snow Flame Empress!”

 

“Speak, thou!”

 

“That’s not a dream…!”

 

“…?”

 

“…”

 

“…What?”

 

When Lee Si-hyeok immediately became serious and spoke, bewilderment burst from the Snow Flame Empress’s mouth. The excitement disappeared from her face and doubt arose.

 

Instead of answering, Lee Si-hyeok directed his gaze under the chair behind her.

 

“Come out, now. Stop fooling around.”

 

“Huh? Who are you telling to come out…”

 

That’s when it happened.

 

“Maang!”

 

“…?!”

 

The moment Snow Flame Empress turned her head, Blackie, who had been crouching, leaped up with a bounce. Its body had grown twice as large as before. Though it was still an adorable size, when it pounced on a person’s body, they couldn’t help but be pushed back.

 

“Uurp?! Wh, what are you doing…!”

 

“Mang! Maang!”

 

“Get off me right now… Mang? Did you just say ‘Maang’?”

 

Snow Flame Empress’s hand, which had been desperately trying to shake off Blackie clinging to her face, suddenly stopped.

 

With a confused expression, she gently embraced the warm cotton ball wrapped around her neck and lifted it up in front of her eyes.

 

“Bla, ckie?”

 

“Maang?!”

 

Snow Flame Empress’s head turned with a creak toward Lee Si-hyeok.

 

“…You.”

 

She asked with a trembling voice.

 

“Am I perhaps still dreaming?”

 

Lee Si-hyeok answered immediately.

 

“This is reality.”

 

* * *

 

Snow Flame Empress, who had been sobbing loudly, stopped crying when Bae Jun-wan arrived at the terrace.

 

“Um, Miss Cha Yu-rim?”

 

When Bae Jun-wan entered looking flustered, only then did Snow Flame Empress abruptly stop her tears and put Blackie down. Lee Si-hyeok received Blackie, who was completely soaked with tears.

 

“Maang….”

 

Seeing the creature let out a shallow cry as if it found this quite unpleasant, Lee Si-hyeok clicked his tongue in disapproval.

 

That’s what you get for playing unnecessary pranks. From what he could see, it seemed like Blackie had deliberately run away the moment Snow Flame Empress regained consciousness. Perhaps it had played a pointless prank because it was happy to see her after so long.

 

Anyway, when Lee Si-hyeok pulled out a thick wad of tissues and handed them over, Snow Flame Empress blew her nose with a loud honk!

 

Only when the premium tissues were nearly depleted did she wave her hand.

 

“I, I’m fine now. I don’t cry over such things.”

 

“You already cried plenty though.”

 

“Be quiet…!”

 

“Yes.”

 

Red flames flickered, so he immediately shut his mouth.

 

Snow Flame Empress, having regained her composure, asked Bae Jun-wan, who was standing there awkwardly.

 

“Hmm. You’ve seen something unseemly. Anyway, why did you come? Without even giving advance notice.”

 

“Well, I told you yesterday.”

 

“Yesterday?”

 

“Yes. I said there was a matter that arrived from the China branch, and that you needed to hear the report, didn’t I?”

 

“Ah.”

 

Snow Flame Empress’s eyes widened.

 

She seemed to remember hearing something like that yesterday before Lee Si-hyeok arrived. Was it when she was busy tasting the completed dishes? However, since she had been distracted, she hadn’t properly received the message.

 

“Tell me. I was curious about it too.”

 

“…Yes. It’s a communication from the China branch, and this time….”

 

But at that moment.

 

“Wait a moment.”

 

Lee Si-hyeok, who had been listening, interrupted.

 

Bae Jun-wan’s eyebrows twitched with momentary irritation. Catching that expression, Lee Si-hyeok sent him an apologetic look and asked about something that puzzled him.

 

One word had bothered him after hearing it.

 

“China? Does Snow Flame Empress have something related to China?”

 

China was where Lin Qingwu’s Absolute Dream Guild was based.

 

The stronghold of the mental-type Hunters who had attacked Lee Si-hyeok multiple times.

 

But in the current situation where those spies were being arrested one after another in Korea, why was ‘China’ being mentioned by Snow Flame Empress and Bae Jun-wan?

 

“What? You didn’t know?”

 

However, Bae Jun-wan asked back as if he was surprised instead. The irritated look in his eyes was gone. He blinked and looked back and forth between Lee Si-hyeok and Snow Flame Empress.

 

But when Snow Flame Empress said nothing, Bae Jun-wan explained in bewilderment.

 

“The Apocalypse Order, a crafting guild in China.”

 

His voice continued in a low tone.

 

“Miss Cha Yu-rim is the vice-leader of that place. The ‘our organization’ I’ve been mentioning all along is precisely that Apocalypse Order.”

 

“…?!”

 

A guild name that anyone walking the path of Magical Engineering couldn’t possibly be unaware of.

 

Lee Si-hyeok’s eyes widened greatly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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