Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 175

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 175

The first impression of the Halbern Secret Library, which I’d expected to be gloomy and desolate, was the complete opposite of what I’d imagined.
The dark, black backdrop and endless shelves aligned somewhat with my expectations, but the atmosphere was entirely different.
‘It’s like I’ve stepped into the universe itself.’
A world unto itself, you might say.
“So this is the Halbern Secret Library….”
It certainly looked like the kind of place where all manner of secrets lay sleeping.
Though I wasn’t sure if I’d actually found the right place.
Was I supposed to search through the books now?
That’s when I approached the shelves.
“Eek!”
Something like a formless black slime clung to my feet, writhing.
“What is this?”
It was so dark I hadn’t even noticed it was there.
“What on earth? It looks like a slime toy.”
-Eliminate… the intruder….
“…?”
I flinched at the sudden killing intent, and the black mass writhed up my leg before suddenly trembling.
-Verify… Key status….
What’s going on?
The black mass quivered, then shook with a sudden tremor.
-Key… legitimate visitor….
“What exactly have you been muttering about this whole time?”
Pop.
The black mass fell to the ground and simply dissolved away.
“…?”
What in the world just happened?
I blinked blankly.
Poof!
“Welcome! New Key inheritor!”
A soap bubble burst, and an adorable baby elephant appeared before me, greeting me warmly.
“What is this?”
It seemed I’d spoken aloud what I’d only been thinking.
“How dare you! To address the distinguished Librarian in such a manner!”
The baby elephant let out a sharp squeak.
Though no matter what, it was just cute.
“Librarian?”
“Yes, Librarian!”
The baby elephant, only slightly larger than my fist, hovered high in the air.
“Allow me to introduce myself formally!”
Bang!
A great crash echoed from somewhere in the distance.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
The endless shelves cracked apart, folded away, and created a passage I could walk through.
As if to signal that the true ‘Secret Library’ lay ahead.
“I am Mac, the Dream Sprite. Librarian of the Halbern Secret Library!”

* * *

Mac the Dream Sprite was a Fantasy Species of considerable antiquity, having lived since the age of faith when ancient gods were revered.
“What do you mean by Fantasy Species? I’m proof that something born from the imagination and will of conscious beings can take physical form in reality!”
“I say ‘species,’ but as a Dream Sprite, I am both the beginning and the end of my kind. Fantasy Species are typically unique, like me.”
The Halbern Secret Library itself existed in the Other Side World, where the Dream Sprite Mac was the master.
“What’s the Other Side World? It’s the gap between worlds! It’s an unstable space where reality, past, future, and all possible outcomes that existed or could exist blend together!”
“Spaces like this, stabilized through Territory Control by a master like me, are safe. Of course, if you lack the proper qualifications, you’ll die.”
The black, slime-like mass I’d encountered earlier was a sort of security guard that dissolved intruders to death.
“Ah, I see.”
Now I understood how Halbern had managed to keep all those secrets safe for so long.
‘Basically, it’s in the Other Side World to begin with, there’s security that kills intruders, and a librarian guarding the collection.’
“But now that I think about it, it’s odd. If you had the Key, you could have entered through the proper ‘Door.'”
“….”
“Why did you sneak in like an intruder?”
“….”
I exercised my right to remain silent, ignoring Mac’s tilted head.
I don’t know either, okay?
At the end of the corridor the shelves had opened, a new entrance appeared. When I stepped through the door, an entirely different landscape greeted me.
Unlike the cosmic vista outside, it was a serene midday garden.
Bright sky, large trees, benches scattered across grass—and birdsong drifting from somewhere.
“Welcome to the Halbern Secret Library!”
There was absolutely nothing about this place that looked like a ‘library.’

* * *

“Don’t look at me like that—this definitely IS a library.”
The baby elephant giggled and clapped its little hands. With a pop, archways of doors materialized all around.
“Honestly, I’m so relieved you’re here. I really thought I was going to starve! The last Family Head was already strange, but this one’s even worse! Every time they visit, they just bother me! I was absolutely certain they were trying to kill me of hunger!”
I tilted my head as I listened to the Dream Sprite’s complaints.
“But you said you don’t die if you can’t eat.”
“Oh, you do remember? Right, I just fall asleep without food—I don’t die.”
“Then what does it matter?”
“But it’s awful, don’t you see—!”
Mac the Dream Sprite squeaked indignantly, asking if I understood the sorrow of hunger.
“Ugh, fine. I believe you.”
Once I’d finally placated him, Mac settled onto my hand, and I had to admit—despite being the supposed Librarian of this Secret Library, he was just adorable as a baby elephant.
“So what do you eat? Since you’re a Dream Sprite, do you eat dreams?”
“Exactly. To be precise, I eat all kinds of ‘stories.'”
The baby elephant’s black eyes glimmered with unsettling intensity.
“Originally I ate all kinds of ‘dreams,’ but dreams are ultimately unrealized hopes and ideals, or anxieties and desires of humans that take dream-form, right?”
Mac explained that as his rank increased, those fundamental concepts evolved broadly into ‘stories.’
Essentially, what Mac consumed was human spiritual energy.
“What’s ‘rank’?”
“Rank is rank.”
“No, I’m asking what rank means.”
“Rank is what rank is?”
That’s what I was asking!
The baby elephant gazed at me with an innocent expression that said it had no idea what I meant.
“Fine. I am what I am.”
“…?”
Just when I thought I’d resolved it, I hadn’t.
I wanted to coast through life.
“So you eat ‘stories,’ then?”
“Yep!”
Mac’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the mention of eating stories.
“Let’s make a contract! I want to eat all the stories—what you see, what you experience, what you feel, and all the stories of the people you meet!”
The atmosphere seemed like it was about to turn me into a magical girl, but all this Librarian could actually offer was unlimited access to the Halbern Secret Library.
“If I don’t make the contract, you won’t let me back into the library?”
“Yep.”
“That’s dirty!”
“Well, I have to eat somehow!”
Mac, despite being a Fantasy Species, spoke like a self-employed merchant, sweet-talking me shamelessly.
“Aren’t you curious? About all the stories of the Halbern Family Heads who’ve visited this library? You can’t see the first Family Head’s stories, but everything else you can read.”
“Mmgh….”
“Don’t you want to know the secrets left behind by all the previous Family Heads? Don’t you want to know Halbern’s true history?!”
Curiosity might kill a cat, but apparently it killed dragons too.
“Do you have my biological mother’s story?”
“Your biological mother?”
“Sione Sigria Halbern.”
“Oh.”
Name Plates swirled chaotically through the air, and one suddenly popped out.
“Here it is.”
I’d already seen parts of Sione’s past through Laplace’s Demon, but I was curious what ‘Sione’s Story’ would say in this place.
“Yes, let’s make the contract.”
“Yes!”
Mac approached eagerly, and instead of its stubby round hands, wrapped its long trunk around my wrist, then tilted its head.
“Hmm? Where’s the Key… Oof, that’s too deep. Let me see… Hmm, hmm. Ah? Mmm?”
Mac’s tilted head shifted to a peculiar expression, its eyes glimmering with wonder, as if it had discovered something extraordinary.
“…?”
I met its perplexed gaze with equal confusion.
“Found it!”
A key-shaped mark glowed and appeared on my wrist, then vanished.
At that same instant, the midday garden landscape flipped suddenly, transforming into something entirely new.
Like… a modern library.
“Oh, a new scenery!”
As I looked around bewildered, the baby elephant was thrilled beyond measure.
“It doesn’t seem like you’ve lived long, yet there are already so many books!”
Beneath a Name Plate clearly marked “Arelin Sigria Halbern,” new books were lined up neatly.
“New books! New stories!”
I was curious too.
What exactly was written there?
‘I wonder if my past life’s story is recorded here too?’
As I approached the shelf with such thoughts, Mac’s expression, who had excitedly pulled out a book and opened it, turned rigid.
“What’s wrong?”
Mac threw nearly every book from the shelf to the ground after opening them, and whimpered.
“Why… why are all your books blank?”

* * *

In the end, I was thrown out.
Dozens of books were on the shelf, but all of them were blank except for the last few volumes that actually contained stories.
Annoyed by this, Mac kicked me out of the Secret Library.
‘Brat.’
As if it was my fault they were blank!
‘It doesn’t seem like my past life was recorded anyway.’
When I returned, Mehren and the Childcare Unit scolded me thoroughly for disappearing.
“Ugh.”
I wanted to go back right away, but unfortunately I had an appointment today.
“Arelin!”
It was the day I was supposed to go to the Shopping District with Chloe.
Somehow I’d agreed to help with her shopping, but how exactly things had come to this….
“Chloe, have you been waiting long?”
“No, I just got here!”
“Good, then let’s go.”
As I climbed into the carriage, my gaze drifted to a small cart standing at the end of the street.
Wait.
That cart looked familiar.
‘Don’t tell me it’s Fession?’

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