179 – Miracle

179 – Miracle

Roughly around the year I was turning twenty, the world met its end.

Yet, humankind proved a tenacious species.

Just as some rummaged through garbage heaps to survive in the face of crushing poverty, even amidst the apocalypse, people did not lose hope, but rebuilt the world.

With psychic powers and magic.

With effort and with love.

And me?

I was rummaging through garbage heaps.

“Oh! A fan!”

From amidst the jumble of junk, I unearthed a fan with a slightly broken blade. The casing appeared largely intact; it might work if only it received some power.

“Lucky me.”

I returned to my home, a wooden cabin, carrying the broken fan.

Painstakingly sanded logs and a warm pile of straw formed my life’s masterpiece.

*Whooshhh*—

And now, I even possessed a broken-but-serviceable fan.

In this ruined world, you could say I’m quite the catch.

“Just need a girlfriend, then I’d be set.”

Ideally pretty, with a kind heart, big…assets, and long legs –

And good at cooking would be a plus.

I was muttering to myself in disappointment when –

*Dring-dring!*

The doorbell I’d hung by the door rang out, loud as all hell.

*Kreeeak* – I opened the door, and wouldn’t you know it, a pretty woman stood there?

“A pretty woman coming to *my* place? This must be a dream.”

I’d been dreaming about someone coming to see me a lot lately.

Felt like it happened more than ten times a month.

Just in case it was another one, I asked. The pretty woman glanced at me, gave me a glare, and then tried to come inside.

“What’s with him, me being pretty is old news, you know?”

Then she stopped dead, and took off her shoes.

The woman gave our carpet a slight press-down with her black stockings

She plopped down onto the sofa, which had been placed at the center of the cabin.

“I knew you’d be here. It’s been weeks since the new house was finished, so why do you keep coming back here and acting all pathetic? And where did you pick up this rusty fan!”

*Rattle-rattle-*

Seo Gaeul looked at my fan, that I picked up today, and frowned just a bit.

Just like Seo Gaeul said, it had been exactly twenty-one days since the new house that everyone was going to live in together was completed.

“But I have a real attachment to this old cabin. You know, a man cave? Every man needs his own space and time.”

“You’ve been living alone for two hundred years, shouldn’t you be over that phase by now? Or do you just not want to be with *me* anymore?”

Seo Gaeul grumbled.

Seeing that, a feeling, like a sprout, began to poke its head from the depths of my stomach.

And that was – to pull Seo Gaeul into a tight embrace!

“C’mere!”

*Whump!*

I hugged Seo Gaeul tightly and gave her soft, white cheek a big smooch.

*Smoooch-*!

And then, just like always, Seo Gaeul would let out a scream like a pterodactyl being deep-fried in oil…

“Anyway, we need to eat, so stop wallowing here and come outside.”

But Seo Gaeul only flushed crimson, without so much as a squeal.

She even pushed me aside and darted out of the cabin with a *whoosh*.

A little underwhelming, that reaction.

Anyway.

Stepping outside, I saw Bbangddaeng huddled in the garden.

*Rustle, rustle-*

She was digging at something with such gusto, like a raccoon after buried roots.

“Bbangddaeng-ah, what are you doing?”

“Digging up something for lunch! Look! If you dig up the root like this─”

*KIEEEEEEK!*

A root vegetable let out a piercing shriek.

It looked like a potato or sweet potato, but with a temper.

“It screams like this! It’s like a mandrake from a game. Ha-nam-jjin, what kind of seeds did you plant in the garden? There are so many weird plants here!”

On this Earth, now that people have started coming back, plants unlike anything we’d seen before were sprouting everywhere.

Things like screaming mandrakes.

Golden apple trees, gleaming yellow, were growing all over too.

I have no idea why those plants appeared on Earth.

All *I* did was water the sprouts that grew.

“Yoo Yeoreum said she saw a winged horse the other day! A winged horse was galloping around in the meadow!”

It wasn’t just plants; there were plenty of new animals, too.

Three-headed dogs, winged horses… those weren’t even that surprising anymore.

Maybe Inggingie spat them out.

Inggingie had this amazing ability to regurgitate whatever he ate.

No doubt Inggingie had swallowed a whole bunch of mysterious animals somewhere, sometime, and now he was spitting them out.

Thanks to him, there really were pegasi living on this new Earth.

That was when it happened.

Bbangddaeng started sniffling and crying.

“Why are you crying? Is it stinging your eyes?”

“I don’t know! The tears are just coming! Ha-nam-jjin! Why did you do that! Why did you trick us and do that all by yourself! You bad man!”

Woof-!

A butt slammed into me, hugging.

The little beast even nipped at my shoulder.

“Gwaaak!”

These days, Bangdaeng’s moods were so volatile.

It’s already been a month since we returned to Earth; I wonder if he’s having trouble adjusting.

But Bangdaeng froze in his tracks when Yu Yeoreum arrived riding something… peculiar.

Clop, clop, clop-.

Yu Yeoreum dismounted from the horned horse and said,

“I caught it running in the meadow behind the power plant. Think we can eat it?”

It was a white horse.

The single horn on its head was quite magnificent.

I wondered if the mythical unicorn looked just like this.

Maybe Iing-i, from somewhere, had regurgitated a unicorn she’d swallowed into the world.

“Wow! A horned horse! I want a ride!”

“It won’t let just anyone ride it. It kicks or bites girls with boyfriends. Jin Eunbyeol almost got impaled on its horn a little while ago.”

Bangdaeng and Yu Yeoreum, fascinated by the unicorn, played around riding it.

Had an hour or so passed like that?

Wooo-.

Then something roared loudly and flashed.

Turning my head, I saw the LED lights installed in our new house shining brightly.

“Finally, the generator’s turning over.”

One month since people started returning to Earth.

It seemed the people had succeeded in completing and restarting the power plant.

Now that electricity will come in steadily, the refrigerator and washing machine will work fine.

# # #

Whoosh, whoosh-.

When evening fell, we gathered in front of the cabin I’d diligently built and grilled this and that over a bonfire.

Especially the bird meat skewered on branches like chicken skewers, it was so delicious.

Feeling it was too good to eat alone, I tapped Seo Gaeul on the shoulder.

“Ah, just try it.”

“What is it? You gonna feed me?”

Seo Gaeul glanced around, eyes darting nervously.

The brat finally parted his lips, revealing a neat row of even teeth.

Instead of a chicken skewer, I shoved my finger right in— *thwock*—into that mouth.

“Blegh, ptoo! Ptoo!”

Seo Gaeul recoiled as if electrocuted, face twisting in a grimace.

I always did enjoy seeing a pretty face get angry, so it was a rather amusing sight.

Of course, Seo Gaeul gargled – *glug-glug* – with water, spitting and fuming.

“Ha Namjin, you little punk! You haven’t changed a bit! Blegh!”

After all this time I’ve been alone.

Seo Gaeul clicked his tongue at the fact I hadn’t matured in the slightest.

Yoo Yeoreum, who was currently feeding a carrot to a unicorn, added her two cents.

“He’s right, though. You haven’t changed one bit, not even your appearance. If 200 years have passed, it wouldn’t be strange if you were a grandpa. To us, it was only a month ago.”

It’s probably thanks to that Conceptual Stone of “Immortality” I swallowed.

Completely absorbed it.

I had indigestion at first, but after living alone for 200 years, whatever it was eventually became my flesh and blood.

Bbangdaengyi, who had been mindlessly devouring a mysterious chicken skewer, gasped – *huk* – sucking in her breath.

“What if you just never age again? We’ll become ahjummas, but Ha Namjin will stay exactly the same…?! Eventually, we’ll look like mother and son, or even grandma and grandson!”

A fear with some merit.

But?

There’s no need to worry about that sort of thing.

“Look at this. This flame. Normally, it would die out once the firewood is all burned, but if I put my strength into it like this… hhh-aaah…!”

I poured my power into the bonfire blazing before us.

Then, an unbelievable thing happened.

No matter how hard I stamped on it, no matter how much water I poured on it, the bonfire wouldn’t go out.

“In these 200 years, I’ve gained the ability to share the power of ‘Immortality’ that I possess. If you stay with me, you probably won’t ever age. Probably.”

“Oouyeah! Then I’m forever twenty years old!”

Bbangdaengyi threw her hands up in joy.

I was pleased, too.

The mismatched time, it has finally aligned.

From now on, not a single ‘second’ of discrepancy, I intend to live my life alongside everyone.

Seo Gaeul, pulling on my ear.

“Ouch.”

“Whatever it was, don’t you ever do that again. Do you know how shocked we were when we woke up and you were gone? From now on, consult us about everything first!”

I had to endure a torrent of such scolding over the past month.

Even though I’m a hero who saved the world, as it seems.

But, it didn’t feel bad, knowing their scolding came from concern for me.

Rustle-!

It was precisely at that moment.

The dark thicket shook, and something burst out.

“Korewa, these little ones are seeing this, yes… ! This Bao Noi has captured something strange from the thicket, yes…! Surely, a cursed Chimera, it is, yes…!”

“This Inonoi also caught it together, it is…!”

“This Baek Yeoul finds this mysterious world quite amusing, it is…! Hao Hao…!”

The nymphs and Mi-bbang seemed to have captured something.

Had they caught another winged ‘flying squirrel’ like last time?

As I said before, this world is full of wondrous creatures, like horses with horns, dogs with three heads, making the capture of these creatures all worthwhile.

The nymphs also enjoyed catching such animals, but the animal they caught today was quite large.

“A creature with the body of a person, yet with the ears and tail of an animal, it is…! Surely a fearsome chimera, cursed by nature, without a doubt, it is…! A product of forbidden sorcery, it is surely, yes…!”

It was a creature with a human body, but the ears and tail of a fox.

The long, flowing hair was as black as ebony, and the eyes as red as a ripe apple.

Bound by rope, it hissed, puffing up its fur, a ferocious beast in itself.

“Ugh, what is that? What kind of thing is that?”

Seo Gaeul, greatly startled.

Bbang-ddaeng and Yu Yeoreum were also taken aback.

“Strange!”

“Animal ears…”

What kind of animal is it?

Did Ing-ing spit something like this out?

It was when, filled with curiosity, I reached out my hand.

“Ha Namjin!”

A fox-eared girl, appearing to be around ten, flung herself into my arms.

And then, she began to rub her face all over my stomach.

“Ha Namjin! Finally, I’ve found you! I like Ha Namjin so much! I love you!”

What is this?

I’m bewildered, alright.

The other girls seemed just as nonplussed, too.

“What is this! Ha Namjin! What’s going on here!”

“I don’t know either.”

I could only shake my head at Seo Gaeul’s question.

I don’t know what’s happening, but I feel like I’ve become a criminal.

But the fox girl had to go and add one more thing.

“Papa!”

“Huh?”

I thought I’d built up an immunity to everything during my two hundred years of solitary living.

But that word was enough to instantly put my mind into a state of stun.

She called *me*, “Papa!”?

My mind was reeling!

The shock was comparable to swallowing and digesting an immortal Concept Stone; I nearly lost my grip on reason.

Soon, Seo Gaeul’s face flushed red with anger.

“Hold on! Papa? Ha Namjin, you! Did you send us to the moon and then set up house with another girl on Earth? The story about you being alone on Earth was a lie, wasn’t it!?”

No, I’m truly, utterly innocent in this matter!

The moment I thought I might have to show my innocence with tears, the fox girl suddenly – wham! – embraced Seo Gaeul.

“What?”

“Mama!”

Seo Gaeul is Mama?

I alternated my gaze between the fox girl, nuzzling Seo Gaeul, and Seo Gaeul herself.

Her long, black hair and apple-red eyes…they really did resemble each other!

“…Seo Gaeul, were you… a mother!?”

A shocking twist, indeed.

Even her derriere gasped, crying out.

“Seo Gaeul was secretly a mother! Whose child is it?!”

“What crazy talk is that! What do you mean, I’m a mother! Don’t you remember me riding a unicorn with you just now! This is slander! What in the world…! Hah…! Could it be…!?”

A shadow fell across Seo Gaeul’s face.

“The ‘Miracle’…!?”