LE V1 (Main) C2-2

Chapter 2 - First meeting - Part 2

TL: Eevee

Ed: Isledir

Right now all that filled my head was 'If I don't offer my hand a child will die.' I felt too guilty to just leave her alone. And I had the fleeting hope that if I could avoid this one kid and take this child to a hospital I could sc.r.a.pe up the fees somehow.

First I set my smartphone to record mode and started filming him.

In this harsh world evidence is a necessity. There's no CCTV here so if everyone decided to denounce me a criminal what would I do. While filming with one hand I kept talking.

"Do you feel like the black dragon sealed in your right hand is going to break free?"

"What are you saying?"

"Never mind then. Although I do want to hear the whole story but I don't really want to listen to whatever comes out your mouth, and I'll be taking that kid."

"Those who accept an Aless are treated like one. It is the law of the Baegya. Do you want to be an Aless as well?"

"Nope. Johnny Depp if possible."

To be an Aless, above all else, you need to cut(?) it. Whether others do or not I don't really care but if anyone tells me to cut it their face is going to meet my fist. Besides, if I was the legendary Johnny Depp hyung-nim then I'd have nothing to fear from the outset.(1)

"I do not understand what you are saying."

"I don't get what bulls.h.i.+t you're spouting either."

"What is certain is that you b.a.s.t.a.r.d dares to take me for an idiot!"

The brat grabbed a pendant with his left hand, and red flames sprouted from his outstretched right hand. Forming something the size of a fist, the threw it at me.

I reflexively hit the ground and rolled away from the fiery ma.s.s.

Boom!

I barely rolled away from that spot but I was certainly shocked. Where I'd been standing just two seconds ago was now a crater covered in soot.

"You said the dragon was safe!"

I might have said something silly but this is dangerous. This is really dangerous. I don't think I'm badly hurt anywhere, but I might have hit something as I rolled because by entire body hurts.

My fiery resolve had long since dissolved. They say kids these days are scary but now they're actually spouting fire.

What do I do? How?

At this rate I'm certainly going to end up as barbecue.

Boom!

I rolled along the ground again. I avoided a direct hit but the gravel fragments stung everywhere they hit.

"Kukuku rolling on the ground like a bug suits you."

That little s.h.i.+t.

His previous wariness had completely vanished. Now his gaze was like looking at a bug that had to be stepped on.

I didn't expect this kid to spout fire from his hands.

Is this really a fantasy world? And I just messed with a magician?

My life is important. No matter what other people say my life and my parents are the most important things in the world. If I ever go back to my original world then no matter how long it takes I'll throw some F bombs at my dad while setting up a chicken store for him.(3)

In Korea, as long as I'm with Lord Chicken I can live out my life somehow but not at this rate.

If I had the K2 rifle that I had back when I was in the army I'd be able to do something, but I'm weaponless right now so I can't do a thing. If I could do something about that fire then I'd be able to something at least…..

Wait, fire?

Now that I think about it I have fire of my own.

A 500 won disposable lighter.

If I had a fly spray then I could try to jerry-rig a flamethrower but sadly I don't have one of those. In that case there's only one thing I can do.

I took out the lighter from my pocket.

"What's that?"

"It's an item that make you little s.h.i.+t polite while learning that manners need to be grounded in reality and not just theory."

Get baited. Please.

"You little!"

My hands and feet had been shaking from a while ago but I calmly focused on his movements.

He grabbed his pendant with his left hand.

Looking at him I crept closer.

The pendant lit up and fire started gathering in his right hand.

Now!

I quickly threw the lighter into his incomplete fiery ma.s.s.

Boom!

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

Disposable lighters were shoddily built to the point where it could explode simply by leaving it in the car during summer. It would certainly explode if you threw it into a fireball.

But this is Xed. Actually Xed.(4)

I injured a minor. Plus the opposition seemed to be the child of someone in a fairly high place. If that kid calls his mom and dad then I'm a dead man walking.

The kid rolled on the ground nursing his burns, and his guards behind him looked at me with shocked expressions. And as if they feared me the people around me started backing off as well.

I personally believe that I have a single good trait. That is, in moments of danger, panic and nervousness aside I instinctively do whatever needs to be done first.

As I stomped on the accelerator I went back the way I came to the forest. If this was a normal world then this child wouldn't have to be stepped on, and there was no way that all those people would have only watched. (Of course, not like such things don't happen.) And the fire that came out of that d.a.m.n kid's hand. It's hard to think of him as a human like me.

As I looked forward and drove, I thought that I might actually have crossed dimensions. Either that or this is the Truman Show.(5)

"Who are you?"

I was deep in thought when I heard a voice beside me.

It was unsteady and cracked so it wasn't a clear voice, but not to the point where I couldn't understand.

"You're Alice? I'm the Hatter."

"You don't look like someone that sells hats."

"Nor do you look like one to raise a coup d'etat."

The child made a "?" expression. d.a.m.n it, just where are there places to hit on this young child to mess it up this much.

"You don't get what I'm saying, do you? I don't know either. Is your body alright?"

"Yes. For now."

We didn't talk again for a while. To be honest I had no idea what to say. I don't want to grab a injured child and interrogate it either. But that can wait until after recovery. But I don't know if I can enter a hospital. Before that, I don't know if there are hospitals around here either.

"I'm an Aless. Those who sympathise with an Aless are treated like one in kind."

"Yep. Tell them to go on ahead."

My life was over the moment I hurt the child of what looked like a n.o.ble anyways.

After driving along for a while, the day had already started to darken. Maybe because this was in dense forest but night seems to have come early, but since I've gone through a lot of things today it might be best to rest.

"Take a break. I'm going to rest as well."

I pushed a b.u.t.ton and reclined her seat back. I had a neck pillow in the back seat so I set that up for her as well, and took off my coat and covered her with it.

"……Rest."

One of my mottos.

Don't do today what you can put off 'til tomorrow.

I'm counting on you. Tomorrow's me.

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(1) No, I have no idea either. This entire paragraph confused me.

(2) hyung = what a younger brother calls his older brother, or a respectful way of addressing a senior male figure if you're a guy. Nim = respectful honorific. JP equivalent of hyung-nim: Onii-saa/Aniki.

(3) (Fried) chicken stores are basically the one of the most common small businesses in urban Korea.

(4) No idea what it was trying to censor in the RAWs.

(5) 1998 satirical sci-fi film revolving around the t.i.tular Truman as a man adopted by a corporation to unknowingly live his life out as a reality TV show.