With the newly learned tidbit of information regarding Haunt's past, GaLi understood it was important to treat his situation with a bit more delicacy. It was merely a hunch, but all the signs pointed to it—Haunt was a child, and a rather young one at that. For him to not know so many basic facts about the world, that could be the only explanation. However, nothing was for certain in GaLi's mind yet. His primary goal remains the same—To help Haunt revive.

"You've been awfully quiet." GaLi noted, "You do realize we don't actually have to pause for an entire day in between chapters, right?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"No, I wanna know now!" Haunt was adamant.

His eagerness to learn was another reason for GaLi to suspect his youthful age. Despite his violent outbursts that more often than not would lead to detrimental levels of damage due to his body's strength, he is very much a meek giant when it comes to actually conversing with others. The fact that Haunt let GaLi do all the talking with the shopkeeper was another dead giveaway.

"Hm... Alright, just for you, I'll explain my secret!" GaLi leaned in close to whisper, "I can break the fourth wall."

"The... huh?" Haunt tilted his head, "Wall?"

"Heh, right. Didn't expect you to get that anyways." GaLi chuckled.

"No, come on! Explain it properly!"

"Alright, alright..." GaLi finally obliged, "Let's put it like this, imagine a knight."

"The kind that slays dragons?" Haunt inquired.

"Umm, yeah. Sure, the kind that slays dragons." GaLi furrowed his brow, "Imagine the knight fights a dragon, and then suddenly equates the size of the dragon with you."

"Eh? The knight knows me?" He cocked his head back in confusion.

"Nope, and he doesn't have to. Because you know him." GaLi added, "In a story, when the character seemingly breaks the barrier between him and the audience—That's called breaking the fourth wall!"

A most delicate art. For one to attain such a skill, they would only have to be born with it... Or the author could just help them out from time to time. Of course, though GaLi is aware of his innate connection to the audience's world, he doesn't in fact have this ability. He is, by all accounts, just making it up and constantly staring into a random imaginary camera whenever he does try to break the fourth wall. He just nails it every time, that's his true secret.

"So who do you break the fourth wall with?" Haunt still found it rather hard to wrap his head around the concept.

"Them." GaLi pointed at you with a smirk, "Wave, those folks are the author's lifeblood."

"I don't see anyone?"

"Neither do I, but they see us." GaLi waved at you, prompting Haunt to follow suit, "Hello, dear readers!"

"Uhh, hello..." Haunt bashfully waved, "I feel like people are staring at us. Are you sure someone's really there?"

"Yep!" GaLi grinned, "Just beyond the fourth wall!"

Having lightened the mood a bit with this little side tangent, at the very least GaLi had gotten more enthusiastic about their mission. Haunt was still very much just following along, but given his friend is in a cheery mood, it only made sense for him to let out a few chuckles as well.

"I'm learning so much from you." Haunt smiled warmly, "Gosh, it feels like you and I come from totally different worlds."

"Nah, we're probably from the same world, I think." GaLi replied, "Rather, it's the era that differentiates us. You must be... ancient to not know all this."

"Maybe I'm just dumb."

What was supposed to be just a lighthearted self-burn in Haunt's Eyes here had in fact been taken very seriously in GaLi's. No matter how you sliced it, there was just no reason for Haunt to be blaming himself for his ignorance. Whether he was a child or a homeless man remained a mystery, but in both cases you really only have his circumstances to blame. Thus, you could say GaLi got a little heated when he heard his friend say this about himself.

"No no, that won't do, kid!" GaLi chewed him off, "No apprentice of mine will ever talk badly about himself! If you lose hope in yourself, then tell me—Who the hell's gonna make up for it?!"

"Uhh, calm down. It was just a joke..." Haunt backed away slowly, "Eh, apprentice?"

"You're goddamn right! I'm taking you under my wing, apprentice! From here on, I'm your, uhh...!" GaLi bit his tongue, "Right, I'm your fourth wall breaking mentor! Yeah, so you better listen well if you wanna learn my ways!"

"Uhh, sure, I guess?" Haunt was still more or less confused, "Still, what's that got to do with me having faith in myself? Ah, not that I don't."

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"As you should!" GaLi nodded along, "As for what it has to do with fourth wall breaking—The answer is everything! Self-confidence is the most important aspect of talking to beings higher than yourself!"

"Alright, I get it. I won't talk badly about myself." Haunt looked around embarrassedly, "So could you please stop shouting in the middle of the street?"

There was no reason to be embarrassed, however. At least that's what GaLi thought. For it was his ideology that one should always wear their beliefs on their sleeve if they wanted to make it come true. Besides, ironically enough, GaLi was merely masking his true intentions with this so that he could teach Haunt something truly important—After all, the promise he made to himself to prepare Haunt as much as he could for the day he returns to the World of the Living was the most important goal of all. GaLi could just send the kid off to revive as is, but he wanted to go a step beyond that. He wanted Haunt to not only survive this time, but to thrive as well.

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***

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"About your friends..." Haunt recalled.

"What, you've already apologized about that hundreds of times by now." GaLi sighed, "Seriously, kid. It's okay, you were scared, I get it. No hard feelings."

"Mnn, rather than that..." He shrunk into himself, "Was it really okay on your end to just leave them without any explanation?"

Finally, the reader might be inclined to shout, they're addressing this part of the story! Was it an error from the author? Did he finally come up with a somewhat plausible explanation for GaLi just up and disappearing from Magnes' watchful Eye? Indeed, GaLi was more than happy to give the explanation in his stead!

"Hrm, so suddenly you're the one judging me..." He frowned.

"E-Eh!? No, I just wanted to-!"

"Pfft, calm down, apprentice. I'm just joshing ya'." GaLi cracked up at Haunt's reaction, "Seriously though, it's not like the three of us were that close, really. I mean, I only met the two of them for the first time a few minutes before I did you."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, so-Wait, that came out wrong!" GaLi immediately corrected himself when he noticed Haunt's sullen expression, "That doesn't mean I don't consider you a friend, apprentice! R-Right, because the two of us bonded way more after we met than I did with those two! Yeah, that's it!"

"Oh." He sprung back up.

"Phew. Right, so as I was saying—That girl had her own goal in mind. Looks like she wanted to learn a bit more about this place. Especially about the winged guy we met before that."

"There are people with wings here?" Haunt's hairs stood on end the moment he pictured it in his head.

"Yeah, but it really isn't as scary as you think. Dude's just like any other, except that addition really boosts his ego." GaLi mocked Throne's unfriendly nature, "Basically, that girl really wanted to figure out how to get wings herself, and that other guy... Hm, now that I think about it, I think she just roped him into her story the same way she did me."

"So you two are victims?"

"Nononononono!" GaLi burst out laughing, "Don't phrase it like that!"

Constantly, he was reminded that Haunt didn't know any better, and that his words really were meant to be taken at face value. An innocent mind is good for the soul, but that also makes it prone to getting tarnished. It was wholesome in GaLi's Eyes, to see that kid's innocence proudly displayed to the world, and it was exactly that very same purity that he so desperately wanted to protect. He wanted to teach the kid how to be an adult, but not with the aid of dirty jokes.

"What?" Haunt got a bit fussy as his mentor seemingly laughed at him, "Was it something I said? Stop laughing!"

"Bahaha, nah! It's just... Pfft, hahahaha! Oh Gods I'm a horrible person!" GaLi couldn't control himself anymore, "Phew! Okay GaLi, calm down, he's just a... just a... Phahaha!"

"Grrr...!" Haunt pushed him as he spilled past his tipping point, "I said stop laughing!"

The push, or in this case, the full on shove had sent GaLi directly to the ground. Once again, it seems his apprentice had proven the absolute strength his golden arms carried with them, but at what cost? A strongman's body, when wielded by a child mentally, could only beg for trouble. Though he himself didn't mind, as he did accept he had it coming to him, GaLi still wanted Haunt to learn that getting too hung up on others' comments could end up costing him plenty in the Living World.

"Oops! Sorry!" Haunt immediately ran to check on his mentor.

"Heheh, no good, apprentice!" GaLi shook it off with a laugh, "Do you just shove anyone and anything when they think to chuckle your way or something?"

"Urk..." Haunt slumped forward, "Not women."

"Oh? We have a gentleman on our hands, then! I see momma taught you well!" GaLi's Eyes gleamed, "Then, I got the hard part done for me already. Listen here, kid—From now on, you treat everyone with the same respect you'd give to a woman!"

With this order, GaLi wanted Haunt to learn that by treating others how you want to be treated is the simplest route to success in life. He noticed it before, but when Haunt lunged at Magnes that one time, he didn't raise his fists. Rather, he merely wanted to grab her into his embrace so as to not seriously hurt her. The same could be seen with the female shopkeeper—Haunt was meek and quiet, wanting only to respect her position of authority and accepting the first piece of clothing the girl picked out for him. It was made apparent from these exchanges alone that Haunt is someone very averse to the idea of roughhousing, badmouthing or otherwise disrespecting women, so just by extending that filter to men as well, he would surely have a lot easier of a time once the day came he had to separate from GaLi.

"Ehhh, I dunno." Haunt, however, discarded the suggestion completely, "If I treat both men and women equally, then it wouldn't really be called special treatment anymore, would it?"

"Now where'd you learn a term like that?" Even GaLi was confused.

"Life, I guess." Haunt shrugged, for he too didn't know, "Maybe someone down there taught me."

"...Anyways, I don't care. As your mentor, you are to do as I say. No backtalk!" GaLi chewed him out, "So long as you're under my roo-Well, jurisdic-Nah. Okay, so long as you're under my guidance—You are to respect anyone and everyone equally!"

"Harumph..."

"What? What now?"

"My mentor just told me to beat women, of course I'd be sad..."

"No! I didn't-!? Gah, dammit!" GaLi lost it at that one, "No gold star for you! That's a, a WOODEN star! For pissing me off, you get a very bad, poorly made wooden star!"

"Oh cool, thanks."

"Don't be proud of it! That's a mark of shame!"

"I love wooden toys though." Haunt tilted his head, "So, when am I getting it?"

"Never! You don't deserve it!"

"Aww..."

It appears that preparing a child for the world is not as easy as GaLi might have originally thought. At this point, he was even considering intentionally postponing the plan to revive Haunt just so he could properly cram all the tips and tricks he had to pass down to him. It ain't easy being a new parent.