Chapter 69 :

Episode 16 : Helpers's Strange Sincerity (1)

For what I had been through with my whole lives, I have never been this embarrassed before.

I remembered the time when I bodyjacked HwanGi's body just to save him. If I had not been impulsive, HwanGi would have easily defended himself without my help.

Why did I act out without second thinking? That was so unlike me no matter how I thought about it.

I sighed as I got up from my bed after a goodnight sleep, looking out the window to find sunlight shining into my eyes.

"There should be a few days left before the next stage begins.." I said that while checking the system to see if I was right.

[Stage #11 will start in 2 days.]

"2 days, huh.." While I was immersed in my thoughts, I was disturbed by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I spoke, walking over to the door to open it.

When I was about to open the door, the voice from behind the door answered. "It's me, Alaine!"

And in an instance, I was closing the door after knowing it was Alaine who was standing at the other side.

But it appeared I couldn't enjoy my peace when a hand popped up and stopped the door from shutting.

After I groaned, I immediately gave up and opened the door for her, asking. "What do you want?"

"Do you want to check out the event happening outside?"

The voice of an excited Alaine was the first thing I heard at the beginning of my day. And so I thought. ‘How great..’

I walked out of my room, closed the door and looked at Alaine, telling her. "Okay, let's go."

"Wow.. I thought you wouldn't!"

"If I say no, I'm sure you're going to drag me there."

"How did you know I would do that?!"

"...Are we going or not?" I started walking toward the stairs as I passed by Alaine.

Alaine swiftly walked behind me after she noticed me go past her, mentioning my comrades to me. "JoonChul… You have a lot of friends."

"Excluding you, yes, I do." I chuckled, obviously joking with her.

"Why do you have to be mean with me?" As Alaine was asking me that question, I eventually noticed what she was doing behind me.

[Player ‘999’ has activated the Hidden Skill, ‘Morph’ Lv. 2.]

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Needless to say, I caught on to what she was doing, however, I had no clue on what appearance she had chosen to morph into.

But I couldn't care less and proceeded to go down the stairs casually without even having a glimpse on Alaine.

———

Once I got down, I discovered Mya Rose, the daughter of the ‘Bouquet Tavern’'s Owner, Payne Wayne and the little girl who had the amulet on her neck, standing next to HwanGi.

It seemed she was mesmerized by HwanGi's handsomeness in which I couldn't blame her.

‘..HwanGi is too handsome for his own good.’ I mused, going toward HwanGi's direction.

When Mya caught sight of me coming over, she quickly went behind HwanGi and held his hand firmly.

I knew exactly why she would be afraid of me. After all, who wouldn't be scared when they see my face?

‘Should I be annoyed or pitiful about the way people treat me because of my face?’ I shrugged it off without giving it much thought and halted myself when I arrived in front of HwanGi.

HwanGi gave me a smile when I got in his sight, but that smile soon turned to a frown.

I wondered if there was something on my face or maybe I did something wrong to get a frown from HwanGi. And that was when I remembered that Alaine was behind me.

I guessed I better look at what she had changed her appearance into instead of ignoring her the whole time.

"Did you seriously..?" When I glanced over, I found out that she morphed herself into me.

Alaine laughed while in the appearance of me. "But it's funny! Haha."

Seeing as it was hard to look at myself, I turned around to look at HwanGi instead of looking at Alaine. "Switch back. You're giving us a lot more attention than usual."

"Boo.. Fine."

While Alaine was switching back, I was having a conversation with HwanGi. "So did Alaine drag you here?"

"Yes, she did." HwanGi responded to me while trying to get Mya to move forward.

Naturally, I didn't want Mya to be forced to do so, thus I stopped HwanGi by using my hand while shaking my head to tell him to stop what he was doing.

"Why are you guys standing here? We should be outside. Come on!" My hand was soon being pulled by Alaine.

"I have legs, I can walk on my own." I spoke, getting a teensy bit irritated.

Despite me telling Alaine this, she kept dragging me toward the exit which was also the entrance of this tavern.

I rubbed my temple, knowing that Alaine wouldn't stop until she got me out of this tavern.

I even noticed HwanGi laughing inwardly while I was being dragged away. Seeing how much laugh he got, I also wanted to laugh as well.

[Imitation of ‘Clone’ Lv. 2 has activated.]

A clone of mine appeared in front of HwanGi and I could very well hear his laughter pause right as my clone popped up.

Not only that, my clone also dragged HwanGi like how Alaine was doing to me.

"Pfft.." I snickered when I found HwanGi's eyes locking to me as though his eyes were filled with astonishment.

———

Meanwhile..

"Mimi.. You're hugging me too tightly." Frostina, who was standing in front of the ‘Bouquet’ Tavern, was mumbling to Mirai.

As Mirai was talking to Frostina, the latter caressed the former's head. "But I miss you.. it has been a long time since I last saw you, big sis!"

"Behave yourself. Right now, we're in public."

Behemoth, who was being held by Raiden, smirked at Mirai. "She's right, you know."

"Did I hear you snigger?" Mirai quickly let go of Frostina and stomped her way to Raiden.

"So what? What are you going to do to me? Itsy bitsy spider?" Behemoth hissed at Mirai while climbing up to Raiden's head.

Being in between Behemoth and Mirai, Raiden felt like he was about to be squished by these two.

And so he tried to stop them. "Please don't fight right now."

"These two haven't changed in spite of all these years.." Frostina smiled coldly toward the two which gave chills to Behemoth and Mirai once they saw Frostina's smile.

It wasn't then that everyone suddenly received a notification from the system, repeating the same thing over and over again.

[All Players must gather at the center fountain!]

[All Players must gather at the center fountain!]

[All Players must gather at the center fountain!]

Everyone's expression went grave, not because of the notification but because they would have to face angels, the ‘Helpers’.

Behemoth hissed in a much fiercer manner than the one he did to Mirai. "I'm taking a cat nap."

"Guess I'll be an alarm clock." Raiden chuckled, trying to hide his anger as best as he possibly could.

"I wonder how big sis can keep a smile like that without being angry." Mirai spoke after finding out that Frostina's smile hadn't changed.

Frostina soon switched her smile to an innocent one, directing that smile toward someone else instead. "Being enraged won't do me any good."

Once Mirai noticed Frostina's eyes were looking in another direction, the former followed where the latter's eyes were and discovered three people leaving the tavern.

When Mirai recognized the one who was among the three people, she immediately rushed over to him. "Captain!"

———

After exiting the tavern, I was instantly greeted with a tight embrace by Mirai.

Without giving me time to get back properly on my feet after being dragged by Alaine, I was now being squished firmly by Mirai.

But to be frank, I must rather prefer Mirai hugging me than Alaine.

"How is everyone?" I hugged Mirai back before smiling at my comrades who were walking toward me.

"Everything is great, Sensei!" Raiden waved at me while he was walking. As for Frostina, she was gracefully moving beside Raiden.

When I became aware of Behemoth being asleep in this situation, I knew exactly why he was like this.

And so I asked everyone here. "Shall we get going to the fountain?"

"Yes, we have to…" Alaine replied with a scowl while also murmuring to herself. "..way to ruin the moment of fun.."

In spite of how low her mutter was, I could easily hear every word she was saying if I was paying attention.

As might be expected, Alaine was probably upset after discovering her excitement was eventually brushed off by the system.

"No need to worry. As soon as we finish knowing what this notification is all about, we can check out the event after that."

HwanGi spoke up as if he was trying to cheer up Alaine. It almost looked like he understood what Alaine was feeling without glancing at her expression.

Mind you, HwanGi was behind me and Alaine was in front of me. Even I pondered how he noticed Alaine's mood quickly.