Chapter 205: Interlude - New Hope (2)


    “Oi…” Ha-eun’s cold eyes locked onto Ohjin.


    She gestured at Isabe with her chin and red at him. Her gesture seemed to imply that she wanted to see Ohjin give his best shot at exining.


    “I never did such a thing,” Ohjin refuted in a mortified voice.


    “Hmm…” Ha-eun narrowed her eyes and turned to face Isabe.


    “So he says.”


    “Fufu. He’s probably just embarrassed.” Isabe shrugged and looked at him in a seductive manner. “Didn’t you say that you would be my new hope?”


    “What on earth does that have to do with being my maid…?”


    ‘As if that’s her new hope.’


    “Oh my, but what if I say that’s my new hope?”


    ‘How about you fucking don’t.’


    “What do you mean…?” Ohjin looked at Isabe as if he found it absurd.


    Her new hope was bing his maid? It’s not like real life was a third-rate porno film. The development was way too out of the blue.


    “Fufu. I was just kidding.” Isabe smiled and took a step toward him with her curly blond hair bouncing. “Still, I was sincere about moving into your home.”


    “Heh. This house is under my name, you know?”


    “Goodness, is that so?”


    Ha-eun arrogantly nodded her head. “You need to get permission from me, the owner, first—”


    “Come to think of it, weren’t you the one who threw mes at our family residence?”


    “Huh?” Ha-eun looked rather dumbstruck. “Y-Yeah, and…?”


    “Ah, don’t mind me. I don’t know much about the stigma of Draco and I was just thinking that you have much more firepower than I imagined.” Isabe smiled brightly and continued in a gentle voice. “Oh, how powerful the mes were, to turn all the valuables and pieces of art to ash.”


    “U-Um, a-about that.”


    “Fufu. I know. You had no choice but to do so in order to help me, correct?”


    “Th-That’s right!” Ha-eun urgently nodded her head.


    Though, in honesty, rather than to help Isabe, she just used her powers at Ohjin’s orders with not much else going on in her mind.


    “No matter how rich the Cgrande Household is, the amount of money we lost isn’t to be scoffed at. We’re in a difficult spot since a minimum of one billion dors worth of valuables were burnt by the fire.”


    “O-One billion?” Ha-eun’s mouth fell open.


    —One billion dors.


    ‘How much even is that?’


    The amount of money she couldn’t even imagine made her head go nk. In the first ce, she had only heard of money exceeding the ‘millions’ in news or articles, never in real life.


    Even if Awakeners earned a lot of money, it was no easy task to make money in the ‘billions’.


    No, it was pretty much an impossible amount to attain if you weren’t the master of arge guild or operating arge-scale business.


    ‘So… you’re telling me I destroyed over a billion dors worth of valuables?’


    Ultimately, the goal of her attacks was to support and protect Isabe from Damien. It wasn’t exactly her responsibility if millions or billions of dors were lost, but she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.


    “Um… S-Sorry.” The unfathomable amount of money stopped her ability to think as an apology left her mouth on its own.


    “If that’s how you feel, then can I borrow a room in your house while my residence is being rebuilt?


    “Huh? U-Uh…”


    “Of course, Ipletely understand that you used your powers to help me… Still, would you really refuse to lend me a single room after turning my home into ash…?” Isabe’s eyes gleamed as she cunningly made Ha-eun feel ufortable.


    “I-I guess…?”


    “Thank you. I won’t forget this favor.”


    It was clear that she wasn’t in control of the Cgrande Household for no reason.


    Even when she was one-sidedly gaslighting Ha-eun with words that weren’t entirely logical, her small gestures, the look in her eyes, and the tone of her voice sessfully fooled her.


    “Then I’ming inside.” Isabe took off her shoes and walked into the house naturally like it was her own.


    She looked around the house which was more or less 66 square meters.


    “It’s a little small for three people.”


    <em>Snap—</em>


    She snapped her fingers.


    “Roberto.”


    An old man in a clean butler uniform appeared from between the bodyguards wearing sunsses.


    “Have you called for me?”


    “This is the seventh floor, correct? Buy all the units on this floor. Actually, never mind. It’ll probably be better to buy this whole apartment building. I’ll give you a month, so do anything you can to buy out this whole ce.”


    “Understood.” Roberto gave a nonchnt expression and bowed.


    “W-Wait! What are you going to do with all those units?”


    “Hm? What do you think? I want to do some renovation to make this ce more spacious. Isn’t it a bit ufortable for three people to live here?”


    Like Isabe said, it was indeed a little ufortable for three people to live in a house that was around 66 square feet.


    “…If you want to do some renovating, isn’t just the neighboring house enough?”


    “I just dislike the idea of other people living in the same building as Ohjin.” Isabe maintained a nonchnt look as she spouted absurdity.


    “…”


    She wanted to buy out the entirerge apartment building for that mere reason alone.


    “O-Ohjin, what the hell is wrong with her?”


    “I don’t know either.”


    “Maybe she was dropped on her head as a child!”


    “Your wording is a bit crude…”


    “Well… there are more reasons,” said Isabe as she continued in a calm voice, “Ohjin and I have most likely be the ck Star Organization''s targets due to the recent incident. Having guards ready at this apartment like a kind of fortress is safer in many ways.”


    “Hmm. That’s true.”


    There certainly was a high likelihood of the ck Star Organization targeting Isabe and Ohjin, who were at the center of the incident.


    Though it didn’t have to be something as extreme as a fortress, it would be wise to have some precautions in ce.


    “I can use this room, right?” Isabe carefully opened the door to the room that was used for storage.


    Though it was used for storage, there wasn’t much stuff stored inside. A few clothes and basic household goods were all there were.


    <em>Snap—</em>


    Once Isabe lightly snapped her fingers, the bodyguards standing by in the corridor crowded inside and started to unpack her luggage.


    Was it because each and every one of them were Awakeners with superhuman bodies? It didn’t even take ten minutes for them to unpack and decorate the room with a luxurious interior that fit Isabe.


    “We have finished, Lady Isabe.”


    “Well done. You may leave.” Isabe nodded her head and made a satisfied expression.


    The bodyguards crowded back out like a receding wave.


    * * *


    * * *


    Isabe was the one to break the awkward silence that settled down inside the house.


    “Has everyone eaten?”


    “No, not yet.” Remembering what they were in the middle of doing, Ha-eun opened the delivery app on her phone. “We were going to order food. What do you want to eat?


    “…Order?”


    “Yeah.”


    “Are you telling me that you’re going to feed low-quality delivery food to Ohjin?” Isabe furrowed her brow like she’d heard something absurd.


    Ha-eun nodded her head with an embarrassed look on her face.


    “<em>Sigh.</em> I… really didn’t think of you that way. I’m a bit disappointed.”


    “B-But Ohjin likes delivery food…”


    “Isn’t that because you’re bad at cooking?”


    “<em>Gasp.</em>” Ha-eun was left speechless by the words that pierced her heart.


    Isabe took out fresh ingredients that were stored in a cooler in her trunk as if she knew that would happen and had prepared in advance.


    “Please wait a moment. I’ll cook up some food in no time.” Isabe headed to the kitchen and diligently started cooking.


    “Ohjin…”


    “Uh, yeah?”


    “Do you really like delivery food because I can’t cook?”


    ‘Yes.’


    “Of course not. Isabe is just saying that because she doesn’t know the quality of delivery food in Korea.”


    “Right? It isn’t because I can’t cook, right?”


    “Yeah, yeah. The food you make for me is delicious.” Heforted Ha-eun, who was feeling down, and looked back at Isabe.


    ‘She looks like she’s doing a lot better.’


    Isabe had a speedy recovery considering how she cried when Paulo died.


    Ohjin looked at Isabe’s back with a faint smile.


    “Here, food is ready!” She put the food she cooked on the table.


    It was a Korean-style meal consisting of Korean pancakes, stir-fried ss noodles, and spicy soft tofu stew.


    “I also practiced cooking a lot of Korean food. Please give it a taste,” Isabe said in a confident voice as she sat right next to Ohjin.


    “Thanks for the food.”


    Proving that her confidence wasn’t unwarranted, the food she made was exceptional enough to be served at a traditional Korean restaurant.


    “…This game has shit bncing. What am I supposed to do if a rich girl with big boobs is even good at cooking?”


    Ohjin heard Ha-eun’s murmuringints from the other side of the table.


    [By the way…]


    Vega, who was observing Isabe quietly on top of Ohjin’s head, slowly came down.


    [I heard that you were an Executor of the ck Star Organization.]


    <em>Flinch—</em>


    Isabe’s shoulders slightly shook.


    “That’s correct.”


    [Hmm. I heard of your circumstances from my child.]


    “…My child?” It seemed that Isabe found Vega’s choice of words strange as she tilted her head.


    They had forgotten about it, but they had never told Isabe that Vega was actually a celestial.


    [I am Vega, the celestial of Lyra.]


    “Pardon? Y-You weren’t a guardian spirit but a celestial?” Isabe looked at Ohjin with saucer-like eyes.


    Ohjin quietly nodded his head.


    “I never knew that celestials could directly materialize their bodies on Earth.”


    “It’s only possible since Vega is a North Star.”


    She looked at Vega with surprise.


    Vega looked up at Isabe with her arms crossed and started to speak.


    [Even if you had your circumstances, I resent you for deceiving my child.]


    “I apologize.”


    [Make sure to repent for your actions.]


    “Of course.” Isabe pulled on Ohjin’s arms with firm determination in her eyes. “I’ll seek forgiveness from him for the rest of my life.”


    [Hm? There’s no need to go so far.]


    She leaned her head on his shoulder with her body pressed against his.


    “I will offer my body and soul to him.”


    [S-Stop! Stop repenting!]


    Vega shook her head with a shocked expression.


    “<em>Haa…</em> I thought things woulde to this.” Ha-eun sighed and red at Ohjin.


    <em>Thud—</em>


    She kicked Ohjin’s shin beneath the table.


    Ohjin dropped his head like he had nothing to say.


    * * *


    After the meal, Ohjin helped Isabe organize the remaining luggage in her room while Ha-eun and Vega cleaned up.


    “…Why did you bring a maid uniform?” Ohjin asked as he took a ck maid''s uniform from her trunk.


    Isabe smiled brightly and raised it.


    “Didn’t I tell you? I’ll be your exclusive maid starting today.”


    “You said you were kidding.”


    “Fufu. I wonder. Was I really kidding?” She hugged his arm with a mischievous grin.


    “If you want… I can really be your maid,” she whispered into his ear in a seductive voice.


    While Ohjin was hesitating on how he should answer—


    “By the way, did you enjoy your meal?”


    “Ah, yeah. It was really delicious.”


    “Then… it’s also about time for me to have my meal.”


    She licked her lips while stroking the nape of his neck.


    “May I eat you, Master?”


    ‘Huh?’


    ‘Me?’