You! Don’t Press that Button! - Chap 34

Blinking my eyes, I carefully looked up at Karhan. For a moment, he silently gazed down at me without a word. His eyes were filled only with me. Did he perhaps feel upset? I hastily opened my mouth again.

“Cheep is fine until you get used to it, Karhan. I consider that my name too.”

With slightly trembling hands, I fiddled with Karhan’s sleeve. He still had his hand on my cheek, making me look up at him, so I couldn’t avoid his gaze. I tried shifting my eyes here and there, but there was a limit to that, and eventually, they landed on Karhan’s face. With his expression still blank, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

After waiting with a pounding heart, Karhan gave a small smile.

“Tell me your name so I can try.”

Moving the thumb of the hand on my cheek, he gently brushed my eye. From the slight narrowing of his eyes, he seemed to be smiling a little. It felt awkward to say a name I hadn’t spoken in so long. Yoo, Seol. Yoo Seol. It was nothing special, but I practiced a few times in my head before opening my mouth and rolling my tongue.

“Yoo Seol. You can call me Seol.”

I worried if I had pronounced it awkwardly after not saying my name for so long. Fortunately, I was relieved to hear the small but precise sound of “Seol” flowing from Karhan’s mouth. It was a really novel experience to hear my name, not Cheep, in his low voice. He tried the word in his mouth a few times before patting my head.

“I’ll try to get used to it.”

A bit disappointingly, he didn’t call me by my name right away. But he promised. That was enough. Feeling satisfied, I nodded vigorously.

It was really fascinating. When we first met, my impression of him was quite poor. He seemed to treat animals as mere objects, so I didn’t view him favorably. However, after spending a considerable amount of time together, that initial bad impression gradually faded, and a new impression was layered on top.

Just today, when I said I wanted to practice walking, he readily offered to help without hesitation. He was very kind. As if he were the protagonist of a novel, he seemed to lack nothing, from his looks to his personality and wealth. Recalling the sight of him with Doel, they made a perfect pair.

Unaware of what I was thinking, Karhan lightly patted my head and pulled the blanket up a bit more for me. Gripping the blanket pulled up to my chest with both hands, I looked up at him. Karhan said he was going to work and left the room, leaving his last words that if I got bored, I should ask the attendant to bring me a picture book.

I don’t know how this novel will end, but since it’s a love story, I think the two of them will end up together. And when the story concludes with that result, I will return to my original world.

Left alone in the room, I raised my hand and touched my head. When I was a bird, he stroked all over, but now that I’m human, he often pats this spot. Slightly to the right from the top of my head. Blankly, I tried patting that spot with my own hand, mimicking what Karhan did.

When the two of them find happiness and the story reaches its conclusion, I’ll go back home. I can meet my close friends.

…Still, if I do manage to return safely, I feel like I might miss this life a little. I tried to erase the inexplicable surging feeling deep in my heart and drew a smile. I was so looking forward to going to the festival with Karhan tonight.

And so, I spent time alone waiting for midnight to come, and as midnight approached, my body started feeling strange.

I let out dry coughs as my breath suddenly caught in my throat. The closer it got to midnight, the worse the symptoms became. At first, I thought I might have indigestion from the meal, but it felt too severe for that, and my body gradually grew hotter until it felt like it would shatter.

As my body temperature rose, my eyes became moist with tears. I lifted my head to look out the window. As if heralding the arrival of Athlena’s 3 Days, a bright full moon rose in the middle of the sky. Perhaps due to the festival’s influence or the moon, despite the pitch-black night, the light entering through the window was exceptionally bright.

As the moon settled in the center, my mind grew hazy. This feeling was familiar. I had experienced it before. It was similar to when that platinum-haired man said he would give me energy. I shouldn’t get sick. I had promised to go out with Karhan when the Athlena’s 3 Days festival began…

“Cough!”

I was taking shallow breaths when a blurry shadow appeared in front of me. Who is it? I didn’t hear the door opening. Perhaps my condition was so unusual that I failed to hear it. With my mind drifting in and out of consciousness, I narrowed my eyes and looked ahead.

A silhouette that seemed familiar somewhere stood beside my bed and reached out a hand towards my head. Plump fingertips touched my head and gently stroked it. The hair that had been obstructing my view was tucked behind my ear, allowing me to see more clearly.

It was someone I knew.

🐤

Sensing the approach of midnight, Karhan stopped his official duties. The full moon began to take its place high in the sky. It was a day when the energy called mana in this world filled the world to the brim under the full moon. A day to worship the gods about once every two months. A blessed day when the world overflowed with the energy of nature.

Outside, the festival preparations seemed to be wrapping up. The noise and excitement of the bustling crowd heated up the castle. Thinking it was about time to head out, he put down the documents and pen he was holding and rose from his seat. Before stepping out the door, he crossed his fingers and cracked them to relieve the stiffness.

To attend the festival, he needed to change clothes. Overly formal aristocratic attire was unsuitable for enjoying the festivities. He thought of stopping by the bedroom to change and getting Cheep, who was alone, ready as well. …If only the unusual presence hadn’t disturbed his ears.

Just a few steps out of the office into the hallway, he sensed a presence from Cheep’s room that he couldn’t normally feel.

🐤

“Long time no see?”

“Gasp!”

Amidst my drifting consciousness, I inhaled sharply at the figure appearing before me. Through my tear-filled eyes, heated with fever, the platinum-haired man who had hurt me not long ago entered.

You, you bastard! I stretched out my trembling hand. As I struggled to extend my slender index finger, he looked at my fingertip and also straightened his own finger to touch mine.

“Is this what you want?”

What are you doing! Where am I, an alien from the moon? Why would I want this? Shaking with rage, I quickly curled the finger that had touched his. Clenching my fist and narrowing my eyes, I glared at the man in front of me. Meeting my gaze, he smiled brightly and tilted his head slightly to the side.

“You look quite ill on this lovely day.”

Yes, it was a lovely day. Except for being sick. A beautifully blooming full moon against the dark sky, truly a blessed day opening the 3-day festival. The beautiful Athlena’s 3 Days when the moon, not the sun, fully illuminated the world.

Why was I so sick on a day like this? Feeling like my body would shatter from the repeated bouts of severe pain recently, I felt frustrated and wronged, on the verge of tears. And I was angry, too.

Lowering my gaze from the window, I looked at my two hands gripping the blanket. Exhaling softly, I wiggled my hands while lying on the bed.

“Hmm? You want me to come?”

The man asked, tilting his head. As his head leaned to the side, strands of platinum hair swayed gently, brushing against his red eyes.

The burning fever left a rough sensation in my throat. Unable to answer, I could only nod slowly.

The hateful-looking man took a step closer. I wiggled my hand again. With a somewhat puzzled look in his eyes, he took another step closer. This should be enough. Concealing my terrifyingly dark intentions, I opened my mouth.

“Head… closer…”

I whispered in a voice audible only from close proximity. As if his curiosity was piqued, as I had intended, he dropped his trademark smiling face and looked at me with slightly widened eyes. I smiled at him with the most innocent face in the world, eyes curved. I presumed the heat coursing through my body made me appear even more harmless. After gazing at my face for a moment, he dutifully followed my words and lowered his head.

Now’s my chance.

I swiftly reached out my hand and grabbed the platinum hair in front of me. I held on as tightly as possible, refusing to let go. Don’t underestimate me, the fierce bird I used to be. My hand existed for this very moment! I narrowed my eyes sharply and smirked, raising one corner of my mouth.

Startled by the sudden grasp on his hair, the man’s eyes widened. Huffing and puffing, he looked at me clutching his hair, and then his eyebrows twitched oddly before he burst out a scoffing laugh. Then, he immediately broke into a bright grin.

“Ah, haha! Is this all the strength you have?”

“You’re, you’re laughing?”

My face, already flushed from the fever, turned even redder. I tugged at his beautiful platinum hair with the force to rip it out, but his face remained utterly serene. I couldn’t tell if his scalp was made of hard iron or if my hand strength was weak, but that brightly smiling face of his was so infuriating.

“Don’t laugh!”

Are his hair follicles holding hands with his brain? Why won’t they come out?

Groaning, I put more strength into my hand tightly gripping his hair, but his face only scrunched up with laughter. Is this all the power I have? I felt despair but didn’t release his hair.

Could it be because I’m sick? Or because I’m a newborn Suin? Eventually, I coughed and buried my face in the pillow.

As I limply collapsed, he raised his hand and lightly grasped mine, which was still clinging to his hair. Wriggling like a snake, he slithered between my fingers and carefully unfurled my clenched fist.

Perhaps due to the fever, his palm felt cool. I usually didn’t like cold things much, but with my body burning up, his hand felt like an oasis encountered in the middle of a desert. I shouldn’t say this, but I wished he would place that cool hand on the back of my neck.

Having exhausted all my strength in trying to rip out his hair, I finally lay defenseless on the bed. Like a newborn animal, I couldn’t even open my eyes properly and only breathed heavily. The pain in my head was so severe that I couldn’t even fall asleep. I was in a half-dead state, barely alive and breathing.