‘It’s so big!!’
When she came with Kyu-seong, she always stuck close to him and never had to check the directions herself. She never realized how vast the area was.
Thump, thump, thump!
She ran this way.
Thump, thump, thump!
She ran that way, scanning her surroundings, and soon spotted a familiar building.
“Pretty Sister!”
It was the building she had gone to when Jeong So-yeon gave her a motorcycle helmet. She definitely remembered buying camping gear there…
As soon as she saw a familiar place, she ran over.
And now, at that very place, something was happening by chance.
Boom!
Crash!
“Ahhh!”
“Call the police! 119! 119!”
As she arrived near the building, there was a tremendous commotion. Amidst the chaos, Ara looked around with wide eyes.
“What’s happening?!”
There was a small explosion and the building shook.
People were hurriedly evacuating, and in that situation, she saw someone fall.
“Oh no!”
An old woman had fallen.
And above her, a massive piece of building debris was falling.
“No!”
“Ahhh!”
“Grandma! Get up! It’s dangerous…!”
People who had already escaped were watching the situation unfold, shouting in distress. But at that moment…
Thud!
Ara easily blocked the debris with her hand.
“?!”
“Huh?!”
The sight of a tiny girl holding up a huge chunk of concrete with both hands was truly surreal.
However, Ara nonchalantly tilted her head.
“Are you okay?”
“Th-thank you.”
“Oh! Are you alright? That’s a relief!”
As the flustered grandmother expressed her gratitude, Ara smiled as if she had done something obvious.
Meanwhile, the onlookers quickly helped the grandmother and took her away, while Ara nonchalantly put down the debris she was holding.
Thud!
For a moment, people wondered if the debris just appeared heavy, but the floor-shaking vibration made them realize Ara’s immense strength.
Then, one by one, people took out their phones and began to take pictures of Ara, cheering.
“Is she an Awakened? She must be an Awakened, right?”
“Wow, she looks like she’s only in early elementary school, but she’s an Awakened?”
“Look at those animal ears. She seems to be of the physical type.”
“…She’s so cute.”
Regardless, Ara turned her head to look at the entrance of the building she was about to enter.
Loud noises were still erupting from inside.
“A gift!”
“Um… Little Awakened, it’s dangerous in there. There’s an Awakened criminal causing a ruckus inside.”
“What is an Awakened criminal?”
“They’re… Awakened people but bad guys. Very dangerous ones.”
At the citizen’s words, Ara fell into thought for a moment.
Then, she clenched her fists and shouted.
“I must save Kyu-seong Kyu-seong’s gift!”
Kyu-seong’s gift, held by the villains.
Ara decided to rescue it.
As Ara boldly approached the building entrance, the people behind her began to murmur.
“W-what should we do? Shouldn’t we stop her?”
“First, call for help! Has anyone done that yet?”
“I already did!”
As she entered the building, the loud noises grew even louder. Ara tilted her head and ventured further inside.
“Ugh…”
“Are you alright?”
There were people inside the building who hadn’t been able to escape. Some were trapped under debris, and Ara began to pull them out as soon as she saw them.
“Ah! Everyone! Please help here!”
The people who followed Ara inside saw what was happening and quickly ran outside to call for more help.
Then, they immediately began to assist Ara in the rescue efforts.
As Ara cleared the debris, the others worked together to save the people.
Thanks to Ara’s immense strength, they were able to rescue everyone nearby in no time.
“Th-thank you.”
“We’ve called 911, they’ll be here soon. Just hang in there a bit longer.”
Thankfully, no one’s life was in immediate danger.
However, a few people had sustained serious injuries and had lost consciousness.
Feeling proud of rescuing the people, Ara then turned towards the interior of the building, determined to retrieve Kyu-seong’s gift.
“Ah! Little Awakened!”
“Awakened! Let’s wait for the police and paramedics! Other Awakened will be here soon!”
Thinking Ara was going back to rescue more people, they tried to stop her, but Ara shook her head and continued forward.
“It’s dangerous, so stay here!”
As Ara headed towards the source of the commotion, she suddenly lifted her head and focused her vision. Her eyes sparkled, and she could instantly see her surroundings clearly.
This was the ability she gained from consuming a special fruit.
The power of Mind’s Eye.
“Oh!”
Fascinated by the new ability for a moment.
Ara quickly spotted a trio wearing strange masks fighting against someone.
“Who are the bad guys?”
Ara dashed towards the fighting scene and arrived in no time.
“Huff, huff, huh…?”
The Awakened struggling against the trio widened his eyes in surprise at the sudden appearance of Ara.
“A kid?”
“What is that?”
The trio in masks also noticed Ara and tilted their heads in confusion.
Ara, despite the attention, subtly looked around. Several Awakened were already lying on the ground.
“Oh! How strong!”
Purely impressed, Ara quickly identified the source of all this trouble.
Fwoosh-!
A giant wolf made of blazing flames.
It was a Flame Wolf, a fifth-grade monster.
The Flame Wolf exuded a fierce aura, asserting its dominance over the area. Nearby objects quickly lost their shape and burned to ashes.
From the fifth grade onwards, both Awakened and monsters are classified as higher tier. Despite only a one-grade difference from the fourth grade, which is classified as lower tier, the reality was starkly different.
There was an insurmountable gap between the lower and higher tiers, and the fallen Awakened around them were proof of this.
Just a single fifth-grade monster had managed to subdue them all.
“Kid! Step back! It’s dangerous here!”
The only Awakened still standing, though injured all over, shouted at Ara. The situation was too urgent for him to speak kindly.
“Kid, go back to your mom quickly.”
“Hey, hey. Just ignore her. Hurry up and gather the stuff.”
“But what if she gets hurt…?”
When one of the masked men expressed concern for Ara, Jeong Ji-hwan frowned. He then gave a heartless order.
“Flame Wolf, take out both the kid and the Awakened in front of you.”
-Woof!
“B-boss!!”
Everyone was shocked by Jeong Ji-hwan’s command.
The Awakened, barely holding on, hurriedly moved to block Ara.
“You scum!”
The Awakened, Cha Si-hyun, gritted his teeth.
He couldn’t defeat the Flame Wolf. No, he couldn’t even properly hold it off.
But he had to protect the child behind him, even at the cost of his own life. He believed it was his duty as someone who had obtained the rights of an Awakened.
“Argh! Look at me!”
Provoking the Flame Wolf, Cha Si-hyun spread his arms wide to appear as large as possible. As a physical-type Awakened, this was his best way to protect Ara.
The Flame Wolf, not minding Cha Si-hyun, began to charge at him with agile movements.
“Kid! Get as far back as you can! No, just run away!”
The Flame Wolf finally got close, and the scorching heat could be felt. Cha Si-hyun braced for the impending pain and tightly closed his eyes.
“…”
‘What?’
Time passed, but nothing happened.
The heat was still there, indicating that the Flame Wolf was nearby…
“F-Flame Wolf! What are you doing?”
A startled voice of an opponent was heard.
When Cha Si-hyun slowly opened his eyes, he couldn’t believe what he saw.
“Good boy. Such a good boy.”
The child he was trying to protect had somehow made the Flame Wolf lie down and was now petting its chin.
“…Huh.”
Cha Si-hyun, dumbfounded, let out a foolish sound.
* * *
When all the food prepared for today was brought out, people couldn’t hide their astonishment.
“No, what on earth…?”
“Did you prepare all of this by yourself?”
“Using a slime as a spatial expansion artifact? What kind of slime is that?”
Of course, I didn’t prepare everything alone; I had some help from my mother. After laying out all the food, I looked at the oven that had been prepared beforehand.
‘Wow, they really made it fancy.’
I had asked in advance if they could prepare an oven for making pizza, and they had built a serious, professional one. As expected from Ironblood. They spared no expense.
“Is this oven…?”
“Oh, it seems you haven’t been informed.”
Baek Seung-hyun approached with a curious look.
It seemed that Director Baek had kept my pizza preparation a secret.
“Is there anything we can help with?”
“No, it’s alright. I want to do this for you… Please enjoy.”
I quickly started rolling out the pizza dough for the waiting people. All the toppings were made from my homemade produce.
Except for the cheese, everything was homemade.
Preparation was quick. Now, all that was left was to bake it in the oven. The oven was already at the right temperature, having been preheated before my arrival.
Gulp.
I heard someone swallow their saliva. The food I had prepared, aside from the pizza, was also quite extraordinary.
“Please start eating.”
“Is that alright?”
One of the Ironblood guild members, who seemed to be the owner of the gulp, glanced at Director Baek. Director Baek nodded kindly with a smile.
“Let’s start eating while it bakes! It’s torture to wait with such delicious food in front of us!”
Director Baek’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. Having experienced my food a few times, his reaction was natural.
“I’ll wait for the pizza. It’s not that I don’t want to eat the other food, but I’d rather wait and be even more impressed.”
“Ahem! Then I’ll wait too.”
Director Baek, who had been reaching for some fried eggplant, stopped. His hesitation made Baek Seung-hyun laugh brightly.
“Hahaha.”
Despite his pale complexion, his bright expression made me feel a bit emotional. I hoped that from now on, he would only have reasons to smile without any worries.
As we laughed and chatted with the Ironblood guild members, filling our stomachs a little, the delicious smell from the oven began to spread.
“Wow.”
“That smells amazing.”
“Freshly cooked food really is more appealing.”
Each person, all of whom were well-known Awakened individuals, reacted with anticipation to my food. It was unbelievable to see such people excited about my cooking.
In my mind, they were always a bit more serious and strict, but they didn’t seem much different from ordinary people.
I had made 15 pizzas.
However, seeing how much people were looking forward to them, it seemed like it might not be enough.
‘I brought more just in case. I should ask Bokkeum to take them out.’
Fwoosh-!
As soon as I took out the pizza pans, the heat and the aroma that had been trapped inside spread everywhere.
“…!”
“The smell from the oven was nothing compared to this! Wow, my mouth is watering.”
“I heard about you, Kyu-seong, before you arrived, but I didn’t expect this. I don’t know if I can accept such amazing food for free.”
With enthusiastic reactions from the Ironblood guild members, I took out all 15 pizzas. Soon after, Director Baek handed me a cold beer to cool down from the oven’s heat.
“Gulp! Ahh!”
“Hahaha! Let’s dig in! We’ve been waiting for this!”
The dough made with care, and the homemade toppings.
It was a completely different level of originality compared to the other dishes that had been set out beforehand.
And the response was immediate.
“Mm?! Mmm!!”
“Gasp!”
“Chomp chomp.”
“Hey! Are you planning to eat the whole pizza by yourself? Put it down right now!”
The expected reactions burst out.
And the most anticipated reaction came from Baek Seung-hyun, who was even shedding tears.
“It’s… it’s delicious. After my poison treatment, my father kept stopping me from eating pizza, but to think I’d get to eat something like this…”
“I’ll send you pizza dough and ingredients occasionally. But you’ll have to make it yourself.”
“What?! Really? That… that would be too much trouble…”
“Baek Seung-hyun, you’re just lucky. This is all fate.”
“No way…”
Baek Seung-hyun, unsure if he was crying from the deliciousness of the pizza or being moved by my gesture, tried to wipe away his unstoppable tears. Beside him, his fiancée Oh Min-joo was also crying.
“Sniff.”
“Even the director…”
Looking around, most of the Ironblood guild members had teary eyes or were trying to hide their tears.
I scratched my head and asked these pure-hearted people.
“…Would you like more pizza? I brought extra…”
“Yes!!”
Their responses were robust.
* * *
The celebration party at the Ironblood guild ended.
After personally receiving thanks from the guild members and exchanging contact information, I finally managed to leave.
“It’s already evening. Ara must be hungry.”
Although my body was fine, I was mentally exhausted.
The Ironblood guild members were more energetic than I expected, reminding me of lively entertainers. Even Director Baek blended in well, chatting away.
As I finally returned home, the slimes welcomed me.
“Is Ara inside?”
Thinking about Ara in the Dungeon of Gluttony, I immediately headed there. When I arrived at the farm that had transformed into a village…
-Groan!
“Oh, Gomgom. Was everything okay today? Where’s Ara?”
-Groan?
Gomgom tilted its head.
I looked around. It seemed unusually quiet today.
“Ara! Where are you!”
Even though I raised my voice a bit, there was no response. What was going on?
Unexpectedly playing hide and seek, I searched here and there for Ara. When I realized she wasn’t in the village, I headed towards the lakeside.
“…She’s not here either.”
Could she be in the World Tree Forest?
Feeling increasingly anxious, I ran towards the World Tree Forest.
“Ara!”
Even after running with all my might, I couldn’t find Ara in the forest. But then I encountered the Alfheims.
“Call Frey.”
-\( ˙▿˙ )/
Soon, Frey came out rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawned as she greeted me.
“You’re here?”
“Hey, Frey. Have you seen Ara?”
“Huh? Ara? Hasn’t she returned yet?”
“Hasn’t returned? What do you mean?”
At my words, Frey’s drowsy face suddenly cleared up and turned pale.
“Quite some time has passed…”
“Frey, what do you mean by that?”
“That is…!”
Ara is missing!
Cliche Novel 