“Now you know why you’re needed, right?”
“More or less.”
What he had heard from both Iho and Cheonghwa came to mind.
‘They said they can’t directly interfere in human affairs, didn’t they?’
That was also the reason Rowoon’s existence was regarded as endlessly precious by those above the heavens.
The fact that they called him a living wish box was enough to understand that.
It seemed Iho was the same.
The only difference from those above the heavens was that he directly needed Rowoon’s physical ability, so to speak.
“But Iho. How did you know that she was going to fall there and send me over?”
It had only been a little less than a minute.
But Iho had clearly seen the future.
That must have been why he had sent Rowoon ahead of time and prevented the accident.
“It’s one of the little tricks I have. Well, it isn’t anything incredible. It’s only a few minutes at most.”
“That’s still incredibly impressive.”
When Rowoon admired him sincerely, Cheonghwa muttered with displeasure.
[Ugh. Do not praise him. His nose will pierce the heavens.]
“Those without future sight should stay quiet.”
[Wh-what? This body governs the weather…!]
“I can’t hear you.”
Rowoon smoothly moved past the two of them bickering like cats and dogs and asked.
There was still something he found strange.
“But Iho. If you know a problem is going to happen, can’t you step in yourself? You could use any number of other methods.”
A few minutes was short, but depending on who used that time and how, its usefulness could differ tremendously.
If it was Iho, he was someone capable of somehow dragging over a mattress that had not even been there and tossing it in front of the elderly woman within those few minutes.
[If he could do that, he would have done it already. Is it not because he cannot that he needs you?]
“…That’s true, but why does it sound so annoying?”
Crackle!
He saw an illusion, as if a flash of blue lightning had passed by.
“Hoo. I hate to admit it, but that fool is right. I have circumstances that prevent me from revealing myself.”
“Is it because of the laws of heaven?”
“That too, but…”
Iho trailed off.
A deep, unknowable emotion rose over his face, then disappeared.
“Anyway, we’ve confirmed it isn’t anything illegal, so that’s enough, right? No canceling the request!”
Seeing him even turn the conversation away, there did seem to be something more, but he apparently did not want to say it.
“Anyway, they said I look like this?”
He muttered something incomprehensible, then said,
“Ah, it’s about time for dinner. Let’s eat something first. The old geezers will make a fuss that I’m making you work without feeding you.”
He declared an official break time.
Since the observers were mentioned, it seemed complaints were probably coming in through some route Rowoon did not know.
Of course they would, because if Rowoon collapsed from exhaustion, the ones who suffered losses would be them.
“Hey, old geezers. Would it kill you to wait a bit? Who told you to monopolize him so unfairly? If you’d competed fair and square, I wouldn’t have had to go this far.”
There was a limit to the requests Rowoon could carry out, and on top of that, someone had even snatched the order in the middle.
Even without that, they were already going mad because their request order had been pushed back, and if stamina issues came up too, the wait would only grow that much longer.
Whether human or not, having a chance snatched away right before one’s eyes was enough to make anyone bitter.
‘They did say he was a big name in the copyright world.’
For reference, that evening’s menu was beef galbi.
It seemed to be his own kind of worker benefit.
‘Well. The working hours do far exceed standard labor hours….’
He did not know whether labor laws applied the same way above the heavens, but in any case, beef was always right.
His work-life balance was ruined, but at least the benefits were amazing.
Though Cheonghwa clicked their tongue beside him.
[Do not eat too well. He may be fattening you up nicely to take out your liver.]
Come to think of it, in some horror show a long time ago, gumiho were famous for eating human livers.
Since he had thought of it, Rowoon asked.
“Do you really eat livers?”
Iho looked dumbfounded.
“Humans these days are all full of visceral fat, so they probably taste awful. Why would I eat that? It would obviously be bad for my health too. And that’s a discriminatory remark against my species, you know? Who eats human livers these days? There are so many things to eat in the world.”
He even received advice that managing one’s diet was essential for longevity.
Then Iho muttered.
“This kid really is something else. Well, then again, anyone who can say exactly what he thinks even under pressure from those old geezers couldn’t be an ordinary human.”
Fortunately, after that, Iho behaved as if his mood had never sunk.
He acted as though nothing was wrong until the promised time ended.
When Rowoon returned home after being released from labor, he asked,
“Cheonghwa. Who is that person?”
[Who? That child?]
“Yes. Lee Jeonghye. She seems to have some connection to him from before, but I got curious about what kind of bond they have for him to volunteer so desperately to protect her.”
Protecting someone was not dramatic like in the movies.
It was even more so because the target, the elderly woman, was rather still and did not move much.
Since he could not take his eyes off the person he was protecting, there was no way he could do anything else.
What was left was…
‘Chatting.’
Fortunately, Iho’s mysterious power was hiding the two of them, so they did not need to keep their mouths shut.
The one mainly talking was Iho, and Rowoon was closer to the listener.
If he had to recall the representative things he had roughly heard…
-She was such a bright child that she loved reading from a young age. Every book I got for her, she finished in three days or less, so you have no idea how troubled I was.
-Look at that. I told her to turn on the light when she reads, but she still won’t listen. Her eyes will get worse like that! I told her not to cover those clear, pretty eyes with glasses, but she never listens!
-Why doesn’t she sleep properly? It ruins her biological rhythm and hurts her health. She was already frail from childhood, and even now she still doesn’t take care of her body like that. Honestly, from one to ten, there’s nothing that doesn’t need my attention!
Something like that.
They were things that made it impossible to tell whether they were praise, scolding, nagging, or bragging.
In any case, besides that, there were other things Rowoon learned through this one-sided chatter.
‘First, I found out the elderly woman’s name.’
Lee Jeonghye.
That was the name of the person Iho was secretly protecting from the shadows.
‘I also found out that her health isn’t very good.’
He heard that not long ago, her condition had been quite poor, and she had gone to a large hospital.
He also learned that Iho was so anxious to know the results that he could hardly stand it.
On top of that.
‘I thought she was her biological granddaughter because they looked so alike, but she was her grandniece.’
Lee Yunseo, who was taking care of Lee Jeonghye, turned out to be her grandniece, and Rowoon also learned that she had volunteered to take care of the elderly woman herself.
It seemed Lee Jeonghye had no other family.
-A foolish thing.
When Rowoon learned that fact.
Iho had said that with a bitter smile.
‘No matter how I think about it, there’s something between those two. But he won’t answer, will he?’
As Rowoon organized the memories that kept coming back one by one and continued speaking, Cheonghwa nodded.
[Most likely not. Foxes are all a breed whose insides cannot be known. They are always smiling so slickly that you cannot tell what they are thinking.]
“If he searched for me to the point of coughing up blood, it can’t be an ordinary bond. But I really can’t get a sense of it.”
[Well, could it not be something like repaying a favor? You know, like you and me.]
“But what’s the point of repaying a favor when Jeonghye doesn’t even know? Shouldn’t Jeonghye know that he’s repaying her?”
[No, well, it does not necessarily have to be that way.]
Since Iho, who held all the truth, had his mouth clamped shut like a clam, all they had were guesses.
[Let us watch for now.]
Rowoon agreed with Cheonghwa’s words.
At first, he thought:
What kind of ridiculous request is this? Don’t tell me it’s a crime…?
Even though he had worried about that, as time passed, he felt interest welling up in him.
Should he say it felt like personally running around and watching from the front row?
Rowoon found himself looking forward to what came next.
Several days passed.
After catching Lee Jeonghye when she suddenly almost fell on the first day, Rowoon occasionally had to step in a few more times according to Iho’s instructions.
‘No matter how I think about it, that divine power really is amazing, isn’t it?’
‘Can you predict lottery numbers with that?’
He had asked that once.
No, wasn’t it natural?
If someone could see the future, anyone would think of things like lottery tickets!
“You’re just a kid… With an incredible ability like this, the only thing you think of is the lottery?”
Of course, the reaction had been completely dismissive, which was a little disappointing.
In any case, the things Rowoon ended up stepping in for were truly small and ordinary.
For example.
“What’s with the umbrella? It isn’t even raining today.”
“Take this to her. Our Jeonghye’s health isn’t good, so it would be troublesome if she caught a cold.”
“…?”
Fortunately, a few minutes later, raindrops began to fall, so he was not treated like a lunatic handing over an umbrella under a blazing sun.
Besides that.
“The bus only comes every forty minutes? Then we have to catch it.”
He would wave and run to stop a bus that was trying to pass by without stopping for Lee Jeonghye.
Or she would leave behind the small handbag with her wallet in it, so he would hurriedly follow after her and bring it back.
Small things like that made up most of what he did.
For reference, that bus was infamous not only for its terrible forty-minute interval, but also for completely ignoring people at the stop unless they made all kinds of dramatic gestures to appeal to it.
On top of that, if Lee Jeonghye missed the bus, she would have to stand for more than an hour with aching joints and wait.
‘At least it’s a relief Iho put some perception-blocking spell or whatever on me.’
Otherwise, instead of gratitude, he might have received suspicious looks from Lee Jeonghye……
Anyway, aside from those few minor unexpected situations, there were not many things Rowoon had to step in for.
That was thanks to the fact that Lee Jeonghye was someone who moved according to a very fixed routine.
‘Her first routine was waking up early in the morning, drinking lightly brewed coffee, and sitting at her desk.’
How did he know this?
Because Iho had proudly chattered about it.
-Our Jeonghye is a very famous writer. She says she writes best after drinking exactly one cup of coffee on an empty stomach in the morning.
After hearing that, Cheonghwa evaluated Iho like this.
[I truly do not know what kind of creature he is, bragging about that as if it were his own achievement.]
In any case, Lee Jeonghye, the famous writer, wrote in the morning.
Around lunchtime, her grandniece Lee Yunseo visited regularly.
After they ate a light meal together, they enjoyed a walk for digestion.
The park they had seen on the first day was one of Lee Jeonghye’s favorite walking routes.
After finishing their walk, they stopped by a coffee shop and drank coffee.
And here, every single time, Iho would mutter.
-Shouldn’t we make her cut back on coffee? It isn’t good for her health.
To borrow Cheonghwa’s words.
[There has never been such absurd fussing…]
That was what it was.
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