They bought and sold beings in the alien world at the Dungeon Market. If so, did they deliberately open the door of space and go to the alien world to search for beings to take as slaves?
Or did they go on a slave hunt whenever the twists leading to the alien world by chance opened up?
Yong-ho got curious about this question but got it out of his head for now. He could get the detained answer if he could go back and ask Tigrius or Sitri, or even Scathach, but not now.
‘Sitri wouldn’t have said that for no reason.’
When he told Sitri he was rebuilding the door of space, she said it would never be easy.
The former Sitri would not have said so simply because supplying mana was difficult. Obviously, there was something else that Yong-ho himself did not know yet.
When he was lost in thought, Catalina hesitantly asked, “Uh… Master?”
She seemed worried that he might be angry a lot.
However, he stroked her hair and said with a cheerful smile, “Alright. I’m home anyway. Let’s enjoy our stay here until we go back to the demon world.”
He was serious. After checking the scroll with the seal of the Dungeon Market, he reached out and closed the door completely. When returning, all he had to do was to make a little gap by tearing the scroll in the place where the door of space was opened then send a signal to the House of Mammon. Then, the House of Mammon that received the signal was supposed to open the door of a new space by using Catalina as a coordinate.
The duration of his stay in the human world was about two days based on the demon world. Accordingly, he first needed to find out about the time difference between the two worlds.
He would compare the time spent in the demon world with the time that passed here.
He first headed to the window. He pulled out the blinds and looked out the window.
“Wow.”
He admired what he saw outside, and Catalina opened her eyes wide at the scene that she saw for the first time.
Big snowflakes were falling down from the sky on a dark winter night.
***
‘Let me compare it thoroughly, but it’s almost the same.’
He didn’t simply compare it by the change of seasons. There were so many red things outside the window in addition to snow.
Given that the church not far from his house was decorated with Christmas trees, it seemed to be around the end of the year. It was perhaps just before or after Christmas.
Then what should he do now? Should he wait, sitting down in his room, until his father came back?
Since he was not alone in the room, he could do something attractive to her but he couldn’t.
He headed to the living room then stood there looking at a small bulletin board in the living room.
“Oh, is this the rumored warning letter from the school?’
At the left corner of the bulletin board, there was a ‘warning letter’ issued by the university.
Since he got F in all subjects, it was natural that he got the letter.
But he wasn’t afraid at all because he planned to drop out anyway.
He was no longer a freshman of an engineering college, but the master of the Mammon House as well as the King of Greed.
Nodding bravely, he turned his gaze to the side again. This time, he instinctively flinched before he knew it.
‘You’re alright.’
It was the same as the warning letter. But it had nothing to do with his own life.
He deliberately ignored the ‘physical examination notice’ stamped by the Ministry of Defense, and he quickly looked at the bulletin board. Since there was nothing special, he reached out to Catalina, who fluttered her tail and looked around.
“Catalina, let’s go to see my father. Oh, no, let’s go and eat chicken”
Just like Yuria did, Catalina tilted her head at the word ‘chicken’ but only for a moment.
After tearing the disguise magic scroll that Tigrius had prepared for her in advance, she hid her ears and tail and held his hand.
Then both of them went out in a pleasant mood.
***
As soon as he left the front door, Yong-ho had no choice but to go back home.
Unlike the warm southern area in the demon world, he felt so cold on a night in Seoul where big snowflakes were falling down.
He took out a long parka and mountaineering clothes called a windbreaker from the closet.
After thinking hard for a moment, he handed the parka to Catalina because he felt it would make her warm enough.
To his slight disappointment, she did not show any particular interest in the elevator.
In a way, her reaction was nothing unusual because there were quite a few things like boxes that moved automatically in the demon world.
Rather, she showed more interest in the snow falling down from the sky. Ever since she was born, she had never left the southern area, so she grew up without seeing snow at all.
He cautiously reached out when he watched her ears flinching Instead of fluttering.
He touched the space where her ears were supposed to be in place, but he actually touched her real ears, for Tigrius’ magic did not transform her ears. It just simply concealed them.
Startled, she flinched, but he instinctively moved his fingers.
Without bothering to read her mana, he touched her erected tail.
His erotic feelings were revived this time, too. Her touch was sensual enough to make him addicted to it.
‘No, this is not important.’
He asked her if she could wrap her tail around her waist or put it inside the padding.
As things stood now, passersby could hit her tail.
Catalina initially urged him not to play a prank on her, but she nodded awkwardly anyway.
As he passed by the door of his apartment unit, cold air blew over his cheeks. He looked around, breathing in cold air.
White snow covered the whole world. It was such a contrast with the black sky, but he didn’t feel they didn’t cancel out each other. The night gently wrapped the white snow, and the white snow gave the night warmth.
Christmas decorations on the flowerbeds of his apartment created a more colorful scene. Until last year he complained about such decorations, but this time, he felt different. The world looked so beautiful to him.
‘I feel really warm out here.’
With his hands in his pockets, he made a gap inside it by slightly raising his left arm.
Then he signaled to her with his eyes. She curled her lips then crossed his arms.
As Christmas had yet to come, Christmas carols were playing everywhere. There were quite a lot of people on the street.
Although the streets were wide, everything was densely located, compared to the southern area. She might have lots of curiosity here. Instead of looking around her, however, she leaned slightly to him and looked up at the stars in the night sky.
He was also in a strange mood. It wasn’t just because she was next to him.
He came back to Earth, the human world.
Just a few days ago, he was engaged in a life-threatening battle with Embrio, but now, he was in peace.
But he didn’t want to stay in peace forever.
He felt that the place he had to return to was not here but to the House of Mammon.
He walked on the street slowly. Instead of looking around like her, he focused on himself.
But that didn’t mean that he was insensitive to people around him. Passersby were looking at them from all directions. Some of them stopped walking and turned to him and Catalina, and others even took pictures with smartphones.
Catalina, who had a sharper sense than him, could not miss it.
She whispered to him, “Master, their intense gaze at us is not very good. Did they find out my identity?”
Obviously, her voice was rather sharp than nervous. Although he used to tease her with a soft touch, she was his escort knight. She could overpower these passersby easily if she had to defend him.
But he gently tapped her on the forehead and said, “It’s alright. They’re not looking at you for that reason. So, just never mind.”
She tilted her head with a puzzled expression but listened to him.
He rather enjoyed their intense gaze and various feelings in it and stepped forward.
Among them were some women, who were turning their eyes at him, not her.
He took great delight in it.
‘Well, I’m more handsome and cool now. My body is in better shape, too’
He was praising himself deep down when he suddenly stopped and smiled in satisfaction, looking at a store at a distance.
It was a store decorated with wood. Inside the glass wall was full of customers, who enjoyed chicken and beer. It seemed as if he could hear their chattering from the chicken house.
He wasn’t moved to tears when he entered his room, but this time, he suddenly shed tears before he knew it. Rolling his eyes, he looked at somebody busily moving among the customers.
“Let’s go.”
He couldn’t wait any longer. Folding his arms, he walked with big strides. The store door opened with a jingling sound.
“Daddy,” he said briefly.
The middle-aged man, who turned to him after hearing the jingling bell, faced him and stopped moving. Shortly afterward, he opened his mouth again.
“Son.”
Yong-ho and the middle-aged man, Kija Cheon, stepped forward toward each other at the same time. “Daddy!”
Yong-ho opened his arms to give him an emotional hug. His father hugged him tightly.
After tapping him on the back a couple of times, he looked back at his face.
He said with a smile, “Welcome back. Let’s share our dramatic reunion after the shop is closed. Delivery has been backed up. As you know, it’s the busiest season of the year.”
Yong-ho just blinked at his thrilled voice. He could not believe his ears.
“Two chicken orders in World Park Complex 6. I put the delivery address on the paper bag.”
When he came to his senses, he was already outside the store. He found himself holding a paper bag with chicken in each hand.
Yong-ho looked back again. His father wasn’t looking at him.
“Uh… Master!”
Catalina, who couldn’t even enter the store at all, spoke in an embarrassed voice.
Looking at her briefly, he laughed. He laughed heartily.
Only
“Yeah, he’s my Daddy!”
“Master?”
“This is normal in my house. It is right for us to share the joy of our touching reunion after business hours.”
Yong-ho felt a bit sorry for his father’s way of welcoming him back when he returned home in several months, but he felt reassured at the same time. Obviously, his father understood his long absence from home well.
‘Come to think of it, I wonder if he intentionally posted the warning letter from the university and the physical examination notice on the bulletin board?’
Did he do it to tease him as soon as his son came back?
Again, such action befitted his father. That was why Yong-ho happily climbed onto the delivery motorcycle. Moreover, I wasn’t alone here today. Sitting behind his back, Catalina naturally hugged his waist.
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