RG 113

The timing must’ve been good—the amusement park wasn’t too crowded. It’d probably get busier in the afternoon, but still not as bad as the weekends. The fewer people there were, the easier it was to move around and the less likely Kwon Taehyeok’s identity would get exposed, which worked in our favor.

Kwon Taehyeok had sensibly grabbed a park map from the information booth and unfolded it, asking me, “Where would you like to go first?”

“This is only my second time here, so I’m not too sure. Where do people usually start?”

“Most people head for the rides first, then check out the fountain and the gardens. The zoo’s also quite popular.”

“Hmm… then let’s go for the rides first.”

As I answered, I glanced at Cha Sahyeon. Holding my hand, he was looking around with wide-eyed curiosity all over his face.

Good—his reaction was better than I expected. Relieved, I followed Kwon Taehyeok toward the ride area.

As we strolled past brightly colored, fairytale-style buildings and staff in mascot costumes, memories of my first time at this amusement park naturally surfaced.

“Seohu, look over there.”

A faint voice echoed in my head. When I lifted my gaze, I saw a large flowering tree adorned with butterfly ornaments.

‘Not as good as before my regression.’

The first time I’d come here, it was spring—the weather was way nicer, cherry blossom petals floated through the air, and it was far prettier. Now I finally understood why Ryu Seonghyeon had dragged me to the amusement park as soon as spring arrived. This wasn’t bad, but back then, the scenery had been something special.

As I stared at the flowering tree, lost in the memory of that day, a low voice spoke beside me.

“Hunter Cha Seohu.”

“Yes?”

“Um…” Through the transparent lenses of his glasses, Kwon Taehyeok’s dark eyes flickered with a tangle of emotions. He hesitated, then asked, “I believe you mentioned this was your second time here?”

“I did.”

“By any chance… was the first time with Cover?”

Cover? Where’d Cover come from all of a sudden?

The question was so out of the blue that I couldn’t answer right away. Kwon Taehyeok let out a small sigh. “I realize it’s rude and an overstep to say something like this, but…”

“Huh?”

“I don’t believe Cover is a trustworthy dealer.”

“…”

And what do you want me to do about that, you bastard.

Either oblivious to the frosty look in my eyes or just ignoring it, Kwon Taehyeok continued, his face serious, as if trying to convince me, “Calling me today for your safety was the right decision. If you’d called Cover, he might’ve abandoned you halfway through again, like last time.”

“Uh, what?”

“I don’t mean to badmouth anyone lightly. Of course, given your… relationship with Cover, you would know better than I, but that aside—my issue is purely with Cover’s attitude, and—”

“Wait a minute.”

What relationship? Hold on—is he implying what I think he is?

‘That crazy bastard Eun Woojeong and the bullshit he spat…’

I didn’t even know where to begin dealing with that mess. Pressing a hand to my forehead, I hurried to cut him off. “I think you’re misunderstanding—Cover and I aren’t…”

But before I could finish my sentence, Cha Sahyeon suddenly cut in, “Brother.”

“Huh?” I reflexively looked down, and saw the kid pointing at something.

“What’s that?”

Cha Sahyeon was pointing at none other than a souvenir shop. Inside, there were plush toys including the amusement park’s mascot, a red panda, as well as various animal dolls, animal-ear headbands, toys, clothes, snacks—all neatly displayed.

“Curious? Wanna go take a look?”

I had money, and I’d brought a rich guy along too. I could buy the kid whatever he wanted. So, while I was at it, I led us right into the shop. The inside was already fairly crowded with people browsing. You could spot kids picking out things with their parents all over the place.

‘Good timing. I actually wanted to get him a little gift anyway.’

I wasn’t sure if Cha Sahyeon liked things like this besides gemstones, but even if he acted indifferent, little memories like this still mattered. I figured I’d at least buy him a balloon or a stuffed animal.

“See anything you like?”

I slowed my pace on purpose so the kid could take his time looking around the store. But Cha Sahyeon didn’t seem interested in anything in particular.

‘Hmm…’

I figured as much. In all the time we’d spent together, the only thing that ever got a noticeable reaction from him was anything sparkly. Other than that, his default was indifference, so it wasn’t surprising he wasn’t drawn to any of the toys either.

‘Maybe I’ll just grab a random plush and head out.’

No reason to hang around a souvenir shop if the kid wasn’t interested.

I was scanning for a doll that wouldn’t be too much of a hassle to carry around when it happened—after staring intently at something for a while, Cha Sahyeon spoke up. “Buy me this.”

And what he picked up… was a headband. An animal headband with sharp, black ears.

His unexpected choice threw me off, and I asked again, “You want this?”

The kid clutched the headband tightly and looked up at me with an eager gaze. “Buy it.” His bright, sparkling eyes were filled with pure sincerity.

‘He really wants this?’

Honestly, it was better if he wanted something. I nodded, about to agree, when Cha Sahyeon beat me to it—pulling a headband off the display and holding it out to me.

“Brother, wear it.”

“What?”

“I wanna see you wear it.”

For a second I thought maybe this kid was finally making a joke, but the look in his eyes was still dead serious.

‘Wait—was this what he meant when he asked for it?’

I’d wondered why he wasn’t begging for jewels for once—turns out it was for this. I couldn’t help letting out a half-laugh in disbelief. “You’re gonna put this on me and not wear anything yourself?”

“I’m wearing a hat.”

“…Well, yeah, you are.”

I was only wearing a mask without a hat because I didn’t want to risk overlapping with Cover, who Kwon Taehyeok often saw wearing both. And today, of all days, Cha Sahyeon was unusually talkative. 

Completely thrown off, I just muttered a nonsense reply, “I told you to pick something you wanted—why are you making me do a forfeit? I’ll get you one of those plushies over there instead.”

“I don’t want that. I wanna see this.” The kid was starting to get stubborn.

This was bad. Cha Sahyeon might usually act indifferent, but once he decided to dig his heels in, he always saw it through.

‘No matter how you look at it, isn’t it a bit much for a guy my age to be walking around wearing animal ear headbands by himself…?’

What was it about this that he wanted to see so badly? I sighed, shoulders slumping as I debated what to do, when Kwon Taehyeok put a hand on my shoulder. “How about this?”

What he held out was a pair of toy glasses. They looked like a piece of merchandise from a kids’ animated show—perfectly sized for a child’s face, with a small plush decoration attached to the side.

“Other kids are wearing these too, and with a pair of glasses like this, it should cover his face pretty well.” He was suggesting we swap Cha Sahyeon’s hat for the glasses and then let him wear the headband.

I didn’t expect Kwon Taehyeok of all people to jump in. And the fact that he understood my reasons for not wanting the kid’s face exposed and even offered a solution like this…

‘Well, it’s not like it’s hard to notice—he’s been bundled up in a hat and mask all day.’

I gave a crooked smile and glanced at Cha Sahyeon. The other kids around here were all dressed in cute clothes, running around with their parents, throwing harmless tantrums, but he wasn’t doing any of that. And being an Awakened, he didn’t feel the cold, so the hat and mask were probably more of an annoyance than anything.

I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about putting a kid through this. We couldn’t take everything off for safety reasons—but the hat at least… Like Kwon Taehyeok said, swapping it for toy glasses seemed like a decent idea.

I grabbed a pair of glasses for Cha Sahyeon and picked out a black cat ear headband, then turned to Kwon Taehyeok. “Yesung’s— no, excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“You’re joining in too.” I grinned and reached for a headband with pitch-black panda ears. Kwon Taehyeok took a step back, looking flustered.

Like hell I was letting him weasel out of this. Before he could protest, I snatched up the headband and headed for the counter.

***

After leaving the souvenir shop, we properly began exploring the amusement park. Since we’d arrived before lunchtime, the crowds were still manageable, and we could take our time.

Most of the guiding was handled by Kwon Taehyeok. With a map spread out, he pointed out the best places to visit one by one, so we managed to cover everything from the main park area to the fountain and the photo spots.

The rides, unfortunately, weren’t our thing. All three of us quickly ruled them out.

The bored expression Cha Sahyeon made while riding the park’s most famous, supposedly adrenaline-pumping roller coaster was something else. It seemed like these kinds of rides didn’t really register for Awakened people. To be honest, I didn’t find it much fun either. Maybe it was because not long ago, I’d been flying through the sky, steering Leviathan’s giant head.

The spinning teacup ride we did together was the last ride we touched.

After leaving the souvenir shop, we didn’t have any reason to spend more money either. In exchange for letting me buy him the headband, Kwon Taehyeok covered all the extra admission fees and meals.

‘He really bought it.’

Amusement park food was way overpriced compared to outside, but Kwon Taehyeok didn’t even hesitate—he just paid for everything, and I couldn’t help feeling dumbfounded all over again. The headband I bought was barely over ten thousand won, wasn’t it? This is why rich people are something else.

After wandering around for a good while, we finally plopped down on a bench, a little worn out. It wasn’t so much physical exhaustion—more like we were drained from being jostled around in the crowd all day.

I glanced at Cha Sahyeon, who was sitting beside me, quietly munching on a hot dog, and let out a long sigh.

‘…At this rate, am I gonna fail this quest?’

We’d looked around pretty thoroughly, but the quest to visit the amusement park with Cha Sahyeon still hadn’t progressed at all.

[Main Quest: Befriend the antagonist ‘Seed of Calamity’(2/10)]

Slow down the progress of the seed by befriending the antagonist.

Objective: Go to an amusement park with the villain (Remaining time: 10 hours 32 minutes)

Of course, it had a damn time limit too—my nerves were practically fraying. If I failed this one, I wouldn’t get another shot anytime soon.

By now, the sun was setting and the surroundings gradually darkened. Clutching at straws, I turned to Kwon Taehyeok. “What’s left on the schedule?”

“In about thirty minutes, the nighttime parade will begin in each section. Then there’ll be fireworks at the plaza where all the parades converge.”

Fireworks!

A sky full of glittering fireworks—maybe Cha Sahyeon would like that? After all, fireworks sparkle too.

“Let’s go see it.”

Right on cue, a parade passed by in front of us. Since the fireworks wouldn’t start until all the parades gathered, we could just follow this one.

Crowds of people were moving toward the plaza alongside us. I silently hoped Cha Sahyeon wouldn’t get stressed out by the press of people as we made our way through.

“Oh.”

When we arrived at the plaza, it was bathed in brilliant lights we hadn’t seen during the day. The parade floats, sculptures, and even the trees were wrapped in LED lights, sparkling like it was Christmas. And for the first time, Cha Sahyeon, who had been following me with an expressionless face while holding my hand, actually reacted. His eyes went wide at the completely transformed scene and he fixed his gaze on the parade.

“Starlight! The night sky’s filling with stars!”

A host dressed like a fairy tale princess danced at the front of the parade, calling out in a cheerful voice—and at the same moment, fireworks shot high into the sky from behind the stage.

Boom!

A loud burst rang out, and vivid yellow fireworks spread across the dark night sky. It was the start of the fireworks display.

I immediately checked Cha Sahyeon’s reaction. Just as I’d hoped, he was totally entranced, his eyes glued to the sparkling sky, his mind elsewhere.

Thank god. Now all I needed was for the quest completion notification to pop up.

Boom, bang!

“Wow!”

“So pretty!”

As the fireworks continued in rapid succession, cheers and exclamations rose from the crowd.

Without thinking, I glanced around—and spotted a man watching the fireworks with a child perched on his shoulders. It looked like a family outing, with a woman around the same age standing next to him. The child on the man’s shoulders was beaming with happiness. It was the perfect, peaceful image of a family.

And seeing that somehow made Cha Sahyeon, standing beside me and looking up at the fireworks while clutching my hand, feel terribly lonely.

‘…Ugh. I hate this kind of uneasy feeling.’

Seeing something like that for no good reason…

Clicking my tongue to myself, I lifted Cha Sahyeon up into my arms. He wasn’t young enough for a piggyback ride, but holding him like this was more than doable.

“You can see the fireworks better like this, right? I’ll put you down when it’s over.”

At my whispered words, Cha Sahyeon’s green eyes trembled noticeably. Then, starting from the tips of his ears, a red flush spread across his cheeks.

“…Mm.” Cha Sahyeon gave a slow, quiet reply and wrapped his arms around my neck, lowering his head.

I was just about to ask if he could still see the fireworks like that when—

Ding!

A cheerful notification sound rang out, and a status window popped up in front of me.

《Main Quest: Befriend the antagonist ‘Seed of Calamity’—Succeed!》

《Main Quest cleared. Rewards are granted.》

《Specialty acquired: No Mercy Allowed (Class F)》

《The antagonist is pleased!》

《The antagonist is happy!》

《Warning! The progress of the Seed of Calamity has changed!》

《The progress of the Seed of Calamity has decreased!》