CHAPTER 14
“…What?”
Both Sian and I were left speechless.
‘What on earth is this man talking about?’
As if he didn’t notice the expressions written all over our faces, Jahar kept talking.
“This kid, I personally fed him with my own mana… no, I raised him by keeping him warm with my own body heat.”
He glanced at Sian’s reaction and quickly corrected himself.
It seemed he was worried that if Sian learned the creature had been raised with mana, he might realize it was a magical beast rather than just an animal.
‘…So that’s all it was. He was just saying it like it was some kind of childish game.’
It must have been something he blurted out after Sian’s earlier remark—
‘Are we only that close?’
That startled me for nothing.
Sian’s words had almost sounded jealous.
‘What was he thinking when he said that to me?’
I never thought, not even for a moment, that Sian might actually like me.
We hadn’t known each other long, and there hadn’t been even the slightest sign of that sort of thing.
What he felt for me was nothing more than *responsibility.* That was all.
‘He probably said that because… well, I’m still a demon. Maybe he was just worried I’d get too close to a human.’
Sian was the type to take things seriously, after all.
And even if it wasn’t that, it didn’t matter anyway.
I didn’t have the time or energy to play around with some clumsy romance.
My top priority was to regain my mana as soon as possible and return to the Demon Realm with Bosongi.
That was my only goal right now.
“Piiyaa!”
Bosongi chirped and caught my attention.
“What’s wrong? Hungry?”
But instead of answering, Bosongi just kept chirping, making small cries I couldn’t understand.
‘It’s definitely a magical beast, so why can’t it talk? Is it a lower-grade one?’
I had assumed the egg Bosongi came from was that of a mid-to-high-grade magical beast, all because Jahar had said he fed it mana.
If it had been a low-grade beast, it would’ve hatched easily on its own.
But the egg we thought belonged to a *Minotaurus* had instead produced this small, cute creature.
So Jahar had ended up pouring his precious mana into a low-grade magical beast’s egg.
‘In other words, Jahar got scammed again.’
‘Is it really okay for this guy to be the Master of the Mage Tower?’
Just in the last few days, I’d already heard of two times he’d been tricked.
Even small scams would be bad enough, but to fall for such big ones back-to-back…
‘Why do I keep meeting such clueless men in this round?’
Sian, who’d spent his entire severance pay on a crumbling house without even checking it, and Jahar, who kept getting scammed over and over.
‘Something’s off…’
I had a rough idea of why the details kept changing each round.
‘The gods’ pressure to push the story the way they want.’
It was faint now, but I still remembered what that angel from the insurance company had told me, so I repeated it to myself.
In the next round, where there had been no romance and I’d only focused on earning money, the saint had even reappeared as a man instead.
The gods who trapped me in this endless loop were forcing their preferred plots this way.
But this time, I couldn’t tell what they were after at all.
“Why does this thing keep crying?”
As if sensing my distracted thoughts, Jahar turned to look at me, still holding Bosongi.
“I think it’s hungry. Should I give it some bread? I have some.”
‘Can you even feed bread to a newborn chick? Then again, it’s not just a bird… it’s a magical beast.’
While I hesitated, Jahar, who’d blurted out the suggestion, rushed off to the kitchen to fetch some bread.
Maybe it was because he’d been so scatterbrained lately, but I suddenly felt uneasy, like I’d left a child by the riverside.
I turned to Sian, who was just standing there awkwardly watching Bosongi.
“Can you go with him?”
“Why would I…”
He stopped mid-sentence.
“…”
After a pause, Sian looked down at me with a complicated expression, then silently nodded and followed after Jahar.
‘What’s with him now?’
‘Is he embarrassed about that cheesy line he said earlier?’
‘Anyway… what should I name you? Bosongi still sounds the cutest.’
I sat down on the cushion where Bosongi’s egg had been and gently petted him.
I planned to sit there thinking of names until Sian and Jahar came back.
But by the time I’d gone through names like Rose, Chirpy, and Roundy, they still hadn’t returned.
‘This is starting to feel ominous.’
There wasn’t a clock in the room, but it felt like at least thirty minutes had passed.
How could it take that long to grab a piece of bread from the kitchen?
Even for a mansion this big, that made no sense.
Bosongi, too, was starting to look weaker, maybe from hunger.
‘…Guess I have no choice.’
I finally stood up, holding Bosongi in my hands, to go look for them.
Finding the kitchen wasn’t hard.
I’d already explored most of the house when choosing my room.
‘Funny how Jahar’s weird tour actually came in handy.’
With that thought, I headed to the kitchen with Bosongi.
And when I arrived…
“No, it’s burning! You can’t use such strong fire—”
“I can’t summon weak flames, what do you expect me to do?”
They’d gone to get bread, yet the two of them were standing over a fire—well, more like battling with it—trying to make *something.*
“Water! We need more water—”
“What are you two doing?”
At my voice, both of them froze.
Silence fell so fast it was almost suspicious.
Three seconds, two, one…
“Serenaaa!”
Jahar, still holding fire at his fingertips, spun around and dashed toward me.
“Sian keeps scolding me!”
“I wasn’t scolding you, I just said—”
‘What in the world is going on now?’
I pushed the whining Jahar aside like a child and stepped up to Sian.
I wanted to see what was in the frying pan he was holding.
“So… what is this?”
Curious, I peeked inside.
It was completely black.
“…What were you trying to make? Charcoal?”
They’d been in here making charcoal instead of bread?
When I gave Sian a look, he awkwardly avoided my eyes.
After a short pause, he finally muttered the answer.
“I was trying to make porridge…”
“Porridge?”
“Newborn chicks can’t eat bread. So I thought oatmeal porridge would be better…”
“Ah.”
So he’d actually been thinking carefully.
Even if the result turned out… like this.
I looked down at the completely burnt mess in the pan and quietly covered Bosongi’s eyes.
‘Don’t look, Bosongi…’
Whether it was because Jahar’s fire control was awful or because Sian just couldn’t cook, the porridge was beyond saving.
You couldn’t even tell it had once been oatmeal.
I quietly took the pan from Sian’s hands and set it aside.
“We have to eat too, so let’s just go out and buy something.”
“I agree!”
Jahar raised his hand immediately, his face lighting up.
“I know a great place!”
“Really?”
I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling, seeing how confident he looked.
When I glanced at him doubtfully, Sian’s reluctant expression told me he was thinking the same thing.
“You two don’t trust me, do you? Just wait till you see!”
“Hmm.”
In the end, we didn’t really have another choice.
Sian and I both nodded awkwardly.
