< 100. A fight between a couple is like cutting someone's throat with a knife (7) >
“I think Cain, since I’ve saved this much, you’ve probably saved enough money too. It should be enough to cover two people.”
“······.”
“Of course, you need to think carefully. If two or more people apply, you can’t cancel just one of them, but you can only cancel all at once. Of course, there is no refund. The application period is only one month. I can’t guarantee that there will be another application period, and even if there is, I also mentioned that the talents needed may increase at that time.”
It’s a ridiculous condition. I can’t help but curse.
“Even if everything else is like that… how many years are left until we reach 50%, and you’re only accepting applications for a limited time now?”
“In order to draw up a personnel deployment plan, these details need to be decided as soon as possible. Several years ahead of the implementation date.”
Of course, we both knew it was an excuse.
She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them.
“I know that there are few prisoners like you, Cain, in all dimensions. I’ll be honest with you. I wish you had stayed in this dimension.”
The leader of the inmates convinces the most capable person he knows.
Minjun looked at her without saying a word.
“Of course I will stay here. However, the rapid decrease in the number of comrades is a great crisis. So it would be a great help if you stayed.”
And Minjun also had sufficient motivation to want to stay.
“You want that too? Aren’t you and Del more likely to get torn apart the moment you’re relocated to another dimension?”
“By any chance, the committee···.”
“I’ve already asked. The committee does not accept special requests from prisoners for future relocation. There are no plans to do so.”
The point is that you can only be guaranteed that choice if you want to remain in this dimension.
In exchange for 150,000 talents.
“I’m just suggesting it. I think it’s not a bad idea for you and Del.”
Telesia had vaguely anticipated it through Minjun’s prisoner identification number.
He, too, was given a huge retirement allowance, just like hers, and even if he had saved 300,000 talents, he would not be able to retire anyway. So he would have already given up halfway.
The committee’s proposal was to abandon the hope of freedom that was otherwise unattainable and seek present stability.
A nasty and malicious suggestion.
At the same time, it was so sweet.
“Cain, I tell you again that I don’t want to leave Ashtal either.”
But her reasons were a little different.
“Unlike you, who have traveled through many dimensions, this is my first assignment… and I have stayed here until now. When the first batch of dispatchers who came with me eventually left and the rotation began, I was not reassigned.”
The inmate, whom the locals call ‘the mother of all’, spoke in a tone of extreme seriousness.
“I devoted my entire life to them. At first, I was confused and hopeless. Ashtal was like hell back then. I felt burdened just by seeing the poor people I had to save. But as time passed, my feelings slowly began to change.”
Telesia confesses.
At the beginning of her mission, when she discovered the poor who were suffering from hunger and were trading their youngest children with their neighbors for food, she broke down. She thought that she could not forgive their inhumanity just because they were weak. So she wandered for a long time. She could not understand what she was supposed to do here and why she had to help them.
The seeds of change began to sprout within her as she encountered people who had been given new life as a result of the things she had done against her will.
The moment when children who were once skin and bones grew plump and fleshy, the moment when poor people who had been cured of an endemic disease that melted their skin kissed her feet and shed tears, the moment when those who had been taken as slaves by bandits and suffered from hard labor were reunited with their families and called each other’s names at the top of their lungs.
They gave their savior Telesia unconditional respect and love, and at some point Telesia found herself loving them too.
“I have given up my desire for freedom. It is a past sin that I cannot even remember, but if this is the way to pay for it, I will gladly accept it. I will remain with those who love me forever… and live a life of service to them.”
He says while looking at Minjun intently.
“I think it would be nice if you and Del could join me.”
Sometimes, even though you know it’s going to happen, you have no choice but to do it.
***
Dell’s 80th wedding anniversary gift was a dagger.
Minjun blushed when he saw that.
“Is this the real thing?”
Minjun prefers a short sword-shaped magic tool. Knowing this well, Dell made it himself. Its performance was excellent and it seemed like it would work well with any curse.
“This is better than having to cut out your own bones every time like I do now.”
Minjun nodded in agreement.
“That might certainly be the case···.”
Minjun, who could not find a suitable sword in this dimension, would grow bones that were transformed into sword shapes, pierce through the flesh, and then break them to use as weapons.
Dell was disappointed, but after 80 years of research, he finally created a product that was better than what Minjun was making himself.
Minjun, who was looking at the sword with a honey-dripping expression, saw the phrase engraved on the handle. Then he burst into laughter. Del blushed slightly.
Minjun put down his dagger for a moment. Now it was his turn to give.
“What on earth is it this year that you’ve kept it so tightly hidden?”
Dell is full of expectations.
Unlike usual, Minjun was empty-handed. In this case, one of two things can happen. Either the thing he prepared was too big to fit in the planetary quarters, or he prepared an event instead of a material gift.
Either way, prepare to scream in happiness. Del looked at her husband with sparkling eyes.
Minjun opened his mouth.
“Don’t be surprised and listen calmly.”
And the explanation continues. With a hologram floating in front of her eyes.
Minjun hesitated until the very end. Should he tell her that he had paid 300,000 talents and secured a guarantee that they would remain together?
Dell hesitated because he was worried that it would make him feel burdened and guilty.
But after thinking about it more, I concluded that I had to say something.
Dell has been having trouble sleeping lately. There have been times when he has quietly woken up in the middle of the night and pretended not to notice her looking down at him. He seemed to be suffering from extreme anxiety, knowing full well that the two of them would eventually have to be separated.
I can’t afford to have another few more years of this suffering.
“···That’s what happened. Now we can both stay here. We don’t have to worry about being separated by being placed in another dimension!”
Minjun, who had finished explaining up to this point, looked at Dell with an expression asking, ‘How is it?’
“This is the gift I prepared for you this year.”
I expected her to cheer.
I expected to see her jumping up and down in excitement, saying she couldn’t believe it.
——————
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I promised myself that I would understand if I lost control of my emotions and let my telekinesis run wild, breaking a few more kitchen utensils.
however.
“······.”
Dell’s reaction was completely different from what was expected.
The anticipation on my wife’s face slowly cooled. Her smile slowly hardened and disappeared.
Minjun felt uneasy.
“what’s the matter?”
“Dell said, dryly enough to make you feel uncomfortable.
“How long?”
“···what?”
“You said that during this reorganization, your tenure was guaranteed. How long will that last? Indefinitely, as long as we want?”
Minjun smiled bitterly.
“You know what kind of people the committee is. The period of time they are guaranteed at once is 100 years.”
It was a bit longer than the time the two of them had been together until now.
But in Minjun’s eyes, it seemed like Dell wasn’t satisfied with that either.
“Then what? You’re going to give me another 300,000 talents? I won’t be able to save even half that in a hundred years. With my ability.”
“···Del.”
“This way, we won’t solve the fundamental problem. What if the committee raises the amount in 100 years?”
“I can collect more! There are still 100 years left···.”
“The fact that the organization is being downsized means that the committee has predicted that there will be less work in the future. And they are rarely wrong in their predictions. The prisoners here now are living comfortably. At least they don’t have to worry about the living expenses. But will that be the case in the future? You have never told me about it before, have you? How much is the living expenses that you have been assessed? How much is it that you are willing to pay?”
Minjun felt disappointed by Del’s response. However, he thought it was a nervous reaction due to extreme anxiety. He needed to reassure his wife.
But I didn’t want to lie.
“About two thousand talents.”
Then Dell looked shocked.
“Two thousand? Then the talent that needs to be paid in a year is… twenty-five thousand?”
“Yes. And I’ve been here for 800 years without any problems. So I’m still alive.”
He was trying to emphasize that he had that much ability. He said that the talents he had given to the committee over the 800 years amounted to 20 million talents. He had the ability to earn that amount of money.
But Dell didn’t look convinced.
“This is not a fundamental method.”
I repeated the words in my mouth once more. ‘This is not the way.’
“and.”
Dell swallowed again as he tried to say something.
“what’s the matter?”
The wife struggles to express what she has been struggling with.
“···If we continue like this, things will get harder because of me.”
Minjun intuitively felt that his honesty was backfiring.
Dell said with a nearly expressionless face.
“If you keep losing a lot of money from your account because of me… one day, you may not be able to pay your living expenses and your soul may be erased.”
He tried hard to reassure Del that this was something he did of his own free will and that he would never consider her a burden or a burden.
A light of determination flashed through Del’s eyes as she looked at her husband.
***
A year later, Minjun and Del were still on Planet XB-610.
And that year was probably the worst year Minjun had had since getting married.
I don’t remember exactly when things started to go wrong between the two. The changes that started slowly, little by little, like paint seeping into paper, were clear.
That’s how Dell changed.
“······.”
Minjun still felt gazes at him in the middle of the night. Del, who had stopped sleeping and quietly sat up, staring at him. However, there was something different in those eyes than before.
An eerie aura.
I couldn’t understand. I tried to talk to him, but it was like talking to a wall. What’s worse, something happened that made him even more nervous.
“Ashamin, help me.”
A few days before our 81st wedding anniversary.
Minjun asked his colleague for a favor. His name was Ashamin. Later on Earth, he would be called Bradley. He was horrified when he heard the story.
“Track Dell’s personal airship?!”
“okay.”
“No, that’s not even possible with your magic… Ah, no. The opponent is Del. You’ll figure it out soon.”
“Yes. Real-time tracking catches up quickly. The most certain way to catch up is to follow the residual thoughts after the fact.”
“But what on earth is this, tailing?”
Minjun had no choice but to tell Ashamin, who asked with concern, part of the truth.
“Dell has been quietly sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night for a while now.”
“what?!”
Ashamin said in disbelief.
“If I go out secretly, it’s obvious I’ll get caught, right? I’m not some other person, I live under the same roof as you.”
“I don’t even think about hiding it anymore. I said I couldn’t sleep well so I went for a drive···.”
Even during working hours, there were long periods of time when I couldn’t contact her. I never received any reprimands from Telesia or the committee because I thoroughly carried out my assigned tasks, but my husband couldn’t help but be concerned.
“Cain. Don’t feel bad. Maybe···”
Minjun, who guessed what was going on, shook his head.
“No, it’s not an affair. That can’t be happening.”
Having lived surrounded by humanoid species for decades, she doesn’t express her disgust as openly as she used to, but Homo sapiens still look like insects to her.
In this world where the only intelligent beings are humans, Minjun knew very well that the probability of falling in love with someone other than himself was close to zero.
“If it’s not cheating, then what is it?”
“That’s why I’m even more worried. But he keeps his mouth shut and doesn’t even try to say anything.”
Minjun in his dream asks Ashamin.
Observer Minjun watched his past self say the words he would regret for the rest of his life.
“So, go after him and tell him what the hell Dell is up to these days.”
< 100. A fight between a couple is like cutting the neck with a knife (7) > End
