Eat The World Tree

The warmth spread from the body of the woman I was holding.

-Swshshsh.

Water cascaded from the showerhead on the wall, and Jin Dallae maintained a steadfast smile, clinging to my body.

Her marshmallow-soft and pale chest pressed against my back.

“Doesn’t your head hurt?”

“Yeah.”

She lathered up shampoo generously in her hands and began to wash my hair. It seemed that she’s accustomed to bathing others, thanks to her time with Shiba; her movements rivaled those of a professional hairstylist as she worked up a lather in my hair.

Gently, as if handling porcelain, she kept the soap from my eyes while occasionally pressing her cheek against my back and exhaling warm breaths.

“It feels so good.”

“That too. I feel happy when we’re together. You wouldn’t understand, would you?”

She reached out to touch my chest, then grabbed the showerhead in front of us and rinsed warm water over my head.

-Swshshsh!

The foam was thoroughly rinsed away as her delicate hands tousled my hair.

“Shiheon has many girls. He wouldn’t understand.”

Suddenly, she switched to a mixed honorific and buried her face in my neck. Sniffing, it seemed like she’s savoring the scent of the body wash.

“What don’t I know?”

“There is. How lonely it is to have a one-sided love for someone. And to watch other women always flocking around that person… Unthinkable, another woman steps ahead of me, as if she briefly borrows the man I love. You wouldn’t understand, would you?”

“…Really?”

“Huh… Honestly, I don’t know either. Just, um. Sometimes I think… I naturally came to like you. It feels a bit like that.”

The bathroom was filled with steam and fog.

Though I couldn’t see Jin Dallae behind the fogged-up mirror, her voice was tender and pleasant to hear.

“At first, I really hated you… But little by little. Just a bit at a time. How much strength it gave me when you silently offered me a drink during tough times.”

“Isn’t that something anyone could do?”

“If it weren’t for you… I might have died. But- no. I mean-”

Her voice, rolling smoothly like a marble, gradually surfaced.

“Thank you for accepting me.”

-Swshshsh.

Her soft confession was not drowned out by the shower noise but filled the steam-saturated bathroom.

“Looking at this, we don’t seem like ordinary lovers. Normally, it’s about enjoying… and enjoying. Being in a relationship isn’t about becoming an emotional trash bin; it’s about having fun mingling with someone, eating delicious food together, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m always sorry for expecting too much. Oops. I should go pick up Shiba now?”

Jin Dallae hugged me tightly once, then got up and smiled brightly at me.

There were slight tear stains around her eyes.

“Get dressed… Shiba is waiting at the kindergarten. Hehe.”

Jin Dallae emphasized this while covering her eyes with her hands.

“Uh… I did cry, so stop looking… It’s embarrassing.”

“Did you cry?”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t know. You’ve been staring at my eyes from earlier….”

“Haha. Let’s go.”

Embarrassed by the serious conversation, Jin Dallae took the lead. Before I left her reach, I extended my arms and wrapped them around Jin Dallae’s neck.

“Hey.”

“…Yes, yes?”

“Are you still taking your medicine?”

-Nod.

Hugging back tightly, Jin Dallae looked up at me, her cheeks flushed.

“From now on, don’t worry so much. You’ve worried enough and been through a lot. Why make yourself sick again?”

“……”

“You are precious to me. Don’t be anxious. I didn’t start dating you to hear you almost died.”

I gently rubbed her cheek, mixing in a bit of healing power.

The red scars slowly disappeared.

Jin Dallae looked awkward yet somewhat moved, with a bashful smile.

“Cringy, right?”

“Yes… Hehe.”

“I felt that too, dude. Let’s go.”

Mixing in some power, I smacked her bottom.

Jin Dallae jerked her waist back, her eyes widening as she saw the vanishing marks.

“Thank you.”

Unfortunately, her meaningful words were drowned out by the sound of the door opening.

As soon as Jin Dallae’s room was tidied up, we headed to the kindergarten. After entering my room, we teleported to the usual back alley of the kindergarten.

Jin Dallae, having witnessed spatial magic firsthand, stared at me with wide-eyed astonishment.

“…Where did you learn this?”

“From a master I know. Let’s go.”

Teleportation. Of everything I’ve learned, nothing is as practical as this.

Of course, the learning process was brutally tough.

I had to memorize all related theories and dissertations while enduring scolding from Hwangdo… Using this magic improperly could lead to severe accidents like getting sliced up or exploded, so I had to be very careful.

Still, the rewards I gained from learning it were incredibly sweet.

‘Except that I have to memorize two A4 pages of formulas just for one teleportation destination.’

A truly valuable magic.

It could easily unravel in combat situations, hence unusable then, but otherwise, it’s peak domestic magic.

Others would need to use expensive artifacts for it.

Spatial magic itself was quite esoteric, so ordinary people often didn’t even know if a single magician could use it. Just searching the internet, you’d find plenty believing the misconception that spatial magic was something that required dozens of people to perform.

“…What exactly is your major? Magic? Swordsmanship? Didn’t you use martial arts in the tournament?”

“I did.”

As we walked to the kindergarten, Jin Dallae chatted with curiousity. Clearly, having her desires satisfied once seemed to have eased her intense obsession.

“Over there, that’s the kindergarten Shiba goes to.”

We turned the corner, and soon the kindergarten sign was in view.

Pointing it out, Jin Dallae gripped my arm tighter and hurried towards the kindergarten.

-Goodbye, teacher~!

Children’s chirping sounds came from afar.

“The kids are cute… Didn’t we used to be like that?”

Jin Dallae teased, and I chuckled and nodded. It was a time of pure joy without worries.

We stepped aside to let a preschooler holding their parent’s hand walk on the sidewalk.

Just then, Shiba came walking out of the kindergarten’s main gate, clutching her teacher’s stockings.

“Shiba, what’s wrong?”

“Peep.”

“Did your friends bully you? Or was there some other trouble?”

“Peep!”

“Strange… they didn’t serve bibimbap today.”

Did she give the teacher a hard time today?

Shin Hye-young looked extremely embarrassed.

Shiba, with a sullen face, was gripping the stockings so tightly they might tear, but she stiffened up seeing me approach and removed her hand.

“Pa!”

Pointing accusingly towards dad!

Jin Dallae froze, I froze, and the flustered Shin Hye-young’s face also turned cold.

“Sh, Shiba, you shouldn’t do that to dad. No! Tsk!”

Hye-young frantically scolded Shiba in baby talk, but Shiba seemed even more irritated, puffing up her cheeks, then turned to look at Jin Dallae.

“Peep?”

Was she the one? As if asking.

Why was she acting like this all of a sudden?

Jin Dallae unfolded her arms and sat down right in front of Shiba, extending her hand.

“Shiba, what’s wrong?”

Gently patting.

Under the woman’s touch, Shiba’s face seemed to relax, but she quickly controlled her smile and shook her head vehemently.

“Mommy…! I don’t want to!”

A shocking declaration.

“Uh… Mommy?”

“Huh?”

Jin Dallae was also startled, covering her mouth with her hand. Beside her, Shin Hye-young widened her eyes in surprise and looked at me.

Why were they surprised?

“Ah, ah… so she is the mother.”

Mumbling to myself, perhaps Hwangdo thought Shiba was calling her mother. More surprising was Shiba suddenly calling Jin Dallae “mommy.”

['World Tree of Purity' is shocked!]

‘Why is Dallae being treated as your mom when you’re the mom?’

Indeed, Dallae had been around the longest, aside from me. When I was kidnapped under unavoidable circumstances, wasn’t it Dallae who first stormed into my room, worried about Shiba?

It’s inevitable for the kids to think of her as their mother. Purity, maybe you should have shown your face to the kids more often?

After a slight reprimand, Purity expressed her feelings with a sad emoticon attached.

['World Tree of Purity' is sobbing.]

Words of a mother who felt her daughter had been taken away.

Aside from that, Jin Dallae seemed deeply moved by the current situation.

“…Am I mommy?”

“Mommy, no!”

“Kyaa! When did Shiba start talking?”

Despite Shiba’s cute resistance, Jin Dallae lifted her up and rubbed her cheeks, gently stroking the twig-like parts of Shiba.

“Peep, peep…!”

Shiba, looking flustered, pressed Jin Dallae’s cheek with her hand. It was very similar to how a cat would press my mouth with its paws when trying to kiss me.

But Shiba was still a child, after all.

In the warm embrace I had experienced and the kind touches considering the child, Shiba’s “no, no” soon began to fade.

“Peep! No…peep. Peep-hehe. Peep-hehe.”

Shiba… was subdued.

The sight of Shiba, who usually screamed and demanded as she pleased, finally giving in was unexpectedly surprising to me.

Perhaps the time we spent together had helped?

Jin Dallae gently stroked Shiba’s head, and Shiba began to purr under her touch. It had been a while since I heard Shiba’s motorcycle-like purring.

“Isn’t Shiba incredibly cute? She’s my daughter… I’m mommy.”

“Uh… yeah, that’s right.”

Shin Hye-young also seemed amazed by Shiba’s relaxed face, clasping her hands together as if praying.

“Ah~ so you are the mother… Nice to meet you.”

“Hello. I’m Shiba’s mom…hehe. I’m Shiba’s mom.”

Jin Dallae proudly reiterated her new title as Shiba’s mom. Shiba, feeling unjustly calmed down after being upset, was glaring at me sneakily.

“…Peep.”

Just this once, Dad.

Feeling anxious when I couldn’t understand something was a common experience for me.

I observed Shiba, comfortably perched on Jin Dallae’s shoulder, playfully teasing our daughter, before turning my attention back to Shin Hye-young and Jin Dallae.

Their conversation about Shiba seemed endless, seamlessly flowing from one topic to another.

“Picky eating… somehow, hanging a picture of Shiba’s dad helps her eat.”

“Really? She eats everything else, but for some reason, she won’t touch bibimbap. Hehe.”

“Bibimbap… Ah, I’m not sure about that. She enjoys kimchi and side dishes, though.”

“Maybe we should try hanging a picture tomorrow with bibimbap?”

“Would you do that? Just a second. I have it on my phone… If you give me your number, I can send it to you through chat.”

“Please do…”

We took out our phones, eagerly exchanging photos and numbers.

Teacher Shin Hye-young has a genuine love for children. Once you got her started on the topic of preschoolers, there’s no stopping her.

Her passion for kids was ignited the day she witnessed a child performing a belly button greeting in an alley. That moment inspired her to pursue a career in early childhood education, a heartfelt commitment from a young professional.

This was precisely why I felt comfortable entrusting Shiba to her care on her first day of kindergarten.

“…That being said.”

“Peep, peeeep.”

Shiba.

It looks like you’re in for a challenging time.

As the conversation continued behind me, Shiba seemed to understand it too. The mention of “bibimbap” caused her face to turn pale.

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