Without You (1)

“Where did you go?”

-Growl.

Rurin woke up from her sleep. It’s rare for Rurin to wake up on her own, but that’s usually because El wakes her up around noon.

Today, El wasn’t in the dining room. So there was no one to wake her up. As a result, Rurin didn’t wake up until around 3 PM.

“He’s not here. Hmph.”

He’s not here.

El is not here.

Annoyed because he didn’t come to wake her, annoyed because he’s not here.

The annoyance is doubled.

As she randomly vented her frustration, a faint memory surfaced. A fragment of a correct memory created by her conscience.

It was hazy, like trying to recall a scene after a blackout from a hangover. Rurin pressed her fingers to her temples and began to communicate with her brain.

“Ugh?”

She closed her eyes for 20 seconds.

She vaguely remembered that El had mentioned something about having tasks at the Lord’s castle today and told her to wake up on her own. Her memory was hazy, possibly because she was distracted by something else when she heard it.

Like a kiss.

Or a kiss.

Or a kiss!

It’s no use. A kiss is foul play. Anything said right after a kiss isn’t remembered.

Rurin nodded with a hum.

She also vaguely remembered that he said he’d be back soon. But now isn’t soon. Recalling only the favorable memories, she reflexively shouted.

“Where’s this ‘soon’ you’re talking about!”

Of course, there was no response. Feeling empty, Rurin rubbed her growling stomach and headed to the kitchen.

And then she grumbled again. No food was prepared. There was no meal set aside for her.

“Ugh!”

Bang, bang, bang-!

She stomped the floor furiously. But the more she expressed her anger, the more her foot hurt.

He said he was going to the Lord’s castle, so is he there?

She thought about rushing over there and causing a scene, but decided to hold back.

‘Yes, I am an evolving dragon.

Hehe.’

Causing a ruckus there wouldn’t lead to anything good. Rurin had recently learned that it’s better to wait and then complain to him thoroughly when he returns.

She could sense that El was within her mana detection range, meaning he was somewhere in Greek City.

But she couldn’t pinpoint his exact location. Mana only allowed her to sense that he was nearby, not track him like a radar.

Since he said he was going to the Lord’s castle, he was probably there.

Rurin decided to hold back to maintain her superior position.

But she’s hungry.

“I’m hungry!”

She shouted toward the kitchen and then spotted a bag on the side.

There was a note attached.

-If I’m late, cook this and eat it.

“Huuuhhh! My dearrr!”

She screamed alone again, then bit her lip in frustration and grabbed the Jjapagetti bag.

‘Leaving just an instant noodle packet? That’s too much.

I really need to confront him about this.

This is worth demanding at least 3,000 hugs. Yes, definitely.’

Rurin nodded furiously to herself and, in anger, ripped the bag open savagely.

But that action caused the contents to spill out and scatter all over the floor.

Her irritation only grew worse.

Waking up and finding El gone.

That alone ruined her mood. If he didn’t pamper her when she woke up, it didn’t feel like the day had started.

Her mood was at its worst.

Rurin grumbled again as she glared at the fallen noodles on the floor.

She began to blow away any dust that might have clung to them. But she quickly realized it didn’t matter and stopped.

She was such a being. A body immune to all poisons.

So she got tired of brushing off the noodles and walked to the kitchen, placed a pot on the stove, and readied a fireball.

Then she fetched some water and poured it into the pot.

First, she needed to boil the water.

“I’m hungry.”

As she rubbed her stomach and watched the pot gradually heat up, the water began to boil.

“Hungry, hungry, hungry.”

Chanting her hunger spell, she dropped the noodles into the pot. She added the garnish pack as well.

“Oh. This is good.”

Rurin smiled as she looked at the green peas in the garnish. She believed that green peas were essential when eating Jjapagetti.

With the noodles and garnish all added, she just had to wait.

Once the noodles were soft, she would add the powder seasoning. Feeling proud of herself for cooking, Rurin began poking the noodles with a fork.

She didn’t know any advanced techniques like lifting the noodles to let in air to make them firmer. It was just her impatient nature that made her check every second whether they were done or not.

Just as her poking was about to turn into banging, the noodles finally started to soften and cook.

For Jjapagetti, you use less water to boil it. There’s no need to drain the water. The seasoning powder makes it more delicious this way.

Of course, Rurin didn’t know this information. She was just cooking the way El had taught her.

As the noodles absorbed the water and swelled, and just the right amount of water was left at the bottom, she added the powder seasoning and stirred it vigorously.

This way, the powder dissolved beautifully. The more she smelled it, the hungrier she became.

Whistle-

Whistle-

Gripping the fork tightly, she stirred the pot vigorously.

-Hmm, hmm.

A hum came naturally to her lips.

Rurin was serious. Her face was very serious.

Soon, steam began to rise, and Rurin carried the pot to the table. She placed the pot on a trivet and sat down.

She tied her long hair back. She didn’t particularly like tying her hair by herself.

She preferred it when El tied it for her.

Thinking about it made her angry again.

But she tied it herself anyway, puffing out her cheeks.

Then, finally, she picked up her fork and lifted the Jjapagetti noodles. The black noodles slurped into Rurin’s mouth.

Delicious.

Hehehe.

Slurp!

Rurin nodded repeatedly, satisfied with her cooking.

But at that moment, an interruption came. Just as she was eating her second forkful, she sensed a strong mana presence in front of her.

Rurin frowned deeply with the fork still in her mouth. Knowing what that mana presence meant, her eyebrows shot up as if piercing the sky.

“Haaaah! I’m dizzy.”

A red-haired figure suddenly appeared, yawning and scratching her head. Rurin immediately ignored her and focused on her Jjapagetti.

As if she hadn’t seen anything.

“Hey.”

“Not here.”

“Not here? You’re right in front of me.”

“I’m not, but I’m asking anyway. Why are you here?”

“Should you be saying that? A disciple should respect her master.”

Sereina shrugged as she brushed back her hair, disheveled from teleporting.

Rurin narrowed her eyes and glared at Sereina, shouting.

“Because of your advice to ignore him instead of kissing, El scolded me! You’re no help! Get lost!”

“That’s not true! Didn’t he look desperate when you ignored him?”

“Desperate look? What kind of look is that?”

Though she didn’t know, Rurin’s interest was piqued, so she stopped and looked at Sereina.

At that crucial moment, Sereina grinned and changed the subject.

“But more importantly, is El not here?”

“No, he’s a bad one.”

“Really? Elena’s not here either? She said an urgent patient came up. So I came to mooch a meal.”

“Pfft. You can’t even get food? You’re pathetic.”

“And you, eating just that, who’s talking nonsense to whom?”

“What’s wrong with this!”

“Yeah, black suits you.”

Even as Sereina said that, she slyly approached, grabbed the pot, and ran away.

Distracted by thoughts of a “desperate look”, Rurin jumped up when the pot was snatched from her.

“What? Red beef jerky, are you crazy? That’s mine!”

Rurin, who had the pot stolen, rushed at Sereina. But Sereina, moving at lightning speed, opened her mouth wide and stuffed the Jjapagetti into it.

She had the expression of someone enjoying the best food in the world, stealing someone else’s meal.

“Stop that! Desperate look!”

Sereina shouted as she munched on the noodles. Rurin, who was about to kick her in retaliation, hesitated.

Until Sereina slowly chewed and swallowed the noodles and then continued speaking.

“Hehe, fine. Since it’s interesting, I’ll tell you how to recognize a desperate look.”

Rurin’s ears perked up at the suggestion. She relaxed her attack stance, ready to beat Sereina if she said something silly, and looked at her with innocent eyes.

“You’re annoyed because El isn’t here, right?”

“That’s right!”

Rurin nodded obediently. It was the truth.

“Then try disappearing too. Then when you suddenly reappear, pay attention to his initial expression.”

“His initial expression?”

“Yeah. That’s the most important part.”

Sereina whispered in Rurin’s ear about how to recognize the expression. Rurin nodded repeatedly again.

“Hehe. Then I’ve paid for my meal. Even though it wasn’t tasty.”

A desperate look.

El’s desperate look.

What could that be?

‘I want to see it.

I want to see it, see it, see it, see it.’

Her mind was filled with that thought, so she didn’t react to Sereina’s insults.

Then Sereina disappeared.

But it didn’t matter. Rurin, who was now entirely focused on something else, immediately went down to her lair.

She then sat in front of the mirror she had brought from Earth.

“Huh?”

Her mouth was smeared with Jjapagetti sauce, and her cheeks were also stained because of Sereina’s touch after eating with her hands.

Her anger flared up again. It wasn’t Sereina’s fault that the sauce was on her mouth.

It was just an inevitable consequence of eating Jjapagetti, but she still blamed everything on Sereina.

Rurin grabbed a wet tissue and wiped her mouth.

Then she untied her hair. Her long hair cascaded down.

After applying the lip balm that El had given her to keep her lips moist, Rurin wrote a note on the memo pad in her crooked handwriting.

-Gone out, be back!

Very simple.

Then she went back up to the dining room and placed the note where it would be easily seen.

She could sense El’s mana as soon as it got close. She would know when he was approaching.

So pretending to disappear was very easy.

If he suddenly realized her mana was gone, he’d be surprised. Sereina told her to pay attention to that expression.

As she thought about the plan, warm sunlight streamed in. Since she had eaten something, she started feeling sleepy again, and her head began to droop.

The more you sleep, the sleepier you get. It’s the magic of sleep.

“Hmm?”

Then she suddenly woke up in surprise and looked around reflexively.

She felt like she had sensed something, but wasn’t sure.

Thinking that, she got up. The note was still there.

She had foolishly fallen into a deep sleep.

She met El in her dream. It was so nice that she couldn’t wake up.

But since he hadn’t come back yet, she was relieved and kept watch outside. Then, finally, she felt the mana approaching.

It was 5 PM.

Coming back at sunset after leaving her alone all day. That’s truly mean.

Rurin puffed out her cheeks and launched her plan.

She teleported to disappear.

Then she would reappear and observe El’s expression. That was Sereina’s strategy.

Rurin thought that the kiss-rejection incident seemed to have no effect on El, so she was very interested in this expression thing.

Of course, in reality, El had been extremely anxious because of that incident, but Rurin had no way of knowing that.

So, teleport.

Rurin teleported to the Milliorek Mountains and immediately came back.

“Tada!”

She appeared with a swoosh and looked at El.

Rurin found El with a face full of expectation. El was holding the note that Rurin had written.

Now’s the moment!

Rurin quickly made eye contact with El. But El just yawned without any special reaction.

“Moving around since morning has made me tired. What are you doing?”

He wouldn’t have sensed her mana.

Sereina said he’d definitely be flustered and have a desperate look.

But this-!

It was a yawn, showing no interest. No interest at all.

That alone was upsetting, but a yawn?

So what should come out here is anger. Especially since she had been abandoned all day.

Yes. She should be angry.

She must be angry!

Rurin thought so. She must be angry.

But what came out of her mind and heart wasn’t anger.

It was sadness.

She had disappeared, but he was so indifferent. Overwhelmed by emotions, Rurin looked up at El with tears welling up in her eyes.