Rurin And The Song (8)

“You, since those guys are noisy, can I drink this?”

“Yeah, drink it.”

“Wha, wha-what? N-no waay!”

Rurin nodded and opened the cap of the intact water bottle. To Chief Manager Im and Director Park, the water bottle was the most coveted item at this moment.

But Rurin mercilessly gulped down the water from the bottle.

“Stop!”

“Nooo! Give it baaaaack!”

Director Park and Chief Manager Im rushed at Rurin. But for some reason, they couldn’t even get close to her. It felt like there was an invisible wall.

Actually, an invisible barrier blocked between the two and Rurin.

“Ahh, refreshing! It’s too hot here. Ugh.”

Rurin threw the empty water bottle. The bottle passed through the shield, spun behind Chief Manager Im and Director Park, and sank into the sand.

The bottom of the thrown bottle had a bit of water left. Both, staring so desperately at Rurin drinking, knew about the leftover water. They jumped simultaneously towards the sand where the bottle landed.

“It’s mine!”

“It’s mine!”

Grabbing the bottle, the two began fighting again. Unbothered, Rurin looked bored and asked El.

“By the way, why is it so hot here? Sand is everywhere. Here’s sand, there’s sand, and sand all the way over there. Your world has too many wonders.”

“Is that so…? Well, I guess the other world has no desertified lands.”

Director Park and Chief Manager Im tangled again, holding water bottles to the sky, dripping water to catch even a drop, mouths wide open when suddenly—

Rurin took out another water bottle.

“You! Then you’re throwing this away?”

“Yeah. Throw it away. I drank plenty before.”

“Hehe.”

“What, what did you say? You have more?”

In the end, having barely gotten a drop, Chief Manager Im and Director Park ran again towards Rurin.

But Rurin mercilessly turned the opened bottle upside down. Water gushed down onto the sand.

“Noooo!”

“Ahhhh, you bastard!”

No matter how much they rushed to the ground, the water was already absorbed into the sand and undrinkable.

“You little-?! What kind of thing is this to someone who raised you?”

When the water bottle was discarded, an enraged Director Park shouted at Rurin.

“How could someone like you raise me? I think that’s impossible even if you’re born 3,000 times. And I grew up alone!”

“That’s true. Besides, it’s true Rurin grew up alone. A shut-in, or rather a rare shut-in.”

“No! That was…she was honoring her mother!”

At El’s shut-in joke, Rurin raised her hand and denied it.

“But what’s a shut-in?”

But soon she asked with a puzzled look.

“You went crazy without even knowing what it means?”

“I don’t like the nuance. It surely has a bad meaning.”

Rurin voiced a very reasonable opinion. El smiled slightly, pulled Rurin close, then said to Director Park.

“Oh, and you two? This is my dear. So asking if she has a boyfriend is part of your punishment, so hang in there a little longer. It gets cold at night, be careful.”

Scumbags who exploited weaknesses and betrayed people.

The audacity to keep going after indirect murder and other nonsense.

“What now? Y-yes, Mas-ter!”

“You and whatever, how dare you make our Rurin sing and act? I told her to do it then, but thinking about it again makes me angry.”

El grumbled recalling the past anew. Rurin answered with a look saying that’s not true.

“You.”

“Hm?”

“That’s not it. When singing or acting, I looked only at you. So I didn’t show it to those guys. That must be clear!”

“Really?”

Nod nod nod.

Rurin nodded several times.

That’s enough. El took that as a conclusion and held Rurin’s hand.

“Then let’s go back.”

“Got it.”

“What? Where back? You guys over there!”

“Ah! You can probably get out of here. If this is a prison made by nature, outside awaits a prison made by humans. But well, that might be better than here?”

When Director Park shouted, El calmly predicted their coming future. Then vanished soon after.

Like a mirage disappearing.

Woof woof!

Doongi ran around cheerfully. It was his world now. His health has recovered fully. Not skipping meals and eating luxuriously, he now had energy to spare.

Watching Doongi, Lee Jinseong also smiled. After his daughter died, he thought he’d never smile again. But recently, seeing Doongi, he could smile little by little.

All this was because his daughter’s enemy has been caught.

The two main suspects, missing for a while, were arrested in front of the police station looking a sorry sight.

They were criticized even more for nonsense about being in the desert or whatever.

Thus Lee Jinseong was satisfied and returned home. He bought a house with a yard and let Doongi roam free.

Woof woof!

Doongi was excited every day.

How it was made is unknown, but Lee Jinseong himself made sure he uploaded the OTube video per El’s words.

The actress in the video was pixelated till the end because he identified her as his daughter.

El told him not to ask anything, so Lee Jinseong didn’t. He was content that they could punish them. How the mysterious couple spread the truth to the world—he decided internally it was just because they were mysterious.

“Doongi, let’s eat with thanks to that couple. You and me.”

Lee Jinseong said so and handed Doongi a bowl.

“Oh! So this is the karaoke place?”

“Yeah. In this world, if you want to sing, you use this karaoke. Everyone, young and old, likes it.”

“Everyone, young and old?”

“Yeah, now that includes dragons too? A karaoke for dragons of all ages.”

“Huh? This karaoke should consider that an honor.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Hehe. This room feels cozy. The sparkles make it nice.”

“The concept of this room is Glass Castle.”

Rurin seemed to like the sparkling karaoke interior concept. Sparkles appeal to Rurin’s DNA.

“Oh? Glass Castle?”

“But my dear fits better singing on a bigger stage than karaoke. So if she wants, I can arrange that. I might get a little jealous! But I won’t stop her showing off her talent.”

“A bigger stage?”

“Yes, singing in front of many people like at the Regana contest.”

“That’s no good!”

To my words, Rurin shook her head firmly. She really disliked it. Like when taken to a crowded place, making a face like “Ugh, no! Hug me!”

Basically, she dislikes others, so she hates crowded places.

“No, not ‘no good’, but ‘hate it.’”

“Why?”

When asked why, Rurin raised her voice without hesitation.

“The only person I want to sing for is you. I hate others hearing it. So it’s enough that you’re next to me. I sang hard and played the Regana hard because I wanted you to listen and like it!”

“Is that so? The Regana is okay, but the singing too?”

“Regana… You said watching other humans play the Regana was cool! And you showed me that singing was good, didn’t you?”

“Ah, I said that in passing.”

She didn’t ignore that passing comment and actually looked up songs on her phone for me?

My dear’s special talent manifested again. That talent that occasionally makes my heart flutter subtly.

“Kyaa?”

So I hugged Rurin tightly. She was standing, and I was sitting on the karaoke sofa, so I hugged her by the waist.

“Thanks for that, dear.”

“Yeah, hug more! Your face touched my belly. Your cheeks are cute. Hehe, your face is somehow cute!”

“R-really?”

“‘Really?’ You’re sticking to my belly and rambling. Hehe, you’re cute, so come closer!”

“Hey, hey!”

Rurin pressed my head tightly against her belly, making it hard to breathe. So I pushed away with a “puhak” and patted the seat next to me.

“If you pull like that, what then? Enough, sit here.”

“Why separate? That was cute! Boo!”

Grumbling, Rurin flopped down beside me. Well, I told her to sit next to me, but she sat on my leg.

So I put the microphone in her hand. Seeing it, Rurin made a questioning face.

“What’s this?”

“This is called a microphone. You have to sing with this at the karaoke.”

“With this?”

When I explained, Rurin stared down the mic. She had no clue how to use it.

“What song did you say you’d sing?”

“That one! That one!”

Rurin shouted she’d sing that girl group song she sang at the agency.

So I searched with the remote and immediately played the song. When the music played, Rurin nodded.

“Oh, this is it!”

“Yeah. You hold the front of the mic like this and sing.”

I helped Rurin stand, then stood up myself and demonstrated. She immediately imitated it.

“Like this? Huh? Ah! Ah! Oh! The voice echoes!”

“That’s right. Amazing, isn’t it?”

“You’re funny.”

Rurin treated the mic like a funny thing, then examined it carefully and began singing with a knowing expression.

A clear yet deep and resonant song flowed, not because of the mic but from her voice itself.

Such an emotional tone.

If you close your eyes and listen, it feels like you’d fall for the singing again.

When the instrumental part came, Rurin started dancing alone. She seemed excited.

She stepped forward, backward, and sideways.

With the mic in one hand, she flicked her head. Her hair swayed wildly. It was sexy.

Then, as if learned from a video, she swayed and even did a wave in front of me.

“Ta-da!”

Kicking the floor wildly, raising her finger, she finished and stopped with a “ta-da” sound.

“How was it? Did you fall for me?”

Similar to what I saw at the agency but more natural.

Rurin asked if I was smitten, and inside, of course, I was, but my mouth resisted slightly.

“Sure. I probably fell for you.”

“‘Probably’? What’s ‘probably’? It was hard learning on that tiny phone screen!”

“Applause! Clap clap clap clap!”

When I tried to substitute with applause, Rurin squinted and glared at me.

No way. I surrender. Those eyes mean she’s about to sulk. I better surrender here.

“Okay. Yeah, I’m smitten. I’m smitten! So stop glaring!”

“Kyaaa, kekekeke, no! Why, why! You’re tickling me!”

I hugged her from behind and tickled her; Rurin flailed wildly.

“Now calm down and sing that song from yesterday. Remember my request?”

“Request?”

Rurin, flailing and hair tangled from tickling, tilted her head and asked.