“……Hup!”
At the same moment that Babel redefined her not as the Transcendent “Giovanni” but as “Gyeon Jioh.”
Fwooooo—!
Kugugugu!
Rainbow-hued spheres, from who knew where, surged past Jioh like spray. At tremendous speed.
Rolled and borne along, Jioh quickly realized what they were.
They were
the life of the human “Gyeon Jioh.”
Being born, learning, growing, meeting people and protecting them.
Sometimes raging, grieving, fighting and struggling, laughing and crying—the every moment of her life was contained there.
In an instant, Jioh peered into one sphere brushing past her. A faint, longed-for sound of laughter was heard.
A memory of some day in childhood.
「Jioh, hurry along. Bambi will be waiting.」
Yang Sae-do’s face as he said goodbye was plainly apologetic.
Jioh grumbled inwardly.
‘Waiting, my foot.’
January 1.
New Year’s Day. Because Jioh’s birthday fell on a public holiday, it was a day when everyone was busy for their own reasons.
Until last year they’d all somehow made time to celebrate, but now that they were exam-year students, even that was gone.
Mom had no days off, Gyeon Riok had gone out early for guild business, and Geum-hee said she had a New Year’s party with friends, so even if she went home……
‘It’ll be empty. Right.’
She’d also just had a big blow-up with that petty Star the other day, so they were in a full-on cold war.
Perfectly alone. Jioh stuck out her…