For some reason, the Newbie Owen was seeing now felt unfamiliar.
Normally, the boy would have shown him a path forward without the slightest hesitation and simply pressed ahead. But now, for some reason, he seemed to be drifting without direction amid hesitation and uncertainty.
Faced with that precarious air that was utterly unlike Newbie, Owen was belatedly overcome by worry and a sense of crisis.
‘Can I really leave him like this? Shouldn’t this Hyung of his do something? No matter how reliable he may be, Newbie is still my much younger little brother.’
In reality, the age difference between the two of them was not particularly large. But it seemed the image of the baby mountain goat, once deeply imprinted in Owen’s mind, was not so easily changed.
As Owen fidgeted restlessly, Newbie fortunately shook off his gloomy mood before long.
“Well, what can’t be helped can’t be helped. Let’s focus only on what we can do.”
The boy stretched out long and hard to refresh himself, then lowered the fairy perched on the crown of his head onto the campfire.
“First, let’s rest. You should get some sleep while you have the chance too, Owen. Don’t worry about standing watch. This guy can handle that on his own.”
At that, the fire fairy excitedly sprayed sparks into the air.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
Its endlessly self-assured appearance somehow seemed to be resembling its master more and more. Owen forced himself to hide his vague unease and…