Chapter 2
2.– The Arrival of the K-Child in the Land of Villains (the North)
About a week before “Airi’s Sudden Return to the North” happened—
In the most luxurious room of the Marquis Melissa family’s southern mansion,
an old lady with white hair, Marquis Melissa, was crying loudly.
“Oh my poor baby. Oh my poor child.”
“Granny……”
“My poor thing, you’ve gotten so thin! I’m so worried about you.”
“I’m… fine, Granny……”
On the bed lay a chubby five-year-old girl.
Her name was Airi Ortezo.
Melissa, her grandmother, said worriedly,
“You have a fever and you’ve lost weight! Doctor, my grandchild isn’t sick with something terrible, is she?”
The family doctor, who had been standing awkwardly at the side, finally spoke,
“Um… My Lady, it seems the young miss simply… overate.”
“What? Nonsense! She only had ten turkey legs for lunch! She’s practically starving! Look at those skinny cheeks!”
The doctor glanced at Airi’s very round cheeks that wobbled as she breathed and muttered quietly,
“Normally, a child can’t even finish one turkey leg, my lady.”
Melissa pointed angrily at the doctor.
“That’s not the point! And besides, my grandchild’s been hearing strange voices since yesterday!”
“Voices? What kind of voices, madam?”
Right then, a mysterious sound echoed in Airi’s ears—
a voice only she could hear.
[Airi, the purifier who will save the world.]
Airi’s eyes rolled around in confusion.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
[To you who live in the present, I will show the past and the future. Discover everything and save the world.]
‘Save… what exactly?’
Then, something like static appeared before her eyes.
Airi reached out her small hand to grab the glowing vision.
“W-what is this?”
“Oh no, look at her poor little arms! Someone help my baby!”
At her grandmother’s loud cry, Airi fainted.
And then, in her darkened mind, the past began to play.
***
Airi used to be a nine-year-old girl named Lee Ah-rin who lived in a country called Korea.
She was also raised by her beloved grandmother — not her parents.
But after her grandmother passed away early, she grew up in an orphanage.
Ah-rin had one very special hobby:
“Punishing bad people!”
She was a justice-loving child and the youngest black-belt demonstrator at her taekwondo school.
She loved chasing down bullies hiding in dark alleyways.
“Hey, give me a bite of your tanghulu.”
“B-but it’s mine…”
Even while wearing the special taekwondo uniform her master gave her, Ah-rin fought against the bad kids.
They had yellow belts—
and she had a black belt.
That’s a difference of five whole ranks — heaven and earth!
The moment she saw their belts, Ah-rin charged forward.
“Show respect as a martial artist!”
“Aaah!”
That’s how she lived — defeating bad kids and protecting others every day.
Until one day—
She started reading a strange novel!
It was called “The Monster Family of the Northern Snowlands”, a book her orphanage teacher, Miss Lee Ah-reum, loved.
Ah-rin secretly read it because she admired her teacher and wanted to do everything she did.
The book was a bit too dark for a nine-year-old, but she couldn’t stop reading.
The story’s child character felt so much like her.
That child’s name was Airi,
the youngest daughter of a wicked northern noble family.
Because of an evil “demonic mist” that covered the North, she lost her mother and was sent to live with her grandmother in the South.
She grew up there peacefully, but—
[Airi was actually the only “purifier” who could cleanse the evil energy spreading through the world.]
[Anyone who touched her could be freed from corruption.]
But no one knew Airi was a purifier.
Then, the book said—
[The demonic energy in the North spread to the South.
Airi died without realizing her power.
And her loving grandmother, Marquis Melissa, also perished.]
Ah-rin frowned as she closed the book.
But then, new words began glowing on the back cover.
[This is not an ordinary book.]
“That’s not true! You’re totally a book!”
[…This story is about to become your future.
Its tale will stay with you and guide your present.]
“Huh?”
The moment she stared at the glowing letters, her vision went dark—
And when she opened her eyes again,
the nine-year-old Ah-rin had become the five-year-old Airi.
When Airi woke up, her doctor and grandmother were watching her worriedly.
“Oh my baby, you were unconscious for ten minutes!”
“She was just asleep, my lady.”
“Nonsense! Wake up, my sweet baby, you need to drink at least ten liters of milk!”
But even as they argued, Airi sat there blankly.
‘I was Ah-rin for so long…’
The dream felt so real that she wasn’t sure anymore —
was she the Korean taekwondo girl Ah-rin, or the chubby little Airi?
***
Airi spent the next week deep in thought.
She even asked herself serious questions like,
“Who am I?” — something a five-year-old should never have to do.
And then, she remembered something terrifying.
‘Wait… in that story, the world ends… and Granny dies too!’
Fear filled her big purple eyes.
But she took a deep breath.
‘Calm down! I’m not just a little kid anymore.
I’m a nine-year-old martial artist inside!’
After organizing her thoughts, Airi grabbed her grandmother’s wrinkled hand tightly.
Granny had given her so much love — home-cooked food with mugwort and beans, hand-knitted clothes full of flower patterns.
Airi knew all of it came from love.
‘That’s why I’ll protect Granny! I’ll save the world!’
Wrapped in a flower-patterned sweater and shorts, she said seriously,
“Granny, I think… I’m a hero who’s supposed to save the world!”
Marquis Melissa blinked.
“Ah, yes, of course, my baby. You’ll be a hero! Now, let’s eat more meat.”
“…Huh?”
“Heroes need to eat lots of meat so they can grow taller — at least two meters tall!”
And that’s how Airi’s first hero declaration ended in failure.
But Airi, age five, didn’t give up.
“I’ll become a hero and go to the North!”
“Oh no, my baby. The North is far too dangerous. If you promise not to go, Granny will give you your favorite soybean powder cookies~”
Those cookies — her favorite snack!
It was a powerful temptation.
But the brave little hero wiped the drool from her lips and stood firm.
“Now is not the time for cookies! I have to go North and save the world!”
Melissa’s expression changed.
“If you go to the North, you won’t see Granny anymore.”
“That’s…”
Warm weather, delicious food, and her loving grandmother —
giving all that up was hard for little Airi.
“It’s okay. A hero must do what a hero must do.”
Nine-year-old Ah-rin’s spirit burned inside her.
Melissa looked troubled.
“Why… why do you say the exact same words as your mother did?”
She remembered her daughter Olivia’s dying words—
“Mother, please take care of Airi.
And listen carefully — when she turns five, if she says she wants to go North,
you must let her go alone.”
“What? Why alone?”
“Promise me. Never forget. And… I love you.”
Melissa muttered in confusion,
“Going alone… won’t you be lonely?”
But Airi already knew from the novel how her grandmother’s opposite energy would clash with the North’s magi.
“Granny, real heroes never travel with their grandmothers!
They protect them instead!”
Just like in her favorite anime — “Hero of Justice Regent.”
“I see, I see. So… one day?”
“Um… I’m a great hero, but one day is a little short…”
“Airi.”
“Yes?”
“A week. You can stay for one week. Not a day more. The North is dangerous.”
“I understand! But I won’t die!”
Her violet eyes shone with determination.
Melissa quickly calculated how long Airi could survive without being harmed by the magi.
“One week.”
“Yes.”
“Exactly 168 hours.”
“That’s… kind of short…”
“No more, my dear.”
Melissa would not back down this time.
And so, Airi was granted permission to visit the North —
for just one week.
***
Now, here she stood—
The cold wind howled across the great snowy mountains of the North.
Before her loomed the grand Ortezo Duke’s Castle.
Bundled up like a round ball of yarn in her flower-patterned sweater,
arms full of food packed lovingly by her grandmother—
the great baby hero who would save the North had finally arrived.
