Chapter 28
“The Hiddenly Strong Child Is Looking for Their Dad”
Tiën hesitated.
Asking for someone’s name or where they lived was a sensitive question to a child.
“Um, I’m not supposed to ask that kind of thing, right?”
The world these days was a scary place.
If someone offered you something tasty and asked you to come along with them, you were supposed to call the police immediately!
‘But still…’
Grandpa Nordix and Uncle Basto weren’t bad people.
Tiën knew that very well.
Still, just in case, Tiën decided to ask.
“Then, why you ask that?”
“It’s because we have so few clues about your father that it’s slowing everything down,” Nordix replied.
“Ohhh, so that’s why.”
Tiën nodded.
Come to think of it, from Grandpa Nordix and Uncle Basto’s point of view, that made sense.
‘Well, I haven’t told them much about Dad anyway.’
Besides, they were teammates now — people Tiën would be living with whether she liked it or not.
“Actually…”
After making up her mind, Tiën spoke up.
“I lived with my dad in Jongno-gu! Gold Villa, first floor, room six!”
Without realizing it, she mimicked the tone of the lady from Room 203.
That lady never said “Room 203” — always “Second floor, room three!”
Feeling grown-up like the lady, Tiën let out a proud little “ahem,” but Nordix blinked in confusion.
“What, what did you say?”
“Tiën, did you say Jongno-gu?”
Uncle Basto looked just as baffled.
Tiën nodded brightly.
“Yeah! You don’t know it, right? In Jongno-gu, there’s Gyeongbok Palace, and lots of puppies near Cheonggyecheon, and super yummy twisted doughnuts at Gwangjang Market!”
But the more she spoke, the more confused Nordix and Basto looked.
Even Vale, who had come in carrying food, stopped in the doorway and stared at Tiën in disbelief.
Tiën took a deep breath, as if to tell them to wait, and continued.
“So, like, what happened was — my dad was a super strong Holy Knight, right? But suddenly he and I ended up in Korea! Korea looks kinda like a tiger, and China’s right on top of it!”
“…”
“And then, we lived in Jongno-gu, but my dad…”
Her lips stuck together when she reached the part about her father’s accident.
Tiën hesitated, then mumbled,
“A-anyway, we got separated all of a sudden, and one night when I was sad, I met Kkamang and poof! came here.”
Silence filled the room.
Vale, setting the tray down on the side table, muttered, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
After a long moment, Nordix finally spoke.
“So… this ‘Korea’ place is where Jongno-gu is?”
“Yes!”
“And you lived there?”
“Yep! Seoul in the world! World in Seoul!”
“What’s ‘Seoul’ now?”
“I dunno.”
Basto and Vale exchanged meaningful glances.
Feeling frustrated, Tiën grabbed her kindergarten bag from the bed and held it out.
“No, look! There’s Hangul written right here. Han. Bit. Yoo. Chi. Won!”
Basto, Vale, and Nordix all tilted their heads.
“So that wasn’t just a pattern?”
“Nope!”
“Hold on, everyone, calm down.”
Nordix raised a hand and knelt to meet Tiën’s eyes.
“Then, what is your father’s name?”
Tiën’s eyes widened a little.
Her father’s name.
Of course she knew that — she was already four years old!
When they had to write their parents’ names at kindergarten, she always wrote her dad’s name the prettiest and neatest in the Quail Class.
“My dad’s name is…”
“Yes?”
Tiën grinned proudly.
“Kim, Young Ja, Soo Ja!”
Vale couldn’t hold back and stepped between Tiën and Nordix.
“Are you kidding me? His name’s Kim Young Ja Soo Ja?”
“Nooo, Kim, Young Ja, Soo Ja!”
“Kid, answer properly. We’re not joking around right now.”
Tiën’s mouth fell open a little.
She whimpered softly, looking down.
“I’m not joking… My dad’s really Kim Young Soo.”
“You just said Kim Young Ja Soo Ja!”
“Huh? Yeah! Kim, Young Ja, Soo Ja!”
“But just now you said Kim Young Soo! Which is it?!”
“Uh… they’re the same.”
“What?!”
“Vale, enough,” Basto interrupted, holding him back.
He crouched calmly in front of Tiën.
“You said you came here from that ‘Jongno-gu’ place. Do you know how you came here?”
Tiën fell silent, her eyes shifting.
Of course she remembered that day vividly.
After what happened to her dad, Grandma from Room 107 had come over with a keepsake box.
When she opened that box — that’s when she met Kkamang.
But…
‘I can’t talk about Kkamang.’
Here, Kkamang was afraid of being “tracked.”
Just like how Dad and Tiën had been afraid of being tracked back in Korea.
‘Kkamang said his power has to stay secret. That’s why we decided to say he’s just my summoned beast.’
She had to keep that promise.
She couldn’t say anything about crossing dimensions.
So in the end, Tiën stammered,
“It just… kinda happened.”
Another silence fell.
After a while, Vale spoke again.
“Nordix was right.”
Nordix turned to him.
“The kid doesn’t seem to be lying. But her answers are just…”
“Vale.”
“Whatever. Asking her won’t help anyway. Hey, kid.”
Tiën flinched as Vale looked straight at her.
“U-uhm?”
“You’re sure your dad’s here, right?”
Tiën nodded eagerly.
“Yeah! My dad’s here! I even saw him earlier—!”
She had seen him at the harbor with her own two eyes.
But the dream she’d just had still lingered, and she fell quiet.
“Alright. Then we keep going as planned. We’ll head to the capital and check the Holy Knight headquarters.”
“Okay!”
“And then… if you find your dad, are you gonna leave Agabert?”
Tiën’s eyes went round.
“Leave?”
It was a strange question.
“I mean, if you find your dad — are you gonna run off to live with him, quit being the Demon King, and ditch us?”
Tiën’s mouth slowly fell open.
Vale’s words poked right into her conscience.
“Well, um…”
Honestly, that had been her plan at first.
She’d only become a mercenary to get into the capital.
Once she found her dad inside, she’d quit.
She’d wanted to stay with him to make sure he wouldn’t get sent back to Korea again.
But now…
‘Dad isn’t the same anymore.’
She remembered the harbor.
The way he’d looked past her — as if she were just some strange child.
Here, Tiën wasn’t her father’s daughter anymore.
Thinking she could live with him again had been her own foolish hope.
And besides…
‘Wouldn’t it be selfish to ask Dad to take care of me again?’
Back in Korea, Dad had struggled so much because of her.
She’d overheard the neighbors in Gold Villa talking plenty about it.
‘If that bachelor didn’t have a kid, he wouldn’t be suffering like that.’
‘Right? For a single dad, he’s doing his best. Honestly, sending the kid to an orphanage would’ve been normal.’
‘Hey! You big-mouthed busybodies! Don’t you have anything better to do? Keep talking and I’ll sew your lips shut myself!’
Grandma from Room 107 would always shut them up in the end… but still.
Tiën thought for a long moment, then shook her head.
“…Tiën’s not gonna leave.”
“What?”
“Tiën’s gonna keep being the Demon King. Agabert is Tiën’s mercenary band!”
Maybe finding her own place in this world had been luck after all.
“Dad is Dad, and Tiën is Tiën.”
Vale froze, surprised.
“…Really?”
Tiën nodded firmly.
“Yup! Tiën’s gonna be independent from Daddy now!”
