CHAPTER 44………………………………….
Soon after, Kyle’s dad stopped ruffling my hair and asked,
“You said you confiscated it from her, right? Give it back.”
Harzen’s dad frowned openly.
“Give it back? Now? Why?”
“What do you mean, why? I’m just taking back what’s mine.”
“If you mess around with that thing again…”
“I can take care of my own neck, thanks. Just hand it over, smart guy. You can’t make another one of those.”
Kyle’s dad reached out his hand lazily, as if this was all a bother.
Harzen’s dad stared suspiciously at him for a moment, then reluctantly snapped his fingers together.
And right beside him, a faint crack appeared in the air.
Did he just distort space?
That kind of magic never appeared in the main story.
Had his magic skills improved that much?
No, more like—
That’s why I couldn’t find the invisibility cloak!
I stared blankly as Harzen’s dad reached into the warped space and pulled out the cloak.
No wonder I couldn’t find even a trace of it no matter how many times I searched the room.
Come to think of it, when I first met Ferr, I also felt space distort around him.
Wait—does that mean Ferr’s magic is on the same level as Dad’s?
But he’s just a boy my age!
“Ugh, next time I’ll just have to build an actual teleportation device. This is ridiculous.”
While I was lost in thought, Kyle’s dad took the cloak, turned toward me, and said,
“All right, now that that’s settled…”
Then he slung the cloak over his shoulder and jerked his chin.
“Come with me, Sisi.”
“Huh?”
All of a sudden?
“I told you earlier, didn’t I? I’m gonna scold you later.”
“You were serious?”
“Of course I was serious. Come on, ‘later’ is now.”
And with that, Dad walked out of the room first.
I looked around, hoping someone might stop him, but no one said a word.
I knew this was coming, but still—getting scolded again for real?
“Geez…”
In the end, I had no choice but to follow him.
After a short while, we reached a quiet hallway a little away from the bedroom.
“Okay.”
Kyle’s dad suddenly stopped and turned around.
I swallowed hard and faced him.
All right, I’ve prepared myself.
Bring it on!
“So, Sisi,” he said, lifting his chin again.
“Say it properly now.”
“Huh?”
“You’ve got something you want to tell me, don’t you?”
My eyes widened.
H-how did he know?
“You think I don’t know you by now?”
He ruffled my hair again, grinning broadly.
“Don’t forget, I am your dad, kiddo.”
“…”
“I can tell what you’re thinking without even trying.”
He sounded so confident.
He totally doesn’t know, though.
If he could read my mind that well, maybe he’d notice that Mom’s going to die and they’ll both cause the end of the world!
“Then can you guess what I’m thinking right now?”
I asked petulantly, annoyed.
His silver eyes gleamed as he replied instantly,
“You’re thinking I never understand the things you actually want me to know, right?”
“Gasp.”
Wow, he nailed it.
He’s weirdly psychic sometimes!
“Sigh.”
This time, Dad mussed up the other side of my hair and sighed.
I quickly tried to smooth it down with my fingers—Mom had carefully braided it this morning!
“I’ve been thinking this whole time, you know?”
He knelt down on one knee and continued,
“No matter how much you’ve grown, the Sisi I know would never cross the line.”
“…”
“Especially when it comes to your mom—you worship the ground she walks on.”
His cold, silver eyes locked onto mine.
“But this time, you did cross that line completely.”
He studied me like I was a puzzle.
“And you even snuck into my lab, the one you said scared you, and took something. How on earth did you even know there was an invisibility cloak there?”
How do you think?
I read it in the main story!
“Even for a mischievous seven-year-old, turning into a full-on phantom thief overnight doesn’t make sense…”
Then his eyes lit up suddenly.
“So here’s what I’ve concluded.”
“What is it?”
“You must have had a reason you had to follow Yuria.”
I swallowed hard as he went on.
“Sure, maybe you were just scared to be apart from your mom for the first time, and that’s why you chased after her…”
“…”
“But judging from everything you’ve done here, I doubt it’s that simple.”
Everyone, please look—
I think my dad’s been possessed by some kind of oracle.
“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”
“Gasp.”
Bullseye.
He really had been thinking about this on the way here.
“Dad, are you a genius?”
“Well, I do hear that a lot.”
He ran a hand through his hair, looking smug.
Yeah, he’s always been a genius.
No wonder the other researchers can’t stand him.
That’s what happens when a smart person isn’t humble.
“Anyway, tell me.”
He looked at me again.
“You’ve always told me your little secrets before, remember?”
“Mm-hm, that’s true.”
Well… except for that time I made flower rings with a boy from the village.
“You know,” Dad said, thumping his chest proudly,
“I can handle most kinds of trouble. Might even make it more fun.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Like that time we tried to make dalgona candy and burned all the pots in the house,
or when we made an unpoppable giant bubble and almost floated to heaven.
Dad was always right there with me.
Those were fun times.
But this secret—
“I can’t tell you.”
Not won’t. Can’t.
I shivered as the memory of a few days ago flashed through my mind.
How could I even explain it?
“I just…”
I searched for the least dangerous words I could say, and finally whispered,
“I just want to protect our family.”
“Hm?”
“That’s all I can say.”
If he really is a genius, maybe that’ll be enough for him to understand.
I looked up at him earnestly.
After a short silence—
“Wow, seriously.”
He let out a low whistle.
“You’re turning into your mom more and more every day.”
“Huh?”
“She said the exact same thing to me once.”
He smiled faintly, as if recalling something long ago.
But his silver eyes shone sharply, like he was reliving it right now.
Hearing that, I remembered too—
Mom said something like that once, didn’t she?
