TO SAY THAT Gypsy was confused would be an understatement.
Xavier knew Kim Jooda?
She was mind-blown.
"How did you know Kim Jooda?" Gypsy asked curiously. "Have you met her?!"
"This child…" Xavier complained, then she clicked his tongue at her. "Are you raising your voice at me? If you know, then you probably know that I'm older than you."
She lowered her gaze again. "I'm sorry, sir."
In the game, Xavier Lagun became a part of the main story when he was thirty-five years old. But the main story in the game would begin two years from now, so that meant the merman was currently thirty-three years old.
He was older than her, even as Baek Si-a.
In Korea, hierarchy via age was a big thing, so she spoke politely to Xavier Lagun.
"I haven't met Kim Jooda yet," Xavier explained. "But I see her in my dreams from time to time. I know that she's from a different world because of the things that she told and showed me. She also mentioned that the name of the country that she lives in is called Korea."
She gathered the courage to meet the merman's gaze again. "What else did Kim Jooda tell you?"
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Just because you said you came from Korea doesn't mean I'll trust you easily. Kim Jooda is a precious friend of mine. I won't share her stories with a stranger like you."
"But I really came from the same world as Kim Jooda…"
"Even so, I can't trust you," Xavier said while shaking his head. "Humans from the same countries can still be enemies, right?
[Tsk.]
It was annoying.
Well, Xavier Lagun had a point, and he was just being a good friend to Kim Jooda.
Still, it was annoying.
Thus, she ignored the merman and turned to the pufferfish instead.
[I'm not that curious about Kim Jooda's connection to Xavier Lagun since it won't help me return home anyway.]
"My lord, please help me," she pleaded with the Spirit Guardian. "Please help me return home."
The soul of the original Gypsy and Gio told her that the Spirits would get in touch with her soon.
Perhaps meeting Xavier Lagun was the instrument that the Spirits chose in order to talk to her. After all, Xavier Lagun was one of the few characters in the game (in the walkthroughs that she had seen, at least) with a Spirit Guardian.
<"I can help you with that, child.">
She gasped, her eyes went wide again. "Really, my lord? How?"
<"Open your hands.">
She was confused, but she did as she was told.
As soon as opened her hands, Kahi, in the form of a pufferfish, "landed" gracefully on her palms. When the bubble touched her skin, it popped so she caught the fish.
Huh?
Little spikes.
She felt little spikes pricked her skin…
<"Child, do you know that a pufferfish like me is poisonous?">
Gypsy opened her mouth to speak, but she only coughed up blood.
<"If you want to return to your world, the solution is easy,"> Kahi said emotionlessly. <"You just have to die here.">
Xavier Lagun clicked his tongue. "Poor child."
"Bas…tards…" Gypsy said as her consciousness slipped away. "Shibal…"
[Couldn't you just send me off painlessly?!]
***
"HYUNG, calm down!"
Yvo growled at Cyrus Helion. "Calm down? How can I calm down when I know that a barbaric bastard has kidnapped my noonim?!"
He hated himself for being weak enough to get knocked down by a merman's voice.
When he woke up, the first thing that greeted him was Ethan Woolsey's dismembered body.
Gypsy was gone, and so was the merman.
He knew that his noonim was still alive. SHE HAD TO BE. Thus, he immediately bolted out of the lake house to look for Gypsy.
But this damned Crown Prince kept following him while yapping nonstop.
"I understand what you're feeling, hyung," Cyrus Helion said, then he held and squeezed his shoulders a little too hard. "But you know you can't let your emotions get the better of you."
The words that the Crown Prince said held meaning in it, he just knew it.
Looking at Cyrus Helion's clear green eyes made him calm down. And it also confirmed his hunch before.
[He knows. This bastard knows that I am a Wolf, doesn't he?]
After all, the members of the Wolf Clan were known to transform into their beast form whenever their emotions would run high.
[Should I kill him?]
"Hyung, this isn't the right time for us to have THAT talk," Cyrus Helion said as if he could read his mind. "And finding Gypsy noona is more important than killing me."
Ah.
The damned Crown Prince probably noticed his bloodlust.
"Your Royal Highness, Young Master Yvo, I apologize for interrupting your conversation."
Yvo and Cyrus Helion both turned to Pierce Willard who just returned after disappearing earlier.
[Did he look for Noonim?]
"I've already found where the merman has brought Her Ladyship, and it's just in a cave near the lake house," Pierce Willard said indifferently. "Please follow me."
Yvo clenched his hands tight.
[Noonim, please wait for me– I'll come and save you.]
***
BEEP.
That was the first thing that Baek Si-a heard when she regained consciousness.
It was the familiar sound of a machine.
When she slowly opened her eyes, the first thing that greeted her was a plain white ceiling. Then she wandered her gaze around.
[White walls…]
She couldn't move any of her body parts aside from her eyes.
In fact, her body felt very heavy. She could also tell that there were different apparatuses attached to her. Her mind slowly realized the situation that she was in.
[I'm in a hospital, and it seems like I'm in a bad condition.]
Gypsy was confused, though.
[I don't remember getting into an accident…]
Wait.
All these apparatuses… the beeping sound… the machine that she could see in the corner of her eye…
The world inside the game didn't have this kind of hospital there.
[Does it mean I'm back in Korea?]
Gypsy swallowed a cry. "Y…vo…"
***
NOTE: Hi! Chapters 30 onwards will be locked chapters. I know you might find it too early. If you check my other stories, you'll see that I locked them at around 50 chapters. But I decided to lock 'Butter Up the Crown Wolf' here because this story wouldn't be as long as my other stories. Sorry. :(
I hope you still support my story if you can juseyo. Thank you. :)
And if you're enjoying the story, please leave a nice review so that the other review will get enticed to read Yvo and Gypsy's story, too. Thankies. <3
***
[CHAPTER 30: 'COME BACK HOME' PREVIEW]
Yvo let out a sigh of relief.
But that relief was short-lived when he realized that Gypsy's complexion wasn't normal. Moreover, even though she was breathing, her breaths were short and shallow.
Worst of all, his noonim's body was starting to get cold.
[The blood…]
His eyes went wide when he realized what might have happened.
[Was Noonim poisoned?!]
An ungodly amount of rage filled his chest.
***
NOTE: Hi! Please consider ADDING 'Butter Up the Crown Wolf' to your LIBRARY. Thank you! <3