TGHB 10

Chapter – 10

Blink, blink.

Her watery eyes fluttered a couple of times.

“…Menloni ish a goodh pershon?”

The mumbled question sounded as if she was hesitating over something.

‘What’s that tiny head always thinking about so seriously?’

Contiae’s hand once again ruffled the child’s white hair.

“Yeah. You’re a good little marshmallow.”

“A good marshmallow….”

As the child muttered, her expression suddenly hardened with resolve.

“Put me down.”

“You want me to put you down?”

“Yes.”

The child patted Contiae’s arm and turned to Ricky.

“Menloni ish good, sho Menloni ish gonna helph Nikki oppa.”

‘Yes, I have to help.’

Because I’m the only one who can help Oppa.

My “Authority of Restoration.”

If I use it, I can fix Oppa’s medicine perfectly.

After getting off from Uncle Oliver’s arms, I headed toward Ricky Oppa.

But when it came time to actually use my Authority, I hesitated.

‘Is this really the best choice?’

My second life.

In this life, I vowed never to use my Authority—no matter what.

My #1 rule for round two was not to use my Authority.

If I use it, I’ll be in danger again.

This damned Authority will start dragging me back into hell. But—

‘If I don’t use it, Oppa’s little sister will…’

Lost, unable to choose either path, I clenched my small fists tightly.

“Oppa.”

At my cautious call, his eyes moved to me—then dropped again.

His dazed eyes resembled a fish washed ashore.

A dried-up fish that looks like it’ll die any second.

“…Rina. Our Rina.”

“Oppa, your hand ish bleeding.”

Blub, blub.

Oppa, who kept blankly mumbling “Our Rina,” had hands full of wounds.

Here and there, spots were bleeding.

Looks like he scraped and cut himself with the glass while trying to salvage the crushed medicine.

Seeing those hands again made my nose sting.

‘Ah, I feel like crying again.’

But hold it in.

I must not cry.

I was rubbing my nose with my fist when—

“Is that… Epaitos?”

The mutter came from behind.

The uncle staring at the crushed pills clicked his tongue.

“You managed to get your hands on something that damn hard to obtain. Even if I try again, it’ll take years to get another one…”

What?

‘Even a detective struggles to obtain this medicine…?’

If it takes years just to acquire a new one, that’s a problem.

Before the medicine arrives—

‘Rina might not last.’

What do I do?

What should I do…?

I kept fidgeting with my pale hands.

‘Is using my Authority the right thing?’

Maybe there’s another way to help.

Think. If I think hard enough, maybe something will—

But at that moment—

“…Help me.”

Oppa’s desperate whisper made my heart plummet.

Ah.

‘What am I doing?’

This is urgent—what am I hesitating for?

Hide my Authority, or fix Oppa’s medicine.

If I can only choose one—

‘Of course I should help Oppa.’

Yes—of course.

Oppa is unimaginably precious to me.

One of the few people in my life who were truly precious.

The one who turned Bramshua into a paradise for me.

Someone who brought a moment of happiness into an otherwise miserable life.

In my past life, whenever I was exhausted… I thought of Bramshua.

Of Jenne unnie and Ricky oppa.

Even if their faces became blurry over time, I never forgot the warmth they gave me.

Whenever I wanted to give up on everything, that warmth lifted me back up.

So—

“Oppa.”

At my small call, his unfocused gaze turned to me.

Looking into his tear-filled eyes, I gave a soft smile.

“Id’sh okay. Don’ cry. I’ll helph you.”

“…You’ll… help me?”

“Mm. Do you belief in Menloni?”

“Meloni…”

“Yes. I’m Menloni. Jusht belief in me.”

I thumped my chest and squatted down.

‘Maybe this is a foolish choice. Maybe I’ll regret it one day.’

But that doesn’t mean I can stand by and watch Oppa fall into despair.

I don’t want Oppa to end up alone.

Because I know better than anyone how painful it is to live in this world alone.

‘I hope Oppa… doesn’t live the way I did.’

I wish he could live happily, with family, in good health, for a very long time.

I stretched my hand toward the pile of crushed pills Oppa had gathered.

And slowly, a strange symbol began glowing on my skin.

It was the mark of my “Authority of Restoration.”

“Wh-what is that?”

“Isn’t that an Authority?”

Ugh.

‘So they recognized it.’

I was secretly hoping they wouldn’t.

But of course. Everyone knows that using an Authority produces a unique mark and light.

Once you reach a high level, you can hide the mark and light, but I’m four years old.

I’ve barely used my Authority except for testing if I still had it.

‘In the end, I ended up using it in front of so many people.’

Sigh…

I let out a breath, but I didn’t stop channeling my power.

My Authority runs on imagination.

First, I visualized the broken pieces of the medicine and bottle like a puzzle.

Then—

‘Reassemble!’

Fwooooosh—!

In a flash of light, the shattered glass and medicine fragments began to move.

As I imagined more and more, the pieces aligned and restored themselves to their original state.

Huff…

‘This is harder than I thought.’

In my past life, after being kidnapped and used as a test subject, I used my Authority countless times—yet it never drained me like this.

My young body clearly couldn’t handle the power properly.

But—

‘I have to do it.’

No matter what!

My breathing grew rough. Sweat dripped down my forehead and back.

How long passed?

The glowing light and mark slowly faded away.

At the same time—

“…Look at that.”

“Th-the medicine… it was crushed but now it’s perfectly fine?!”

Just as they said.

Where the light faded, a perfectly restored glass bottle and medicine lay on the ground.

As if it had never been broken.

The medicine was even back inside the bottle—exactly as before.

‘…Thank goodness.’

Truly, thank goodness.

Wiping my sweat, I picked it up.

“Here, Oppa.”

Didn’t I tell you?

Just trust Meloni.

Oppa stared at me, disbelief and shock in his eyes.

“Meloni…”

I placed the bottle firmly into his trembling hand.

“I pwomish. Rina will get better.”

Tears streamed down Oppa’s face.

“Thank… hick… thank you, Meloni. You… you’re my hero.”

“Aigoo. Big grown-up shouldn’t cry, you know?”

When I patted his shoulder, he gave a faint smile.

Thank goodness.

‘He’s back to the Oppa I know.’

That alone was enough to erase any regret.

Of course—

“Well now. This suddenly became extremely interesting.”

At the voice behind me, just for a moment—just a tiiiiny moment—I felt a hint of regret.

“A brand-new type of Authority, huh.”

Flinch.

“A marshmallow that will go down in history.”

…Flinch.

Geez, history-worthy? Really?

Heh… hehehe…

I turned around with the most airheaded smile I could muster.

A smiling face is hard to hit—right?

…Though I’m not sure that applies here.

‘It’s not like I committed a crime.’

I’m still worried about what will happen once we leave, but that’s a later problem.

Right now, the only thing to worry about is—

“Um, you shee….”

The fact that I deceived all these people.

That I hid my Authority and pretended to be a normal child.

‘Adults hate liars.’

At the orphanage in my past life…

I once broke a dried-up flower pot in the hallway.

I hid it because I was terrified of being punished.

But—

“A child who lies must be disciplined.”

“You sly, brazen little liar. Kids like you grow up to be swindlers! Even God must regret creating a child like you!”

The drunken director caught me.

The teachers rushed in after hearing the news and vented all their anger on me.

All I could do was tremble and repeat “I’m sorry.”

‘In the end, I was beaten badly that day.’

They forbade me from dinner and locked me in the punishment room.

The memory made me clench my dress hem tightly.

My smile nearly crumbled, but I forced it to hold.

“Menloni wash… born wiff it…”