If seeking to dull and effectively counter Elysia's unique traits, giving her strategies to overcome it, Yushir’s help would no doubt prove essential. However, the best solution to the problem at hand was to help her spend more time around men, relentlessly until she overcame her fear and aversion. Exposure therapy had its merits, after all.
Unlike Reina, her desire to grow closer to the opposite sex ran deeper than her fear. They could use that to their advantage, putting her through intensive training with Yushir, and then have her start a relationship with Si-Woo with marriage in mind.
That would fulfill Si-Woo's wish, as well as honor the old priest's final wish. It would be a win-win solution for everyone involved.
Si-Woo's cooperation was essential, and the time finally came for Willow to fetch him over. With her gone, Grace was the only one left in the base. If an adventurer were to stumble upon it, they would have no doubt that the girl of innocent indolence was the final boss who dropped legendary loot.
She lay back with a smug grin, casually watching funny videos. She was still a newborn who knew almost nothing about the world, but, thanks to Neltarid regularly filling her airy head with Earth's culture, she was already well on her way to becoming the perfect slacker.
It wouldn't be a stretch to call her a sloth in golem form.
Davey and Neltarid stood in the distance beyond her sight, lamenting her personality. Neltarid groaned, “No matter how much I think about it, I think we'll have to just dive in first. I don't see a future for that kid.”
“Don't go around telling people you'll grant wishes,” Davey said in a jokingly yet sincere voice.
“If I'd had enough power and more experience, I wouldn't have made this mistake.”
“Well, that's a meaningless excuse.”
“You're right...” Neltarid muttered with a bitter expression. “I've passed on all the necessary knowledge to her, so I better go meet with Park Seung-Hyun now.”
“Yeah,” Davey agreed. “Honestly, I wouldn't care about this whole affair if I hadn't helped that kiddo be born.”
“There's no need for you to feel responsible, you're a really good horne.”
Davey couldn't help but worry if Grace and Park Seung-Hyun would blend well to make a perfect pair.
“But, how should we take Grace with us?”
“Considering her tastes, I do actually have a fun idea in mind.”
* * *
Park Seung-Hyun was totally wiped out, having done an extremely high-tension joint stream with Evangeline just the day before. Both of them were art streamers, but they also dabbled in game content and often collaborated on it.
Their viewership demographics for their streams were similar, but, considering Evangeline's plethora of active subscribers as well as her average viewership numbers, Moderation was essentially piggybacking viewers off her stream.
Thanks to her, he also saw an increase in international viewers to his channel.
Still exhausted, he stumbled out of bed, rubbing his aching head as he stretched. “Jeez. My head...”
He'd been lucky enough to find success as a streamer, earned a lot of money, and even bought a nice house for himself. At first, he felt it all to be sunshine and roses, enjoying having his expansive mansion all to himself. Yet, as time went on... Well, the wider the house, the stronger the feeling of emptiness became.
It was a big, clean house, but it had begun to feel so empty to him. Even when he turned on the heat to chase away the cold feelings, the place still felt freezing. He had never felt that way when he first started streaming in his tiny studio apartment.
It wasn't until he met Evangeline that he realized he was suffering from extreme loneliness. That was why the wish he made to Neltarid was exactly that.
‘Well, honestly, it was still kind of out of the blue.’
He didn't care who it was: he just wanted someone to bring a little warmth into the cold, empty house.
It could be a housekeeper, a maid, even an adoring fan. It didn't matter. He just wanted someone he could talk to like family.
Finished stretching, he scratched his head walked out to the living room wearing only a pair of boxers.
“It's annoyingly quiet, as always...” he murmured to himself to cut the tension.
He considered talking Eva into spending the whole day playing games with him again, knowing he wouldn't be able to focus on drawing today.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, he noticed that the TV in the living room was on, and a brand-new game console was already powered up displaying active gameplay.
Clunk! Clunk!!
A character in bulky armor was locked in one-on-one combat with a monster several times their size.
It was a game that Aeonitia, Davey’s sister, had been obsessed with. He still found it hard to believe that she had recently been nominated for a Nobel Prize thanks to her research work, presented at an international conference.
Back then, Davey had complained endlessly about his brilliant, hardworking younger sister turning into a game addict and a complete shut-in overnight.
“But why is it on by itself...” He walked further into the living room, but soon froze.
Lying sprawled out on the couch, clad only in a white oversized T-shirt, was a beautiful girl gently tapping a controller with one hand.
“Ugh. Aaak!” he screamed before slumping down on the spot.
At the same time, the game character immediately went still, and the girl slowly sat up and looked at Seung-Hyun.
“...”
“...”
A moment of silence passed.
Thud!!!
Meanwhile, on the screen, the giant monster impaled the character. After struggling for a moment, it swallowed the character whole.
[You have fallen.]
Grace and Seung-Hyun looked at each other in silence for a long time. Silent and mysterious, she was so charming that he found himself staring blankly at her.
“I'm hungry,” she finally said.
He was still stunned.“Huh... Huh?”
She shouted, “Bring me food! Food!”
His face went blank for a moment.
It took a few moments before he realized what had happened, sinking into despair. He'd run into her wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, and she'd seen everything.
* * *
The first thing he did after hurriedly getting dressed was cook. Once done, he served it to Grace and awaited her reaction.
‘She's eating with such gusto...’
Seung-Hyun rested his chin on his arm at the table, staring at the shocking glutton sitting across from him.
“It’s good!” She praised, clearly enthused. “Can I have one more bowl?”
“Ummm. We're out of eggs in the fridge.”
The whole pot of cooked rice he’d meal-prepped for the week was already gone, as well. He could only cook simple stuff like egg fried rice. Since he didn't have many ingredients, that was what he made for her.
‘Fine. I can at least treat her to another serving.’
Yet, it’d be difficult for anyone not to snap after serving seven bowls of fried rice.
Her appetite was unbelievable! And more importantly, he was the one serving the girl who was supposed to be his housekeeper!
“Aaah! I thought I was going to die.”
Watching her happily pat her full belly with a satisfied smile, Seung-Hyun carefully spoke up, carefully saying, “Okay. Though it's a bit late to ask, what's your name?”
“I'm Grace. You're Seung-Hyun, right?”
He was surprised to hear his name from her unprompted. “Huh? Uh... Yeah.”
She casually went one, “Lord Neltarid made me. I'm going to live with you now.”
‘So he did try to grant my wish. Though, a lot of things feel off about this...’
He couldn't help but wonder if that was what people meant when they said the infamous cosmic gods granted wishes in twisted ways. Still holding on to a sliver of hope, he cautiously spoke up again. “Right. Well... you’re a bit different from what I imagined. But, it’s still good to see you eat well. You can go ahead and do the dishes when you're done. You know how, right?”
She immediately shot back, “Nope.”
He paused, thinking he must have misheard. “What?”
“I'm too lazy...” After saying that, she thumped over to the couch and ragdolled herself onto it. She then scratched her thigh with a blissful smile, cheerfully remarking, “Yup! Being lazy is the best thing ever.”
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
‘Should I cancel the wish? Or should I try to argue with Neltarid? More importantly, why was she already here when I woke up?’
Seung-Hyun held his head, feeling an intense migraine coming on, and pushed all the dishes she had voraciously cleared into the sink. “Oh my days...”
* * *
Seung-Hyun stood on his home’s rooftop event area, a place he’d occasionally go when needing to clear his head. He was holding a phone to his ear.
“How does this even make sense?”
Si-Woo burst into unrestrained laughter on the other end the moment he heard about the situation.
- Ahahaha! You’re screwed man, hahahaha!!!
“Hey, don't you have any news on your end about the wish?”
- I'm doing well, so just worry about yourself, dude. I’m sure you’re gonna be busy, since you have to call around and make sure the international eating competitions have her contact info.
“I'm serious!” Seething in anger, Park Seung-Hyun hung up and briefly considered calling Evangeline. Eventually, he groaned, “Ugh, forget it. Just forget it.”
He quickly shoved his smartphone into his pocket and headed back downstairs with a resigned expression.
Her appearance was, indeed, extremely pretty. Yet, at that moment, her appearance was somewhat... overpowered by her other qualities.
“Ahahahaha! That idiot!”
Watching the glutton laugh at the TV, he wondered how someone's image of elegant beauty could fall apart so completely after just a few hours.
The conclusion he reached after all that worrying was quite simple.
Exasperated, he finally yelled, “Go back! I'd like to file a return!”
Of course, that didn’t accomplish anything.
Grace scoffed. “Return? Hah! Over my dead body. Seung-Hyun, the spicy wings are gonna be here in about two hours. Go get it.”
Once again stunned by the abrupt shift in topic, he reflexively asked, “Hmm? What wings? Fried chicken?”
‘She's eating again already? It hasn't even been that long!’
“What are you so surprised about? I need to eat, and I wanna try the chicken I've heard so much about.”
“...Where'd you get the money for all of it?”
Ever-resourceful, she raised her hand and answered, “I paid with this.”
Proudly held in her hand was... his computer tablet.
Still grinning, she marveled, “The app here is amazing—it has all sorts of delicious food. C’mere, let's play a game together!”
Yet, Seung-Hyun couldn’t bring himself to say anything to her bright, smiling face. He felt his stomach churning.
She seemed to be startled and said, “Oh? You smiled!”
‘I smiled?’
She giggled and waved her hand. “Hurry! I wanted to play this with you!”
She pointed toward the two-player game on the TV. Seung-Hyun couldn't quite understand the fact that he'd smiled.
She was a glutton; incredibly rude; and shameless to the extreme. Yet... he was so excited!
“Oh yeah? Wanna go head-to-head and 1v1 instead? I'm telling you, I'm a total pro at that stuff.”
“Bring it on! Bring it on!” She smiled playfully and picked up the game controller. “I’m about to make you look like a total scrub.”
“Ugh, fine. Let's do it in a bit, then. I still have the dishes.”
She smirked and teased, “What’s wrong? You scared?”
“Fine! Come 1v1 me, noob.”
His gamer instincts hadn't completely disappeared, and they were on full display once the game began. Using his experience and ultra gamer instinct, he naturally dominated Grace with clever maneuvers and claimed victory. However, it wasn't long before Grace picked up the game's mechanics with incredible pace, eventually beating Seung-Hyun.
She grinned and mocked, “What a scrub.”
Indignant, he shouted, “You gotta be kidding me! How’s that possible?!”
“Yup, totally possible.”
“Ugh, seriously! Just go back already!”
“I'm not going anywhere! I'm gonna live here forever, and you can’t do anything about it.”
‘Jeez... What kind of shameless android is she?’
Technically, she was a homunculus created from slime, but that origin story and manufacturing process was far too complicated for him to understand.
She was so giddy after her victory that she poked his side with her big toe, then jumped up. “Oh, right. Seung-Hyun, there’s something I’m curious about.”
“What now...”
When he asked with an exhausted look, Grace hopped over and threw open a random door, questioning, “What's this room for?”
“Huh?”
The room she opened was none other than his streaming room.
“When I was touching things here, messages started popping up in some kind of chatroom.”
He felt cold sweat break out and instinctively darted over to assess the reputational damage. How deep had she gotten him?
[You son of a Moderation. Hurry up!!]
[Explain!!]
[Who is she!! Who is she, seriously!!]
[Who is that! I thought something was weird when cannon Fodderation started streaming, but what's going on, what's going on.]
[You’re]
[Cancelled]
[You’re]
[Cancelled]
Seung-Hyun felt his head spin.
“These people are so interesting. Are they your friends?” Though clearly unintentional, her pointed remarks felt like trolling made him seethe in anger.
In the end, he grabbed Grace by the scruff of her neck and shoved her out of the streaming room. “Get out, you wench!”
Then, he slammed the door shut.
Thump, thump, thump!!
“Seung-Hyun! Open the door! The door!” Grace kept shouting from outside, but, because of the soundproofing he’d installed to improve stream quality, her voice sounded incredibly faint.
[Fodderation is finally here.]
[So who was that just now?]
He spent a long few moments contemplating how to answer their questions.
'Should I say she’s just someone I know who’s over for a dinner? Would they even believe me if I said that? Or maybe just a relative from out of town?’
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t exactly be believable for him to claim a gold-eyed girl with natural red hair was a member of his family’s mundane gene pool.
'In that case... the only thing left is...'
“Ahaha. Everyone, she just started the stream by accident. She's a kid who's still clueless about the world.”
[BUT WHO IS SHE?!]
[Hurry up! Do you wanna see me choke and die from curiosity?!]
[That's enough, just bring her out already!!]
[The vibe's way better with a cute girl than a dark, gloomy son of a Moderation!!]
“You! Out.” Seung-Hyun, who was used to banning viewers, sighed. “She’s a homunculus from Tionis. I ended up taking care of her because of a... situation.”
[Homunculus?]
[The... Philosopher's Stone?]
[Some sort of alchemy shit or something then?]
[H-Her name isn’t Nina, right?[1] Pls, my PTSD can’t handle it]
Seung-Hyun hesitated, still not sure how to explain it. “Well... I don't know all the details. Anyway, I'll stream again later, so I'm ending the stream for now!”
[Wait, what?]
[Are you gonna leave us hanging like this after making us so curious?]
[Fr?]
[Mom... I wanna be like that son of a Moderation when I grow up!]
[It's so cold out here...]
His head was throbbing from the relentless stream of messages. He forcibly shut down the stream. Then, just as he threw open the door, ready to give Grace a piece of his mind for crossing the line...
Thwack!
Grace preemptively lunged at him first and grabbed his leg.
“Sob!! Sob!!! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please! Please don't abandon me! Don't leave me alone! I don’t want to be lonely!!”
Seung-Hyun forgot his anger and froze.
Loneliness. It was what tormented him most in his massive quiet house, more than he had realized before.
She was just like him.
In the end, he couldn't bring himself to send her away.
1. A character in the anime Fullmetal Alchemist, as well as its reboot/reimagining, Nina Tucker, experiences a... transformation of sorts. Without spoilers, just know that there is a very emotionally powerful scene involving her and the concept of a homunculus. ☜
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