The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

I had never spoken directly with the goddess. But I felt like I knew what her attitude was.

The goddess wanted to exclude me from that world.

Because only then could she roam freely through it again.

Well, since I was human, my lifespan couldn’t exceed human limits, and maybe after I was gone, the goddess would try to move the world again —

But even if so, I figured I would leave behind a way to stop her. So that hundreds or thousands of years later, another human like me could appear and seal her away.

Just like Emperor Fangryphon once did.

That’s why she probably thought it was best to have me stay in this world — maybe even wanted me to settle here for good.

She kept sending the people I cared about into this world whenever she had the chance, clearing away the things that could worry me, even arranging a lottery win.

Of course, maybe all of it really was just coincidence.

Claire only used her power to cross over to find Alice and me. When we tried to return, she might have just made a small mistake. And winning the lottery could have been pure luck, not some trick by the goddess.

...

Yeah, right.

There's no way all these coincidences would line up so perfectly. It’s not like I was someone who bought lottery tickets every week, and yet the very first lottery I bought after returning to this world hit the jackpot? And not just once, but twice, with manually chosen numbers?

Come on. Let's be honest — it’s her way of saying “Just stay here, will you?”

Unless she planned to drag the whole other world here, I was still going back. Sending the others here was the real mistake.

If it were just me, maybe I would’ve tried to return and given up after failing. But since the kids who had a home to go back to had crossed over — because of them, I couldn’t give up.

Even if they looked relaxed on the surface, they were surely worried deep down.

"It’s so good..."

...

Well, even if Mia looked that happy, she must be worried deep down too—

"I just want to live here forever..."

...

[ gasp ]

[ Are you seriously planning to kick Mia out? ]

"I have no such plans."

We were moving because there were more of us now, not to kick anyone out.

Besides, we didn’t have to worry about money anymore. Looking up apartment prices, it seemed that if we didn’t pick somewhere too extravagant, we could get a place for around a billion won.

Even after splitting the remaining billion won into five shares of 100 million each, we'd still have half left over.

And since we wouldn't have to worry about housing costs anymore, the remaining money would mostly go toward living expenses. Even if we traveled, each of us would have a million dollars in personal funds. No reason to worry.

So why would I kick anyone out?

Of course, I wasn’t planning to "literally" divide up the money. There’s the matter of gift taxes. Transferring a hundred million won at once into someone else’s account would have the tax office breathing down our necks.

It would be much safer to slowly give them allowances instead. Besides, they all had homes to go back to, so they weren’t going to get greedy over money. Even if they tried, the money from this world would be useless back in theirs.

They were already kids who didn’t need to worry about money anyway.

[ Poor Mia... What kind of life did she live 😓😓 ]

[ Did you starve her or something ]

No, seriously, we’re the same age on paper.

There’s no starving involved. Honestly, among the five of us, Mia had the biggest appetite.

Trying out a mukbang with Mia had been a good idea, but it also led to a lot of misunderstandings. With her small frame and skinny build, Mia stuffing food into her mouth did look pretty pitiful.

But I really had never starved Mia. Not just Mia — none of the kids with me had ever gone hungry. If I could feed them, I always made sure they ate well.

In front of Mia was just chicken. We had bought a lot of boneless fried chicken so everyone could enjoy it.

Before I crossed to Azerna, I didn’t really have any female friends, so I had no idea how much girls in their teens or twenties usually ate.

Thinking back to my younger cousins from childhood, I had to admit — Claire, Mia, Alice, and Charlotte all ate way more than those cousins did.

Of course, not as much as I had eaten back when I was a guy. Still, I understood. They burned a lot of energy, after all.

"Mia, don’t rush. Eat slowly, or you’ll get sick."

"Mm?"

Normally Mia used formal speech, but with her mouth full, it came out sounding casual.

The chat exploded, calling her adorable.

I wondered — if I had eaten like that at her age in this world, would people have thought it was cute? But I quickly realized the answer was no.

If I had looked that cute, I would have had a girlfriend already.

I silently picked up a napkin and wiped Mia’s mouth gently.

[ You’re like her mom ]

Someone donated that comment, and I just quietly turned off the notification.

"Still, it’s amazing how people actually watch just because we're eating."

"It’s not just that we’re eating. It’s because someone’s eating really well."

Alice said, marveling at it.

Probably also because all five of us were beautiful girls. Girls who spoke fluent Korean but looked like classic European beauties.

Sometimes videos of foreigners eating Korean food get millions of views — This was probably the same kind of phenomenon.

Honestly, I’d probably want to watch too. Though if all they did was eat silently, I would probably get bored and stop after a few episodes.

*

"......"

We finished every piece of chicken without leaving a single scrap. We weren’t left hungry either.

Actually, eating a whole chicken per person was probably a bit much. Lying flat now, my stomach felt heavy.

Good thing I was living in a teenager’s body again, not the thirty-something body I used to have. This uncomfortable full feeling would pass quickly.

"Thinking that we’re going to move somewhere else... it still doesn’t feel real."

"You lived in a way bigger place before you came here."

Alice teased Claire when she suddenly spoke up.

"It’s different. Compared to where I used to live... it feels more like I came on a trip with you, Mia, Charlotte, and Sis."

"If you think about it that way, it’s not wrong. You and I, and even they, will eventually return. You could call it a long trip."

Charlotte said, laughing lightly at my answer.

"Even so, thinking of it like a trip makes it fun."

That was Mia’s comment.

"Hmm... to be honest, I do like the idea of moving to a bigger place. It’s a little cramped for five people after all."

Alice said.

"But... I don’t know. I feel like I’ll miss this — all ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) of us lying around together like this. It’s my first time experiencing anything like this."

"......"

Everyone seemed to silently agree with her.

"Then there’s no problem."

I said crisply, cutting through the sentimental mood.

"Moving doesn't mean we won’t have a living room. We’ll still take our shoes off at the door. Even if we split into two rooms, we’ll all still spend most of our time in the living room. If you miss lying around like this, we can just throw down some blankets in the living room and all sleep there."

"......"

"Um, Sis, I don't think that's really the point here."

Claire said with a laugh.

"You said you lived here before going to Azerna, right? So, does that mean the apartment is one of the places you really wanted to live in?"

Charlotte asked.

"Not exactly... It’s just the most practical place to live in this city. Other places are so expensive you can’t even dream of them."

Of course, apartments themselves were almost a dream, too.

"So... it was a dream you couldn’t achieve before?"

"......"

Maybe so.

Owning my own home had always been a dream. I just wanted somewhere stable, somewhere I could call my own.

"So even now, you’re thinking about us first. You’re afraid that if we didn’t have somewhere stable, it would make us uneasy."

"......"

I didn’t know how to argue against that. So I said nothing.

No one rushed me for an answer. We just lay there quietly, staring at the ceiling.

But even without saying anything — Just knowing someone was there beside me —

It was incredibly comforting.

...

Enough to understand a little bit what Claire had meant.