I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 99
CHAPTER 99
“Sister, would you like to sit here?”
Arkin casually gestured to the seat next to him, which was closest to him.
Sizzle.
As if indicating this spot, the candle on the table flickered.
“……”
I just grimaced without saying a word.
Arkin tilted his head as if sensing something strange.
“Why, sister? Is your leg hurting?”
With that, he started shaking his leg under the table.
It was his old habit. I bit my lip hard.
I could be sure. That was real.
“There’s delicious food here.”
Only the food on the table next to Arkin, where the candle was lit, was placed.
The usual dishes that Arkin and I often ate together.
I pressed my lips together.
I walked past Arkin.
“Sister? Where are you going?”
Arkin turned back while sitting on the chair and continued calling me.
“Sister, sister.”
He was calling me with the same voice he used to attack Kyres to save me.
I wanted to look back.
I clenched my fists.
After turning back, I wanted to ask if he was okay, if he wasn’t hurt, and hug him tightly.
“Sister, I’m hurting….”
Arkin’s voice changed as if he sensed my hesitation.
“I’m, hurting too much.”
Arkin’s voice broke down, mixing with sobs.
His closed eyes seemed like they would never open again, and it felt like we were returning to just a moment ago when his heartbeat was gradually fading away.
“Sister… help me, sister…”
I covered my ears with my hands to avoid looking back and walked forward, only looking ahead.
How long did I walk like that?
The wall was at my toes.
No, exactly, the door I passed through earlier was in front of me now.
“……”
I pushed the door open with force again.
Just like before, the door opened smoothly as if it did not weigh at all.
The same place appeared again.
A banquet hall so long that you couldn’t see the ends.
Walking along the long table where there were no guests, this time, only the candle was lit at the seat of honor.
But the person sitting there was different.
A person wearing a long robe.
Although resembling the sailor from earlier, the aura emitted was different.
“……”
He raised his long finger to indicate the seat closest to him.
Sizzle.
Again, the candle lit up.
“Haah.”
I sighed and walked to the seat.
“Why.”
A voice, genderless and ageless, flowed from within the robe.
“Didn’t you ignore your brother earlier? He was your brother.”
Right, I could tell at a glance.
That was really Arkin.
“When your brother called so desperately, couldn’t you even turn around to look?”
“Why?”
As I sat down, food started appearing on the empty plates.
But it wasn’t the same food as before.
For a moment, I looked at the appetizing steak in front of me before turning my head to the other side.
“If I had looked back, would you have turned me into stone and taken my brother away?”
Wasn’t there something like that before?
A harpist descended to the underworld to find his deceased wife.
Although he was granted permission to take his wife for his exceptional performance, he turned into a pillar of salt for not obeying the warning not to look back, and his wife was dragged away to the underground river.
Since then, it is said that the only entrance to the underworld and the surface was blocked.
“Ahaha.”
Deron chuckled softly, continuing the conversation.
“You know an old legend.”
“I’ve been around for a long time too.”
I cut the steak and pierced it deeply with the fork.
Blood dripped.
After staring at it for a moment, I let go of the fork.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“No.”
If I ate this, I would have to stay in the underworld, was there any reason to do so?
“Deron.”
This was enough for formalities.
I turned my head to look at Deron.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
Otherwise, why bother bringing Arkin’s soul and shaking me?
“Let me be frank. Give me back my brother.”
“Hmm, is that it?”
Deron took something out of his pocket.
Inside the delicately crafted glass bottle of rose, something was shining white.
It was Arkin’s soul.
I could tell at a glance.
“Give him back.”
“Why?”
Deron asked, spinning the glass bottle with his bony fingers.
“Why should I return a soul that has already died and become my possession?”
“Arkin hasn’t died yet.”
I stared at Deron as I spoke.
“My brother was just caught up in the fight between the gods.”
“……”
“To be honest, if you had just kept an eye on Kyres, my brother wouldn’t have had to die.”
Primarily, it was Kyres’ fault for directly attacking Arkin and me.
And secondarily, it was Deron’s fault for not stopping Kyres.
“You’re right.”
Huh? Surprisingly, he admitted his mistake readily.
“But what can you do about it?”
Deron leaned toward me with a smile.
“That was this child’s fate.”
“……”
“Pity.”
Deron looked at Arkin sleeping in the glass bottle, his eyes narrowing.
“If your sister had been an ordinary human, she wouldn’t have died at the hands of the gods.”
…I knew the gods were shameless.
Born to reign over all sentient beings and creatures.
Just as brazen as they are now, even if they make a mistake and someone dies.
<My fault, rookie? It’s your fault, you were born that way.>
They were so careless that they could be shameless even if they made a little mistake and someone died because of it.
But.
“Even if you say that to me now, it won’t make things better.”
My voice flowed out somberly.
I stared at Deron without blinking.
“Don’t you know what declaration I made?”
“I do. I know very well.”
Deron stopped spinning the glass bottle and looked at me.
“You’re holding the lifeline of the gods.”
That’s why there was a hint of discomfort in his voice.
Deron was also someone who had his pride like Kyres.
I don’t know.
‘Detmé definitely felt like she was on my side, and Kyres made it clear that he disliked me.’
Deron wasn’t it?
Neither here nor there, he didn’t look at me with a strange feeling of caution.
So, I thought it was unclear.
It came out like this.
“So?”
There was a thorn in my words.
“If you don’t like it, you can tell them and find someone else.”
Ah! I raised my lips wryly.
“Such a person doesn’t exist, but…”
Could another being capable of creating nectar be born again?
The answer was ‘no.’
It was now too late to instruct a new being to create nectar.
‘Above all, it would be difficult for me to give up the nectar I made.’
I expressed it humbly as incomplete or imperfect nectar, but the nectar I made was almost 90% complete.
‘So I became even more frantic.’
Just a slight gap.
If that were filled, the nectar I made would be perfect.
I could finally become a god and put an end to this long wanderer’s life.
The result of dedicating over a hundred lives.
I could vaguely sense that something was missing.
Something very important, just one thing.
‘After coming this far, are the gods abandoning me?’
It was an absurd notion.
To the gods, I was an irreplaceable being.
“I demand again. Return my brother.”
“If I return your brother, what will you give me?”
“Nothing.”
I spat out each word.
“I won’t give you anything.”
Even if I had something to offer, I wouldn’t give it anymore.
I was done being a puppet in the hands of the gods.
“Stop being a fool.”
My stomach churned.
The anger I had been building up for a long time was slowly seeping out.
“I’ll never make nectar again.”
I wouldn’t make it or give it.
If I were forced to make it, I would die.
I would die again and again and again.
Until the day the gods perish, I would die.
How could you survive without me?
“So give him to me.”
“Why have you changed so suddenly?”
Deron looked at me as if he found it curious.
“You’ve had hundreds and thousands of families in your life, and you never came here when any of them died.”
But.
“Why is this one different?”
“That’s right, I’ve been living like a fool all this time.”
I lived without knowing what was important or what should be cherished.
Like a fool.
“So I intend to live this life properly.”
Clumsy, but among people who like me.
While doing what I love.
That was my plan for this life.
“So.”
I got up.
Thud, the chair fell back with a sound.
I was going to live a normal life now!