“And it’s that long-missed feeling I haven’t felt in so long.”
The fairy’s eyes, looking down at me, were warm.
They were filled with affection, like looking at a close friend or family member.
We gazed at each other for a long while.
Then, as if realizing something, the fairy’s eyes widened in surprise before he broke into a wide smile.
“So, you were still here after all.”
“What do you mea—mff.”
Just as I was about to ask, he suddenly squished my cheeks from the sides, distorting my face and cutting me off.
With my lips sticking out like a pouting fish, I glared at the fairy.
It felt like he was just playing with me.
Whether that was true or not, the fairy continued poking and squishing my cheeks repeatedly.
“You’re a fun one. Do you know the name of the High God?”
And then, out of nowhere, he threw in a random question.
I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.
Of course…
“The High God doesn’t have a name, so what are you talking about?”
It was only natural to be confused when asked about a name that doesn’t exist.
The fairy chuckled a little bitterly at my response.
He murmured, “I figured,” but his tone gave me an odd feeling.
‘As if the High God actually has a name.’
“Even if you only think it, I can hear everything.”
He caught me thinking irreverent thoughts, so I immediately shut my mouth.
But the look in his eyes told me clearly that he wasn’t fooled by such a petty trick.
Anyway… So fairyland actually exists?
I had thought Miss Kit was a scammer, but it turns out she was innocent.
‘But for a “nation,”… there are way too few fairies.’
No, it wasn’t that there were few—there was literally no one else except the one in front of me.
Could a nation even function like this?
Just as I was pondering that, the fairy clicked his tongue and suddenly grabbed the back of my neck.
Like how you’d pick up a cat.
“Wh-what are you—!”
I was about to protest when the surroundings began to shift slowly, like curtains being drawn back on a stage.
And what appeared was a whole new world.
No, it was the land of the fairies.
Unlike the slightly dark and unsettling glass tree forest, this truly looked like a fairies’ kingdom.
In the sky, which was a mix of yellow and soft coral colors, flowers floated instead of clouds.
Gigantic red mushrooms with white spots stood like trees.
Their caps looked soft and squishy like marshmallows, and I felt like if I took one and made a bed out of it, I’d sleep soundly.
From atop one of those caps, a glowing light blob jumped with a loud thump! and a burst of multicolored spores rained down below.
Laughter erupted—joyful and bright.
It was, quite literally, like a scene from a fairy tale.
I stood there, mouth agape, completely speechless at the wonder.
Then the fairy spoke: “I said I’d invite you to my world, not to the nation. You fool.”
He now flat-out called me a fool.
I wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed like the two were different things.
‘Maybe a world is more of a personal space?’
Kind of like the difference between meeting someone in a sitting room versus inviting them into your private quarters.
That comparison made the idea easier to grasp.
As I nodded slowly, the fairy pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Seriously, have I really been asleep that long? You don’t even know what it means to be invited to a fairy’s world.”
Hmm.
Is that supposed to be a big deal?
I wasn’t trying to be snarky—I genuinely didn’t know.
When I blinked at him, the fairy frowned.
“The world is equivalent to the self. So inviting you into my world means I’ve let you inside myself.”
If this world were destroyed, the host would be in danger too.
In short, he was saying that he trusted me enough to entrust me with his life.
It was something unheard of with strangers and supposedly an honor that should have thrilled me.
‘So what? It’s not like I asked to come here.’
Even hearing that, I couldn’t muster up much excitement.
I’d been enjoying my time, and then suddenly got kidnapped.
Now he was saying, “I’ve given you something precious, be grateful.”
Based on the situation alone, it made more sense to be angry than moved.
“That… I’m sorry. I thought you were in danger.”
As it turns out, the fairy had been asleep for a long time, and when he awoke due to a disturbing presence, he found a monster at the entrance to the kingdom.
“Then what about my companions? Are they okay?”
“They should be fine. The monster was only after you.”
Apparently, it hadn’t even looked at the others, so they were probably safe.
I felt a bit relieved—but also slightly uneasy.
Why me, of all people?
I started wondering if I shouldn’t have gone on this trip.
Thanks to it, I now had this weird fairy clinging to me.
This journey felt like more trouble than it was worth.
“Ah, I said I was sorry!”
The fairy pouted and glared at me, even though he was the one in the wrong.
As his voice grew louder, he caught the attention of other fairies who had been playing around.
They looked like dandelion seeds floating on the wind.
Then, like static-charged fluff, they all came flying toward us.
The king.
You’re awake?
Sleepyhead.
A human.
There’s a human here.
I like the look of them.
So pretty.
Stupid king.
The last fairy made a cheeky comment and got flicked on the forehead for it.
‘I had a feeling he was special, but he’s actually a king?’
The fairies referred to my kidnapper fairy as their king.
But the way he bounced the others off his shoulders made him seem more like the neighborhood big brother than royalty.
Once the fairies finished rubbing up against the king, they turned their attention to me.
They seemed especially curious about my appearance, all gathering around my face.
It felt like being swarmed by puppies with propellers on their tails.
Ack!
Scary!
Suddenly, one of them screamed and ran off in tears.
The rest, who had just been crowding me, scattered like seeds on the wind, as if fear had spread among them.
…Was I really that scary-looking?
Flustered and unsure what to do, I looked at the king, who pointed with his finger.
“That. What is it?”
“That? …Ah.”
He was pointing at the hairpin Ray had given me—the pearl flower pin that had become my most treasured item.
The king reached out with a frown, as if he wanted to touch it. I quickly covered it with both hands.
“No! This is important!”
He hadn’t even said he would break it, but those were the first words out of my mouth.
Something about the atmosphere made it seem like he would destroy it.
At the strong refusal, the king stopped his reaching hand and his face became conflicted.
He looked like he was torn between ignoring my opinion and taking the pin or just leaving it, so I glared at him and scolded him loudly.
“What do you think you’re doing?! You bring me here like you’re abducting me and try to take something I treasure?!”
Are you a fairy or a robber?!
As I flailed around in outrage, even the king seemed at a loss for words and lowered his hand.
“Alright. I’m sorry. If you really don’t want to…”
While the king was apologizing, he flinched and looked toward a certain direction.
KABOOM—!!
Right on cue, a thunderous roar erupted from that direction.
I was startled, but the fairies shrieked and scattered at the sound, then quickly huddled behind the king as if there was no other place to hide.
A corner of the sky in the direction of the explosion had shattered.
Through the cracks, a black, shifting mass stirred.
Then, as if peering in, a massive eyeball rolled in and locked into place.
The grotesque sight shocked me.
Strangely, I didn’t feel fear, perhaps because it didn’t seem like it would harm me—but the eyeball, rolling through opaque black liquid, looked disturbing nonetheless.
‘Isn’t that exactly what a demon from a nation’s founding myth would look like?’
It was an indescribably bizarre and frightening form…
‘Ah, is that the monster that’s after me?’
Only then did I understand the goodwill the Fairy King had shown me.
If something like that was targeting me, then he had every reason to be worried.
Unlike before, I now looked at him with admiration.
Even with something so terrifying before him, he remained unshaken.
“This place is where truth and illusion intersect.”
Illusion, sure. But truth? Are those even things that can coexist?
“In this place, one’s true form is revealed. Just like how I’ve grown so large. Of course, you can still hide the truth with illusion.”
The king shrank, becoming small like when I had first met him in the flower field.
Now the same size as the other fairies, the ones hiding behind him immediately started panicking.
Their frantic pleas for him to grow back and block the front made them seem more like kings than him.
Perhaps reading my thoughts, the king chuckled and returned to his larger form.
“How disrespectful. Anyway, you’ll be fine.”
Why?
Isn’t it dangerous if something like that is targeting me and even comes into the fairy realm?
“I’ll protect you. And besides, it doesn’t seem to be after your life.”
Then…?
Just as I was puzzled by the king’s cryptic words and looked back up at the shattered sky, the rolling eyeball stopped dead in its tracks as soon as our gazes met—like it had been nailed in place.
Um.
That doesn’t seem like a good sign…
From where the eye sat, a long tentacle-like thing shot out and opened at the tip—like a hand about to grab something.
The fairies screamed and scattered again.
Now only the king and I remained.
The king finally said what he hadn’t yet finished.
“That thing… it wants you. Not your life. You.”
“Eek!”
As soon as he said that, the hand-like darkness was already in front of me.
The moment I thought, I’ve been caught, the darkness enveloped my body.
‘You… liar.’
You said you’d protect me!
The king merely watched as I was swallowed by the darkness.
My angry glare at him dimmed as his figure disappeared into the shadows.
No—I had been completely engulfed by the darkness.
It was my first time experiencing something like this, and I was disoriented, but the darkness felt… surprisingly gentle.
Somewhere within it, there was a refreshing scent of peppermint.