Responsibility

Nekton City is an adventure-packed city nestled near the Nether Crypt dungeon. It's a lively city that attracts the Awakened and houses towering skyscrapers, residential complexes and cutting-edge industries. It also serves as a significant trading centre for valuable minerals to various engineers who design and sell magical weapons.

Kohren took Kimly into a burger restaurant and sat across her slumbering figure. The cozy and inviting atmosphere was also filled with the delicious aroma of freshly baked burgers and fries, increasing the appetite of various waiting customers.

With his power, Kohren had already checked Kimly and waited patiently for her to wake up. Amidst the various activities near him, he was in deep thought, thinking about the measures he had taken today to save her.

Kohren didn't understand what these new unfamiliar feelings were, causing him to do things he had never expected. At first, he had a strong desire to become stronger and find a way back to his original world.

However, as he continued his journey, he became increasingly convinced that Reaina and Kimly were in imminent danger. This realization weighed heavily on him, causing him to feel guilty and responsible for inhabiting this body.

Now, as he looked at Kimly's sleeping figure, her once bright face now pale and worn, a wave of sadness washed over him. At that moment, it wasn't a sense of guilt or responsibility that consumed him, but a genuine care and concern for this little girl.

After a moment, low rubble reached Kohren's ears, breaking his thoughts. Slowly opening her dim blue eyes, Kimly began to wake up.

"Papa?" With blurry eyes and in a drowsy state, Kimly asked after recognizing the familiar face in front of her.

"Papa!" She shouted, standing up with wide eyes. It was at that time she finally took in the surroundings and after noticing various eyes locked on her, she sat back with a flushed face.

Still, with red cheeks, Kimly's gaze carefully scanned the man before her. At that moment, a realization struck her like a lightning bolt. It was as if all the pieces of a puzzle fell into place.

"'He' is not my Kohren."

Kimly dropped her gaze and whispered softly to herself. Whenever she asked her mother about her father, she would receive the same response every time.

Now, facing him without the naivety of a child, she finally understood the meaning behind her mother's words.

Her father was truly dead, forever lost to her.

Kimly clenched her fist and bit her lip, slowly looking at Kohren with her querying eyes, she asked a question that heavily burdened her mind.

"If…If you're not my father, then who are you?"

Kohren felt a thousand needles prick his heart. He had already thought of an answer to her question, but seeing her ask like this was outside his expectations. He could only imagine the pain that went through them after they left him.

Because the last hope they had to protect themselves, was crushed by him when he possessed this body.

Kohren bowed his head, his sleek black hair falling. His voice trembled, filled with fragility as he spoke.

"I... I'm not the Kohren you remember."

His voice wavered but he continued.

"But I've finally found you and please, please let me help you."

Kohren raised his head, his red-hazel eyes strongly reflecting the light around it. He locked his gaze with Kimly's weary eyes and spoke with a pained smile.

"I'm sorry it took so long."

Kimly's blue eyes sparkled for the first time after all these years. Tears started to fall from them like raindrops when she heard him apologize.

Losing her childhood, she had to mature too quickly to support her overworking mother. Slowly, she had bottled up all the emotions and fears inside her small heart and now, she couldn't take it anymore.

Overwhelmed by all those emotions, she began crying, each sob accompanied by deep breaths. The whole restaurant felt heavy and became silent with her emotions.

Kohren quickly got up and embraced her tightly, speaking words of assurance in her ears, he caressed her head.

***

"Sniff, sniff." Kimly wiped her nose from the tissue and placed it at the side of the table. The tissue then burned with a spark and disappeared.

"So, are you fine now?" With a worried voice, Kohren asked.

Kimly didn't reply and started to wipe her face with another tissue. Her eyes were fiercely burning when she looked at Kohren. Her cheeks puffed up.

"Um, well, hm."

Under her deathly glare, Kohren started to mumble himself. Drops of sweat formed on the back of his neck as he tried his best to break the tension between them.

'I swear that dragon's glare was less powerful than her.' He thought, feeling nervous after a long time.

"For--t i-"

"What?"

Kohren clearly heard Kimly say something, but he was too preoccupied with his thoughts. When he tried to ask what, he became helplessly silent.

"You will forget what happened before."

Kimly said sharply with narrowed eyes. Kohren became lost for a second but then, a realization hit him as he nodded a few times.

"I'm immune to curses and I never forget. Rest assured, I'll never forget what happened here." He announced, straightening his back in confidence.

"No! That's the opposite of what I said!" Kimly shouted, her voice alerting all the people who wished to enjoy their food, but distributed earlier by her cry.

Kimly once again became embarrassed and lowered her head. Then, understanding what Kohren meant, she looked at him with wide eyes.

"What? Immune to curses? How? And how am I even understanding you?" She asked.

"Um, because I'm speaking…?" Kohren stated the obvious. This world only uses a single unnamed language so he was forced to say this.

"N-no, argh!" Kimly visibly became irritated as she bit her lip. Kohren, on the other hand, started sweating heavily.

'I believe that dragon was less scary than her.' He thought.

"I mean, how are you talking in the language? Last time I knew, you didn't even understand a single letter?" She asked after taking a long breath.

"It's because of the book you left. I studied it." Kohren answered sincerely. It was hard and confusing at that time, but as a programmer, Kohren believed that it was easier than finding a bug in a thousand lines of code.

"What? That?" Kimly once again raised her eyebrows. "I just drew some doodles and wrote some syllables down."

"Well, that was enough." Kohren sounded like it was no big deal, but he knew how hard it was on the inside and just didn't want to make Kimly worry.

Kimly, however, was flabbergasted. How could she even believe that Kohren learned the language using some crappy drawings of an 8-year-old?

"Who even are you?" She asked in a jaw-dropping manner.

"Me? I'm a lost soul." Kohren said, his voice low.

"I know that. I mean, it's just stupid to believe that you learned from that book." She said, her eyes darting around. In this world of Awakened and magic, rare and strange cases happen.

"I didn't even complete it." She added, loud enough only she can hear.

"Do you need a burger?" Kohren asked, guessing that she hadn't eaten lunch yet.

"No! That's not important right now." She snapped, but her stomach betrayed her.

Growl~

Her face flushed with embarrassment as she once again looked at Kohren with narrowed eyes. Kohren gulped back his saliva and ordered a kids combo and an adult combo through a tablet.

"Here, take this." After a minute or two, their orders were delivered by a young server.

"..."

Kohren was about to unwrap the cover and take a bite out from the hot buns and the steaming patty, but a silent glare from Kimly made him stop midway.

"This is for Kids." She said calmly, but Kohren didn't believe it to be the case.

"So?" He slowly raised his voice.

"Do you even know how old I am?" She asked, annoyed.

"12 years, 7 months and 8 days?" Kohren blurted out in nonchalant.

Meanwhile, Kimly was once again flabbergasted by Kohren. This time, even her face was twisted.

"Creepy," she said, horror striking her face.

'Dealing with that dragon might be easier than handling kids.' Kohren thought, lamenting the inability to understand the mind of a 12-year-old girl.

"As I said, I have an extreme memory and I can't forget anything." He said, pointing out one of his powers.

Kimly relaxed a little after hearing him. Then, puffing her cheeks, she pointed at the burger.

"You want another serving? You can order anything you want."

Kohren picked up the ordering tablet and before he handed it to her, her deathly glare made him think twice. He carefully examined what she pointed out and figured out the problem.

Before Kohren asked, "You don't like the ketchup spread on the buns?" Kimly spoke.

"Stop treating me like a kid!"

'Ohhh!' Kohren felt like he had survived a passing bullet. Not like it can harm him though. The ketchup spread was in the shape of a heart.

"Okay." He said, ordering a normal burger.

"You didn't have to order another burger, though." She complained, but Kohren knew he had to order another burger to satisfy her hunger.

"Sorry for the wait," the young server once again popped up in front of their table and delivered the food. However, before he returned, he spoke in an annoying manner.

"Sir, would you please teach your kid to be silent? She is disturbing the other guests."

In the next second, the server felt a sudden chill run down his spine. His heart beat so fast that it threatened to explode. With a terrified expression, he began panicking.

"What if I don't?"

Instinctively, the server followed Kohren's cold words and looked at him. Feeling as if his life was threatened, the server broke into a cold sweat and apologized to them. With shaky legs, he returned to the counter.

In the middle of eating her second burger, Kimly shouted once again, her voice this time, gravely shaken.

Before Kohren asked what happened, Kimly spoke to him, her eyes trembling and pleading.

"Mom! I forgot she's in danger!"