AEPOB 04

Chapter 04

Had I done something wrong to him without realizing it?

‘Ah! Could it be because of that?’

To be honest, I had been feeling a bit guilty myself since earlier.

Every time I took a step, the shattered groceries that had been trampled kept flickering before my eyes.

Having made up my mind, I put my hands together and quickly apologized.

“Um… I’m sorry. Because of me, all the groceries got ruined…”

“That’s not the problem!”

The boy shot back with an agitated tone. After letting out a deep sigh, he began to interrogate me one by one.

“Why did you go to the Harem District? Don’t you know what happens if a child goes there alone? You could have been dragged away by a slave trader if you weren’t careful, you know! Do you have any idea how much that man has struggled to keep you safe all this time?”

As his attitude grew sharper, I felt like I needed to offer some kind of excuse. So I gave the most fact-based answer.

“I got… lost.”

“Hah, you, who knows the market inside out?”

He shot back sharply, as if telling me not to say such nonsense.

I was about to retort immediately but paused.

‘Wait, he mentioned my father earlier, didn’t he?’

I recalled the story I’d heard at the medicinal herb dealer.

I turned my gaze to the boy’s hands. Sure enough, the tips of his fingernails were tinged with green.

Having deduced his identity, I uttered the name from my memory.

“Kiki.”

As if responding to the call, Kiki flinched.

Since he was also close with my father, he probably wouldn’t go around blabbing about my condition.

“Well… my memory hasn’t been clear since I collapsed.”

“What?”

“Believe it or not, that’s up to you. That’s why I got lost in the market today.”

Only then did Kiki look me over carefully.

“…….”

Half of his face was hidden by his hair, making his expression hard to read, but he seemed to accept it surprisingly quickly.

Kiki calmed his sharp demeanor and offered a sincere apology.

“…Sorry for misunderstanding. Come here for a second.”

Leading me to the side of the road, Kiki pulled out a pristine white handkerchief from his pocket—a stark contrast to his clothes, which had gotten dirty from confronting the slave trader—and tore it in half.

Then he took both of my hands and carefully unfolded them.

The wounds I had forgotten about through all the turmoil came into view.

Kiki skillfully wrapped the handkerchief around the cuts on my palms.

“Are your wrists and knees okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks so much for helping me earlier.”

“Forget it. I just couldn’t pretend not to see, for your father’s sake.”

It was an extremely matter-of-fact answer for someone his age.

After neatly tying the knot on the remaining hand, Kiki pointed to a familiar building with his finger.

“You see that medicinal herb dealer over there? From here, you go alone.”

“Thank you again for today.”

“Get treated as soon as you get back. Don’t hide it because you’re scared of your father’s nagging. Oh, and since you said you lost your memory, even if you run into me later, don’t acknowledge me. For your own good.”

“Wh-what?”

Pretend not to know him for my own good?

I was dumbfounded by this ridiculously nonsensical statement. Unable to understand, I turned my head to question him.

But Kiki was already far away from me.

I frowned and made my way toward the medicinal herb dealer.

Abeli and Kiki seemed to have a complicated relationship, even though they were just children.

It looked like they pretended not to know each other, yet helped each other in times of trouble.

How could those two things coexist?

Judging by his tone and the way he treated me, he seemed to know Abeli well.

As if he had been watching over her for a long time.

But to define it that way, their relationship didn’t seem particularly good.

Why did he tell me to pretend not to know him?

As I mulled over this unsolvable puzzle and was nearing the medicinal herb dealer, I heard a voice calling out to me from behind.

“Abeli!”

Who is it this time?

The voice sounded young, like a child, but the only child I’d met so far was Kiki.

That kid’s voice was closer to a young man’s, so it couldn’t be him.

Turning around, I saw an unfamiliar, heavily built boy approaching me with a delighted wave.

Compared to a friend, the size difference with Abeli was considerable. He looked even bigger after seeing Kiki, who was about my size earlier.

As this big one came toward me, I adopted a somewhat defensive posture.

It was only natural, having been threatened by a stranger just tens of minutes ago.

I was subtly stepping back when—

He seemed completely unaware of my wariness and grabbed my wrist.

“Ugh.”

A shallow groan escaped at the rather rough touch.

He still seemed oblivious to my state, busy spouting off what he had to say.

“Your father came to our shop, so I was on my way to see you!”

“Ah, the grocery store…?”

He must be the son of the grocery store owner I saw at the herb dealer earlier. That man was also big—I guess the power of genetics can’t be ignored.

“Why are you asking that all of a sudden? I heard you were really sick. Are you okay now?”

My wrist, already being held because of you, is starting to throb.

If I were my usual self, I would have told him to let go immediately, but since I still knew nothing about the original story, I couldn’t afford to twist anything for the time being.

Not even Abeli’s friendships.

Carefully twisting my wrist out of his grip so as not to offend him, I said,

“Yeah. As you can see.”

He seemed rather dense on this side too, as he didn’t seem to mind my action.

As I rubbed my sore wrist, I realized that Kiki had been considerate of me earlier.

I wondered why he had grabbed my hand so abruptly, but it was to make sure my wrist didn’t hurt.

Even though my palm was scraped and had wounds here and there, it didn’t hurt, which meant he had been careful in his own way.

He grumbled a lot at first, but in the end, he apologized too.

‘Seeing that, he must be a good kid, right?’

However, my thoughts about Kiki had to be put aside as the big boy spoke to me.

“A new bakery opened a few days ago. Want to go together?”

Ah, the bakery!

I had forgotten because of the slave trader.

I quickly reached into my pocket to check the condition of the ointment. The glass jar was shattered.

It was an inevitable result.

After all that chaos, there was no way it would be intact.

Fortunately, the small pouch-like bag that wrapped the ointment jar had prevented the sharp glass shards from piercing my skin.

But still, I had ruined the errand.

I had caused an accident and failed to complete the task properly.

As I drooped my shoulders in dejection, the big boy finally asked if I was okay.

“Yeah. But I’m sorry…”

I have my own things to take care of right now.

Just dealing with the attempted kidnapping and the ruined errand was enough to make my head spin.

Just as I was about to cautiously decline the big boy’s offer—

“Boss!”

A backup squad arrived from behind, ready to help me. They all seemed to hang out together, judging by their good physiques.

They all seemed to know Abeli and greeted me. One of them stomped his foot and said,

“Boss, the guys have him cornered in the alley up ahead. Let’s hurry.”

“I clearly told him last time not to come to this side, but he’s back again. Ah! Abeli, do you want to come too?”

“Sorry. I’m on an errand, so I have to get back.”

Judging by the situation, they looked ready to start a fight with the big boy as their leader, but I had no interest in watching others brawl.

I just wanted to quickly resolve everything, go home, and rest.

The boss boy looked at me with lingering regret, but eventually withdrew with his crew.

“Ah… okay. Then I’ll see you in town next time, Abeli!”

I silently gave a small wave.

Only after they disappeared did I step onto the path leading to the medicinal herb dealer.

After explaining the whole story to my father, I could compensate him for Kiki’s groceries and the broken ointment jar.

I felt sorry for my father, who would have to pay for the damages I caused, but this was the best I could do.

After running through several conversational simulations, I put strength in my feet.

Okay, let’s go with this.

I was about to walk confidently toward the herb dealer.

But it seemed today was thoroughly cursed.

A dull, resounding noise I couldn’t ignore pierced clearly through my ears.

*Thwack—!*

The source was the alley next door.

The place where the big boys had gathered earlier.

What the heck are they doing now?