Chapter 44.2

Chapter 44.2

Cheong-seon, who had given an ambiguous answer, immediately continued his explanation.

“Since this realm’s house was created, how many humans do you think have entered?”

“Well… it’s probably been hundreds of years, so maybe around four?”

“Bzzt.”

Cheong-seon made an X shape with both hands and made a buzzer sound.

Then he held up one finger.

“It’s you. Just one person.”

“But Seok-kyung mentioned he had other humans he’d contracted with before…”

“That’s true. But simply making a contract and bringing someone into this house are completely different meanings.”

Cheong-seon picked up a handful of bean sprouts Ara had been preparing and placed them in front of himself.

“We goblins naturally like humans. We can’t help it. Our origin is people themselves. Humans are also the targets we can playfully tease.”

He spread out the bunch of bean sprouts into a long line.

“However, His Majesty… has kept a distance from humans for various reasons.”

Then he placed one bean sprout – the most robust and fleshy one – far off to the right side.

“Humans like Ara who wandered and invaded the maze realm? Countless. But they all returned to reality before even reaching the abandoned house. Because His Majesty never allowed them to come near.”

Cheong-seon boldly stretched out his hand and grabbed about half the remaining bean sprouts. The bean sprouts in his hand became tangled and were pushed to the left end of the table.

“Humans who met the king through the power of coincidence and inevitability and made contracts certainly existed. Though most results weren’t good.”

The remaining half of the bean sprouts were scattered over the previously pushed pile.

“His Majesty abandoned his expectations of humans long ago. He doesn’t easily trust anyone, nor does he easily show affection. Unfortunately.”

Ara, who had been staring blankly at his gestures, suddenly came to her senses. Cheong-seon had taken the last bean sprout from her hand.

“And then, ta-da, Ara suddenly appears.”

The stolen bean sprout was placed next to the lonely ‘king’ bean sprout on the right end.

“Someone who used to be disgusted and tired by humans accidentally finding their way into the maze realm, actually bringing a human directly into this house.”

Ara blinked slowly.

‘If he had just thought of Ara as just another human woman, His Majesty would never have done something so endearing.’

‘Ara is… truly a special human.’

Was this what Baek-mok meant?

“Here’s a question. When humans achieve something with an extremely low probability, what do they say?”

Cheong-seon snapped his fingers, instantly recapturing Ara’s attention.

“…A miracle happened?”

“Exactly. To us, you are a miracle itself.”

Cheong-seon clapped encouragingly.

“And to His Majesty, you are an absolute exception.”

Ara’s brows furrowed. Miracle and exception. These enormous, contrasting words stirred her heart.

“You know goblins can’t lie to humans, right?”

“Yes.”

“Our king is good at almost everything, except for one thing he’s really bad at.”

“What’s that?”

“HIding his emotions.”

Cheong-seon cupped his hand like a secret whisper near his mouth.

“You thought he was angry? If it’s confusing enough that you can’t tell, he’s not actually angry. You haven’t seen it, have you? His Majesty raging like a wild demon.”

Seriously, he’s so scary that even this bold Cheong-seon would fall to his knees. He makes the Kings of Hell look like amateurs.”

With his exaggerated dramatics, Ara momentarily forgot her gloomy mood and burst out laughing.

“Anyway. His Majesty probably isn’t angry with you. From what I know about him, he definitely wouldn’t have missed that you were genuinely worried about him.”

I bet he’s more angry with himself?

Listening to Cheong-seon’s whispered addition, Ara recalled Seok-kyung’s coldly hardened face.

“Everyone has a first time, and it’s not easy to be good from the start. Even for a goblin king?”

Was it because that frozen gaze was unfamiliar?

Because he had never experienced such a moment, didn’t know how to react, and hadn’t yet learned to trust humans enough to be truly honest…

“So make this exception into a miracle, Ara.”

Cheong-seon stretched his gentle eyes to their fullest and firmly grasped both of Ara’s hands.

“It’s something we can’t do, but you might be able to.”