TLCTS | 06

Chapter 6

“Chaeri, what kind of reward did you get?”

Chaeri immediately caught on.
This was “pretending-not-to-know” training.

Trying to pry for information with a single piece of candy?
Not even a Haribo—just a plain old sugar drop? How insulting.

“What’s the reword?”

“You’re conquering the Tower, aren’t you?”

“The Tower?”

Chaeri covered her eyes with both hands.

“Lee Chaeri is not an Awakened. The Tower is scary.”

Davies nearly burst out laughing.
He’d known since before she even registered her nickname—this kid was sharp.

“Lee Chaeri, did you do well?”

“Yes. You did very well.”

Training: great success.

Chaeri nodded with satisfaction.
She was convinced she could get into the CIA at this rate.

“It’s time to sleep now.”

“Nope. Lee Chaeri has something to do.”

[Upgrading Davies Card.]
[Davies +2]

[Chief Aide of the Fallen Empire +2]

…

Manifestation Time: 5 hours
Cooldown: 22 hours

One more hour added to manifestation time, one hour less cooldown.

Chaeri smiled lightly.

“Hehe.”

As a reward for clearing the second floor, she’d also received 200 million diamonds.
Her current balance: 300 million.

The emotion was so strong her thoughts slipped out aloud.

“Lee Chaeri is unbelievably rich.”

“Jealous, huh?”

“Fufu.”

She’d even earned a “Good Job” sticker, so it was a perfect day.

Chaeri pulled the blanket over herself.
The bed and comforter—softer than any at the orphanage—were her favorite things.

Next to her lay Greenie, her stuffed green dinosaur.

Davies gently patted her back.
The warm vibration that spread from his palm seeped right into her heart.

“This patting function is amazing.”

Her eyelids grew heavy.
Before long, Chaeri drifted into sleep.

Davies rose ever so carefully.
He couldn’t waste the remaining manifestation time.

“Now then, what kind of trash should I clean up today?”

Yesterday, his “justice enforcement” had earned him 1.3 billion won.
Cold hard cash. With that, he’d bought clothes, cards, and even read fairy tales with Chaeri.

“At the very least, I should be earning more than Chaeri.”

So he could spoil her.

Davies’ body vanished.

* * *

The TV blared with breaking news.

[Last night, Seoul Tower’s 2nd floor was cleared at L-rank…]
[World’s first consecutive L-rank clear achieved…]
[Seoul Guild under fire for lax entry management.]

“You saw the news too, right?”

“Of course.”

“Another L-rank, can you believe it?”

“I know, right?”

“How can the person’s identity still be unknown? Are they just scribbling down entry logs?”

Kim Ha-seon frowned in disbelief.
If they’d checked the entry list properly, the culprit would’ve been exposed already.

The Seoul Guild was taking a beating from the public.

But there were counterarguments too.

“No, maybe they did find out. But since it’s an L-rank, they’re hiding it on purpose. The Lords are all going nuts trying to find this person.”

In this era, each Tower was managed by a leading guild, and the leader of that guild was called a Lord.

Seoul had its Lord. Busan had its Lord.
Every Lord was desperate to recruit the mysterious L-rank Awakened.

As Kim Ha-seon munched her cereal, she said:

“At this rate, Seoul real estate’s going to shoot up again!”

When Tower raids go well, Gate activity improves.
Better Gates mean higher-grade mana stones, more jobs, stronger economy—
and city values skyrocket.

“People are calling them Legend Jwa now.”

At that, Lee Chaeri froze.

Legend Jwa.

Oh… not bad. She liked it.

She could almost hear the dramatic “Ba-bam!” sound effect behind her.

Feeling proud, her little legs swung happily under the table.
Her short four-year-old legs couldn’t reach the floor, but they kicked anyway.

Today, her chocolate cereal was extra crispy.

“So this is what hidden power tastes like.”

But then, the truth started getting distorted.

“Looks like lots of good things are happening thanks to our little one.”

“Is that so?”

Chaeri stiffened.

The cereal in her mouth suddenly turned soggy.

No! It’s thanks to me!

An overwhelming sense of injustice surged through her tiny four-year-old body.

Calm down, four-year-old body!

Someone once said—
“Injustice is the most intense emotion a human can feel.”
Now she understood what that meant.

“Why, what’s wrong, Chaeri?”

Chaeri quickly composed herself.

“B-because I’m so happy to have a little sibling!”

She hastily scooped a spoonful of soggy chocolate cereal into her mouth.

“Lee Chaeri will make sure they eat yummy things too. Hehe.”

Kim Ha-seon smiled warmly.

“Will you really?”

With a new baby in the house, it would’ve been best if they’d brought home no one—
but still, she was grateful it was Chaeri.

Mature, calm, polite, adorable—
she didn’t fuss, didn’t make trouble, didn’t get jealous.

Her husband was right: it felt like having the world’s best live-in babysitter.

“Yes.”

Having finished her cereal, Chaeri hopped lightly off her chair.

She neatly carried her empty bowl to the sink.

“Thank you for the meal, Mother.”

But Kim Ha-seon’s eyes were glued to the TV.
All of Korea was in an uproar lately, after all.

She could almost hear Seoul’s housing prices soaring.

[Seoul Guild announces: “We will locate the L-rank Awakened as soon as possible.”]
[Cooperating with the National Intelligence Service for protection.]

Meanwhile, Chaeri was busy.

Today was her first day at Sullivan Kindergarten.

Heading to her room to check her bag, she heard Kim Ha-seon tease:

“Chaeri’s going to grow up to be someone great like that too, right?”

Chaeri didn’t flinch.

It was time to put her “pretending-not-to-know” training to use again.

“The Tower is scary.”

“Scary?”

Kim Ha-seon laughed.

“Chaeri’s a scaredy-cat, huh?”

No, I’m not!

Chaeri was—no, is—frustrated.

She couldn’t call this woman “Mom.”
She couldn’t even say she was the “Legend Jwa.”

At four years old, this level of injustice could easily bring tears.

“Yes. Lee Chaeri is a scaredy-cat.”

Her lips jutted out an inch.

She didn’t realize it herself, but—

Her hair wasn’t in pigtails, which was disappointing,
but the yellow hat made up for it.

A child’s eyes are easily enchanted by bright pastel colors.

She admired herself in the mirror.

“Wow, seriously cute.”

That face—the kind of face you wish you could live with for just one day.

Soft cheeks, delicate features, skin that looked like it’d burst with juice if you poked it.

And—

“This kindergarten uniform should be illegal.”

A white blouse with a huge yellow bow tie—
the bow was almost the size of her face.

The checkered skirt was the perfect knee length.

“Satisfied.”

She twirled once and added,

“The length is perfect.”

Then she slung on her kindergarten backpack.

Inside was just a single notebook,
yet it felt so heavy her small body wobbled.

“What a pathetic body…”

White socks + yellow shoes = confidence overload.

Lee Chaeri was ready.

“Lee Chaeri, riding the yellow van today?”

For some reason, she really wanted to.

The primal instinct of a child kicked in hard.

“What? It’s not a van?”

Unfortunately, the kindergarten was near a hospital.
Her dad was driving her there on his way to work.

So instead of a yellow kindergarten van—
it was a black Benz.

“Disappointing.”

Her father gently lifted her by the armpits.

“Up we go.”

He set her in the child seat and buckled her in.

“First time in a Benz!”

The ride was smooth, her mood was better—
maybe life wasn’t so bad after all.

“Kindergarten’s exciting too.”

For the record, there was a boy protagonist there.

Her plan: build a good relationship and execute a flawless strategy.

“Kindergarten should be a piece of cake.”

…Or so she thought.

“Waaahhh!!”
“Mommyyy!!”
“I wanna go home!!”
“Roar! I’m a monster!!”
“Pew pew pew! Bang bang bang!!”
“He pushed meee! Teacherrr!!”

Crash! Boom! Screech!

Chaos.

“Hmm.”

Chaeri froze.

This was on a whole different level from the orphanage.

The wild, uninhibited energy of well-loved children was beyond imagination.

“Kindergarten. Way more hardcore than expected.”

Then she saw him.

“Ah! Found him!”

The boy protagonist—
messy bangs, cute face, playing quietly alone with a pink magic wand.

While teachers and adults scrambled around,
a big, buzz-cut boy stomped toward him.

“Hey. They said you’re a ‘Hugo,’ right?”

Then he snatched the wand.

“Ha! What are you, a girl?”

“Give it back.”

“No waaay~ Not giving it baaack~”

At that moment—

Chaeri moved.

Rescuing the protagonist was basic etiquette for a transmigrator.

That’s how you build favorability points.

“Teacher. What’s a Hugo?”

“…Huh?”

One frazzled teacher turned to look at her.

Chaeri tilted her head innocently, wearing the gentlest expression imaginable.

In the most polite, clear 4-year-old voice, she said:

“That boy just said Hugo means ‘Human City beggar.’”

Silence.

“Lee Chaeri wants to be a Hugo too!”

Our protagonist.
Must protect.