Pseudo Resident's Illegal Stay in Another World

→ Deep Night, Little Moon, and the Stranger (2) ←

“What do you think—”

Why did Luna suddenly ask me this before going to bed?

Was it perhaps because Luna was under the influence of alcohol, so she was speaking or making decisions she normally wouldn’t? She did drink more than usual today, after all.

“Hassan, I asked what you think about me.”

“Uh, hum… ”

Even though I often heard that girls tend to ask their boyfriends how much they love them on a regular basis, Luna was not the type of person to ask this kind of question.

Luna had never been like that when we were together. She seemed indifferent about things like that. Anyway, thing was, this was a completely unexpected question for me, so I wasn’t able to answer right away.

“Why can’t you answer it right away?”

Her voice and words told me that she was very disappointed by my behavior.

“Ah, no, I mean, why are you asking me what I think about you? You don’t usually ask me this kind of questions.”

I had no choice but to make a gibberish excuse in this kind of situation.

I like you, I love you. I’d often heard words like these in various dramas and media content, but when it was time for me to say them myself— I felt incredibly awkward and embarrassed. Due to these feelings, I was not able to bring them up.

I thought my feelings for her had been conveyed well enough till now, even if I didn’t express them into words. Even so, could it be that she still wanted to hear those things directly from my mouth because that’s just how the human heart works?

Nevertheless, it seemed that the excuse I said made some sense to Luna since she tilted her skull helmet-adorned head.

“I don’t usually ask this kind of questions? Really…?”

“Yes, seems like you’re drunk, Luna.”

“Y-Yeah, I guess I’m a bit drunk. Then, what do we usually do?”

Could it be that the alcohol she drank was causing temporary memory loss?

“What we usually do… nothing special really. We usually just eat together, do some housework, and feed Kong Kong. Besides that, I also massage your feet, Luna.”

“F-Feet?! Such a shameless act—!”

I was startled at the sudden shout coming from Luna’s mouth, causing me to jolt up half of my body from the lying position as I had been on the verge of going to sleep.

“W-Why are you suddenly like this, Luna? It seems that you’re more drunk than I thought. Let’s go to sleep quickly.”

Perhaps there was a curse on that monster bull’s skull helmet that she was wearing right now. I felt a bit worried about Luna, who was acting unlike her normal self.

Then, Luna cleared her throat a few times as she realized that screaming in the middle of the night was not something one should do.

“Hmm, nothing. F-Feet, you often massage my feet. Then, try to massage my feet as usual. I can’t sleep because I’m feeling some pain in my feet. Ouch… my feet hurt so much…”

Luna shyly extended her bare soles towards me who was lying down. Hearing her strange way of speaking, it seemed that her feet were indeed in pain right now.

Considering the exhaustion she had accumulated from exploring the labyrinth and dancing in a drunk-induced haze, not going to sleep at all, it made perfect sense that her feet were aching in pain right now.

However, Luna, requesting me to massage her feet was a new experience for me… so much so that I was feeling really weird right now. Soon after, the drowsiness in my body started fading away every so slightly.

Swoosh—

I got up from the carpet and stared at Luna, standing in front of me with her feet stretched out.

Thud—

Perhaps because of the helmet, but I felt pretty strained while seeing her. I had the eerie feeling that the person before me wasn’t Luna but someone else entirely.

Did covering one’s face make their aura have such a huge difference? Maybe I should also try wearing something like a helmet or hat in the future to change the first impression I had on others.

“Come one. We’re running out of time… I want you to massage my feet hehe. J-Just like this.”

“Is that so? Alright.”

Did Luna usually talk like that? I thought that she had been sober when carrying the Nymph on her back. It seemed that Luna got weird drinking habits.

A drinking habit like pretending to be cute or something? I wondered if I should consider this as cute though.

It was better than her going on an unrestrained rampage at least…

“Right, it’s not difficult. Then, I’ll touch your feet.”

I grabbed Luna’s soles, stretched out before me, with my hands.

“Haaah…”

It was tiny and petite— the typical Greek feet with a recessed arch, her second toe being longer than the thumb. Her feet were slender and thin up to the ankles.

I had seen her feet several times already. But no matter how many times I saw it, it always felt fresh and exciting.

I think that Luna has beautiful soles.

If there was a contest for pretty feet, unless there was an unforeseen otherworldly authentic beauty, it would be safe to assume that Luna would have a reservation for herself in the top three spots.

But unlike the usual faint warmth, Luna’s soles were quite cold today; as though someone had blown air conditioning directly on top of it.

Could it be due to the impact of the alcohol that strained her blood circulation?

It reminded me of Elfriede, who suffered from a chronic condition of cold hands and feet. So, it made me frown for a moment.

“Ah… a-as expected, it won’t work out after all.”

However, Luna was different compared to her usual self. She seemed reluctant to let me touch her feet and she even tried to retract them.

“What’s wrong with you now?”

“Uh, i-is that so. Just finish it quickly.”

“Right, since you need to sleep soon.”

First of all, I warmed up her cold feet by rubbing the palm of my hand over the top of her feet and soles. Also, I gently stroked her Achilles tendon and calf to create friction, producing the heat required to chase away the coldness.

“Ah, uh, haah….”

As always, Luna didn’t know how to handle my massages. Her delicate chin and shoulder trembled with each stroke.

Even though she was wearing that oppressive helmet right now, her reaction was unchanged because she was still my Luna.

“…Aah, huh, huff… d-did you always massage me like this?”

“It has always been like this. I warm up your skin to stimulate the nerves and then apply pressure to stimulate the acupuncture points.”

“A-Acu-…. aahhh! Ouch!”

When I pressed down her soles with my fingers, Luna squealed out a loud yelp.

I didn’t know if it was just me, but I was surprised as I felt that Luna’s voice had been twice as loud as usual. Maybe she didn’t realize how loud her voice was because she was drunk?

“Luna, you need to tone down your voice or we might receive complaints.”

“C-Complaints? Oh, yeah, I-I got it. I’ll try to tone it down… Ahhh!”

Promptly, Luna’s body began trembling violently.

I already knew that Luna’s soles were extremely sensitive, like a vital point exposed to the outside. But today, it felt like she was exaggerating her screams a bit too much.

Or maybe her feet became more sensitive after wearing the sandals continuously for the past few days?

I recalled an old tale I’d heard somewhere.

It was a story about a monkey who was used to walking barefoot, but then, after he wore some traditional flower shoes, the calluses on the beast’s soles soon disappeared, making the animal unable to live without them anymore.

Luna also got used to wearing the sandals I had brought for her to protect her feet, so it just might have made her susceptive soles softer and far more sensitive than they were already.

But still, she must have been tired after a long walk.

“Then, I’ll add a bit more pressure. It’ll help in relieving your fatigue and drunkenness.”

“M-More pressure? Ahh!”

To draw out the toxins from her body, I carefully grabbed and pulled her toes one by one, as well as slapped and rubbed her soft and firm soles with my palm.

“Arghh! S-Stop it! This is not a massage!”

“If this isn’t a massage, then what is it?”

“I don’t know, uhh, maybe it felt like the karma that has been trapped for so long is being released, aahhhhh!”

Luna, trembling for a while now, suddenly leaked out a long sigh as if she had experienced a refreshing sensation. As the inheritor of an illegal acupressure health center, could there be anything more satisfying that seeing someone so delighted by my touch?

At this rate, I might even be able to compete with my father’s acupressure skills.

“Ah, I-I feel the tension in my legs being released… arghh!”

Thud—

I firmly pressed Luna’s calf, focusing on her knee, thigh, and the Three Yin Intersection acupoint above her ankle bones.

Three Yin Intersection acupoint.

Right, it was the Three Yin Intersection acupoint. Acupuncture points in the human body could be classified based on their yin and yang attributes.

About a millimeter above the upper part of the inner ankle of a human was the intersection of three negative attributed acupuncture points, hence it was called the Three Yin intersection.

In ancient Eastern medicine, men were defined as the Yang energy of daytime, while women were associated with the Yin energy of nighttime.

So naturally, this acupuncture point was like a cheat code for women.

The acupuncture techniques claimed to have therapeutic effects that ranged from women’s physiological aspects to even facilitating smooth childbirth for pregnant women. It felt like they had compiled a long list of seemingly convincing claims of the effects of this medicinal practice.

However, I felt somewhat suspicious about the excessive promotion of its effectiveness.

Of course, in my opinion, the concept of acupuncture points in Eastern medicinal practice might just be cleverly packaged with plausible explanations to convince the patients. At least, that’s what I believed in my heart.

“N-Not there. You can’t. Arghh, ugh. Arghh… my, my stomach, my lower stomach feels strange!”

It seemed the massage was starting to have some effect, seeing that Luna was enjoying it so much that she was about to pass out any moment now. Luna was the daughter of the goddess of the night, and she was named after the moon.

Could there be any other girl with stronger Yin energy in their body than her?

Luna’s Yin energy was greater than those mysterious Yin germaniums that my father sold!

“M-My lower abdomen is throbbing, you, you… ugh. Ugh, haang, arrghh!”

Also, before we went to the labyrinth, she had a tough time with her menstrual cycle for almost a week.

As Luna was feeling increasingly drained, I pressed and massaged the Three Yin intersection more carefully with circular motions.

I lightly applied a good amount of pressure with my thumb in the spot.

“Luna, how is it? Do you feel like your fatigue is fading away?”

“I-It’s not fatigue… it’s more like the pent-up karma that has been trapped for a long time, uhh, t-that is being released!”

I didn’t know what that pent-up karma that had been trapped for a long time was, but it was nice to see that she was liking the massage.

If I kept massaging her soles like this, I wondered if I could create a sensual and romantic atmosphere that led to another passionate night with her.

Having such wicked thoughts in mind, I gently stroked Luna’s toes and soles like how birds would affectionately rub each other’s wings.

“H-Haah, e-enough! Stop it!”

She quickly removed her soles away from my palms as the coolness had already faded away from her soles, leading to a gentle warmth being circulated inside, followed by smooth beads of sparse sweat.

Soon, she tucked both of her soles under the deerskin blanket to hide them from me.

“…Don’t touch my body as you please! That’s enough!”

“We haven’t even started yet. Is that enough? I usually massage you for over thirty minutes though.”

“T-Thirty minutes!?”

Luna was startled at my words, but soon cleared her throat a few times before speaking in a composed tone.

“Ahem, Luna is satisfied with your touch already so the massage is enough as is. Besides, instead of touching my feet, wouldn’t you prefer doing something better…? As usual, I mean…”

Something better than touching her feet? She said something better than touching her feet, and I usually did it. Then, a few things came to mind immediately.

“R-Really?”

“…Yeah. Do you remember what we do usually? In the dark of the night, we were hiding under the blanket and we engaged in those activities away from everyone’s eyes.”

“Under the blanket…”

“Something more private… like making a baby. Mating. Breeding. Sexual intercourse.”

Did wearing the mask make her braver than ever before? I felt quite embarrassed as Luna listed those explicit words with such nonchalance.

“You must be drunk and confused. When did we do anything like that? Yet, we did make plenty of Moai though.”

“Hmm, really? We really didn’t do it…?”

“We can’t break your vow of chastity. Why are you pretending not to know about it now?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I must’ve been mistaken. So, what did we usually do…?”

Luna asked about our daily routine as if she had dementia. Didn’t she just ask that earlier? But I wasn’t mean enough to scold her for asking it again.

“What did we do—”

I tried to recall the things we usually did together in response to her question.

“Every day is the same. Eating, working, sleeping, and resting whenever we can. Cleaning the house, doing laundry, and tidying up the place.”

As I spoke, I pondered deeply, trying to recall if we had really done nothing else other than that. Unless it was a day we had a mission, we usually just lived like that.

I would read encyclopedias while Luna, sitting next to me, made preparations to open the store. Still, those days seemed relatively enjoyable to me.

“Anyway, let’s go to sleep. There’s a lot to do tomorrow, including cleaning up the place…” Damn! I feel so sleepy.

I’d heard that if the sleep patterns of lovers living together were out of sync, then both of them would have to suffer. Perhaps what was happening now was exactly like that.

Thump— Thud—

Just then, something round rolled out of Luna’s mask and fell to the floor. I wondered what it could be, so I squinted my eyes to identify the object.

“Hassan, Luna is a good girl.”

Luna then began praising herself. What an interesting drinking habit. I briefly pondered how to respond in a moment like this.

Soon, Luna added a few more words.

“I mean it. I wish Luna only sees the most beautiful things in life.”

“Who doesn’t want to live like that?”

“I want Luna to bask in the sunlight, feel the breeze on her face. To admire falling leaves and snow piling up.”

Step—

Luna mumbled something that was hard to understand and then crawled under the blanket, lying down on her back. Was she planning to sleep with that strange helmet on her head?

No matter how happy she was obtaining a new item, it was weird that she wanted to sleep while wearing it. It felt like I was seeing the image of my younger sister when she was an elementary school student, trying to sleep while wearing new clothes.

Breathe In— Breathe Out—

Soon, a steady and soft breathing sound leaked out from beneath the mask. I still had some lingering thoughts on my mind, but listening to that soft breathing, I grew tired and fell asleep as well.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Hassan, what is this? It’s an Onyx! The Onyx is rolling on the ground!”

When I opened my eyes in the morning, Luna had already woken up and was shouting loudly.

“Huh, what did you say?”

“Look at this! It’s Onyx! It’s perfectly round and pitch-black! Where on earth did it come from?”

In Luna’s hand was a sparkling bead about the size of a finger. As Luna said, it was indeed a pitch-black bead, as if it was a black hole.

“Wow, it’s amazing… I can put it in the amulet mask… I suddenly have such good luck in the morning after experiencing a good dream… Holy shh!”

I didn’t know what was happening here, but it was fine as long as Luna was happy. It was so nice to hear her cheerful voice first thing in the morning.

I yawned and stretched my body, trying to wake up, while asking.

“What will change if you put the bead in your amulet mask?”

“If you put a gemstone in your equipment, it becomes stronger!”

“Really?”

Putting gemstones into equipment felt like a game mechanic that encouraged the player to do in-app purchases.

Now that I thought about it, the wands or staff of mages or even those expensive swords seemed to have gemstones or something similar as decorations in the hilt or along the pommel.

Perhaps it was not just for decorative purposes but to increase the equipment’s effectiveness in some way. However, I couldn’t figure out how putting gemstones on equipment was able to improve its quality.

It was like a tough-looking old men putting beads in their schlong. Come to think of it; it was a kind of equipment enhancement too.

Damn! I wondered if a gemstone would enhance the effects of my club too.

Anyway, after all the fuss was over…

I could see no signs of Paranoy when I went down to the first floor. Did she wake up earlier and leave?

“That sly nymph, she ran away!”

Initially, I was curious about where she went, but my attention quickly shifted elsewhere after I couldn’t find out anything about the cultist nymph.

My gaze drifted towards the statue of the mystical goddess that was placed in the corner, among the jars.

I approached the wooden statue which was crafted to look like Knox, and I gently blew it to remove the dust that had gathered over it.

Luna, who was feeding the two Kong Kongs, then added an unexpected comment.

“Hassan, are you taking care of Lady Knox? Have you become one of Lady Knox’s devotees, too?”

“No, it’s not like that. Luna, I’m just asking out of curiosity. Aren’t you curious about your parents??”

“I don’t have parents!”

Luna answered right away, without wasting a single moment. It felt like an automatic response and it caught me completely off guard.

“But still, you can’t come into the world on your own, right? You must have had a father and your mother must have endured about ten months of hardship to have given birth to you.”

“Hmm, I guess so.”

“Don’t you want to meet them? What would you say to them if you got the chance to meet them?”

“Well, I’m not sure. Why are you asking me that?”

“People’s lives are unpredictable, you know…”

“Hmm, I’ve never thought about it. My parents… hmm, hmm…”

The look on Luna’s face became unusually serious; as if she was thinking deeply about something. Then, acting like she was about to reveal an important secret, she said in a quiet tone..

“I would ask them why they abandoned me. Even though the elders took care of me, I still envied the kids who lived with their moms and dads. If I was abandoned by my parents, I often wondered if that meant that I shouldn’t have been born.”

“I-Is that so?”

Thus, even the cheerful Luna could have such gloomy thoughts. It surprised me a whole lot, and I began wondering if I had just asked a useless question just now.

The statue of Lady Knox in front of me also looked somewhat gloomy. It could be just me seeing things though.

“But now, every day is fun! If I wasn’t born into this world, I wouldn’t be able to experience so many fun things! So, I want to thank them first for giving birth to me!”

Thump— Roll—

Just as Luna finished speaking, something dropped to the ground and rolled to the floor again.

“Wow, holy shh! It’s another Onyx! Hassan, it seems like we have a mineral vein somewhere in our house!”

What was the meaning of parents and daughter?

I was lost in thought while watching Luna, delighted without knowing about the statue dropping the gemstone.

I had been ignoring this for a long time…

But I also felt an indescribable longing for my parents. Even though I didn’t miss my father that much, I really missed my mother.

Mom.

Mother.

My mother, Mrs. Kim Chunja.

Are you doing well?

Your unfilial son, Hassan was struggling a lot in this strange and barbaric world.

But still…

“Hassan! Onyx is dropping everywhere! Holy shh!”

But still, I am doing quite well these days.

“As expected, there must be something in this land! Although it was a bit pricey, I am glad I purchased it!”

…Or maybe not