“Strong and powerful morning!”
Recently, waking up in the morning has felt exceptionally good.
I used to wake up from a deep, refreshing sleep and feel great, but these days, just getting up brings a smile to my face. It dawns on me that a person definitely needs a driving force, a source of vitality to live life.
“Ugh…”
‘Ah, I want to play Abyss quickly.’
Stretching in the morning naturally brings to mind the game I played yesterday.
I should have jumped to the left instead of the right there. Is there a more effective method to respond to the ambush?
As I recall yesterday’s battle scenes in my mind…
Knock, knock—
A knocking sound at the door interrupts my thoughts.
“Come in,” I say, and soon, the sound of ringing blonde hair welcomes me as she opens the door.
“Good morning, baby cat! Did you sleep well last night?”
“I did. But can we skip the baby cat or baby elephant stuff?”
“But Kayak is a baby cat.”
Really, where’s a grown baby cat like this?
I don’t quite understand, but it feels like some sort of nickname. She calls me that because she really likes me.
Since it’s meant as a term of endearment, I can’t really complain, so I just let it be. I’ve somewhat adjusted to such sugary comments about being a baby cat.
Humans are animals of adaptation, after all; I’ve gotten used to this lifestyle.
Waking up every morning in a bed as plush as a five-star hotel, living a life where Isabel greets me with morning salutations.
Now, I follow her to the dining room for an extravagant breakfast.
Isabel will choose something light, like a sandwich or bacon with coffee, and I… well, hmm. What should I pick today? Honestly, whatever I choose is delicious, so it’s a happy dilemma.
The culinary skills of the top-notch chef Isabel hired are exceptional, consistently filling my belly three times a day.
Every meal, I end up eating more than her, and the chef is quite pleased with how well I eat compared to her smaller portions.
After finishing breakfast, we usually head to the underground together.
And for several hours, we immerse ourselves in VR Abyss. Except for lunch and dinner times, I pour all my energy into playing VR Abyss.
Originally, I would skip meals to focus solely on the game, but Isabel sternly scolded me for that.
She insisted that even if I loved the game, I needed to eat. Thus, this regular eating routine emerged, all thanks to her.
She threatened to confiscate my VR equipment if I didn’t eat properly three times a day.
I spent several days with Isabel, but she is a busy CEO, slicing her day into tiny bits for work.
After returning to work, she could only spare time on holidays.
After returning to work, I could only carve out some time for holidays.
Isabel felt a bit guilty leaving me, the guest, alone, but I didn’t mind.
It’s not like I had nothing to do; I had the VR Abyss. I was already starting to get excited about how I would play today.
“…Wasn’t the main plan to tour the States?”
As I was munching on a steak and potatoes grilled by a top chef, Isabel muttered.
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing, my lark.”
When I asked her again because I didn’t catch it properly, she smiled brightly and insisted it was nothing. Seriously, what a letdown.
So while I thought about the Abyss in my head, I pleasantly stuffed my face with delicious food, and before I knew it, the meal was over.
Now I just had to see Isabel off to work and head downstairs.
Here I am, sending the homeowner off to work while lounging around playing games in her house. Looking at it this way, I really felt like garbage.
But humans are animals of adaptation. The guilt gnawing at me was only a temporary thing; now I was used to it and hardly cared.
What’s wrong with living like a pillar man? It’s comfy and nice. As long as I have meals with Isabel and see her off so her spirits don’t dip, it’s easy enough for a child to handle.
“Have a good day. I’ll wait for you without dinner.”
Waving my hand with a smile like a dutiful wife seeing off her husband, Isabel hesitated for some reason.
“Um…”
She lingered at the door like she had something to say, then finally looked me in the eye and spoke up.
“Shouldn’t you be heading back to Korea soon?”
“…?”
For a moment, my head went blank at what Isabel dropped on me. It hit me like a hammer, and suddenly, I realized.
“…!”
Now that I thought about it, how many days had I been in America?
Every day I kept saying, “Just one more day, one more day,” and before I knew it, quite some time had passed.
Yusia had been calling every day, but I guess she got fed up since she hadn’t called lately. She only sent occasional messages.
Not just Yusia, but acquaintances back in Korea had been asking about my situation one by one, wanting to know when I’d be back. I had told them I’d arrive in a week or two at most, but—
“Geez…”
Time had somehow flown by, almost a month had passed. I had already spent a week in Isabel’s mansion.
I had planned to cheer for Brutal and head back, but here I was, stuck for so long. Any original plans had clearly gone out the window long ago.
The daily life here was so cozy and comfortable that I barely realized it. If Isabel hadn’t snapped me out of it, I could have been here for a month or even a year without a second thought.
“I guess I should head back.”
As soon as I came to my senses, the thought of needing to go back hit me like a ton of bricks.
I looked at Isabel, who was silently staring at me, and said, “You’re right, Isabel. We really should head back.”
“Yeah, I thought so… right?”
“Don’t wear that sad face. I’ll come back to visit again.”
“If you tell the assistant, they’ll find flights for you at the time you want.”
I gave Isabel one last tight hug.
“I’ll take the morning flight tomorrow.”
“…? You were acting like you’d leave right now.”
“I’ll just spend a few more hours in the Abyss today before I go.”
We had dinner together—
Isabel, nestled in my embrace, muttered in disbelief, “…What’s up with this farewell when you’re still going to stay a bit longer?”
*
“Goodbye! I’ll be back!”
The next day, Kayak boarded the morning flight to Korea as promised.
She licked her lips, feeling a twinge of regret while looking at the VR equipment, but she left without holding on to any lingering feelings.
‘Indeed…’
She wasn’t just a small person to be held in my arms.
Isabel watched Kayak leave with a wistful gaze.
In truth, if she had made up her mind, she could have kept Kayak at her house for as long as she wanted.
Kayak, after facing the VR gear, was in a rather dazed state, so if Isabel had left her alone to come to her senses later, they could’ve spent a few more weeks together.
Maybe she would have been so hooked on the devices that she’d even decided to move in with Isabel. Kayak held a significant affection and interest for the VR Abyss.
However, Isabel didn’t do that. Instead, she took the initiative to remind Kayak that it was time to head back.
‘I don’t want to be with her in such a desperate manner.’
In a way, Isabel had a strong hold over Kayak’s weaknesses.
She could have leveraged the VR equipment to ask Kayak for this and that, keep her at home longer, or even go on dates with her, but she chose not to.
All she did was ensure that Kayak had regular meals and maintained a structured life. Isabel understood well that anything obtained by force tends to backfire.
‘That kind of dependence doesn’t look good on Kayak.’
The Kayak Isabel loved wasn’t just about her looks; she sparkled like a brilliant gem.
However, Kayak’s appearance while staying at Isabel’s mansion was slightly different from the Kayak she loved.
She still sparkled, but there was a dullness that Isabel couldn’t just ignore.
‘Yeah, that’ll do.’
The bright smile on Kayak’s face as she left contained the brilliance that Isabel had always cherished.
As Kayak’s figure disappeared, Isabel saw the brilliance she once loved captured in her departure.
Comparing the Kayak who was glued to thoughts of the Abyss all day like a game addict and the Kayak now, anyone would give a clear answer on which one was better.
So, when Isabel returned to the mansion after seeing Kayak off, feeling empty yet relieved, it was then…
“Chairman, there’s something you need to see.”
A frenzied doctor approached from the research lab inside the mansion, specializing in the development of VR equipment.
“What is it?”
“The records from when Kayak used the equipment during her stay…”
The End Brown VR equipment hadn’t officially launched yet. Kayak had only played a test version, and as it was a test, the more samples they could gather by playing would automatically be sent to the lab.
What the doctor showed was a week’s worth of records during Kayak’s stay at the mansion.
However, Isabel couldn’t distinguish what was what just by looking at this.
“Can you explain it simply? What is this?”
“Ah, well… this is the brainwave of a normal person. It’s the results from our tests.”
The doctor showed her some graphs. A relatively gentle waveform was depicted.
“And this is Kayak’s brainwave.”
A graph jutted up and down sharply, wobbling so much that even Isabel, who didn’t know much about graphs, could tell something was off.
“It’s an extremely intense brainwave. Even when our research team tested it while deeply immersed, it didn’t reach this level. No, a regular human shouldn’t even have a graph like this.”
“Is it still okay? It won’t cause any issues with her brain, right?”
Isabel’s first concern was Kayak’s health. If using the equipment had caused any abnormalities in her brain, leading to this kind of graph…
“It shouldn’t be a problem. The following data surpassed average values, but everything was normal. More than anything, Kayak using the equipment for over eight hours a day just fine…”
“Hm…”
So, rather than being unusual, it seemed she was quite healthy. Slightly embarrassed, Isabel rubbed her head.
“Anyway, this is an incredible result. We’ll need more samples to understand it better… but I’d like to conduct a proper test when Kayak visits again!”
As she looked at the exceedingly excited doctor, Isabel recalled Kayak’s bright face as she left in the morning.
‘Kayak, what on earth are you…’
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