Chapter 03
The crow, greeting her so casually, only pushed Dongbaek—already on the verge of exploding from her endless thoughts—over the edge. She snapped irritably.
“Do you think I’m in the mood for greetings? I wake up after a night of drinking, find myself in another world, my body suddenly younger, and you—who used to whine about dimensional travel constantly—were nowhere to be found! It’s been days, and you think I’d be happy to see you?”
“Calm down, calm down.”
Avoiding Dongbaek’s hands trying to grab its neck, the crow flew into the room and perched on the table, slumping down as if exhausted.
“Ah, so exhausting. Why are people so eager to turn me into crow stew….”
“This area seemed fine though. Where did you go?”
Although Dongbaek’s residence was in the outskirts, it was still in the center of Luoyang. Perhaps that’s why it didn’t look too desolate.
The crow shook its head.
“Just a bit outside of here, everyone’s in terrible shape. Whew. I almost died right after arriving in this world… But you seem to have landed in a pretty decent house. The owner seems civilized. Big brother is relieved, sniff.”
“Stop acting like you’re my big brother. Anyway, hey. First of all, what’s going on here? This is dimensional travel, right? And why did I get younger?”
Dongbaek brought up a topic she had been curious about but had shelved due to her brain being overloaded.
‘This bird must have caused the transfer anyway… He must know the answer.’
In response to Dongbaek’s question, the crow let out a long sigh before countering with an unexpected query.
“By the way, how much did you drink yesterday?”
“Huh?”
“You, who usually don’t get drunk, got completely wasted that day and ended up falling into a construction pit while stumbling around.”
“What?”
Dongbaek exclaimed with wide eyes. She couldn’t continue speaking due to her own stupidity and disbelief.
“You would’ve died from a head injury if I had left you there. Hey, but fortunately, it was a rabbit hole. Remember the rabbit hole? I told you before. A dimensional travel portal. So I quickly opened the rabbit hole before you died? Wow, that was really close. Praise my brilliant judgment.”
Dongbaek wanted to grab the crow’s neck and shake it vigorously for its smugness. But that feeling was fleeting. Drained of energy, Dongbaek collapsed onto the table.
“How about it? Didn’t I do well?”
“……”
“Hey? At least you’re alive. Are you upset because I transported you to another dimension without permission? Honestly, there was no choice. Still, isn’t living better than dying?”
Dead or Alive. Even rolling in a field of dog poop is better than death—did you think I’d be happy about choosing the latter, you crow!
Dongbaek suppressed the screaming in her head and asked glumly with her head down.
“Where do you think this is?”
“Ah, even I can’t immediately tell which world this is, so… Have you looked around? Based on the knowledge I’ve accumulated while being by your side. This place is……”
“You probably would’ve accumulated that knowledge even without being by my side…. So what is it? You made me cross over but don’t even know where this is?”
Incredulous, Dongbaek raised her head and glared at the crow. Faced with Dongbaek’s dumbfounded expression, the crow shamelessly replied.
“I only have the ability to open rabbit holes, that is, dimensional portals. Where that rabbit hole leads depends entirely on your soul. There’s no use blaming me. Got it? So don’t get angry when you hear where this is.”
The crow hesitated for a long time, watching Dongbaek’s reaction. Frustrated by the crow’s reluctance to speak, Dongbaek flatly pre-empted.
“Probably the late Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period, right?”
“Oh, how did you know?”
The crow looked at Dongbaek in surprise. Mouth agape, eyes wide. It was only after meeting the crow that Dongbaek learned birds could have expressions too.
Sighing, Dongbaek carefully explained her reasoning.
“That being the case… I guess living as a woman here is out of the question, huh?”
The crow opened its eyes thoughtfully and then nodded.
“Since you came to this world as ‘Alice’, you have the talent and luck equivalent to this world’s ‘Queen’. You’re not destined to die easily. But the disadvantage is clear, so it seems insufficient to challenge the Queen.”
“What’s with the Lewis Carroll-like naming, Alice and Queen?”
“Well, those are terms that refer to you?”
“You never explained that to me before.”
“Because you wouldn’t listen.”
Dongbaek had no response to the crow’s words. Whenever the crow brought up dimensional travel, Dongbaek had glared daggers at it.
Sometimes she even threw punches.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve prepared better. Like joining a survivalist club or something….’
Dongbaek, overcome with belated regret, pounded the floor in frustration.
“…Just explain it to me now. I need to know something if I’m going to survive.”
“A Queen is ‘one who receives God’s love.’ Simply put, it means they’re the protagonist of this world, someone who gets protagonist-level luck buffs. On the other hand, Alice is an ‘outsider’ who covets the Queen’s position. Strictly speaking, it’s like returning to their original world…. And the guide who brings Alice from Earth to their original world is called a ‘Cheshire.’”
Ahem, I’m that Cheshire, the crow boasted. But to Dongbaek, this fact meant nothing more than ‘the bad bird that made me cross over to this world.’
Dongbaek read the ominous implications in the crow’s words. Not wanting to believe it, she asked with a trembling voice.
“W-wait. If the Queen is the protagonist and I’m Alice, what does it mean that Alice covets the Queen’s position? Are you saying I have to fight the Queen?”
“That’s right!”
The crow exclaimed excitedly, flapping its wings. Dongbaek glared at the crow and snarled menacingly.
“What do you mean ‘that’s right’! If it’s the Three Kingdoms protagonist… damn it, does that mean I have to fight Cao Cao if it’s based on the historical drama? Or Liu Bei if it’s based on the novel? How does that even make sense?!”
Seeing Dongbaek’s fierce eyes, the crow broke into a cold sweat trying to calm her down.
“Hey, hey, don’t get angry. You’re scary when you’re angry…”
“To someone who’s struggling just to survive, what? Sure, it sounds nice to say ‘fight the Queen,’ but if the ‘Queen’ is Liu Bei, it’s three against one! Are you telling me to assassinate Liu Bei while avoiding Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, or what?!”
“It’s not that unbalanced, really! Hear me out first.”
Fuming, Dongbaek crossed her arms and glared daggers at the crow. Under the pressure of her gaze, the crow cleared its throat and puffed up its chest once more, speaking confidently.
“You’ve got me on your side!”
“Do you want to die?”
Dongbaek clenched her small fist. Watching her fist swing back and forth like a pendulum, the crow clicked its beak nervously.
“Honestly, with how violent you are, this world might actually suit you… Ah, no! I take it back, I take it back!”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
At Dongbaek’s quiet but menacing response, the crow grumbled.
“The Queen isn’t the only one loved by God—Alice is too. After all, Alice is someone who could have been Queen but fell to Earth.”
“It’s strange that they dropped a beloved being to Earth in the first place.”
When Dongbaek cast a suspicious sidelong glance, the crow whistled and casually turned its head away.
“So what’s good about winning against the Queen? Is there a reward or something?”
“The reward is…”
“Dongbaek, are you in there?”
Just then, someone called for Dongbaek from outside the door. It was Housekeeper Wang.
Dongbaek and the crow exchanged startled glances. Surely they hadn’t been caught talking. Suppressing her anxiety, Dongbaek reached for a book lying beside the table and answered naturally.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“What on earth were you mumbling about? I thought someone else was in there with you!”
Housekeeper Wang clicked her tongue as she entered the room. Meanwhile, Dongbaek, who had opened a book in front of herself, smiled brazenly.
“I was reading a book. It seems easier to understand when I read aloud.”
“You’ve certainly picked up some habits somewhere…”
Housekeeper Wang was clicking her tongue and criticizing Dongbaek when she suddenly froze mid-sentence. She had spotted the crow sitting plainly on the table.
Pointing at the crow, Housekeeper Wang stammered.
“Wh-what’s with the c-crow?”
“This crow? It kept following me, so I just brought it along… Is it not okay to keep it? I’ll make sure it won’t bother you.”
Since the crow had to stay with her anyway, she thought this would be a good chance to get approval. Dongbaek quickly tried to persuade Housekeeper Wang.
But Housekeeper Wang seemed displeased.
“Of all things, why a crow? They’re such bad omens.”
“Because the crow chose to follow me?”
At Dongbaek’s words, Housekeeper Wang recalled when Dongbaek first fell into this mansion. When Dongbaek had fallen into the pond, a crow had circled above her, crying incessantly.
“A crow following someone… Such strange things do happen.”
Housekeeper Wang clicked her tongue and shuddered.
“…Well, I can’t say for sure whether you should keep it or not. You’ll have to ask the lady.”
At the mention of ‘lady,’ Dongbaek finally realized the time and was startled. She usually had tea with Geum Danyo at a set time, but she had completely forgotten about it due to the crow’s intrusion.
“Is it that time already? I lost track while reading. Has Madam been waiting long?”
“Tsk tsk… Hurry up now.”
With those words, Housekeeper Wang left the room. Only after her footsteps could no longer be heard did Dongbaek let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew.”
“I can’t believe how shameless you are. With that smooth face of yours telling lies, no wonder everyone falls for it.”
“Well, I couldn’t exactly tell them I was talking to a crow, could I?”
“…Fair enough.”
The crow nodded in agreement. Having caught her breath, Dongbaek stood up.
“Well then, I’ll be going.”
She was already quite late. Since she couldn’t keep Geum Danyo waiting any longer, Dongbaek hurried her steps.
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Thank you for reading! ♡
