How Can You Pay Back The Kindness I Raised With Obsession?

But she decided not to pry. Either way, she had a lot of work to do since early morning. She put the sheet and the shirt that Luca wore in the laundry bin in the front yard and stepped on it with her feet. Meanwhile, the bed mattress walked on its own and went into the creek. The sound of the rod of a broom beating a mattress bathing in the creek awakened the silent forest.

Luca hid behind the door of the hut and stared at her, taking a step toward her every time she turned her head. Then, when he made eye contact with her, he pretended he wasn’t trying to go that way, so he plucked the weeds and smoked a distraction.

‘You look like a timid rabbit. So cute.’

In the end, Luca managed to muster up the courage to come to the side of the laundry bin. He sucked on her thumb for a long time and whispered to her.

“Aren’t you angry? Are you going to eat Luca?”

‘Oh dear. Are you still afraid I’ll eat you?’

“Can you pluck some white flowers in the front yard here? This is a weed. If you can pick ten, I won’t eat you.”

Luca followed her hand gestures around the yard and looked up. His sparkling blue eyes look up at her…

‘Am I really a cannibal witch?’

She really wanted to bite him.

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

Still not being convinced, Luca stretched out his little finger from his tiny hand and held it out to her.

“Promise?”

“Yes, I promise.”

He must have been relieved when he even put a thumbprint on it. Luca crouched down by the laundry tub and began to pull weeds. It wasn’t until she finished washing the clothes and hung them on the clothesline that Luca pulled her skirt.

“Ten and you don’t get angry?”

“Wow, you pulled a lot.”

It seems he couldn’t count the numbers yet. The wild flowers in Luca’s fist looked like thirteen clusters.

“Let’s count the flowers. Look closely, one, two, three…”

She taught him how to count flowers one by one.

“Are we even now?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“What about my sister?”

“I won’t eat your sister either.”

“Joa.”

When Luca was assured that she wouldn’t eat his sister either, he smirked and ran into the cabin. While the sheets and mattress were baked in the morning sun, she made clothes for the children. She cut the clothes and extra fabric she was wearing to fit the children’s size. In fact, she only cut and designed, and the sewing was slurped by an enchanted needle.

When she finished it, the clothes were too modest. Children should also wear cute clothes so she cut out a bunch of lace from her hair ribbon, colorful tablecloths, and curtains and attached them to the clothes as decorations.

“That’s a good fit. I’m glad I did.”

When she saw the children in the clothes she had made, she smiled proudly. But was it too fancy to wear on the way to pick mushrooms in the woods? She went straight to the depths of the forest with the children.

Luca, who had sealed the deal of not be eaten after giving ten wild flowers, followed

her without question. But Luna kept asking her, still watching her warily.

“Where are we going?”

“We are going to pick up the mushroom that grew up at night.”

By that time, mushrooms and chestnuts were at their plumpest.

“You’re not selling us or sacrificing us?”

‘How does a seven-year-old girl know about offerings?’

If she hadn’t been so wary, she wouldn’t have been able to survive in the

forest with her little brother. But she was so intense, that made her sweat from time to time.

“That cat is weird.”

Daisy would walk through the woods with her tail wagging gently and occasionally marking the trees for territory.

“She is just like a puppy.”

“… Cats like that, hmm, that’s what you call a dog.”

She’s really sharp. Sweat ran down her spine. It was black magic that changed souls. So, if she discovered that her cat and dog’s soul had changed, she might be executed for using black magic.

[Daisy, please be like a cat.]

It was not her doing, but she didn’t want to die.

[Squirrel! Squirrel! Squirrel!]

But Daisy, completely distracted by the tree-climbing squirrel, didn’t even listen to her.

‘Uh-huh, really…’

It was dark in front of her. She quickly picked up the cat, which scratched the trunk of the tree and even barked softly instead of squeaking, into her arms.

“Come on, this way.”

Mushrooms tend to come from damp, shady places. They left the trail and entered a grassy and mossy forest. Luna followed her from about two steps behind, holding her brother’s hand tightly, wondering if they should run away. After about ten steps, a mushroom colony with coveted mushrooms sticking out from among the fallen leaves at the base of the tree appeared.

Luna asked, who was watching with suspicious eyes as she excitedly cut the mushrooms and put them in the basket.

“Is this where mushrooms came from?”

“Then where did you know it came from?”

“I thought they were picked from a tree like an apple…” 

Haven’t they picked mushrooms before? What did the parents do when they didn’t teach them those things? In a place where gathering and farming were the main means of livelihood, wild crops were common knowledge that must be learned from an early age. She picked mushrooms and taught them one by one.

“It’s a reticulated mushroom.”

A mushroom resembling a wild cluster was held up in front of the children. It was an appetizing-looking mushroom with thick brown lampshades and plumb, cream-colored columns. It tasted and smelled good, making it one of the most beloved mushrooms here, and although not as much as truffles, they were sold at a fairly high price. That was not common sense for her, who spent her whole life in Seoul, South Korea. It was all knowledge contained in the mind of the evil witch, the owner of this body.

As she possessed the witch’s body, her memory was inherited, and she also gained magical abilities along with the knowledge of that world. But he didn’t know why it fell short of the witch’s original abilities.

‘Now you understand, right?”

“Yes.”

“Joa.”

The children began to rummage under the trees in search of the mushrooms she had taught them.

“Don’t go too far.”

As she pleaded and picked mushrooms, the rustling of leaves stopped, and Luna exclaimed.

“This is pretty!”

“Wow, strawberry gata. Do you want to drink strawberries?”

‘Strawberry? Was it strawberry season now?’

She jerked my head in the direction of the sound and was stunned. The mushroom shade in the children’s hands was bright red.

“That’s a clown mushroom, isn’t it?”

It was exactly like the  plumber that tried to save the peach princess. For some reason the one that did it was not a warrior, but a plumber.

It was a poisonous mushroom that causes hallucinations and could kill a child! The children, thinking it was strawberries, opened their mouths wide and took a bite.

“Oh no! Don’t eat that!”

In her haste she ran to the forest screaming. The little ones who saw her lunge like a bull flinched. Thanks to that, the mushroom that he was about to put in his mouth slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground. 

‘Phew… I’m glad I did.’

The misfortune was that the children were scared of her and started crying. Even Luna, who had been so big, slumped her shoulders and cried.

‘Oh, no. I’m not angry…’

She felt like she did something bad even though she had saved the children. So she patted them on the head.

“That’s a poisonous mushroom. So you can’t pick up anything in the forest without my permission, okay?”

She thought Luna survived because she was stunned. She didn’t know anything like that, so how did they survive in the forest so far? 

“Now, let’s go pick up some chestnuts.”

She took the depressed little ones to a chestnut colony to appease them.

“This is… chestnuts?”

Luna asked, looking down at the chestnuts rolling on the ground.

‘My god. Look at those eyes as round as plates.’

“Have you really never seen a chestnut?”

The little ones crouched down to see the thorns sprouting in the ground, staring curiously and nodding.

‘”We’ve never been into the woods.” 

“But as soon as you go out…”

“We were confined into the house.”

“What?”

Her head was numb at the sheer revelations. In her imagination, she almost could see a musty smelly basement where the children were trapped without a ray of sunlight being muffled.

They were so good-mannered and talkative, and even have good dining etiquette.

Even so, she didn’t know what a 5-7-year-old child would have done, but she didn’t know the world too much, so maybe they grew up trapped. 

‘Oh my God, this is abuse. Shouldn’t I report it somewhere?’

Even if the father of the children came looking for them, she should never let them go.

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Translator Note: