Chapter 03
Tia sat with her back against the wall, hugging her knees tightly with both hands.
And she stared back unflinchingly at the stone that had been watching her for a while now.
At first it was scary, but the more she looked, the more certain she became.
‘…It’s Tanipang.’
It transformed, and it used magic too.
The appearance was a bit different, but it was definitely Tanipang.
Gaining courage, Tia scooted forward a little.
Then, with her eyes wide and bright, she began examining the stone closely.
‘It’s all black, from head to toe.’
Her heart pounded with excitement.
Maybe, just maybe, Dad’s stories about coming from another world were true.
What if Dad really was a Holy Knight, and he had a fairy with him?
And if that fairy was the stone in front of her, and had come to bring Dad back to life?
“Kkamangpang…”
At the dreamy voice that slipped from her lips, the stone tilted its head.
That was when Tia blurted out her plea.
“Please save him!”
The child shuffled forward on her knees and clasped her hands together earnestly.
“Lord Kkamangpang! Please save my dad!”
—
[Should I bring him back?]
—
At first, she didn’t believe it.
Even Tia knew that dead people couldn’t be brought back to life.
But that was for ordinary people—what if it was a fairy?
‘He can save Dad.’
Doubt turned to certainty, and certainty turned to hope.
Her sad and sorrowful heart felt as if it had grown wings and was flying high.
But just as she was waiting for an answer with eager anticipation—
[To bring your dad back…]
The fairy, who had risen gently, stared at Tia and asked.
[You’d have to leave this place behind. Is that okay?]
Tia’s expression went blank.
She wasn’t sure exactly what “this place” meant.
Did it mean the room she and Dad lived in?
Or this alley?
Oh, did it mean she couldn’t go back to kindergarten?
[Everything. You’d have to leave behind all the time you spent here.]
As if reading her mind, the fairy answered.
Tia’s expression darkened.
“Everything” meant both the good things and the bad things.
It meant leaving behind Grandma from Unit 107, the aunt from Unit 203, and all the happy memories she’d built here with Dad.
As she struggled to find words, the fairy took a step closer.
[But if you want it, I’ll send you back.]
“…”
[To where you were born. To where you should have been. To where that man is still alive.]
Tia took a small breath.
It was difficult, but one thing was certain.
What was always most precious to Tia was Dad.
That fact had never changed, not even once.
“…I’ll go.”
The moment she nodded—
As if it had been waiting, all the streetlights illuminating the alley went out.
The window of Unit 106 rattled in the blowing wind.
The neatly folded blanket, the crayon drawings on the wall.
Two toothbrushes of different sizes in the toothbrush cup trembled slightly.
When the streetlights came back on, Unit 106 was empty.
As if no one had ever been there from the start.
—
“Mmm…”
Tia woke up on a fluffy, soft cotton candy.
But the moment she came to her senses, she was startled.
‘This isn’t cotton candy?’
Where Tia was lying was on a soft, fluffy blanket.
Only then did she snap fully awake.
“…Dad.”
Her heart pounded as she recalled what had happened before she fell asleep.
Just then, an unfamiliar voice came from beside her.
“You’re awake.”
Startled, Tia jumped up from her spot.
A boy she’d never seen before was standing by the bed.
But just as she was about to pull the blanket over herself and hide, Tia noticed something familiar about him and tilted her head.
“Kkamangpang…?”
Jet-black hair like the night sky.
Eyes that sparkled like jewels, and ears that slightly poked up from the top of his head.
When the boy shook his head, the ears disappeared, but Tia was certain.
“Kkamangpang! You can transform into a human!”
The boy’s expression immediately turned sour.
He spoke in a dry voice.
“Me?”
“Huh?”
“I’m asking if that ‘Kkamangpang’ you’ve been calling out is supposed to be me.”
Tia tilted her head.
She thought he was smart since he could use magic and said he’d bring Dad back to life.
But apparently, Kkamangpang was the type who was similar to the kids in kindergarten who always got his name wrong.
“Uh-huh! Since you’re a fairy…”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not Kkamangpang.”
Tia went “oh” and closed her mouth.
No wonder he kept making an uncomfortable face—it seemed Tia had misunderstood something.
Come to think of it.
She’d never seen a Tanipang that could transform into a human and even bring back the dead.
‘Kkamangpang—no, Kkamang must be an even greater fairy. Like, the kind that appears in legends…’
Wait, then maybe he wasn’t Tanipang but Pupetmon?
For Pupetmon, from the Legendary grade onward, there were incredibly powerful ones that could even time-travel.
‘I’m sure of it.’
Tia began looking around with a wary expression.
She was definitely at home before falling asleep, but when she opened her eyes, the surroundings had changed.
That meant Tia had been teleported.
This place looked like an ordinary room at first glance, with a large bed and fluffy bedding, but…
‘It’s a tent.’
Seeing the canvas fluttering above, she realized this was inside a tent.
“Kkamang. What kind of tent is this?”
“Kkamang… forget it.”
For some reason, Kkamang let out a deep sigh.
Then he folded his arms and answered.
“Your dad’s hometown. You said you wanted to come.”
“…Dad’s hometown?”
“Yeah.”
Tia’s eyes slowly grew wide.
—
‘Dad’s hometown, Talochium, is a beautiful country. They say it was even prettier before the magic stones appeared… Anyway, it’s incomparably bigger than here, and the air is cleaner…’
—
Whenever Dad talked about his hometown, stars sparkled in his eyes.
Tia had heard so much from Dad that she knew a lot about Talochium.
“The problem is that even I couldn’t bring your dad back to life.”
But Kkamang’s next words scattered Tia’s memories like mist.
Tia stared at Kkamang with a tense expression.
‘He couldn’t bring Dad back to life?’
Did that mean he couldn’t save Dad?
That she’d come to Dad’s hometown all alone, without Dad?
Startled by the unexpected news, her body tensed up, but—
“So we came to the past.”
At his next words, she relaxed again.
Tia stared blankly and repeated.
“Came to the past…?”
“Yeah. If we just turn back time, everything will be resolved.”
Tia furrowed her brow with all her might.
And she began racking her brain as hard as she could.
Time goes back to the past.
The Tia from the original world—the future—had traveled to the past!
That meant,
“Then there are two Tias?”
Kkamang burst out laughing.
Then he walked to the entrance of the tent and opened the flap.
“Good try, but you’re off. Right now is long before you were born.”
Tia stared blankly at the scene before her.
A forest.
Outside the tent was a forest she’d never seen in her life.
As she stepped forward as if drawn, she could see the forest more clearly in the breaking dawn.
Conifers growing straight as if piercing the sky.
Between them, small trees with spread leaves, vines, dew-soaked moss…
“In this world, you’ll be born seven years from now.”
Birds began to chirp.
“Even if you meet your dad, that man won’t know who you are.”
Tears slowly welled up in Tia’s eyes.
“And there’s no guarantee you’ll even meet him in the first place. This place is bigger than you think.”
“I can find him!”
Tia spun around.
On her tear-filled face was a bright smile.
“If Dad is alive, I can find him!”
It didn’t matter if Dad didn’t recognize her.
It didn’t matter if he treated her coldly as a stranger.
As long as she could see him again, as long as she could see Dad healthy again!
Taking a brave breath, Tia rolled her eyes.
‘Dad definitely said it. That he was the super strong, greatest Holy Knight.’
And Tia, the devoted daughter who had carefully listened to Dad’s stories every night, knew.
“Let’s go! Kkamang!”
That the Imperial Holy Knights’ headquarters was in the capital.
—
But it didn’t take long for Tia to realize.
That life wasn’t as easy as she’d thought.
“Huff, huff… What the…”
She’d definitely been walking for a while.
When she turned her head, she could still see the tent they’d left behind, not too far away.
“Why haven’t we gotten farther than this…?”
For some reason, Kkamang let out a deep sigh beside her.
