Absurdly, it seemed I had fallen asleep without even realizing it.
And what about Chirpy?
No matter how tired I was, how could I leave the spirit out there and just peacefully sleep?
I quickly got up and looked around, but I couldn’t see even a single tail feather of Chirpy.
Maybe it had hidden itself quickly because Rod was here.
Or perhaps it was quietly using transparency.
But my intuition, ominously, was telling me that the spirit hadn’t returned.
“Are you looking for something?”
Rod tilted his head quizzically, perhaps finding it strange that I was even lifting up the pillow.
My mind was so uneasy that I was rummaging around even in front of him.
If I continued to act suspiciously here, I would clearly draw unnecessary suspicion.
“No…”
In the end, I gave up on searching for Chirpy and followed Rod with reluctant steps.
I forced myself to believe that the spirit was smarter than me and would be fine.
It wasn’t long before Rod and I arrived at the dining room.
I sighed, bracing myself to face that disgusting face again, but the scene that unfolded was unexpected.
“Why is no one here?”
The room was empty, contrary to my expectation.
Only one place setting was prepared on the luxurious wooden dining table—mine.
I barely managed to suppress the corner of my mouth that wanted to curl up in delight and turned to Rod.
“Lord Igor has left early due to his schedule. He said he expects a proper bath attendance this evening.”
“…”
‘Damn that bath attendance!’
The corner of my mouth, which had been twitching with joy, dropped sharply.
‘Surely he doesn’t expect me to attend to his bath every day like this.’
If so, every moment would be a continuous struggle and crisis.
Since I couldn’t use the ‘first day’ excuse starting today, I had to think of a different countermeasure before evening arrived.
“I will prepare your meal. Would you like wine to drink, perhaps…”
“Water is fine.”
A moment later, as soon as I sat down at the prepared place, the chef appeared with plates as if he had been waiting.
Freshly baked croissants, bacon, and steaming Eggs Benedict.
Besides those, fresh fruits and salad were placed on the table in sequence.
I didn’t know much about nutrition, but it seemed like a healthy diet with a good balance of carbs, protein, and fat.
It was a rather large amount for one person, but perhaps because the chef was skilled, the food looked delicious.
I put a green grape in my mouth and gave a slight nod to the chef.
“Could I trouble you for ten more plates of the same, please?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m a big eater, you see. Could you put everything except the fruit and salad on a cart and bring it to my room?”
The chef looked somewhat flustered at that request.
It was understandable, as the quantity was already large, and I was asking for ten more servings.
When I looked at him as if asking why he wasn’t moving, he quickly bowed and rushed back to the kitchen.
But then, Rod, who was standing in the corner, suddenly did something I couldn’t understand.
He abruptly knelt down and rustled something out of his pocket.
What was in his hand was a simple energy bar.
It was only about the size of my palm.
Rod was chewing and swallowing it almost mechanically, without any sign of savoring the taste.
He was satisfying his minimum hunger as if it were a familiar routine.
In that moment, a remark Lee Donghyuk made in North Korea suddenly came to mind.
‘Once you’re infested with the bug, contract terms and all that are useless. They’ll feed you just enough not to starve, and force you to use your powers until your magic runs out every day. The bug doesn’t need to be treated well.’
‘They’ll be grateful to eat the scraps that others throw away. I plan to make him like that.’
Igor’s thoughts wouldn’t be much different.
From what I’d experienced firsthand, people like him always thought in similar ways.
Most of them felt pleasure in trampling on others and pathologically obsessed with confirming their own power.
I was certain that even that single action of kneeling was Igor’s intention.
The bastard was maliciously instilling a sense of humiliation in Rod.
Deluded by the superiority of having tamed an A-Rank with the body of a mere civilian, he didn’t treat Rod like a person.
“Why don’t you just come and eat with me here?”
Watching that sight made my chest tighten painfully.
The image of him sitting there like a criminal, unable to even lift his head, made me extremely uncomfortable.
But Rod acted as if he hadn’t heard me and continued to stubbornly chew and swallow only the energy bar.
‘I guess it won’t work.’
I tapped the plate with my fork and thought hard about how to get some proper food into that stubborn mouth.
If directly refusing an order was impossible, what about indirectly?
After mulling over several ideas, I transferred all the bacon to an empty plate and got up from my seat.
Rod’s gaze followed my movement at the unexpected action.
“Want some bacon? I don’t really like it.”
“…”
“He didn’t say you couldn’t eat bacon, did he?”
With those words, I handed the plate to Rod.
Rod looked down at the plate with an unreadable expression.
Even with the golden-brown bacon in front of him, he showed no reaction.
Contrary to my expectation, he didn’t look like he wanted to eat it at all, which made me confused.
‘That’s strange… he should be hungry.’
I worried he might throw it aside as I returned to my seat, but fortunately, no sound came from behind me.
I glanced back, pretending to drink water, feeling like I shouldn’t show too much interest, and the plate was still in his hand.
However, the bacon was gone, and the plate was empty.
Surprisingly, he had devoured it all in that short time.
It seemed he wasn’t uninterested in bacon, but merely waiting for me to turn away.
‘Of course.’
Just because he was infected with the Slave Bug didn’t mean he turned into a robot; how could he not be hungry?
It was amazing that he had maintained his physique with just that meager energy bar all this time.
“What is your name?”
I poked the salad with my fork and asked without showing any emotion, but as expected, Rod didn’t answer.
Had he forgotten his own name due to the bug’s influence, or was he deliberately pretending not to know?
Since being discovered going down to the basement was already out in the open, there was no reason to hide it now.
“Rod?”
‘Flinch.’
His hand holding the plate trembled slightly at the name I casually threw out.
It might just be a lingering memory in his body, but he clearly showed agitation at his own name.
Just like ‘Seo Inho’s’ body reacted regardless of my will.
However, Rod’s hand, which had been twitching slightly, soon calmed down again.
“It is time to return to the room.”
“What? I haven’t finished eating yet.”
I had only taken about three bites.
And even those were just a grape and a bit of the leafy greens.
I had to eat as much as possible while Igor was away, so I tried to hold out, but Rod was being unreasonably insistent.
In the end, unable to resist his continuous urging, I had to stop eating and return to the room.
I raised my eyebrows in displeasure, wondering what kind of situation this was, but Rod only spoke one final, cryptic message.
“Wait in the room quietly.”
He left only those words and slammed the door shut.
I had never caused a disturbance, so why would he say that?
I couldn’t grasp his thoughts at all.
Just as I turned around, feeling somewhat uneasy, something that flew from behind me abruptly stuck to my neck.
I was startled by the suddenness of the situation, but after a brief moment, a smile slowly spread across my face.
“Chirpy!”
It was Chirpy, rubbing its cheek against my face.
I quickly pulled the spirit away and examined every inch of its body, and thankfully, it seemed unharmed.
I had secretly been worried that Igor might have caught it, so a great weight was lifted from my mind.
“I was worried about you. Did you just get back?”
‘Chirp…’
At my question, Chirpy replied listlessly and finally hung its head low.
It covered its head with its tiny hands and curled its body into a tight ball like a pebble.
Since it kept hiding its face, it seemed it hadn’t made any meaningful discovery in the mansion.
But I was just grateful that Chirpy had returned safely.
If anything, I felt sorry for putting an unnecessary burden on it.
It didn’t need to feel this level of responsibility at all.
“It’s okay. How could you find anything right away when the mansion is so big? You did well.”
When I gently stroked its back, it finally lifted its head.
Its bean-like eyes sparkled blackly, looking a little more cheerful.
If an S-Rank spirit like Chirpy couldn’t find anything, it was highly likely that a secret passage either didn’t exist in the first place or was extremely well-hidden.
My mind became complicated, thinking that escaping the mansion wouldn’t be easy.
‘Is there any good solution?’
I looked down at the cart filled with food with a serious expression.
I chewed my nails with my arms crossed, sinking into deep contemplation for a long time.
But every time a plausible idea came up, it soon hit a wall and dissipated into thin air.
It was because I had to abandon the plan immediately and devise a new one the moment someone got hurt or died.
After what felt like about 30 minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore and smacked my forehead with my palm repeatedly.
Perhaps because my head was dumb, a truly flawless plan simply wouldn’t come to me.
Rather than wasting time like this, it might be better to bring the food to the others before it got cold.
“What? Where did he go?”
But something was strange.
I checked under the door to see if there was a way to sneak out, but the shadow that should have been there was nowhere to be seen.
