559 - Marriage is a Community of Fate! # 10

Luna held out a golden liquor bottle towards me.

At the same time, Hippolyte rang the metal cup with a spoon with a *daeng-daeng-* sound, and I felt everyone's eyes turn towards me.

Caught off guard, I took the liquor bottle, and my mind went blank for a moment.

Because they asked me to speak about my New Year's aspirations as their representative. I had no experience doing that, nor any story prepared.

"Hassan-nim, please say a few words representing Hassan-nim's acquaintances, followers, and family gathered at the mansion-!"

With even Paranoy egging them on, I fell into a moment of thought.

What did I feel back in the day when listening to the principal's lecture at entrance ceremonies, school opening ceremonies, or vacation ceremonies?

The only thought filling my head was wanting it to end quickly so I could rest.

Wouldn't people in this world feel the same?

A long, tedious, and boring declaration of aspirations wouldn't suit me, and no one would like it either.

So, I inserted the opener's awl into the liquor bottle's cork and said casually.

"Everyone has done well so far. In the New Year, let's just keep doing as we've been doing."

As I tried to open my lips further, I saw hints of tension flash across people's faces here and there.

As expected, it's better to keep it short.

*Ppong-*. When I put strength into my finger, the opener made a crisp sound piercing the cork.

At the same time, golden bubbles began to spray out, boiling *bogeul-bogeul*.

*Swaaaah-*. It was just like a fountain in the garden, making us feel like we were showering in tiny golden liquor bubbles.

It felt just like opening a cola bottle that someone had shaken up vigorously.

"The liquor is spraying...! If you don't want to get wet, you must avoid it...!"

For a moment, Doris and several other Nymphs fled in a panic.

I felt a dizzying intoxication rising from the refreshing aroma of the rich fruit liquor swirling and rising in the air.

I started getting drunk just from the smell, which usually doesn't affect me even with considerable amounts of alcohol.

Only one thing proved that fact.

That this liquor bottle Luna handed me was undoubtedly worthy of being called the liquor of the gods.

"It's a wonderful aroma-! Just smelling it makes me feel drunk already-! This is a very Nymph-friendly aroma-!"

Paranoy, his face flushed from the intoxication, said.

"As Hassan-nim's right hand, chief follower, and the undisputed Archduke of this mansion, who achieved the greatest feats and endured the most hardship last year, is it permissible for me, Paranoy, to taste it first...?"

"I, Doris, also worked hard, stoking the fires, aging the fruits. Collecting honey, stomping and crushing grapes. It was a daily grind of hard labor...! Therefore, I have the right to taste the first liquor...!"

Seeing even Doris next to me speaking as if expecting to taste a cup of liquor, I got a strong feeling.

While it might not be the divine liquor Nectar that Bacchus brewed.

Luna, in her own way, managed to craft the gods' liquor, which she had never seen or tasted before, into her own.

Honestly, I had implicitly thought Luna could do it.

Seeing the results of her work was more surprising than I expected.

I thought it would take at least a few years.

"Hassan, how is it? Does it seem well-made?"

When the golden carbonation subsided for a moment, Luna asked me.

I looked at the bottle where carbonation bubbles were boiling *bugeul-bogeul*.

The smell and color. Everything was intensely magnificent, but the most important things are surely taste and efficacy.

"I'll have to drink it to know."

"Then hurry up and try it-! I haven't had a single sip yet either, because I wanted to give it to Hassan first-!"

At Luna's question, I alternately glanced at the bottle and the faces of the people.

Could I ignore the many gazes focused on me and the way they kept glancing at the liquor bottle?

If I drank all of this alone like this, it seems like a premonition that I'll have to endure a barrage of questions like "How did it taste?" for days to come.

"Let's all have a cup each. Everyone who wants to drink, line up here-!"

I shouted to everyone.

While it would be nice for me to drink this entire bottle, it's a celebratory liquor for the New Year.

I thought it would be good to share it together, no matter how small the amount.

So, when I waved my hand towards everyone, people lined up in front of me as if they had been waiting.

Right now, the people in the mansion - my companions and the Nymphs, the members of the former Pluto priests, and Paranoy's intelligence agents called the Black Brotherhood, about fifty people in total.

It's absurd for fifty people to drink from this one bottle, but.

Wouldn't a sip that just brushes the tongue somehow work?

So, with experiences deeply ingrained in my body from countless instances of receiving school lunches and meals, I poured only a very appropriate amount into each cup.

*Jjoreuk-*.

Portion control is important.

If I get too ambitious and pour too much from the start, the last person might not have any left to drink.

Then Paranoy, his face flushed red, scrunched up his forehead.

"This is an amount so small that not even the tip of a pinky finger can be submerged in it...? I, Paranoy, deserve a slightly larger amount of liquor than this...!"

"No. The person behind won't be able to drink. Next person."

"Hoo-ee, this Hoenoi hasn't become an adult yet, so she can't drink...! My share can be given to other friends...!"

When about 50 cups of exquisite portions were distributed like that.

Everyone raised their golden cups, shimmering like shallow water surfaces.

"Cheers-."

And then, each person began to bring their lips to the cup and sip little by little-.

I, too, finally poured the very tiny remaining drops in the bottle into my cup and drank them with a *huureup*.

* * *

"Mom, for the picnic lunchbox, I asked for inari sushi, not jjajangmyeon. Even kimbap would have been fine.... The jjajangmyeon got all soggy, I couldn't eat it...."

I complained to my mother, who had made jjajangmyeon for my school picnic lunch.

Soggy jjajangmyeon. I ended up not being able to eat it and had to share snacks from my friends' lunchboxes during the field trip.

It was embarrassing.

When I complained to my mother after returning home-.

I got a knuckle-rap on the head for not being grateful about the food.

It hurt so much and made me upset that I cried my eyes out.

Why am I even talking about this now?

This is a memory sealed deep in the D drive of my very old dual core.

What the heck.

Where am I?

"Hassan-. Wake up-. It's already morning-. Morning-. It's morning-."

Someone shook my body vigorously, and I was able to open my eyes.

"What the-. What is it, what happened? What is this?"

When I looked around, I realized I was already lying in my bedroom, asleep.

On my incredibly spacious bed, Gloria, Hippolyte, and Luna were lying together.

Hippolyte and Gloria seemed to still be asleep, breathing softly *saegeun-saegeun*.

Only Luna, resting her head on my right arm, was looking up at me with her eyes sparkling brightly.

"What the, what is it, what happened?"

"Hassan, last night... after tormenting me like that, you don't remember?"

Tormented me? What did I torment?

Last night?

As I tried to retrace my memory to perform a fragment collection on my drive, wondering what happened last night-.

*Jjigeun-*. *Jjigeun-*.

"Ughhh-."

My temples hurt as if they would break.

The temple is one of the vital points that can directly pressure the brain.

Such a vital point hurting means something must have gone wrong with my brain.

"Chaos, hooray-."

As I muttered softly, letters floated before my eyes.

『Name: Hassan Lv. 47 → 48 (+ 1)

Strength: 16

Agility: 16

Stamina: 15 → 16 + 1

Task Points: 1230 → 720

Blessings: "Shining Hand" "Armor of Night" "Dark Eyes" "Scorched Skin".

Status: "Terrible Hangover" "Cat's Grudge" "Friend of Locusts" "Debauchery".』

"What the heck. What is this-."

My vision feels blurry.

What I could see before my eyes were strange letters. The first thing that caught my eye was the stamina stat.

My stamina, which was originally only level 15, had not only risen to 16 but also had an additional level added.

Wasn't breaking past level 15 only possible by drinking Nectar?

While thinking that, the three letters N-E-C-T-A-R were clearly imprinted in my mind once again.

"I, definitely-."

We shared Luna's divine liquor, which she made herself, in small amounts, about one cup each, and then we toasted.

And after drinking that liquor.

Blackout.

It was truly complete darkness.

"No way, did I black out?"

Blacking out? That's something that absolutely cannot happen.

I've only gotten drunk and lost my senses once in my entire life.

Except for that one time, no matter how much I drank, I never lost my reason or blacked out.

Since temporarily inheriting the position of Chief Deity, it was safe to say that even drinking an amount of liquor as large as a pond wouldn't get me drunk.

But that I would black out?

Back then, I drank liquor with Luna.

When I drank the liquor she handed over, claiming Luna made it herself, I lost consciousness as if trapped in complete darkness.

Liquor made by Luna.

Terrible Hangover.

If it's similar....

If it's similar to back then- it's similar-!

"Shibal. No-."

Reaching a certain conclusion, I looked around.

Then, I noticed that Hippolyte and Gloria, whom I had thought were just lying there, had faces etched with a strange weariness as they slept.

And I could observe that their bodies were covered only by a thin blanket, revealing almost all of their thighs and chests.

"Hassan, last night..."

When I asked Luna, who seemed relatively lucid, she pulled the blanket towards her chest, saying shyly.

"Hassan, you were like a total beast.... I told you no. But you just forced your way through.... Everywhere, all over.... Now, really, if not for Hassan, we can't get married."

"Ugh-. Shibal, I don't remember-."

It seems like a really good memory, but it's not in my head.

*Seureuk-*.

I slipped out of the blanket and stepped onto the floor.

Just as I thought I stepped on the plush carpet.

*"Yiyaoong-!"*

Something noisy and intense was running wild, fleeing in all directions.

"What the heck is that?"

It was a cat. Probably.

There was a ridiculously white cat beneath my feet.

It seems I didn't realize it was there and stepped forward, stepping on its tail.

But why a cat?

Was there anyone in the mansion who raised cats?

"Hassan, you went to Count Hawkins's manor yesterday and took a cat, didn't you? Since you protected the city during that time, they told you to give a reward-. Don't you remember?"

"I, I went to the manor and took a cat?"

Unable to believe the story, I clutched my throbbing head and slowly stepped out into the corridor.

Then, I saw buildings smashed here and there, and Nymphs scattered across the corridor.

I saw dogs barking noisily as they roamed the mansion, and jungle-like vines occupying various parts of the corridor.

It was truly a scene of utter chaos.

Looking down at the garden through the wall, which was completely smashed and had holes, the situation there was even more dire.

The garden was so densely packed with trees that it could be called a jungle.

The well-maintained garden becoming a jungle overnight.

Not many people on this Gaia continent could cause such a drastic change.

It was clear that I had done it.

At that moment, something rustled and cried out from the bushes.

*"Buooooo-."*

It was a ridiculously large beast.

An elephant, a beast sad for its long nose.

An elephant is now in my jungle-like garden.

I was ridiculously surprised.

"Where on earth did that elephant come from? Was there an elephant in my garden? No, not that I know of."

Just as I was surprised by the giant elephant wandering around the mansion's garden.

*Pasaseuseuk-*.

Soon, with the sound of trees shaking, something emerged.

With its heavy two legs stomping the ground *kung, kwang-*, opening its maw full of numerous fangs-.

*"Kueo-oooo-."*

"No, shibal, isn't that a dinosaur?"

A dinosaur?

That's right. It really is a dinosaur. To be precise, rather than a dinosaur, it's likely a bipedal monster of the dragon hierarchy, a Drake.

I heard that those Drakes are distributed throughout the Monster Forest where Echidna, the Queen of Monsters, lives.

I had no idea why such a creature was in my garden.

『Name: Hassan Lv. 47 → 48 (+ 1)

Strength: 16

Agility: 16

Stamina: 15 → 16 + 1

Task Points: 1230 → 720

Blessings: "Shining Hand" "Armor of Night" "Dark Eyes" "Scorched Skin".

Status: "Terrible Hangover" "Cat's Grudge" "Friend of Locusts" "Debauchery".』

Only then could I focus my gaze on the letters like "Terrible Hangover," "Cat's Grudge," "Friend of Locusts," and "Debauchery" that appeared in my status.

While I was drunk, I had a feeling that quite a lot had happened.

At that moment, I felt a small presence behind my back.

"Hassan-nim, last night... it was truly magnificent-! I, Paranoy, have once again come to admire Hassan-nim's greatness-!"

"Paranoy-!"

I grabbed Paranoy's shoulder, who seemed relatively lucid.

"Do you remember what happened yesterday-?"

"Of course-! Here, I even had my loyal subordinate, the smartphone, record it-!"