<Chapter 43. Return - 4>

The first thing they did after leaving the secret shop was inspecting the wine factory's facilities. After that, they told the Dryads where their princess was, and what she was doing.

After he'd calmed down the spirits that latched onto him, he collected the wine barrels and supplied new oak barrels. And only then could he sigh.

"We've finally come to a safe place... so shall we start?"

"...Start what?"

Jin replied, and gulped down spit he didn't even have. He tried to feign ignorance, but he already knew what Lee Shin Woo was planning. He could tell just looking at Lee Shin Woo taking out and sorting the 10,000 or so bones he'd collected from the level 8 dungeon!

"What do you mean? Before we go, we're going to level you up."

"I still need 2,500 stats to level up. Do you really think it'll be that easy?"

"Yeah. So long as I have this, the Garuda's Wing Bone!"

"I think so too..."

Jin saw Lee Shin Woo's unnecessarily brisk smile (whenever Lee Shin Woo smiled like this, it usually meant that something assuredly not fun was going to happen), and realized that he had no way to escape. Since meeting with Lee Shin Woo this time, Jin's best friend 'resignation' had been patting him on the shoulder.

"You could say that your level up is the fruit of your time on the surface. I'm sure of it this time. If you absorb the Garuda's Wing Bone, then... When you level up, you'll gain real wings!"

"You could make me wings. Can you not make me into a human!?"

"Oh, about that. I hadn't really explained that part thoroughly enough to you."

"Ugh..."

Lee Shin Woo suddenly sobered up. Jin, who had been pushing him, felt tense. Jin thought that maybe Lee Shin Woo could already transform into a complete human.

He didn't get this from Lee Shin Woo's reaction but from Ye Jin Jin and Sinea's reactions. ...All the more reason he didn't want to hear it from him. He was scared of getting a definite answer.

"You must have some idea by now, but just a little while ago, I became able to disguise myself completely as a human. No, to be more specific, calling it a disguise at this point doesn't really fit. It'd be more accurate to say that I can 'define' myself. It's because I have this ability that I was able to use the Wild Card or Dark Shadow skills."

"Ugh..."

"However, that ability's focused on me. Which means I can't yet use it to fundamentally change others. Several of my abilities grew as I leveled up, so... I could probably change your outside appearance to that of a human's, but it's ultimately limited to just the outside. ...I thought that might hurt you even more, so I didn't say anything. Sorry."

"Ugh... Uaaaaah."

"Jin!?"

Lee Shin Woo had made up his mind and spoken, but Jin reacted in a completely unexpected way. He expected him to kick with his hind legs or use his Magic Breath, but Jin just rolled onto the ground while screaming.

"Eugeuuu! Uaaaaah!"

Lee Shin Woo was truly taken aback at the sight of Jin rolling on the floor, his four legs writhing. Because Jin's agility was so high, his feet left afterimages, but laughing would be the worst possible decision here, so he suppressed the feeling.

"Heueu. Hoooo..."

"Jin, have you calmed down?"

"Grr."

A few minutes later, Jin stopped writhing around. But when he asked a question, Jin grit his teeth. Seeing that, he realized that Jin hadn't calmed down yet, so he decided to wait patiently for a few more minutes. Jin skillfully stood up by himself and stepped onto the ground with his four legs.

"I'm good."

"A-Alright."

"Just wanted to get this out there. You didn't do anything wrong. I just wanted to vent. Moreover, I know that you're trying to figure out how to turn me back into a human."

"Mm..."

If he were to say 'You knew about that already?', then their partnership might break. Lee Shin Woo looked into his eyes and Jin sighed. Then, Jin spoke much softer than before.

"You said you could change my outer appearance, right?"

"Yeah. To whatever appearance you recognize."

"Alright. Then could you turn me back, before I level up, just once? I want to show you what I looked like when I was still human."

...It was a long time coming. At least, that's what Lee Shin Woo thought. When Jin said that, the hanging tension between them had already implied the coming results.

Even so, he couldn't not do it. This was an event of sorts. An event that had to occur if Lee Shin Woo and Jin wanted to continue to be partners from now on. In the end, Lee Shin Woo nodded his head.

"...Alright."

"I'm all set."

Lee Shin Woo slowly extended his hand towards Jin and used his Disguise skill. The change was immediate. The horse shape turned into a human's build, and in the middle of it, skin began to cover Jin's body.

If Lee Shin Woo were disguising himself, it wouldn't take this long. But because he was using it on someone else, so dramatically at that, the process was a bit horrifying. The basic modeling was finished, which set the groundwork for adjusting the fine lines of the human body; it was starting to look like a human now.

"...Hoo."

Jin's image was indispensable, as he was transforming from a skeleton horse to a human. Not a weak image, like something he'd seen just once or twice, but his own image, the image of himself all his life.

Therefore, there could be only one viable result: Jin Taylor's human appearance on Earth.

"It really is my body."

She was finished disguising. Jin's voice was always quite beautiful, but it had become even more so when she'd transformed into a human. It was the type of voice that made someone feel better just by listening to it.

"...That so?"

"Yep."

Jin's legs were slender as if it was evidence that she was a sprinter, and the beauty of her leg lines, which started at her muscled thighs, was truly striking. The hot pants really fit her.

Her upper body was thin as well. Jin's loose-fitting T-shirt didn't cover fully cover her slender waist. It was the same for her slender stomach. But her chest was so voluptuous that he wondered whether she could really run with it. Jin saw where he was looking and smiled as if she found it funny. Then, she explained.

"Shin Woo, you shouldn't underestimate the recent sports bras."

"What's worse, it even disguised what you're wearing as well... Never mind."

He'd only transformed her outer appearance, but he'd almost responded unnecessarily. It was definitely because he was agitated. Lee Shin Woo then asked her.

"So how do you feel?"

"Mm."

Lee Shin Woo looked into her eyes (as she was laughing) and smiled bitterly. Her blond ponytailed hair was quite striking, but her endlessly blue eyes and her facial features were so beautiful that he felt like it was a bit of a waste that she was an athlete.

'When she was still an athlete, she must've had a ton of fans', he thought calmly... and then he bowed his head and apologized to her.

"I'm sorry for everything till now. I'm a real bastard."

That's right. He'd desperately ignored it until now, but he'd already known for a while.

That Jin was a girl.

There was no way he couldn't know.

'Our countries were different, the way we lived were different... We had too many different fundamental values that couldn't be attributed to just those two factors.'

No, that was just an excuse. He'd known from the beginning. He was suspicious when he'd first heard Jin's voice, and he was sure of it when he saw how well she got along with Ye Jin Jin.

He had been a company employee in South Korea. There was no way that Lee Shin Woo, who'd met so many people during his time as a company employee, wouldn't recognize his partner's gender, who he spent 24 hours a day with. But the reason he'd regarded Jin as a man was because 'it was more comfortable for him that way'.

Jin knew that, and he trusted that Jin understood.

"You don't need to apologize. At first, I thought it'd be better if I kept it ambiguous. Even if I'm a skeleton horse, it'd be tough to ride on top a girl's back, right?"

"No... I'm so sorry."

"Moreover, look. We're a skeleton and skeleton horse. Who cares about gender? What was the point in even distinguishing my gender?"

"I'm sorry."

Lee Shin Woo had thought that way, so he'd left it alone, but you never know how someone might react. They really should've tackled this issue from the beginning. That's why Lee Shin Woo was apologizing.

"The more you apologize, the more miserable I feel... Haha."

The reason why trivial issues like this had become such a big deal, despite them being a skeleton and a skeleton horse was because... well, it was kind of obvious. Could he really write it off by saying that their timing was off or their mental attitude wasn't good?

It was fine when Jin was still a skeleton horse since her feelings wouldn't show on her face, but now, he could see her bitter expression on her face. So no matter how shameless Lee Shin Woo was, he felt like something was stabbing him in the heart.

"I guess there's some hope for me yet if you're feeling so apologetic. Though it's kind of laughable for me, a skeleton horse, to be saying stuff like this."

"I should be able to turn you back into a human soon."

"Alright. I trust you. When the time comes, we can start there. ...We'll be able to start from there, right?"

Jin's specialty was acting weak and unconfident, despite her exceptional abilities. Even after she assumed her beautiful human form, she remained the same, so he smiled automatically. She was well aware that her outer appearance was just a secondary factor to their relationship.

"Yeah, of course."

"Alright. I trust you, so I'll go back to being a horse. I'll level up as fast as I can."

"Ok."

Lee Shin Woo used all the elite level 8 bones, as well as the Garuda's Wing Bone on Jin, and Jin finally leveled up. In the process, she'd gained actual wings! Though they were comprised of bone, she wouldn't need to use the 'jet engines' all across her body anymore to stabilize herself in the air. Steel Heart formed over the bone wings, and by shooting out mana from that section alone, Jin would be able to fly.

And there was one more trivial change as well.

The moment he'd used the Garuda's Wing Bone for Bone Reinforcement, both Lee Shin Woo and Jin gained the light element.