This World is too Cruel to Men

“Do you understand? You have to fill this with water.”

“…Yeah.”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if she believed me, but it seemed she was willing to at least give it a try.

With a serious look, Yun-Seo nodded once and then stared intently at the cup I had placed in front of her.

How long did she stay like that?

Perhaps because this was her first time trying something like this, she needed to concentrate.

The space between Yun-Seo’s previously relaxed brows began to furrow.

Soon, a crease formed between her brows, so deep that I wanted to reach out and smooth it away.

But seeing how focused she was, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“Uhhh…”

A troubled sound escaped from between her tightly closed, pale pink lips.

It wasn’t working, was it?

I hadn’t expected it to work, so I wasn’t particularly disappointed.

Anyone could see that Yun-Seo had no idea what she was doing.

Besides, if it worked the moment I said ‘Try it!’, why would I bother pretending to be a genius?

If it worked that easily, she’d already be a genius.

‘Maybe my explanation wasn’t good enough?’

Seeing Yun-Seo’s reaction, I realized my explanation might have been too difficult for a seven-year-old to understand.

So, what should I do?

How could I explain it so that Yun-Seo could grasp the concept?

“Uhhh…”

She had controlled the water so skillfully in the bathroom, but it wasn’t working here. Perhaps that was frustrating her.

I had only looked away for a moment, but in that short time, she had puffed up like a pufferfish and started groaning.

Lost in thought for a moment as I watched her, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“Um… Yun-Seo?”

“…Yeah?”

“If it’s not working, how about trying this?”

“How…?”

“Well… imagine you’re making a rain cloud.”

“A rain cloud?”

“Yeah, gather all the hidden ones in the air and make a rain cloud… then…”

I trailed off, pointedly gesturing towards the empty cup.

“Make it rain into this cup here.”

This way, at least the image would be clearer than before, wouldn’t it?

Fortunately, it seemed to have worked for Yun-Seo.

She nodded, as if she finally understood.

However, that didn’t mean there was any dramatic change.

‘It seems like…’

It was going to take some time.

So, I asked Yun-Seo to continue practicing the same way, and from that day on, I started researching people known to have abilities similar to hers.

Of course, I borrowed Mom’s phone again.

‘There are quite a few cases…’

Yun-Seo’s ability, which I conveniently named Water Manipulation, had a surprising number of documented cases, considering it was supposed to be a rare talent.

And after researching, it seemed that the talent Yun-Seo had awakened was among the top tier of such abilities.

Most of the cases I found online showed limitations in the types of liquids they could control.

Compared to that, Yun-Seo had almost no limitations… so it was safe to say her ability was top-notch.

‘Okay. One source secured.’

I hadn’t experimented with every liquid on Earth, but it was obvious that being able to control various liquids was better than only being able to control water.

‘By the way…’

Speaking of liquids, I suddenly wondered if mercury was considered one.

I got a little sidetracked because there were so many reported cases, but there were a lot of examples to refer to.

Among them, what caught my interest were cases where people could not only control the movement of liquids but also their temperature.

Apparently, a Villain who was active about 20 years ago had such an ability.

Whenever this Villain went on a rampage, they said the surrounding area would be covered in ice.

Focusing on that case, I realized that what I had asked Yun-Seo to do was actually quite feasible.

Perhaps because this Villain was quite famous, the records, which were almost excessively detailed, stated that they could create ice out of thin air and shoot it at Heroes, even without any visible water source nearby.

If she could freely create water out of thin air, would she also be able to control its temperature?

I wasn’t sure how it worked in reality, but if that was the case, I needed to remember this.

Well, aside from the cases of Villains who made a name for themselves this way, there were also many who worked as firefighters.

They acted as substitutes for fire trucks in environments where it was difficult for them to enter.

It seemed that those who prepared to become Heroes but failed the qualification exam often went that route, and thanks to their performance at fire scenes, even after debuting as Heroes, they were often dispatched to fire scenes in a support role.

As I analyzed cases similar to Yun-Seo’s, Yun-Seo focused on the task I gave her.

She even came over to our house every day to practice.

I didn’t really mind her coming over, but after several days, I decided to bring it up… and let’s just say it backfired spectacularly.

Yun-Seo, upon hearing my comment, asked with a tearful face what would happen if her dad caught her practicing at home.

Did I want her to get arrested?

Of course, I told her that wouldn’t happen, but it wasn’t enough to soothe the pufferfish who had already swallowed the feeling of being wronged.

The cost of peace was substantial.

I had to give up my secret stash of instant ramen, the ones I had hidden away from Mom, who had this strange theory that eating too much flour-based food was bad for you, especially when you were young.

‘Oh… my cup ramen…’

It was a unique curry udon flavor, and I was saving it for when I had a craving.

Who knew I’d lose it like this?

“…Is it good?”

“Hmph…!”

She turned her head away as if telling me not to talk to her, but the way her cheeks moved as she chewed, ‘chomp, chomp, chomp’, was too adorable.

Well, it had to be delicious.

Curry was delicious, and udon was delicious. The combination of the two?

Plus, it probably had a ton of MSG in it. How could it not be tasty?

“Hey, if you could just give me one bite…”

What did it taste like?

I’d had curry udon before, but this was the first time I’d seen it as cup ramen.

Seeing Yun-Seo enjoy it so much made me incredibly curious.

So, I cautiously asked for a bite… but unfortunately, I wasn’t given the opportunity to taste it.

As if sharing a bite with me was too much of a sacrifice, Yun-Seo became slightly indignant and rejected my request.

‘But it was mine in the first place…’

I couldn’t argue with her when she was this upset.

I’d have to buy some myself later when I had the chance.

After appeasing her, I had her focus on her training again… Did that curry udon have some special effect I didn’t know about?

There hadn’t been any noticeable progress for days, but then—

“Huh, huh…?!”

A noticeable change finally occurred.

‘Wait, this happened so suddenly?’

It started subtly.

I felt like the air had suddenly become humid.

I looked at Yun-Seo, just in case, and as soon as I did, I heard a bewildered sound from her.

Following her gaze, I saw gray dust-like particles floating in the air.

‘Huh…?’

Wait a minute.

Why did it seem to be getting bigger?

It was definitely larger than before, too big to dismiss as just my imagination.

It felt like it had tripled in size.

What was disconcerting was that it was still growing.

It was then that I felt a sense of crisis for the first time.

What if it kept growing?

What if it became large enough to fill the entire room?

Wouldn’t my room end up like a place where the sprinklers had gone off?

“Stop…!!”

If that happened, there would be no way to deal with the aftermath.

I hurriedly stopped Yun-Seo.

The task I had given her was simply to fill the cup with water, so there was no need to make the cloud any bigger.

‘Wait, is that even a cloud?’

It looked exactly like a rain cloud, but I couldn’t be sure.

I hesitated to touch it directly.

That’s why I asked Yun-Seo, its creator, to stop it, but…

“Huh, huh?”

Her response was less than reassuring.

It was as if she had been deeply engrossed in something and had just come to her senses.

Perhaps that was why, when I checked again, the cloud had doubled in size.

What was slightly disconcerting was the change in the surrounding atmosphere.

Just a moment ago, it had been incredibly humid, as if it were a rainy day.

Now, the humidity had vanished, replaced by dryness.

If it were just dryness, I wouldn’t have been so flustered.

What made me panic wasn’t just the dryness that had taken over the surroundings and even my lips, but the accompanying sensation of something being drained away.

As if the cloud was absorbing all the moisture around it, my lips felt increasingly parched.

My skin felt drier than before, too.

‘No, what is this…’

I had clearly asked her to fill the cup with water, but why had she created some unexpected offensive technique?

Right now, Yun-Seo’s control over her ability was immature, but what if she mastered it and summoned this cloud again?

Wouldn’t anyone exposed to it be sucked dry of their body’s moisture and instantly turn into a withered mummy?

I imagined such a future, but Yun-Seo seemed simply bewildered.

She had tried it because I told her to, but perhaps she hadn’t expected to actually create a cloud.

She stared blankly at the cloud, which had grown yet again, now large enough to float in the sky without looking out of place.

“D-Did I make that? Really?”

“Yes, you did! So… stop it!”

I was afraid that either my skin would dry up or the cloud would go out of control and flood my room, so I shouted urgently.

Only then, as if she had finally snapped out of it, did Yun-Seo look slightly flustered and quickly nod.

She then stared intently at the rain cloud she had created and frowned… It didn’t take long for her expression to turn into a grimace.

And the moment Yun-Seo’s face crumpled, I instinctively knew.

Something was wrong.

No, it wasn’t just wrong; it was potentially disastrous.

“I-It’s not working…”

“What?”

“I-I told it to get smaller… but it won’t…”

The moment those words left Yun-Seo’s mouth, as if responding to them a beat late, the rain cloud began to shrink—

‘Plop—!’

The now highly condensed cloud released a single, transparent drop of water into the cup.

The weapon for negotiations with the adults had been acquired.