The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 175

The first impression of Halvern’s Secret Archive—something I had imagined would be gloomy and eerie—was the complete opposite of what I expected.

The black, dark background and the endlessly stretching shelves of books did align with my imagination to some extent, but the atmosphere itself was entirely different.

It feels like I’ve come to space.

Or perhaps a whole new world.

“So this is Halvern’s Secret Archive……”

It truly looked like a place where countless secrets lay dormant.

Though I wasn’t entirely sure whether I had come to the right place.

So now… do I just start looking through the books here?

Just as I stepped closer to the shelves—

“Eek?”

A black, amorphous mass—something like a slime—wriggled and clung to my foot.

“What is this?”

It was so black I hadn’t even noticed it was there.

“What is this thing? It looks like a slime toy.”

—Intruder…… eliminate……

“…?”

I sensed killing intent for a split second and flinched. The black mass squirmed and crawled up my leg, then suddenly froze.

—Key status…… confirming……

What?

The black mass wriggled, then trembled violently.

—Key…… legitimate visitor……

“What have you been mumbling about this whole time?”

Plop.

At that moment, the black mass dropped to the floor and melted away completely.

“…?”

What just happened?

As I blinked blankly—

Pop!

“Welcome! New Key Bearer!”

A soap bubble burst, and an adorable baby elephant appeared to greet me.

“What is this?”

I must have said it out loud without realizing.

“What do you mean, ‘this’? To address the illustrious librarian like that—‘this’!”

The baby elephant screeched.

Though no matter how loud it yelled, it was still just cute.

“A librarian?”

“That’s right, a librarian!”

The baby elephant—only slightly larger than my fist—floated up into the air.

“I’ll introduce myself properly!”

BOOM!

A loud crashing sound echoed from afar.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The endless bookshelves split apart and folded away, forming a path I could walk through.

As if this was where the real “Secret Archive” began.

“I am Mac, the Dream Fairy! Librarian of Halvern’s Secret Archive!”

 

 

****

 

 

 

Dream Fairy Mac was a fantastical being with a long history, said to have existed since the Age of Faith, when ancient gods were worshipped.

“You’re asking what a Fantastical Species is? It refers to beings like me—entities formed from the imagination given shape by the cognition and will of living creatures!”

“Even though I use the term ‘species,’ Dream Fairies begin and end with me. Fantastical species are usually unique, just like I am.”

What’s more, Halvern’s Secret Archive existed within a reverse world owned by Dream Fairy Mac.

“You’re asking what a reverse world is? It’s a gap in reality! An unstable space where reality, the past, the future, what has existed, and what could exist all mix together!”

“A reverse world like this one—claimed and partitioned by an owner like me—is stabilized and safe. Well, unless you’re unqualified. Then you die.”

The slime-like black mass I encountered earlier was apparently a kind of guard that dissolved intruders to death.

“Ahh.”

Now I understood how Halvern had managed to protect so many secrets for such a long time.

It exists in a reverse world to begin with, has guards that kill intruders, and even a librarian protecting the archive.

“Come to think of it, it’s strange. If you had a key, you should’ve been able to enter properly through a ‘door,’ right?”

“……”

“Why did you come in like an intruder?”

“……”

I exercised my right to remain silent while Mac tilted his head repeatedly.

I don’t know either, okay?

At the end of the single path created by the shelves, there was another entrance. When I opened the door and stepped inside, a completely different scene awaited me.

Unlike the outer scenery that resembled space, this was a tranquil landscape recreating a garden at midday.

A sky filled with light, towering trees, benches placed on grassy fields—somewhere, birds were chirping.

“Welcome to Halvern’s Secret Archive!”

No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t resemble an “archive” at all.

 

 

*****

 

 

“Don’t look at it like that. This is definitely an ‘archive.’”

The baby elephant giggled and clapped its hands together. Pop! With the sound, arched doors appeared in every direction.

“Honestly, I’m really glad you came. I seriously thought I was going to starve to death at this rate! The previous head of the family was strange too, but the current one is even worse! Every time they come, they just bully me! I thought they were actually trying to starve me to death, you know?”

I tilted my head while listening to the dream fairy’s complaints.

“You said you can’t die since you’re a fantastical being.”

“Oh, you remembered? That’s right. If I don’t get anything to eat, I just fall asleep—I don’t die.”

“Then isn’t that fine?”

“But it’s still miserable—!”

The dream fairy Mac puffed up angrily, making pop pop noises, complaining about how I wouldn’t understand the sorrow of starvation.

“Ugh, okay. Stop it.”

After I barely managed to calm him down, Mac stopped sulking and quietly sat down on my hand. He might be the librarian of this secret archive, but since he looked like a baby elephant, he was just plain cute.

“So what do you eat? Since you’re a dream fairy… dreams?”

“That’s right. To be precise, I eat all kinds of ‘stories.’”

The baby elephant’s black eyes sparkled intensely.

“I used to eat all kinds of ‘dreams,’ but dreams are just unrealized hopes and ideals, or fears and desires of humans that take shape, right?”

Mac explained that as his grade rose, that fundamental concept expanded and evolved into ‘stories.’

In the end, what Mac consumed seemed to be human mental energy.

“What is ‘grade,’ anyway?”

“Grade is grade.”

“No, I’m asking what grade is.”

“Grade is grade, though?”

So what is that grade supposed to be?!

The baby elephant wore a gentle expression, acting like he truly didn’t understand.

“Well, I am me.”

“…?”

I thought it might be easy for once, but no.

I really want life to go on easy mode.

“Anyway, so you eat ‘stories’?”

“Yep!”

Maybe he was excited about the stories he’d get to eat—Mac looked at me with shining eyes.

“Let’s make a contract! I want to eat everything you see, experience, feel, and all the stories of the people you meet!”

For some reason, the atmosphere felt like he was about to turn me into a magical girl, but all this librarian could actually offer was unlimited access to Halvern’s Secret Archive.

“If I don’t make a contract, you won’t let me into the archive?”

“Yep.”

“That’s unfair!”

“I have to make a living too!”

Despite being a fantastical being, Mac coaxed me like a self-employed shop owner.

“Aren’t you curious? All the stories of the Halvern family that have passed through this archive? The story of the founding head can only be seen by the head, but you can see everything else.”

“Ugh……”

“Aren’t you curious about the secrets each generation of heads left behind? About Halvern’s true history?!”

They say curiosity can kill even a dragon.

“Do you have my biological mother’s story too?”

“Your biological mother?”

“Sion Siguria Halvern.”

“Oh.”

Rattle rattle— nameplates appeared in midair, spinning chaotically, before one popped out.

“Here it is.”

I had already seen my mother Sion’s past through Laplace’s Demon, but if there was a ‘story of Sion’ here, I was curious what it would say.

“Fine. Let’s make the contract.”

“Yes!”

As if he’d been waiting for it, Dream Fairy Mac rushed over. Instead of using his round, stubby hands, he wrapped his long trunk around my wrist and tilted his head.

“Huh? Where’s the key…? Ngh, this is really deep. Hmm. Hmmm. Huh? Oh?”

Mac tilted his head, then looked at me with a strange expression—like he was seeing something fascinating.

“…?”

Just as I stared back just as confused—

“Found it!”

A key-shaped marking glowed on my wrist, surfaced briefly, then disappeared.

At the same time, the scenery—like a sunny afternoon garden—flipped upside down in an instant and changed into something new.

It looked… like a modern library.

“Oh, a new scene!”

While I stood there dazed, the baby elephant was way too excited.

“Doesn’t look like you’ve lived that long, but you already have this many books!”

Beneath a nameplate clearly labeled 《Arellin Siguria Halvern》, new books were neatly lined up.

“New books! New stories!”

I was curious too.

What on earth was written in there?

Would my previous life’s story be written here too?

Thinking that, I stepped closer to the shelf—but Mac, who had eagerly pulled out a book and opened it, suddenly froze.

“What’s wrong?”

After opening nearly every book on the shelf and throwing them onto the floor, Mac started to tear up.

“Why… why are all your books empty?”

 

 

*****

 

 

In the end, I got kicked out.

There were dozens of books on the shelf, but they were all blank—except for the last two or three.

That made Mac furious enough to throw me out of the Secret Archive.

That jerk.

How is it my fault they’re empty?!

Looks like my past life isn’t written in there either.

And after I came back, Mehen and the childcare squad scolded me endlessly, asking where I’d even been hiding.

“Ugh.”

I wanted to go back immediately, but unfortunately, I already had plans today.

“Arellin!”

Today was the day I was going out to the shopping district with Chloe.

Somehow, I’d ended up helping Chloe with her shopping… but how did it come to this, really?

“Chloe, did you wait long?”

“Nope! I just got here!”

“Really? Then let’s go.”

As I was getting into the carriage, my eyes caught on a small carriage standing at the end of the street.

Wait.

That carriage looks familiar.

Don’t tell me that’s Pession…?