November 13th

In-woo denounced me as a pervert. I received a stern warning not to lay a finger on him.

Instead of coldly scolding me and smacking my back, he hugged the stuffed animal we bought as a souvenir and stroked it instead of me. It was his protest – he’d rather hug a doll than touch me.

Think I’d be jealous of a mere doll? Of course I was jealous of the doll. I was frustrated. Stroke me instead. I have so many more places to stroke than a doll.

***

November 18th

We returned to Seoul. It would be nice to keep leisurely traveling around, but In-woo will be busy soon. The movie he had agreed to film earlier is about to start production.

I enjoyed our time alone together, but even though I was the one who suggested it, I felt a bit disappointed…

When I showed a hint of disappointment, In-woo approached me first. He smiled, kissed me, and comforted me. I loved this gentle Kim In-woo so much that I couldn’t help myself – I embraced him and carried him to bed. In-woo complained a little but didn’t reject me.

I really do love Kim In-woo.

I’m happy.

***

November 26th

I noticed something today – In-woo no longer gets startled by sudden large shadows looming over him. He’s not completely unfazed, but he’s increasingly able to brush it off or not react at all. He doesn’t seem to have realized this change himself yet…

In-woo has improved, even if just a little. That’s a relief. Most of his fears stemmed from me. There were times when I wondered if I should eliminate the parts he fears, rather than completely stop using my abilities…

But I’ve decided not to do that now. As In-woo said before, time heals many things. All I can do right now is support In-woo by his side. If my efforts are added to time, In-woo’s wounds might heal a bit faster.

If possible, I hope In-woo gets better as soon as possible. And I hope he’ll love me. He might think I’m shameless, but In-woo is too kind to me, which makes me greedy. It’s a miracle that I came to like In-woo.

***

December 2nd

I decided to become In-woo’s manager again.

To become his manager, I had In-woo’s original manager promoted. When In-woo found out I was behind the sudden promotion, he was a bit dumbfounded, but since it was a peaceful solution, he didn’t say much.

This way, I can always be with Kim In-woo.

This is really nice.

***

December 19th

Today was the first day of filming, but something seemed off about In-woo’s co-star.

Does he keep looking at In-woo strangely? This isn’t just because of my suspicious nature. This actor actually has a history of trying to hit on In-woo before.

Back then, I had subtly suggested he direct his attention elsewhere, but now… Since In-woo told me to refrain from manipulating other people’s minds as much as possible, I held back.

But should I really hold back in situations like this? When another human is eyeing my lover? I was about to read his mind, but I stopped myself, remembering my commitment to quit reading other people’s minds.

But his eyes really look suspicious… like he’s plotting something.

I hope In-woo stays away from that person and is careful.

***

December 29th

I made a bit of a blunder.

That person wasn’t interested in In-woo, but in me. I hadn’t noticed because that person showed no interest in me before… But thinking about it now, back then I had Lee Sun-ho’s face, and now my face has changed.

My blunder wasn’t all bad though. While I was trying to block all contact between that person and In-woo out of wariness, apparently my frequent conversations with that person got on In-woo’s nerves. In-woo, who had been watching and wondering if I’d lost my mind, only understood the situation after reading my diary.

While I was busy being wary of that person, In-woo suddenly came to me, grabbed my collar, dragged me away, and pushed me into the car. Then he got on top of me while calling me an idiot… And we had a good time… It was really good. This was the first time In-woo had been this aggressive since I became Radel.

If In-woo treats me like this, I wouldn’t mind making wrong assumptions sometimes. I said that and got hit by In-woo. Ouch.

He got angry, asking why I didn’t just read their mind like I usually do when someone seems suspicious. Well, that’s because I decided not to do it unless it was absolutely necessary.

In-woo told me to stop making weird blunders and use my abilities appropriately. To be honest, I had been using them a little bit, but now that In-woo has given permission, I plan to use them more effectively. Though I’ll never read In-woo’s mind again.

***

December 30th

The reason I decided not to read Kim In-woo’s mind is simple.

Because In-woo doesn’t want it. And because reading In-woo’s mind isn’t particularly good for me either.

Until now, I’ve lived by simply reading and manipulating others’ minds. Honestly, it’s a convenient way to live. No need to worry about anything. But that was because the people whose minds I read were strangers I didn’t know well.

To be honest, about a year and a half ago, when I read In-woo’s mind… it was just to vent. I apologize for putting that horrible incident so lightly, but trash like me just got momentarily angry. I wasn’t angry enough for things to become that serious. Though I did end up getting very angry in the end.

I’m not trying to defend what happened then, so please bear with me and read a bit more even if you’re angry.

Usually, even when people fight and get angry, they don’t reveal everything in their hearts. Especially if the person they’re fighting with is someone precious to them.

This is partly a consideration to maintain the relationship between oneself and the other person, but even not revealing all momentary emotions can be considered that person’s true feelings. People swallow their sharp words and carefully choose more pleasant ones, trying to understand the other person while conversing, to avoid regretting saying things they ‘shouldn’t have said.’

But for me, reading minds when angry was natural. My way until now was to thoroughly scan and eliminate anyone at the slightest suspicion.

So I read Kim In-woo’s mind in what was, to me, a natural way. I read too much.

It was natural for In-woo to be angry with me then. I knew that. But I saw that anger too vividly.

I saw deep into Kim In-woo’s heart and read all the words and emotions he never intended to express. If In-woo’s intended anger towards me was level 1, I arbitrarily saw 100 levels worth of his inner thoughts and mistakenly assumed all of it would be directed at me.

I failed to properly see Kim In-woo, who feared and hated me but still hesitated, couldn’t let me go, and wanted to hold onto me somehow.

If I hadn’t read his mind then, things might have been resolved better. But I arbitrarily read his mind and lost my reason.

I left for a year to give In-woo time to think. I thought about a year would be enough time for his anger towards me to cool down and for him to start missing me. I judged that after that year passed, I could have a rational conversation with In-woo.

Actually, that time was more necessary for me. I needed to understand his anger and realize my mistakes while constantly thinking about Kim In-woo without being able to read his thoughts. I foolishly only realized this recently.

Omniscience is not omnipotence. I stopped reading Kim In-woo’s mind so I could see him properly.

Even without reading minds, we can share our hearts with each other. We can understand each other perfectly well by looking into each other’s eyes and talking, just like when I first recognized Kim In-woo’s existence as more than just a small human and fell in love.

…Actually, this is my first time writing something so sentimental, so I’m not sure if I’m explaining it properly. It’s difficult, but I plan to keep trying, so I hope Kim In-woo will look at me more fondly.

***

And, Today

It was a rare day off. In the late afternoon, In-woo, who had been flipping through the blue-covered diary, went to the living room. Radel was sitting quietly in the middle of the large sofa with his eyes closed.

At a glance, it was hard to tell if he was dozing off or handling external affairs. Thanks to technological advancement and his abilities, Radel could communicate with outer space and handle numerous tasks without any special equipment. Even after hearing the principles behind it, In-woo still couldn’t quite grasp how it all worked.

Much of the overly advanced alien technology still felt like fantasy to In-woo. Radel, who had lived in that world, had also belonged to the realm of unreality until recently. Even now, he still has one foot in that world.

Not understanding everything perfectly didn’t cause any major problems in living together. At times like this, Radel wouldn’t react unless touched, so In-woo quietly stared at his inhumanly handsome face from the seat next to him.

There was a time when he had been so afraid of him, but after these few months of seeing him, In-woo had become quite used to him. He would probably continue to get more used to him little by little.

Objects appear differently depending on the viewer’s perspective. Radel, as seen through In-woo’s eyes, contained various colors that were difficult to define in a single way. Sometimes he was lovable, sometimes infuriating, sometimes cute, sometimes annoying, sometimes foolish or perverted, sometimes frightening, but…

At this moment, in In-woo’s eyes, Radel appeared simply as a precious lover.

Leaning against the sofa, In-woo reached out to Radel. After hesitating briefly, In-woo lightly touched his lips, so gently that he might not even notice.

“I already love you plenty.”

In-woo murmured, thinking of Radel’s diary that he had just sneaked a peek at – or rather, had been allowed to read.

Quite some time had passed since Radel first started writing his diary. Though it seemed like he should have stopped by now, Radel still never missed writing in it. Unlike his previous records, instead of just observing In-woo’s actions, he wrote down his deep thoughts and speculations. In the last pages In-woo had read, traces of long contemplation were evident. It was full of Radel’s carefully refined sincerity, not just superficial words written to be mindful of others.

Though he had genuinely resented Radel during that year of absence, if he had changed like this, In-woo could understand. Without taking his eyes off Radel, who was quietly keeping his eyes closed, In-woo observed him thoroughly.

While Radel observed In-woo, In-woo simultaneously observed Radel. To avoid misunderstanding him, to stop hating him, to understand him a little better.

Radel is an Arkean, a race with massive bodies that can be freely adjusted. The Arkean’s appearance is similar to humans, but their size is dozens of times larger. This is considered large even among all the races existing in the universe.

Despite appearing sturdy due to their large size, they are actually extremely delicate mentally. Also, most of the species possess psychic abilities that can influence others’ minds. Because they easily suffer from depression, Arkeans are quite difficult and demanding to care for.

Among them, Radel was an Arkean with particularly outstanding abilities. He is highly aggressive, arrogant, and looks down on others besides himself. However, he is exceptionally gentle and kind only to Kim In-woo. He has excellent learning ability and knows how to reflect on his actions, so he won’t repeat the same mistakes. Though he occasionally suffers from depression, he’s not too difficult to raise if given plenty of affection.

While Radel seemed to have changed a great deal, his essential nature hadn’t changed much. He simply bowed his head and showed obedience only in front of In-woo. Thanks to this attitude achieved through Radel’s efforts, In-woo wasn’t afraid. Radel, who loves Kim In-woo, won’t repeat the same mistakes.

In-woo firmly grasped Radel’s left hand where the ring was placed. At the rather strong grip, Radel slowly opened his eyes. Under the dense golden eyelashes, clear sky-blue eyes sparkled and turned toward In-woo. The moment those emotionless eyes lit up, In-woo found himself breaking into a bright smile without realizing it.

Kim In-woo was now ready to spend his lifetime with Radel.

『A Human Observation Journal』 The End

Thank you so much for reading In-woo and Radel’s story! I picked up this novel one day without much expectations, and honestly it was kind of charming? A breath of fresh air amongst all the other novels I’ve translated so far. The next part would be a 10k word side story, and I don’t want to divide it into parts anymore as I’m kind of feeling lazy u_u

I hope I see you in my other works. Until then! Love, Adeline.