Volume 7 The Inverted Man Chapter 47 The Third Wish

　　Jasmin listened with a rush of excitement, but was still a little unsure:

　　”This, what kind of price do I need to pay?”

　　It seemed to her that just because the previous free attempt didn’t cost anything didn’t mean that the subsequent wishes would be the same.

　　Klein squared his bowler hat high on his head and smiled:

　　”The pennies you pay is the price, as is the corresponding change you need to endure after the wish is granted.”

　　Jasmin nodded with seeming understanding and, without further hesitation, dug her hand into her coat pocket and tried to feel out a few copper pennies to complete the wish.

　　However, her coat pocket was empty, nothing but a handkerchief.

　　It had been a long time since she had touched money after spending too much time at home.

　　And before that, she had relied on walking from her home to the town square, without taking the trackless public carriage.

　　”I… I… can I go home first?” Jasmin asked, chagrined and embarrassed.

　　”Of course, it’s your freedom, but I don’t guarantee that the ‘fully automated wish-granting machine’ will always be here waiting for you.” Klein laughed in a magician’s tone, “There are times when it’s capricious.”

　　Jasmin made two ‘hmm’ sounds, said thanks, and turned her body, jogging in the opposite direction of the town square.

　　The more she ran, the more relaxed her body became, and she regained the health she had before she was burned, turning back into that youthful teenager who was only seventeen or eighteen years old.

　　As far as she was concerned, this was a scene that only appeared in dreams.

　　Of course, as an ordinary person, after running for a while, she gradually felt tired and had to slow down her pace and start walking slowly.

　　The cool wind at night blew, one bright star after another came out from the high clouds, the trees beside the street swayed gently, sprinkling swaying shadows on the ground, it was all so quiet and beautiful that Jasmin only felt that her body and mind relaxed, and all of her worries were far away with it.

　　Since the injury, she was in such a peaceful mood for the first time, and unknowingly brought a little smile.

　　After walking for about five or six minutes, she suddenly heard someone calling her name:

　　”Huh, Jasmin?”

　　Jasmin looked sideways and saw a familiar face, it was her original neighbor, Mrs. Hamill.

　　”Good evening Mrs. Hamill, haven’t seen you in a while, are you going to the carnival?” Jasmin, who was not wearing a scarf, smiled from the bottom of her heart.

　　Mrs. Hamill, a woman with slightly graying hair, looked Jasmin over carefully for a few moments and said:

　　”I haven’t seen you since you moved away, I heard you were injured in the bombing earlier?”

　　”Well, but it’s healed.” Jasmin said with a heavy nod.

　　She then asked:

　　”How is Julie now?”

　　Julie was Mrs. Hamill’s eldest daughter and a past playmate of Jasmin’s.

　　Mrs. Hamill’s expression clouded over for a moment:

　　”She was, she was bullied by the Forsaks and died because of it ……”

　　Jasmin was stunned for a moment, remembering her own experience in her grief.

　　Once a Forsak soldier had broken into her house and tried to insult her, but after seeing her fire-damaged face, he just gave her a kick and left.

　　”Poor Julie.” Jasmin sadly and sincerely drew stars on her chest with four clockwise nods.

　　After hearing about what had happened to her friend in the past, she realized that she might still count herself as the luckier one.

　　Saying goodbye to Mrs. Hamill, Jasmin walked all the way back to the apartment building where her home was located.

　　Arriving outside her home, she slowed down, her mood restored, and she began to anticipate the look on her parents’ faces when they saw her back to her old self.

　　They shouldn’t be able to keep the pain inside anymore and act as if nothing had happened, they’d definitely burst into tears of excitement and embrace me with joy …… Jasmin removed the key that hung around her neck acting as a necklace and opened the door to her room as she floated through her thoughts.

　　The room was dim, and neither the candles, nor the gas wall sconces, were lit.

　　From the bed in the outer room came the sound of one heavy snore and one light snore, a sort of contrast to the bustle of the town square.

　　They were both asleep …… Yes, they usually worked hard …… Jasmin gently closed the door to her room and walked over to her parents’ bed, casting her eyes quietly through the scarlet moonlight shining in through the window.

　　Dad has a lot more white hair on his head, his lines have become so deep …… Mom sleeps with a frown on her face, her face is a little peeling, dry and brown …… Jasmin realized that he seems to have not seriously examined his parents face for a long time, and did not know that they had aged so much.

　　Before the war, her father was an accountant, earning a decent income, and could afford to rent a townhouse where he could keep his wife from going out to work and concentrate on taking care of the family, but now he had to go into a fabric factory and do heavy labor, and Jasmin’s mother had to leave the family and become a textile worker.

　　Dad’s health is also getting worse, always coughing, however, he has passed the recent unified examination for government employees, and when the results of the interview are announced, he will be able to have a decent job …… Mom has been complaining that her eyes her arms are getting worse …… Jasmin looked deeply at her parents and didn’t bother waking them up.

　　She had already thought of her second wish.

　　Easing her footsteps, Jasmin entered that room inside and poured out the last few pennies from her nearly empty piggy bank.

　　Then she left the apartment and boarded a trackless public carriage.

　　–She was afraid that she would be too late, and the “automatic wishing machine” would have disappeared.

　　At this time, the public carriage was full of passengers, most of whom were going to the carnival, Jasmin looked to the right and left, saw that there was no place, so she had to hold on to the bracket, stood in the aisle, and crowded with a lot of people.

　　Ten minutes out, she got off at her stop and turned into the same street as before.

　　When the brass-colored machine with a few glass inlays caught her eye, Jasmin breathed a silent sigh of relief and approached quickly.

　　In the process, she glanced around, not spotting the Mr. Magician named Merlin Hermes.

　　”Really fully automated and don’t need him around?” Jasmin murmured suspiciously.

　　She didn’t waste any time, she took out a 1p coin and put it into the “fully automatic wishing machine”.

　　”I wish for my parents to regain their health and for my family to become rich.” Jasmin whispered her wish and closed her eyes, waiting for a miracle to happen.

　　The next moment, she heard a clanking sound, as if a coin had rolled out of the “automatic wishing machine”.

　　Jasmin opened her eyes in dismay and looked ahead to see that the 1p coin she had just put in had landed in the small tray outside the slot.

　　This wish couldn’t be granted? Uh, you can’t include too much in one wish? What I just wished for is actually equal to two wishes …… With the experience of being cured of her burns, Jasmin didn’t suspect that there was something wrong with the “Automatic Wishing Machine”.

　　She thought carefully, and then put the 1p coin into the slot, and then lowered her head and whispered her wish:

　　”I wish for my parents’ health to be restored.”

　　This time, she heard a soft tapping sound inside the “automatic wishing machine”:

　　”Duh.”

　　Seeing that the coin wasn’t spit out, Jasmin knew that her wish had been granted and couldn’t wait to get home and see how her parents were doing.

　　Holding down her excitement, she put in a second 1p coin.

　　She had intended to wish for her family’s prosperity, but couldn’t help but think of something else when she realized that her father was basically set to become a government employee for the city of Limon and that the family’s income would be secure.

　　After the age of ten, she had become cognizant of the fact that she wasn’t good looking at all, it wasn’t that the people around her would dislike her and would say that she was failing in her looks, it was the fact that two of the teenage girls in her playmates were quite beautiful looking, which allowed them to be treated favorably a lot of the time, and to experience the kindness of the world.

　　With such comparisons, it was inevitable that Jasmin would dream of becoming more and more beautiful as she grew older, but it turned out that dreams could only be dreams.

　　This time, however, the dream could come true, for she has a miracle-working, fully automated wishing machine right in front of her.

　　If I can become beautiful, I can find a very good husband, as well as make the family situation improved …… Jasmin as if hearing the devil whispering in his own ear, uncontrollably closed his eyes and made a wish:

　　”I wish to become very, very, very beautiful.”

　　She used three very to qualify beautiful.

　　As soon as she spoke, the door of the fully automated wishing machine opened once again, and a silver-white mask was pushed out and placed over Jasmin’s face.

　　Jasmin opened her eyes just in time to see the mask disappear.

　　At the same time, she seemed to connect with something.

　　She turned her body with anticipation and once again made her way to the front of the store down the street, using the glow of the gas streetlight and the glass in the window to see herself as she was now.

　　Jasmin couldn’t for a moment describe exactly how the features and the contours of her face had changed, except to realize that in this moment, even she was indulging in that kind of beauty.

　　Her nose had straightened, her lips had plumped up considerably, her eyes had grown large and watery, her skin was as tender as milk pudding, and she bore only a slight resemblance to the original.

　　”Is this, is this a miracle …… ” Jasmin let out a heartfelt, uncontrollable exclamation.

　　She admired herself so much that it was hard for her to tear her eyes away and bow to the “automatic wish-granting machine”.

　　She then walked in a flurry of steps towards the public carriage platform, where one gaze after another was cast upon her.

　　Bang!

　　A man crashed into a gas lamp post because he was looking at her too intently.

　　Jasmin pursed her lips, said nothing, and boarded the trackless public carriage.

　　The car was still quite crowded and all the seats were filled.

　　Just as Jasmin struggled to find a seat, several men lifted their hips and straightened up, looking at her and smiling:

　　”You can sit here, miss.”

　　Jasmin froze a little for a moment, not realizing she was receiving so much kindness.

　　Without excusing herself, she sat down close by and spread a smile to the man who gave up his seat:

　　”Thank you.”

　　The man’s expression became extremely animated and he said humbly:

　　”It’s what a gentleman should do.”

　　Jasmin, still retaining the habits she had developed in her previously enclosed home, did not say anything more and quietly sat down near her house and got out of the carriage.

　　After walking a few steps, she suddenly felt someone looking at her, and was busy twisting her head to look over.

　　It was a drunken man who was looking at Jasmin with an indescribably disgusting gaze.

　　Jasmin was startled and was busy walking quickly towards her apartment, but the men she met on the way all gave similar looks one after another, as if they would turn into beasts at any moment.

　　At this moment, Jasmin felt like she was walking in the wilderness.