Return, and Then... (2)
Arriving at the Time River Building and heading for the elevator, I could feel it — more people than before, watching me and murmuring among themselves.
"How many more times do I have to come here before people stop whispering the second they see me?"
"You may as well give up. From here on, it'll only get worse, never better."
Yeongeun said it with a smile, and hearing her, I really did think getting used to it was the only choice I had.
While we waited for the elevator, I turned Spatial Perception toward Jung So-hee's memorial. White chrysanthemums lay heaped thick, drawing a round arch around her portrait. So many people had come to mourn her that the tightness in my chest eased, just a little, for reasons I couldn't name.
We reached Hwayeon's office on the nineteenth floor, and as I sat down on the sofa, relief at having come back alive began to tangle with the tension of knowing this was only the start.
"All right. Would you walk us through exactly how you managed to become a C-Class — and who that young lady is?"
The Branch Director couldn't contain his curiosity and pressed me for the details at once. I looked from Hwayeon and Franc, seated on either side of me, to Yeongeun in the seat of honor, then turned to Hwayeon.
"I'd like Vice-Captain Cha Soyoung and Vice-Captain Sophia here too."
"All right."
Hwayeon smiled from the heart and lifted the intercom to summon both vice-captains. The Branch Director fidgeted as if the wait were unbearable, and Yeongeun's brows drew together as she snapped at him.
"You still haven't broken that habit! It'll start when the time comes. You're making everyone nervous — sit still!"
"...Yes."
Watching the Branch Director sigh and glance elsewhere under her scolding, I got the sense the two of them had known each other for no short while. Familiar, you might say. More than that, it was the first time I'd seen Yeongeun lay down that kind of frost-sharp authority, and it struck me as strange.
"Do you know the Branch Director well, ma'am?"
"'Know' isn't quite it. This auntie is the one who pulled strings behind the scenes so that boy could become Branch Director."
At that, the Branch Director let out a heavy sigh and spoke.
"Back then I was nothing but a kid with talent and nothing else. Thanks to Big Sister, I learned how to read people. With her help I joined the Ability Users Association, and with her backing I became Branch Director of the Korean branch. Big Sister is as good as a benefactor to me."
So that was it. That was how a relationship like this had come about. I'd thought it odd that he never really called me on my insolent attitude — there was a reason.
I looked at Yeongeun with fresh admiration, and catching my gaze, she broke into a pleased little smile. Out of the Branch Director's sight, of course.
Until the two vice-captains arrived, Yeongeun asked what I'd eaten and how I'd gotten by during the third summoning, and I answered her briefly. Then the door burst open. Sophia came running in, and Cha Soyoung walked in behind her.
Sophia, who had been rolling her eyes every which way, lit up the instant she saw me and flung herself at me with no warning whatsoever.
"Daaarling~! I'm so glad you're safe~!"
Did this woman genuinely not know what shame was?! As she dove in as if to throw herself into my arms, I caught her by the waist and half-tossed her down into the seat beside the Branch Director. She puffed her cheeks and protested.
"Rejecting a hug from a beauty like me! Darling, you're not even a man!"
"I don't see any such beauty."
"Hmph~!"
I ignored Sophia puffing her cheeks in a show of sulking and greeted Cha Soyoung, who was smiling faintly at her side.
"Vice-Captain Cha Soyoung. It's been a while."
"I'm glad you've returned in good health."
"Why don't I get a greeting?! Greet me too~! Ignore me and I'll sulk, I'll sulk!"
Where Cha Soyoung returned the greeting with quiet grace, Sophia pinned her arms to her sides, squirmed, and threw a tantrum in a lisping baby voice. Honestly...
Could she not even see Hwayeon's, Yeongeun's, and Franc's expressions cooling every time she called me darling?
Then Sophia spotted Franc. As if she had never been pouting at all, her eyes went round and she stared at Franc without blinking.
"First, let me introduce her to everyone. This is Flandre — the spirit who's been with me from my very first time in the Phase World, all the way to now."
At my introduction, Franc inclined her head in a small bow.
"A spirit?!"
"A spirit?"
"That beauty isn't human! I thought the only perfect girl was little Siha, but I was wrong!"
I had to wonder whether Sophia even possessed a serious side. In any case, while the vice-captains and the Branch Director reeled, Hwayeon — who already knew, and so stayed relatively calm — asked with the face of someone confirming a guess.
"So what happened to her?"
"Originally, Franc was invisible to everyone else. Only I could see her. Starting with this third summoning, I kept hunting lower-mid and mid-rank aberrants, and their Phase Power started being absorbed into Franc's body. I hunted steadily, and at some point — like an awakening — her spirit form materialized, and other people could see her too."
"Does that even make sense?"
My explanation must have fallen short. Branch Director Kang Hyunwoo wore a stifled, frustrated look and burst out that it was impossible — a reaction oddly like Hwayeon's, the first time she had heard about Franc.
"A spirit? Ridiculous! There's never been a single report of such a being appearing, not anywhere!"
"And the alpha I showed you — has that ever been reported?"
"...!"
"What about my ability?"
"..."
The moment the Branch Director shut his mouth, I knew there wasn't a single person out there with an ability like mine. Useful information.
"Franc is a spirit of lightning. If you don't believe me, I can show you the proof directly. You might get badly hurt, though."
"Proof?"
"A Phase Power meter will do."
Materialized, Franc's body registered no Phase Power at all. And at present, there was no being that lacked Phase Power and could still use a phase skill.
Faced with my confidence, the Branch Director hemmed and hawed, then frowned as if the whole thing choked him.
"Th-those pitch-black scorch marks. Was that the young spirit's power?"
"Yes. The parts that blew apart were my ability, though."
"..."
I left the speechless Branch Director where he was and was about to move on to the other aberrants when I caught the puzzled looks on Cha Soyoung and Sophia. I pulled up the photo of the alpha on my phone and handed it over.
Watching the two of them startle, I went on.
"Anyway, after I was attacked and took refuge in the Phase World, I started looking more closely into the abilities I'd gained."
"An el— Elephantauros... pfft!"
"..."
A snort.
"Ahem. Hm."
"Hehehe."
...Was my naming sense really that bad?
Four of them were fighting not to laugh, and one woman was laughing outright, and my face went hot. Even the calm, composed Cha Soyoung had flushed, the corners of her mouth trembling!
"What?! Why?! A centaur has a horse for a lower body, so I just intuitively stuck uros on the end of elephant! What's wrong with that?!"
"You're all being terribly mean. The first to discover something has every right to name it. And a name that lets you picture the creature just from hearing it... pfft. Hehehe."
"Oh, come on!!"
Yeongeun had started out meaning to praise my naming sense, only to lose the fight, cover her face, and laugh. My face burned, but I kept explaining anyway.
I told them the rest. I had waited at the mouth of the den, killing the mid-grade Elephantauros as they came out, until mid-high grades began pouring forth without end and I decided to bring the entrance down. Trying to collapse the den had only set off an avalanche and a landslide. At the debris-buried mouth, dozens of mid-high rank aberrants and Elephantauros that had only just become high-rank — I had blown the whole lot away from a distance with a Mana Cannon. I had meant to go on my way, happened to look back at the mountain, and turned around at the sight of dust rising, only to fight the alpha. Franc and I had taken that alpha down, and only just.
I kept one thing back. Following a hole that led out of the den, I had found traces I judged to be a peak-rank aberrant of 3.3 million Phase Power, lying in the lava. That part I would tell them separately, later.
When the whole story was finished, every one of them had lost their words and was staring at me. Hwayeon and Yeongeun looked somewhat less shaken, but the other three wore faces that said they were doubting their own ears.
Yeongeun asked,
"All I can say is that it's extraordinary. Is this because you're confident now that you can protect yourself?"
"Yes. Given the nature of my ability, something like subduing an opponent is beyond me, but I calculated that if I counterattacked to protect myself, even a B-Class couldn't beat me."
Hearing that, the Branch Director smoothed his expression at once, his eyes sharpening.
"You'd do well not to underestimate B-Class. Every one of them has at least one hidden trump card."
"And how do I look to you, Branch Director? Do I look like someone without a trump card?"
"..."
I asked it blatantly — I've got one of those too — and the Branch Director shut his mouth again.
"Um, excuse me. Were mid-rank aberrants something you could kill as easily as squashing ants? High-rank aberrants... depending on the conditions, even an A-Class can't solo them, you know?"
Sophia's face was asking how a mere C-Class like me could possibly manage it. The Branch Director and Cha Soyoung were with her.
No — the Branch Director looked as if he were only now beginning to understand.
"So that's how extraordinary he is. No wonder Big Sister shields him so. Haaah..."
"Now, now. If you've heard our Seoha's story, you'll have things to report once you're back, won't you? I've drawn up a statement of grounds, with the materials I've gathered and a few of my own views attached. I'll send it to your mail, so look it over and proceed with applying the early-entry authorization."
Yeongeun switched on her Certifier, worked it for a moment, and showed the Branch Director the door. It wasn't even her office, and yet the way she dismissed him looked like the most natural thing in the world. That was Yeongeun's authority for you.
"Big Sister. If we announce it like this, there'll be a terrifying uproar. Spatial Perception, physical reinforcement, and something like elemental rounds derived from Spatial Perception — ordinarily, no one is going to believe it."
"I've already prepared for that much. You just do your job from where you stand. And don't try to snatch our Seoha away."
Try any tricks on me, and you can watch the magic trick where the Ability Users Association headquarters disappears. I'm done holding back, too.
Before leaving Hwayeon's office, the Branch Director looked at me with a complicated expression, heaved a deep sigh, opened the door, and was gone.
"The Branch Director has 12.85 million Phase Power. Why isn't he registered on the rankings?"
I asked Hwayeon once I saw the door shut.
"High-ranking ability users belonging to the Ability Users Association are excluded from the rankings as a rule. And..."
She paused, glanced at Sophia lounging at ease across from us and at Cha Soyoung staring straight at me, then lowered her head.
"In trying to hide his abilities for Seoha's safety, I didn't tell either of you. I'm sorry."
"Hmm~?"
"..."
The two of them, on the receiving end of Hwayeon's apology, simply stared at her. Sophia, who had watched the bowed head for a moment, turned her gaze to me.
"Oh, well, that's how it goes! Friendship between women is nothing but a midsummer night's dream once love gets involved! Hmph, hmph! Doesn't our darling have anything to say?"
"You mean you two aren't angry that Hwayeon kept it secret?"
At that, Cha Soyoung smiled faintly, and Sophia shot me a pouty look of reproach.
"Oh, honestly, why would you say that out loud! Darling really has no sense at all!"
"Your face says you don't even understand why Hwayeon's apologizing... And if you keep calling me that, you might catch a serious scolding from her, you know?"
"It's a joke, so Hwayeon will understand!"
Sophia's mischief really was hopeless. Hwayeon still couldn't lift her head, but when I checked her face with Spatial Perception, she was flushed so ripe that one poke looked as if it would come away red.
Sophia, who had been humming and watching Hwayeon with soft eyes, suddenly sprang to her feet, sashayed over to the seat beside Franc, and burst into one sigh of admiration after another.
"You're truly beautiful. I was a fool to think I'd never meet a woman as lovely as little Siha."
"Thank you, Miss Edelberg."
"You know my name?!"
"Of course. I was right there beside you the day you and Seoha first met."
I watched Franc and Sophia talk, then took the hand of Hwayeon, who still had her head bowed. She flinched, then slowly raised her face and looked at me, flushed, her eyes full of embarrassment and shame.
Hoping to ease that shame a little, I brought up the part I hadn't mentioned while the Branch Director was present.
"I took down the Elephantauros alpha when I was still D-Class."
"...What?"
The four young women stared at me as if they couldn't believe it.
"Thanks to my ability, when I can absorb Phase Power from an aberrant I've killed, I can take all of it. So I killed two high-rank aberrants, absorbed every bit of their Phase Power, and climbed to C-Class. Otherwise there's no way I could have become C-Class in less than two weeks."
"You mean the alpha Elephantauros had over two hundred thousand Phase Power. Is that right?"
"Yeah, that's ri— yes. The alpha was two hundred sixty thousand. The second-in-command, who'd only just become a high-rank aberrant, was twenty-five thousand."
Ha. I'd nearly dropped the honorifics. But Sophia and Cha Soyoung were so stunned by the blows landing one after another — that I'd taken a high-rank aberrant as a D-Class, and that I could absorb all of its Phase Power — that they didn't seem to notice I'd slipped into casual speech with Yeongeun.
"It's a hard story to believe, but Mr. Jung Seoha has no reason to lie, so I have no choice but to believe it."
"Th-this can't be. So I wasn't the center of the world after all...! Hrk. If that's how it is, I'll defeat darling and become the center of the world myse— kyah!"
Yeongeun picked up a piece of candy from the low table and flicked it square into the forehead of Sophia, who was spouting nonsense.
A sharp crack, and Sophia's head snapped back. She clutched her forehead, swayed as if dizzy, and collapsed in a sprawl across the sofa.
I looked at the spot the candy had struck — her forehead swelling red — then turned to Yeongeun.
"Is it true the absorption rate is normally twenty percent?"
"It is. By the universal law and the theoretical law, you can absorb twenty percent of the Phase Power a dead aberrant releases."
What... law?
"And if there are ten people, those ten don't split it nicely among themselves. The front line absorbs more, and the rear less. Among the papers drawing fresh attention, there's a claim that it isn't a matter of distance at all — that the person who moved their Phase Power most actively absorbs the most..."
"Uh, that's right."
"...That's actually correct?"
I couldn't explain in detail with Cha Soyoung and Sophia there, but I nodded that it was.
If I spun Phase Power into a vortex with my Mana Sieve, all the Phase Power around me got dragged in. So that hypothesis — that it was drawn toward Phase Power in active motion — had to be the right one.
"In any case, our Seoha is truly remarkable. Able to absorb all of the Phase Power... I'll have to adjust the plan a little."
Yeongeun's eyes gleamed for a moment, then settled, and — rare for her — Cha Soyoung spoke up, excited.
"In that case, if it's just the boss, Mr. Jung Seoha, Sophia, and a few combat supports, we could take a peak-rank aberrant as well. If we manage that, not only first in the country — I believe we could break into the top ten of the world rankings."
"Cha Soyoung. You're decent enough at reading the current of the moment, but you need to learn how to see a little further ahead."
Cha Soyoung, still flushed with excitement, turned to Yeongeun with a puzzled look at the rebuke. The look said, Is there some other reason?
"Think back on our Seoha's story, the one you just heard."
"...?"
Cha Soyoung sank into thought over Yeongeun's tip that wasn't quite a tip. What Yeongeun meant, I figured, was that even without hunting peak-rank aberrants, my existence alone would put them in the world rankings.
Hwayeon, calmed a little by now, turned to me.
"Seoha. Bury the matter of revenge in your chest for a while."
"...Why?"
I asked it with my face hardening, and not only Hwayeon but Franc and Yeongeun tensed slightly as they looked at me.
I have power now, don't I? If Yeongeun and Hwayeon back me from behind, it'll be more than enough to smash the bastards behind the attack.
"Of course. With your strength, and with Madam and me supporting you from behind, it would be plenty to crush the ones our suspicions point to. But what matters here is that we have only suspicions — and that the target is a nation."
"..."
"Mm."
As Hwayeon steadied her voice under my cold gaze, Yeongeun took up the thread.
"Justification becomes a more important weapon the more people are watching, and the higher one's station. If you attack on suspicion alone, with no hard evidence — 'That bastard definitely attacked me, so I won't let it go!' — you might feel better in the moment, but the justification ends up in the other side's hands. And since the other side is a nation, if they whip up public opinion, our Seoha, the victim in the eyes of the international community, becomes the perpetrator."
Yeongeun sighed, brought a bottle of water from the refrigerator, wet her lips, and went on.
"Japan is extremely skilled at shaping public opinion. To those who know the truth it looks pathetic, but ordinary citizens who don't know the truth fall for that sort of campaign easily. Japan succeeded in buying sympathy from the Western nations with a groveling posture and bribes... Hah. To wring pity out of the very things they themselves committed — are foreign governments nothing but idiots?!"
The thought clearly rankled. Yeongeun ground her teeth, then calmed her anger and continued.
"Anyway, the result will be that those perpetrators end up as the victims instead. And if that fact spreads across the world through the press, our Seoha will be the only villain. This auntie is doing everything she can to keep that from happening, but if it escalates into a conflict between nations, the situation becomes impossible to predict. Considering population, and influence over the Western world, it isn't desirable."
For a moment I thought of that pig bastard and the anchovy auntie. Dad had taught me that if you mean to destroy an opponent completely, you also have to know how to endure.
Hwayeon studied my mood and offered, carefully,
"So wait just a little longer, until the hard evidence comes clearly to light. Until then, come on raids with us. We'll help you reach B-Class while we do."
Me... no matter how I turned it over, all I could think was that I wanted to crush them with raw force. But my two lovers were far smarter than I was. They would come up with a good way.
And if not, the moment I hit B-Class I could smash the bastards behind it and put on a little demon-stration.
"All right. I'll hold back for now."
When I accepted their counsel, their expressions bloomed.
"There seem to be quite a few reporters standing outside. What do you want to do, Seoha?"
"Do I have to hold a press conference?"
I'd said it as a joke, and Yeongeun nodded as if that would be best! Hwayeon fiddled with my hand as she spoke.
"It would be good to settle their curiosity to some extent. And while we're at it, stamp your presence firmly into the public mind."
"Mmm. If it's better to do it, then I'll do it."
"Then I'll have them prepare, on the understanding that we're doing it."
Just then, as if her thoughts had settled, Cha Soyoung spoke to Yeongeun.
"So Your Excellency believes that Mr. Jung Seoha's existence alone is already enough to place us inside the top ten of the world raid team rankings? And that in the long term, we might even become the greatest raid team in the world...?"
"Yes. He subjugated high-rank aberrants even as a mere D-Class, so you'd do well to consider what will happen when he becomes B-Class, and when he becomes A-Class."
Leaving Cha Soyoung to sink into thought once more, Yeongeun rose with a bright expression.
"Well then. Our Hope has come home a Prince, so I ought to prepare accordingly. Seoha? This auntie will head back first, so leave everything to me and rest easy in the meantime!"
She came over with a radiant smile, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and left the office with an elegant stride. If Cha Soyoung and Sophia hadn't been there, the kiss would have been a good deal deeper.
Hwayeon nodded as well and got to her feet.
"Your father and mother are very worried. Wash up first, then go home. Change your clothes."
"Clothes? Where would I have clothes?"
"I had some tailored, just in case. They're upstairs."
...I wanted to ask what sort of 'just in case' involved keeping a full set of my clothes here.
I let out a small sigh and looked around Hwayeon's office. Franc was shaking the knocked-out Sophia awake, and Cha Soyoung looked as if she had taken Yeongeun's words on as an assignment.
It was a peaceful scene. That it didn't feel peaceful was because of the bastards who had attacked me.