Energy Eater 3 (3)
I carried the jet-black collar—set with a Phase Stone of a hundred Phase Power—over to the sleeping creature and, following Yeongeun's instructions, fastened both collar and leash. Only then did the little thing open its eyes. It wore a look that plainly asked what this was supposed to be, and pressed its nose to the lead for a suspicious sniff.
Not even a foot long, and already the things it did were cute. Once it put on a proper bit of weight, it would be downright adorable.
"That's your collar. If you're going to stay with me, you wear it. And I'll say it again—until I give the order, you don't attack people, or anything else that's alive. Got it?"
Kyung! Kyong-kyong.
"You're saying you won't attack even without it?"
Yol!
"Even so, this collar is proof you're mine. People will only relax if you're wearing it, so I can't take it off."
Kkeung...
It scratched at its neck with a hind paw, bothered by the unfamiliar weight, and I felt a pang of pity. I poured a little bottled water into a bowl no bigger than its head, set the bowl down in front of it, and drew out about half a TP to drip into the water.
Kking!
Its eyes flew open. It wobbled up onto its feet, plunged its muzzle into the bowl, and lapped until the water was gone.
"Good. Don't attack anyone, listen when I talk, and behave yourself, and I'll feed you TP three times a day."
Yong!
It nodded hard at my words, then leapt into my arms and started up a contented rumble, and only then did I relax a little. No question about it—the creature had fallen for Mana Vision's charm.
"...Franc. You don't suppose that's a female?"
"Ah... It is a female. Does Seoha's charm reach even the beasts?"
"What a beast of a man..."
"Huu..."
"Haa..."
What are they on about.
I set the white fox on my knee and let Franc and Yeongeun's chatter wash over me, and before I knew it, evening had come.
We were about to grill the top-grade hanwoo—the finest Korean beef—that we'd bought from the big supermarket on the first floor, when I noticed the white fox. It was sitting on its cushion, looking a little livelier, and staring fixedly at the meat.
"Want some?"
Kyung! Kkeeng!
Can it even handle something this rich? If it doesn't sit well, I can always lay on Healing Touch.
It was nodding so eagerly that I scooped it up, settled it in my arms, and fed it one piece at a time. It took each one with a quick, greedy lick.
Franc, though, had been grilling with fierce concentration, and she shot the fox a brief glare. She rose, lifted it out of my arms, set it down in an empty place at the table, brought over a small plate, and piled the thing mountain-high with half raw meat and half cooked.
Kyong?
"Taking your meals cradled in your master's arms will spoil you rotten!"
Watching her lecture the little white thing, I remembered the jealous look she'd worn earlier.
Anyway, I was eating the perfectly done pieces Franc and Yeongeun kept choosing and setting atop my rice when I glanced over to see how the fox was managing. Seat or no seat, meat came first. It was gulping the stuff down with single-minded enthusiasm.
"Seoha? Where are you looking? You'd better eat up if you want the strength for tonight."
......
"Yeongeun. How are those red innards coming along? I saw Hwayeon setting some aside."
"Oh, those are aging right now. The effect turns incredible once the aging's finished, so you'll have to wait a few more weeks."
The sight of Franc and Yeongeun pausing mid-grill to whisper and steal glances at me left me with the distinct feeling that sleep was a lost cause again tonight.
Maybe I ought to get some sleep in beforehand...
Up in the small hours of Sunday, Yeongeun went down to the thirty-eighth floor—still packed with luggage she hadn't unpacked—fetched a change of clothes, and started getting ready for work.
"You're going in to work? On a Sunday?"
"Mm-hm. Yesterday I had some room, so I rested. From today through Tuesday, I don't think I'll have any time off."
That workload is terrifying.
Seeing the look on my face, Yeongeun smiled, slipped her arms around my waist, and pressed herself close, gazing up at me with regret in her eyes.
"I could rest all I want if I set my mind to it. But then I'd be nothing but a woman with only her body to offer our Seoha, wouldn't I?"
"I'd be fine with that."
"Well, I wouldn't!"
Wearing a look like a mischievous kid, she pressed her lips to mine, and her warm, wet tongue tangled with my own. We shared a deep, heavy kiss for a full minute before she drew back, smiling as if the strength had been poured back into her.
"Fully recharged! All right, off to work?"
I watched her leave without so much as breakfast, scratched my head, and asked Franc.
"Is she buried in work like that because of me?"
"Yeongeun does it because she herself wishes to, so there is no need for you to worry, Seoha. More than anything, the shadow has left her face since she has been with you. I am certain the work is a joy to her as well."
Franc stroked my cheek with a gentle face and told me it was nothing to trouble over, but my head was a tangle of thoughts all the same.
No. There was nothing complicated about it.
I wanted to stay with my lovers for a long, long time. They wanted the same. After sex as fierce as a volcano, they would rest their heads on my arm and say they wished they could stay pressed against me like that forever.
To have that, I had to be strong enough that no one would dare look down on me. But I wasn't strong enough yet, and that was why Yeongeun and Hwayeon lived at a dead run. So yes—they were busy because of me.
Which meant that if I grew stronger, they would have no reason to live like that.
Training. Training was the only answer. The closing ceremony was at the end of the month, and right after that I'd be heading straight into a Peak-Rank aberrant raid. Until then I had to practice firing Magic Bullets faster, in greater numbers, and dead on target.
"This is no time to sit around. Let's go train!"
"Yes!"
I meant to change straight into my training clothes and go—except Yeongeun had soaked them in spit yesterday and shoved them under the bed, so wearing them was out of the question.
While Franc sighed, loaded the clothes into the washer, and went to start the cycle, I threw on a hoodie and a pair of cotton pants and privately swore I'd spank Yeongeun's ass until it stung.
I glanced at the white fox, fast asleep in the little house set up in a corner of the living room, and called Aunt Hyeryeong to ask. She said that much would be fine.
I set the creature on my shoulder at once and headed for the training ground.
I reached it as the pre-dawn gray was thinning, set the white fox down off my shoulder, and began to loosen up.
Looking at the sky, I figured it would be another hour or two before full daylight. If I headed back before breakfast, that would do.
Standing on its own feet, the white fox still didn't have much strength. It tottered a short way around the place, then looked up at me as if to ask why we'd come here at all, and cried out.
Kyaang!
"We came to train."
Kkeeng?
"Are you intending to practice your Magic Bullets?"
"Yeah. Yeongeun's a B-Class ability user, and she still works herself like that for my sake. I can't just sit around. And the only training I can do right now is learning to fire Magic Bullets faster, more accurately, and in greater numbers."
The ground to the south was nothing but craters, so firing into the earth was clearly out. Today I'd just send them into the air.
I gathered TP at my fingertips the way I had yesterday and sheathed it in Phase Power through Mana Sieve, and the white fox's eyes lit up. It licked its muzzle with a wet smack.
Does it think that's food?
I fired it skyward... and it traveled more than a mile and a quarter before bursting apart with a sound like a firework going off.
I kept at it without pause until the sun was fully up, gathering charges from 1 TP to 100 TP, firing them, detonating them, and before long my fingertips were numb and buzzing.
Ordinary Mana Bullets never left me like this. So there was no avoiding the aftereffects after all. Still, by the end of practice I could fire them at a speed close to a Mana Bullet. Forming the energy on all ten fingers and releasing them at once, though—that was harder.
I could fire them, but the recoil threw off my accuracy. They wouldn't go where I aimed. They'd whistle off toward somewhere else entirely, and that was the problem.
Firing a spread of Mana Bullets was like a shotgun—you dumped them across a set area. Magic Bullets were another matter. The instant I swung my hand, the Phase Power I'd concentrated through Mana Sieve loosened a fraction, and that loosening kicked them off in the wrong direction. They didn't fly backward, or straight out to the sides, but the spread was still far too wide. Unless I got that under control, I'd never loose them the way I did a shotgun blast.
"Hm? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Ah, it is nothing."
Franc was watching me with a faintly hollow look, and the white fox had lost all its nerve, crouched at her feet and staring up at me.
...?
Anyway, it was time for breakfast, so I called the training done and turned my steps toward home.
Today was the day the Hwarang boss was due back, wasn't it? I ought to have a word with him.
When I got home, Mom and my sister were pacing the living room with uneasy faces, and Dad had the TV on, flipping through the channels.
"I'm home. Why are you pacing like that?"
"Son!"
"Seoha~!"
??
The moment I stepped inside, Mom and my sister rushed me, seized my arms, and dragged me to the sofa. I looked from one to the other, trying to figure out what was going on, and my sister launched into an explanation, her voice thick with worry.
"Just listen! For a while now there's been this thumping from beyond that mountain, and things exploding! We heard the same sounds yesterday morning—something's wrong, isn't it?"
...Ah.
I calmed Mom and my sister for a moment, then explained that the explosions were from my training.
They looked utterly dumbfounded. Dad let out a deep sigh, picked up the newspaper, and spoke quietly.
"When we moved in, we were advised that an ability user's training ground lay nearby, and that we should expect loud reports. I did not expect that ability user to be you."
"They told you that? Hmm. Maybe I should hold off on morning Magic Bullet practice."
"You need not go out of your way on our account. Carry on as you have. Once people grow used to it, having an ability user nearby will only be grounds for peace of mind—"
"Kyaa~! What is this little thing?!"
"Huh? Ah! Isn't that a fennec fox pup?! A fennec! A fennec fox!"
Their fuss over the white fox hiding in my hoodie cut Dad off mid-sentence. He turned a slightly gloomy face back to his newspaper.
I almost feel sorry for Dad.
The white fox blinked at Mom and my sister, their eyes shining, as if wondering what all the commotion was, then turned to look at me as I lifted it in my hands.
"Hey. These two are Mom and Dad, and this woman is my sister, so you listen to them just as well as you listen to me. Got it?"
Kyung!
"Whoa! It understands what you're saying?!"
I handed the fox to my sister, who was sparkling with the urge to touch it. She broke into a wide, dopey grin and hugged it to her chest—then her expression clouded.
"Why is it so skinny?"
"Well, a few things happened..."
I told Mom and my sister the white fox's story, leaving out the part where it had attacked me, and they cooed over how pitiful it was, gently stroking its head and back with sympathetic faces.
I'd told them it wasn't dangerous, but the way they petted it without a shred of hesitation suggested their nerve ran well past ordinary. Either that, or they trusted every word I said.
The creature seemed to have taken my warning to heart. It didn't resist, just accepted my sister's petting. Mom watched the white fox lick her fingers, her face full of pity, then turned to me.
"Son, so you're going to keep raising this child?"
"Huh? Yeah, that's why I brought it."
"Meeting it somewhere other than Yongmunsan must have been fate between the two of you. Raise it well, with love."
Fate? Can you really look at it that way?
"One certainly could!"
Apparently so. At Franc's agreement, I nodded too.
After breakfast, my sister said she had work and crossed over to the office wing. On her way out she laughed brightly.
"Isn't it the best, having work so close?"
It genuinely gave me the creeps.
Enjoying work? I'm starting to worry if she's in her right mind.
I ate breakfast, fed the white fox a little TP, and finished what little homework I had left, and suddenly it was lunchtime. Mom and Dad had driven off around ten, perhaps on a date, so Franc and I ordered pizza and chicken and ate together.
After lunch I went up to my office on the fortieth floor and looked over the layout and the systems, and found a large screen hidden in one wall. I also discovered that a single button turned the windows pitch-black and shut out every trace of light.
That suited me fine. I bought a few of the action films and hero movies that were hot lately, hooked them up to the screen, pulled Franc into my arms, and lazed around watching them. There was nothing to do at home anyway. Might as well play and watch movies.
I was halfway through a hero movie whipped together out of flashy CG and swelling music when I swept the entire Grand Blue Building with Spatial Perception.
Even on a Sunday, an enormous number of people were in working. Quite a few of them were clearing the warehouse floors of the Business Support wing—probably because Team 1 was returning today.
Then five o'clock came, the whole building grew noisy, and employees began moving toward the underground parking garage.
Brrrring—
Hm? Where was that phone coming from... the intercom on the desk? I lifted the receiver, and Aunt Hyeryeong's voice spilled out.
"This is Lee Hyeryeong of General Affairs. Master? We've had word that Second Boss Park Jiwoong and the provisional Team 1 have returned. They'll be here shortly. Would you like to come down to the underground parking garage?"
Franc, who had been toying with a phone for some time, glanced over at the sound of me taking the call, then glided across and came to stand at my side.
"Yes. I'll go."
"I'll have everything prepared at once."
Don't I just need to go down there myself? What's there to prepare? Still, I was the one in charge, if only in name. I ought to show my face at things like this.
"Seoha? What is the matter?"
"They say Second Boss Park Jiwoong and the provisional Team 1 just got back. I should head down to the underground parking garage."
I was straightening my clothes and fixing my hair when Aunt Hyeryeong and Department Head Ha Yucheol came up to my office.
Department Head Ha's color was poor, the skin under his eyes sunken—a man worn down from the inside. One rotten child, and his later years were nothing but suffering.
Should I lay a Healing Touch on him? Hmm. I still have to keep that hidden. It's a little much.
I stepped up to Department Head Ha without a word and gave him a short bow. He returned it in silence, folding at the waist.
"I just need to go down, then?"
"Ah, yes. We've been told they're on their way to the building now. You only need to go down and offer Second Boss Park Jiwoong a word of thanks for his hard work."
Listening to Aunt Hyeryeong, I rode the elevator down to the third basement level with Department Head Ha and waited. Before long, several large buses and three trailers began rolling into the Grand Blue Building's underground parking garage.
The garage was absurdly vast, the ceiling a good sixteen feet overhead. Buses pulled in along the edges, and five trailers began parking in turn before the large freight elevator.
A hundred and thirty-five people in all—seventy-six supporters and fifty-nine regular ability users, if I had the numbers right. Ability users and the support staff who handled daily needs stepped off the five big buses with their bags, caught sight of me standing with Aunt Hyeryeong and Department Head Ha, and flinched in surprise.
Why do people startle every time they look at me? Do I really look that strange...?
Following Aunt Hyeryeong's lead, I climbed the platform set up to one side—about three feet high—and looked over the ability users. Hmm. Every class and every type you could name. The largest share were mid-grade D-Class, with a good many C-Class and B-Class above them, and no small number of E-Class as well.
A hundred and thirty-five. About the same size as Hwayeon's Team 2.
I spotted Cha Soyoung and the leaders of Time River's Team 1 and Team 2 among them, exchanged a small nod, and was returning it when Boss Park Jiwoong—easygoing, every inch the uncle from next door—approached with Cha Soyoung and a woman I hadn't seen before, a mid-grade C-Class recovery ability user. I stepped down from the platform to meet them.
"Grand Blue, provisional Team 1. One hundred thirty-five members have returned safely."
"You've worked hard."
Boss Park Jiwoong raised a fist and thumped it to his chest in a simplified salute. I offered my hand, and he smiled faintly and took it.
I shook the boss's hand. Judging by the way she stood beside Cha Soyoung, the woman with the braided hair was probably a Hwarang sub-leader as well. As I shook hands with the sub-leaders in turn, I caught the faint sound of caught breath around me. Mostly from the women, it seemed. Surely it isn't that. Hm? The secretary noonas!
After I'd shaken hands with the department heads and team leaders and returned to the platform, Aunt Hyeryeong addressed the gathered ability users.
"Everyone on Team 1, with Boss Park Jiwoong at your head—you've all worked very hard. I'm sure you'd like to go home and rest, but a simple reception has been prepared in the grand banquet hall of Business Support Building 1, so please hold on just a little longer."
"Heh heh heh. When Director Lee puts it like that, of course we've got to rally and show up. You all heard her, didn't you? Off to the grand banquet hall in Business Support Building 1!"
At Boss Park Jiwoong's uncle-like laugh, the ability users gathered in twos and threes and started to move.
Amid the bustle of well over a hundred people on the move, Boss Park Jiwoong, having sent them off, handed a document to Aunt Hyeryeong.
"Here is the chart of byproducts acquired over the past five days, and the types and numbers of aberrants eliminated."
"I'll leave the rest to you, Department Head Ha."
Aunt Hyeryeong took the folder from Boss Park Jiwoong and promptly passed it to Department Head Ha Yucheol.
"You have worked hard. Please leave the rest to me."
Department Head Ha took the three sheets, produced a tablet, and approached the trailers, gathering Business Support staff to begin the cross-check. Boss Park Jiwoong clapped his palms together to draw the ability users' attention and started them moving.
I fell in among the people moving in small groups and walked with Aunt Hyeryeong, Boss Park Jiwoong, and the two sub-leaders. A question occurred to me, so I asked.
"Do you hold a reception like this every time someone comes back from the Phase World?"
"No. This time is special."
Aunt Hyeryeong added to the easygoing boss's explanation.
"The purpose of this subjugation was harmony and integration between the two teams. We are setting the capstone on it, so to speak."
Mm. So that was it. Better than wrapping things up loose and scattering. Gather them, say a few words, and close it out properly, and the way they took it would be different. A sense of belonging would come of it, and the feeling of being one and the same team.
The grand banquet hall of the Business Support wing was on the twentieth floor, its windows facing downtown Seoul, so the city sinking slowly into dusk lay open below—a floor with a truly fine view. The interior spoke of wealth without a trace of gaudy new money, elegant enough to pass for a party venue for high officials.
The hall was full of standing tables, simple drinks and snacks heaped on every one, and the ability users stood at the windows with glasses in hand, taking in the evening view and talking among themselves.
Aunt Hyeryeong took the stage and went on about the subjugation this, the results that, harmony the other thing—but honestly, so many ability users were sending heated looks my way that none of it reached my ears.
At first I thought they were looking at Franc beside me. When I realized they weren't, the awkwardness set in.
"The small banquet hall downstairs has drinks and a full dinner prepared. Anyone who wishes to enjoy the atmosphere a little longer is welcome to go down. Thank you all for your hard work!"
When Aunt Hyeryeong finished, the crowd applauded for a moment, then split—some staying to talk over snacks and drinks, some heading home, some moving downstairs.
Most of those remaining in the hall were women, and there was something not quite ordinary in their eyes. It was a lot like the look my lovers gave me before bed...
I put on a sour face and started picking up cookies one at a time, while Franc looked back and forth between me and the women who had claimed a snack table in the hall and started chattering, her expression puzzled. Then her gaze settled on them—reading their lips, from the look of it—and her face grew stranger and stranger, until she turned to me and spoke.
"The bewitching little man-eater prince?"
Kh— those secretary noonas...!