The Energy Eater (1)

In a single day—no, in half a day—my reputation had flipped so completely that the sourness in my gut had gone past heartburn and into actual pain. I was walking the path through the apartment complex with my face all crumpled when Franc started in on comforting me.

"Those children simply don't know you, Seoha. You're kind, your will is strong, and when the moment calls for it you even have the boldness to decide. You're a wonderful person. It won't be long before they see that too, and come to you of their own accord."

"Thanks, Franc. When you see me that way, I feel like I've got some strength back."

Still, I couldn't help worrying that the rose-colored glasses over Franc's eyes had gotten a little too thick.

Maybe it was because I'd flown straight home after sixth period, no club activities in between, but it was only four in the afternoon. Mom wouldn't be back for another two hours. A walk, then, for the first time in a while?

A short way out from home there was a low mountain with a campground and an ecological park, its trails neatly kept—a good place for walking. I could have gone toward Cheonho Bridge and followed the Han River embankment instead, but I needed to be back around the time Mom arrived, so the hill behind the neighborhood would do.

"Is this a park? To think the path is maintained so finely. How astonishing."

"It's just the hill behind the neighborhood... Isn't this pretty normal?"

"Doing this much with a mountain that hasn't even a name—I wouldn't call that ordinary."

"Hmm. Maybe it's the population density. Korea's capital and Britain's differ by about three times."

"By that much?"

"Seoul's around ten million people, London around eight. But Seoul covers six hundred square kilometers, and London fifteen hundred and seventy. Density's triple, so maybe they've got the spare attention to fuss over fiddly little places like this?"

"Wow. You're so knowledgeable, Seoha!"

It was trivia I'd ended up memorizing back when I was sunk in Uncharted Waters IX Online. No need to go out of my way to admit that.

Talking with Franc, I walked the forest path at an easy pace among other people out strolling as I was, and the jealousy from a little while ago began to feel strangely vain. It was that peaceful. Warm sunlight lay over the trail, and the fact that not long ago I had been crossing back and forth on the line between death and life felt like a dream.

That was when my Search caught something that had no business being here.

Th-that was an aberrant?

The moment I sensed a small creature possessed of Phase Power, crouched at the very edge of my detection range, urgency shot up my spine. I drove Phase Power through my whole body and shouted.

"Franc! Aberrant!"

"Yes?!"

My heart kicked into a rough beat and started forcing hot blood out through me. Franc startled at the shout, then swept the surroundings in a thorough search.

The aberrant was crouched in the trunk of a half-dead tree, ninety-two meters northeast of where I stood. Phase Power 72. Low Grade.

I was about to tell her when middle-aged and older hikers in gaudy outdoor clothes, passing by, started closing in with angry faces. Behind them I could see a few women who looked like the fright had taken their legs out, sunk down on the ground.

"You little bastard, toying with your elders?!"

"Looks like an Euihan High School student. You don't go scaring adults like that!"

"Kid's head's cracked. Watched too many ability-user movies, I bet."

...Huh?

"I hear there are more children these days who idolize ability users and copy them. Truly, it's the end of the world."

"Fun, is it, messing with grown-ups, you punk?!"

"If my old mother has a fit, you think you're answering for that?! What kind of rotten hollering is this, hollering!"

"Running around pulling stunts like this—do your parents even know you're out here acting this way?!"

"Hand over your parents' phone number! I'll ask them if they know what you're doing here!"

I was thrown, watching the adults vent their anger straight at me. Why—why were they doing this?

"Why are these people acting so? An aberrant has appeared. Why are they not evacuating?"

Franc, who had been searching the area, came over to where I stood ringed by adults and asked it with a bewildered face. I wanted to know the same thing.

...Don't tell me they thought I was playing a prank, got ashamed of being startled, and turned it into anger?

Sour at the thought, I considered leaving them and slipping off on my own—but I discarded the idea as fast as it came.

Then what do I... oh. The Certifier!

They seemed to take my silence for being ignored; their faces were flushing red as if worked up. I brought the Certifier's hologram up fast and held the screen proving I was an ability user out in front of the growling adults.

"Uh... uhh?"

"Good heavens! Y-you really were an ability user?"

"Aigoo..."

The moment I showed them the verification screen, the color drained out of the tempers they'd been in. Looking embarrassed, as if they'd never been angry at all, they started inching backward.

What is this...

A medicinal bitterness climbed my tongue, the kind you get from biting into raw bellflower root, and the urgency that had spiked when I found the aberrant was going limp as soaked seaweed.

I felt the strength going out of me, but I still had something like an ability user's duty to see to. Swallowing my reluctance, I called out, keeping it low.

"There's a real aberrant nearby, so everyone please turn back quietly!"

"S-sorry about that."

"We're sorry, Ability User!"

"Come on, let's go. Can't be getting in an Ability User's way. No indeed."

"Ahem!"

The people who had crowded in out of curiosity at the commotion took one look at the hologram floating in front of me and at how the other adults were behaving, yelped as if they'd touched a hot stove, and scurried back the way they'd come.

Even the ones who'd been scolding me hadn't forgotten their aberrant-response training, it seemed—they vanished quietly, so as not to provoke it—and watching that, the stuffy feeling eased a little.

"Hoo..."

"People gone soft with peace seem much the same, whatever the country."

"It's not that. It's mostly because I'm young."

I soothed Franc, who was showing her displeasure with a pout, then tensed again and set my Phase Power whirling under my control.

The crowd was heading down and taking anyone they passed along with them, so even if a fight broke out, civilians shouldn't get hurt.

A Low Grade—I ought to be able to handle that alone, right?

I snapped a healthy living tree and improvised a wooden spear, running through the protocol for a situation like this. Minors were barred by law from Phase World activities, but this wasn't the Phase World. It had shown up in reality. Did that make it an exception?

Franc stepped in front of me as if to bar the way, and spoke.

"Seoha. I think it would be better to contact the proper people first."

"Oh. Should I?"

Then the person I could contact right now... Hwayeon-noona?

The moment I thought of her, yesterday's dream came back by reflex. A faintly flushed face. Eyes shining soft, hungry enough to devour a person...

...I should call Hwayeon-noona.

This is absolutely not out of any other ulterior motive. Obviously.

"Where is the aberrant you found hiding?"

While I switched the Certifier's screen over to call mode, Franc lifted herself into the air and scanned the area like a radar as she asked, so I gave her the exact spot.

"It's about ninety-seven meters that way. The tree six meters tall, beside the field. There's a small rock behind it too. Oh—there. Phase Power 72. Low Grade aberrant. Thirty-two centimeters, tail included."

In size, and in the amount of Phase Power, it was about on the level of the big field rat I'd first met up on the cliff.

"Never seen this one, so I don't know the name. Looks exactly like a fennec fox kit, only the legs are a bit longer. Do you know what it is, Franc?"

"A kind I don't know either. A species that doesn't exist over on the European side, perhaps."

"Aberrants differ by country and region too?"

"Not all of them, but I have heard there are species that appear only in certain regions."

That was news to me. All I'd ever been told was that the world simply had a great many kinds of aberrants.

"Just in case, don't get close. Watch from the air, and make sure it doesn't run off somewhere."

"Yes! Leave the watch to me!"

Franc answered with spirit, flew to where I'd pointed, and—having found the aberrant, it seemed—waved a hand and fixed her gaze downward.

In truth I didn't need to ask her. I could watch it with the ability myself. But when I entrusted her with something like this, she brightened so much.

Right. First, contact Hwayeon-noona. I worked the Certifier, already on, placed the call, and kept a careful eye on the aberrant's movements.

It was wedged into a hole low in the tree trunk, crouched there. The hole wasn't deep; look a little from outside and you could see all of it. It did look worn out, though, and hungry. If things went well, I might catch it easily.

...It wasn't going to bolt, was it?

"Uh—?"

The call connected, and Hwayeon-noona's furious face burst ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into the hologram window.

There was no way she could know what I'd dreamed last night—a guilty man flinching at his own shadow—and still, seeing her angry made my heart drop. She caught that look on me, shot a brief glare to the side, fixed her expression, and turned my way.

"Ah, here, I mean. On the mountain, the thing is, I came out for a walk..."

Ugh. Startled, and the words wouldn't come out right.

Maybe my flustered stammering looked pitiful, because Hwayeon-noona's voice softened just a fraction as she coaxed me—and that voice dragged last night back up again. Ngh.

Worse, looking at her face, it kept cross-fading with the expression from the dream, flushed and lost in pleasure, and I was in a terrible spot.

Ugh. This is not the time for thoughts like that.

"Sorry. I'm out walking on the mountain next to Cheonho 3-dong, and I found an aberrant. That's why I called you, Noona."

"Ah... Yeah. Sorry."

It was only a slight irritation, but the chill of her reaction killed my excitement as if it had been a lie. And I was, just a little, disappointed.

Thinking about it, the childhood-friend thing was a story from when we were little. Aside from a contractual relationship, Hwayeon-noona and I had nothing to do with each other now. And she was a B-Class ability user leading a raid team. Reporting a mere Low Grade appearance to talent like that was basically calling a lawyer over a fight between kindergarteners.

I should've just reported it to the Ability User Alliance...

I'd contact Choi Soohan and ask her what to do.

But somehow I felt a little... wronged, which was strange. No, not wronged. More like my energy had dropped. Tch.

Hwayeon-noona looked at me, wore a slightly complicated expression for a moment, then returned to her usual blank face and asked. Maybe she'd noticed me looking a bit deflated and was trying to look out for me. That made me feel bad, so I shook my head.

"No. You're busy too, Noona. Sorry I called. I'll just phone my case officer, Choi ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Soohan, and let her know."

The moment she heard Yellow-hair's name, Hwayeon-noona's expression went past chilly, as if a north wind had struck, and settled into something cold.

"Huh? Yeah."

I nodded, stammering at the sudden drop in temperature, and Hwayeon-noona started radiating an open I'm-in-a-bad-mood-right-now atmosphere. Were Noona and Choi Soohan on bad terms?

"They said she and Kang Woohyuk-ahjussi are both my case officers."

"...Huh? You're coming, Noona?"

Ehh? Uh, right—the coordinates were at the top of the main hologram window, weren't they?

"It's Iljasan, in Dunchon-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul. Location code AAB, coordinates x16344, y-5215... Is that right?"

"Y-yeah."

What was this. First she told me to call the Department, then she said she'd send people, and now she was coming herself? And why tell me to call Yellow-hair ten minutes later?

She really seemed to hate Choi Soohan, and yet she was telling me to call her. I didn't get it.

Well, I'd do as I was told. She was a raid-team boss; there had to be some reason. I left the call connected, switched on Telescopic Vision, and looked around, but I didn't see any other aberrants.

I glanced at the hologram window of the ongoing call, and the scenery around her was streaming past at a terrifying speed.

So fast! Was this the speed of a B-Class physical reinforcement user? In an instant she crested a mountain, skimmed a river's surface as if flying, then leapt as if taking off and entered the city in a flash!

A little later it seemed the ten minutes Hwayeon-noona had named had passed, so I placed a call to Choi Soohan's contact address. She picked up in under three seconds. Fast, in a different sense.

"You were quick with texts, and you're quick to pick up the phone, too."

"That's right. I'm at Iljasan, next to Cheonho 3-dong, and I found a Low Grade aberrant, so I called."

The call window shifted for a moment and showed a wall; she must have been working something by hand. Then Choi Soohan's yellow mane appeared in the window, her expression quite serious.

"Yes. It's ninety-seven meters from where I am."

The playful air had vanished completely, and she looked a little reliable. But... she seemed tense. What was there to be tense about with a Low Grade aberrant?

"All right. How long until you arrive?"

With that, Yellow-hair hung up in a hurry. Choi Soohan had told me not to do anything dangerous, but I couldn't see what was dangerous about a Low Grade aberrant.

I might not look it, but I was someone who'd even killed a Mid-Low Grade two-tailed fox aberrant.

...Still, the gap in weapons compared to then did nag at me. Back then I'd at least had a No-Head Mantis foreleg.

Even so, with Search backing me and an improvised wooden spear, I didn't think I'd get badly hurt.

I'd been analyzing the thing for a while. Its teeth were a bit sharp, but only sharper than an ordinary animal's. Set beside a Long-snouted Lean Wolf with its absurdly hard skull and powerful jaws, or a two-tailed fox that could bite through even a Mid-Low Grade No-Head Mantis's carapace and snap it, this was milk teeth. And the claws weren't sharp either. About the level of a cat asking to be friends? On top of that I could even see its paw pads, and the more I analyzed, the more my wariness crumbled like sand on a beach.

Lastly, that thing... for now I'd call it a white fox kit. Its internal Phase Power was all of 72, but the Phase Power was wavering precariously, as if something was wrong with its body.

After ten straight minutes of analysis, a result came back.

I was debating whether to edge a little closer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when my eyes happened to meet Franc's, where she was keeping watch in the sky, and I beckoned on reflex.

Franc glided over to me, and a question mark popped up over her head... No, why did I keep seeing symbols like that? There was nothing wrong with my eyes??

"What is it?"

I rubbed my eyes, glanced at Hwayeon-noona's still-connected call screen, and spoke to Franc.

"Apparently Hwayeon-noona and Choi Soohan are both on their way."

"Aren't the two of them rather too strong for catching a Low Grade aberrant?"

"Right? Choi Soohan's definitely coming because of work, but Hwayeon-noona... how do I put it. Something's off."

"What about it is strange?"

"At first she told me to contact the Protection and Management Department, but when I said I was going to call Choi Soohan, her attitude did a complete about-face and she suddenly said she'd come herself. And then she told me to call Choi Soohan again in ten minutes."

"Ah... so it's that."

"Huh? Do you know something, Franc?"

"Yes. I can guess why, but for Hwayeon's honor, allow me to confirm it in a little while, and then I will tell you."

"Ehh? Don't be like that—if you know something, tell me!"

When I fussed and pressed her, Franc smiled gently, raised one index finger, and set it lightly against my lips.

"Hehe. A woman's honor is important, you know?"

"...You say it like that and I can't ask any further. No fair, Franc."

Nothing for it. She'd said she'd check and tell me in a bit, so I'd wait until then.

"More importantly, Seoha. Do you sense anything from that white aberrant?"

"It looks a bit lifeless, and for a Low Grade aberrant its means of attack seem far too lacking."

"To what extent?"

"Honestly, I think I could win even if we fought right n—oh! It's moving!"

Mid-sentence, the white fox kit raised itself and started toward where I stood, on feeble steps.

...Did our eyes meet?

"That thing. Did it just see me?"

The one whose eyes had met mine glittered once, then picked up a little speed and started coming toward me.

Hwayeon-noona's slightly flustered voice came from the Certifier. But it was too late. The thing broke into a run.

"It's coming!"

I gripped the improvised wooden spear and set a thrusting stance—and the direction of its gaze was wrong?

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

"...Huh!?"

Kyaong!

"Fast!"

Nothing like that cute cry. With about forty meters left, it charged at a speed my eyes could barely follow and leapt for my chest.

In the instant that unexpected speed blanked my mind white, Analysis read the white fox kit's jump arc and fed the information through.

What it was aiming for...

Franc's Soul Stone? This little bastard!! Who the hell do you think you're aiming at?!

Rage at the fact that it was targeting Franc's Soul Stone burned hot enough that the flow of everything around me slowed again, and the fox kit's leap slowed with it, like a frame of slow motion.

Kiiing?

The fox kit's large eyes, now right in front of my face, went round, its jet-black pupils wavering as the sight of it looking at me drifted slowly into view. Too close. Too late to swing the wooden spear.

Without hesitating I let go of the spear and wrapped my left hand around the pouch holding Franc's Soul Stone. At the same time I clenched my right into a fist to smack the fox kit away—but the thing twisted subtly in midair and landed on the forearm I'd thrust out.

Kgh!

I switched grip, catching the Soul Stone pouch in my right hand, and shot my left out like lightning.

Knocking it away is risky. Then I grab it!

Perched on my right arm, it left an opening while it looked back and forth between the Soul Stone in my grip and my face, and I drove into that gap and seized it hard by the neck.

King?! Kiiiing!

"Kgh, the claws!"

"Aah, Seoha!"

The moment its neck was in my hand it thrashed all four limbs, and claws sharper than I'd expected raked my arm without mercy.

I was in my school uniform, so the arm itself was fine, but the back of my hand and my wrist got slashed up, and blood welled out.

Enduring the pain, I slammed it to the ground in a flash, and in the instant I meant to snap its neck and kill it, the fox kit's appearance finally registered. A body as small and frail as a fox kit's, gaunt and thin. Fur that looked soft, and large black eyes that seemed frightened.

It looked as fragile as if it had been separated from its mother right after birth, and before I knew it my resolve went soft. Instead of breaking its neck, I forced the thrashing thing against the ground and pinned it hard with both hands so it couldn't move.

Kaeng! Kyaang!

Maybe it felt cramped; its brush-white tail and long ears kept flapping, and its legs scrabbled at the dirt, but this thing was an aberrant all the same. I couldn't let my guard down.

...If I don't want to drop my guard, killing it is best, but somehow I'm reluctant to kill it with my bare hands...

"Yeah. I'm fine. I caught it."

The voice spilling from the hologram window overlapped with a living voice in a strange doubled sound. A black silhouette dropped—and the world in front of my eyes exploded.