Time River (3)
"What are you saying?! Seoha already agreed to join Time River!"
"He did, dear. But the contract is nothing more than temporary protection, and you can hardly decide young Seoha's support all on your own, can you? If that's how it has to be, I thought Hwarang might suit him better — so I'm recommending it."
"Tch. Trying to snatch someone out from under me again!"
So the Madam had made a habit of cutting in and poaching ability users Hwayeon had her eye on...? Flustered and furious at once, Hwayeon keeps shooting anxious glances at the intercom, plainly hoping Director Lee Hyeryeong will hurry up and arrive. Fair enough. Against Hwayeon, never much of a talker, a woman with more than forty years in politics is a wall she cannot climb.
"That's only natural, isn't it?! Unlike Hwarang, gripped in the fist of some dictator of a CEO, Time River is run democratically! We may not be able to throw our full support behind him from the very start, but if we're certain of Seoha's quality alone—!"
"What you're saying is that young Seoha has to show results first before he can draw the support of the whole raid team. At that level, Blue Palace — first in the country — could do it, and so could Eshban and Muhwaryeong, third and fourth."
"But Hwarang is fifth!"
"In exchange, Hwarang is stuffed with government support, isn't it~?"
That bright little smile on Madam Yu Youngeun — I'm not imagining that it feels like a vixen's, am I...? On the receiving end, Hwayeon lets out a strangled groan, as if she cannot believe her ears. Her face flushes red and goes pale by turns, a vein standing up on her brow.
Even clever Siha cannot find a way into the exchange, and wears an awkward look.
Hwayeon, startled and angry and impatient because of the Madam, and my sister, who can only smile in embarrassment — watching the two of them, I figure this is about where I ought to step in.
"Um... I'm not really following why you're telling me to come to Hwarang?"
At my question the Madam breaks into a radiant smile and begins to explain in a soft, unhurried voice. The same face as Hwayeon, and a completely different smile — I genuinely cannot look away.
"Of course you wouldn't know, Seoha. Hwarang is a raid team this auntie organized, because the state needed one that would support its work without holding anything back. Information only those in the know are privy to, shall we say?"
"...A raid team made by the government?"
"No~. A raid team this auntie built by gathering the talent herself. Which means they're this auntie's people, in a sense. You see?"
Cold sweat runs down my spine at the unexpected turn. I had thought of her as nothing more than a patron of the Hwarang raid team — she made it herself? The President keeping a private organization. Even I, who barely understands politics, can tell that is some kind of serious problem.
I play dumb, and say it with a straight face.
"Ah~ so that's why you told me to come. Hwarang is the fifth-ranked raid team in the country, right? Compared to Time River, about where does it stand?"
"Hehe. Truth be told, first and second have their ranks fairly well locked down, while third, fourth, and fifth jockey with one another. That said, first and fifth aren't so very far apart. The rankings simply shift from time to time because they differ by a couple of B-Class and top-tier C-Class ability users. But Hwarang, with official government backing, has better terms and benefits than the other four in all sorts of ways!"
"So you're saying Hwarang and Time River aren't much different in combat power or influence?"
"Thaaat's right!"
"S-Seoha."
"Seoha..."
Not only Hwayeon — Siha, too, looks at me as if she has been betrayed, just because I am pretending to take an interest in Hwarang. Talk about impatient. I show a little interest and they feel betrayed? Have a little faith in me, the way Franc does.
"Wow. So if I go to Hwarang, I become Hwarang's boss?"
"Not this very moment, of course, but if you take an intensive course of the basic education and support required to become the boss, I can make you Hwarang's boss within a year at the latest!"
"Hmm~. But if I become the boss, what happens to the current one?"
"That child is this auntie's loyal right hand, and even without the boss's seat at Hwarang, there are endless places to put them to use. And this is a secret, but they're rather faint-hearted — a seat above other people doesn't suit them. They even go around saying, as a matter of course, that the boss's seat isn't right for them. So if you came as boss, Seoha, it would be truly wonderful. I believe you could make Hwarang not fifth in the country, but fifth in the world."
"And once my sister starts making her mark in politics, Hwarang becomes a tiger with wings?"
"You understand perfectly!"
Hwayeon listens with her mouth pressed shut, and betrayal soaks into her face. The face of Caesar with Brutus's knife in him, maybe. My sister is looking at me as if I've disappointed her, too... It is far too early for faces like that.
I turn to the Madam, who is working hard to reel me in with an expression that says well, isn't this a windfall, now that I am pretending an interest in Hwarang.
"If my sister's backing me from behind, I think I'd feel pretty secure."
"Right? Then, to Hwarang..."
"But not just anyone can do politics. And our sister's still young."
"Hm? No, no~. Being a university student makes it difficult for now, but once she graduates and starts serving in earnest as an aide..."
"From what I've seen, it usually takes more than twenty years of political experience to be elected to the National Assembly for the first time. Which means I'd have to wait at least twenty years to get my sister's help."
"There are any number of ways to shorten that! Through a special exception she could pass the high-talent recruitment course, build practical experience and a record in an aide's post, then a governorship, and within a dozen years or so..."
Perhaps she feels the fish that took the hook trying to slip away. She throws her whole heart into persuading me, and I answer with a thoroughly deflated look.
"Aish, that's still too long. More than anything, Hwarang's boss must have spent years fitting in with the members and building teamwork. If some brat like me suddenly drops in out of nowhere, even if the boss is fine with it, the people under them probably won't look kindly on it..."
"No~! This auntie can take care of all of that. You only need to trust this auntie!"
Watching a beauty on the Madam's level fluster and grow anxious over a single word from me is, honestly, rather thrilling.
Should I wrap it up around here? Push any further and I might plant a bad impression with the Madam. I don't want my sister and Hwayeon misunderstanding me any more than they already have, either.
"I know you're an extraordinary person, Madam, but I'm the one fighting aberrants on the front line, aren't I? I don't want to fight aberrants in the Phase World without enough trust between us. There might be other ways if I looked, but I don't think they'd be much different from staying with Hwayeon."
By now the Madam seems to have caught my intent as well. The well, look at this one on her face is a little amusing.
I smile brightly at her and say it.
"I'll just stay with Time River."
Only then do Hwayeon and my sister seem to realize why I had started talking as if I were interested in Hwarang. So they notice only now that I got myself out from under the Madam's pestering.
Hwayeon in particular had already run through every face of betrayal, despair, and disappointment, hadn't she? Heh.
I sneak a glance at the Madam, wondering if she is a little put out — and that is when Hwayeon, her expression finally back to normal, belatedly growls at her.
"In any case, what you're doing right now violates the Minor Ability User Protection Act. If you keep coming at it that way, I won't sit quietly either."
But whether Hwayeon growls or not, the Madam pays her no mind at all. If anything, she looks even more covetous.
A fiery greed flickers in those black-pearl eyes. It feels as if I might get devoured if I put a foot wrong, and that is a little frightening.
...Wait. I have a feeling I really will get eaten later?! What is this? Huh??
"Goodness. Ability, talent, a silver tongue, a quick mind, and sharp instincts — none of them ordinary, are they? I really do want to raise you as a successor."
She was just saying she wanted my sister as her successor. Ah — sister for the political line, and me for Hwarang?
A crisp knock sounds at the door.
"This is Lee Hyeryeong."
"Ah! Please, come in!"
Hwayeon, who had been sinking into despair because the Madam would not so much as glance her way, brightens and goes to the office door herself to welcome her in.
Director Lee Hyeryeong steps through, startles at the sight of a beaming Hwayeon, then sees the Madam and offers a wry smile.
"Hyeryeong, it's been a while, hasn't it? Is married life fun?"
"Yes. We benefited greatly from the wreath Your Excellency was kind enough to send personally. Thank you once again."
So Director Lee is a married woman...
She sets three document folders down — one before the Madam, one before Hwayeon, and one before me and my sister — then takes her place at Hwayeon's right, hands neatly folded.
At that calm, intelligent bearing, the Madam makes an offer with a face that could be either sincere or a joke.
"If you're grateful, reconsider what we discussed before, won't you. Talent like yours would be welcome anytime — whether on the Hwarang side or as an aide."
The table cracks under a palm.
"Mother! Knock it off! ...Ahem. Please stop! If you keep this up, I won't hold back either!"
At the sight of the Madam reaching even for Director Lee, Hwayeon seems truly furious — furious enough that her tongue knots as she strikes the table. Then, as if ashamed of the slip, her face goes red, and the Madam clicks her tongue at her, thoroughly unimpressed.
"Mother, your greed for talent goes too far! If someone has even a scrap of ability, you try to draw them into your arms, don't you! Why else would the rumors say you have a mania for collecting talent and showing it off!"
"Oh my? Don't you know that when you're steering a nation, the more talent the better? You're hardly one to say that to your mother, when you're doing everything you can to keep other good-for-nothings from snatching Siha, and to drag Seoha onto your team."
"Says the woman who goes around illegally headhunting with no restraint!"
To the naked eye, Hwayeon flushed with anger is rather threatening — but through Spatial Perception, she strangely feels like a daughter throwing a tantrum at her mother.
Why does it feel like that? ...Because the Phase Power inside her is calm? Well, the Madam's Phase Power is calm too, so the teasing and the anger probably aren't sincere.
"Goodness. A little more and you'll hit your mother. All right, all right~."
"Nngh..."
The fact that my sister and Director Lee are watching with wry smiles, as if this is familiar, is probably proof that I am right.
Anyway, watching two beauties who look like twins bicker is a feast for the eyes. They say a beautiful woman is cute no matter what she does — I think I understand that now.
The Madam brushes off Hwayeon's criticism in a where's that dog barking from sort of way, then speaks to me in a voice soaked through with fondness.
"By the way, 'Madam'~. It feels so stiff that this auntie is uncomfortable. You may call me Auntie, if you like."
"Um, that's a little..."
I refuse with an awkward smile, and she follows it with something even more shocking.
"Or would you rather call me noona?"
"...Haa."
Hwayeon, as if genuinely exhausted, covers her face with both hands. Well, it isn't hard. In looks and in manner, she has the feel of a refined older sister through and through.
I smile faintly and open my mouth with easy familiarity.
"Noona Yeongeun?"
In an instant, all five young women turn to look at me. Hwayeon's expression in particular is terrifying.
"Pfft. Ahahaha! What a personality — I really do like it. Hohoho!"
The Madam clutches her stomach and laughs until tears prick her eyes, and beside her Hwayeon glares at me. Hey, why the glare. She asked me to call her that, so I did.
At my wronged expression, Siha shakes her head, and Director Lee seems to be marveling at the sheer thickness of my nerves.
"Ahahaha. Haa. When was the last time anyone called me noona... Then, cute little Seoha, won't you go out with this noona?"
"...What?"
The Madam smiles radiantly, looking genuinely thrilled, and leans her face toward mine. As that beautiful face — a woman in her mid-to-late twenties, to look at her — draws near, my own face heats.
"Mother!!"
"A-Auntie?!"
"Whyy? On the outside I'm still in my twenties, so don't I still suit Seoha?"
"Krgh...! Seoha, what on earth are you thinking!"
"H-huh? I just called her that because she asked me to?"
"A-ah, honestly. Auntie, please stop teasing him. Seoha's going to think you mean it."
"Pft. Hohohoho!"
Ah... It was only a moment, but I was genuinely shocked. To hear the sitting President ask me out. Not just me — everyone seems startled and appalled. Even Franc was surprised enough to stare blankly at the Madam.
But I really don't understand why she is showing me this much favor. If she knew all my abilities, it wouldn't be strange — but all that's known right now is that I can use Detection all day, and that I awakened once more, earlier than others.
Director Lee looks as if she has plenty she wants to say, but she presses her lips shut, as if she doesn't think this is her place to speak. Then she rolls her sleeve back slightly, checks her watch, and opens her mouth in a calm voice.
"I'm sorry, but it's past five. It would be best to get to the main point before it gets too late."
A Rolex. Director Lee's tastes run rather masculine. The car's a Ferrari, too. Seeing preferences like that, I find myself a little curious who her husband is. She looks pretty strong-willed — I wonder if her style in bed is a bit...
At Director Lee's words, the Madam withdraws with an expression of genuine regret. Seeing that face, my heart pounds too.
If I'd said yes, would we really have been dating?
When I think that I could bury my face in that generous chest, act spoiled, even let my hands wander in a few wicked little games, and she would take all of it with a smile and a mother's forbearance — I feel a twinge of regret...
Hwayeon, looking truly worn out, draws the papers from the folder and sets them on the table, and my sister takes out the same documents.
The paper labeled Contract listed the terms I had to observe, the benefits the team would provide, the salary I was to receive, the signing bonus, and the rest.
"Wait — there's one thing I'm curious about, regarding our cute Seoha?"
The Madam sets out the same paper and addresses me again. Hwayeon wears a tired look that says what is she trying to say now.
"What is it?"
"From the moment you started saying Siha had arrived, a blue corona has been flickering in your pupils, hasn't it. Is that one of your abilities too?"
Uh... Startled, I catch my reflection in the glass of the table, and just as the Madam said, blue light is wavering in my pupils.
So when I focus Mana Sieve, other people can see it too. That was why the kids who met my eyes at school today were so startled.
I am wondering how to hide Mana Sieve from the Madam when Hwayeon explains in my place.
"As Seoha's Search ability grew, it changed so that it shows on the outside."
When our eyes meet, she closes hers once and nods. She doesn't seem to consider the Madam an ally.
"Hooh. I see. So that's how you noticed Siha had arrived. Contrary to what I was told, your ordinary Detection is excellent too? And you can maintain Search all day. Truly tempting."
Greed rises in her eyes again, and I cannot bring myself to meet them. If I keep meeting them, I feel as if I'll be devoured.
Avoiding her gaze, I look at the contract, and my sister points out the things I need to watch for, explaining as she goes.
"You'll contract as a temporary member until you come of age. The signing bonus is five billion won. The annual salary is 1.2 billion, and the contract expires on January 1st, the day you become an adult — but if you want to renew, it renews automatically, and you become a full member of Time River."
"You may take that as, quite literally, a signing bonus for the period until Mr. Jung Seoha comes of age. And through internal review, the value of Mr. Jung Seoha's ability has been judged comparable to the current top tier of C-Class. Should he express intent to renew in January of next year, the signing bonus will increase to five hundred billion won, and the annual salary will be renewed at twelve billion. This amount is paid so long as the contract is maintained, even if he does not go on expeditions; if he participates in the team's activities, he will take twenty percent of the profit generated by those activities."
Director Lee picks up where my sister left off and adds the rest.
Five hundred billion? A hundredfold jump from five billion? And if the salary is twelve billion, that's a billion a month? At that level it's practically a world-class athlete's pay. The sum doesn't feel real, but it is more than enough to set my heart hammering. A billion a month — with money like that, there's far more I can do than can't!
Perhaps my pleased expression showed, because Director Lee smiles faintly as she speaks.
"It's not even that large a sum..."
"Not a large sum?"
"No. This is about the income the boss brings in when she leads the team on a single expedition to the Phase World."
Ghk — over five hundred billion in one go? I turn to Hwayeon with wide eyes, and she confirms it.
"About that much."
"That's incredible..."
"Seoha. The salary and the signing bonus are nothing more than formality."
"Five hundred billion and twelve billion are a formality?!"
"Think of a world sports star's salary. Compared to that, it might as well not exist. The real income is the share you receive when you take part in team activities."
Oh, right — there was a share, wasn't there?
"Giving me as much as twenty percent... isn't that a lot?"
"If you think of the regions we haven't been able to open up for lack of a high-grade Detection ability user, that much isn't a waste at all. And it's only given if you participate."
Hmm. She said that if I join an expedition I get twenty percent of the profit, so twenty percent of five hundred billion is a hundred billion? No — she said profit, not revenue, so it would be less than that.
...Wait a second. Even a snot-nosed high schooler like me knows enough to recognize the danger of inflation.
There's no way I'm the only person walking off with hundreds of billions, and if money like this is changing hands, doesn't something like a great depression happen? Seems like there'd be problems on the currency side of things, too.
Well, that side of things must not be a problem, seeing as the world's been fine for over two hundred years.
"The salary's paid in twelve installments, right? But what are the signing bonus and the earned income tax?"
"The signing bonus is, literally, money paid as the price of the contract. Earned income tax means you have to pay a portion of what you earn by working as tax. So since your salary exceeds two hundred million won, you have to pay thirty-eight percent of your annual salary in tax every year. But—"
"Thirty-eight percent?! I'd have to pay over four and a half billion?!"
Hwayeon hasn't even finished, but the terrifying tax bomb startles me into asking on reflex.
"An ordinary worker would have to. And on profit an ability user earns in the Phase World, you have to pay fifty percent — an additional twelve percent on top."
"Fifty percent?!"
"But you're a Special Type Detection ability user, so you receive a national tax exemption, and you also get a reduction under the Phase World tax code. That brings it to twenty-eight percent. There's a year-end settlement refund on top of that, too."
"...The numbers are getting so big my head's starting to hurt."
It doesn't actually hurt, but the sums are staggering just to hear. The Madam smiles, beaming, as if my scrunched face is cute.
"Hohohoho. That's why most ability users either hire a personal accountant or entrust their tax accounting to a large firm."
"Then should I hire an accountant too?"
"Don't hire an accountant. Your sister will do it for you."
"Really? You know accounting too?"
"I can learn. It's money you earned doing dangerous work — I shouldn't let someone else handle it carelessly."
She says it with a calm face, looking over the contract again for anything amiss.
"Whoaa. It suddenly looks like there's a halo shining behind you!"
"Pfft."
Siha smiles faintly at my flattery — and because of the light of the setting sun, a dazzling glow actually pours out behind her, so she really does look haloed!
But Hwayeon furrows her brow slightly at the news that my sister will handle the tax accounting.
"Tax accounting is far more troublesome than you'd think, and it's heavy on mindless labor. It's not a good job for high-grade personnel like Siha. Seoha, would you like it if Siha spent every year-end running around cutting receipts and pulling all-nighters on tax work?"
"Huh? Ah, no."
"Tax accounting is a more irritating business than you'd expect."
Seeing Hwayeon's brow stay creased and refuse to smooth, I figure she must have some bad memories.
"Time River's first year of tax accounting, I did alone with General Affairs Director Lee Hyeryeong. It was truly the worst."
"How bad was it?"
"...Do you want to hear?"
...Seeing Hwayeon's reaction, I start thinking it would be better to just spend some money and hire an accountant. Or entrust it to a large firm, the way the Madam said.
"...I think it'd be better if I paid someone to handle it too. The thought of you running around busy every year-end doesn't sit well with me."
At my words, my sister smiles as if pleased and strokes my hair.
I listen to Director Lee explaining the contract clause by clause, and to my sister beside her adding notes and interpretations.
...Honestly, it is such a straightforward employment contract that I wonder if an explanation is even necessary — but the two of them are so enthusiastic that I cannot bring myself to cut them off, so I hear them out to the end.
The contract contained eleven articles in all: the raid team to be joined and the place of work, the contract period, working hours, wages, holidays and leave along with the protection period, renewal and termination, matters to be observed, and miscellaneous provisions.
I have heard of toxic clauses in novels and dramas — the kind that let the party in power throw their weight around — so I looked through it carefully, but nothing like that met my eye. My sister doesn't say anything either, so I can probably assume there isn't one.
"Write your name, resident registration number, and address here, and stamp your thumbprint."
I fill in the fields Siha points to, ink my fingertip, and press my print. She writes her name and signature in the guardian line beneath mine, stamps her own print, and hands it to Hwayeon — who stamps the representative line for Raid Team Time River at the very top.
And so, on two copies of the contract, my thumbprint, my sister's, and Hwayeon's sit side by side in friendly alignment.
"Hoo."
Only then does Hwayeon sigh, as if a weight has lifted, and shoot the Madam a piercing look. Her attitude says she will not lose me no matter what — but the Madam ignores her completely, and has been studying me intently for a while now.
Why is she looking at me like that... It's unsettling.
My sister bows to the Madam and to Hwayeon, asking them to look after me, so I bow as well, then ask Hwayeon about something I had been wondering.
"Hwayeon. Is Time River's weakness a shortage of Detection ability users?"
The attitude Director Lee had shown since school carried the nuance that the raid team was short on them. In fact, of the 317 ability users I confirmed through Spatial Perception, only eight have that Möbius-strip shape.
And among the forty who remain once you exclude the 277 supporters at G-Class or below, there is only one.
As if my question had pressed a sore spot, Hwayeon sighs, nods, and speaks while leaning back against the sofa.
"Of 113 regular members, Detection types number only seven. Normally each team needs at least two for things to run smoothly, but every month we divide the ten teams into fives and send them on expeditions in rotation."
"Mm... That must be rough."
"More than rough... no, physically it is rough. A raid team's engine of growth is the raid itself, and not being able to raid because we're short on people is hard from the company's perspective too."
Hwayeon wears a tired smile, as if troubled. I extend Spatial Perception beyond the Time River building and look over all of Yeouido.
Mm... Of the ten thousand ability users in Yeouido, Special Types don't even number three hundred. A shortage of Detection ability users isn't Time River's problem alone.
While I am thinking of something else, Director Lee gathers the contracts with a satisfied face and stands.
"Then I'll return to the office first. I have to process Mr. Jung Seoha's enrollment documents, and the matter of the Energy Eater."
She looks at the contract and at me, her face full of expectation. The look of someone determined to win me over on this chance, one way or another, and turn the temporary into the permanent.
Director Lee bows in turn to the Madam and to Hwayeon, dips her head slightly to my sister and to me, and leaves the office. Her hips sway as she goes; she looks to be in quite a good mood.
My sister rolls the contract up, tucks it into a document tube, and speaks to Hwayeon.
"Hwayeon. If Seoha stays with Time River, what kind of work will he be doing?"
"Once Seoha signs a formal contract with Time River, he'll start by joining me on mid-to-upper-grade expeditions. He'll build experience and Phase Power there first."
"Mid-to-upper grade means fighting High-Rank Variants, right?"
"Team A, which I'm on, was built for raids, and its strength is proven by the raids it has already succeeded at. On top of that, for Seoha's safety, we plan to hunt only things whose data collection is complete and whose patterns are established, so the risk of him getting hurt will drop considerably. We'll bring one more sub-detector on the expeditions, so his burden will ease too. Once he grows to C-Class that way, he'll run raids and expeditions in parallel from then on."
The explanation is directed at my sister, but the tone is very much you listen too. Hmm. Should I tell Hwayeon about Spatial Perception as well? My sister said I can trust her... Mana Sieve is one thing, but Spatial Perception... hmm.
While I am deliberating, the Madam, who had been reading a copy of the contract, sets it down with a blank face and opens her mouth.
"The signing bonus, the salary, the performance share — they aren't bad. But looking at that child's potential for growth, they aren't particularly good either."
At that, Hwayeon furrows her brow again.
"That's why we set the share at twenty percent. Considering the industry's highest share rate is thirteen percent, it isn't insufficient..."
"Well, that's only from your position, leading a raid team. Young Seoha is only F-Class now, and his Sense range is already on par with an Analysis ability of the same grade. Once he learns Phase Power operation and his class rises, the ability will surge. His Sense range might even surpass one kilometer."
At the mention of one kilometer I nearly give myself away, but with superhuman patience I suppress the body that wants to flinch.
"One kilometer. Don't you feel how tremendous that is? And yet a mere five hundred billion, with a salary of twelve billion? The share is money that only comes in if he goes out, whether on an expedition or a raid. In other words, his only fixed income is the salary, and for a supernova whose enormous growth is already confirmed, twelve billion is no better than the industry's minimum wage... The burden on the team is practically nothing, isn't it?"
Whether the Madam is right or not, Hwayeon can only grimace, unable to get a word out. Five hundred billion is "mere"? Is full-time 105-meter Detection really that outstanding?
"If young Seoha's growth were uncertain, I'd understand, but he's already grown once and proven the ability can expand, hasn't he? Ah — not that I'm saying five hundred billion and twelve billion are small. They're at a veteran level for the industry."
"After several expeditions and raids, we'll renew the contract and raise the salary."
"Oh my, that's a heartless thing to say. Renewing every year because you don't trust him — doesn't that mean you'll coldly cut him loose if his ability falls short, or if there's trouble?"
"That's not it! That, of all things, is you forcing the point, Mother—!"
I watch round two between Hwayeon and the Madam begin, then ask my sister.
"Noona, hey. Is the reason my price is so high that I'm a Sense type, even among Detection abilities, and my range is similar to an Analysis ability?"
"Yes. Analysis ability users can see extremely far and find weaknesses, but they have a lot of problems with field of view. If a low hill or a forest blocks their sight, the analysis distance drops drastically. In dungeons especially, they're as good as useless. People sometimes build watchtowers to increase the effect, but if you raise them too high you also have to account for attacks from flying aberrants..."
"Can't an Analysis ability user use something like a telescope?"
"They can, if they use a lens worked from crystal imbued with Phase Power. But equipment like that easily runs past tens of billions of won, and when you bring an Analysis ability user along you look for places like the great grasslands or the plains, so the utility drops."
What kind of telescope costs tens of billions...
Anyway, my ability really is a cheat. The Madam only knows it as a 105-meter Sense that can detect Phase Power, and even then she thinks five hundred billion and twelve billion are too little. If she found out the ability had evolved, through Spatial Perception, into a one-kilometer always-on Search...
Naturally, I picture her smiling a queen's smile, fastening a collar around my neck, and hauling me off!
I shudder, and my sister sends me a wordless look: absolutely do not speak of the ability. Franc, beside her, does the same.
"Mother, just — what is it you want to say?!"
Ah, Hwayeon finally exploded. She shoots to her feet and glares fiercely, but the Madam lets it go in one ear and out the other, and speaks to me and my sister.
"Seoha, Siha — the two of you must remember what this auntie says. The government will always welcome you both."
Looking at the Madam, overflowing with lingering attachment, and Hwayeon trembling with rage, I don't know why, but I feel as if I might laugh.
"Well. The contract's done, and there's time to spare, so shall we have dinner together?"
"There's no need! Seoha and Siha are with me..."
"I made a reservation at the Redcon Hotel, so if we leave now the timing will be just right."
"Listen when I'm talking—!"
"You left home at seventeen and have never once contacted me first, have you? If I don't go out of my way to visit or call, you don't so much as phone... Do you not even want to eat with your mother anymore?"
The Madam looks at Hwayeon with sorrowful eyes, and Hwayeon's expression twists into something too grotesque to put into words. In the end she closes her eyes and turns her head away — and at that, the Madam smiles as if truly delighted, and rises from her seat.
"My Yeoni seems to have agreed as well, so shall we go?"
The Madam, it seemed, lived for the pleasure of tormenting her daughter.