Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Actually, There's Not Much Difference on Tuesdays (3)
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‘……?’
Seonal was momentarily taken aback. The girl—and even the boy—looked like they were really about to burst into tears.
“You have to wait your turn properly, no matter who you are. Since the ticket in your hand is number 20, you should head over there.”
“No, I want to talk to you.”
The girl clutched the number ticket tightly in both hands.
“Me too. Me too.”
The boy climbed down from the chair and pressed right up against the desk, putting on the most desperate expression imaginable.
“I’m sorry, but no one gets to cut in line.”
“How much will it take? I’ve got plenty of money.”
The girl pulled a wallet from her pocket. Seonal’s eyes widened for a split second when she drew out a black card.
‘...No way. It can’t be real. There’s no way a kid has an actual black card, right?’
A card with no spending limit, the kind only the truly wealthy used—that was a black card.
“I’m sorry, but civil servants don’t accept money or gifts.”
Seonal held out her hand and shook her head.
“Why not? The other civil servants took theirs just fine. They were thrilled about it.”
The girl’s eyes went wide.
Despite her words, her gaze brimmed with innocence, so Seonal inwardly dismissed the thought and gave a straightforward reply.
“Taking money from citizens while on duty is wrong. It lands you straight in jail.”
“They didn’t go to jail.”
“If it’s reported, they do.”
“But I’m the one offering it?”
“The person who accepts it is in the wrong.”
“Why can’t it happen? They said people move for money.”
“Who exactly said that?”
Who on earth had fed this child such nonsense?
People did move for money, sure—but she didn’t need to learn that yet.
“Grandpa did.”
“Yeah. Grandpa said it.”
The girl blinked, and the boy’s eyes went round.
Seonal faltered just a bit.
Butting into family matters was never wise.
“...You could put it that way. But the key point is, you can’t give money to civil servants.”
“Then what do I have to do for you to talk to me?”
The girl pointed at the number 20 ticket clutched in her hand.
Her plea was earnest.
“You could ask the person with the next number for their understanding and request it that way.”
At Seonal’s response, the girl broke into a wide grin and balled her fist.
“Then I’ll wait. You wait right here.”
“I’ll stay here, sis.”
“Good boy.”
The girl patted the boy’s head and walked off toward the crowd.
Her stride was anything but ordinary.
Seonal couldn’t make out what she was saying from outside, so she turned to the boy.
“Why did you come to me?”
“Hae. Seo. Nal.”
The boy pointed at the civil servant ID hanging around Seonal’s neck and flashed a bright smile.
“I came because I saw this name.”
The boy hopped back onto the chair and swung his legs.
It was a magic chair that automatically adjusted its height and width to fit perfectly, so Seonal met his gaze.
“Oh, I’m Loren. My sis is Keron.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“I saw you at the Mages’ Association.”
Loren’s smile never wavered. He looked utterly pure, just from a glance.
‘Why is everyone suddenly recognizing me?’
Hadn’t someone earlier mentioned seeing her during that Medusa tribe complaint?
It had to be the hair color standing out. Maybe she should start wearing a hat.
“Your hair color’s so unique! I spotted you right away!”
Sure enough, the words tumbled out of Loren’s mouth too.
‘Dye doesn’t even stick to it. What am I supposed to do?’
Back when she was still ‘Rinell,’ the magic she’d devoted her life to mastering as a mage was what let her become one now.
And the sole side effect? This hair.
No matter how much dye she tried, it never took—and oh, the nagging she’d endured from Grandpa and everyone else.
“You look just like Grandpa!”
Loren burst out laughing, and Seonal couldn’t help but laugh along. She’d seen that one coming.
“You didn’t come to me just because of my hair, did you?”
“Nope.”
Loren shook his head. Amid that beaming gaze lurked a subtle edge.
“I don’t trust mages.”
It felt a touch too sharp for a kid who looked like an elementary schooler.
But deep down, Seonal agreed.
Back when she was Rinell, that place had been the realm of mages.
Born into magic, studying it until death.
They’d cast off outdated ways to pursue more efficient paths for mana and mages—going so far as to learn to understand and accommodate non-mages.
From her vantage, the mages here came off as nothing but vain.
Fat pigs more obsessed with wringing out extra coin than advancing magic.
“Press it now.”
Keron came back over and made her demand to Seonal. Number 21 gleamed in the girl’s hand.
That face, brimming with pride and triumph—Seonal had no choice but to hit the button.
Preserving a child’s innocence was important too.
Ding-dong.
‘21’ lit up on the display board, and Keron and Loren’s eyes sparkled like they’d just watched fireworks.
“Wow.”
Loren gasped in awe, then turned to Keron.
“Sis. We did it. We got the number.”
“You and me—we pulled it off.”
Keron’s faint smile curved her lips as she extended the ticket toward Seonal.
“I need someone to appraise a magic tool. Right now. Desperately.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s something you’d need to take to the Mages’ Association.”
Seonal shot down Keron’s request on the spot.
She got the effort, but it simply wasn’t allowed.
“You can’t appraise magic tools or something?”
“I can.”
“Then why can’t you?”
Keron pursed her lips and clenched her little fist.
“I’m not with the Mages’ Association—I’m in the Special Division for Otherrace Complaint Resolution. I can’t use my abilities outside of handling complaints.”
Here emerged the real divide between a civil servant mage and one from the Mages’ Association.
This was exactly where the perks for Association mages came in.
They had leeway to cast spells outside official duties.
That let them research and experiment on their own.
But she was different as a civil servant.
She could craft warps—yet rode the subway and bus.
She could link home and office for a one-minute commute, but no—cursing the whole way to work instead.
Civil servant mages were limited to self-defense outside duties, nothing more.
“But you’re on duty right now, aren’t you?”
Keron nibbled her lip. As if the refusal had caught her off guard, she fiddled with her wallet.
Tears began to shimmer slowly in her eyes.
“You’re right, I am. But take a look at this?”
Seonal fetched the posted notice and pointed.
•Personal consultations are prohibited. (e.g., I’m sad because my friendship fell apart. I have a crush, etc.—anything like that.)
“Personal matters aren’t allowed. That’s the rule for our division.”
“So if it’s personal but tangled up with someone else, that’s fine?”
“It has to involve deep ties or go on for days. Say a race insulted you—we’d send you to the police station. But if it wasn’t a one-off and dragged on the next day, we’d step in. Get the difference?”
“Yeah. Got it!”
Keron nodded over and over. Her soft-looking brown hair, streaked with red, bounced along with her.
“I’ve got tons of money, so the mages kept pushing me to buy useless junk. It’s been over three months now.”
“Yeah. Way over three months.”
Loren chimed in forcefully from the side.
Their angry little faces alone conveyed what they’d endured.
“They forced you to buy items?”
Seonal’s expression flipped.
Kids or not, this needed looking into.
“I’m still too young to get what adults say, but they told me buying this would awaken me as a true vampire and turn me into a fine adult.”
‘They really hard-sold her?’
Seonal was floored.
Rich kids or not, that was straight-up coercion.
“It was kinda weird, but I could’ve bought it anytime. I wanna be a fine adult.”
Keron’s fingers fidgeted.
She was pretending otherwise, but her cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment.
“Still, I think the police station would be the better first stop over here.”
Forced sales were a crime—especially to children.
‘If they file a report at the station...’
“Why do you think I haven’t gone to the police?”
Keron’s voice carried a hint of hurt.
Her lips pursed just a touch.
A brief furrow creased Seonal’s brow, then smoothed away.
Their job always started with listening—unlike the police, who were for formal reports.
“They wouldn’t listen ’cause I’m a kid. Nobody listens to us.”
“Yeah. They said bring proof. Or leave it to the grown-ups? You’ve listened more than anyone, Seonal.”
Loren slumped too, burying his face on the desk.
“Grandpa’s busy. Way too busy—I don’t wanna burden him with this.”
“Then isn’t there someone else besides Grandpa?”
“There is.”
Keron’s gaze dipped.
“But we’re... proud vampires. If we spoke up about this, they’d just look at us funny.”
“That’s not right.”
Seonal’s firm tone made Keron jump.
“Pride? That’s great. But kids deserve protection no matter their race—and they can lean on anyone.”
Seonal flashed a warm smile at Keron and Loren.
Her free hand rummaged in her bag, emerging with two lollipops.
Loren and Keron’s eyes lit up on cue.
“...Didn’t you say you can’t hand stuff out on duty?”
Unlike Loren’s immediate grab, Keron held back.
“Receiving’s the no-no—giving’s fine. And candy? That’s just a little service for folks with complaints.”
“They said candy rots your teeth, and Nanny won’t like it. Rotten teeth mean...”
“Then with this one.”
“T-teeth just need good brushing! You can’t turn down good intentions! Gimme!”
Keron thrust out her hand in a panic, and Seonal handed over the lollipop.
Keron shyly parted her lips.
“...Thank you.”
She glanced aside, only to shoot a cold look at Loren, who’d already peeled the wrapper and popped his in.
“Loren. What do you say when you get a gift?”
“Thank you.”
Loren jolted, then bowed his head to Seonal.
“I’ll hear your story. Take it slow.”
At this point, Seonal figured she might as well listen.
“Ever since I brought home that magic tool I bought to become a fine adult, weird stuff started happening.”
Keron spoke around the lollipop in her hand.
“Weird stuff?”
“Strangers following me. Messages from unknowns. Stares at me in school.”
“...Hold on a sec.”
Seonal’s smile vanished.
This was graver than she’d imagined. Stalking?
“Are you asking me to check if there’s a listening device in the magic tool?”
“Yeah. I came to ask you to find the lis-listening... bug.”
“Did you try the Mages’ Association?”
Hate them or not, they were the specialists for this.
“I did go to the Mages’ Association. Hit up a bunch of branches. But they just shoved more magic tools at me. I bought them all—didn’t help.”
Keron fished a crumpled paper from her pocket.
“This was stuck in my locker today.”
Vampire brats—does other people’s blood taste good? Suck ours and gold pops out?
Seonal stared at the note.
Vampires really had been nobility before the war, and their assets had ballooned afterward, making them even richer.
Money as a social marker made sense—but this crossed the line.
Just another form of discrimination.
Seonal’s brow furrowed.