Preparing for Terror
“Want to say that again?”
“Chicken coop.”
“......”
Lee Gayeon stood with both hands planted boldly on her hips, chest thrust forward. Astra stared at the girl, completely at a loss for words, before turning her gaze to me. The look in her eyes screamed, Did you teach her that?
I shook my head.
Why on earth would I teach her something like that?
Astra forced a smile, barely suppressing her murderous aura, and locked eyes with the girl.
“What. Exactly. Do. You. Mean. By. That. I wonder if our dear friend knows~?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s what they call old ladies.”
“......”
Whoa. That one definitely struck a nerve.
Astra’s blonde hair began rising straight into the air. At the same time, objects throughout the office started floating and spinning around us.
“Oh my, sister~ I’m still a vibrant young woman in her twenties, you know?”
“...Really? Sorry. I didn’t realize you were that young.”
Twitch.
“Maybe around thirty? That’s what I assumed… my mistake.”
Twitch.
Lee Gayeon lowered her head with those words. Gayeon, why are you digging the knife in like that?
Astra’s HP is already at zero…
Astra’s entire body trembled. The floating objects in the office swirled around us like a violent storm.
Gayeon gazed at her with those bright, sparkling eyes while Astra’s expression slowly filled with genuine killing intent.
“But when I turn twenty, how old will auntie be?”
“You little—”
“Alright, that’s enough.”
I clamped my hand over Lee Gayeon’s mouth and bowed my head toward Astra in apology.
“I’m terribly sorry, Astra. She’s still young and grew up in the slums of District F, so it seems she’s picked up some rather unfortunate influences.”
“Mmph, mmph mmph…!”
“Miss Gayeon. It’s rude to speak that way to someone you’ve only just met. And you really shouldn’t lie. How could anyone possibly think Astra looks like she’s in her thirties?”
“It’s not a lie…”
“Tsk.”
“…Sorry.”
Gayeon hung her head, sneaking glances at me. I turned my attention back to Astra.
“As you can see, the child is reflecting on her behavior. Could you possibly find it in your heart to forgive her?”
“Sigh… Fine.”
She dropped back into her chair and pressed hard on her temples.
“U-uh…? Y-you want me to look after the child?”
“I have a favor to ask. Training Officer…”
A short while later, after things had calmed down from the earlier incident, I requested a private conversation with Astra.
What will you do with the child?
If you could assign someone to watch her, I’d be grateful.
When I asked for someone to look after her, the person who appeared was An Yeri.
She arrived at the office wearing an oversized t-shirt and dolphin shorts—what could only be described as a “bottoms missing” fashion statement.
“I’d appreciate your help as well, Yeri.”
“S-so… b-both of you need me… right?”
“That’s correct, Yeri. And even without a situation like this, you’re always someone we need.”
At my words, her eyes blinked rapidly before she broke into a sloppy, bashful smile.
I overheard her muttering to herself, something like, H-he said he needs me!
“Ehe… ehehe…”
“......”
“Uhi, hihihit.”
She twisted her body back and forth, giggling like a shut-in who had just made her first friend.
“I-if I c-can be of help… I-I’ll do my best…!”
“Then I’ll leave her in your care. Gayeon? Could you stay with this pretty sister for a little while?”
“Yeah. Got it, bro.”
She nodded at my request and trotted over to An Yeri.
“I-I’ll be in m-my room, so… c-come get us l-later…”
I nodded, and An Yeri and Lee Gayeon left the office together.
“So… that foul-mouthed—rather, that child who severely lacks manners is Maker’s first subordinate?”
“…Yes, that’s correct.”
“Huu…”
Still clearly upset, Astra furrowed her elegant brows and swept her hair back.
“Kidnapping?”
“No.”
“You didn’t lure her with food, did you?”
“No.”
Well, it wasn’t entirely different, but it still wasn’t that.
“Then what?”
“I saved her right before she was about to suffer something terrible.”
“And?”
“After I looked after her a bit, she said she wanted to repay the favor and followed me.”
“…She’s a good child. If only her language were a little prettier.”
Tsk.
She clicked her tongue.
Don’t click your tongue while thinking about the kid… Just how badly did that sting?
Using her telekinesis, she pulled a cup of water from across the room, took a sip, and looked at me.
“So you plan to bring her along starting with the next terror operation, correct?”
“That seems to be the intention.”
Her expression grew serious as she studied me.
“What is her ability?”
“I can only describe her as a multi-ability user.”
I gave her a general explanation of Gayeon’s powers. That she might possess dozens, perhaps even hundreds of different abilities within her body.
“What does that even…?”
“I didn’t know something like that was possible either.”
In truth I had known and sought her out on purpose, but explaining that would only complicate things. It was better to say I’d stumbled upon a lucky find by accident.
“If you don’t trust me, I can call her back and have her demonstrate.”
“…No, I believe you. Why would Maker lie to me about something like this?”
She had a point. If I gave her even a single mission, the truth would come out immediately. No one would bother telling such an easily exposed lie.
“How strong are her abilities?”
“It seems to vary greatly depending on the ability.”
Some felt so weak they might as well not exist, while others were strong enough to hold their own against single-ability users.
“…She really is unique.”
Unique, and useful. Normally, multi-ability users had powers that were each weaker than those of single-ability users. That was common knowledge.
But our Gayeon was an irregular who completely shattered that rule.
If I could just identify a few useful abilities among hers and train them properly, she wouldn’t belong among the rank-and-file—she could join the executive level without raising eyebrows.
The only problem is…
“The issue is that she herself has no idea what abilities she possesses, or which ones are weak or strong.”
Since these weren’t abilities she was born with but ones forcibly implanted, it made sense she wouldn’t know. Still, it was a headache.
“That’s why I think we should spend a few months educating her.”
“Teach her combat methods and help her understand her own powers before full-scale operations? That sounds good.”
Astra nodded and scribbled something on a piece of paper.
“Does the child currently have any properly usable abilities?”
“For now, I believe only teleportation is truly reliable.”
I wasn’t sure about the others, but at least her teleportation didn’t fall short when compared to other warp-type ability users.
“…Understood for now.”
We would examine her abilities in detail when training began. Astra set down her pen.
“What are your plans now? Seeing as you’ve already brought a subordinate, it doesn’t seem like you’ll be working at the café for a while…”
“As you accurately pointed out earlier, I plan to carry out a terror operation.”
“Won’t preparing for a terror attack take quite a long time? Especially since you need to train her as well.”
She was right. Even if we started preparing now, it would take about a month.
I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing during that time. Therefore—
I slid a document across the desk.
“I plan to hunt some of the people on this list.”
“All of these are assassination missions?”
What I showed her were some of the murder requests posted within Eclipse. Among them, I had selected individuals who would cause trouble for villains—specifically, for our Eclipse—in the latter half of the original story.
And every single one of them possesses an elixir.
I wouldn’t be able to kill them all in a month, but I would take out as many high-value targets as possible.
Just wait, Gayeon! Big brother will bring you some elixirs!
Plus, I can test the performance of the results I obtained from the lab before the terror operation. It’s truly killing two birds with one stone.
“Understood. Come see me before you go to carry out the missions and I’ll sign off on them.”
I nodded at her words.
After leaving Astra’s office.
Alright, time to go pick them up.
I headed toward An Yeri’s room to meet up with Lee Gayeon and An Yeri.
It really is far.
I didn’t know if she had chosen the room herself, but it was tucked away in a distant corner. It perfectly reflected her introverted personality.
After walking for quite a while, I finally caught sight of her room in the distance.
Almost there.
The moment I thought that and quickened my pace—
“U-ueeeeeeeeeeeeng…!!!!!”
“…Yeri?”
A woman’s wail echoed through the hallway.
I hurried to her room and opened the door to find a tear-soaked Training Officer and Lee Gayeon, who wore an expression that said she had no idea why the woman was crying.
“M-Maker…!!”
The moment she saw me, An Yeri rushed forward and threw herself into my arms. The sheer pressure of her chest made it a little hard to breathe.
“Huuuuaaaaaaaaang…! Uwaaaaaaaaang!!”
“…What exactly happened?”
“Gayeon… Gayeon did…”
“Chicken coop auntie. If you keep clinging like that, you’ll make bro uncomfortable.”
“Huuuaaaaang…!! Hic. Sob. I-I’m not a chicken coop!!”
Even while bawling her eyes out, An Yeri still managed to protest. …That alone was enough to understand the situation.
It seemed our Gayeon had struck a nerve again.
“Not a chicken coop? They say chicken coops get desperate to get married so they wear sexy underwear to seduce people. Auntie’s underwear also…”
“T-that’s just my preference! Preference…!!”
“So you’re not desperate?”
“T-that’s…! Hic, sob…!!!”
An Yeri wailed even louder, tears streaming down her face.
“I’m twenty-three years old…!!”
“Bro. Why do all the ladies here have such high face values?”
Don’t pass the bomb to me.
“I-I’m not a chicken coop… huuuuaaaaaang…!!!”
…You’re losing a verbal fight to a child… Never mind.
“Maker…! Uwaaaaaaaaeng…!!!”
“Chicken coop. Stop rubbing up against bro and wagging your tail.”
“I-I’m not wagging my tail!! Huuuuaaaaaang…!!!”
“......”
Gayeon kept insulting her while trying to pull An Yeri off me, and An Yeri, hurt even more by the words, only pressed herself closer.
Fuck…
Can someone please get me out of here?