Anything for Power
"What's this about? At this hour. And on a Sunday, no less."
I sneered at her openly.
Kim Isol looked even more haggard than before, and she showed no reaction at all to my sarcasm.
Awoken didn't report to the company every day, so this was the first time I'd seen her since Friday. She'd given up after watching me make dinner plans with Lee Donggeul on Monday, but starting the very next day she'd called and messaged me nonstop. I'd ignored every single one. By Friday she'd gotten so desperate she'd shown up at my place, but she still hadn't dropped that attitude of hers, so I'd coldly sent her packing.
"......"
Normally she would have glared daggers at me. Right now she just looked drained of all spirit. I could guess why easily enough, but playing dumb was something I'd already gotten good at.
"If you don't have anything to say, I'll be heading back inside."
The moment I moved to shut the door, she hurriedly jammed her foot into the gap. For once she was wearing a skirt, and the flash of bare white leg caught my eye.
"Wait."
"Yes?"
Even after I waited, Kim Isol stayed silent for a long stretch. Only when I started to close the door again did she finally force the words out, slow and strained.
"Hel... help me..."
"Excuse me?"
"...Tomorrow's the expedition. I can't go like this..."
"They'll terminate your contract, of course. The company will."
"So that's how it is, huh? I can't let that happen. So help me."
"Didn't you tell me I could never understand an Awoken's heart?"
"That was... please. I'll do anything..."
Wow.
Hearing the words "please" and "I'll do anything" come out of her mouth was something I never expected. I stared hard at her face, trying to decide whether she meant it or had just picked up some weird acting tips somewhere.
"Are you serious about that?"
"Yeah. If you can just give me my power back, I'll do anything. Fuck, I'll even get on my knees!"
Cursing while begging—what was that about?
Still, as absurd as it was, the thought of how badly she must have suffered this past week made her almost pitiful. Her skin had gone dry and flaky from the loss of mana, nothing like an Awoken's, proof that she was now just an ordinary person.
I let her inside for the time being. This wasn't a conversation to have out where the whole neighborhood could hear.
The problem was Lee Donggeul still in the bedroom. The door was shut, so as long as I didn't open it by accident she wouldn't be discovered. Even Kim Isol wouldn't suddenly barge into someone else's room. Ah—the shoes. I should have put those away...
"What's with these shoes? They look like a woman's."
"Ex-girlfriend I used to live with. Why do you care?"
"I don't particularly care. I'm just making sure my secret hasn't leaked somewhere."
Oh, of course you are. As if anyone would give a damn that one F-rank had lost her mana.
Meanwhile my skill at shameless lying kept improving. Was that something to celebrate or something to feel guilty about?
"So. What exactly do you want me to help you with? And while you're at it, tell me precisely what you're offering in return."
"That... I haven't thought that far yet... but I'm ready to do anything."
She'd just charged straight ahead without a plan. She still hadn't even discarded the first letter of the word "pride." What was I supposed to do with her?
I answered in an irritated tone.
"You'll have to be specific. How am I supposed to trust you, Miss Kim Isol? And if all you need is someone to hold your hand, why not ask someone else?"
A little nudge to make it clear that it had to be me or no one.
"I tried with my dad and my little brother. Nothing happened."
"Ah, so you have family."
"Why does that matter?"
"No reason. I just assumed you were an only child."
She seemed to catch the implication right away and looked faintly angry, though she was clearly forcing herself to swallow it. That was almost funny. If she blew up here, Friday would just repeat itself, so she couldn't afford to.
"What do you want, then? If it's money... once I start running C-rank dungeons I'll give you as much as you want."
Not only did she expect her mana back, she was already planning to rake in cash from C-rank dungeons. I barely managed to hold back a hollow laugh.
"I make my own money."
Ah. A good idea hit me.
A way to grind her pride into the dirt and make her furious at the same time. She still stood there acting high and mighty even after losing her mana, so I had no choice. Time to correct that attitude.
"You really don't care what it is?"
"Yeah. As long as you're not telling me to die."
"You mean that?"
When I kept pressing, she shot me a sharp look. She still had a long way to go before she could actually throw away her pride.
All right, you little bitch. I'm going to make that pretty face of yours turn bright red starting right now.
"Then show me."
"...Show you what?"
"What you showed me last time."
"Last time?"
"Yes. Peeing into a plastic bottle—"
"Hey! Have you lost your fucking mind, you crazy bastard?! You want to die?!"
"Forget it. You started treating me like this first. Have a nice day, then. It's not like I'm forcing you."
"Y-you...!"
Kim Isol clenched her teeth so hard it looked like she would have cut me down on the spot if she'd had a sword in her hand. But that expression wasn't going to scare me, and the situation didn't allow for it either.
"Why aren't you leaving? Front door's that way. Bathroom's this way. Don't tell me you're thinking of choosing the bathroom?"
"......"
Of course her feet wouldn't move. She had to enter a dungeon tomorrow, and going in like this was a perfect way to die. Pride would keep her from telling anyone her mana was gone.
By the way, did her family know?
"Do your family members know about this?"
"No..."
If she was keeping it from family, she hadn't told anyone. She didn't look like she had a lover, and she didn't seem the type to have friends she could open up to either. Meaning only the two of us knew.
"That's worrying. You should hurry and tell your family and friends and ask for help. 'I'm Kim Isol, my mana disappeared and I'm a normal person now. Please help me!' Something like that."
"You... piece of trash..."
Kim Isol finally lost it and lunged at me. And then what? What was she going to do?
She'd trained with a sword at the Academy, so she was probably stronger than an ordinary woman. So what? The strength and speed she'd lacked had all been boosted by mana. With that mana gone, what did she think charging me would accomplish?
Especially against me.
Thud!
She threw a punch straight at my face. I didn't dodge. I didn't even close my eyes.
"Aaagh!"
A dull sound rang out, like she'd just punched a solid stone wall. Then she screamed, clutched her right hand, and started thrashing on the floor. A single tear slid from her eye.
"What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?"
"Guh... how...?"
"Looks like you really did lose your power. I'll call an ambulance. Just hang on a second."
"N-no! Anything but that!"
"Aren't you injured?"
"Fuck. Pain like this... I can take it."
Sitting on the floor, breathing hard, Kim Isol stared down at her right hand. Then she looked up and glared at me.
"What the hell are you? Were you an Awoken?"
"No."
"Then how...?"
"I can't tell you. Just like your mana disappeared, I have one or two things I'd rather keep hidden myself."
By now Kim Isol would be certain I possessed some special power. And she would realize she absolutely needed me if she ever wanted her mana back. The worst-case scenario was her threatening to spread my secret all over the neighborhood, but when she had a secret of her own she was desperate to hide, would she really go that far?
I'd just have to wait and see.
"Is your hand really all right?"
Kim Isol got to her feet, still cradling her injured right hand, and fixed her eyes on me. I met that gaze without flinching.
"It was you..."
"Pardon?"
"You. You stole my mana on purpose. With that ability of yours."
Figuring that out only now? For once her brain seemed to be working overtime. The look on her face said she wanted to kill me on the spot. I didn't panic. I'd already planned for this exact situation and prepared my answer.
"Actually... do you remember last Saturday?"
"......"
"Ever since I held your hand and looked into your eyes that day, my body started feeling a little strange."
"What? You too? How?"
"I'm not an Awoken to begin with. So I have no way of knowing if mana disappeared or anything like that. Instead, people who attack me or betray me get hurt, and people who treat me well..."
"What? Spit it out already."
"I don't know either."
"What?"
"I'd have to experiment, but I haven't been able to. When we held hands here last Saturday, you clearly said your mana had come back. But I can't be sure. Right now you still claim you've lost it."
It was the kind of story that should have drawn a hollow laugh, yet Kim Isol's expression was both stunned and deadly serious. After all, she'd already attacked me and hurt her hand. There was too much evidence for her to call me a liar. Having experienced her mana returning temporarily after holding my hand last Saturday, she couldn't dismiss what I was saying now. If anything, it would only strengthen her conviction that she needed me to get her power back.
"Then help me right now. You can test it through me!"
"No. I don't want to. You just attacked me a moment ago. If you hadn't lost your Awoken power and I hadn't gained this strange ability, I would have been beaten to death by you right there. Giving power back to someone like that is far too dangerous for me."
"I'm sorry. I was wrong. So—"
"I can't trust you. That 'I'll do anything' line was a lie too, wasn't it? The second you get angry you try to kill me."
"......"
Nothing left to say, was there? That's why you should live nicely in the first place, you stupid bitch. If I'd been stronger than you from the start, would you ever have treated me like this? You always looked down on me, so of course your attitude was garbage.
"So please leave for today. I feel bad about your condition, Miss Kim Isol, but I have no obligation, no trust, no camaraderie, nothing that would make me help you."
"......"
"I'll see you tomorrow, then. One o'clock at Busan Station."
I guided her toward the entrance. Faced with my clear demand that she get out of my house immediately, she just kept staring at the floor, unable to move one way or the other. That went on for dozens of seconds.
At last Kim Isol's body shifted. She dropped to her knees on the floor.
"I... I'm... really sorry."
I didn't answer. I just looked down at her, studying every movement of her body, every change in her expression, every breath. I was trying to decide if she was sincere, but I wasn't some manga protagonist—staring wasn't going to tell me anything. Maybe I just wanted to see that humiliating face of hers.
"Get up. Even if you do this, my mind won't change. Think about it. Once you're an Awoken again, how am I supposed to be sure you won't attack me?"
"I swear I won't."
"Stubbornness won't make it true. Just stand up already."
Kim Isol stayed on her knees for a long while. The fact that someone as prideful as her would kneel in front of me showed just how precious the title of Awoken really was. Hell, if I suddenly lost the ability I'd gained, I probably wouldn't want to live either. Grandpa was right—giving something and then taking it away is the worst. If she'd never had it to begin with, she never would have ended up on her knees like this. Maybe that self-centered, filthy personality of hers would have been different too.
Truthfully, I wanted to give her mana back right then and there. She'd tasted enough humiliation. There was just one thing missing: absolute certainty that she wouldn't turn on me once her power returned. That single missing piece.
Lee Donggeul could wake up any second, so I needed to get Isol out of here fast. I stepped closer.
"I'm about to take a shower. See? I've got oil all over me. So hurry up and leave. I'm going to start undressing now."
Still kneeling with her head bowed, completely motionless, Kim Isol finally reacted to the word "undress." She suddenly spun around and yanked on my pants. I'd been in the middle of a massage earlier, so I was bare underneath a single pair of shorts—half my ass ended up on full display.
"What are you doing?"
I hurriedly yanked my pants back up, flustered, when Kim Isol spoke in a voice so quiet I almost missed it.
"If you keep... the promise..."
"What? What did you say?"
"The promise from earlier! Just keep that!"
The promise from earlier? What promise had I made?
I couldn't follow and asked again.
"What promise?"
"The pet... no, the promise that I'd do anything."
Pet? Plastic bottle?
Only then did I understand what Kim Isol was saying.
"Don't tell me you're offering to show me that again, right in front of me?"
Kim Isol cradled her injured right hand, bit down hard on her lip, and quietly nodded.