An Ordinary Day
My assigned heroes, gathered together by the sheerest of accidents.
Just sitting there watching the three of them fill my field of vision was a feast for the eyes, but having to keep steering the conversation myself was starting to wear me out a little.
"Hmm... So you've been handling these two as well, not just me. That's why you brought up the Special Agent position with the Association President."
"I told you before, didn't I? I was already assigned to two of them."
"Well, yes, but I never really thought about it in detail."
"Haha..."
The truth was, in all my time at the Welfare Bureau, I'd never had all three of my assigned heroes in the same place at once, let alone talking to each other. The situation was a little awkward for me, too. Two at a time, sure — Saran and Batori had been that case more than once. But taking on a third hero, thanks to Baek Eun-hwa, was a first. It gave me a lot to think about.
"Then when we were rearranging the schedule last time, and you said Friday wouldn't work."
"Yes, that was because of Eun-hwa. I'd already locked in Friday as her regular counseling day, so there was nothing I could do."
"A schedule?"
"Ah, well..."
It was a messy situation all around. But they all had plenty of questions, so I answered them one by one, keeping my composure.
"Hmm... I see. You really are handling three of us. You must be exhausted."
"I don't think I'm quite as exhausted as you are, Eun-hwa."
"...That can't be helped."
Having all three of them talking to me at once was chaos. Or rather, I was the only one who felt busy. I was essentially fielding all three of them at the same time — finish with one, and the next one was already waiting, then the one after that.
No, no. On a normal day I probably could have managed it just fine... but maybe this morning's disaster had taken more out of me than I thought.
"......Shall we just go get an early breakfast?"
I was pretty worn out, after all. I couldn't help wanting to drop the Q&A session for a while and just spend some time in peace. Sorry I couldn't fully satisfy everyone's curiosity. Evacuating on such short notice had been genuinely exhausting...
Unlike the three sitting in front of me, my body wasn't just civilian-grade — it was the kind of frail physique that had been optimized exclusively for sitting at a desk. There really was nothing I could do about it.
And so, for those reasons, I took my three beauties to a nearby Japanese restaurant. On a normal day I might have headed for the steakhouse Saran liked... but it was still morning, and more than anything, I was craving something with broth.
It had been a while since I'd made a decision this unilaterally.
"By the way, Agent. So if things had gone according to plan, you were supposed to spend today with that Saran person?"
"That's right. Today was Saran's day, tomorrow is Eun-hwa's. That was the plan."
"...So except for weekends, you're meeting for counseling almost every single day."
"Yep."
"...If you'd tried to do all that on top of commuting to the Association for regular work, you really would have collapsed from overwork."
She was probably saying this because she'd just learned something she hadn't known — something she hadn't been paying attention to. Baek Eun-hwa had known I had other heroes assigned to me, but she hadn't realized just how packed my schedule actually was. I could understand why she was bringing it up.
"...Haha."
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"It's nothing. More importantly, shall we eat? I actually haven't had anything this morning."
Hearing Baek Eun-hwa, of all people — the one who actually overworked herself — worry about me overworking was a distinctly strange feeling.
At any rate, once we arrived at the restaurant, things were much quieter than they'd been a moment ago. Whether it was because I'd mentioned I hadn't eaten that morning, I couldn't say... but no one went out of their way to start a conversation. The most anyone offered was that the food we'd ordered was pretty good.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Thank you for worrying about me. It might have been a little much, but being worried about actually felt pretty nice."
"...What is that supposed to mean?"
"Just what I said. I'm not usually the kind of person anyone worries about. Having the three of you fuss over me like that was a pretty novel feeling. It was sudden, but I wanted to say thank you."
I offered the words quietly as we strolled through the park after the meal. It had been abrupt, and more than a little complicated, but the fact remained that the heroes I was assigned to had been worried about me. A thank-you was the least I owed them.
"Well. Not that you needed to."
"W-well, that's because someone who always helps us got mixed up in something dangerous...!"
"...Be careful."
Not that I minded. Being worried about, I mean.
I spent so much of my time worrying about other people and handing out advice that being on the receiving end of it almost never happened. I wasn't the one who needed counseling, after all — not like the heroes. Maybe that was why the whole thing felt so strange.
"By the way, Saran, what are you going to do? Today was originally your regular counseling day... You need to go back to the Association, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm... Then should we meet again this afternoon? What would you prefer?"
"I've got work to take care of first, so it'll take a while."
"Then it would probably be better to just meet at the time we originally planned."
"Yeah. Get some rest."
And with that, I sent Saran on her way. We'd be seeing each other again soon enough anyway. She had business at the Hero Association that needed handling today, and if I kept her any longer, we might not even make the afternoon session.
Saran left. That just left the fox and the dokkaebi.
The two of them were staring at me with a distinctly curious look in their eyes, as if watching me talk with Saran had been some kind of spectacle.
"...What is it?"
"Nothing. You just seem pretty close with that woman."
"R-right..."
Was looking close with someone really enough to earn a stare like that? And Batori already knew about my friendship with Saran. I genuinely could not figure out why the two of them were looking at me like I was some kind of curiosity.
"...Eun-hwa, don't you have a schedule today?"
"I do."
"...You're not going?"
"What, you want me to leave?"
"I never said that..."
As far as I remembered, Baek Eun-hwa was supposed to have another packed day ahead of her. Nearly every day of hers was packed, for that matter. Separate from the fact that she'd come running to the Hero Association at an unusually early hour this morning, she still had all those commercial shoots she'd signed on for — the ones I'd told her not to take, to ease up on, and that she'd gone and booked anyway.
I didn't have Baekyeou's daily itinerary memorized down to the minute. But after a week of living alongside her, and after all the messages we'd exchanged, I remembered enough of her schedule to know the important parts.
"Don't you have to go? Don't you have a shoot today?"
"I'm asking if you want me to leave."
"That's not the point — you have to go."
"......"
I had no idea why she was suddenly acting like this. Normally she was the type to act annoyed whenever I showed up at her place for counseling, even as she let me in anyway. Today it was like the whole dynamic had flipped.
Ah. Was it just because I was always the one barging into her apartment?
"Tch."
"...?"
And then she clicked her tongue and started to pull away. The suddenness of it went well past curious and straight into baffling. All I could do was tilt my head.
"Agent. If anything starts hurting or feeling off because of what happened this morning... file it through the Association's insurance. Understood?"
"Y-yes. I'll do that."
"And I'll contact you later if I get a free moment. Keep an eye out for that, too."
"Yep."
"...Then I'll be going. Get some rest."
"Yes. Have a good day yourself, Eun-hwa. And please don't overdo it."
And so, one way or another... of the three people who'd ended up gathered here, I'd sent two of them on their way. I wasn't even sure "sent on their way" was the right way to put it, but Saran and Baek Eun-hwa had both left to take care of the things they were originally supposed to be doing. Saran had business at the Hero Association, and Baek Eun-hwa had today's schedule and dispatches waiting for her.
"Hmm..."
"Ehehe..."
Unlike those two, though, our little horn didn't have a set schedule today, and nothing special planned either. So she stayed behind with me.
"I-I don't have any appointments today...!"
"Is that so? I thought you spent every day out and about on patrol."
"Ah, th-that's — not having a schedule doesn't mean I do nothing! I just wander around outside during the day helping people who need it, and if a dispatch call comes in...! I run straight over. That's how I spend my time."
"...Ah. I see."
That was a little heartbreaking. Of course, that was just the ordinary daily life of a lower-ranked hero. But the thought of a 135-centimeter dokkaebi girl living that way hit harder than I'd expected.
The other two heroes I was assigned to both had their own cars and lived in nice places — they were high earners, both of them. It was only natural that our baby Eodeokshini, Batori, would feel all the more pitiable by comparison.
"...Batori. Let's keep working hard from here on out!"
"...Huh? Uh, th-th-thank you...?"
I really did feel like I needed to support Batori even more from now on. In a way, hero work was her livelihood, which made climbing to C-Class all the more important. From D-Class onward you could earn about as much as a decent part-time job, but you needed to reach C-Class before you could actually live on hero work alone.
"Hehe."
I was sitting there worrying over Batori's living situation, and yet the dokkaebi beside me just kept smiling, as if she couldn't have been happier.
At any rate. My assigned heroes had all ended up in one place without any warning, but aside from how sudden it had been... things had gone reasonably well. I'd never once met all three of them in the same location before. Maybe calling them all together from time to time wouldn't be such a bad idea going forward.
I wasn't sure about Saran and Baek Eun-hwa, but for Batori, at least — a lower-ranked hero — I had a feeling it could be a real help. Next time, instead of a gathering this abrupt, I could put together something a little more official.
Just a tiny little idea, nothing more.
It was just three people sitting down to talk. There was no reason to worry. There really wouldn't be any problem.
Probably.