On the Receiving End
A lot had happened, but in the end, the heroes who'd responded to the department store attack, the Team Leader who'd been going about her ordinary work at the Association, and I myself, who'd been running around like crazy — none of us had been hurt. After a delicious dinner, the natural next step was for everyone to head home...
"Haha..."
Or so I'd thought.
"Well... I keep the place reasonably tidy anyway. Come on in, everyone...?"
"So this is how you've been living."
"Mind if I have some water?"
"E-excuse me...!"
...I hadn't come home alone. I'd brought the heroes I was responsible for with me.
The Team Leader had sat this one out — she had work tomorrow, and she'd been worried about cramming too many people into a studio apartment.
As for why I'd brought the others home in the first place: they were all far too worried about me collapsing. The whole thing stemmed from a thoroughly, thoroughly unnecessary fear that I might pass out again in the middle of the night.
Honestly, I didn't think it was that serious. But they just wouldn't stop worrying, so there wasn't much I could do about it. These were people who'd been fretting over me since before dinner, and they were still at it afterward. Five minutes of insisting I was perfectly healthy wasn't going to convince them anytime soon.
Besides, I didn't have anything else going on, and I didn't mind a little hustle and bustle. So it was fine.
"It's a little awkward, having so many guests drop in all of a sudden. It's not like anyone ever comes by this studio under normal circumstances."
"Is that so. Don't you come over to my place all the time?"
"Going to your place is work, Eun-hwa. That's a rather different situation."
"Hmm... I suppose."
"It is. Ah, Eun-hwa? Let me take that coat. You too, Batori."
"Y-yes...!"
And just like that, I had three guests on my hands. A host had certain obligations, so I got to work — hanging up their coats, fetching water and drinks and glasses...
The real problem was that none of them had a change of clothes. In theory they could have just gone home without staying the night, but given everything I knew about these three, there was no chance they were leaving. At this hour, they were definitely sleeping here. Which meant I had to scrounge up something for them to wear — the biggest clothes I owned, if nothing else...?
"...Hmm."
"...Hmm."
"Haha..."
The moment I handed the clothes over, I was reminded all over again of just how inconvenient Batori's ability could be.
I was 149.9 centimeters. Saran was around 164. Baek Eun-hwa cleared 170. I'd given them the baggiest, most oversized things I had, but even so...
"...Well. It's only one night. It'd be wrong of us to ask for more than this."
"Haha... I'm sorry. It's gotten so late that running out to buy something isn't really an option."
"It's fine. We're the ones who showed up at your door because we were worried. Making demands of the host would be the real problem. This is perfectly all right."
On both Saran and Baek Eun-hwa, certain... assets were on full display. That was inevitable. Chests that were already generous were now so blatantly outlined it was almost uncomfortable, and I kept catching my gaze drifting that way before I could stop it. In short: it was a problem.
"Counselor, does it look okay...?"
"It looks wonderful. I was a little worried about the size, but it fits you perfectly. I'm glad."
"Hehe..."
Our little goblin, at least, was a much easier case. She was only about one size off from me, so a random T-shirt and a decent pair of shorts did the job. Perfect, as far as I was concerned.
Once I'd gotten clothes into everyone's hands, I ordered some delivery and we settled in for a normal conversation — or as normal as it got, sitting around the table that served as this studio's entire kitchen. The spot that was simultaneously a set of drawers, a bookshelf, a dining table, and the place I kept the rice cooker. Relatively spacious for a studio, sure. But a studio was still a studio.
"Thank you so much for rushing to the department store the moment I called today, Eun-hwa."
"It's what a hero does."
"I've been telling you this whole time that it's okay to rest, okay to take it easy. After all that advice, turning around and dumping a nuisance on you like that... of course I feel bad."
"It's fine."
The topic, naturally, was everything that had happened that afternoon. We'd already talked about it over the ultra-fancy Chinese dinner the Team Leader had treated us to, but there was still plenty left to say in private. These weren't just the heroes who'd responded to a call. Not to me.
"I owe you another thank-you as well, Batori. It must have come completely out of nowhere, but you kept helping anyway... and you fought the villains, too. I'm really grateful."
"Hehe..."
Every one of them had shown up because I'd called. Even Saran — she'd been out with me when we got caught in the department store attack. I had to thank all of them. Anyone with a sense of decency, anyone with a heart, would have done the same. That was how I saw it, at least. Trust was the kind of thing that broke when you let the small moments slide.
"Oh, the chicken's here. I'll go grab it — you all just keep talking."
We were in the middle of that conversation when the order arrived. I wasn't about to send a guest to the door, so I stood up from the table myself.
Ordinarily I was more of a tteokbokki-and-pizza person. The flour-based comfort foods, you know? That was more my speed. But snakes and foxes were carnivores, weren't they? I wasn't sure where dokkaebi stood on the food chain, but Batori liked meat too. So I'd ordered charcoal-grilled chicken from the place around the corner. I liked anything that tasted good, so it was an easy call.
"Hahh..."
That smell. The distinctive charcoal aroma was so incredible I was grinning as I came back inside. And there, unlike any ordinary evening, were three women sitting at my table. It was strange... but I didn't mind it. I liked it a lot better than being alone. Ever since I'd become an adult, I'd always lived by myself. So this was... well. Yeah.
"Hehe. Everyone, let's talk while we eat. While we eat."
"You sit down too. We already got the chopsticks and everything ready."
"Oh..."
I came back to the table with a full, blooming smile. I didn't exactly live in silence on a regular day, but a quiet apartment turning this lively was hardly a common occurrence. Batori and Saran had been over before, sure — but never all three of them at once like this.
"Heheh."
"What are you grinning about?"
"Just... sitting here talking with all of you. It makes me happy?"
"...The girl who collapsed today saying that makes her sound like an idiot."
"Haha, I suppose it does. But I'm really fine. You don't have to worry so much. The doctor said I was okay, remember?"
The truth was, my body was still pretty exhausted. Even so, I found myself blooming into conversation with the guests in my home. Most of it orbited around me, sure. But talking with people this beautiful, people this good — what could be better than that?
"Honestly, I was so worried. Why would you do something like that? Even if you had another hero right there acting like a bodyguard, it was way too dangerous."
"Yeah. It was dangerous."
"I... I thought it was dangerous too, honestly..."
"...Didn't we already finish this conversation at the restaurant?"
...Except those beautiful people just kept lecturing me about myself. It was a little awkward. Lecturing people was supposed to be my job. Why did it keep turning out like this?
The answer, of course, was that I'd done something genuinely dangerous and made them all worry. I knew that. Still, I couldn't help feeling a little wronged.
"But our Batori did such an incredible job today. Nobody even got hurt, did they...? I just collapsed because I don't exercise. That's all."
"......"
"......"
"Hehe. What I'm saying is, you really don't need to worry so much. If anything, Batori here worked incredibly hard, and she actually protected people against those villains, didn't she? Thanks to her, we were able to save more than thirty people."
Saying something like that while you were already being lectured was a great way to get lectured even harder... but it was true, wasn't it? Batori really had done well. And it really was thanks to Batori that so many people had been saved. Rather than fussing over me the whole time, a little praise in the right direction seemed like the better move.
She'd genuinely accomplished a lot today. I'd been the one who pulled her into it, sure — but so many people had escaped the villains because of her, and she'd been the one to take them down at the end. If I was being honest, today's protagonist should have been Batori and no one else.
"You're both her seniors, so maybe give Batori a little praise too."
"She did what she was supposed to do."
"Yeah."
"...Wow. Ice cold."
I'd figured they'd have something at least a little nicer to say. I hadn't expected that.
Then again, the two of them were such exceptional heroes that making a big fuss over what Batori had done today probably felt like overkill. I understood that. Still, compared to how much they'd worried over me, it seemed a little much. That much was obvious.