Reference Point
Caw—
I tossed a question at the zombie crow perched on my wrist, preening its feathers, and at the woman watching the whole thing with open fascination.
"What am I supposed to call you?"
— Whatever you want. We're together. Already. Even kissed.
"...I asked for a name, not a title."
Whether she was doing it on purpose or not, Chaeyeon kept sneaking peeks at the notebook. The moment she did, the woman stomped the asphalt a few times in a little fit of pique, barely holding back a laugh, then turned the notebook toward me.
— Call me. Na Sehee.
"...Is that your real name?"
It was aggressively Korean.
The woman — no, Na Sehee — shook her head in denial.
— Made it myself. Just now.
Se for world. Hee for delight. And the surname Na, she said, she'd stuck on simply to mean herself. It suited her disgustingly well.
The bastard who sent them down here wanted the world destroyed. The one who actually showed up had come to enjoy herself as much as she damn well pleased.
I almost hoped that wasn't just talk — even if it only applied to this woman alone.
— What about. Your name?
"Lee Sijun."
Her eyes lit up at my answer. I had no idea why.
— Funny. Name.
— Corpse si. Wriggling jun?
"...What kind of lunatic would name someone that?"
I stared at Na Sehee with a look of pure disbelief.
It was a perfectly decent name — si for beginning, jun for completion. And she'd just rebranded it into something that would make even the pettiest name-hating spirits die of joy.
"Leave it to a zombie to have taste like that," Chaeyeon muttered, lips pushed out in a sulk. Na Sehee tilted her head and scribbled again.
— No. Me. Zombie?
"If you're not a zombie, then what was that whole queen act earlier? You think zombies bow to a human who isn't even one of them?"
— Rank. Higher. Superior.
Chaeyeon looked thoroughly disgusted at that answer, locked eyes with me for a second, then whipped her head away and refused to look at either of us.
What the hell had gotten into her?
Meanwhile, the engine that had revved up and stalled earlier still had my groin in a thoroughly unpleasant state — and the culprit herself was playing dumb and teasing me like nothing had happened. Hard not to feel awkward about it.
The sensation of blood boiling under my skin only grew sharper, until something felt like it was climbing back up my throat.
I stopped walking, worked my mouth for a moment, and spat. A faint smear of crimson stained the black asphalt.
...Not coughing blood, exactly. What the hell is this?
I rolled my eyes toward Na Sehee and stared. She painted a faint smile across a blank expression and said nothing at all — as if this were simply the price of what I'd chosen.
Chaeyeon kept glancing my way, fretting without quite asking what was wrong. I started walking again.
"Is this the cost of your help?"
She neither confirmed nor denied it. She just kept watching me, then held up the notebook.
— Fun. Really.
Whatever she found so entertaining, I no longer felt like asking.
After that, Na Sehee's mere presence meant we didn't fight a single battle on the way back to the school. Every zombie that met her eyes dropped to its knees and prostrated itself — a sight that left even the street survivors peeking at us from cover completely speechless.
"So is there anything out there that can actually stand against you?"
— Many. Insolent ones. Creepy ones. Scary ones too.
"...Scary?"
I already had a guess who that might be, so I didn't press. She only answered when she felt like it anyway.
A few more minutes of walking brought us to the school building, which Na Sehee found endlessly fascinating.
— So big. You said. Educational facility.
"No rule says a school has to be small just because it's for education."
— Must've been a lot. Humans here. Resources.
Too many, if anything. With that thought, I stepped inside.
Over by the main building entrance, Haejun spotted me and started to wave a cheerful greeting — then caught sight of the bastard next to me, nearly fell over in shock, and I could see the whole flailing mess from all the way over here.
I had to admit, it was pretty funny.
I parked the bastard out on the athletic field for now.
When Na Sehee followed me into the main building, the men who'd been standing tense with weapons in hand went slack all at once and just stared at her. Jiyoon sighed and drove an elbow into Jonghun's ribs, then came trotting over to me and bowed her head low.
"Thank you so much, Oppa. For always looking out for us..."
"Yeah. If you need anything else, just tell the others again."
I handed her a packet of medicine while she kept bowing over and over, then grabbed the laptop and caught Na Sehee by the wrist, towing her along.
We were heading upstairs to talk with the crow when Chaeyeon's quiet voice reached me.
"Oppa. You worked hard."
"...Yeah. You too."
She shot Na Sehee — who was sightseeing the facilities without the slightest concern for the hand on her wrist — one murderous look, then walked over to the cluster of girls whispering among themselves.
I had no idea what scheme they were cooking up, so I decided not to care. They were all sharp enough to handle themselves.
I grabbed a few snacks I'd told Haejun to bring, stuck one in my mouth, and went straight up the stairs, opening the nearest classroom door.
The room was a mess of blood and shredded flesh. She didn't spare it a glance — just stared fixedly at the chocolate bar I was eating. I spoke.
"For what it's worth, I appreciate you coming along quietly."
Na Sehee gave a small nod. I handed her a chocolate bar of her own and powered on the laptop.
When she tried to bite into it still in the wrapper, I snatched it back in a hurry, peeled it for her, and pressed it into her hand.
— Tasty.
"Glad to hear it. Need anything to drink?"
— Don't need. Just that side is enough.
Something about the wording and the look in her eyes made me frown. I called to the crow busily working inside the laptop.
"Hey, Birdbrain."
...Just shove those off to the side for now and get the order sorted first— Ah! You're here?! Everything go all right?
"Yeah. Aside from the part where your bad intel nearly got Im Chaeyeon killed, nothing much."
B-bad intel??
She looked so baffled she didn't even notice the papers fluttering out of her hands. I kept the snide tone going.
"You said there wouldn't be any interference. So why didn't you mention an entire floor packed wall-to-wall with corpses standing guard?"
...That can't be right? I was told every Alpha, aside from a tiny handful of followers, receives no support at all right after being born.
The crow turned its head and finally noticed Na Sehee.
"Hnn..."
She worked her mouth, licked the chocolate off her lips, sucked it from her finger, then locked eyes with the crow like she understood everything and let out a short nasal sound.
"Kya-u?"
...Nice to see you too, Skalaje.
She shook her head at the greeting and held up the notebook.
— Not that name. Call me. Na Sehee.
...Understood. But you don't have to write it out for me.
— Awkward. For me.
— Making beast sounds.
Then she took another bite of the chocolate bar and turned to admire the view outside the window.
The bare white of her back and the curve of her body were on full display. I sighed, looked away, and fixed my eyes on the crow.
"The constant composure is fine. The persuading part wasn't easy, though. She's willful as some old-world noble lady..."
Exactly. A noble lady — and one ranked far higher than Master might think.
"...What?"
But information from other dimensions is merchandise, so that's as far as I'll go.
The crow stood up from the desk chair, stretched once, and looked at me again.
Anyway, you did well. This is all for Master's sake, of course, but still.
"Looks like she'll be useful, at least. Not knowing which way she'll jump is a little unsettling, though."
It's always been like that from the first time you met. And that's exactly why the Transcendents liked it so much.
In the end, it never stopped the apocalypse. Same as always.
The crow muttered that under its breath, then clicked its tongue at the precarious view of her back and whispered into my head.
Just a few things to watch out for. Keep those in mind and she'll help Master no matter the situation. The persuasion went fairly smoothly, like I said it would, right?
No. Not even close. She was a pain in the ass.
Huh? That can't be right... Did she make some other demand? Not just following because it looked fun?
She did that, sure. But it wasn't as easy as a kid lured by candy.
...That's still easy enough, I'm telling you. I don't even want to think how difficult the other Alphas will be... Haa.
Can't I just beat those ones into line?
Honestly, if this woman hadn't been so damn beautiful — no, if the crow hadn't said what it said — I would've skipped the persuasion entirely and handled her rough.
The crow gave me a look that had gone completely cold, then laid out the warnings.
First and most important: be wary of everything related to blood. Don't eat it. Don't touch it.
"...Huh?"
You understood that, right? That's the most important one. Keep just that rule and you won't have to worry much about the rest.
I half-listened to the crow with a queasy feeling, then looked again at Na Sehee's back — the one my eyes kept getting dragged back to no matter what.
At some point she'd turned from the window and was watching me openly. Our eyes met. She slowly licked her lips.
I knew, right then, that I was fucked.