Reference Point
By the next morning, the snow that had been coming down in furious flurries had somehow died away.
The roads were still every bit as slick and treacherous, of course, but at least the visibility had cleared up—and that was what mattered.
Compared to the streets and roads outside the school, which had half-turned into ice rinks and forced people and zombies alike into an equal-opportunity tap dance, the grounds around our main building had been swept clear in advance. No one was going to slip out there.
In the backyard, where the snow had been neatly piled off to one side, I ran through the new routine I’d added ever since I got the crescent moon blade.
Whoosh—
Whoosh—!
After swinging the thing at full power hundreds of times since yesterday, concentrating on controlling the recoil, it felt like I’d improved a little.
My upper body still tilted with every swing, though. That part was unavoidable.
No matter how hard I tried to keep my balance, it collapsed every single time. Against those orangutan-like bastards, any big motion would be straight-up suicide.
But it looks cool, so who cares.
If I couldn’t die even when I wanted to, I might as well enjoy myself a little. I was studying my face in the gleaming silver edge of the crescent moon blade when someone called from behind.
“Sijun hyung-nim!”
I put everything I had into my waist, shoulders, and arms for one last swing, then forcibly stopped the elbow that wanted to buckle under the massive weight and checked the joint.
It creaked, sure, but it wouldn’t be bad in a real pinch. It would heal in a few seconds anyway.
I glanced at Haejun, who was just standing there staring blankly after calling me, and said,
“Why’d you call me? If you’ve got something to say, spit it out. I’m listening.”
“Ah, well… that ghost noona told me to bring you over right away.”
I checked my wristwatch, slung the crescent moon blade over my shoulder, and walked over to him.
“I’ve been watching the time the whole time. What are you talking about? She already knows where I work out. Why send you?”
“W-well, she just pointed straight at me and told me to go get you…”
Past-life great noble, huh? She sure had a gift for picking exactly who she could boss around and working them like dogs.
I stared at Haejun scratching his head in confusion, then dropped it and headed for the back door of the main building. He scrambled after me and kept talking.
“Hyung-nim. But are your arms really okay? I’ve done a few months of weight training myself. How do you swing something that heavy dozens of times…”
“Not dozens. Hundreds.”
“…What?”
Exactly three hundred. Like Haejun said, there was no way it was fine. I just swung once, recovered, and repeated.
Explaining was too much trouble, so I handed him the crescent moon blade. He nearly jumped out of his skin at the weight and hurriedly adjusted his grip.
“You can do it too if you practice. Maybe I should ask Jeong-ah to make some for you guys while I’m at it.”
“…Th-this kind of thing?”
I was willing to bet that if Haejun tried to swing this weight himself, he’d go straight over. Hell, the idea of carrying something like this around as a weapon was absurd to begin with.
“…Even a powerlifter who easily clears five hundred kilos on the big three couldn’t do this. If someone actually has physical limits, this is…”
“Yeah. I think so too.”
But I don’t have limits.
At that answer Haejun clammed up and held the crescent moon blade with careful, respectful hands. I yawned and thought it over.
Still, standing out is a no-go. Carrying that thing around as-is is a bit much.
Before we headed out, I should ask the crow. I’d piled up a decent amount of money by now.
-Late.
“Late for what? We agreed to leave at exactly twelve sharp.”
-Rude. Making wait. Only women. Originally.
“…So the real problem was that you were bored.”
I shook my head at Na Sehee nodding with that pure, innocent look, handed her the protein bar Yejin had given me, then sat on the tiger-skin-covered stairs and opened the laptop.
“…That was for Oppa.”
“Hmm? What?”
“Nothing.”
I glanced at Yejin leaning against the wall looking somehow dejected, then turned my head. On the usual flashy luxury desk, the crow was doing paperwork.
[Hmm? What is it, Master?]
“I want to buy something.”
[Oh my, really?]
Her face lit up at once. She flapped her wings in a fluster of excitement, stood up, and said with sparkling eyes,
[I’d welcome that! Selling even one item to a big spender like Master is huge for sales. And my bonus goes up accordingly!]
“Didn’t you say something about humanity’s welfare? And now you’re talking performance metrics?”
[Of course! We don’t live off digging dirt either.]
[Anyway, Master. So what exact product do you want?]
For all the high-dimensional this-and-that posturing, what came out of her mouth was no different from us humans.
Still better than that bandage bastard, at least.
Right after that I locked eyes with Sujin, who was happily trailing after her unnies down the hallway with a snowball the size of a kid’s face. I casually waved off her ninety-degree bow and opened my mouth.
“Nothing grand. Just a subspace pocket, something like that?”
[…That’s plenty grand enough. Subspace? There are roughly similar things, but it would cost at least several hundred Tar. I’d have to run a quote for the exact price.]
“How much do I have right now.”
As I spoke I checked the top-right corner of the portal window the crow had brought up.
Right next to the box with my real full name sat a two-digit number.
Balance: 87 Tar
“Eighty-seven. Less than I thought.”
[Good heavens. Catching that many in just a few days is incredible. And as an individual, no less.]
“Anyway, so I can’t buy what I want?”
[Yes… well, to use the concept of subspace it needs at least the area of one room. Then the value skyrockets…]
“Hmm? No. I never needed that much capacity to begin with. Just enough to put my weapon in and take it out.”
[Oh? Really? Then that changes things.]
The crow tilted her head and clapped once. The open portal’s home screen flipped in an instant, and various products lined themselves up automatically.
“…Still can’t buy them, though.”
I muttered with a frown. The crow pondered, grooming her feathers with a comb that had appeared from nowhere, and said,
[No choice. All the products Master wants are only produced in dimensions that have crossed the fantasy line. If you’re really after extreme cost-performance, there’s just one product you can buy, but…]
All the other windows vanished one by one. In the end a single product window remained, and it entered my sight.
◈ Weapon-scale subspace storage
◈ Permanent body mark
◈ Design: black ox with nose ring
“…Another tattoo?”
I couldn’t help the sour look on my face.
As I left through the school’s front gate I kept that queasy expression and rolled my hoodie sleeve up to the shoulder, staring at it hard.
Fluttering little ears. Sturdy upright horns. Bright, lively eyes. And, crucially, a nose ring.
At least the color was a solid black and the design was stylish, so that was something.
But still—a cow? Not a dragon, not a tiger. The first animal tattoo I ever got on my body was a Korean beef ox. It was just ridiculous.
Unaware of my feelings, Na Sehee beside me looked at my bare forearm with genuine interest and poked it with her finger.
She wasn’t playing around. She really looked fascinated as she held up her notebook.
-First time seeing. This form. Of muscle.
-Haven’t seen. Even on Dad. Lines like this.
“…Yeah. Thanks for the compliment.”
Well, even I had to admit my forearm muscles right now had almost excessive definition.
How to put it—every place muscle could stand out had been carved sharp like a statue, to the point of looking almost alien.
It wasn’t particularly ugly, though, so I hadn’t cared. Until Na Sehee sat on the bastard dog and kept stroking my forearm playfully, that is.
It felt half like sexual harassment. I was about to tell her to cut it out when every zombie coming our way got cleared away by her on its own. Better than the hassle, I decided, and stayed still.
That sight must have rubbed the bastard dog the wrong way, though.
Woof—!
It tried to take a big chomp out of my arm like a chicken leg. I barely dodged, got pissed, and kicked at its belly—only for it to leap clear as well.
“Kyaak?!”
Startled by the motion, Na Sehee hopped down from behind the bastard dog. Free at last, the dog seized the chance and tried to latch onto my leg and hang on. Just then a thick voice suddenly boomed from the alley ahead.
“Hey, you son of a bitch. You think I’m just sitting still because I’m scared of a few zombies? Some pig bastard spread out sideways like a pumpkin pancake…”
“Wh-what? You fucking— What did you just say?”
“I said your face is a pumpkin pancake, you disgusting cannibal bastard!”
A moment later there was a heavy thudding and crashing as a proper brawl seemed to break out. I glared at the bastard dog, then looked that way and nodded to Na Sehee.
She had clearly expected us to head toward the noise. When the bastard dog and I lost interest and started growling at each other again instead, she couldn’t take it anymore and shouted,
“Kyaaaaah! Kyaaak!”
It wasn’t like she was a little kid, but that one cry seemed to translate itself automatically into Please stop fighting already!