The Youngest Awakened
"That's my girl, all right. Cute enough to drive a man out of his mind."
Little hands and feet kept popping out of the wagon in sudden bursts, and I watched the sight with a warm swell of pride before draining the cold drink Noona had just brought me.
"Nice and cold?"
"Yeah. When it's this hot, it's gotta be iced."
"……You drink yours iced in the dead of winter, too."
"Obviously. I could freeze to death and it'd still be iced."
"Hmph."
Noona snorted, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Then the very woman who had just snorted settled softly at my side and pointed at Soeun, who was being fanned by Yubu.
"Suhwan. Do you think our Soeun might be Awakened?"
"Awakened? Out of nowhere?"
"Yeah. I mean, there's no way the animals adore her that much unless something like a superpower is behind it. And the way they act around you isn't the same as the way they act around Soeun."
"Well…… fair enough."
I gave a light nod. Think back over how I'd scrubbed every last one of them as thoroughly as if I were doing the laundry, and there was no arguing with her.
On an ordinary day, few of them submitted quietly when I announced it was bath time. Cheongho would obey if I caught hold of him and gave the order, the geese were already at home in the water, and past that it was basically just Hanmu and the raccoons. Mention Soeun, though, and even the uncooperative ones didn't merely cooperate — they turned downright eager. I couldn't help being suspicious.
Namcat, of all of them, never hesitated to take a swing at me, yet with Soeun he treated even the lightest touch as if she might shatter the moment he brushed her. He was that careful, as though one careless poke would break her.
"Want to look at this, too?"
I turned my eyes to the screen of the phone Noona was holding out.
Calling it a paper would have been a stretch, and calling it a news article no better. It was a column of vaguely specialized writing, and even "column" felt a little generous. Ambiguous through and through — and yet the substance of it seized my attention and wouldn't let go.
"You're a multi-ability Awakened, and Supreme Rank at that. So wouldn't Soeun be Awakened too?"
"Hmm…… It doesn't seem impossible, I'll give you that……."
Her words started to take root. Maybe she isn't wrong.
In the end I gave in, and pulled out my phone on the spot.
"What are you doing?"
"Calling that guy."
"That guy?"
"You know. The one I met when I went in for the precision evaluation. Put his own subordinates in skintight suits, and was kind of…… like that."
"Oh!"
Noona had come along for the precision evaluation herself, so she knew at once who I meant.
Deputy Jang Il-woon, of the Superpower Association's precision testing department — a man who took a fair amount of pleasure in his work. Pleasure, that is, largely in the tormenting of his subordinates.
Anyway, phone in hand, I scrolled through my contacts until I found him. I'd registered the number after taking his card, so he wasn't hard to locate.
A brief trill of the carrier's default ringtone, then a click, and the call connected.
"Yes, this is Deputy Jang Il-woon of the Precision Testing Department."
"Ah, this is Shin Suhwan. Do you remember me?"
"Of course I remember. We met once before your daughter was born, didn't we?"
True enough — I had seen Deputy Jang once before. He'd come by claiming that superpowers sometimes weakened or grew stronger, though as far as I could tell it had been an excuse to hang around our cafe.
The call connected, and I got straight to the point.
"By any chance, is it possible to evaluate an infant under a year old for a superpower? It wouldn't be a formal evaluation. I only want to confirm whether she has one."
"……I'm sorry? W-wait just a moment. An infant under one? Could it be your daughter……?"
He sounded thoroughly thrown. I could hardly blame him. What kind of person tries to test the superpower of a baby who isn't even a year old?
"Nothing's certain. I just thought we might have her checked."
"Has some ability actually manifested?"
"It's a little ambiguous, which is why I wanted to run a test."
"Hmm……."
For a moment Deputy Jang said nothing, and then came the sound of him rummaging through something. Paper whispered as pages turned, and a rapid clatter of keys carried through the speaker. I didn't rush him, and after a short wait he spoke again.
"For now, there doesn't appear to be any age requirement for measuring a superpower. If we go by the regulations alone, it should be possible."
"Oh, is that right?"
"However…… in a case like this we receive no subsidy from the government, so you would have to bear the full cost. Equipment fees, fuel for the trip, travel expenses, and so on……. Is that all right?"
"That much is nothing. I don't care what it costs."
This was what I earned money for. I had no intention of hauling Soeun all the way to city hall just to save a little, only to sit through one verification after another once we got there. Better to have them bring the equipment and do it here.
"As expected of a Supreme Rank Awakened. A sum like this is nothing at all! I must say, I envy you."
"Ha, haha……."
No matter how I thought about it, the man had a gift for putting people on the spot.
Still, he seemed to have a decent sense for reading a room, because he promptly steered the conversation back to where it had been.
"How would you like to schedule it? At present, the openings we have left are next Wednesday, and the Friday and Saturday of the week after. Beyond that, we're quite free."
"You'll be bringing the testing equipment, right? Like last time."
"Yes. That's why the travel expense is included."
"Then…… let's take the earliest date. Next Wednesday."
"Whew, what a relief. I nearly had to work Saturday."
"……."
There were times I genuinely couldn't tell whether the man was joking or simply honest to no useful purpose.
Even so, I managed to finish booking the evaluation.
"Did you book it? Next Wednesday?"
"Yeah. Same as when I did it last time. They'll bring the equipment, and we can have Soeun tested then."
"I hope it gets here soon."
Whether she was that curious to know if Soeun was Awakened or not, Noona glanced at the clock with a look of open anticipation.
And just as she wished, time slipped by quickly, until the Wednesday of Soeun's evaluation arrived.
"Well now, how is this place so crowded on a weekday?"
Deputy Jang Il-woon parked the equipment-laden vehicle in the cafe lot, came inside, and looked around with open delight. It was a weekday — a Wednesday, no less, smack in the middle of the week — and still the place was packed, which seemed to amaze him. There wasn't even a particularly fine view, and he looked as if he couldn't quite understand people coming all this way just to see the animals.
His reaction, though, wasn't what mattered. I lifted Soeun out of the wagon, where she lay buried among the Tokkiz.
"Kya-waaang!"
"Yeah, I know. You can play with the rabbits in a little bit, all right?"
I scooped up Soeun, grumbling because she couldn't grab hold of the rabbits, and headed straight out of the cafe. The animals looked terribly put out, but Noona and I followed Deputy Jang to the vehicle loaded with the equipment.
"First, please bear in mind that none of our equipment was made for infants. The measurement itself won't be a problem, so we'll just need a little help from the mother. Ah — the mother isn't Awakened, correct?"
"No. I'm not Awakened. Does it matter if someone is?"
"If an Awakened person is close by, there's a slight influence."
Noona nodded at that and stepped up to the testing equipment with Soeun. One of Deputy Jang's subordinates, already waiting, helped operate the device.
They rested Soeun's hand on a sensor bar like the ones on a body-composition scanner, and Noona gently closed her own hand around her daughter's, as if wrapping it. At once, the staff member started the machine.
A low hum rose as it powered on. Soeun startled for a moment, but perhaps because her mother was holding her hand, she fixed the equipment with bright, gleaming eyes.
"The first measurement is complete. We'll proceed to the next."
This time they fitted a band around Soeun's head. Unlike me, who had worn the full helmet, they had detached only the inner band to suit a head as small as hers.
"Euuu—!"
"She says it's uncomfortable."
"There, there, Soeun. Hold on just a little. I'm sorry."
Noona soothed her with a light stroke along her cheek, and the fussing ebbed.
This reading, too, was over almost at once. The moment they announced it was finished, Noona peeled the band from Soeun's head and gathered her up. With Soeun in her arms, she turned straight to Deputy Jang.
"How did it go?"
Expectation was written all over her face. Faced with that look, Deputy Jang studied the various figures on the monitor, then began to clap.
"Really?!"
Noona's eyes flew wide and round, and her gaze followed the hand he used to indicate the figures, landing on the monitor.
"The value you see here is a specific wavelength detected in Awakened individuals. It's registering faintly from your daughter. She's so young that the reading isn't perfectly precise, but if she weren't Awakened the value wouldn't appear at all, so we can be certain that she is."
"So we can't tell the type, or the rank, or any of the details?"
"Correct. Rank depends on the wavelength reading, of course, but it hinges even more strongly on how well the ability is actually put to use. And while types of superpowers have been sorted into categories, they aren't truly standardized. You might say that's something the Awakened person has to discover for themselves."
Noona listened, gave a light nod, and lifted the Soeun in her arms high into the air.
"Kyaung!"
Whether she simply liked being held up toward the sky, Soeun broke into a bright, clear laugh and kicked her arms and legs.
"Our Soeun is amazing!"
"Kya-aa-ua!"
As if she knew the praise was meant for her, Soeun smiled even wider and stretched both hands toward Noona. Noona drew her in and held her close, smiling as though she couldn't have been happier. I watched them until I couldn't stand it anymore, and wrapped both of them in my arms at once.
"……Ha. I wish I had a daughter, too."
"As do I, sir."
From off to the side I thought I heard Deputy Jang and his subordinate envying us, but I cheerfully ignored them.