Trust Given First
"A favor? Oh, right! Come to think of it, Jisu, weren't you trying to say something during the duel?"
"Yes, that's it."
He'd turned the words over in his head a hundred times, but dressing them up wouldn't have made a difference. Sometimes you just had to dive in and get it over with.
"Would you be able to tell me the coin prices whenever I enter a raid field or go out on hunter work?"
About five seconds of silence followed.
Seyeon's pale fingers, which had been fidgeting with the cup handle, went still. Then, as if turning the request over carefully in her mind, she parted her lips.
"Coins?"
"Ah, right. I mean, those coins—"
Having spent so much of his life on the front lines of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, he'd forgotten that cryptocurrency still wasn't all that well-known among ordinary people. Asking her, out of nowhere, to report coin prices?
He was about to launch into an explanation when she cut in.
"By coins, do you mean something like Bitcoin?"
"Huh? You know about it?"
At Jisu's words, Seyeon's voice dipped slightly.
"...Yes. I know."
"Great, then I don't need to explain! I'd like you to tell me those coin prices."
"May I ask why?"
"I've gotten interested in Bitcoin lately and started investing. Every time I fight, I keep worrying about what the price is doing, and I can't concentrate. If I could know the price in real time, I think I'd be able to focus better — the stray thoughts would disappear, and I could throw myself into combat that much more effectively."
That should be enough.
He said it, then glanced at her face.
Wait.
Seyeon's expression had gone rigid. She always wore a smile — always talked with that bright, cheerful look — so the shift in atmosphere was all the more obvious.
"I'm sorry. That particular request... I don't think I can fulfill it."
Seyeon said this and bowed her head with formal courtesy.
"...What?"
"I'm sorry. When it comes to coins... it's a bit personally uncomfortable for me. I thought I could help with anything, but I guess there are things I can't do. I'm truly sorry."
This wasn't the reaction he'd expected.
"Is there... any way we could work something out?"
Even then, Seyeon shook her head.
"No. I'm really sorry."
"What if I paid you more?"
The instant the words left his mouth, Jisu realized what he'd just said. Why had he said something he'd regret the moment it came out? He wanted to smack himself in the head.
Pay her more? What was he thinking? He felt like an idiot acting as if money could solve everything. How long had he even had money in his hands, and he was already this arrogant?
But even at that, Seyeon answered as courteously as she could, a faint smile gradually returning to her face.
"I'm truly sorry. If that particular duty is essential to you... it's all right if you work with someone else instead of me. Since this is my own stubbornness, I won't charge a contract termination penalty. I'm really sorry."
"Uh, that's..."
Jisu looked at her face. She was smiling, but her eyes were sad. Looking into those eyes, he understood.
I've touched something I shouldn't have.
Everyone had a line they wanted to protect. Whatever it was, however it had come to be. Something that no amount of money, fame, or material things could ever buy.
Once that thought settled, Jisu went back to the beginning. Why did he need the coin price information? Because he invested his stats in coins. Why hadn't he said that? Because it was his unique ability. Because he'd been told to hide it. Because you don't create openings for people to exploit.
But Seyeon, looking at it another way, was one of the few people in this hunter industry he could actually trust. Coldly speaking, they hadn't known each other that long — but they were going to keep working together, keep seeing each other's faces.
We're going to be working together from here on. What's the point if I don't trust her first?
The thinking itself had been wrong. Of course it was something he should keep secret. That much was true. But if Jisu himself didn't offer trust first, the people who stood with him would never be able to trust him either.
Once he'd made up his mind, the relief was so complete he wondered why he'd agonized over it at all. Jisu opened his mouth with careful courtesy.
"I'm sorry, Seyeon. There's something I haven't told you."
"Pardon?"
"You probably only know me as an SS-rank hunter, right? But you don't really know how I became SS-rank, or what kind of ability I have."
"......?"
Seyeon's gaze locked onto him. That's right. Even if it wasn't now, this was something he'd have to reveal someday if he wanted her cooperation.
"I—"
He took a sip of coffee from the table, set the cup down, and continued.
"I can invest my stats in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin."
"......!"
He could see Seyeon's eyes go wide. She worked in the hunter industry. She would know exactly what it meant to reveal something like this.
"My abilities rise and fall with the market price, proportional to how much I've invested. And that's my unique hunter ability."
"Ah..."
Seyeon kept her head down, her pale fingers tracing circles around the rim of her cup. Jisu continued with a serious expression.
"I'm sorry I lied. I should have told you from the start. For me, cryptocurrency prices are more useful information than anything else. If it's truly too much, I won't insist. But I still want to keep working with you, Seyeon. Would it be all right if I asked you one last time, properly?"
"..."
Seyeon said nothing. Jisu didn't press her for an answer.
And after some time had passed, she finally nodded, as if she'd come to terms with it.
"So that's why you were looking at Bitstorm, Jisu."
"Ah, yes. You know Bitstorm?"
Seyeon gave a bitter smile. Then she began to speak again.
"My father was a man obsessed with getting rich overnight. If it was something that could make money in one shot, he'd do it. Gambling was a given, then stocks, then investing... He poured money into every bizarre scheme imaginable without any intention of actually working. Everything my mother earned vanished that way, too."
Seyeon's voice as she continued was calm and even. As if she were reciting someone else's story.
"The last thing he got into before he left home was cryptocurrency. Coins. He kept saying things I couldn't understand — that he had to chase the pump, that he had to average down — and in the end he took every last asset my mother had hidden away and walked out. That money was supposed to be my college tuition. The shock worsened my mother's chronic illness, and she passed away. That was back when I was in high school."
"..."
Jisu listened in silence. He knew well enough how much of an imposition it would be to toss out something like Oh, that's terrible.
"Anyway, I had younger siblings, and I had to feed them. So I ended up becoming an Operator — it was supposed to be a rising profession at the time — and I got here on scholarship support. I didn't have any talent as a hunter. Well, as you know, by the time I was looking for work, it was already a dying profession."
Seyeon let out a long sigh. For some reason, this felt like the most natural expression he'd ever seen on her face.
"Sorry, that was a lot of pointless talk, wasn't it? Cryptocurrency... I never thought it would circle all the way back around and find its way into my life again."
"It wasn't pointless. Thank you for telling me. And as I said, if it's too hard, you don't have to help."
Seyeon shook her head.
"No. I'm in this industry too. I know how hard it is to reveal a unique ability. Jisu... is this the first time you've told anyone?"
"Yes. It just... ended up that way."
Revealing a unique ability was, in itself, likely to become a weakness. It meant someone could find a way to counter it. That was why most hunters went their whole lives without telling a soul. Seyeon knew that as well as anyone.
"Why did you tell me?"
"Uh..."
Jisu thought for a moment, but having come this far, he needed to be more honest.
"If nothing unusual happens, we're going to keep working together. I figured the things that need to be said should be said honestly. I wanted to give you my trust first, so I could earn yours."
Seyeon hesitated at that, then answered with a bright smile.
"I'm really happy you were honest with me. Thank you."
The word happy gave him a strange, ticklish feeling, and he looked away awkwardly.
"Nah, it's nothing."
Seyeon drained her coffee cup, took a deep breath, and smiled again.
"All right. If that's the case, then of course I should tell you. I just need to check the Bitstorm site and let you know?"
"Huh? Ah, yes. That would be perfect. I'll tell you what I bought, so you just need to let me know when the prices move."
"Understood. I don't know how well I'll do, but since you've placed your trust in me, I'll give it everything I have."
Whew.
If he could get Seyeon's help, he wouldn't have to sit there during combat wondering whether something had gone up or down. From here on, he'd be able to move more strategically in every fight. That much was obvious. It felt like a massive weight — something close to a restriction on his ability — had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Thank you so much. You've saved me."
"Not at all! If anyone should be grateful, it's me."
Seyeon said this, then looked at Jisu with a bright smile. A smile like warm sunlight. The smile she always wore because she was pretty enough to pull it off had been fine, but this one felt different somehow.
"It makes me happy that you think of me as someone special. For you, Jisu... I think I could gladly become that kind of person too. Let's keep doing well together!"
Her smile felt like a splash of color he'd never seen before — a man who'd spent his life drifting from construction site to construction site, surrounded by the gray of concrete — and somehow, he found himself wanting to protect it.
"Yes. I look forward to working with you."