Unexpected Results

Bang bang—

"Hey! Aren't you gonna open the door?! What about your pet!!!!"

…This is bad.

Kkomangi had fallen into the hands of the nuisance neighbor next door.

What the hell am I supposed to do…

The deliberation was short. No matter what, I had to open the door to get Kkomangi back.

Sigh… Fine, handing over a ticket isn't a big deal anyway.

She wasn't even asking for it for free—she was offering to pay. No loss there.

I was already planning to set up a shop at the salt fields, so more coins the better.

"You crazy bastard!! Aren't you taking that Mangkko or Kkomangi or whatever?!"

Wait, what?

Bang—

I suddenly flung the door open and burst out. Elise looked momentarily startled. Kkomangi was nestled in her arms.

"Ha… Finally decided to come out…"

"Cancel it."

"…Cancel what? You're the one who called me a crazy bitch first…"

"I said cancel calling Kkomangi a low-class name like Mangkko-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That went back to when I was still in elementary school. I had this buddy who was like my ballsack-level best friend.

The guy always teased me by calling our family dog "Mangkko."

Back then, I couldn't figure out why calling it Mangkko was supposed to be an insult… but time passed, and I learned.

Even after we hit high school, the dude kept calling our Kkomangi "Mangkko." It wasn't even meant to tease anymore; the name had just stuck in his mouth.

Until Kkomangi (Unit 1) crossed the rainbow bridge, to someone, he was Mangkko.

I wasn't about to let Kkomangi (Unit 2) suffer the same degrading nickname.

"What the hell are you talking about!!! Mangkko or Kkomangi, who gives a shit? What's so low-class about it?"

Yeah… Truth was, I was just scared to open the door, so I'd dredged up some fake emotion and flipped out. I didn't really care how Elise called Kkomangi.

"…Anyway, in my hometown, that's a thing. Apologize."

Elise rubbed her temple like her head was throbbing and shot back.

"I've seen every kind of lunatic… Fine, must be an insult back home. Sorry."

"In that case… Kkomangi, come here."

Kkomangi leaped from Elise's arms toward me. I caught him naturally and tried to shut the door.

—Thud.

But Elise's foot jammed in the gap, blocking it.

"Hey, where do you think you're going, acting all casual?"

"…Move your foot."

"If you don't want coins, how about something else?"

…Something else as payment?

I looked at her face. A bit sharp-tongued, but definitely pretty. And that body visible underneath? Killer curves.

"Hmm… Sounds good to me, but you might wanna take better care of yourself… You're still young—don't go wasting your body like that…"

"You pervert fuck!!! What the hell are you thinking? You wanna die for real?!"

Elise's face flushed red with embarrassment.

Well, even I knew she didn't mean that. I just tested the waters because people usually get fed up with my bullshit and back off.

But hold up.

"…Come to think of it, you're the one begging here. Why are you acting so high and mighty?"

Elise seemed to belatedly realize her position.

"Uh… R-right… Yeah…? But you were bantering right back and cursing too…"

"You started with the cursing and the casual talk… Talk about biting the hand that feeds you, tsk tsk…"

Her skin was so fair, I could see her face turning beet red plain as day.

"Urgh…!! S-sorry… But… I really need those tickets…"

Elise fidgeted with her fingers, sneaking glances at me.

Sigh… Total pushover… If I send her packing now, she'll just bug me later. Better to wrap this up clean with a deal.

I sighed and decided to hear her out.

"Haa… So what're you offering instead of coins? Let's hear it."

"…If you're not biting on the trade, maybe my offered coins aren't enough…"

I gave her a cold stare, and she quickly switched offers.

"Ahem… I'll teach you magic."

Oho…? Now that's tempting.

"Deal! We'll go with that!"

Heh heh… I'd been jealous watching those dwarves sling spells. Perfect timing!

*

Back in her room, Elise.

"Haa… I went and did it."

In exchange for daily ticket supplies, Elise had agreed to teach Soo-chan magic.

Every day from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

But taking on her first disciple as a mage carried huge weight, so she had a lot on her mind.

Tradition demanded a master give their all to their inaugural pupil.

"…Not quite a disciple, right?"

Elise flopped onto her bed. Plenty of time until lunch ticketing, so she'd kill it resting.

She stretched her right hand toward the ceiling, as if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reaching for something long gone.

A disciple, huh…

"If the world hadn't gone to shit, I might've had one by now…"

Maybe even a political marriage arranged by the family, kids too.

Pointless hypotheticals, though.

What-ifs about the past were meaningless. Better to ponder the future—way more productive.

"If we reclaim the family lands, what then?"

She'd never really thought beyond that.

Deep down, she'd figured retaking the surface was impossible anyway.

Then this "Dungeon Master" popped up out of nowhere, flipping the shelter's fortunes—and suddenly, maybe…

It wasn't just her. Lately, the gallery was full of folks wondering the same.

Most still thought it was a long shot. But that sliver of hope let people entertain these ideas.

"Wonder if I can pull this off…"

Her head hurt thinking about raising a disciple she'd never even considered.

Plus, every encounter with Soo-chan ended in black history or bickering…

Still, Elise secretly didn't mind the banter. She hadn't had real interaction with anyone in ages.

As drowsiness crept in, Elise drifted off to sleep.

*

Soo-chan's room.

"Kkomangi, glad you're safe."

"Hek hek…"

Uninvited guest gone—time to check the gallery.

Needed reactions to the new dungeon and intel on variant monsters.

"Let's scan the featured posts…"

In that short time, featured posts had updated endlessly.

I clicked through them one by one.

"Inner cores…?"

I'll look into that later.

I kept scrolling.

"Oho… Guess it's easy pickings minus the creep factor."

"…No fuck, what is that?"