198. US Monster Extermination Request (2)
198. US Monster Extermination Request (2)
'After all the anxiety I went through, all the trembling......! Legal interest rates, sub party, and "Lee Yu-ri-ssi"...... How could you say something like that......!'
When Jin Yu-ha revealed it had been a lie,
Lee Yu-ri bit down hard on her lip.
Her face flushed red, and her whole body trembled.
"H-How could you—! Do you have any idea what I was feeling! How much—!"
A fury and sense of betrayal so immense she could barely even speak set her head ablaze.
But Jin Yu-ha only stared back at her with a sullen expression.
"Look who's talking."
"......What?"
"The one who got angrier and more hurt by what you said is me. That's why I did it."
"Right now, what in the world is that supposed——"
"Lee Yu-ri, you don't even know why I'm mad, do you?"
Jin Yu-ha let out a deep sigh.
Lee Yu-ri stared back, eyes wide and face blank.
In an instant, a sense of crisis flooded her.
It was because she remembered reading something once—that when a man says, "You don't know why I'm mad, do you?" it means the woman is very much in the wrong.
'I-I'm the one who did something wrong......? You're the one who lied, Jin Yu-ha!'
Still, she needed to ask for the reason first.
"......W-Well, what are you mad about?"
Lee Yu-ri spoke with a slightly wilted air.
"Haah, look at this. You don't even realize what you did wrong. Only your own feelings matter to you."
"S-Sorry......."
Even though this was definitely the moment she ought to be angry, cowed by the momentum, Lee Yu-ri ended up apologizing.
But the conversation didn't end there.
"What are you sorry for?"
"I, I-I'm just, sorry for everything......."
If Jin Yu-ha were an ordinary man, this would have been the moment for round two: "So you apologize without even knowing what you did wrong?",
but fortunately, Jin Yu-ha was a man from a world where common sense was reversed.
Jin Yu-ha stared directly at Lee Yu-ri for a moment, then opened his mouth as if giving up.
"What? Disappear without a word? Quietly, all alone? Because I failed the test. I'm not qualified as a Tank. What else was it...... Ah, debtor and creditor? I'm honestly speechless. You say all that, and then you act like the injured party? That's really something."
"N-No. I was being sincere—"
"That makes it even worse. It means you made every decision on your own. You never once considered how I'd feel, just being told all that."
At that, she found herself at a loss for words.
Because she was the one who had genuinely, seriously decided she needed to leave for the good of the team, and had tried to act on it.
She had thought of Jin Yu-ha holding her back, but she hadn't considered the shock he would receive.
"Did you really think I would cast you aside just because you failed one test?"
At Jin Yu-ha's reproach, Lee Yu-ri bowed her head deeply and could only repeat what she'd said before.
"......No, it's because I know you wouldn't. So that's why......."
Ssstreetch—
"Gyaaagagaagak—!"
Jin Yu-ha grabbed Lee Yu-ri's cheeks as she shrank downward and pinched them, pulling straight upward.
"If you couldn't pass the test, then you just pass it again. That's all there is to it."
A tone as decisive as a knife-cut edge.
A firm conviction without a shred of doubt.
Yes, this was it.
The reason she had raised her conviction before her shield.
"I've been saying it all along. I've never once considered any other Tank besides you. And you dare say something like that?"
Jin Yu-ha stared intently into Lee Yu-ri's eyes.
"So don't ever say nonsense like that again. Because I have absolutely no intention of ever letting you go."
Lee Yu-ri swallowed hard and subtly averted her eyes.
'Okay, does this kid just say things like that without changing his expression.......'
By now, the anger she'd felt moments ago had completely subsided.
In its place were only feelings of guilt, gratitude, and embarrassment.
And even though she was being scolded, a small bonus: the corners of her mouth kept twitching upward.
"Okay......."
Lee Yu-ri, with her cheeks still pinched, nodded in little bobs.
"......Are you quite finished?"
Just then, a bored voice came from ahead of them.
The Brat, her chin propped on her arm, wearing an expression full of sullen annoyance.
It was Chairwoman Rina.
"......Whether the two of you play at love or not, it is of no concern to me whatsoever...... But I cannot for the life of me fathom why you had to come all the way here to do it."
"P-Playing at love! Th-That's not what this is!!!"
Lee Yu-ri flusteredly pulled away from Jin Yu-ha.
"......Jealous. My cheek, too."
Ichika placed a finger to her lips and murmured in a small voice.
* * *
'Phew, well, I guess that settles things with Gukbap for now.'
At first I'd only meant to tease her a little because it was aggravating, but her reaction was just too fun.
I ended up crossing the line a bit.
'Hm, "oppa, you don't know why I'm mad?" That tactic is an undefeated champion, no matter the world.'
It helped that this was a gender-role-reversed world.
Anyway, it was time to get to the main point.
I opened my mouth, facing the Brat, who was still wearing a sullen expression.
"Ah, before we head off to the U.S. Monster Subjugation Request—we came here to receive a Subspace Tattoo for our newly recruited Special member, Ichika. And our Tank's shield was destroyed during training, so we're here to get a replacement."
A clean set of demands.
The moment I voiced what I wanted,
Rina's mouth fell open.
She didn't say a word, but her face wore an expression that anyone could read as utter disbelief.
Tilt—
Rina crooked her head to the side.
"......Do you think I owe you?"
"Excuse me?"
"I said: do you think I owe you?"
'Huh, has the medicine already worn off?'
Given her personality—how she hates being in debt—I'd figured I could milk the debt from the Midterm Evaluation at least one or two more times.
The house I'd gotten last time must have been a bigger deal than I thought.
'Tch, this is a problem.......'
A Subspace Tattoo from Chairwoman Rina was incomparable in performance and stability.
And Lee Yu-ri, now 4-Star, had outgrown off-the-shelf shields.
'Hmm, do I need to go farm materials somewhere and find a subspace artisan plus a blacksmith to custom-make something......?'
Sure, if I went through Shin Se-hee, I could figure something out. But I wasn't too keen on it.
I mean, there's a short-limbed golden goblin right here, practically piled with treasure. Walking away and giving up felt wrong.
'Isn't there some way......?'
That was when it happened.
Swoosh—
The window abruptly flew open, and like the wind, a woman appeared.
Tap.
A black-haired woman, silently setting foot inside with an impassive expression.
My Master.
It was Baek Seol-hee.
"Disciple. What have you been doing here?"
Her expression was as frigid as a sheet of ice as she addressed me.
"Pardon?"
Bolt!
"S-Seol-hee! Where in the world have you been, what have you been doing this whole time! An entire week without contact! Just where have you been all this while—!"
"I asked what you are doing here."
Chairwoman Rina had shot up from her seat and was shouting, but Master simply asked again, as if she couldn't even hear her.
"Ah, well, for the new recruit's Subspace Tattoo, and our Tank's shield broke, so I came to get——"
Glare—
Only then did Baek Seol-hee shift a terrifying look toward Chairwoman Rina.
"You, you underhanded....... Filling the affection gauge like that....... Again."
"A-Affection! What are you talking about—!"
"Tempting my disciple with material things every time to boost his stats, and now pretending you know nothing about it. I'm honestly sick of it."
"What could I possibly achieve by leading that brat on—!"
Chairwoman Rina's pupils dilated sharply as the words left her mouth.
And then, a voice suddenly sounded inside my head.
—Jin Yu-ha, just answer in your mind. This is urgent, so I used mind-reading magic.
'Huh, is that you, Chairwoman......?'
—That artifact! That artifact you acquired recently! Where and from whom did you obtain it!
'I got it from killing the Apostle of Incubus?'
I had no idea why she was suddenly acting like this, but I answered with what I knew.
—Good lord.......
Rina lifted her eyes toward the void and squeezed them shut.
Then, a shrunken voice reached me again.
—......J-Jin Yu-ha. I'll grant you everything you want, so c-could you help me, just for a moment......?
'......Huh?'
I tilted my head.
'Isn't this...... an opportunity?'
—No, it is not! This will be the last time! I said it's the last!
Ah, this golden Brat—you were reading my mind just now, weren't you?
—Golden Brat!?
*
'So, what you're saying is: Chairwoman Rina's stats actually went up by 7% from my artifact, but then vanished......?'
Is that even possible?
The max was originally 5%, wasn't it?
'Well, I guess it's not impossible. I mean, that bug did happen where a name suddenly appeared and then disappeared.'
Either way, I understood the situation.
And the method of persuasion was simple, too.
All I had to do was show her.
"Master, I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding."
"......Misunderstanding?"
Master's brow twitched as she repeated the word.
"Hmm, Chairwoman? You can use emotion magic, correct?"
"Y-Yes! Of course I can!"
"Then could you cast it on this ring here? So the others can see it, too."
Hummm—
Rina's magic settled over my finger,
and the artifact's detailed description spread open for everyone to see.
"As you can see here, this ring can boost stats by 3% to 5%, based on Affection. And over here—do you see how Chairwoman Rina's name is blacked out and deactivated? And there, next to it, it's written in black: 3%."
Master stared fixedly at the semi-transparent window hovering before her eyes.
"It certainly...... is 3%. But why, then, would the Chairwoman claim it was 7%? Surely she wouldn't resort to the sordid act of falsifying the numbers......?"
"......Th-That is—!"
"It seems to have been a bug."
Rina tried to cut in, but I beat her to the punch.
"......A bug?"
"Yes. The fact that it deactivated so suddenly, when it was originally at 3%—that itself is strange. And Chairwoman Rina also mentioned that the enhanced power is gone now."
At that, Rina, unwilling to lose ground, nodded and held out her hands.
"Th-That's right! The enhanced power is all gone now! I don't have the ring either, do I!"
Watching her, I thought to myself:
'Isn't she just trying to clean this up after actually lying about it being 7%?'
A suspicion flashed through my mind for a moment,
but surely—the chairwoman of an entire academy wouldn't stoop to something that petty.
Once the misunderstanding was cleared up,
Baek Seol-hee's face brightened noticeably.
"......So that was it. A mere 3%. If it's only that much, it's just a modest token of thanks. But the entire party is at 4%. You mentioned the maximum is 5%. What must I do to raise it?"
"Hmm, even if you ask me that......."
"I see. So it depends on me. Understood. Disciple. Forgive me, but I have business to attend to, so I shall take my leave. We shall meet again."
Swoop—
Master vanished just as abruptly as she had appeared.
And with that, everything settled down.
We all turned and stared straight at Chairwoman Rina.
"A-Alright! You shall have them! The Subspace Tattoo and the shield! I will provide you a shield!"
She spoke in a fluster, as if she'd been caught red-handed.
'......You really did lie about it, didn't you?'
I stared at Rina with eyes full of suspicion,
and Rina averted her gaze, her pupils drifting slightly upward.