074. Drum Washer
074. Drum Washer
If you had to sum up Shin Se-hee's personality in a few words, you could replace it with terms like "shrewd," "cunning," and "calculating."
She enjoyed using others like chess pieces, discarding them when they were no longer needed.
A personality that could become endlessly cruel if she set her mind to it.
But how could someone with only those negative character traits establish herself as a top-tier pretty girl within the game?
Because of this, Shin Se-hee goes through a three-stage wash cycle.
First.
A personality that does a complete 180 the moment she drinks.
A girl who always showed a calculating side becomes an honest, cute mess the second alcohol touches her lips, going "Calculate? What's that?"—lowering your psychological barriers.
Second.
Trust when she's on your side.
There's a saying in the Velvetsra community.
[ Infused Liquor is a "superstar." ]
This saying came about because evaluations of her among Players who pulled her and those who didn't are polar opposites.
Those who pulled her from the character gacha would defend her, saying, "Huh? Shrewd? Cunning? Calculating? How can you say such awful things about such a well-behaved, pure, angelic kid!?"
And those who failed to pull her would react like, "Ah, smash that snake-headed bitch!!!"
She perfectly executed the role of driving a wedge not only between characters, but between Players as well.
This is because her trait "Dichotomy" ensures the blade is never turned on anyone she perceives as an ally.
In fact, she is devoted to her allies and tends to look after them more closely.
This, in turn, gives the Players who pulled her a psychological sense of superiority.
And it also makes those who didn't pull her intensely curious about what makes her so special that people would obsess over a snake like her, until they end up pulling her too.
One could say it was the very quality of a superstar who practically drives fans and haters insane.
'Of course, I pulled her at the tail end of the story, so I was on the side that didn't get a proper wash.'
And finally.
The washer.
The thing that reveals why Shin Se-hee had no choice but to have that kind of personality.
By showing how harsh her upbringing was in her personal story,
it creates the understanding and empathy that she had no choice but to have this kind of personality to survive that hellhole, completing the three-stage wash.
I stared fixedly at the woman in front of me.
'Ha, of all the washers in the world, I had to run into the Drum Washer here.'
* * *
'Why the hell is this woman here...!'
Shin Se-hee wore a bewildered expression and sucked in a hollow breath.
Had she followed me from the start?
Had she investigated me?
Since when?
I thought I'd cut off every tail.
Why, why, of all people, did this woman have to come here?
Her mind grew tangled.
It was that unexpected of a meeting.
Her own flesh and blood, and the recognized eldest daughter who had most strongly inherited the name of the Shin family.
S-Rank Hunter,
Shin Su-yeon.
'Since when was she back...? Wasn't she supposed to be overseas for a few years?'
She was not a person who was supposed to be here.
Shin Su-yeon was someone always busy moving around due to family affairs.
A major reason Shin Se-hee could avoid the family's interference and come to the academy was her older sister's long-term absence.
The moment she faced her, a terror learned over a long time constricted her throat of its own accord.
Her body began to tremble, and her voice wouldn't come out.
An auditory hallucination rang inside her head.
─ Se-hee, Se-hee. Just because people prop you up and call you a hero, do you really think you've become something?
─ That's all thanks to the family. If you hadn't been born into this house, do you really think you could've gotten this far with your own strength alone?
─ So, our Se-hee. You'd better listen closely, okay? You know perfectly well what will happen if you keep coming at me like this, yet you keep doing it?
─ I love you. Se-hee. You're my little sister.
Even as she tried to shake it off, the sticky revulsion crawling up her ankle showed no sign of letting go.
She'd been complacent.
Velvet Hunter Academy was a fence so sturdy that even the mighty Shin family had to back off a step.
She'd thought they wouldn't dare lay a hand on her while she was a cadet.
And she'd calculated that she could handle anyone else somehow.
But on an unplanned outing.
She had never, even in her dreams, imagined that Shin Su-yeon would come looking for her in person,
as if she'd been waiting for just this day.
"How many years has it been? Se-hee. Have you been well?"
Shin Su-yeon abruptly pulled Shin Se-hee into a hug.
And then she whispered into her ear in a sticky, low voice.
"During the time I was gone, our Se-hee....... you grew up quite willfully, didn't you? Honestly, I can't take my eyes off you for a single second."
Heh.
Her touch gently stroked her hair, but Shin Se-hee had to repeatedly hold back the surge of nausea.
"I thought you might have even forgotten all about our family."
Shin Su-yeon, who had been hugging Shin Se-hee, slowly pulled her body away.
Then she reached out a hand toward her.
Flinch.
Shin Se-hee's body trembled slightly.
"Though there's no way you would."
As she spoke, her eyes were reflected in Shin Se-hee's.
Even after several years, that same chilling void.
Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes weren't smiling at all.
And those eyes were saying this.
'Did you really think you could ever escape from the family?'
Pat. Pat.
Shin Su-yeon patted her shoulder.
"Se-hee. What am I supposed to do with you? It even made it all the way to my ears. Mother and Father made such a huge fuss about you running away from home on your own......."
Then she narrowed her brows as if worried, but it was an awkward expression full of a sense of wrongness.
"Anyway, now that you're out, let's go home for a bit."
At her words, Shin Se-hee's eyes shook.
Home......?
Absolutely not.
A home without Shin Su-yeon was already hell, so a home with her in it......?
But she couldn't see a way to refuse.
Even if she refused, the woman would just drag her there by force.
Shin Su-yeon stood with her arms crossed, waiting for her answer.
As if daring her to refuse.
Her tightly shut lips slowly parted.
"......Alr......"
The moment she was about to nod like that.
Squeeze─
Shin Se-hee could feel the heavy strength gripping her hand.
'......Huh?'
Her head turned.
"Shin Se-hee."
There stood Jin Yu-ha, wearing an annoyed expression and glaring at her older sister, Shin Su-yeon.
"Who is this woman? Just looking at her, those eyes of hers have clearly gone haywire, and it doesn't look like she came here with good intentions."
"......!?"
Words poured from his mouth without any filter.
Shin Se-hee's face instantly turned deathly pale.
"J-Jin Yu-ha!"
Shin Se-hee tried to protect Jin Yu-ha, but it was already too late.
Shin Su-yeon's head slowly turned toward Jin Yu-ha.
"......Haywire eyes? Boy, are you by any chance talking about me?"
And then she tilted her head and asked back with an expression as if she'd just heard something for the first time in her life.
"Well, yeah. Is there somebody else here besides you?"
"And who are you?"
"Isn't it customary to introduce yourself first when you ask who someone is?"
Jin Yu-ha didn't back down an inch, firing back at Shin Su-yeon's words.
Every time he did, Shin Se-hee's face grew darker and more deathly.
Shin Su-yeon's lips curled up as if she'd just heard something interesting.
"Hmmmmm......."
Her emotionless eyes scanned him up and down as if appraising an object.
"Well, looks are a pass. And the attitude's not bad for a man. A bit too insolent maybe, but fix that and he'd be usable......."
She nodded as if she'd just picked out a decent piece of merchandise.
"May I ask what your relationship is with our Se-hee?"
"Sis, that's something I'll explain......!"
Grab.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Shin Su-yeon clamped her hand over Shin Se-hee's mouth.
Sounds leaked out through the tightly blocked mouth.
At the same time, Jin Yu-ha's eyebrows twitched and furrowed.
"Seeing you throw your weight around like that, you must have some backing. What's your family?"
"Got nothing like that. Let her go."
Jin Yu-ha spoke to her, his face clearly full of displeasure.
'Jin Yu-ha, n-no, don't! If you talk to this woman like that......!'
She tried to step forward and protect Jin Yu-ha, but the hand holding her face didn't even budge.
Regardless, Shin Su-yeon continued questioning Jin Yu-ha.
"What do your parents do?"
"Got nothing like that. Let go, I said."
"This one's really an interesting find......?"
"I'm not amused, so let go. I've said it three times."
A "well, look at this" kind of smile was overlaid on Shin Su-yeon's lips.
"......Ha?"
It was unmistakable interest.
Shin Su-yeon released her hand from Shin Se-hee's face.
"Cough!"
Jin Yu-ha immediately pulled Shin Se-hee's hand and hid her behind his back.
Shin Su-yeon, as if she'd lost all interest in Shin Se-hee, looked at Jin Yu-ha and spoke.
"Boy. Do you not know who I am?"
"Don't know. But I can give you an evaluation."
Hmmmm.......
"Since you ran an evaluation on me too. Let me just evaluate you......."
Jin Yu-ha, just as Shin Su-yeon had done a moment ago, swept his cold eyes over her from top to bottom.
"Wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole."
In an instant,
Ruuuumble─
A wave of energy radiated out from her body, making the entire space tremble.
The heavy killing intent of an S-Rank Hunter pressed down on the whole area.
"Aaaaah─!!"
The luxury store's clerks ducked their heads and hid their bodies.
Crash─
The displayed items tumbled to the floor, and an intense presence began to encroach upon the air.
"......Guh!"
Unable to bear the pressure, Shin Se-hee let out a groan.
Shudder─
'Jin Yu-ha! I have to get him out of here right now, somehow...!'
Shin Se-hee tried to at least extract Jin Yu-ha from this place.
Then she could just go back home herself and explain.
So she grabbed Jin Yu-ha's arm and tried to pull him away.
His body didn't move, as if rooted to the floor.
Jin Yu-ha simply held her hand and stared straight at Shin Su-yeon.
"Huh, so they say you're an S-Rank Hunter......."
And then he let out a small laugh—a scoff.
"No balls at all. Oh right, you're a woman—of course you don't have any balls, do you?"
Stock-still.
The vibrations stopped.
"......What the hell are you?"
Shin Su-yeon asked him back with an incredulous face.