A Peaceful Meal and an Unexpected Shift
After calling in every last undead I had on summon and wrapping up a debate that ran a good hour, we came to a decision.
For the time being, we would sit tight.
Or, more precisely: thanks to a stroke of brilliance from Lily Vendette, sitting tight actually sounded like it might work. So sitting tight it was.
"So what you're saying, Lily, is that once Yeo-ul grows enough to hit S-Rank Hunter level, we put her out front, found a guild, gather hunters who are on the same page, and go toe-to-toe with the Association and the government?"
"That's right! And while we're at it, I'll have the dolls I made make contact and get a little leverage on each of them—before they know it, they'll all be perfectly obedient little puppets!"
"Hmm... yeah, that way nobody has to bleed, and I don't have to lift a finger. Classic Funeral Puppeteer. You really never change!"
I threw up a double thumbs-up, and Lily twisted her whole body in embarrassment, squealing.
"Aww, Master, if you keep praising Lily like that, Lily might not be able to hold back anymore?"
"...Ugh, just get lost."
"Hiiing, Master's so mean. You only come looking when you need me, and the second I'm not useful you toss me aside... you're awful."
"Haaah..."
Judging that one more second of conversation with that lunatic would actually drive me insane, I snapped my fingers without another word and transferred Lily straight back to her quarters.
Then I looked at Yeo-ul, whose face had somehow changed a little in the hour and a half since I'd last really looked at her.
"You... you okay? Your pupils look like they've gone a bit sideways."
"Huh...? Oh, I'm fine. I think I just caught a glimpse of the pinnacle of puppetry from Lady Lily, and... I'm having a hard time collecting myself."
"...I don't know what that means, but don't copy her too closely. Our Yeo-ul is not allowed to become Funeral Puppeteer MK-2, you hear me?"
I said it with genuine concern, and Yeo-ul answered with the smile of an ordinary high schooler.
"Don't worry. I have a mother and little siblings at home I have to take care of."
"Come to think of it, you mentioned that earlier. Where's home?"
When I asked casually, Yeo-ul blinked once, as if sorting through her thoughts, then answered with complete composure.
"It's in XX-dong, XX District, in Seoul. There's an area people call the shantytown. It's basically a semi-basement... four of us live there, including me."
There wasn't a trace of self-pity in Yeo-ul's voice. She said it the way ordinary people recite their address. Which, somehow, made it land even heavier.
"The space is... if you add up the length and width, maybe two hundred square feet? Mom, my two younger siblings, and me. No beds. We stack three blankets, and one of us just sleeps on the floor. The bathroom's shared, and the water doesn't flush well. Haha..."
She was laughing, but there was nothing bright about it.
The room went quiet.
I didn't change my expression. I just spoke, as naturally as anything.
"...I see. Well, there's a way to handle that."
And I called Kim Gunwoo on the spot.
Click.
I tossed the phone aside like it was nothing and looked at Yeo-ul.
Her eyes had gone a little wide.
"Um... are you talking about my family...?"
"Yeah. You're moving."
"Ah—no! Master!! That's a little—!"
Yeo-ul shook her head in a hurry.
"I'm really fine! The house is small, but... I have my family, and... I already lied to you shamelessly, and now I'd be sponging off you on top of that, which would be even more—"
"Yeo-ul."
I said it quietly. Same tone I always used. Nothing special about it.
"Why do you keep calling me Master? No, forget that—it's fine. This isn't a burden on me at all."
"But..."
Yeo-ul's pupils trembled, just slightly.
"If anything, you living in a semi-basement, not eating properly, not sleeping enough, and spending all your energy worrying about your family so you can't actually do anything—that's a loss of combat power for me. That's the part I find inconvenient."
No smile. No comfort. Just the facts, laid out as they were.
"And—"
I let the corner of my mouth curl up, just a little playful.
"It's not like I'm giving this to you for free, okay? Once you've got the skills to earn your own money, that's when you start paying monthly rent, paying key money, the whole thing. Fair?"
"......"
Yeo-ul bit her lip. It wasn't gratitude, and it wasn't a lump in the throat. It was just the face of someone finding her resolve.
"...Then... I'll follow you, Master."
"For fuck's sake, I told you not to call me Master."
"Then what should I call you?"
"Just call me Unnie. I'm older, after all."
"Okay, Unnie!"
I gave a light clap.
Right on cue, the front door slammed open.
"My lord!! Kim Gunwoo, reporting in!! Salute!!!"
"Good, S-Rank Slime. You made it in time. More importantly, say hello. This is Jin Yeo-ul, my first Earth-side subordinate—and she's a lot more useful than you."
"I see! Miss Yeo-ul!! I am fully prepared to assist with the move!! I'll take personal responsibility for showing you around!!"
Yeo-ul smiled faintly and bowed her head.
"I'll be in your care, Mr. Slime."
And so Jin Yeo-ul and Kim Gunwoo headed out, with Mark One and Mark Two tagging along to make the move go smoothly. Alkerniman and Mordane vanished as well, off to their usual research, until the living room stood completely empty.
Alone in the middle of it, bored out of my skull, I rolled back and forth across the floor for a while—and then, as I always did, I drifted right back to the forums.
"Haaah... I'm bored. So, so bored."
I was genuinely, mind-meltingly bored.
Back in Barzena, every single day had been a dopamine festival. There hadn't been a spare second to feel something like this. But now that I'd come back to Earth and decided to live quietly, an enormous side effect I had never seen coming had settled in.
If this were my Elder Lich days, I'd have just fired off a few meteor shower spells and called it a fireworks show...
I sat there sunk in thought for a while. Then a rather excellent idea occurred to me, and I shot to my feet.
"I did just buy new clothes. Might as well go take a look around outside."
Decision made, I threw on a zip-up hoodie and a pair of sweatpants and opened the front door.
Cool air brushed my nose.
The smell of Earth.
Exhaust fumes, the oil from a snack stall, soap, cement, the smell of people living their lives. A smell you could never find in Barzena. The smell of modern society.
"...Yeah. Not bad."
I gave the air of the present its due for a moment, then started walking with no destination in mind, letting my feet take me wherever they wanted.
I hadn't gone far before a pork soup place caught my eye down an alley.
BUSAN GRANNY PORK SOUP
Haha. That's it. Pork soup. Food for real men.
I pushed the door open, and the smell of simmering meat rolled out in a wave.
"How many?"
"Just me."
The owner nodded and showed me to a seat. I sat down like I belonged there and added, as a matter of course:
"The original pork soup, please. And plenty of kkakdugi."
The owner huffed a little laugh.
"A young lady who actually knows how to eat gukbap properly. Give me a minute."
A little later, the pork soup arrived. I lifted a spoonful and took in the aroma first, before the taste. Then it went straight into my mouth.
"Mmh, hahh... yeah... that's the stuff. You have no idea how much I missed this smell in Barzena."
It was a different universe from the noble lords' food I'd eaten in Barzena, all of it pretty on the outside and nothing else. This wasn't just filling a stomach. This was a taste that made you feel alive.
I meant every bit of the admiration, and I cleaned the bowl down to the last grain.
Then I checked the price on the menu.
9,500 won.
Tsk... a little steep. Still, I did borrow the money.
Just in case, I'd hit Kim Gunwoo up for an extra million won before he left. I'd come this close to dining and dashing.
"Thanks for the meal."
"Enjoyed it? Then come again."
"I will, Granny."
I stepped out of the restaurant in a quietly good mood and looked up at the sky.
"Ahh, I ate well. Stuffed. This kind of peace... yeah, this is pretty nice."
Satisfied with a peace I hadn't felt in a long time, I was planning to take a leisurely loop around the neighborhood and then head home. That was when it happened.
"Harin, you've got twenty minutes until the next schedule, so eat as fast as you can and get back out here, okay?"
"Yeah, I got it, this is so annoying. Why the hell is that bastard Lee Seungcheol so obsessed with me?"
"The Guild Leader's only doing it because he cares about you, you know...? So please..."
A woman with a vaguely familiar silhouette passed right by me, a man trailing after her in a fluster with a tablet in his hands.
And then, suddenly.
"Huh? What the hell is this?"
"...?"
"...?"
My vision lurched, and the granny's pork soup place I'd been standing in front of a second ago was gone. In its place, a vast, open plain stretched out as far as the eye could see.