You've Got Feelings for Him, Don't You?
In the living room of Dan Miryu's house, six people sat packed in close around a single table, every face grave.
Pele, goddess of Hawaii. Dan Miryu, Life's Guardian. Dan Chuyeon, Child of Nature. Sword, the legendary hound of the mercenaries. Sipsado of the Heavenly Punishment, the Tenth Apostle. And San-gun, the Heavenly Tiger.
"From this moment, I open the meeting on the date between the Child of Man and the Child of Heaven."
Pele, chairing the proceedings, laced her fingers together and began.
"The cause is exactly what I explained before. That cat ran his mouth where he had no business to, and this is what came of it."
San-gun hung his head as if he had committed high treason, his tail tucked tight beneath his haunches.
"Advice. That was all it needed to be. Instead he blew the whole thing up."
Kiiing. Kiiing.
San-gun whined a weak protest—that it had all been for the child's sake, and that even he had never imagined it would turn out like this.
Pele shot him one cold look, then put it away.
"The offense is heinous. But this goddess has already punished him, so I will say no more of it. Now, then. The problem is—"
Bang! She struck the table.
"—whether the Child of Man and the Child of Heaven can see this date through to a happy end."
Dun-dun! Sword raised his hand.
"Yes, Greatsword. Speak."
"May I be excused?"
"No. Leave you on your own and you'll walk yourself off a cliff. No stupid stunts. Just stay here."
"Pele, I don't understand why I have to be here. I would like to rest. Please send me back to my room."
"I know how you feel. The answer is still no."
"Pele..."
Sword clenched his brow as if the whole thing sat wrong on him. Pele looked him straight in the eye.
"This isn't the time for you to be alone with your thoughts. You don't have to say a word. Just sit still."
"...Understood."
Sword gave in. He wanted nothing more than to shut himself in his room and drink himself under, but with a god watching him that closely, going off the rails did not look as if it would be permitted.
While Sword folded his arms and sank into silence, Dan Chuyeon, who had been reading the room, quietly lifted a hand.
"Speak, Child of Nature."
"Um... if it worries you that much, what if we talked Master into calling the whole thing off?"
"Denied."
"Krrng."
Pele and San-gun both shook their heads.
"Why not? Repaying a kindness is good, but if something only makes both of them uncomfortable, isn't it better not to do it?"
"You're right. Even so, I want to respect the Child of Heaven. She was pushed into the decision at the start, yes. But in the end she chose it herself. I don't want to throw cold water on that resolve."
"Krrng. Krrng."
Dan Chuyeon was at a loss. If that was how they felt, then surely they shouldn't be holding this meeting at all. The two of them could sort it out themselves; an outsider sticking a nose in was nothing but a nuisance.
Pele, having read exactly that thought, cleared her throat.
This time Dan Miryu raised his hand and offered his view.
"Lady Pele, you want the two of them to finish their date well. Is that right?"
"...That's right."
Pele seized the opening he had fed her at once.
"As you know, I don't expect the Child of Man to end a date the way a normal person would."
Every head at the table nodded.
"He might not even come at the appointed time."
"He says he's a phantom thief, so he might show up in a mask and a cape."
"He might walk in on his hands."
"Yumin might end up paying for the entire meal."
"......"
Laid out one by one, it was horrifying. Wouldn't it be better to stop this even now?
"...Everyone, do you truly believe I would do any of that?"
Phantom, hanging upside down in the yard, protested.
"And how are we supposed to believe you?"
"I am a person too. Do you think I would do that to Miss Hong Yumin?"
"It wouldn't be strange if you did worse."
He might announce a splendid date and then crack a bank vault. Uncork a bottle of wine on Mount Baekdu. Ride a playground slide down a roller coaster...
"I won't! I would never! Taking a woman along for something like that—what am I, a madman?!"
"And throwing me into a volcano was reasonable?"
"Would a red-blooded son of Joseon be afraid of a mere volcano?"
"Haaah."
Dan Chuyeon heaved sigh after sigh.
"Mr. Phantom. Have you ever been on a date?"
"Born single, I am."
"...That will do."
Dan Miryu let out the very same sigh as his son.
"You are?"
Pele's eyes lit like lamps.
"Is my lack of experience truly so astonishing?"
"No, I mean... if you happened to be interested..."
Pele fidgeted with her fingers, her cheeks flushing red as if she were embarrassed.
Phantom let out a short laugh.
"You go too far with your jokes."
Crash! A meteor came down on him.
"And the yard I only just had repaired..."
"I'll fix it."
"Tsk, tsk."
Krrrrrr.
"......"
Pele glared down at the Phantom she had buried alive, contempt plain in her eyes.
"Get up, before I hit you again."
Phantom burst out of the soil with a splutter and slapped the dirt from his clothes.
"...As I thought. I can't hope for a normal date out of you."
"This time I intend to enjoy the date as myself, not as the phantom thief."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"It is not. Miss Hong Yumin dislikes the phantom thief."
Phantom took off his mask and hung it at his waist. A black-haired young man laid on the charm.
"I'll dress properly, just like this, and enjoy the date. And I won't be any trouble to Miss Hong Yumin."
"...Hmph."
Pele was not pleased.
He goes around like that on ordinary days, too.
Hiding a face that cute.
"Then I'll go home and study how to date. I'd rather not blunder and get beaten to death by Miss Hong Yumin."
With a rush of air he cleared the wall and returned to his own house.
Pele watched that retreating back until it was gone.
"So in the end it was a meaningless meeting."
Sword clicked his tongue.
"Are you heading back? At least stay and eat."
"I've had plenty of chicken. I'm fine."
"You'll be hungry by evening..."
"Then I'll chew on hardtack."
"Don't be like that. We have good liquor."
"Leave it."
Dan Miryu and Sword fell to wrangling.
"Life. There's alcohol?"
Pele came shuffling over to ask.
"Yes? Yes. There's liquor laid down in the cellar."
"Bring it up. I need to get a little drunk."
At the drained sound of her voice, Dan Miryu went down at once. Dragging the moment out did not seem as if it would help anyone.
Sword tried to edge away. One glare from Pele, and he sat back down like a scolded child.
"...Haa."
Pele sighed as if she meant for the ground to cave in beneath her, and the sigh went on until Dan Miryu came back up with the liquor.
"Yumin, have you lost your mind?"
At her close friend's sharp words, Hong Yumin blinked.
"I am perfectly sane, Soryeong."
"No. You are definitely insane. If you had a thought in your head, you would never ask Mr. Phantom on a date."
Mi Soryeong picked over Hong Yumin's head from every angle.
"I knew it. The Heavenly Punishment has clearly done something to your mind."
"You looked only at my head. How can you tell from that?"
"Your crown is perfectly round!"
A crown was round to begin with, was it not?
"Did Pele not explain?"
"She did. I heard it three times on the way here."
Mi Soryeong pressed a hand to her forehead, still unable to believe it.
"Yumin. You do know what a date is, don't you?"
"I know. A man and a woman spending a day at play. Is it not?"
"You're not wrong, but..."
Mi Soryeong leaned in until she was nearly against her.
"People don't usually offer a date to repay a favor, you know. They pay in money, or they pay it back later with something else."
"......"
Hong Yumin did not deny it. When she had owed the Dan Clan a kindness in the past, she had repaid it by helping with whatever they needed done.
Mi Soryeong's eyes went sharp.
"But a woman paying a man back with a date? There's only one case where that happens."
"Wh-what is it?"
"You've got feelings for that man, don't you?"
"...How could such a thing be?"
Feelings, for a mask? Where in the world was there a woman like that?
"Right? I'm right, aren't I? But I'm so anxious I feel like I'll lose my mind."
"And why would you lose your mind?"
"Because there's a chance. However small."
Even if the odds converged on zero, so long as the number one existed anywhere in them, there was no telling what turn Hong Yumin might take.
"You never know how a person's heart will change."
"Soryeong. You go too far. Do not make light of my will."
"Your will is strong, but our Yumin has a childish side, and that's the problem!"
"A ch-child? Do you know how old I am!"
"That has nothing to do with it!"
Mi Soryeong set a hand down hard on Hong Yumin's shoulder.
"Yumin. I never dreamed I would get married either. Not once."
"...Is that not true of everyone?"
As if anyone walked about certain of marriage.
"Anyway! That isn't the point!"
Mi Soryeong swung her fists through the air.
"I was in almost the same spot as you, all right?! I took a favor from a man I couldn't stand. I couldn't shake him off, got tangled up every which way, and after that we crossed the finish line into marriage!"
"You have skipped far too much!"
"It only takes a moment for a bastard to turn into honey!"
"Speak no nonsense! This is nothing more than one manner of settling a debt!"
"That's what you think, that you're fine! Other people don't see it that way!"
Hong Yumin could not stand by and watch Mi Soryeong run wild. Her imagination had grown wings. Let this continue, and she would be told to start choosing names for the children.
"...Soryeong. Rather than this, shall we go and buy clothes together?"
"Clothes?"
Mi Soryeong's ears pricked.
"...I should like to wear something new."
"...Hmmmm."
Mi Soryeong's eyes narrowed.
"Good. It's your first date, so we'd better dress you properly."
"It is nothing of the sort."
"I know. I know."
Hong Yumin swallowed the objection back down her throat.
"Yumin, I'll make a goddess of you."
"...Do as you please."
Having quieted Mi Soryeong, Hong Yumin was led outside as if dragged, and before long the day of the date came hurtling in.