I'll Buy You Dinner

Don't tell me this only works on Seo Jia.

I was still turning the thought over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when a knock came at the workshop door. It opened, and Seo Jia stepped inside.

"Here again?"

"...So it seems."

The team leader had asked as much with his face as with his voice. I answered with a shrug.

She'd dropped by the workshop now and then before. Ever since I'd awakened as a Maker, though, barely two or three days passed without her showing up. And this time a familiar woman followed her in.

Long, dark brown hair fell past her shoulders. Narrow eyes with a slight upward tilt, a catlike beauty with something faintly bewitching about her.

Yoo Serin?

A C-Rank hunter with the company. Class, Dagger Specialist. One of the hunters who almost never set foot in the Equipment Support Team.

"Hello, Assistant Manager Han?"

"Ah—yes. Hello."

"You remember me, right?"

"What? Yes. You're Hunter Yoo Serin."

"Good. I'd have been a little hurt if you didn't..."

Yoo Serin smiled with her eyes, foxlike, and drifted over to my side as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I was still trying to work out what she wanted, and my gaze went, just as naturally, to the space above her head.

"......"

I'd half hoped. Nothing. Clean. No status window, no sync ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rate, no equipment compatibility. Not a single line.

I turned back to Seo Jia.

Figured as much. And there it is.

The ability didn't seem to react to anyone who hadn't taken in my bodily fluids. The hypothesis was hardening into something very close to certainty.

Sleazy little power, I'll give it that...

So there was a restriction, then?

Either way, my eyes must have lingered a beat too long, traveling between the two of them. Yoo Serin swept her hair back and tipped her head, just slightly.

"It'd be a problem if you fell for me..."

"Sorry?"

"Mmm. You were staring so hard."

"Ah. That wasn't my intention. I apologize."

Hunters with odd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠personalities weren't exactly rare, so I got the apology out fast. Fortunately she didn't seem to mind. A strange little nasal hum slipped out of her, and she drew a dagger from her waist and set it on the workbench.

"Jia told me. Said you're incredibly good with equipment?"

"I did not say incredibly."

Seo Jia, standing behind her, cut in with a small, awkward cough.

"You said something pretty close, though."

"I just said he takes good care of it... And unnie, I asked Assistant Manager Han for revisions several times. That's why it fit my hand so well."

"Then I can just ask for a few revisions too."

Yoo Serin brushed Seo Jia's protest aside and looked at me.

"So take a look at mine as well. I was hoping to get this repaired. Is that possible?"

"...Understood."

I had a pretty good idea, suddenly, of why she'd come looking for me. Even at C-Rank, hunters bet their lives on their gear. She must have decided Seo Jia's sharp jump in skill had something to do with the equipment.

Not entirely wrong...

I picked up the dagger. It wasn't a supply piece issued by our guild's support team.

"Outside workshop. Black Tail—the D-Rank dagger agility-type Dagger Specialists favor. Right?"

"Yes, that's right. You knew it right away?"

"I make a point of knowing which weapons our hunters use, and which workshops they prefer. Comes with the job."

Which was also why, unlike Seo Jia, Yoo Serin went to outside workshops instead of the company. That much I'd already known.

"Then why bring this to me all of a sudden?"

"Jia wouldn't stop praising you. I got curious."

"Unnie, when did I ever praise him like that?"

"There she goes, our Jia, getting shy again."

"......"

At the teasing, thick with mischief, Seo Jia's mouth pressed shut. Getting between them looked like a good way to regret it, so I just turned the dagger over in my hands.

Yoo Serin's class, Dagger Specialist, was a ranged class. You used the dagger as a medium, drawing mana out long and cracking it like a whip. And because of that style, I'd heard the weapons Dagger Specialists used didn't just burn their mana circuits out in a hurry—they straight-up shattered, more often than not.

Didn't they say Serin breaks at least one weapon every single raid?

That was why a C-Rank hunter was still carrying D-Rank gear. She might have wanted higher-grade equipment. She couldn't use it. Hunter gear, as it turned out, was obscenely expensive.

"You dual-wield, right? Right hand's your main?"

"Yes."

"On a Tower raid, how many daggers do you usually take in?"

"Mm... four?"

"Four?"

"I have to pace them so they don't shatter. Most of them still do, though."

The cause was obvious. Dagger Specialist wasn't some rare class; it was common enough that the reason was known like something out of a textbook. An irregular pattern of mana release hit a dagger's narrow mana circuit, the circuit couldn't take the load, and it burned out. The fix was simple, too.

Get a higher-grade dagger that can comfortably handle the hunter's output.

A thing like that was never going to be cheap. Which was why she'd come to the Equipment Support Team and asked for a repair.

I asked a few more questions. She was company, so I already knew how she fought. Hearing it from her own mouth was more accurate, and it let me rough out a repair estimate.

"You're asking more than I expected."

"I have to fix it so it actually fits you."

Awakening as a Maker hadn't made my job disappear. Until I understood exactly what this ability of mine was, I still had to do the work in front of me.

"Mmm. Usually they just glance at it and slap a patch on."

"This isn't a one-look-and-we're-done kind of thing."

At that, Yoo Serin's lips drew a strange, lingering curve.

"Mmm."

She set her arms on the workbench and leaned in a little closer. A faint perfume drifted off her.

"What is it?"

"You're doing a more thorough job than I thought. Honestly, I figured our Equipment Support Team was just for show. Something they threw together so it'd look like we had one."

She wasn't wrong. I was only an E-rank Polisher, and the team leader was E-rank production class himself.

She was close, though. Close enough that when I shifted my arm, something soft and full pressed against it. Yoo Serin herself didn't so much as blink. If anything, she was leaning in so her chest would meet my arm.

"Oh my, Assistant Manager Han."

"Yes?"

"Do you work out?"

"Why the sudden..."

"No reason. You've just got a really nice body. You must take good care of yourself."

I didn't. The work had just left me like this.

A prickling stare came in from the side. I turned my head and found Seo Jia watching us, visibly uncomfortable. Our eyes met. She flinched, and her gaze slid away. And then—

"Hunter Seo Jia?"

The door opened, and a Raid Support Team employee leaned in.

"The squad leader's looking for you."

"Ah, yes. I'll be right there."

Seo Jia answered, but her eyes stayed on us a moment longer.

"Serin unnie, I'll be right back."

"Okay. Go on."

"......"

"What?"

"...Nothing."

Seo Jia shut the door on a thoroughly unsatisfied face and left the workshop.

"Jia's being weird today."

I didn't bother answering. I picked Black Tail up off the bench. I'd known for days why Seo Jia kept finding reasons to come by. And right now, Seo Jia wasn't the important part.

How am I supposed to work on this...

Nothing had appeared over Yoo Serin. Which meant Maker wasn't activating. If I couldn't use the ability, the repair would have to come from my own skills and what I actually knew.

First priority... reinforcing the mana circuit.

I decided to start the proper way and check Black Tail's structure. Outside-workshop pieces weren't built like supply gear. I couldn't just crack it open on a guess.

I was working through the internal structure with care, taking the dagger apart, looking at the scorched mana circuit etched inside, when her voice came again.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

"How I ought to work on it."

"Really?"

"...Yes?"

At my answer, the corner of Yoo Serin's mouth lifted.

"Alone with me, I thought you might be having other thoughts."

"...The team leader is right there."

"I don't think he can see what we're doing."

Had she always been like this? I'd passed her in the company a few times, but today felt like the first time we'd actually talked. For a first conversation, she was closing the distance far too aggressively.

"Assistant Manager Han, how old are you?"

"Twenty-nine."

"So it was true. Younger than I thought."

"...Hunter Yoo, you're a year younger than I am."

"Which makes it just right."

"Makes what just right?"

"The age."

Something in my face must have been off, because Yoo Serin laughed without a sound. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Then she planted her elbows fully on the workbench and rested her chin in her hand. The line of her chest showing through her clothes, the way she looked straight at me—both were a little much. I didn't let it show. Acting flustered felt like it would make the air even stranger. And from where I stood, learning what kind of hunter Yoo Serin actually was couldn't hurt.

Watching Seo Jia alone isn't going to give me an answer.

I needed more subjects if I was going to cross-check the Maker ability. And here was another hunter, walked in on her own two feet.

I kept an eye on Yoo Serin from the corner of my vision, drew the blackened mana circuit out of the disassembled dagger, and set to restoring it.

"Is patching the circuit all there is to it?"

"Usually, yes."

"I heard you even carved Jia's grip, and tuned the output balance perfectly..."

"That's because Hunter Seo Jia asked for those things specifically, first."

At that, Yoo Serin tapped the workbench with a fingertip. Then she narrowed her eyes, foxlike, and let her voice go slow and sticky.

"Then I need a weapon tailored exactly to my style, too."

"......"

"Are you free tonight? I'll buy you dinner."

"Out of nowhere?"

I stopped the repair and looked at her, then asked again.

"When you leave work with an outside workshop, do you buy them dinner on the side as well?"

"No? I just pay them."

"Then I'm fine without dinner. I get a salary from the company for repairing hunters' weapons."

She set a finger on my forearm, pressed once, playful, and asked.

"Mmm... Do you actually have plans tonight?"

"...I don't."

"Then we're good."

Was this what came of hunters being a socially desirable job? I hadn't even agreed, and somehow the plans were already a fact. Ordinarily there was no reason to go out for a private meal with a hunter from the same company. But...

Maybe it isn't a bad idea.

Looking at Yoo Serin, and at the strange, clinging heat coming off her, there was something I wanted to confirm myself. I wasn't expecting things to go any further than that. We'd only ever passed each other coming and going at the company. There was no real point of contact between us. All I'd meant to do was quietly swap the water cups we'd been drinking from, just enough to see whether the Maker ability would trigger.

At least, that was the plan right up until we went out for dinner.

"Mmph—chuup..."

And then, at some point, a hot, slick tongue was rooting through my mouth.

And above Yoo Serin's head, blue system messages began to pour.