It's Role-Playing

"I want to go on another job."

The moment I dropped that at the breakfast table, Jihyeon's spoon froze mid-air.

"…You said it was just the once."

"That was something you… Unnie decided."

"What?!"

"And did the money from last time cover the whole month's rent? No, it didn't."

"……"

Jihyeon stared at me, wide-eyed.

"How do you even know what rent is?"

Ah. So that was the part that shocked her.

I figured she'd be more concerned about how I knew the state of the bank account.

"…Anyway, you saw last time. I don't get hurt. I'm super strong, you know."

"Not getting hurt isn't the issue… Haa."

Jihyeon took off her glasses and pressed her fingers into the sockets again.

I know what that means by now.

It means she's run out of arguments to shoot me down!

"…One condition. This time, for real — stay out of sight. If anything like last time happens again, that's the end of it. Same day."

"Okaaay."

She knows it too.

If this guild is going to keep limping along somehow, the only real option is for me to pull my weight.

And yet she still frets this much…

Is it because she doesn't want to lose me — her Ego Sword?

Or is it because she…

"Byeori's second commission! Heehee, Unnie'll pack you a lunch!"

…Well. All's well that ends well.

And so we took on our second commission.

Another D-rank small Gate. The reason we were biting into another D-rank after the chaos of last time was simple enough: for a bottom-feeder guild like ours, that was all that ever came in.

Fine by me!

I promised to stay under the radar, and the smaller the stage, the easier that is, right?

…Or so I thought. Maybe that was the problem.

This time, the incident didn't blow up inside the Gate. It blew up outside.

The Association branch office.

The place where you process Gate entry procedures.

Take a number, hand in paperwork, wait forever.

Three years ago, I used to pass through here sealed inside a scabbard.

"Hmph!"

Now I get to experience it firsthand!

"Hmm. Hmm."

Sitting in the chair, my feet didn't reach the floor.

So I kicked them back and forth, one after the other, killing time — and felt the stares start to land.

"…Hey, isn't that her? The grade-schooler from HuntGal."

"What grade-schooler… Wait. Holy crap, it is. Blue hair."

"She's real. Whoa."

"What? That wasn't photoshopped?"

Whispers. Side-eyes.

Yeah, yeah.

So I'm that grade-schooler, am I?

Sorry, but I don't do autographs.

That one photo from last time had clearly made the rounds — a surprising number of hunters seemed to recognize me on sight. The silver lining, if you could call it that, was that nobody was suspecting an Ego Sword. They just looked at me like some rare animal at the zoo.

That was when the woman in the next seat casually leaned over.

"Hey, kid. You're her, right? The one who took down a B-rank in a D-rank Gate?"

"Whaa…"

Her eyes already held total certainty. Denying it wouldn't have done a thing.

"Whoa, she's real! Guys, it's actually her!"

Of course. When I just sat there instead of explaining, she lit up and announced it to everyone within earshot.

Ugh, what a pain.

So this is the life of a celebrity…

"Byeori! Unnie's going to submit the paperwork! Stay put with Jihyeon and be good!"

Nayeon trotted off toward the reception window, arms full of documents.

But hang on — that woman is carrying way too much.

Papers, an equipment bag, a water bottle.

And sure enough—

"Hek—?"

Her foot caught clean on the lip of the counter.

Her body tipped forward.

Papers fanned out through the air. The water bottle and bag went flying—

There was no time to think.

"Master! Watch ou—"

…

……

………Ah.

I realized it the second the words left ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my mouth.

No — I'd sworn, hadn't I?

That I'd avoid calling her that whenever possible. That I'd just never create a situation where I had to.

What a stupid plan.

A plan to never create a reason to call her that falls apart the second a reason appears. The loopholes on this thing are massive…

Nayeon caught herself on the counter and barely managed to stay upright.

The papers carpeted the floor, but that wasn't the problem.

"……"

The waiting room had gone quiet.

"……Did you just hear that?"

"She said Master."

"Her? To that woman?"

"Master?"

The whispering was on a completely different level from before. Earlier it had been curiosity. Now—

"What kind of bit is that supposed to be these days."

"What are they making a kid do in that guild…"

"Booo, that's messed up, boooo. This is full-on…"

"Is that place sketchy or what? Modern-day slave contract, that kind of—"

…My bad.

Beside me, Jihyeon's face went white in real time. This was exactly the picture she'd been fretting over a few days ago.

'With a face like that, calling an adult Master — people are going to get the wrong idea about what kind of relationship that is.'

And they are getting the wrong idea.

Very thoroughly, at that.

Nayeon had been gathering papers in a fluster when the situation finally caught up with her. Her eyes went round.

And then—

"Holy crap. Was I cool just now or what? I totally stuck the landing—"

Yeah.

My new Master is hopeless.

"Senior, please!"

Jihyeon shot to her feet. She waved both hands wildly at the waiting room and bellowed at the top of her lungs.

"It's a joke! A joke! Role-playing! You know — role-playing? That kind of thing!"

"……"

"Kids do that these days! Kingdom play! Knight play! Our kid's been totally obsessed with it lately! Haha! Hahaha!"

A dying laugh echoed through the waiting room.

Role-playing…?

So I just became a little kid obsessed with playing knights?

The funny part was that it worked.

"Oh, so it's just play?"

"Yeah, kids do that kind of thing."

"Hehehe, how adorable. Unnie can play along too, you know… Want to come play something fun with Unnie…?"

"My nephew's always doing princess play. That one's unusual, though — knight play."

The suspicion aimed at the guild shifted into a strange new set of looks aimed at me.

Calling her Master was my fault, sure, but…

"Hwaaah…"

This is way too embarrassing!

You people can just pretend you never heard it and move on — I can't…!

This is social murder!

"Hauu…"

"So you use a sword because you like playing knight? Then that photo from the Gate was also—"

"N-nooo…. I don't like it…."

"You wouldn't happen to take toy swords? I've got one in the car my little brother used to play with—"

In the end, I gave up. I sat on the waiting-room chair, fidgeting with my fingers, batting away the occasional question that came my way.

"Heuing…."

Too cruel, Jihyeon.

I get that the guild comes first, but still!

How could you sell me out like that!

I shot her a pointed glare, and Jihyeon flinched and looked away.

"S-sorry. In exchange, I'll let the secret candy-eating slide."

"……"

So she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knew about that.

Fine. We'll call it even…

While the two of us quietly sealed a mutual ceasefire, Nayeon finished the paperwork and came trotting back to sit beside me.

Then, in a delighted whisper right against my ear—

"Byeori, Unnie was so cool just n—"

"No."

"Eueh? It… wasn't?"

"No. Not at all."

I whipped my head away, and Nayeon wilted, fidgeting with her fingers.

You're still the worst one this time!

Inside the Gate, things were peaceful — a complete contrast to last time.

A damp cave. Low-tier monsters. A textbook D-rank Gate, unlike before.

"Up we go!"

Nayeon took the lead and drew her sword.

"Unnie's going to take care of everything this time, so Byeori just watches from the back!"

"Okaaay."

…Or so I answered.

I had my own work to do.

While Nayeon grunted and wrestled with the two monsters in front of her, a third one came creeping out of a side passage, angling for her back.

Sliip—

I closed the distance without a sound, and struck once, quietly.

Thud.

A fourth one.

Thud.

Even a fifth that crawled out late — thud, same as the rest.

Not the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flashy cuts from last time. Only as much force as a D-rank rookie would reasonably put out.

This is sneakily hard.

Holding back is harder than going all out. People might be watching, so I have to keep scanning the surroundings too.

Still — once I got into it, it worked!

I even developed a bit of a knack. When Nayeon swung her sword in a big arc, when a monster howled loudly — that overlapping moment of noise and diverted eyes was when I'd slip into motion.

…Is this also me getting better?

Oh, it went up again.

It definitely climbs every time I get real combat. Kind of like grinding EXP in a game?

Call it one percent a run and rough math says eighty real fights to hit a hundred percent.

Or wait — if it's EXP, does the difficulty of each next percent keep going up?

"Byeori! Did you see? Unnie was in great form today!"

Having finished collecting the cores, Nayeon wiped the sweat from her brow and turned around looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

"Yes. You were cool."

"Right, right?! See, Unnie told you you could just stay put in the back!"

"Ahaha…"

"There were even monsters already dead off to the side? Guess the last survey team didn't bother collecting. Heh — total luck, right?"

No need to correct her.

Sometimes a white lie is the right call.

And so we finished the second commission without incident and returned to the office that evening.

The pay hit the account, and the balance plumped up with another cheerful little pling. Jihyeon tapped at her calculator, and her expression eased — just a little. A very, very little.

Then a meeting was called. Agenda: one item.

"As of today, we're setting a rule."

Jihyeon wrote it large across the whiteboard.

…Hey, it's not like I do that because I want to!

I tried to protest that I couldn't just change the form of address — it wasn't fair — and she came back with:

"Then outside, try not to call each other at all if you can help it. And when you absolutely have to, use eye signals. How about that?"

"…Eye signals?"

"Yeah. Eye signals. Conversing with our eyes."

Is she serious?

Judging by her face, she is.

"Aww, do we really have to go that far~? It's just cute."

"Senior, please be quiet. Earlier at the Association… if I hadn't been there, it would've been a real close call."

"Hing."

For the record, when I asked what exactly these "eye signals" were supposed to be—

An impromptu practice session began on the spot.

Nayeon gave a little squint of her eye.

…How is that any different from a wink?

Jihyeon flicked an eyebrow.

…That just looks like an angry person.

"No, like this! If you do it like this it means 'come here,' and like this means 'be careful'—"

"Senior, that's the same as the last one."

"It is not?! Look carefully — this one has force behind the eyes! And then if you raise both hands like this—"

Thirty minutes in.

Over a single rule about not calling each other outside, two fully grown adults were having a staring contest in the office.

To cut to the conclusion: not a single official guild eye signal was ever decided.

The only result was that Nayeon had bulged her eyes so hard a tear squeezed out.

"…Ugh."

I tried practicing eye signals myself under the two of them's relentless pressure, then—

—decided this was ridiculous and just quit.

"Ugh."

Is this guild actually going to be okay?

Is an Ego Sword really supposed to be sitting here practicing this kind of nonsense?

I'm genuinely worried about the future…

"Fine. Outside, I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Good. And at home…"

Jihyeon hesitated a beat, then cracked a small smile.

"Well, at home you can do whatever you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠want. Family can call each other whatever they like — nobody else's business."

"……"

Family.

Family…

Huh. Is that right?

Can what we have even be called family?

I got so caught up turning that over that my reply came out late without me meaning it to.

"…Yeah. What kind of family can't even call each other by name."

I'd only meant it as a casual agreement.

"Family…!"

Nayeon knocked her chair over.

And then, same as always, she lunged and scooped me up.

"Ehek."

"Jihyeon, did you hear that?! Byeori just called us family!"

"No, that was just a figure of spee—"

"She said family! Family!!"

Ah, whatever.

Correcting her is too much work.

This mouth of mine already leaks half my inner thoughts on a regular basis anyway.

Might as well count this as one that got out properly.

Still held in Nayeon's arms, I looked out the window at the evening sky.

My Master is happy.

That's enough, yeah.

And that night—

Before bed, I casually opened HuntGal, and sure enough.

…Another real-life post.

I was about to close it when, of course, the first comment caught my eye.

"……"

Not reading it.

Too filthy to read!

I went to close the window, and the replies underneath forced their way into my vision anyway.

"……"

So even my affiliation's out now.

Hunters are basically public figures anyway, but still — this is getting a little annoying.

I let out a small sigh and shut off the computer.