The Torch Needs a Little Comfort
“So, what exactly did you say?”
Lee Sejin asked again. He was smiling, but his eyes weren't.
“A cliff.”
"....."
There was no self-awareness in her gaze, much less malice. It was the face of someone stating a fact with complete, innocent sincerity.
Lee Sejin's eyes narrowed, and he slowly, carefully turned his head to look my way.
What? Why are you looking at me? I never taught her anything like that.
“So... her name is Kang Yurim, you said?”
“Yes.”
“Where in the world did you hear a phrase like that?”
“Hmm... back at the lab, someone used to say it. A flat structure with nowhere left to fall... something like that. There was one person who said it all the time. She kept going on about it, so she argued with the other researchers constantly...”
"......"
“The researchers in the next room said it too. Told me not to get my hopes up for nothing...”
“……”
The corner of Lee Sejin's temple twitched again. His eyes slid sideways, just slightly.
I wanted to say something, but I got the feeling that opening my mouth now would earn me a punch.
“Then... why do you call me that?”
“Hmm... you remind me of that person, somehow.”
"......"
A visible shiver ran through Lee Sejin's body.
She'd hit a lot closer to home than I expected...? At this point, wasn't it basically on purpose?
Her hand drifted slowly downward. Toward the sword at her hip.
“Hey! What are you doing threatening a kid?!”
I thrust up a hand and blocked her path.
Lee Sejin's eyes bored straight through me. They were positively murderous.
Just how badly did that comment wound you, that you're radiating killing intent at a child?
“Yurim. You don't know what 'cliff' means in that context, do you?”
“Hm?”
Kang Yurim blinked and shook her head. Only then did Lee Sejin slowly lower his hand.
Whew... thank god.
I'd have to give her a lecture on watching her mouth, too.
“Well, I suppose if you didn't know... no, wait, that's not exactly forgivable just because you didn't know...”
Lee Sejin sat back down, pressing hard at the space between his brows.
“Still. Don't go saying things like that to people so carelessly.”
“But what does it...”
“A word you're better off not knowing.”
At my words, Kang Yurim nodded, and a weary sigh escaped him.
“Alright. Then let's get back to it.”
“So to sum up—the girl they called the Torch has the power of Ability Amplification, and until now she was locked away in some kind of research lab before getting out?”
“That about covers it.”
“And she can't control it yet?”
“No, that still seems beyond her. To be fair, she's had hardly any experience with it.”
His expression turned a touch more serious.
“I think I'm starting to understand why the Black Society wanted her.”
He wasn't wrong. An ability is a weapon in and of itself. Whether you breathe fire, command water, or twist shadows, every one of them is a threat from an ordinary person's point of view—and the world had no shortage of examples proving it.
Now imagine someone with the power to forcibly inflate those abilities.
That wasn't a weapon. That was a fuse.
It was the same as walking through a warehouse full of explosives carrying an open flame. The Black Society had probably been desperate to secure the girl from the very start. After all, their whole purpose was to throw society's systems into chaos.
“How far can she amplify an ability, exactly?”
“I don't know.”
There was far more I didn't know about Kang Yurim than I did. In the game, she'd barely been mentioned—a passing note that "the Torch" had once existed, plus a handful of Black Society bosses whose powers had been strengthened by the Torch's influence. That was all.
Back then, I'd taken it as nothing but background lore. It had no direct connection to the main story, and from the perspective of a player playing a hero, there'd never been any reason to cross paths with her.
But now that we'd met, I couldn't just leave her be.
“Which is why I think we should give her some training.”
“You mean teach her to control her power? Good. If someone like that joined our side, she'd be a meaningful asset. The question is how you'd actually train her...”
He had a point. Kang Yurim's ability simply couldn't be trained through normal methods. If even a single ability user was anywhere nearby, they'd inevitably be caught in her influence.
“Which is why I have an idea.”
“What is it?”
“I'm going to ask Selene. Not the whole process—just the initial stage. Enough that she can at least handle her own power.”
Lee Sejin raised an eyebrow slightly, and I pressed on.
“Selene's abilities are close to nonexistent. On paper, her measurable power readings are so low she's basically an ordinary person. In exchange, though...”
“Her body's built like a fortress. That's what you're getting at, isn't it?”
Lee Sejin tossed it out like it was obvious.
“Exactly. So even if the energy runs wild inside her body, she should be able to withstand it.”
“Clever. But... do you really think that lazy-ass woman will agree to it?”
Fair point. Honestly, that was the biggest problem. She was guaranteed to grumble about it being a hassle.
“I'll do the persuading separately.”
“Fine. Let's move forward with that plan and sort out the rest as we go.”
Lee Sejin rose from his seat and started toward the door, then turned back.
“Oh, and about that broker—you'll need to wait a while before meeting him. Apparently he's gone dark for the time being.”
“That's fine.”
All that mattered was meeting him within six months. Until then, I just had to refine Kang Yurim's ability and shape her into a card I could actually play.
But first...
“We're done talking. You can come in now.”
At my words, Kang Yurim came sliding cautiously back into the room. She was still glancing around nervously, but her expression was far steadier than before.
“Yurim.”
“Yes?”
“You hungry, by any chance?”
There was something I had to do first.
As we walked into the dining hall, a delicious smell drifted through the air.
“...Is there anything you can't eat?”
The man asked with a soft smile, looking right at me. It was Closer—the Oppa who'd brought me here.
I shook my head quickly.
“No, I can eat anything. Really.”
He gave a very slight nod.
“Then let's have this.”
Chopsticks were laid out neatly on the table. Beside them sat a pot of kimchi stew, steam rising gently from its surface.
“Let's sit.”
Oppa said it simply. I gave a small reply and lowered myself carefully into my seat. For no particular reason, I sat with my back ramrod straight, placed my hands on my knees—then moved them onto the tray instead.
It was definitely a warm smell, but somehow it felt unfamiliar.
“Thank you...”
I bowed my head and said it quietly, but without a word he simply pushed the spoon toward my side of the table. Lightly. Like it was habit.
I picked up the spoon with care.
The stew was... just ordinary kimchi stew. Nothing special at all.
And yet, somehow, I felt like I couldn't breathe. My throat stung. My eyes grew warm.
No, I can't cry. Not here. I can't cry in a place like this.
I buried my head low, fighting to keep my grip on the spoon. Oppa just patted my hair, saying nothing at all.
The next day came. Oppa showed me around the facilities. He said that if I didn't want to get lost while I was staying here, I needed to know the place.
“If you wander into some strange district by accident, it gets very complicated for everyone.”
That's roughly what he said, but I figured he was really just telling me not to feel anxious on my own.
Along the way, I met the sleepy Unnie too. She was the woman who'd been standing next to Oppa when we first met.
Are they... together?
The two of them were always so close, and Unnie spoke to him so casually that the thought had crossed my mind for a second. No distance between them when they talked, such a natural air between them.
“Then come take a nap with meee... I'm bored.”
“Could you stop talking absolute nonsense?”
Apparently not, then.
The day after that, we chatted together—everything from heavy topics, like how I'd ended up in that lab, to easy ones, like what things I liked.
It didn't feel bad at all.
And just like that, a day passed, then two. A week, then two weeks.
Then a question crept up on me.
Why is this person so warm to me? Do I even deserve this—someone like me?
Some corner of my mind kept on doubting. Maybe, like all the others, he'd only approached me because of my ability.
But...
“You don't have to see the world in such gray shades, you know.”
“I'm certain of it—somewhere out there, there's a home where you belong.”
“Here? Ah, my apologies. But this place isn't it.”
Even so, it didn't matter. Just like that Unnie I'd met in the lab—wasn't it allowed, at least one person in this world standing on my side?
Yes. Even just one.
Having made up my mind, I called for Oppa.
“Oppa.”
A quiet voice reached me. I turned around.
Kang Yurim was fidgeting with her fingertips, unable to meet my eyes. Her face carried that particular hesitation of hers—the look she always had right on the edge of saying something.
“I want... to be able to do something too.”
There it was. I smiled on the inside.
The first things you need to bring an ability under control are a stable state of mind, and the will to accept change. Judging by the look in her eyes now, she'd decided to accept it—at least to some degree.
But it wasn't fully resolved yet. She'd only just managed to accept her situation, nothing more.
Right up until I rescued her, all she'd ever known was being experimented on. If the person who reached out a hand to her now turned around and seemed to exploit her for her power too, that would be a disaster.
So I chose my words with care—careful not to give off even a hint that I'd taken her in because of her ability.
“First of all... I'm a villain.”
“I know.”
"....."
The answer came back faster than I expected. Strange. I was pretty sure I'd only told her I wasn't a hero—I didn't think I'd ever called myself a villain...
“Nobody around here acts like a hero anyway. And... you know, that person. The one who's always sleepy and eats snacks.”
“Selene?”
“Yes. One look and you can tell she doesn't work for the Association. If she did that kind of thing as an Association employee, she'd be in huge trouble.”
"......"
Fair... can't argue with that.
“But why bring that up all of a sudden? You're making me nervous.”
I decided to ask one more question. What mattered was her will—and my position was that I hadn't taken her in because I needed her power.
“Yurim, how would you like to go to school? I have connections—an outside place the Association's influence doesn't reach. If you go there, you'll get training, meet people, and have time to choose your own life for yourself.”
I finished, carefully, pouring everything sincere I had into the words.
But Kang Yurim slowly shook her head.
“...I've already made up my mind. If Oppa becomes a hero, then I'll do that too... and if you become a villain, then I'll just... stay with you either way.”
Jackpot.
I let out a small, inward breath of satisfaction.
“...C-can I still become useful, though?”
I felt the corners of my mouth try to curl up on their own, and forced them back down. If I let my feelings show for no reason and made things weird, that would be a problem.
I pretended to think it over, closing my eyes for a brief moment—then gave a short nod.