Comfort Doll
Comfort Doll
Lee Sol crossed her arms and leaned back against the chair's backrest.
Even while talking to Doyoon, she did not take her eyes off Jia.
"Since you're going for the first clear anyway, isn't it more profitable for you to just contract with me alone without needing another long-term contract? Even if you sign a long-term contract with Baek Jia here, if I take the first clear, you'll end up gaining nothing."
"But wouldn't receiving the potion payment instead mean it's not a loss?"
"If you sell your potions on the exchange, you can make way more money. Besides, I don't think she said a single word about paying for the potions."
At those words, Doyoon looked at Jia.
Jia merely smiled and didn't deny it.
"If you sign the contract here, you might end up handing over the potions as they are without getting any reward at all."
Lee Sol stood up and pulled Doyoon by the arm.
"Come on, let's go."
"L-Lee Sol-ssi."
"I'll get the first clear for you. So there's no need to enter into a long-term contract with anyone else besides me."
As he was dragged along by Lee Sol, Doyoon looked back at Jia.
Jia was quietly looking down at the table with an expression that suggested she was deep in thought.
Once they stepped out of the cafe, Doyoon asked Lee Sol, who was walking ahead.
"Lee Sol-ssi. I understand what you're saying. But you don't like clearing the tower that much anyway. You don't have to force yourself to clear it just because of me..."
At that, Lee Sol glanced sideways at Doyoon.
Only then did Doyoon see Lee Sol's face, and he flinched.
Lee Sol was making the exact same displeased expression she had worn when Doyoon said he would meet Jia.
"Who said I don't like it? I just have to do it. Clearing it."
"Pardon?"
Doyoon questioned back, but Lee Sol said nothing, simply pulling Doyoon along by his arm.
Seah visited Lee Sol's home.
She opened the bedroom door, but no one was inside.
Seah was puzzled.
Because she had thought Lee Sol would be sleeping in bed.
Just then, the sound of paper rustling came from the direction of the study.
When she peered inside, Lee Sol was writing something in a notebook at the desk.
"What are you doing?"
Seah asked as she stepped inside.
"Compiling a strategy guide."
Lee Sol still did not take her eyes off the notebook.
When Seah looked into the notebook, the strategy for the 58th floor was indeed densely written down.
"What's gotten into you? Usually, even if people tell you to clear the tower, you pretend to listen and ignore it."
Lee Sol did not answer.
Suddenly, she recalled that Lee Sol had met Jia today together with Doyoon.
"Did something happen with Jia-ssi today by any chance?"
Lee Sol's ballpoint pen paused.
Is that a hit?
While Seah was thinking that, Lee Sol spoke.
"First clear."
"Huh?"
"Baek Jia said she wants to sign a long-term contract with Doyoon. In exchange for the first clear."
It was a succinct answer.
However, with just those words, Seah could understand the full context.
Yet, even so, a question naturally arose all the same.
"What does that have to do with you preparing a strategy right now?"
"Because I promised to get the first clear for him instead."
Seah couldn't help but be surprised by those words.
Because Lee Sol usually found clearing towers extremely tedious.
At that moment, Seah saw the expression on Lee Sol's face.
And she froze right on the spot.
Lee Sol was making a displeased face.
And that expression brought back a childhood memory that Seah had forgotten.
Lee Sol and Seah had attended the same elementary school.
Since they shared a home and were sisters, it was only natural.
Though they were in different grades, taking care of Lee Sol—who had a somewhat spacey personality—was Seah's job even back then.
Seah didn't dislike it either.
Because she loved her younger sister that much.
Then one day, on their way home from school, as they passed a claw machine shop, Lee Sol stopped in her tracks and looked inside.
"What's wrong? Is there something you want to win?"
"Yeah."
Lee Sol raised her hand and pointed to a machine inside the shop.
"That whale doll."
Just as Lee Sol said, a large whale doll was inside the machine.
When Lee Sol made no move to leave the spot and simply stared at the whale doll, Seah spoke up.
"Shall we try to win it then?"
Lee Sol nodded.
Lee Sol and Seah inserted coins into the claw machine.
Lee Sol worked the lever with all her effort, but in the end, the whale doll slipped out of the claw.
"Ah, what a shame."
Seah said in a voice full of regret.
There was no money left.
However, Lee Sol was still staring at the whale doll inside the machine.
Seeing that, Seah took Lee Sol's hand and said.
"Let's come again tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay."
Without taking her eyes off the doll, Lee Sol nodded.
From that day on, every time they left school, Lee Sol and Seah stopped by the claw machine shop.
They poured in all their allowance every day, but the doll always teased them, coming close to being caught without ever actually being won.
Then one day, Lee Sol and Seah dropped by the claw machine shop as usual, but the whale doll inside the machine was gone.
When they asked where the doll had gone, the shop owner said.
"Ah, that doll? Someone else won it. He's a regular customer of ours with great skill, and he said since he was moving far away, he wanted to show off a bit, and he grabbed it in one go. Unfortunate for you girls."
Seah let out a sigh.
"Ah, what a bummer. I felt like we could've won it if we tried just a bit more. Right?"
Saying so, Seah looked at Lee Sol's face.
And she froze on the spot.
Lee Sol was making an extremely displeased expression.
Seah had never seen Lee Sol make such a face until now.
After that, Lee Sol started coming home from school separately from Seah.
The time she returned home also became late.
Seah asked what Lee Sol was doing after school, but Lee Sol wouldn't tell her.
Then one day, Seah, who was reading a book at home, got up at the sound of the front door opening.
Since their parents usually came home much later, she assumed Lee Sol had returned.
At the front door, Seah was greatly shocked when she saw Lee Sol.
Covered in dirt and dust, Lee Sol was tightly clutching the whale doll in her arms.
It was the exact doll they had seen at the claw machine shop.
How on earth did she get her hands on that doll?
Since she wasn't a child who would steal things, she might have begged the regular customer who had won it to give it to her.
The problem was that Lee Sol wouldn't have known where that regular customer had moved to, and it would have been far too long a distance for a mere elementary schooler to travel.
No matter how much Seah asked how she found out where he moved or how she traveled that long distance, Lee Sol didn't answer.
She merely held the whale doll tightly to her chest.
Recalling that distant memory, Seah snapped out of her thoughts.
How should she interpret the fact that Lee Sol made the exact same expression as when her whale doll was taken away, just because Doyoon was going to sign a long-term contract with someone else?
Seah was at a complete loss.
One week after meeting Jia, Doyoon was heading home after grabbing a meal outside.
Even as he walked back, he couldn't forget Lee Sol's expression from a few days ago.
An expression as if she felt uncomfortable with Doyoon and Jia signing a long-term contract.
However, Doyoon soon shook his head and let out a chuckle.
That was probably overthinking it.
She was probably just worried that if the number of people signing long-term contracts increased, it might disrupt her own potion supply.
At that moment, Doyoon saw a crowd gathered on the roadside, buzzing with commotion.
As he approached and looked through the crowd, a young girl was clutching her stomach, trembling violently.
In front of her, a middle-aged man was at a complete loss as to what to do.
Behind them, a car was parked crookedly.
It appeared the middle-aged man had hit the young girl with his car.
Since it was his first time seeing a traffic accident scene, Doyoon was flustered.
"It's okay. It's okay. Ahjussi called 119. Just hang in there a little bit, okay?"
The middle-aged man wrapped his hands around the child's shoulders and spoke in a low voice, but the child trembled violently and gave no answer.
Though he didn't have a medical license or anything, even Doyoon could tell that leaving her alone would lead to disaster.
The surrounding people merely looked at each other and murmured.
It wasn't that they had no intention of helping, but rather that they didn't seem to know how to help.
Doyoon subconsciously fumbled with his bag.
He felt the touch of a glass bottle.
It was a Low-Grade Recovery Potion he always carried around just in case.
Unawakened people generally cannot drink potions.
The Capacity to consume potions grows as one awakens.
Before that, Capacity was effectively zero, so an unawakened person would die of toxicity the moment they drank a potion.
That was common sense.
However, what if it was Doyoon's potion that consumed zero Capacity?
Just then, the child began to gasp for breath.
In the meantime, the situation seemed to have worsened even further.
This was no time to ponder this and that.
Doyoon pushed through the crowd and approached the child.
"W-Who are you?"
The middle-aged man asked, but Doyoon didn't answer and pulled out the potion from his bag.
"Here. Could you open your mouth for a second? Yes, like that."
He carefully supported the back of the child's head and poured the potion into her mouth.
"Ah, excuse me, if you recklessly make her drink something..."
The middle-aged man's voice trailed off.
Because the child's breathing, which had been gasping until a moment ago, gradually stabilized.
"J-Just how?"
The middle-aged man's eyes widened in shock.