EP.13 Babysitter -1
EP.13 Babysitter -1
Slurrrrp, slurrrrp.
The taste of the black tea I inhaled while savoring its fragrant aroma was neither too sweet nor too bitter—just perfectly suited to my taste.
The pleasant feeling of the well-brewed liquid sliding down my throat, its distinctive scent seeping all the way into my nose.
To me, it was on par with the crisp refreshment of a soda.
And on top of that, drinking black tea while looking out over the full view of Central City—where else could you have found such luxury?
But it didn't end there.
The soft, squishy sensation of a baby dragon's cheek transmitted through my hand, and the baby dragon herself, Tia, was loving it, letting out a cheerful Kyurung-kyurung! cry as I squished her chubby cheeks.
With my senses of taste, smell, sight, touch, and even hearing all thoroughly satisfied, I was more content and happier than I'd ever been.
"You seem rather pleased to have so much free time on your hands."
"Peace is the best, sir."
I took another sip of the black tea, savoring its flavor.
It was really good...
"Agent Seon-ju, all the same, I'm not so sure it's appropriate in front of someone who's been working nonstop."
"Oh, come on! What's the harm? They say having a conversation partner nearby boosts work efficiency, don't they?"
"Where on earth is the basis for that nonsense...?"
"I remember seeing it on a TV program my mother used to watch a long time ago."
"I'll have to see that program taken off the air at once, feeding the public such strange information..."
Whether he meant it or not, I just kept drinking black tea in the director's office, continuing to shower Tia with affection.
Autumn was truly the season of contemplation.
I really did love this season, overflowing with leisure.
"Looking at you now, one phrase immediately springs to mind."
"Hm? What's that?"
"...Wage thief."
It was a perfectly apt description.
Even so, it's not like I had absolutely nothing to say in my defense.
"I can't help it, things have been peaceful ever since the Divine Beast incident in the North."
"There are still terrorists running rampant within the country, are there not...?"
"Given my position as an unofficial agent, I can't exactly fight them openly. Besides that, shouldn't terrorist response normally be outside my jurisdiction anyway? Telling a victim who's being threatened by them to fight..."
"If you were a powerless civilian, that would indeed be improper. But you're not, are you?"
"I'm still at civilian level..."
"Do lie in moderation. What civilian in the world fights a Divine Beast and survives a falling meteor to come back?"
"Ah, um..."
I hadn't given it much thought at the time, but hearing it laid out made me realize just how spectacular the things I'd lived through really were.
I'd gone through nothing but danger—the sort of stuff that would've killed an ordinary person hundreds of times over.
How the hell was I still alive...?
"Moreover, isn't it rather strange for you—someone who's made a Companion Animal out of a Divine Beast, an entity beyond standard parameters—to be afraid of terrorists?"
"Well, that's true."
No human who showed up could have lasted even ten seconds against a Divine Beast.
"In all honesty, I'd like to ask you to annihilate every last terrorist. It would be a simple matter if you simply used that baby dragon's power. However, you presumably can't use a Divine Beast's power recklessly for certain reasons. Isn't that the case?"
"You knew..."
"While you have the power to claim everything in your grasp—king of the world and all that crap—you've remained strangely quiet. There was really no other conclusion I could draw."
Director Edwiner's deductive reasoning was chillingly sharp.
What if he ended up finding out about my other Companion Divine Beasts before long? It wasn't an impossible scenario, and that made me uneasy.
If he did realize it, what excuse could I possibly give...
"I won't ask the reason. If you're minimizing your use of the dragon's power, it's only right that I understand and respect that. However..."
"However...?"
"You'll have to do some work, so I don't end up hearing the words 'wage thief.'"
Setting down the documents he'd been examining, the director pulled a white USB drive out of a drawer and tossed it to me.
He tossed it so suddenly that I failed to catch the USB.
The eagle that was the director's Companion Animal snatched the falling USB mid-air and gently placed it onto my palm.
Good grief, that was enough to give a guy a heart attack...
"What's this?"
"There should be a laptop on the table. I haven't set a separate password, so check it for yourself."
Figuring it'd be better to see with my own eyes than ask someone busy, I immediately powered on the laptop and plugged the USB in.
The folder that opened contained two PPT files.
"Which one should I look at?"
"Check all of them."
With permission granted to go through everything, I immediately clicked on the first PPT file at the top, titled 'Profile,' and opened it.
The newly opened window contained profiles of agents, just as the title said—a collection of personal information on agents I'd never seen before.
"...Am I really allowed to see this data? It feels like an invasion of personal privacy..."
"There are no plans for you to become acquainted with them, and moreover, all information on them was collected through official channels with the consent of the individuals involved, so there's no issue."
"Even if that's fine for you, Director, for it to be shown to me too is a bit..."
"If it bothers you that much, just check pages 3, 14, and 159."
"Three... fourteen... one fifty-nine..."
I scrolled the mouse wheel, skimming only the pages the director specified.
From top to bottom, agents with the names Dog, Anya, Answer.
They were ordinary profiles of two male agents and one female agent, utterly devoid of anything special.
"Why did you tell me to check only these people's info?"
"I'll give you the answer to that after you've checked the other file."
I closed the profile window and opened the second PPT file in the folder.
This time, the window that popped up contained material that required even tighter security than the profiles—data on a terrorist suppression operation taking place in six hours.
The moment I saw what it contained, revulsion surged through me and I reflexively snapped the laptop shut.
Hoo.
I let out a heavy exhale and was about to express my refusal to the director, but he was already fluttering a single sheet of paper back and forth at me.
When I saw the heading at the top—[Northern Region Damage Recovery and Personnel Support Plan]—I had no choice but to open the laptop again.
I knew better than anyone the nature of those Northern bastards who'd sell out an agent in a heartbeat and just how massive the damage had been, so I couldn't help it.
Fuck...
"It's called a terrorist suppression operation, but there will be no instance of you personally participating in combat. You're being dispatched strictly as support personnel."
"Support personnel...?"
"Refer to page 44 of the operation file."
Scrrroll.
I scrolled down, and the page in question had the title "Perimeter Duty" with the names of the personnel from the profiles I'd just seen written in huge letters.
"All you have to do is stay hidden and covertly assist that squad's mission."
"You mean you want me to work in the shadows?"
"I don't expect you to go that far. It's enough if you simply monitor whether the squad is carrying out its duties faithfully and offer a bit of help only when necessary."
"It's surprisingly simple, but why are you singling out this specific squad to assign to me?"
"The agent who was the squad leader was recently hospitalized with a gastric ulcer, and their stability has declined. So I'm asking you to help ensure they successfully complete their mission."
"Hmm..."
It was unsettling. It was damn unsettling...
"Besides, the mission they've been given this time is perimeter duty, not infiltration—hardly a high-risk assignment."
"It's less dangerous than an infiltration squad, sure, but that doesn't mean it's entirely without risk, right?"
"Ah, yes. So instead of hazard pay, I'll make you one compelling offer."
"A compelling offer, you say?"
"That's right. For example, seven days of vacation..."
"Unfortunately, I don't wish for vacation time anymore."
On days when I did not work, I ended up fighting intense battles at night instead...
That was actually why I'd purposely stopped by here, even without the director summoning me.
You could call it a desperate pretense to avoid the Mandatory Defense Battle.
"Hmm, then how about this?"
Maybe a remote desktop program had been installed on the laptop I was using, because the screen moved on its own even though I wasn't touching it.
It typed something into the search bar of its own accord, then went to some website.
This had to mean the conditions the director was offering were inside this website.
I didn't know what it was, but material goods held no value for someone like me with little desire for worldly things.
Expecting little, I merely skimmed the page that appeared. Then...
"Th-This is?!"
"I think this is a sufficiently good proposal for you. What do you think?"
"You're telling me you'll truly give me this reward if I complete today's mission...?!"
"Of course. So, what do you plan to do now?"
He had prepared all of that just to work me to the bone... He truly was a frightening man.
The director, who'd been resting his chin on his clasped hands, began to smile this way.
It was unmistakably an infuriating smile, certain of his victory.
"Director...!!"
Naturally, I wanted nothing more than to knock him down a peg.
"...I want to do the mission...!"
Regrettably, in the face of such a staggering reward, I was nothing but a lowly servant.
There was no option other than submission...
***
The job assigned to the squad I was to monitor was a perimeter mission.
According to the info I'd checked in the PPT file beforehand, it was a mission to keep watch in a forest about two to three kilometers away from the building the infiltration team would enter.
Their mission was simply to obstruct and block any potential terrorist reinforcements, and to capture any terrorists attempting to flee.
As long as the terrorists did not receive too many reinforcements, the mission should have been easy to complete.
What's more, the personnel assigned to perimeter duty wasn't limited to just this squad, so even if combat broke out, they'd have sufficient capacity to respond.
If nothing happened at all, I could just wait here and then go home.
"Sweet. It's so sweet it feels like total honey."
"Sweet honey...!! Yuu!! Me too! Me too!! Me eat sweet honey!!"
"Tia... it's just a figure of speech. A figure of speech."
"Fig-yuu of speech? That yummy...?"
"No, it's not something to eat... Mm, I'll buy you some sik-hye on the way back after this is over. So let's stay quiet for a bit."
"Sik-hye...!!"
True to a child, Tia absolutely loved sweet things.
Having already sampled every sweet food and drink under the sun, Tia had recently picked her absolute favorite—and it was sik-hye.
Not just the sweet taste, but the soft, chewy rice grains meant she could drink it endlessly, or something like that.
Anyway, Tia's love of sik-hye had become a magic spell that made her follow anything I said.
"Yuu!"
"Yeah?"
"Me today 3 times! 3 times! Followed Yuu's words!"
"Ah..."
Flying us comfortably and quickly all the way to the operation zone—that was one.
Me asking her to cast an air barrier so we wouldn't give off scent or sound—that was two.
And if I added telling her to stay quiet just now, that made a total of three times she'd listened to me.
"Yeah, that's three times."
"Am I a goody...?"
"Of course you're good."
"Then sik-hye big one! Buy me big one!! Got it?"
"Haha!! Alright, got it!"
Already at the thought of drinking sik-hye, Tia's eyes were sparkling. It was impossible not to smile.
How did she always manage to say and do the cutest things...? Good grief.
My heart was feeling at ease. Bringing only Tia on this mission had been the right call.
"Though it's not like I could bring anyone but Tia..."
Yata had her regular Yata Church congregation.
Miho was teaching Kor how to handle the housework, and Kor was diligently following her instructions.
After what had happened the day we returned home, I expected Miho to despise Kor. Instead...
Maybe Miho had some sort of change of heart after the date, because she'd started treating Kor kindly again, like before.
It was a tiny bit unsettling, but if they were getting along, that was definitely a good thing, so I decided to leave it be for now.
"Come to think of it, why the hell aren't these guys showing up...?"
The operation had already begun, yet the three agents still had not reached their assigned position.
Just as I was starting to frown, wondering what on earth they were doing, a clamorous noise finally reached me.
"What're you gonna do about this?! We're late for the operation time!"
"What's the big deal? Like the enemy's already here or something. Let's just take it easy."
"Yeah, I'm so hungry I've got no strength..."
The woman who was full of anger, still fuming with irritation, was Anya.
The man sauntering along as if everything was a pain in the ass was Dog.
And the man clutching his starving stomach, panting, was Answer.
I'd only watched them for a moment, but they were a trio with some pretty distinctive quirks.
"Sorry, but I've gotta eat something too...!"
"Wait?! Answer!! It'll give off a smell, so don't eat outside! And besides, we're in the middle of an operation!!"
"Hey, hey, just let it slide~! They're never gonna come here anyway, so why're you so damn serious?"
"It's because you always half-ass everything like that! That's why the leader got so stressed he ended up hospitalized with a gastric ulcer, isn't it!!"
Huh...? So that's what happened?
The former leader had been hospitalized because of a stress-induced gastric ulcer...?
...But honestly, watching these guys, I kind of got it.
"It wasn't me, Anya, it was probably because of you. You showing that hysterical side every day—that's what did it to the leader."
"What did you just say?! You done talking now?!"
"See? You're yelling again. Such a foul-tempered bitch."
"Why you...!!"
"Chew... chew..."
"Answer! I said don't eat that, it stinks!!"
"If you don't like the smell, you can just go somewhere else yourself, can't you...?"
"Ugh...!! Ugh! Fine, whatever! You two figure it out yourselves! I'll go far off, so whether you call me or not when the enemy shows up!!"
"Got it. And my eardrums are about to burst, so hurry up and get lost."
"Gulp..."
...I was completely screwed, wasn't I?
I had expected one or two complications when the Director dispatched me, but I never imagined the squad itself would be the problem...
Looking at them, I recalled how the senior agents used to fight.
The senior agents who'd bicker childishly over trivial things.
But even so, the bond between them ran deep, and on a mission, they'd shown perfect teamwork and coordination.
By contrast, the ones I was looking at now were a trash-tier squad with no bond whatsoever to be seen.
Even in the middle of an operation, they just fought among themselves and did whatever the hell they wanted.
And this was the state they were in when the real enemy they were supposed to be fighting was positioned right nearby.
"Dog, Anya, Answer..."
As I murmured their names quietly, I realized something.
These bastards...
"They're a total Dog-Anya-Answer, aren't they?"
"Dog-anya-answer...? That yummy...?"
I already had the feeling this was gonna give me a splitting headache...
***
Here's a quick and simple low-quality map I made for your easier understanding!
