Combat Power... 80,000?
Eris stared blankly at the door. Seeing her like that, Yu Jin-ri tilted her head in confusion. Why is she acting like that?
She started walking over to ask, but Siz grabbed her shoulder. Wondering what was going on, she turned to see Siz shaking her head and signaling her not to approach.
“Miss Yu Jin-ri, may I have a word with you for a moment?”
“Ah, yes…”
Though she had no idea what this was about, Yu Jin-ri followed Siz outside. Siz pulled a cigarette pack from her pocket and asked,
“Do you smoke?”
“No? I don’t smoke. Cigarettes are so bad for you, you know…”
“You don’t need to explain that. I already know they’re bad.”
Siz slipped the pack back into her pocket. Come to think of it, Siz didn’t smoke either. Yu Jin-ri, unable to understand, asked,
“Don’t you not smoke either, Miss Siz?”
“Correct. I don’t smoke.”
“Then why do you carry them around?”
“Because keeping cigarettes on you and still not smoking is the real way to quit.”
“Huh?”
“It means I used to smoke.”
“Ah, I see.”
For someone who used to smoke to carry a pack around and still resist the urge—how strong must her willpower be? Yu Jin-ri found herself newly impressed by Siz, but that wasn’t why they’d come outside, so she got to the point.
“So what did you want to talk about?”
“I’d prefer you didn’t speak to Lady Eris right now.”
“What? Why?”
“When Lady Eris stares blankly at a door like that, it means she’s waiting endlessly for someone. And not just any kind of waiting—she only does that when she has absolutely no mental leeway left.”
“Wouldn’t that be exactly when someone should talk to her?”
“Normally that would be the right thing to do, but not with Lady Eris. She recovers her mental composure better when she’s left alone with no thoughts at all.”
“Hmm, I think I understand what you mean. But why doesn’t she have any mental leeway right now?”
“That’s…”
Siz recalled the conversation she’d had with Eris earlier.
“Siz, I think I’m a selfish boss.”
Eris’s eyes looked sorrowful. The moment Siz saw that look, she instinctively knew Eris wasn’t her usual self. This was Eris in the same state she’d been when Casey had taken over her body.
“Lady Eris, what are you saying? Why are you suddenly talking like this?”
“Hyun-woo said he didn’t want to, but I forced him into it anyway.”
“You don’t need to think that way. Sir Hyun-woo isn’t the type to do something he truly hates. You know that better than anyone, don’t you?”
Woo Hyun-woo never did anything he didn’t want to. Wasn’t that why he’d refused at first when they asked him to help Fantasia? When Siz pointed this out, Eris shook her head.
“In my opinion… Hyun-woo can never escape once he’s given his heart to someone.”
“What do you mean?”
“You heard about what happened with Leni Siss, right?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Hyun-woo only met Leni for a few hours, yet he tormented himself because he couldn’t protect her. He even thought about me, you, and Jin-ri, and it made him suffer even more.”
Eris continued with a melancholy gaze.
“Seeing that made me understand. Why he drew a line with me back when he was running that PC bang. He knew that once someone entered his heart, he wouldn’t be able to pretend he didn’t see them.”
That was the kind of person Hyun-woo was.
“So when Hyun-woo tried to run away and refused the goblin shaman subjugation party, I used myself as bait to stop him from escaping. I gave him confidence, telling him he could do it. Even though there was a chance he might actually die.”
Eris had told Hyun-woo he wouldn’t die, that this was a fantasy. But deep down, Eris herself couldn’t truly believe in that fantasy. She had lived in a reality where she’d foolishly believed a fantasy would happen and lost every single one of her organization members.
“After losing all my members to my selfish fantasy once before, I’ve now driven Hyun-woo into danger with that same selfish fantasy. Hey, Siz… if Hyun-woo doesn’t come back alive, I really am trash, aren’t I?”
At those words, Siz clenched her fist tightly and said,
“Lady Eris, it is thanks to that selfish fantasy of yours that I survived. What could someone like me possibly say to you? But please remember one thing.”
Siz slowly unclenched her fist and gently took Eris’s hand.
“The people who disliked your selfish fantasy have left, while those who liked it have stayed by your side. The ones who stayed did so because they like you. For you to torment yourself like this is the truly selfish act.”
Losing her little sister, losing her organization members—those things continued to torment Eris. Especially after Casey had entered her body, her mind had begun to break even more. She acted like an idiot to look away from that pain, but the pain didn’t disappear just because she did. Still, she had to endure it. She had to face it. She needed to realize that there were still people around her who had stayed. For their sake, she had to break free from the sins of her past and look at reality.
“…You’re right. I said all those impressive things to Hyun-woo, but maybe those were words I should have said to myself.”
And from that moment on, Eris had simply stared endlessly at the door. Until Hyun-woo returned safely. Only then would her heart feel at ease.
But it was difficult to tell Yu Jin-ri the entire story. Simply speaking it out loud also felt disrespectful. So Siz condensed it to the core.
“It’s because Lady Eris is worried about Sir Hyun-woo. Think of it as the heart of a wife sending her husband off to war.”
“Huk, are Sir Hyun-woo and Lady Eris married?!”
“Ah, no…”
“Then are they dating?!”
“Ah, no, it was just a figure of speech, Miss Yu Jin-ri…”
“Wow, then that’s really great news!”
“Why is it great news?”
“Huh? Th-that’s a secret.”
Yu Jin-ri turned her head away, her face flushed red.
“As expected, you’re not an easy person either, Miss Yu Jin-ri…”
Siz shook her head as if she couldn’t understand her. She had a feeling she’d need to take care of her in various ways.
‘This is the kind of night where I miss Sir Hyun-woo, who doesn’t need me to take care of him…’
* * *
“Is he crazy?”
I muttered in disbelief. Everyone claimed they needed to be in peak condition for tomorrow morning’s goblin hunt, so the moment it hit ten o’clock they all flopped into bed and tried to sleep. But how could the Fighting Dog, who went wild every single night, possibly fall asleep at ten?
Sleep was out of the question. My body was itching, my eyes were wide awake. Just then, I realized I hadn’t used Situation Observation even once today, so out of boredom I decided to observe Fantasia’s basement house.
What I saw was Eris with her eyes gleaming like a crazy ghost, staring holes through the door. Outside, Siz was using some incomprehensible metaphor about “the heart of a wife sending her husband to war” to Yu Jin-ri, who completely misunderstood and got all excited asking if Eris and I were married. Then when Siz clarified we weren’t dating or married, Yu Jin-ri looked relieved and said it was great news. What the hell is so great about it?
Don’t tell me she likes me? I don’t like you, you nerdy perverted bitch. I’ve lived thirty-eight years in reality—why would I like some green kid like you? Of course, I’m not sure if the whole “the soul’s nature gets devoured by the body’s nature” thing applies to me too, so my mental age might not actually be thirty-eight. Still, a woman with as much sexual curiosity as Yu Jin-ri definitely isn’t my type. If I had to choose, I’d prefer someone more mature who isn’t particularly interested in that stuff and can share a normal kind of love.
If I really, really had to pick among the three, Siz would be the best. She has common sense and we can actually communicate. Though that metaphor she used is so confusing without context that it’s honestly frustrating right now.
“Shouldn’t have looked. Fuck.”
I should just sleep—
─Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep~
“What the hell is this dogshit song?”
The wake-up bugle that I’d been forced to hear way too many times during my unfairly conscripted military days blared out. I felt like I’d only just closed my eyes to sleep, so why was it already morning?
“Puhaha! Bro, your senses are completely dead, huh? I was already awake the moment the mic turned on and made that zing~ sound!”
Is that something to brag about? That’s the kind of thing only privates say. Look at Baek Ji-hwan over there. He’s heard it so many times that he’s sleeping like a discharged sergeant and can’t even hear it.
“Huh? The Esper bro isn’t waking up either. Guess I gotta wake him myself.”
Seems like Gu Ja-gon from the Open Sect is extroverted but lacks social awareness. He’s swinging his staff around trying to wake our calm veteran sergeant, Baek Ji-hwan, who’s peacefully sleeping through the wake-up bugle.
Thwack!
But the staff only hit an empty mattress. Baek Ji-hwan had already appeared behind Gu Ja-gon.
“I may be insensitive to wake-up calls, but I’m sensitive to attacks. Since it was probably a joke, I’ll let it slide this once, Mr. Gu Ja-gon.”
“Wh-what?! How did you do that?!”
“My ability is short-range teleportation. I may not be able to kill the Murim Alliance’s experts, but keep in mind that even those experts cannot kill me.”
Short-range teleportation, huh. Where does he get the confidence to say something like that? It’s true that even I might not be able to kill him. It wouldn’t be easy to attack faster than short-range teleportation. But I don’t know just how strong the Murim Alliance’s experts actually are. And Gu Ja-gon himself is nowhere near an expert—he’s basically a bottom-rung grunt.
“Espers really are on another level, huh? You scared the shit outta me!”
Still, I’m a little curious. Could he dodge a knife I throw using Chegi with his short-range teleportation? If he was that amazing, there’d be no reason for him to be stuck hunting nothing but goblins, right? Checking once should be fine.
I fiddled with my pillow. This lodging that played wake-up calls like the military also had pillows like the military—stuffed full of mysterious little pellets. They seemed to be made of plastic. This should be perfect.
I secretly pulled one out, instantly amplified its power with Chegi, and threw it.
Whoosh!
Thwack!
“Ow!”
The pellet struck Baek Ji-hwan perfectly on the back of his head. He rubbed the spot as if it stung and looked around, but he didn’t seem to know what had hit him.
“Wh-what was that? Static electricity? Could this be a sign of my second Esper awakening…?”
What kind of bullshit is this idiot spouting? The fact that a guy like him keeps acting all high and mighty is honestly hilarious. Maybe the goblins aren’t actually that big a deal. And if someone like him is the raid leader, doesn’t that mean the Suzaku Guild isn’t much either? Or maybe they’re just pretending not to care because they’re scared of Carpediem. That possibility can’t be completely ruled out.
That’s what I was thinking when—
Combat Power: 80,000
—I decided to behave myself after seeing that otherworldly class. I’d just assume it was only Baek Ji-hwan who was an idiot, not the entire Suzaku Guild.
“As your master, I have only one thing to say to you all: even if they’re goblins, do not let your guard down. Letting your guard down is simply another form of death.”