Cracks in the Peace (3)
“Something feels off today.”
Huyuka—my mom—looked at me with those deep, gentle eyes of hers, just like she always did. Her gaze always reminded me of the pure white snow that falls in winter. Not the kind that howls and blusters or dumps heavy flakes, but the soft, quiet kind that drifts down gently, wrapping the world in a cozy white blanket even in the cold. Like winter cherry blossoms scattering in the wind. Just looking at her put my heart at ease.
If someone like her was asking me if things felt off…
“It’s probably because I left Mohanya running.”
“Oh dear. You’ve been so busy with games, and I left something fun on for you.”
There was no way I could tell her the truth. Before my possession, I’d been an orphan. After it, I was still an orphan. To me, Huyuka was the first, the only, and the one true mother I’d ever had. She’d taken in a complete stranger out of pity and raised him. The last thing I wanted was to make her worry.
“Anyway, you worked hard. Go inside and get some proper rest.”
Since she ran the PC bang herself, I didn’t exactly get paid. I worked from morning till evening for free, then swapped shifts with her at night. But wasn’t the night usually more dangerous? Worried about her, I’d always suggested we switch to day and night shifts. But Mom insisted that a teenager needed to grow properly and only let me work days. Thanks to that, I’d grown tall and strong. Still, I’d grown plenty by now. Yet she just shook her head and kept taking the night shifts.
“No. Tonight I’ll stay up and work the whole shift. And from now on, you take the day shifts and I’ll take the nights. It’s dangerous at night.”
But after the mess Choon-sik had caused, I was starting to worry. Guys like him usually caused real trouble when there were fewer people around—at night. I’d decided it was time for me to take over the night shifts.
“Hmm? No way. My son needs to sleep well at night and grow big and strong. Besides, nights aren’t as dangerous as you think.”
“I’ve already grown plenty. Any bigger and it’ll get scary, you know? Just go inside and rest. And stop saying weird stuff about nights not being dangerous.”
Mom looked up at me. She saw me every day, so she probably hadn’t noticed, but maybe she was realizing just how much I’d grown.
“You’re right… When did my little boy get so big? It feels like just yesterday you were this tiny…”
Her voice was thick with emotion, and her usual gentle gaze grew even softer. I patted her on the back and pointed toward the door.
“So from now on, you handle the day shifts. I’ll take care of things until morning, so go on inside.”
“But…”
“It’s fine, really.”
I practically shoved her out the door. Even as I did, she kept turning her head to look back at me.
Seven years. It had been seven years since she adopted me. It was about time I started repaying that kindness. I’d even talked her out of hiring part-timers with her own money, insisting I could handle it. This was the only way I could see to repay her, so even though it made her feel guilty, I kept stubbornly pushing forward. I also hated the idea of her facing any danger.
“…She’s finally gone.”
Only after Mom had completely disappeared from sight did I head back into the PC bang. The place was quieter than I expected at night, peaceful, with no real signs of danger.
“See? Even at night, it wasn’t that dangerous, was it?”
When morning came and Mom arrived for the shift change, she smiled brightly and asked.
“Yeah… It really wasn’t dangerous at all.”
“Exactly. So my son should just stick to day shifts.”
“I don’t want to. It could still be dangerous.”
It might look safe now, but there was no telling when someone like Choon-sik might show up again. This time he’d come early to start a fight. Next time he came for ramen, it would definitely be at night.
“…My son is such a good boy.”
Maybe it was the serious look in my eyes. Mom chuckled softly and gave my butt a gentle pat. Before possession I’d been thirty-one. Seven years after, that made me thirty-eight total. In terms of actual years lived, we were basically the same age. But maybe it was because my mind was now in a young body. Or maybe it was the warmth of a mother’s touch—something I’d never experienced in my previous life. Even though a pat on the butt should have been embarrassing, I actually liked it. That was why I sometimes hated how tall I’d grown—so tall that Mom could no longer pat my head. I preferred head pats more than butt pats.
“Still, you worked really hard. Go inside and sleep. Look at those dark circles under your eyes—they’re huge.”
She dramatically pointed at the area under my eyes and grinned. She was joking, but her desire for me to rest was clearly sincere. It would be rude to insist on working more.
“Alright. I’ll get some good sleep.”
“Good. I made food for you, so make sure you eat before you sleep.”
“You just microwaved frozen dumplings again. You don’t even know how to cook.”
“But they taste better when Mom makes them.”
It wasn’t something I particularly wanted to deny. But agreeing felt strange too, so I said nothing. I just nodded, bowed politely, and left.
Stepping outside the PC bang, I was greeted by mild temperatures and warm sunlight. It was May—the weather was perfect. Maybe because I’d stayed up all night, the familiar daylight felt strangely unfamiliar and bright. And standing there, shining with hair as white as that daylight, was Eris, smoking a cigarette.
Was that what they called a cigar? Cigars were already rare, but seeing a small, delicate girl like Eris smoking one felt oddly surreal. I walked over, pulled out a cigarette of my own, and stuck it in my mouth.
Eris looked at me and asked, “How does a minor buy cigarettes?”
“You’re not asking why a minor is smoking, but how he bought them? You’re kind of weird, sis.”
“But I smoked when I was a minor too, you know?”
“How did you get them?”
“Siz bought them for me!”
“Who’s Siz?”
“My secretary.”
Well, even if the organization had fallen, she was still the boss of one. Having a secretary wasn’t that strange. Smoking since she was a minor wasn’t that surprising either.
“They never really checked my age.”
“Figures! If I were them, I’d sell cigarettes to you too. You look cool.”
“You’ve been calling me old-eyed since last time.”
“No, that’s not what I mean! I don’t lie very often.”
She said she didn’t lie often, but yesterday when she told Choon-sik I was ten years old, she’d done it incredibly well. For a second, even I wondered if I really was ten.
“By the way, is it okay for you to be smoking, sis?”
“Huh? Why?”
“You look really frail.”
She was trying to look tough by keeping her forehead fully exposed and wearing a dress shirt with slacks, but it didn’t hide how weak her body was. As if to confirm my point, Eris shrugged.
“You’re right. My body is weak. That’s why this isn’t actually a cigar.”
“It’s not a cigar? Then what is it?”
“It’s a magi poisoning treatment that you can smoke like a cigar.”
Magi poisoning.
“…What’s that?”
It was the first time I’d heard of it. Well, so what? Just because I’d been possessed for seven years didn’t mean I knew everything. It couldn’t be helped. I wasn’t sure who I was making excuses to, though.
“There’s an energy in the atmosphere called magi. To use magic, you need to know how to manipulate that magi in the air.”
I’d never heard the term magi before either.
“But sometimes, certain constitutions absorb too much of that atmospheric magi and become poisoned. The magi that invades the body struggles to return to nature, but since the body won’t release it, it tries to kill the host instead.”
“So the magi that’s absolutely necessary for casting magic can actually become poison?”
“Exactly. Magi is poison to me. If I could use magic, I could expel it back into nature and be fine. But now there’s no one left who knows how to use it…”
I thought I’d heard something like that before. Seven years ago, everyone who could use magic had been slaughtered, and all the books related to magic had been burned. That was why there was no one left who could use magic. It sounded strange, but I didn’t know the details. And I didn’t particularly want to.
“Then why did they make the treatment look like a cigar?”
“Magi poisoning treatments come in all sorts of forms. I just chose the cigar version. I’ve liked smoking cigars since I was young.”
She was only twenty now but said she’d liked them since she was young. Anyone listening would think she’d been puffing on cigars since she was a little kid. Though she still looked like a little kid now.
“The problem is… these cost way more than real cigars.”
True. This place looked similar to South Korea but was actually very different. I didn’t know which organization controlled pharmaceuticals, but prices were generally high. Something as rare as magi poisoning would be even more expensive.
“That’s why Siz works so hard. She works three part-time jobs a day just to earn money. And all of it goes toward my treatment…”
“This Siz person must be really loyal to you, huh?”
“It’s beyond loyalty. She says she’d even risk her life for me. I’m grateful, but at the same time I feel sorry for her…”
Eris gave a bitter smile and removed the cigar from her mouth. Since it was a treatment and not a real cigar, it had burned away quickly.
“Still, one day… If I can make a lot of money with Riniyu and use that as a foundation to revive the organization…”
If the organization was revived, she’d be able to get as many of these treatments as she wanted. But whether the organization revived or not had nothing to do with me. I hated anything to do with organizations.
Since the topic of organizations had come up, it was about time to draw the line and step back. I took the cigarette out of my mouth to flick it away.
At that moment, a sound similar to an emergency alert rang out from Eris’s pocket.
“W-what? This is an emergency text…?”
Eris looked puzzled as she reached into her pocket. What she pulled out was a flip phone. Not a folding smartphone, but an actual old-school flip phone. Just how broke was she that she used something like that?
My mouth fell open in shock. Meanwhile, Eris read the text on her phone, and her expression grew increasingly serious.
What could it possibly say to make her look that grave? Even when her items broke while she was trying to enhance them, she hadn’t made a face like that.
The moment I had that thought, a holographic window appeared in front of me.
Eris Needs Your Help… Become the Fighting Dog of Fantasia (Ruined)
📍 Objective: Pretend to be a member of the ruined organization
🎁 Reward: Unknown
What the hell is this bullshit again? It’s not even an ad—why does it keep popping up? I’ve said it a million times: I don’t want anything to do with organizations. Do you have any idea how scared I was that I might get dragged into one when Choon-sik went on his rampage? I’ve been trying my hardest to live peacefully. Even when one of the Three Great Organizations—the Murim Alliance—tried to scout me based purely on my size and eyes, I rejected them coldly. And now this thing wants me to become a member of a ruined organization? Only a crazy person would accept.
I boldly pressed the reject button. When I did, Eris was staring at me with nervous eyes.
“U-um…”
Why was she so tense about whatever she was about to say? Between that holographic message about needing help and the emergency text, there was clearly something going on.
“S-so…”
What she said next made me burst out laughing in disbelief.
“So, you’re saying you received an official notice that since your organization only has two members, they’re going to revoke your qualifications? And you want me to just pretend to be an organization member?”
This was the most absurd combination of nonsense I’d ever heard. To tell her to stop with the ridiculous talk, I pointed at the title floating above my head.
The title that read ‘Unrelated to Any Organization.’