7
Chapter 7
The Assessment Center was even smaller than Yuna and Joohyun had expected.
Inside the tiny room, there was only a single desk and a single chair.
On top of the desk sat a device that looked like a toy.
A palm-shaped indentation carved into its surface.
It looked exactly like one of those lie detectors you could buy off the shelf.
When Yuna walked in, a young man with a drooping, worn-out face gave a small bow of his head.
"Please come over here and have a seat."
A voice so exhausted anyone could hear it.
'Yeah... no matter the job, every office worker is the same kind of tired.'
Yuna felt a pointless stab of sympathy.
If she had known the reason, she would not have thought that.
His job was easy.
In a word, a cushy gig.
All he had to do was stand there and watch what kind of rank the Awakeners came out as.
The reason he looked so tired today was because of the talk about a Magical Girl.
With the hope that a Magical Girl might drop by the Assessment Center, he had ended up staying up all night.
If he could really be the first to witness a Magical Girl with his own eyes...
There would be no better brag than that for drinking-night conversation.
But the Magical Girl he had been dying to see still had not shown up.
The higher the expectations, the bigger the letdown.
Sure, there had been a few Awakeners who made him think, maybe.
But every single result had been no.
So of course the energy had drained right out of him.
"Okay."
Yuna obediently sat where he told her to.
"Place your hand here. It will start on its own."
The man spoke, pointing at the device.
Yuna looked at the Awakening Detector he indicated.
No matter how she looked at it, it was a toy-like Artifact.
You put your palm on it, and it determined whether you had awakened based on the information it gathered from your hand.
And something like this was supposed to be an expensive piece of equipment that cost over a hundred million?
Yuna could not believe it.
The moment she thought about the price, her hand started to tremble.
'If this breaks, I'm basically signing up for slavery!'
As soon as the thought hit that there was no way she could repay it on her old salary,
Yuna's shaking got worse and worse.
Beads of cold sweat leaked out. Drip.
Joohyun saw Yuna trembling and shook his head.
"Yuna, Accountant!"
Joohyun called to her in a voice too low for the man to hear.
Yuna lowered her gaze slightly and looked into her bag.
There, she saw Joohyun's face, pale as death.
Joohyun could not understand why Yuna was so tense.
But if she made it that obvious, it would only make people suspicious.
The man was also staring at Yuna with a puzzled look.
'This won't do. I don't care if they find out I'm a Magical Girl, but Accountant Yuna said she doesn't want that.'
Looking out for employee welfare was part of a CEO's job.
The more satisfied your employees were, the more profit you made.
He thought hard about how to ease Yuna's nerves, and then one idea came to him.
'But will that actually help her relax?'
You heard on TV sometimes that people said it worked, but who knew if it really would.
'Still, better than doing nothing.'
After steeling himself, Joohyun looked at Yuna with a grim, determined expression.
Yuna had no idea what was going on, which only made her more uneasy.
"Accountant Yuna, hurry up and touch me."
At Joohyun's ridiculous words, Yuna's eyes went wide.
"Why are you making that face? You said you wanted to touch me. So touch me."
Yuna's expression, which had been tight with nerves just a second ago, loosened a little.
The only problem was that the corners of her mouth were trying to lift.
"Is there some kind of problem?"
The man, who had been watching Yuna's strange behavior, tilted his head and asked.
Yuna flinched, quickly blocking the bag with her body as she laughed awkwardly.
"Ahaha. It's just, I didn't wash my hands before I came in, so I was wondering if I could use some hand sanitizer. A lot of people use this, so I should keep it clean, right?"
"Ah, yes... using hand sanitizer won't be an issue. Go ahead."
"Thank you!"
With an indifferent face, the man shrugged and lost interest in Yuna.
She was not even someone you could call a girl.
No way she was a Magical Girl.
Yuna let out a small sigh of relief and looked back into her bag.
Inside, Joohyun was crouched down, finished psyching himself up.
Crouched down, he looked even fluffier.
Slurp!
Yuna swallowed the drool that was about to fall from her mouth.
It would be abnormal not to want to touch that glossy, fluffy fur after seeing it.
'It looks soft just looking at it!'
With a different kind of tension than before, Yuna reached her trembling hand toward Joohyun.
And so, the moment Yuna's fingers touched Joohyun's body.
Yuna felt a tingling sensation, as if electricity were coursing through her.
She had touched him a few times before, but this was the first time she had pressed down so firmly. A softness beyond words could be felt.
'This is crazy! Truly!'
In her excitement, Yuna forgot that the man was standing next to her and shoved both hands into her bag, eagerly moving them around.
"Hehe. Ehehe."
A strange sound burst from Yuna's mouth, but this was no time to care about that.
Right now, she had to focus entirely on feeling this incredibly soft texture.
The man stared in disbelief at Yuna, who was standing next to him with her mouth hanging open in a bizarre expression.
'How can she make a face like that while applying hand sanitizer?'
The man's instincts were screaming at him.
That it would be best to avoid interacting with that woman as much as possible.
Judging solely by her expression, there was no bigger pervert.
Goosebumps erupting all over his body, the man took a step away from Yuna.
And there was one more person breaking out in goosebumps in real time.
No.
One more creature.
'S-stop! It tickles too much, hehehe-!'
Joohyun felt like bursting into laughter because Yuna's touch was too ticklish.
He was barely holding it in by biting his lips tightly shut.
'Endure it. I must endure. This is all part of Management duties. It is nothing for a professional.'
Joohyun tried hard to justify it to himself and somehow smooth over the situation.
'More importantly, how long is she going to keep touching me!'
Glancing up, he saw Yuna wearing an expression that had transcended nirvana.
It made him wonder how a person could even make a face like that.
Joohyun growled low in his throat and glared sharply at Yuna.
Only then did Yuna's hands, which had been thoroughly enjoying the texture of Joohyun's fur, come to a stop.
It seemed she had somewhat regained her senses.
Remembering what she had just been doing, Yuna coughed awkwardly in embarrassment and quickly pulled her hands out of the bag.
'What do I do! It felt so good I completely lost my mind!'
Yuna laughed awkwardly and looked at the man.
The man also laughed awkwardly and looked back at Yuna.
'He definitely thinks I am some kind of weirdo!'
This was all the CEO's fault.
The CEO's fur felt so incredibly good that she had completely lost herself in it, forgetting that there was someone else right next to her.
'Still, it felt amazing.'
Thinking that was all that really mattered, Yuna straightened her posture.
"Now then. If you are ready, please place your hand on it."
"Okay."
Phew.
Yuna let out a small sigh.
'The CEO definitely helped me relax.'
Her hands, which had been trembling just a moment ago, had calmed down somewhat.
Still, a CEO was a CEO.
Without hesitating like before, she immediately placed her hand on the Artifact.
Yuna did not know.
The fact that a strand or two of Joohyun's fur was stuck to her hand.
And the fact that the Awakening Detector gathered information from various elements like dead skin cells or body hair.
Whirrrr-!
A blue light wavered from beneath the Artifact, and the sound of a turning motor began to ring out.
The light that seemed like it would quickly fade was getting stronger.
And the sound was gradually turning into a racket.
"Is it supposed to do this?"
At Yuna's worried question, the man looked at the Artifact with a flustered expression.
"U-uh? Why is it doing this?"
"What?!"
Something was clearly wrong.
Just as Yuna was about to pull her hand away.
Pop! Pfft-
The Artifact stopped working with a sound like a popping balloon.
"U-uh, don't tell me it's broken."
"......Yes, I think so."
"T-then, do I have to pay for it?"
Yuna looked at the man, tears welling up in her eyes.
The man shook his head with an expression that said not to worry.
"No, you do not need to worry about that. More importantly, could you wait a moment? I think we need to run the test again."
"Ah, okay! Then just in case, I will go wash my hands... just in case."
"You do not have to go that far, but do whatever you are comfortable with."
"Okay."
Yuna let out a small sigh of relief at the fact she would not have to pay, and headed for the restroom.
And the Employee was the same.
'No way. Is she a Magical Girl?'
Cases where an Artifact threw errors like that were extremely rare.
One of those rare cases had been Choi Seoyeon.
After that, every Awakening Detector had been replaced with a new version that could assess up to SS-rank.
So there should not have been any breakdowns.
There was only one reason an Awakening Detector would fail.
'When the rank is something the detector cannot assess.'
On top of that, the blue light.
Blue light wavering meant the person had a magic-type Ability.
'Then... is she really a Magical Girl? If she is not, there is no way to explain this situation!'
The thought that Yuna might be a Magical Girl brought life back to the man's face.
By the time he returned with the detector, Yuna was already back in her seat.
The man looked at Yuna and gave her a satisfied smile.
'Looking again, she does have a girlish vibe!'
Maybe the condition for being a Magical Girl was not literally having to be a girl by age.
"All right! Please place your hand on it again!"
Yuna found it strange how energized he suddenly was, but she did as he said and placed her hand again.
Then.
Whirrr-
The Artifact started up again.
Pffft-!
Unlike before, the light died immediately and the machine shut off.
"Huh?"
"Gasp! Did it break again?"
"No. It is not that... but..."
Tilting his head, the man examined the Artifact from every angle.
"That is strange... it does not seem to have any issues."
"Why? Did I do something wrong again?"
"No... please wait a moment."
The man's expression, bright with excitement just moments ago, dimmed slightly.
Then he came back with a new Artifact.
Ten of them, no less.
"W-why are there so many...?"
"Just in case. When we do an assessment, we should do it properly."
This time, the man looked almost overflowing with motivation.
Yuna tried each Awakening Detector he brought, one by one.
And the result was.
"I... I cannot believe it."
All the life drained out of the man's face.
If anything, it became even darker than it had been at the start.
"W-what is it? There really is a problem, right? Did I break another Artifact?"
So anxious she could not stand still, Yuna bounced on her feet, not knowing what to do.
"No... the assessment results show there is nothing wrong with the Artifacts."
"Oh? Really?"
Only then did Yuna loosen up, releasing a light breath.
'Then why does he look so miserable?'
He looked like a kid who had been given candy, only to have it snatched away.
"Ms. Yuna, we have the assessment results..."
"Ah, yes!"
Yuna looked at him with full attention.
Watching her, the man let out a quiet sigh.
"First, congratulations. You have been assessed as an Awakener."
"M-me? Really?!"
"Yes. And there is one more thing I need to congratulate you on. You awakened into a new rank."
"Huh?"
Yuna worried for a second that her identity as a Magical Girl had been exposed.
But that thought got erased by what he said next.
"You are the first person in the world to be rated FFF-rank. Haah. I think the first Artifact was simply broken."
"...Pardon? FFF-rank? That is a real rank?"
"Yes. Starting today, it is."
Hearing the words FFF-rank felt like getting hit in the head with a hammer.
'How is that even possible?'
"At this point, rather than living as an Awakener, it might be better for you to just keep working a regular job..."
"Ah, uh..."
Humiliated by how low the rank was, Yuna bowed her head deeply.
Pfft-!
From inside the bag came a short, snickering laugh.