Me, the Black Card Owner
The Moth Gang's raid on Baek Ya-seong. This incident, meant to make a name for themselves against Baek Ya-seong, ended without anyone finding out. After handing over the sole surviving moth to Baek Ya-seong's bomb disposal squad, everything wrapped up quickly.
A direct unit from Central arrived at Baek Ya-seong, stirring up some complications, but from there it was office staff territory. We left it to them and rode the elevator up. Me, Kwon Ji-yul, Kim Woo-jin, and Lee Kang-woo—just grabbing our gear—returned to the office where Jin Yeon-ah was waiting.
"We've just returned after completing the mission. And we're truly sorry for not finishing this mission perfectly."
""Sorry, miss.""
The first thing we did upon returning to the office was bow to Jin Yeon-ah and apologize.
Our top priority had been to subdue all five enemies. But due to my personal judgment, I'd killed four of them, so it was only natural for us to apologize for not completing the mission flawlessly.
That said, both Jin Hyun-cheol and Jin Yeon-ah knew that killing those four had been unavoidable in the situation. In fact, everyone in Baek Ya-seong knew it, so this apology was essentially just for show.
As if to back that up, Jin Yeon-ah stood from her seat at our apology and spoke.
"No need to apologize. If anything, you deserve praise. Even Father said you did well, so don't feel bad about it."
"Oh, in that case, what a relief."
I straightened up immediately at her reassurance, and Jin Yeon-ah let out a snicker.
"Hah, from the looks of it, you weren't sorry at all from the start, were you?"
"No way. I was really sorry."
"Jeez, if you could just keep your mouth shut."
"Yeah, my mouth's too good for my own good."
Apparently finding my attitude annoying, Jin Yeon-ah couldn't hold back anymore and came over to flick my forehead.
Thwack—!
But it was just a playful flick with no real force behind it. After taking it without moving, Jin Yeon-ah turned around and spoke again.
"Anyway, you all did great this time. Things should go smoothly with Central's direct unit—no conflicts—so no need to worry. You're all tired today, so go ahead and rest."
"Any other tasks...?"
"We have nothing left to do. So let's all just rest up today. We've got missions starting tomorrow, after all."
"Understood, miss."
Jin Yeon-ah waved us off, insisting there was truly nothing more for us to do. We nodded, gave our farewells, and left the office.
Once outside, Kwon Ji-yul finally let out a deep sigh and spoke.
"Haa, if we were gonna kill those bastards, I should've been the one to do it. We got them right up to the takedown, but who knew they'd have bombs implanted in their bodies?"
She seemed genuinely bummed about not getting a proper shot at them. And since I was at the center of that reason, I gave an awkward smile and scratched my head.
"Uh, yeah, kinda sorry for hogging them all. But it was an emergency, right? Cut me some slack?"
"Well, no choice in that situation, obviously. I never planned to blame you anyway, so don't get the wrong idea. Just a bit regrettable, that's all."
Kwon Ji-yul shrugged at my words. The other two chimed in naturally to our conversation as we headed toward the annex for some much-needed rest after the exhausting day, just as Jin Yeon-ah had said.
A week had passed since the raid.
Now that a week had gone by, life at Baek Ya-seong felt somewhat routine. Maybe because I'd made a strong impression during the Moth Gang incident, more people greeted me first when they saw me now. A stark contrast to how much of an eyesore I was a week ago.
And today, early in the morning, Kwon Ji-yul, Kim Woo-jin, and Lee Kang-woo had each taken a mission and left Baek Ya-seong, while Jin Yeon-ah was quickly clearing a pile of paperwork.
According to her, she'd assign personal missions every two to three days, and for bigger ones, she'd send three or four together. On top of that, Jin Yeon-ah herself had to select incoming missions for Baek Ya-seong, handle equipment loans, track mission progress, draft future plans, and write all sorts of reports—so she spent about four hours a day just on paperwork.
So what was I doing while everyone else worked? If anyone asked, I could answer like this:
I was attending to Jin Yeon-ah while she did her paperwork.
Pouring her tea, cleaning up any mess in the room, following her whenever she moved around. And when I'd asked a week ago, on my first day of this duty, why she wasn't assigning me missions, her answer had been straightforward.
"Why aren't I giving you missions? Isn't it obvious? What kind of owner throws their exclusive assassin into random jobs willy-nilly? Sending you out on the first day was just to test your loyalty and strength. Now that I know both, there's no reason to use my exclusive assassin unless it's a tough mission."
An exclusive assassin was the finest blade owned by Baek Ya-seong's direct descendants. No one used theirs carelessly. They might send them out for tough jobs or to keep skills sharp during downtime, but generally, it was rare.
Come to think of it, I'd heard Do Jin-hyeok stuck by Jin Hyun-cheol's side every day, so I had nothing more to say. I chose to stay by Jin Yeon-ah's side, doing as she asked.
It was definitely more comfortable than busting my ass on missions, after all. No reason to turn down an easier life.
About two hours into attending her like this...
"Phew...! Finally done!"
Jin Yeon-ah stretched and pushed her chair back after finishing today's paperwork. Maybe because there wasn't much today, she'd cleared it in just two hours. She swung her feet idly for a bit before suddenly turning to me.
"Come to think of it, Se-rin. I've got something I've been wondering about."
"Yes? What is it?"
"I saw it on the bodycam footage and from the rooftop before, but I just can't wrap my head around it. How the hell do you move that fast?"
"Ah... you mean that?"
Jin Yeon-ah was asking about my speed. No surprise— to everyone else, it looked like I was zipping around at impossible speeds for five seconds straight.
"You said you didn't have any enhancement procedures, right? How is that even possible?"
"Well... I've just always been like this, so I don't really know either. My physical abilities have always been better than average."
Telling her this world was game-based and my mods made it possible would be too outlandish and unnecessary. So instead, I chalked it up to my natural physical prowess—which wasn't even a lie.
Theoretically, my base abilities could produce the same results without Bullet Time. But I used it because even with my superior dynamic vision and reflexes, I couldn't fully handle my own movements otherwise.
Put simply, it was like software lagging behind hardware performance. In a normal state, I could only use about half my power. To draw out more, I needed Bullet Time to boost neural perception and processing speed. Otherwise, even I couldn't keep up with the blurring scenery.
When I summed it up as "superior physical abilities," Jin Yeon-ah looked intrigued and handed me a coin.
"Then, can you bend this too? With just your fingers!"
"Yeah, that's easy..."
It was a 500-won coin. A normal person couldn't even grip it without slipping, but my strength made it trivial.
Creak—
I applied moderate pressure, and it folded in half.
"Ooh...!"
Jin Yeon-ah marveled, but I didn't stop there—I folded the halved coin in half again, using just two fingers.
Crack—!
The coin shattered.
"...Huh?"
She clearly hadn't expected a second fold, murmuring in surprise. Her dumbfounded face was so funny I almost laughed. I wanted to snap a photo, but she'd never allow it, so I tossed the metal dust in the trash and said,
"Something like that's a piece of cake."
"J-Jeez, that's insane? And without enhancements... Are you sure you're not some monster born from a genetic engineering lab?"
"Isn't calling someone a monster a bit harsh...?"
She eyed the trashed coin and casually asked if I was a lab-grown freak. Despite the joke, her serious tone made me give a wry smile.
She apologized playfully and started firing more questions. The barrage lasted about ten minutes.
"Amazing, just amazing... If we ever get a chance for a real checkup, let's go together."
"Eh, not really keen on it, but... if you say so, miss."
Scans wouldn't reveal anything anyway—I'd confirmed that multiple times at Back World clinics. I nodded vaguely and stood straight again.
Watching me, Jin Yeon-ah fully rose from her chair. Stretching to loosen up, she grabbed her jacket and said,
"Alright! Paperwork's done for today—let's head out!"
"Head out? Where to...?"
A week after the raid, she suggested going out without a care. When I asked, she replied like it was obvious.
"Where else? Downtown, obviously, for some fun."
With that, she pulled a sleek black card from her pocket.
"No worries about money—let's go!"
Shouting that, Jin Yeon-ah grabbed my sleeve and started dragging me along.