Boss
“To think you’d use mana stones just to run a washing machine—this is Heros Academy for you, I guess…? They don’t even take tuition and they give out facilities like this. I mean, seriously…”
The children were already beginning to look stunned at the sight of their gym clothes, now so crisp and clean they looked brand-new.
After enough of that kind of money-flinging, it made sense.
“If we’re all going to end up as heroes or hunters who fatten up Heros Corporation’s coffers anyway, isn’t this the least they can do to invest in us?”
When I gave my honest opinion, Yeonhwa smiled awkwardly and put it a little more gently.
“Mm… I wouldn’t say that’s entirely wrong, but maybe it just means Heros Corporation is genuinely serious about education?”
“S-so that’s how you use a washing machine…”
While we were trading opinions back and forth, Lapis was poking at the machine with obvious fascination.
Looks like she’d never used one on her own before.
“Part of me wants to go hang out somewhere again, but! I’ve got absolutely no energy for that, so… let’s call it here for today. Take care, everyone!”
Feeling a little better after washing up was one thing, but actually getting my stamina back was another, so the girls’ gathering ended there.
From some point on, it had become natural for us to go around with Ageha too, and we met up with Jinhyun, who had been waiting nearby, before heading home together.
As I walked beside Yeonhwa and looked at the white-haired boy, it struck me all over again that he was the only guy in the whole group.
“Come to think of it, Jinhyun’s the only boy we’ve got.”
When I said it out loud, belatedly, everyone looked surprised and agreed that it really was true.
“Oh, now that you mention it?”
“That’s true, isn’t it?”
“W-well, yeah, but I don’t think it really matters…?”
“I suppose it doesn’t. Jinhyun isn’t exactly a womanizer, after all.”
“Jinhyun is… y-yeah. Right. He’s not a womanizer!”
It might have been fine to just shrug it off and say it didn’t matter, but I wasn’t fine with it.
This was starting to look like a harem.
Sure, Yeonhwa was at the center of the group, and I was the one holding everyone together.
But the shape of it was still infuriating. Worse, the two original heroines from the novel were here too, and that only made it more irritating.
He’s only allowed to have Yeonhwa, I thought bitterly.
Even then, I was letting it slide because Yeonhwa was the one pursuing him one-sidedly.
That was why I wasn’t doing anything to Yeonhwa.
If it had been something Jinhyun wanted, I would’ve interfered. But Yeonhwa was the one who wanted to end up with Jinhyun.
“More importantly, Jinhyun! Have you thought of a temporary hero name?”
“No, not really…”
“You too? Just like Blanca! Want to think about it together?”
“I’m going to pass. I’m tired today, so I just want to go home and rest.”
When I gently refused, trying to fend off her obvious enthusiasm, Yeonhwa still looked disappointed, but at the same time she seemed relieved, and laughed.
“Okay, rest up! That training was creepy enough just thinking about it… ugh!”
Somehow, it had become normal to trade these trivial little conversations all the way to the monorail station.
At some point, I found myself wondering what their reactions would be if I betrayed them now.
Lapis and Ageha would definitely be shocked. Jinhyun would be too, though even then… I doubted it would be enough to make him abandon his dream of becoming a hero.
For a moment I even wondered what it would be like to stop pretending we were friends and actually try being friends for real.
But no. That wasn’t right.
More than anything, that would mean betraying the boss.
Even if I died, I couldn’t do that.
“I have to take Line 4, so this is where I get off. Take care, everyone.”
“Bye, Ageha! And Blanca too! See you again tomorrow!”
“I-I’ll wait for you…”
“No, Lapis. You must be tired too, so it’s fine if you just go home.”
After seeing off even Lapis, the last of them, I headed back home.
Glaring at the humans who never seemed to stop staring at my chest, I thought about how I could possibly change the structure of that harem-like group.
…Hm. Maybe I should drag in some delinquent or other.
That guy might actually work. I kind of wanted to call Minho instead, but…
Minho would have his own things to do.
It felt like I was settling for a sour persimmon because I couldn’t have the sweet kind, but what could I do?
I didn’t want to interfere with the protagonist, and I didn’t want to make him suspicious of me either.
After checking once again today to make sure no one was tailing me, and confirming the coast was clear, I went back to my rented room.
Looks like that tail from not long after I enrolled really had been nothing after all.
No matter how I looked at it, some idiot must’ve gotten carried away thinking he could do something to me, only to realize who he was and run off with his tail between his legs.
The fact that I’d never been tailed again after that meant I’d probably just been a little too on edge.
Still, hero name, huh.
I’d never even thought about it.
As for the design of the suit, there was no real problem there because I’d already figured out all the requirements in advance. But a hero name? That was a little tricky.
I was going to betray them someday, sure, but it would still be the name people called me by until then, so I couldn’t exactly ignore it.
And so I kept turning the matter over in my head until evening came around.
I had no idea how it was already this late, but that didn’t seem like the important part.
The real problem was that I still hadn’t come up with a single decent name.
There was one that had occurred to me, at least…
But Ageha had said my joke was garbage after hearing it, and that weirdly stuck with me, so I kept wondering whether it was really okay to name myself like that.
It was nothing special, really, but to me it felt like a huge problem.
It was proof of the value of all the wordplay I’d ever made.
Back when I lived at the boss’s mansion, I used to make puns all the time. Everyone always laughed and enjoyed them.
But if what Ageha said was true, then maybe they’d only been forcing smiles to spare my feelings.
If that were true, it might be hard to take.
So I was busy pouring glucose straight into my brain and trying to squeeze out some clever wordplay when my phone, lying beside my pillow, suddenly rang.
I glanced at it, annoyed at who could possibly be calling at this hour, and the moment I saw the screen my mouth lifted on its own, all my irritation melting away.
It was the boss.
Ah, right. It’d be daytime where the boss was.
Ha. Makes sense.
“Boss!!!”
The second I answered, I called out to him with all the warmth and excitement I could cram into my voice.
-Ahaha. You still call me that, Blanca. I’ve told you, you can just call me Raphael.
“But you’re the boss! It’s been ages since you called. Have you finally found some free time?”
-No. Nothing like that. But Today’s Fortune told me to call you today, so here I am. I’m still so busy I feel like I’d collapse even if I had four bodies.
“And you still made time for me…!”
-So… have you been doing well, Blanca? Yustitia sends me updates on you from time to time, but she doesn’t tell me everything.
“Yes! The plan’s going smoothly, and I’ve already made contact with the high-priority targets!”
I couldn’t quite contain my happiness, so I held my tail straight up and rattled off everything I’d done like a child hoping for praise.
-Good, good. That’s our Blanca. Still… try making a few friends and enjoying school life too. You won’t get the chance to enjoy that age again.
The boss praised my hard work, but he was worried about me too.
“That’s okay. As long as I have you, boss, I’m fine with anything.”
Truly, everything else was secondary.
-If that’s how you feel, I can’t force you. Still… I heard you were attacked by villains. Are you all right?
“Of course. You think something like that could even leave a scratch on me?”
-Fair enough. It’s not the sort of thing our Blanca would need to worry about. You sound just as lively as ever, so I suppose it wasn’t a problem. That’s a relief.
“Hehe…”
-I was worried sick, thinking that might’ve been what was weighing on you. But you seem fine. I must’ve misread Today’s Fortune.
“Ah… well, there is something I’ve been thinking about…”
-Really? Go on then. I might be able to help.
It was a little embarrassing to bring up, and not really a big deal, but since he told me to say it, I obediently told the boss what I’d been fretting over.
-Hm… picking a name, is it. That is difficult. Sorry. I’m not very confident in that sort of thing either. Still, why not try being a little braver about it? Blanca, your puns always bring us laughter.
“Really…? You weren’t just laughing out of politeness…?”
The boss, without meaning to, struck right at the heart of my actual worry.
So before I knew it, I blurted out the truth.
-Why would I do that? They were genuinely funny, your puns. So be a little braver. The world belongs to those who dare to seize it.
“…Yes! Thank you, boss!”
Good. The knot in my head had loosened, and my confidence had been topped back up. There was no reason to hesitate. My hero name was—yes, that one.
I’d decided.
-I’m glad things worked out. Then I’ll let you go for now. Something else just came up.
“Yes, good luck!”
With those words, the boss hung up.
Maybe because it had been so long since I’d heard his voice, I felt even more relieved than usual.
Tonight, I’d be able to sleep in peace.
* * * * * -
“So there wasn’t a traitor inside after all, Mr. Park.”
“Th-that’s only natural, isn’t it! They’re loyal men, the cream of the crop! As if any of them would dare rise against you!”
The old man called Mr. Park was wiping bits of brain matter off his glasses with the side of his sleeve, answering the towering man with a servile bow in his posture.
The large man looked down at him with amusement, laughing softly, then asked him in a slow, snail’s pace, as though he were following behind one.
“For all that, our… captain seems to have quite a grievance with me.”
“Th-that… must only mean he wants to catch your eye as soon as possible! ‘I’m this exceptional, so why won’t the Master look at me?’ That sort of thing…”
“So you’re saying he doubts my judgment?”
“N-no, it’s not—”
The old man broke into a cold sweat and scrambled for a way out.
But before his efforts could amount to anything, the towering man gave a hearty laugh and put him at ease.
“You’ve improved a great deal, Mr. Park. To think you even possess ambition and a capacity for independent thought, things the previous generation lacked. I’m almost moved.”
“Th-thank you…!”
“And so, Mr. Park, tell me this. Do you have any idea who it was that attacked our hangar?”
The old man shut his eyes, sensing that today was finally the day he would die, and then answered.
“I don’t know. Not who they were, not where they belonged, not what they were. They erased every trace with near-paranoid thoroughness. And information hasn’t even leaked out, so how on earth they got into the hangar…”
“Hmm. If even our Mr. Park doesn’t know, then it truly must be something obscure. Good work, Mr. Park. Why don’t you eat some herbal medicine…? That, at least, might do you some good.”
“H-herbal medicine, yes. Understood!!”
The old man hurried out of the room, relieved to discover he was not, in fact, going to die.