Accepting the Challenge
"Oh. You came? I figured you'd call — didn't expect you to show up in person."
"Hah. Guess that's what happens when you're raised without manners. Your hospitality is absolute garbage."
Aquamarine's light-blue sailor uniform fluttered as she flopped down onto the sofa across from me.
Looks like her pride had taken quite a few hits.
One glance at her face was enough to tell.
"That hole in your forehead all patched up?"
"Thanks for the concern. Thanks to you, I got a nice little airing-out of the brain. Feeling very refreshed."
"Glad to hear it. Want me to put one through the side of your head next?"
"Shut your mouth."
"Malfoy?"
"You don't lose a single exchange. Damn it."
"Stating the obvious. Like I'd ever lose to you."
I pushed myself up from where I'd been lounging sideways on the sofa and settled back properly against the cushions.
While I was at it, I crossed my legs too.
"The rest of you, get out. Don't let Kabe in here."
It was a rather sudden visit.
I hadn't expected Aquamarine to show up in person at all. Hadn't even considered the possibility.
If Eve hadn't given me a heads-up beforehand, I probably would have been caught flat-footed.
But Eve had called ahead, so I'd been able to hustle Kabe off to Dusick's room and get ready to receive my guest.
"Dusick, Sohee — both of you out. Mains, all of you out too. This isn't a place for you. Ah, Chilho. You stay and bring some drinks."
"Yes, ma'am. Unni."
"Well? What are you all standing around for. Get going."
At Dusick's rough, gravelly voice, the presence of people drained out of the room in a rush. Through the middle of it, Chilho set a coffee in front of me and a green tea in front of Aquamarine.
"Is that a pet? He's rather good-looking."
A pet?
"Do you have some kind of affection deficiency? First you treat my daughter like a pet, and now you're calling my subordinate one too. Say that one more time. I'll pound you into rice cakes."
"Is describing what I see a crime now?"
"You are a crime. Every time you open your mouth, the bad karma just stacks up nice and neat. Chilho, you can go now too."
"Got it."
Chilho snapped off a crisp little mock salute and hurried out of the room. And with that, there was no one left in the house but Aquamarine and me. Well — technically Eve owned the place, but I lived here, so I was calling it mine.
Aquamarine lifted her cup, took a sip of green tea, and glared at me.
Eyes with a watery blue sheen.
If you just looked at them quietly, they were genuinely pretty eyes. Shame about the personality attached to them.
"What are you staring at?"
"You."
"Anyway. That was a pretty clever little move you pulled. Whether I accepted or not, I ended up looking like an idiot either way. And it's not like I'd ever lose — but if I somehow did, it'd be a neighborhood-wide disgrace, and even if I won, there wouldn't be much to brag about."
"You've already lost once, haven't you? Remember the hole in your forehead? Did some of your brain cells fly out with it?"
"Hah."
Aquamarine was starting to get properly irritated now.
Not that it mattered. I'd been irritated since the moment she walked in.
If it came down to throwing hands right here, I had no problem with that.
"I didn't know you'd filmed it. Did you not know that broadcasting footage from inside the reverse world is prohibited?"
"I didn't."
"Hah, right. Of course you wouldn't know anything — you've spent ten years getting your asses handed to you."
"Right? Ten years of nothing but losses, and the ones who broke that streak were you lot. Thanks for letting me know."
"Hey!"
CRASH!
My needling finally pushed her past the breaking point. Aquamarine slammed the table and shot up from the sofa.
"Boss!"
"Unni!"
The kids must have been waiting outside — the door burst open at the noise and they came pouring in.
"Aquamarine, how dare you raise hell in a place like this…!"
Dusick snarled, fists clenched tight.
She looked ready to throw a punch on the spot, but that couldn't happen here.
Besides, Dusick — she wasn't an opponent you could beat.
"Out. Kwak Doosik. Take the kids and get out."
"But, Boss."
I looked at Dusick steadily.
She met my eyes without flinching.
"Out."
"Boss."
"I must look like the kind of boss who'd get pushed around by some two-bit magical girl. Like someone who can't do a thing without your protection. If that's not it—"
I jerked my chin toward the door.
"Out."
"…Yes. Forgive the intrusion, Boss."
I waited until the kids had filed back out in a rush, then fixed Aquamarine with a hard stare.
"Aquamarine."
"Sit."
"You…"
"I said sit."
"Who do you think you're giving orders to…!"
"Aquamarine."
I started walking toward her, slow and deliberate.
Objectively speaking, the record stood at one fight, one win — mine.
Which meant I had absolutely no reason to be nervous.
As I closed the distance, I pressed my earring.
The familiar sensation wrapped around my body, and I looked down at Aquamarine, who was now considerably shorter than me.
I pushed my face in right up to hers and stared straight into her eyes.
"Even a neighborhood mutt gets a free pass on its own home turf, they say. This is my house, and on top of that, you've already got a loss on your record against me. So. If you want, we don't have to drag this out — we can settle it right here. What's it going to be?"
"You crazy bitch…"
Aquamarine glared at me for a moment longer, then dropped heavily back onto the sofa.
Once I'd confirmed that, I released the transformation and went to sit on the opposite sofa myself.
"Look at these first."
Aquamarine rummaged in the bag she'd brought and started pulling things out one by one.
They were bundles of paper, and as she laid them out—
"Children's Human Rights Protection Association, Animal Rescue Association, Adoptee Rights Protection Center, Unwed Mothers' Care Center… what is all this?"
Aquamarine crumpled the papers into a wad and crumpled her face to match.
"You're asking because you don't know?!"
"I'm asking because I don't know. What kind of stupid question is that. So what are they?"
Why would I ask if I already knew.
Aquamarine ground her teeth, glaring daggers at me.
"They're the complaint letters that came flying at me thanks to that little stunt you pulled on broadcast!"
"Did I send them? Did I put them up to it? Why the hell did you pull that crap on someone else's daughter in the first place? You dug your own grave and now you're yelling at me? Are you on your period?!"
"Peri—!"
Aquamarine's face went scarlet in an instant.
"Ah, so it really is that time. Sorry."
"No, it is not?!"
Ah, this crazy woman, seriously. Talking to her was making me feel like I was losing my mind too. Muttering under her breath, Aquamarine hurled the crumpled complaint letters at the trash can.
"Fine. Whatever. Good."
"I don't like you."
"I don't like you either! It's a verbal tic, a verbal tic!"
Good grief. Her flash point was ridiculously low.
"Fine. I'll accept your challenge."
"For someone sitting on a one-and-one loss record, you're awfully full of yourself."
"You…"
Aquamarine squeezed her eyes shut and pressed hard circles into her temples with her fingers.
"Could you please just shut up and listen to me for once…"
"…"
"No, why aren't you saying anything?!"
"You told me to shut up?"
"Ah, seriouslyyyyyy!"
Only after draining an entire cup of water did Aquamarine seem to finally settle. She took a deep breath.
"Anyway, goo— no. Anyway. I accept your challenge. But the location — you're really fine with that place?"
"I'm fine. Even if we fought somewhere that favored me, you'd just make excuses after you lost about how the venue was bad. Better to let you fight on your own home ground. If you lose there too, you won't have a word left to say."
"You — you're talking like you've already decided you're going to win."
"Obviously."
The greatest magical power holder in history, surpassing even Eve — Mother herself.
Sure, not being able to use magic was a weakness, but when you had magical power overflowing like that, you could make it work somehow just on sheer volume.
"The combat ability I saw last time was definitely impressive. But I've already figured out your weak points, so it's fine. I'll win."
I took a sip of coffee.
It was good — probably because our Chilho had made it.
That rich coffee aroma filling my nose…
"That's instant mix coffee, isn't it."
"Yeah."
"Eat something nicer. Drinking mix coffee like that."
"This is Gold Mocha, okay? It is the nice stuff, okay?"
Wow. She was genuinely annoying.
Was this a flex about having money?
"Fine. Anyway, goo— no. If you're throwing down a challenge like this, you've got to have some calculation about what spoils you want, right?"
Ah.
I hadn't thought of that.
No wonder something had felt incomplete.
I hadn't even considered what I'd demand if I won.
I'd only been thinking about getting revenge for Kabe — taking spoils after a win was the natural next step, and I hadn't thought of it at all.
"You didn't think of it, did you?"
"…"
"You've really got a few screws loose in the weirdest places."
This time I had nothing to say.
It was too true.
"I'll state my terms first. If I beat you, you become my maid."
"…What?"
"You don't know what a maid is?"
I picked up my phone.
The one I'd bought yesterday.
It had only just come out…
"Is that a FinePhone? Signature Blue? Those are nearly impossible to get right now — everyone's going crazy trying to find stock. How did you buy one?!"
"Huh? I just got it at a carrier store…"
Before I could even get out that Dusick had…, Aquamarine's eyes lit up.
Was that the greed sensor I'd only ever heard about?
Dangerous.
"The humiliation of you having one when I don't…"
She was developing inferiority complexes in the strangest places.
Every last one of these people was incomprehensible.
Anyway, I opened a browser window, searched for maids, and held up a suitably representative photo in front of Aquamarine's face.
"You want me to wear something like this and wait on you hand and foot?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
No, hang on a second.
Making her issue a public apology, or forcing her to testify that Aquamarine was neither a child abuser nor an animal abuser and had never abandoned a dog — none of that. Just, out of nowhere, be a maid?
Wearing clothes like that?
Was she insane?
"I did consider making you do a public apology, but that didn't seem like it'd be much fun. I'd rather parade you around the whole neighborhood as my maid and have you wait on me. That'd actually scratch the itch."
"Wow."
"Impressive, right? My creativity."
"No."
No matter how you looked at it, she was not in her right mind.
"I don't like that. It's anachronistic. A maid? What are we, European nobility? If you want a maid that badly, just go to Akihabara in Japan or whatever. There are tons of them there."
"Hey, those are a completely different kind of maid, okay?!"
"A maid's a maid. Is it like the difference between Made in China and Made in Korea?"
"You idiot!"
"Ah, whatever. Anyway, I refuse. Looking at this, you and I seem to be operating at about the same level, so let's just do one wish each. That should cover it."
"You country bumpkin who doesn't even understand the romance of a maid…"
"Most people dump that kind of romance around the time they graduate middle school."
"Talking to you makes me feel like I'm losing my mind…"
Look who's talking.
Aquamarine shook her head with an expression of pure, bone-deep exhaustion.
Then she started gathering her bag. The bag looked like some famous brand too — she really did seem to have money.
"Anyway, sometime tomorrow or the day after, we'll officially put out a press release. The Association's PR office is already prepping it, so you'll start seeing it in the papers and on the news."
"Seeing what?"
"That I've accepted your challenge."
"Ah, right. Could you maybe not chop the front and back off your sentences and just say the whole thing? If you just drop 'we're putting out a press release' with no context, how is anyone supposed to know what you mean?"
"You…!"
Aquamarine looked ready to explode into a shout, then let out a long, deep sigh instead.
I was the one who should have been frustrated, so why she was the one having a meltdown was beyond me.
"Yeouido Hangang Park. The date is exactly one week from today — Saturday. Time is seven in the evening. Any objections?"
Not really.
The location was the one I'd specified, and since it was a weekend, we could hang out with the kids nearby during the day and fight in the evening.
"None. Oh, and also. The broadcasting station is going to come into the reverse world to film."
"What?! Hey, why are you only telling me that now?!"
That had been Yang Jongcheol the news director's proposal.
He wanted to bring filming equipment into the reverse world and shoot the fight.
Of course he'd also mount a waterproof camera on my collar for dynamic shots, and fly drones too.
In exchange, the pay was pretty decent. I wasn't going to mention that part to Aquamarine.
"Why? You don't like it?"
"It's not that I don't like it — I need to book a salon appointment in advance!"
"That so."
Honestly. I would never understand her.