Don't Call It Protection
I closed the distance one step at a time. Eve retreated just as steadily, matching me pace for pace.
"So that's it. You've been watching me."
My voice had gone flat and cold. Eve shook her head hard, side to side.
"No, no... I did it all for you...!"
"Don't give me that bullshit."
I'd known something felt off. Keru had only come back this afternoon. Aside from him, the only ones who knew were Dusick, Sohee, Kabe, and the Mains. So how exactly had Eve found out?
When I'd told Aquamarine I already had her weakness pinned down, there had been nobody in that room but the two of us. Had Aquamarine gone and reported that conversation to Eve? Not a chance.
And that remark about me having a partner? Yeah. I understood now why she'd said it. She'd meant Chilho. Circumstantially, that had to be it. Which meant that on the day I'd gone to pick up fried chicken — that day, too — she'd been watching me.
"Tell me the truth."
I advanced on her with a look that could kill. Eve stumbled backward, one hesitant step at a time. Her face had already gone paper-white.
"This wasn't just surveillance, was it. Not even close."
"That's— I mean—"
"You planted one of your people right next to me. Didn't you."
"Yeonwoo, just listen—"
Even with the game already up, Eve was still fishing for an excuse. I stared her down. She flinched away from my eyes, her whole body trembling.
A black, ugly anger surged up through my chest.
And I'd still trusted her. What the hell happened to you in those ten years? What did you go through — what was done to you — that you can pull something like this without even blinking? Who turned you into this? Or were you always this kind of person? You were never exactly a saint, but I remember you as someone who at least didn't do things like this. What happened to you in the last ten years?
"Just tell me the truth!"
"D-don't yell at me!"
A spear had appeared in Eve's hand. The Zealot Spear, I think she'd called it. A golden aura bloomed along the blade as she leveled it at me.
"I did it for you! If you screw this up, a catastrophe hits the world! I had to know if you were handling things properly — if you were about to make some terrible mistake! I didn't have a choice!"
"For me?"
For me, she said.
I took a long stride forward. Eve's back hit the wall. She had nowhere left to go, and the Zealot Spear in her outstretched hands was close enough now that one more step would put it against my skin.
"How is any of that for me? Where exactly is the part that's for my sake? This is all just self-satisfaction, isn't it?! You could've just come over every day and spent time with me!"
"I couldn't do that, that's why I—!"
"Shut up! Who do you think you are?!"
I took another step. The tip of Eve's Zealot Spear pressed against my chest, and a sharp, stinging pain bloomed through the fabric. The sacred aura pouring off the spear kissed my skin — the skin of an unmistakable enemy — and a smell like burning flesh rose into the air.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Yeonwoo. I lost my head for a second."
The smell must have snapped her back to her senses. Eve yanked the spear away in a panic.
A mark like a burn already sat on my chest. The same kind of mark had been left on the trust I'd had in her — a burn that would never fade. I didn't think the two of us could ever go back to the way we used to be.
"Whoever you are, come out. You're around here somewhere right now, aren't you? Get out here."
The words had barely left my mouth before a girl in full ninja gear melted out of the shadows.
"Baekhwa, at your service."
I looked down at the girl prostrating herself at my feet. It was almost startling, how little I felt. Was any of this her fault? No. One look at the outfit told me what her specialty was, and she'd been following Eve's orders. There was no reason to take it out on her.
"Baekhwa. I'm not your superior, but I have a few questions."
The girl named Baekhwa glanced back and up at Eve. Eve, already soaked in cold sweat, looked down at her and gave a small, reluctant nod.
"Please ask."
"First: how long have you been following me. Second: how far have you followed me. Third: what exactly did you see that made you think I had a partner. Answer me."
"Yeonwoo, this is a misunder—"
The anger that had started to settle flared right back up.
"I wasn't asking you!"
Tsk.
A sudden, fierce thirst.
"Dusick. Bring me some water. A lot of it."
I drained a beer mug of the ice water Dusick brought me in a single go, and only then did my head start to clear.
"Eve."
"Yeah, Yeonwoo. This is all a huge misunderstanding. I can explain everyth—"
"Stop yammering and sit down."
My head hurt. A thin, needling ache raked through my skull. Where the black fire of my anger had been, doused now by the cold water, nothing remained but scattered ash. The only thing still hurting me was that faint, lingering sting in my chest.
Eve and Baekhwa sat down across from me with extreme care.
"I can't just forgive this. This isn't something you get to sweep under the rug, Eve."
"R-right..."
"I'll be blunt."
"About... what?"
"You magical girls — have you always just been a bunch of lunatics? Is being unhinged a job requirement? Or do you all just lose your minds after you transform?"
No answer came. Eve kept her eyes on the floor and took the dressing-down in silence.
"The first one I met after becoming Mother was Precue. Then Prabel. Then Frilly. Then Aquamarine. Not a single one of them had both oars in the water. I figured you at least had it together, being the Association President — and now I find out you're a stalker. And what were you even planning to do, stalking another woman?"
I let out a long breath. God, my head was such a mess that I was rambling, and I sounded pathetic even to myself.
"And a partner? A paaartner? Hey. Whether I'm dating a guy or not — what business is that of yours?!"
"But you've barely dated anyone! If some weirdo got their hooks in you, it'd be a disaster...!"
"Give me a break!"
I'd barely dated anyone? Ha. Unbelievable. I'd spent years grinding it out in sales. If anything, I'd met more people than Eve had — not fewer.
"I've met more people than you have, if anything!"
"Fine, maybe you have! But the people around you — not one of them was normal! They bullied you, they messed with you, they treated you like a toy!"
That... was actually fair. The fact that she'd landed a direct hit like that, out of nowhere, left me speechless.
I'd dealt with plenty of lunatics on the job. Guys who'd haul me out at dawn — not even nighttime, dawn — and stick me with the bar tab. Guys who'd make me play designated driver. Guys who'd jerk me around, pretending they might or might not place an order.
"And look at this! You're kissing someone right here in the open and you expect me to believe you don't have a partner?!"
Eve plucked a photograph out of thin air and shoved it at me.
"This is... Chilho."
Just as I'd thought. It was from the day I'd come home with fried chicken and called out to Chilho. Shot from behind, even I had to admit it looked exactly like the two of us were kissing.
"That's not a kiss."
"Anyone looking at this would say it's a ki— ...it's not?"
"It's not. Something got on his face and I was wiping it off. That's all."
"Really?"
Eve's face lit up in an instant. We weren't even done talking. This was not the time to look relieved.
"That's a separate issue. Eve, wipe that smile off your face. I haven't forgiven you yet."
"..."
"And whoever I date, whatever I do — what does that have to do with you? It has nothing to do with you. Stay out of it. Whether I kiss someone, crash my mouth into theirs, or do anything else."
The smile vanished as fast as it had arrived. Eve sat primly on the sofa, her expression gone dark.
Like I was about to say anything nice.
"There are more photos than this one, right? Hand them over."
I picked up the pictures Eve produced, one after another, and I had to hand it to her — this was something else.
"Baekhwa. You were practically living in my house, weren't you."
"I have no excuse."
I still had no intention of blaming Baekhwa. She'd been following orders. The thought crossed my mind that she ought to have pushed back once she realized the orders were wrong — but I let it go. I'd done my time in an office. When the boss says jump, you jump.
Even accounting for that, the photos Eve kept laying down were... impressive.
"Throw all of these out. And what's this one? Why did you photograph me crying at the chicken place?"
"This one, that's..."
It was from the day I'd held the owner couple's baby at the fried chicken shop and, remembering the orphanage, started crying without meaning to. Why would anyone take a picture of something that embarrassing?
"Do you... have bad memories about babies, too...?"
Eve asked, watching my face carefully. I'd cried because of my childhood, but I didn't owe her a play-by-play.
"Don't go digging into every little thing."
"R-right. Sorry."
I ignored Eve as she dropped her eyes like a criminal and gathered every last photograph she'd produced. Then I tore them to shreds. I ripped them so fine there was no chance of putting them back together.
Honestly, working through them one by one like this had taken a good deal of the heat out of my anger. Watching Eve squirm in front of me, not knowing what to do with herself, it almost looked like she was actually reflecting. And a small, traitorous part of me wondered if maybe — just maybe — she wouldn't do it again after this.
But I couldn't let it end here. I was the victim. Eve was the perpetrator. Her squirming in front of me was the least she could do.
"Destroy every file you have on me. Write me a pledge that this will never happen again. And at this point you've probably written up a whole report on me, haven't you? Or did you skip that part?"
"A report...?"
Eve looked at me with genuine confusion. What, had I said something weird?
"Yeah. If you've been observing someone this thoroughly, keeping records is the obvious next step, isn't it? You just took pictures and called it a day?"
Eve stared at me, blank.
"A report? You really are..."
"If you didn't write one, fine. Observation 101, and you flunked it. Baekhwa, don't do this kind of thing anymore. I know you were just following orders. Eve. Never again. Understand?"
"I understand... I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I won't do it again."
"Good. Don't."
Getting angry isn't just about having a legitimate reason. It's also about knowing where to cut it off and where to let it go. That, at least, had been my experience. So if I was going to be angry, where should I stop?
Right here.
If I cut it off at this point, planted a sense of debt toward me in Eve, and then took a step back myself — that was how I'd get what I actually wanted.
Honestly, I was still deeply disappointed in her. Part of me wanted to flip the table, scream that I didn't need her help, and tell her never to come back.
I couldn't.
I just had to endure it. If I just endured it, everything would be fine. Then my kids could keep living in this good environment.
And if I lost my temper here and started talking about cutting ties with Eve, my babies would have to go house-hunting all over again in the dead of winter. That was not an option.
"Go on, then. Write the pledge and email it to me. Got it?"
Eve nodded without a word and slipped away with Baekhwa.
Come to think of it, that Baekhwa girl seemed to specialize in digging into people's backgrounds... I should've asked her who ran that gallery. I might be able to squeeze some copyright fees out of them...
Next time I ran into her, I was definitely going to ask.