The Cake Shop and the A-Class Spoiled Brat
I came into the city of Gwangju by car.
The sky was already bright. It was 10 a.m., and I’d arrived right on time.
“...Is this it?”
Once we reached our destination, Jin Yeonhui asked me that.
“Yeah. This is it.”
I answered calmly. Jin Yeonhui still wore a strange look on her face. I understood that. I felt the same way.
[Byorobong Atelier]
It was a signboard with something written on it that wasn’t even English. Beneath the modest-looking shop, people were already lined up. Even this early in the morning.
Jin Yeonhui and I stood there together.
She had pulled a mask and hat low over her face. She was a familiar public figure, so she had to keep herself hidden as much as possible.
“I told you to just stay in the car.”
“...No.”
There was no reason for her to stand here with me when I was the only one who needed to wait.
“So what did you come to buy?”
At Jin Yeonhui’s question, I pointed somewhere with my hand.
The menu posted below the shop.
Byorobong cake.
Byorobong chocolate cake.
Byorobong strawberry cake.
And so on.
The menu was filled with names that were all variations on Byorobong.
“...You came to buy cake?”
“...Yeah.”
That was right. I had come to buy that.
“I heard there’s a famous cake shop in Gwangju.
That was the favor Irene had asked me to do.
...I guess this was cheap, at least?
Getting permission by buying cake was one of those things that, well, seemed possible enough.
“You like cake? I thought you didn’t like sweets.”
Jin Yeonhui said it as if she knew me well. I nodded in agreement.
“It’s not for me. It’s just that... Hm? How do you know I don’t like sweets?”
“...Gye... Gyeongbeom told me.”
“That bastard really goes around talking about the weirdest things.”
I was incredulous.
“It’s just that I was asked to get something. I happened to be coming here anyway.”
“Hmm...”
“I heard this place is good.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Yeah. It’s been on TV a few times.”
“...Oh. Really?”
So it was a place Jin Yeonhui even knew about. It seemed more famous than I’d expected.
Well, that explained the line stretching this long at this hour.
“It’ll take at least two hours.”
“Two hours?”
Two hours just to buy a cake? That was a little rough.
“Are you really going to wait in the car? Or you can go on ahead. I can just take the bus...”
“It’s fine.”
“Oh. Okay.”
For some reason, her tone was quite firm. Did she dislike going in that much?
Or...
Did she like cake too? That was possible.
Gyeongbeom probably hated sweets.
He’d hated even a little sugar. Twins could be different, I supposed.
So we waited in line.
Bang—!
“Ugh!”
A loud noise came from somewhere. I turned my head.
“What was that?”
“What’s going on?”
Everyone else’s attention turned as well. The source of the sound was the building next to the cake shop.
“You call this a C-rank? Are you blind?!”
A young man in a suit was shaking someone by the collar.
“S-sir, customer...! Please calm down...”
“Calm down? Does this look like I’m calm? Anyone can see this is better than a B-rank artifact. You’re trying to scam me.”
“No, no...! How could I...!”
What’s going on?
I narrowed my eyes and focused. The man was holding some kind of pen in his hand, something I couldn’t identify at a glance.
He was pointing at it and calling it a B-rank artifact.
As I checked, I looked at the sign on the building.
An enchanter.
That old man must have been an enchanter. Someone who could see an artifact’s rank or information.
I looked again at the pen the young man was holding.
Eye of Enlightenment
[EdensBrush Pen (C)]
[An endlessly drying brush pen.]
...It really was C-rank. The illusion of Korka confirmed it.
“This is why you can’t hand things over to a cheap enchanter. Scamming people should at least have some limits.”
Snickering nastily, the young man kicked the wall.
Crack—! The wall split from the impact.
He’s a superhuman.
That bastard was a superhuman.
“What the hell...? Why’s he acting like that?”
“Isn’t something going to happen?”
“Can he even do that?”
As the crowd began to murmur, the young man’s gaze turned this way.
“What are you staring at?”
“Eep...!”
“If you’ve got something to say, come out here and say it.”
What was with that attitude? As I looked at him with disbelief, Jin Yeonhui spoke beside me.
“...He’s the son of a conglomerate owner.”
“A conglomerate?”
“Yeah.”
Where was that company again? I felt like I’d heard the name before.
I just couldn’t remember.
“It’s a company that has factories in Gwangju. I think I heard the owner’s son was an A-rank superhuman. Supposedly he’s quite the brat, so that must be him.”
“...”
At that, I looked back at the young man.
[Eye of Enlightenment is activated.]
[Yu Seongin (23)]
[Seizure’s Martial Artist (A)]
With the information, I could see the rank from his past life. He really was an A-rank superhuman.
The others gathered with him were superhumans too. Their ranks didn’t seem especially high.
“He’s notorious for being a nasty piece of work. I heard he might even be involved in illegal business.”
“...”
“Getting tangled up with him will be a headache.”
Jin Yeonhui said that to me. For some reason, it sounded like a warning.
“Take a proper look again.”
Yu Seongin thrust the pen at the enchanter.
“This is a B-rank artifact, I’m telling you.”
“Ah... I-I know, but...”
“You’re trying to lowball me, aren’t you? You think I wouldn’t notice?”
I looked at his expression.
[Hero's Super-sensory is activated.]
That bastard.
He was enjoying it. This situation, and the old man’s reaction.
Even the attention gathering around him.
Ah.
This is troublesome.
He’s trash.
He was pretty damn trashy. It had been a while since I’d seen someone like that.
“If you’d just paid the proper price, I’d have treated you better than anyone else. So why are you lying to me, old man...? Don’t you know who I am?”
“...Oh dear... I know, sir...! How could I lie to you when I know all that...”
“No. You lied. Otherwise, would you say that after looking at this?”
“A-ah... N-no, that’s not it. I...”
I quietly watched the scene unfold. No one dared to step in. They must have seen that the other side was a superhuman.
Yu Seongin seemed to be thoroughly enjoying that reaction and showed no sign of stopping.
“Then why provoke someone’s temper? If you’d just given me what I asked for.”
Then—
“This wouldn’t have happened.”
Just as Yu Seongin was about to swing his foot at the wall beside the old man again.
Thud.
“Hm?”
His foot was blocked by mine.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Yu Seongin’s gaze turned to me.
“...Lee Jinwoo...!”
Seeing that, Jin Yeonhui called my name in surprise, but my body had already moved.
“Could you not do this?”
I said, looking at Yu Seongin. At my words, the corner of his mouth rose.
“Hah? Could I not do this?”
His disgusting eyes narrowed.
“You don’t know who I am?”
“I do.”
“You do?”
“A criminal?”
“What?”
“Breaking someone else’s property and intimidating people makes you a criminal. What else would it be?”
“Look at this bastard...”
Yu Seongin’s expression hardened. At the same time, the men in suits behind him began to move toward me.
“Ah, hold on.”
Yu Seongin stopped them.
“You there, you look like a superhuman to me. Why don’t you just step aside? If you get involved in this, it’ll be a pain for both of us.”
“Step aside?”
“We have our own reasons for this. Let’s just let it go. It’s better if neither side gets their face smeared in public, right?”
“...”
“If you want to make a case, we’re the ones who were wrong first.”
Yu Seongin pointed a finger at the old man.
“He was trying to scam me by passing off a B-rank artifact as C-rank. That’s the crime here.”
“N-no, that’s not true...! That’s clearly...”
“Look at that? He’s still lying, old man.”
Yu Seongin moved his hand. I immediately reached out and grabbed his wrist.
Grip.
“...”
“...What the hell?”
He tried to pull his wrist free, but it didn’t come loose easily.
Crreeeak.
“You little shit.”
“Please stop.”
Hummm. A strange energy radiated from Yu Seongin’s body.
“You looking for a fight?”
The force in his body kept building. Veins rose across my forearm as well.
Then—
“...Please calm down. You should avoid friction with another superhuman.”
One of the men in suits beside him stepped forward and said that to Yu Seongin.
“The chairman also told us not to cause a scene.”
“...Tch.”
At those words, the strength drained from Yu Seongin’s hand.
“You’re lucky.”
Stepping back, Yu Seongin said to the old man,
“I’ll deal with you later.”
With that, he headed for the car he seemed to have come in.
“...”
As I stared after him, the old man said to me,
“Thank you...”
“Don’t mention it.”
I answered with a smile. At the same time, I hid the slight tremor in my fingertips.
If he hadn’t backed off then...
If Yu Seongin hadn’t stepped away there.
What would I have done?
What would I have done?
Concealing the faint tremor in my arm, I thought about it. Maybe it was because I’d been to a rift. Or maybe because I’d been running into gates so often lately.
Either way, it felt strange.
“Lee Jinwoo.”
Jin Yeonhui’s voice came from beside me.
“...What are you doing?”
“Ah, sorry.”
“If possible, don’t cause friction.”
At that, my expression hardened a little.
“So I should’ve just let him keep going?”
“...What?”
“I don’t think that was right.”
“You... Then are you saying you should’ve fought him right there?”
“It wasn’t something worth fighting over.”
And yet, if the other side had picked a fight anyway...
“Then I would’ve.”
“You...”
“I became a knight for that.”
“...”
Jin Yeonhui was speechless.
Yes. I became a knight to do exactly this kind of thing.
“Sorry, but I don’t want to live my life pretending not to see this sort of thing.”
I said it calmly to Jin Yeonhui, and just then, she was still chewing on her lip when—
“Uh... th-there...”
The old man spoke to us in a trembling voice.
“Y-you’re knights?”
“Pardon?”
The old man’s eyes shook as he grabbed at us in haste.
“Please... please help me...”
It was a desperate cry.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
As soon as Yu Seongin got into the car, he viciously kicked the front seat.
“That bastard.”
The fury spread across his face, making his emotions plain as day.
At the same time, he clutched his wrist. The spot that bastard had grabbed was still numb and swollen.
“How dare he...”
To make me look bad in front of that many people? Yu Seongin ground his teeth.
“Manager Park.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Find out who that guy is from earlier.”
“...Young master, as I said before, friction with another superhuman...”
“I said just find out who he is! Who said anything about fighting?”
“Understood...”
Apparently struggling to put up with his foul temper, Manager Park let out a sigh and nodded.
“He’s the one who got in the way of my business. Then isn’t he obstructing the company’s business?”
“...”
“This is seriously pissing me off.”
He gnawed at his fingernails. What should have been a quick job had been twisted for no reason at all.
If Father finds out about this...
He didn’t even need to imagine how that man, who was already looking for a chance to snap, would react.
I should’ve just bulldozed through it.
If only that interruption hadn’t happened, he could have ended it with a little intimidation.
What kind of bastard was he?
The feeling was strange.
He looked like someone I’ve seen before...
Yu Seongin twisted his face.
Doesn’t matter either way.
It was meaningless. If someone got in the way—
I’ll just get rid of him.
As always, all it took was making them disappear from in front of him.