Chapter 173
It was all just a concept...? Anyway, the tarot cafe owner led us to the back of the shop. Being such a thriving place, the cafe seemed to run itself just fine without her supervision.
"......"
Having already gone through something similar once before, we regained our composure much faster this time. The owner, whom we'd always thought was a bit eccentric anyway, didn't seem all that flustered either. ...Honestly, with her, it felt like she might've already known.
Among the three of us, Yoo Seol-ah was the first to speak up. With a slight smile playing on her lips, it was clear she really did lose her mind around pretty people.
"...It's been a while...?"
To explain why we were so glad to see each other, I'd have to start with the situation in Astasia back then. We're a game development club now, but the four of us were still basically the core of a former hero party, classified as a special ops unit over there.
We'd been suddenly summoned to Astasia after the war with the demon king's army had already broken out. Wars usually have front lines, of course—tied to the concept of territory and all that. When things were going well, those lines pushed into enemy territory; when they weren't, they fell back. Naturally, the biggest battles happened along those lines, but our party lived a bit detached from all that.
Instead, we took on the higher-difficulty jobs. There was only one reason we'd been brought together: to take down the demon king. The higher-ups from Astasia's various realms had assembled us for exactly that purpose. We didn't know each other's home worlds back then, but to get back to our own, we had no choice but to charge toward that single goal.
We couldn't take on the demon king—the pinnacle of the demon race—right away, so we had to clear out his underlings first. That meant spending a ton of time deep in demon territory. It was enemy territory on all sides, so comparing it to regular battles in terms of difficulty wasn't even possible. Our party's overwhelming power, led by Yoo Seol-ah, made it feasible.
But taking out just the executives wouldn't end the war. Unlike humans, demons didn't suffer morale drops, so even after we handled the high-rankers, it barely affected the front lines.
The primary front was swarming—literally crawling—with monsters crashing in like waves. Regular soldiers struggled against even the low-level ones; those things weren't to be taken lightly. With our top-tier force off the front lines, someone had to hold it down. And sure enough, folks from our assassin guild were active right there in the thick of it.
"Yeah, it's been a while. Almost a year since we last saw each other?"
One of those very people was standing right in front of us now: the astrologer Ruwen.
Even conditionally, she was a guardian of the primary front who could wield wide-area magic that even Yoo Seol-ah couldn't touch. She drew power from the stars, using spells totally different from standard magic. We'd gotten to know her through communications and her long-range support for our party. Hard not to get along with someone helping you out like that.
"...But you're my unnie... right? What should I call you...?"
Yoo Seol-ah was being cautious, but she was convinced this woman was older than her. Made sense—she was the owner of a place like this, and she exuded a mature allure that set her apart from our age group. Names were fine back there, but on Earth, we had to follow Earth rules.
"Oh, I'm twenty... seven now. Name's Yuna Kang, so call me whatever feels right."
She was an unnie, alright, but not quite as old as I'd imagined. Her youthful looks aside, her vibe screamed adult. Her expression darkened just a bit when she mentioned her age, but she bounced back quick.
"Got it. Yuna-unnie, then? I'm Yoo Seol-ah, and this is Baek Sion. We're both twenty."
A acquaintance we didn't even know by name or age—anyone else would've found the situation downright weird. Yuna-unnie didn't hide her envy once she heard our ages. Just watching Yoo Seol-ah chat so naturally made it obvious they got along great.
"...But unnie, your outfit here's so prim and proper. Back there, it was kinda revealing..."
"S-Seol-ah. There's, uh, circumstances..."
Her voice still had that soft, gentle lilt, but her character was a bit different. On Earth, she gave off total punching bag vibes.
"Your speech too. Did you change it on purpose, like Lee Seo... Aris?"
"......Ah, th-that was..."
Lee Seo-yeon had used formal speech for her divine power. And thinking back, you often referred to yourself in third person as Ruwen. It suited her, so it never felt off. Astasia had all sorts of folks, unlike Korea.
But Yuna-unnie's face crumpled like she was about to cry, and she covered it with both hands.
"...I know it's pathetic getting sentimental with age... No one knew me there, so I wanted to try playing a different character... or whatever..."
...So, in short, it was all a concept?
She already looked deep in self-loathing, so I kept my mouth shut, but Yoo Seol-ah had no such restraint.
"...So it was all concept play?"
"Pl-play!? It wasn't...!"
She lifted her head, face fully flushed. It was play, though. That's what role-playing was. Listening to that exchange, I realized something: this woman had talent surpassing even Yoo Seol-ah's. Never thought I'd see someone nail the punching bag role this well.
Yoo Seol-ah nodded like she'd known all along.
"...Third-person speech is a stretch in Korea, yeah..."
Not like we were elementary kids; adults doing it would draw weird looks. Unless it was some quirky anime character. A soft-voiced one referring to herself in third person... A few came to mind.
"Unnie, you a Yuka fan by any chance?"
Takahashi Yuka from that super popular idol anime—huge with a specific fanbase. Her laid-back demeanor contrasting her slightly decadent short-haired look made Yoo Seol-ah think of her right away.
Bullseye, apparently—Yuna-unnie froze solid.
"...H-how'd you know?"
All four returnees were total otakus from the subculture club, knee-deep in that stuff, so we'd half-guessed. Yoo Seol-ah answered, trying to ease the self-loathing a bit.
"...Well, I tried imitating my fave character back in middle school too."
But it seemed to backfire on the recipient.
"...Ahaha. Something you do in second year middle school... right? ...I was pushing fifty then."
"...N-no... It suited you. For real."
Her eyes went kinda dead...? Yoo Seol-ah's consolation veered off-course, so she started rambling.
Yuna-unnie, with her complicated expression, launched into a rant—voice still soft, so even excited, it didn't spike much.
"But I was just dragging myself to work, crashing, repeat—then boom, fantasy world? Felt kinda exciting instead! I was already thinking of quitting anyway..."
So she'd had a regular job before. You don't get that raw emotion without real suffering. Yoo Seol-ah looked thrilled at finding an even better punching bag, stifling grins as she listened intently.
"But after years of it, the speech stuck..."
"...What about the clothes...?"
As a fellow returnee with killer looks to boot, Yoo Seol-ah was like a fish in water. She wouldn't stop poking at her pretty unnie—though it looked more like teasing than bonding, ironically.
"...I was such a study nerd growing up, never shopped for clothes much before joining the company..."
So she dressed for her own satisfaction. For someone summoned out of the blue, she'd clearly made the most of it.
"...For real? With that face?"
Yoo Seol-ah dropped flirty lines on girls like breathing. Yuna-unnie blushed a little but didn't deny it.
"My eyesight's always been terrible—wore glasses since I was a kid."
"Ah..."
High prescription ones would've hidden her looks plenty.
"What about tarot? You into that before?"
"Yeah, tarot and fortune-telling in general. Hobby was stargazing at observatories too."
No wonder she was an astrologer. We'd kinda figured. Astasia seemed short on talent, always summoning to fill gaps, but they didn't grab just anyone. Our party alone proved that—everyone had their role.
"Whoa, cool... But your mana—you suppressing it on purpose now?"
Her peak output rivaled Yoo Seol-ah's. Habitual powerhouses don't flaunt everything casually. That's why she hadn't noticed us right away.
"...Kinda, but even if I didn't hide it, it'd be similar for another reason...?"
"What?"
"Stars are hard to see. Fine dust."
A snicker erupted from beside me. Yoo Seol-ah had always loved these out-of-nowhere jokes. But the owner seemed dead serious.
"...No, really—not a joke."
"...Huh."
Now it was our turn to freeze. ...For real? Sure, city stars were scarce, but someone who blanketed entire plains in meteor showers, crippled by this? The power of fine dust and smog...