Chapter 208
I wish I could just black out completely from the drunken memories like a normal person, but they're not crystal clear either—just hazy enough to make me want to die even more. At least Baek Sion isn't teasing me relentlessly about it. If you ignore that whole "sex processing" comment, the stuff I did... there were a few too many.
"By the way, unnie, do you know a lot about beastkin?"
"Yeah. Beastkin mercenaries are all pretty or handsome, so they're easy to remember. They loved it when I did fortune-telling for them sometimes."
Thanks to Lee Seo-yeon changing the subject, I decided to let yesterday's antics slide naturally. No need to pick at the scab myself.
"I've barely seen any... Beastkin don't have religion, right?"
Lee Seo-yeon looked disappointed. She has an obvious preference for beautiful girls, leaning heavily toward beastkin, so I remember her taking all the beastkin illustrations from my drawings. It must suck for such a hardcore beastkin fan not to see them up close. I've seen plenty at the mage tower, though. One of the tower lords was a squirrel beastkin named Yul. The other tower lords never called her by her proper name—just "Yulna" or "Yuri" or "squirrel." She was even smaller than me, which is rare, with an adorable way of speaking and the fluffiest massive tail that was pure healing every time we met. Her age was a mystery like the other tower lords, but she looked like the epitome of a cute girl.
"You're such a quick learner—it makes teaching you so rewarding. Good work today; you can pet my tail if you want!"
She was one of the tower lords who brought some life to my mage tower days when I was drained and homesick. Later on, she'd even seek me out just to chat while asking me to brush her tail. She might seem cute eating like a squirrel beastkin, easy to underestimate, but a tower lord is a tower lord. No one could match her in movement or compression magic. She taught me close-range teleportation to cover mages' weakness in melee combat. Funny thing was, she was already insanely fast and rarely used it herself.
"I lived with a squirrel beastkin."
"There were quite a few in the capital too."
Kim Do-yoon's capital had whole cities where beastkin mainly lived. Even Baek Sion nodded.
"Yeah. There was this cat beastkin who always wore a hood."
Hearing that even the elite assassin guild had beastkin made Lee Seo-yeon's expression darken more and more.
"...Wait, why am I the only one...? Does that mean I have no way to see beastkin now?"
"Pretty much."
There probably wasn't a way to see pure beastkin anymore. Technically, I could equip animal ears and a tail and link it to my succubus senses for a beastkin-like look, but that would burn through my dignity, so pass.
"...You worked so hard as a saintess over there, and you can't even see beastkin?"
Saintess stuff? Won't the goddess get mad? I half-worried lightning might strike the house and asked,
"Won't Peira... get angry if you say that?"
"Peira can't interfere here anyway, right?"
Lee Seo-yeon glanced at Yuna unnie, who smiled lightly and tilted her head.
"Who knows? But she's probably busy managing things over there."
I expected a flat denial, but it was ambiguously vague. Lee Seo-yeon started panicking hard.
"...Wait, hold on. Why don't you know? It's a different world."
"Yeah. So she can't use her powers openly here. But if she really tries from over there, she could come."
I'd thought about this before. The fact that they summoned us across worlds for their crisis meant they had inter-world travel capabilities.
"Oh, but don't worry. Unless we're trying to destroy the world, no one's gonna fight us."
"That karma thing?"
"Yeah. You've heard it a few times too, Seol-ah."
Yuna unnie had so much info sorted in her head, but what I knew was simple. Paradoxically, we rose to top-tier power in Astasia because of Demon King Magnus. His demon army was too strong, so we got summoned for balance—and gained immense power. Once we beat him, we returned to Earth. If we tried destroying this world, someone as strong as us would appear as an enemy.
"Um, fair maiden Peira of beauty and wisdom. That was just a slip; please overlook it?"
I was stunned seeing Lee Seo-yeon clasp her hands and pray to the sky. ...She's genuinely kind, but how she pulled off the saintess role is still a mystery. No answer came like in Astasia, so she dropped her hands.
"But is Peira that scary?"
"Nah, not scary. We're close, actually? But you know... she nags a lot. Total mom vibes?"
Yeah, watching her chat with the goddess in Astasia felt like a teen daughter venting to mom. Lee Seo-yeon started complaining, clearly pent-up.
"...Always 'Don't hike up your saintess robes... Don't cross your legs... No swearing...' Non-stop nagging..."
...So that's why she had that prim, elegant saintess vibe. Now I get why "Lee Seo-yeon" and "saintess" never clicked. Forced good behavior from nagging explained the gap with her Earth self. She shivered, shaking off the memories, then clapped and her eyes sparkled.
"...Wait, so I might still get to see beastkin...?"
"Who knows. If all the tower lords pooled their mana, maybe. But it's not like popping next door."
All tower lords' mana combined would dwarf even mine. No reason for that investment just to visit Earth for tourism. Hearing the odds were low, Lee Seo-yeon deflated instantly.
"...Guess I'll see them in the game at least. Put in lots of beastkin characters..."
As she swallowed her sadness, Kim Do-yoon oppa chimed in.
"We're already planning about six beastkin for the launch roster."
"How many playable at launch?"
Mobile games roll out stories and characters via patches.
"Thinking around 80? So we need to prep art and dubbing ahead."
I should talk to Haru-chan, who does Katsusan, and my other illustrator friends. Four close ones: a mid-20s couple in Japan, one in Canada, and closest, Haru-chan. They're all pros I vouch for, but Do-yoon oppa will handle it well. Plus, we have our precious investor.
"We need the game framework solid before outsourcing. I'll compile the big deadlines and send 'em out after everyone heads home today."
Now that money's involved, Do-yoon oppa's eyes are blazing. He won't push tight schedules on us, but seeing him grind hard means I can't slack either. Concept art takes more effort than a single illustration. Gotta hustle.
"No need to walk us?"
"Nah, we're not that far."
"Cool. Come over often. For real."
Before lunch, we left Lee Seo-yeon's place and bused home. Like we'd planned, we headed straight to the studio. Baek Sion donned his headset and settled at the master keyboard.
...Why is Baek Sion playing piano so damn sexy? After a full day out, it'd been over 24 hours since our fun, and I suppressed the desire bubbling deep inside, grabbing my pen. Didn't want to distract his hard work, and I had drawing to do. Skipping lunch meant a simple bread dinner together, where I casually asked,
"What after eating?"
...Not innuendo at all. Just curious if he had stuff to do or was free.
His reply came quick.
"Gotta study. Assignments, and midterms are sooner than I thought."
"...Oh."
...Right, midterms. I'm just aiming to graduate without fuss, but he's different. His assignments alone seem beyond me. He's gunning straight for top of the class...
"...Why? Got something?"
"...Nope."
...Can't seduce a guy studying, right? But anyway, two days won't break me.
So another uneventful day passed, and next morning, Baek Sion said as soon as he woke,
"Gonna head to my parents' today. Need to talk to Dad."
Huh.
"...H-Have a safe trip..."
Dad's a music producer, so probably work stuff? My head felt a bit fuzzy, but I forced a bright smile and waved him off.
...I can't fully satisfy solo anyway because of that side effect. Just hold out a bit longer... I'm not in heat or anything; I'm a rational person. I can endure, Yoo Seol-ah.
"...Have a safe trip..."
Leaving Yoo Seol-ah's farewell behind, the moment I opened the front door, the hairs on my nape stood on end—like an indescribable sensation.
...What is this?