Weekend? (6)
Sunday afternoon.
Even in the languid hush of lunch hour, a handful of beauties were turning every head that passed. Inside a café on the Victoria Academy campus, Baek A-young, Min Yeji, and Lim Sol sat together at a single table, and people kept stealing glances on their way by, wondering what on earth those three were doing in the same place.
Min Yeji, the most outgoing of the trio, turned to Baek A-young.
"What's with that face, A-young? Hmm?"
"It's nothing... I'm just really not feeling great."
Baek A-young sucked on her iced americano and offered a faint smile. She had come out because Min Yeji had asked to meet over the weekend, but her condition still hadn't recovered.
"Don't tell me you've got a crush?"
"I-it's not like that!"
"Whoa, that sounded pretty real. Is spring coming for our A-young too? Sol and A-young blooming at the same time~?"
"Would you shut up? She said it's not. And I told you to keep it down in a place like this."
Lim Sol set down her latte and glared at Min Yeji. She couldn't say it out loud, but half the café was already sneaking looks at their table.
"Sorry, sorry. A-young just looked so down, I was trying to cheer her up. So, A-young. What's eating you? We'll listen."
"Ugh..."
Baek A-young hesitated, wondering whether she should even talk about it. In the end, she opened her mouth.
"The truth is... I don't know. I think I might have someone I like, but..."
"Oh my god. Sol. Our Saint has a crush!"
"For real?"
Even Lim Sol perked up her ears at what sounded like a genuinely entertaining topic.
"A-young, what makes you think that? Does your heart race when you're with him?"
"...Yeah. When I'm with him my heart races, and I want to hold his hand, and I want to pull him into a hug, and I want to give him everything I have, and it hurts in my chest if he thinks badly of me, and I want to lie in the same bed and sleep next to him..."
"Hold on. Hold on, A-young. Take a breath."
"That's terminal."
Lim Sol shook her head and took a long pull of her coffee.
"No, Sol, you can't just write this off as 'terminal.' What kind of bastard reeled our A-young in like this?!"
Min Yeji couldn't hide her shock at hearing the always-pure Baek A-young talk like that.
"A-young. If your heart races when you're with him and you want to hold him, then you definitely like that guy. If you like him that much, why not just confess?"
Lim Sol offered the practical solution. There wasn't a man alive who would turn down a confession from the Saint — not after the image she'd spent years building.
"She's right. What man on earth would reject the Saint? Stop overthinking it and go straight at him!"
"...There's an age gap, and we've got all kinds of complicated circumstances between us. Haa..."
Of course it wasn't going to be that simple. Baek A-young clicked her tongue and took another sip of her drink. Still, talking about it with someone else seemed to ease the tightness in her chest, if only a little. It was better than stewing over it alone.
"An age gap... wait. Don't tell me... the reason you took that academy job in such a hurry..."
"...!"
Baek A-young flinched at Min Yeji's words.
Did she figure it out?
She was already regretting how much she'd blurted out when Min Yeji spoke again.
"Chancellor Mun Jae-cheol?"
"Are you insane?! How would I ever date that old man?!"
Baek A-young felt her face burn with embarrassment at having even worried that Yeji had guessed the truth.
Whack! Whack!
"I'm sorry, A-young! It was a joke, stop hitting me! Wait—!"
Min Yeji weaved left and right, ducking Baek A-young's flying fists as she scrambled to apologize.
Lim Sol watched the childish scuffle with a snort of laughter, then checked her smartwatch.
A message from Lee Ho-yeon. The link led to an article maliciously stirring up public opinion against him. The evidence had been cleverly fabricated and edited together; this was not the work of some ordinary civilian.
"Hmm... Min Yeji. Take a look at this for a second?"
"Hm? What is it?"
A moment later, Min Yeji's eyes narrowed as well.
"This is... incredibly low-grade work. They're manipulating public opinion right out in the open. Where are they running this from? No comment farm would be this sloppy about covering their tracks..."
"What are you two talking about?"
Baek A-young finally leaned in and read the article Lim Sol handed over.
"Ho-yeon asked me for help... girls. Can you give me a hand?"
"Obviously. It's a chance to get on Cadet Lee Ho-yeon's good side."
"Ugh..."
"A-young, what about you?"
Baek A-young ignored Lim Sol entirely and started jabbing at her own smartwatch.
"I-I work at the academy too... I could help too... why didn't he contact me...!"
Watching Baek A-young tremble from head to toe as she muttered under her breath, Lim Sol and Min Yeji quietly locked eyes.
"Sol... is the person A-young has her heart set on the same Cadet Lee Ho-yeon as you?"
Min Yeji whispered it straight into Lim Sol's ear.
"...Who knows. And for the record, I never had my heart set on anyone."
"That so? How many years apart are we from Cadet Lee Ho-yeon, anyway? Eight years?"
"...I don't know."
"Eight years isn't that big of a gap. Hmm."
Lim Sol chewed on her straw for no particular reason. Today, more than usual, she found herself craving something sweet.
"I'm back."
I came home to the dorm to find Scarlet waiting on the living-room bed.
"Hngh. Haaah... Lady Liliana. Ho-yeon is here... please, that's enough..."
Liliana was beside her, groping Scarlet's chest and teasing her without a shred of mercy.
"Oh, you're back? Scout said she had something to tell you, so I was just playing with her while we waited."
"...Right. Good job."
I hung my coat on the rack and walked over to Scarlet.
"Scarlet. Sit down."
"Yes, sir..."
Scarlet straightened her clothes and sat with perfect posture.
"You already know what this is about, don't you? Start from the beginning and explain everything."
"Ah... the truth is, I don't really know the details either. I received a private order from the young lady to film that video once you arrived. I don't have the full picture myself."
"Hmm... if it was private, then even Elise's butler doesn't know?"
"Most likely not. I don't think the young lady wants Sebas Chan finding out she brought a man into the house, either. If the Guild Leader hears about it, he might kick down your door tonight."
"...That's a little terrifying."
Picking a fight with the Emperor of the Night for no reason was a good way to find out exactly what kind of fate that earned you.
"I came to deliver that message, at any rate. I have to go report to the young lady right away."
"Perfect timing, then. I left a smartwatch on the chair under Elise's desk. When you go to make your report, 'find' it."
"A smartwatch?"
"Yeah. There's a video of Liliana on it. I want you to watch Elise's reaction for me."
"Ah... understood."
It was the method I'd come up with after turning over how to get the video into Elise's hands. Looking back on it now that the massage was over, I probably could have just handed it to Scarlet. Elise didn't seem to have any ulterior motives. But at the time, I'd wanted to read Elise's status window myself and act on what I saw.
I'd left a prepared dummy smartwatch behind, passing it off as the one I'd taken off for the massage. The rest was up to Scarlet.
"Hey. Why are you using my video however you want?"
Liliana, who had been listening in, cut in.
"Just let me use it, okay? It's not like the law protects you anyway."
Since when did a succubus get to hide behind human law?
"Do you have any idea how expensive I am?"
"Let's just eat lunch. I have to head out again as soon as I'm done."
"Then I'll order from the chicken place that delivers fast."
"You're going to eat chicken for dinner too. How about something lighter for lunch?"
Whenever I turned down chicken, Liliana always pulled out the same routine.
"It's my money and I want to eat it, so why not?! You don't even contribute to this household!"
"I knew you'd say that, so I came prepared."
I held out the contract I'd signed with Elise.
"Hm? What's this... huh."
"Huuuh... he's getting paid more than I am...? Is that even right?"
"I'm paying more than the top of the industry. Of course it is."
And just like that, the income ranking was officially reversed. I was the head of this household now.
"Anyway, Liliana. Lunch today is sandwiches, on me. You're not going to order chicken just for yourself, are you?"
"...Do whatever you want."
At last, I had escaped the chicken occupation.
Liliana spent the whole meal grumbling that she'd rather spend the same money on one proper chicken feast than eat this twice, but her protest went nowhere.
After lunch I rested for a bit, then messaged Nam Da-eun. We'd agreed to spar today, but we hadn't settled on an exact time.
It was two in the afternoon. Two hours until four.
"Two hours should be enough."
Massaging Elise had burned through more mana than I'd expected. I didn't have enough left to spar with Nam Da-eun like this — I needed to meditate. I sat down right there in the living room, closed my eyes, and drew in the mana from the air.
"I'm heading out. Hold down the fort, Liliana. Scarlet, take care of what I asked you to do."
"Yes, sir. Understood!"
"See you later~."
After Lee Ho-yeon left the dorm, Scarlet started getting ready to go to Elise.
"Lady Liliana, I'll be going as well."
"...Scout. This is bad. Sit down."
"Pardon?"
With a deadly serious face, Liliana caught Scarlet on her way out the door and forced her back into a seat.
"I've lost economic control of this house.... Just the contract fee alone already beats my monthly income. And every time he goes, the money..."
Liliana was still reeling from the first glimpse of a sum that large. There was a whole extra zero on that number compared to everything she had ever earned, combined.
"He might throw me away now that I'm useless...."
A wave of anxiety rolled over her — the fear that all those days she had worked so hard for Lee Ho-yeon might suddenly stop mattering.
"Ah... I don't think Ho-yeon is the kind of person who would think that. Even if you couldn't earn a single coin, he wouldn't throw you away."
"No. You never know. You always have to be ready for every possibility."
With the number of women around Ho-yeon steadily climbing, Liliana had been feeling a faint but growing unease. The one scrap of pride she'd clung to was being the center of this household. Now even that was gone. If she was going to drag him down to Hell with her someday, she needed a wedge driven in deep — something that wouldn't come loose.
"Get over here. We're making a plan."
"We really don't need to... mmph... y-yes."
Liliana put her head together with Scarlet's and began drafting a campaign to conquer Lee Ho-yeon.