Weekend (2)

"Guild Master! Now it's the Iron Blood Guild and the Azure Dragon Guild! The follow-up interviews just keep coming!"

"Shut it down! Call in every connection we've got and bury this however you can!"

Shin Young-man, Guild Master of the Shinyoung Guild, found himself scrambling to fend off a sudden barrage of attacks aimed squarely at his organization.

The rumor was that his son, Shin Dong-min, had been implicated with Demons.

Just as public interest in the Association mixer attack had begun to cool, reporters had dug up fresh kindling to throw on the fire. Shin Young-man had tried flooding the press with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠counter-articles to stem the growing tide, but now the major guilds themselves had started issuing official statements.

It was as coordinated as a rigged hand of cards. Articles poured out all at once from Victoria Academy and every guild with ties to it. The Shinyoung Guild had friendly outlets of its own, but even those were running the same stories. It was enough to drive a man insane.

While his guild members scrambled to respond, Shin Young-man worked the phones himself.

"Yes, President. This is Shin Young-man. Shin Young-man of the Shinyoung Guild. You can't come out swinging like this all of a sudden. We've built a relationship over the years, haven't we?!"

"That's what you're there for…! That's why we keep you people around……!!!"

Shin Young-man gritted his teeth at the sound of his son's name. He couldn't help thinking of the boy who hadn't left his room since the attack.

The line went dead.

"President. Hold on. President! These fucking bastards — after all the money they've taken from us, and now they—!"

He hurled the phone. It smashed against the floor. Shin Young-man stood there seething, then turned on the guild member waiting beside him.

"What's Dong-min doing?"

"He's still holed up in his room, sir."

"Haa…. Do what you can to hold the line. I'm going to check on him."

Shin Young-man headed for his son's room himself. The truth was, Dong-min's condition hadn't been right for a day or two. He'd been like this ever since losing to the first-year Lee Ho-yeon at the Celestial Tournament. But even so — getting mixed up with Demons?

Hoping it was a lie, Shin Young-man arrived at the door.

Knock knock.

"I'm coming in."

He opened the door without waiting for an answer. But no one was inside. The lights were off, the room pitch-black, and a foul, unsettling air hung over everything.

"…What's that?"

In the center of the room, sitting alone on the desk, was a single, ghastly skull mask.

Saturday afternoon.

After Baek A-young left at lunch, a message came in from Mun Su-rin saying she'd come visit. The fact that she was only messaging now meant whatever investigation she'd been running must have wrapped up.

"Maybe I should've sent another one."

She hadn't replied to the last message I'd sent, so I hadn't reached out after that either. Thinking about it now, she might have been hurt. I browsed my smartwatch while I waited for her to arrive.

"What the hell is this."

EveryDay was acting strange. Unpleasant names sat at the top of the search rankings — Shinyoung Guild. Shin Dong-min. Related articles were pouring out in droves.

"…A Demon?"

This wasn't a development from the original story. In the original, Shin Dong-min simply used the Shinyoung Guild's power to stalk Mun Su-rin. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Now he'd gotten tangled up with Demons — and they'd caught him by the tail.

Checking the community boards and the articles, I found that the Academy and several major guilds had issued official statements. And with my knowledge of the original, I could tell.

"…This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is the Academy."

Victoria Academy had made a move. Most of the guilds issuing statements were ones close to the Academy.

The Chairman, maybe?

No. No way. I'd asked the Chairman to run articles defending me, but that old man wasn't the type to do anything beyond what he'd been asked. To be fair, I'd been pretty damn rude about it at the time.

A coincidence?

Maybe it was. Perhaps the Academy, investigating the Association mixer attack, had stumbled onto Shin Dong-min's trail and decided to cut their student council vice president loose as fast as possible — by leaking it first.

"This is almost too convenient… or is it? Is this actually bad?"

Having the work done for me was nice, but Shin Dong-min was the culprit behind Mun Su-rin's stalker incident. Things had gotten delayed because of my interference, sure, but the key to conquering Mun Su-rin was still Shin Dong-min. That hadn't changed. If the guy got arrested like this… wouldn't that be a problem?

Knock knock.

A familiar knock. I'd heard it so many times I knew it was the duty nurse just from the sound.

"Yes? Who is it?"

"Mr. Lee Ho-yeon. A Mun Su-rin is here to visit. Shall I send her in?"

"Please send her up."

Had it gotten that late already? I closed my smartwatch and prepared to receive her.

…Wait. Mun Su-rin?

I remembered her saying she was conducting a private investigation.

"Even for Su-rin, moving something on this scale would be tough."

In the game's lore, Mun Su-rin had considerable authority as the Chairman's granddaughter, but not this much.

Knock knock.

The knock came again.

"Can I come in?"

"Yes. Come in."

The door opened, and a fall of platinum-blonde straight hair caught my eye. Neat, refined features. Skin so pale it was almost luminous. Mun Su-rin, student council president of Victoria Academy. The fact that her chest and hips still cut that kind of silhouette even in a uniform was frankly unfair. That was my Su-rin noona.

She smiled faintly at the sight of my face, came over, and sat in the chair.

"Ho-yeon. How are you feeling? Sorry I'm late."

"I'm just grateful you came at all, Su-rin noona."

"Is that so? Then you could've at least left me a message."

"…I'm sorry. I thought you were busy, noona."

So she had been hurt. For all the heroines I'd seduced, I still hadn't managed to graduate from amateur hour when it came to actually dating. I bowed my head and apologized.

"No, no. I'm sorry I couldn't get in touch either. Ah, right. I bought these for you to drink while you're stuck in here."

Mun Su-rin set the drinks she'd brought on the desk. And that wasn't all. Looking closer, I realized plastic bags and boxes were floating along the path she'd walked in on.

"These are snacks, drinks, I bought a game console in case you get bored, a massager and vitamins…"

"Hold on. Noona. Hold on. I'm being discharged soon. I'll just take the thought, okay?"

I waved my hands in a panic. Who the hell brought stuff in with telekinesis?

"Huh? Really? When are you getting out?"

"Probably around next week, I think. My body's been getting better."

"Thank goodness… Then let's get a meal to celebrate you getting out."

"Of course. This time it's on me."

I wasn't sure the person being discharged was supposed to pay… but I'd sponged off her plenty of times already, so it was fine. I'd landed Elise as a patron, so I might as well spend freely while I could.

"Thanks. Makes all noona's hard work worth it."

"Hard work?"

"Yeah. Do you remember this?"

Mun Su-rin held out a photograph. Inside it was a skull mask so unsettling that just looking at it made my skin crawl.

"This is… the mask the Demon who attacked me during the terrorist attack was wearing."

The skull mask. The thing responsible for putting my body in this state. Just looking at it pissed me off.

"The truth is, this is what I've been investigating. The skull mask of the one who attacked you."

Documents kept coming out of Mun Su-rin's arms. Her investigation of the skull mask. How she'd searched the party venue alone and found the brooch. How she'd used that brooch to connect Shin Dong-min to the Demons. A cleanly organized file sat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in front of my eyes.

"Noona… you did all of this? Then the press, too…"

"Once I found the evidence, I had to strike immediately. He was Victoria Academy's vice president, after all — we needed to cut him loose fast. Ah, but I was investigating because you'd been attacked. Shin Dong-min only came up after that."

Wow. For a second, I could have sworn Su-rin noona's head was sparkling right in front of me.

"Noona. I love you."

"Then shall we get married?"

"I'm sorry. But it's still too early for marriage."

I gave an awkward smile at the playful grin on Mun Su-rin's face. I was so grateful I didn't know how to put it into words.

It was already a gift that she was being conquered automatically — and now she'd gone and cleaned up a troublesome enemy for me on her own. I couldn't have been more grateful. What she was thinking was a little scary… but it was probably fine.

"Noona. One meal isn't going to be enough. If there's anything you want, just say the word."

"Hmm, nothing right now. I'll tell you when I think of something."

"Yes, yes. Anything at all."

I nodded, watching the cute little smile on Mun Su-rin's face.

Cough, cough—

Rumi had figured a little rest would take care of it. Instead, she was laid out with a full-body ache. The dizziness had only gotten worse the moment she came back from visiting Lee Ho-yeon. Forcing herself to walk around when she should have been in bed hadn't helped either.

"…What are you going to do if you actually catch my cold, Rumi."

"It's fine. Hehe. I'll get better in no time. Ah…choo!"

"Haa…."

And as if the universe had a sense of humor, Lucy — whose own body ache had vanished like a lie — had come over to nurse her sister instead. She was perfectly fine now, and this time it was Rumi who'd collapsed. It really did feel like her little sister had taken the illness from her, and the thought made Lucy feel guilty for no good reason.

Her body had recovered, but her chest was still a tangle of complicated feelings. Even so, she couldn't neglect taking care of her sister. Lucy wrung out a washcloth and laid it across Rumi's forehead.

"Lucy… are you going to see Ho-yeon tomorrow?"

"…Why?"

"I can't go, so… wouldn't Ho-yeon get bored?"

Lucy hesitated. Could she even look Lee Ho-yeon in the face? Ever since that day, just thinking about him made her head throb. But she couldn't keep avoiding him forever. If he was Rumi's boyfriend, she was going to run into him eventually.

"…Did you at least tell Lee Ho-yeon you're sick?"

"My smartwatch is broken, so… I couldn't."

"Ah…."

Watching Lucy wrestle with herself, Rumi could feel it too. She didn't know why, but Lucy didn't want to see Lee Ho-yeon. And she could tell that she herself was part of the reason. They were twins, after all. They could read each other's hearts from the way a fingertip moved.

"Lucy."

"Yeah. Do you need something?"

Lucy was worried about Rumi. But Rumi was worried about Lucy, too. It wasn't the best time, given how awful she felt — but this was the moment she had to say it.

"You like Ho-yeon too, don't you, Lucy?"

"W-wh— what? What are you even talking about? Your head must be killing you. I'll change the washcloth. Just wait a sec. Whoa, look how hot this is. Ah, or do you want some porridge?"

Caught completely off guard by Rumi's ambush, Lucy flailed her hands and scrambled into motion, swapping out the washcloth on Rumi's forehead and pulling out the porridge she'd been keeping warm. But that wasn't going to stop Rumi from talking.

"Lucy. I like Ho-yeon. What about you?"

"…."

Lucy couldn't understand why Rumi would say something like that, but she knew this wasn't teasing. So she decided to listen.

"…I… I think I like him too."

For the first time, Lucy said the feeling out loud. Her face burned. She wanted to crawl under the blanket Rumi was buried in and disappear.

"Let's share Ho-yeon. If it's you, Lucy—no, if it's us, we can do it."

"Share…?"

It was a word that should never come up between lovers, but Rumi looked at Lucy with a perfectly serious expression.

"Exactly what it sounds like. Ho-yeon already said yes."

Slowly, Lucy began to listen to what her sister had to say.