A Girl's Revenge (2)

Nam Da-eun arrived at the hospital wrapped in Scarlet's mana.

"Did you come to see Ho-yeon?"

"Yes. You mentioned it last time, didn't you? That you wanted revenge on the Buyer Guild."

"...Did you tell Ho-yeon, Scarlet?"

Nam Da-eun's brow furrowed slightly.

She needed to repay Lee Ho-yeon. She couldn't keep taking from him. In her mind, the two of them were still locked in a debtor-and-creditor relationship—he had given, and she had yet to give anything back.

"No. He planned this himself, before I even had a chance to say a word. He gathered the intelligence on the Buyer Guild on his own, too. He's wanted to help you get your revenge for some time now."

"...Why?"

Come to think of it, she had heard about the information gathering directly from Ho-yeon himself. But how had he known what was in her heart? The only person she had ever told about wanting revenge was Scarlet. If Scarlet hadn't said anything, he shouldn't have known.

"I couldn't say. I don't know the exact reason myself. Ho-yeon always has plans of his own."

"Why does he keep trying to help me? There's nothing I can do for him..."

Scarlet looked at the downcast Nam Da-eun with a bitter expression.

There were people in this world who simply didn't know how to receive kindness.

Scarlet had once lived without a thought for anyone but herself. Meeting Lee Ho-yeon had changed that. She could feel herself becoming someone different.

She wanted Nam Da-eun to be all right. Living together had fostered a genuine fondness, and Daehee—the little sister—had taken a real shine to her.

So she chose her next words with care.

"Do you really have to repay him?"

"What?"

"Ho-yeon isn't looking for that. He's just... well, he's the sort of person who likes helping people. So I think it would be all right, just this once, to simply say thank you and leave it at that."

She said it hoping Nam Da-eun might become someone capable of accepting a kindness. And, if she was being honest, she added it to leave a good impression on Ho-yeon as well.

Their first meeting hadn't gone well, but she had come to realize he was a rather interesting person. Besides, putting it bluntly, Lee Ho-yeon was a winning lottery ticket—there was no reason not to get in line. Life in a major guild, where you could be cut loose at any moment, was harder than it looked. It paid to keep your options open.

"..."

Nam Da-eun closed her mouth and sank into thought. From here, it was up to her. Nothing more Scarlet said would reach her now.

"We're here. Ho-yeon will be waiting inside."

"Thank you, Scarlet."

Scarlet nodded as she watched Nam Da-eun disappear into the hospital room.

It was the look Nam Da-eun wore when Daehee wasn't around—that wilted, rain-soaked-herbivore expression unique to her. There was a little more life in it now than before.

Clack—

I was meditating on the bed when the hospital room door suddenly flew open.

Baek A-young?

I cracked an eye and turned my head. Nam Da-eun was standing there.

"Nam Da-eun?"

Scarlet had already brought her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠over. I'd assumed she'd come in through the window, but she'd entered like a normal person. Unexpected.

Clean.

I wiped away the sweat from meditating before we started talking. Light magic like this no longer put any strain on my body.

"You said you were looking for me, so I came."

"Yeah. I have something to talk to you about. Want to sit down?"

Once I confirmed she had taken a seat, I settled into my own posture.

But why did it feel so awkward today? Nam Da-eun was sitting there with the same blank expression as always, and yet something about the atmosphere—if that was the word—felt different. A little more serious.

I started with what I had prepared.

"Last time I mentioned I was gathering information on the Buyer Guild, remember?"

"Yeah."

"The gathering's done. I'm about to blow it all open, but I wanted to hear your thoughts first. That's why I called you."

The truth was the information gathering had been finished for a while. The preparations were ready now, though, so it amounted to the same thing.

I watched her face. Nam Da-eun blinked at me, her expression as unreadable as ever. I could tell she was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turning it over, at least.

"The moment this information drops, Park Min-gyu is finished. You two will be able to walk around without looking over your shoulders."

"...Yeah."

"But I don't want to end it that cleanly. I don't want to just bring down the man who put you and Daehee through hell and call it a day."

"..."

No reaction? She wasn't giving me anything, so I had gone ahead and said Park Min-gyu's name out loud—and still nothing.

Nam Da-eun, who had been looking at me, closed her eyes for a moment. Then she spoke.

"Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why can't you forgive Park Min-gyu? Why are you helping me this much?"

"Uh..."

Her eyes were more serious than I had ever seen them. Fair enough. She had every reason to think that way.

The excuse I had given when I first rescued Nam Daehee and Nam Da-eun was coincidence. I was investigating the Shinyeong Guild, which led me to the Buyer Guild, and I happened to find you.

This time was different. The Shinyeong Guild had already fallen. There was no reason to keep digging into the Buyer Guild—and I had done it anyway, for her. I had moved for Nam Da-eun, with no cover story left to hide behind.

I could have squeezed out an excuse if I really wanted to. I started investigating them at the same time as the last case.I began looking into this before I even met you, and it just happened to wrap up now. Something along those lines. I could have talked my way around it one way or another.

But Nam Da-eun was looking straight at me. She had laid every one of her feelings bare and was staring into my eyes.

"..."

Nam Da-eun was pure.

Even in the middle of that nightmare—her sister locked away, Park Min-gyu wringing her dry—she would laugh and cry over a few dollars, and whenever she went to see her sister she became as innocent as a child. She had learned how to have sex just so she could repay me with her body. She never questioned the succubus in the men's dorm or the suspicious blonde beauty hanging around, because they were my people, and my people had helped her.

She was that pure. But pure was not the same as stupid.

I stopped thinking and looked into her eyes. Her face was blank, but there was warmth in her gaze. She wasn't suspicious of me. Just curious. The kind of curiosity I could have brushed aside with a half-baked excuse and suffered no real consequences. It wouldn't have dropped the affection I had already built up.

But for a perfect conquest, I couldn't lie to her now. Every instinct I had honed capturing heroines was telling me the same thing.

In the end, I discarded every lie I had been turning over. I took a slow breath, then met Nam Da-eun's face head-on.

"Goodwill."

"Goodwill?"

"I guess that's the word for it. I just want to be good to you. I like you... I like the person named Nam Da-eun."

"..."

"That's how I honestly feel. So I want you to be honest with me too. Tell me what would actually put your heart at ease—what should happen to Park Min-gyu."

It hadn't gone quite the way I expected, but this was a good result.

Nam Da-eun worked her mouth. She looked like she was kneading the words inside it, trying to figure out how to let them out. I waited, patient. I had said everything I needed to say. All that was left was for her to decide.

"..."

"I want to watch Uncle Min-gyu—no. Park Min-gyu—be destroyed with my own eyes. I don't want to let him off easy... just quietly buried by society and done."

Nam Da-eun bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and poured out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠everything she had been holding in. Her body trembled. The rims of her eyes had gone red. Hatred lived in every word.

For the first time, she was letting out what she felt about everything that had been done to her. I couldn't begin to imagine how much resolve that had taken.

"Okay. Don't worry. The preparations are already finished."

I offered the faintest smile and gently took her hand. Her cold, trembling fingers flinched for a moment—but she didn't pull away.

"Scarlet."

"Yes, Ho-yeon."

After sending a calmer Nam Da-eun on her way, I called out the Scarlet who had been hiding. Her expression, still clinging to the ceiling, looked more drained than usual.

"Were you crying?"

"...I was not crying."

I'd asked it as a joke. The strength of her reaction caught me off guard.

"Right, well. You heard all of that, yeah?"

I handed her the letter I had written in advance.

"Yes. Shall I proceed as you instructed last time?"

"Hold on a second, Scarlet."

Leak a rumor to the information brokers that I was sheltering Nam Da-eun and Nam Daehee. Then send the Buyer Guild master a personal message—a threat, letting him know I had information on him. That had been the original plan.

But the situation had shifted. The Buyer Guild master had started climbing into the light. He was all over television these days, posing as the Shinyeong Guild whistleblower.

A new plan took shape.

"The higher they climb, the faster they fall."

You drop a man into hell at the peak of his life. That was what real revenge looked like.

"We should start by setting off something small."

Detonate the little things first. Then set off the big ones, one by one.

"What about this, then?"

Scarlet looked at me with a meaningful smile.

"What?"

"We use your image. We lift the Buyer Guild master all the way to the heavens—and then you become the whistleblower."

Whoa. That was diabolical. The plan was far too underhanded.

Which was exactly what made it good.

"...Are you a genius?"

"I'm used to this sort of work. The public doesn't know about the womanizing you do behind the scenes, so we can put that genius-mage image of yours to excellent use."

"If you'd just stopped before that last part, I might've seriously considered releasing you from your contract."

Either way, the shadows were Scarlet's specialty. I'd have to pick her brain again later.

"Then let's start by calling in a reporter I know."

So all that networking I'd done at the Association mixer had been for today.

I scrolled through my smartwatch, looking for people to contact.