A Girl's Revenge (7)

Nam Da-eun trembled in my arms like a fledgling caught in the rain. I didn't move. I simply held her and waited for the shaking to pass.

I couldn't have said how long we stayed like that. It was only when the tremors running through her body finally stilled that I looked down.

"You okay?"

"...Sorry."

Only then did Nam Da-eun gently push me away. A tear-soaked patch darkened the front of my shirt.

"Feel a little better now?"

"...Yeah."

Her eyes were still red. Tch.

Affection at ninety-nine. Stuck at the same number again. So a complete conquest really did require something more.

I want to be selfish...?

What was that supposed to mean?

I closed the heroine status window and looked at her face. The girl who had been brimming with tears was watching me now, cautious and quiet.

"Can I... be selfish, just for today?"

"No. Keep living selfishly from now on. If it gets hard, I'll help you."

Nam Da-eun had held herself back long enough. She deserved to be paid back for every bit of it. I would be the one supporting her, so that much was the least I could do. If you were going to pursue a girl, you at least had to take responsibility for it.

"Then...."

"Yeah."

"...The café."

She opened her mouth softly, her eyes on mine.

"...Huh?"

"You said you'd go with me. To a café.... And to eat, and to see a movie...."

I looked at the faint color rising in her cheeks and tried to figure out what she meant. Then it clicked.

"Ah."

It came back to me almost at once. I had been so focused on the revenge that it had completely slipped my mind.

Back when Nam Da-eun was still chained to the Buyer Guild, she had so little to tell her sister during their once-a-week visits that she had started dropping my name — the only person at the Academy she had ever really talked to.

No. Not a plot point. This never happened in the original story.

It was an episode that had come into being simply because she had met me. And at the time, I had told her that if we started going around together from now on, it wouldn't be a lie anymore.

That was what she was asking for.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"That's right. Café. Restaurant. Movies. Let's go do all of it."

"Yeah. Thank you."

Nam Da-eun smiled and clutched my clothes again, tight.

"...When we're done, let me repay you again."

"...Do whatever you want."

I didn't need to ask what kind of repayment she meant.

A twitch.

Several hours after Nam Da-eun and Lee Ho-yeon had vanished, in a silent warehouse where no one remained, Park Min-gyu's corpse began to move.

"Ghh...."

He panted, harsh and ragged. Staying perfectly still for hours with your consciousness intact was no easy feat. Park Min-gyu flexed his fists open and shut, then slowly pushed himself upright.

"Khak... ptoo. Leaving without even disposing of the body. This is why amateurs never make it. Hoo...."

It was an amateur move precisely because it was the kind of mistake a veteran like him would never make. Breathing hard, Park Min-gyu drew a sword from inside his coat. Veins crawled across the surface of the blade, and the thing writhed as though it were alive.

"...I don't like it, but I don't have a choice. I have to survive first."

A demonification artifact that had fallen into his hands through some twist of fate. Anyone stabbed by this sword would transform into a Demon after twenty-four hours. Every wound sustained in that window would heal, which was why he had kept it as a spare life — and why he had finally used it.

"I'll tear you apart. Lee Ho-yeon... Nam Da-eun. You whore...."

Park Min-gyu clenched the hilt hard enough to snap it, pouring his rage into the grip. He had only just become a Demon; his body still needed time to adjust. The moment that adjustment finished, he would have to run.

"How did he know even about this... it really is remarkable."

"If you don't know, Scarlet, then I sure don't~."

Women's voices he had never heard before sounded from behind him.

"W-who the hell are you?! Fuck!"

Click. Click.

A blonde beauty and a black-haired woman in a crisp uniform approached him at an unhurried pace.

"Korean Branch Manager of the Iris Guild... no. What's the point of introducing myself to a test subject?"

"What the hell kind of bullsh— ghhk!"

Before Park Min-gyu could finish the sentence, a black hand burst from the shadows and clamped over his mouth.

"Be quiet, trash. Branch Manager. Shall we take him?"

"Sure thing~. Thanks, Scarlet."

Kang Hyo-rin studied Park Min-gyu's mana as she went on.

"Not quite S-class... is it? But factoring in how much his weight class jumped from the demonification, it's a gray area. I think we can give him ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the S-class title."

"P-puah. W-wait. What the hell is this...?!"

Park Min-gyu still hadn't adapted to his newly transformed body. He managed to tear free of Scarlet's grip just long enough to speak — and Kang Hyo-rin, watching him, smiled and flicked her fingers.

Snap.

At the same instant, Park Min-gyu's body began to be sucked into a small bag.

"I'll be taking him, then."

"S-stop! Stooop! Please, just spare me this once...! I even went through demonification. Just once...."

"It's fine. I will let you live. I paid a pretty penny for you, so just don't go asking me to kill you. An S-class Demon should make a nice, long-lasting test subject, don't you think?"

"Ghhk! You sons of bitches, why me......"

In that moment, Park Min-gyu truly regretted everything. But it was already far too late. He was about to spend the rest of his life as the subject of experiments so grotesque that rotting in a prison cell would have seemed like mercy — in pain, unable to die, and unable even to kill himself.

A thick glugging sound, like a toilet flushing, and Park Min-gyu was swallowed into the artifact.

"I'll use him for a bit and then sell him off. Mm~ nice."

Kang Hyo-rin gave the bag a cheerful little pat.

"...You've worked hard, Branch Manager."

"Oh, come on. You're the one who did all the work, Scarlet. I just picked up good material at a bargain price."

Scarlet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had come to handle the cleanup on Lee Ho-yeon's instructions, and running into Kang Hyo-rin in the process had given her a genuine start. The Iris Guild made a point of staying out of one another's assignments. Even so, members wore a visible mark when they were in the field, in case they crossed paths with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠someone from the same guild — and Kang Hyo-rin had been wearing the Branch Manager's insignia.

How did Ho-yeon even get to know the Branch Manager?

The request ticket Elise had given him was a personal repayment, something the rest of the Iris Guild had no way of knowing about. Using her position as the daughter to wring a request ticket out of the guild hadn't exactly been a noble thing to do, after all. Scarlet, who knew none of this, simply filed away another note on the breadth of Lee Ho-yeon's connections and nodded to herself. She really had hitched her wagon to the right person.

"Scarlet. What have you been up to these days?"

"...Personal business for Lady Elise. I didn't expect to see you here either, Kang Hyo-rin. And I certainly didn't know you were the Korean Branch Manager."

This was not their first meeting. In an information guild with precious few young women, the two of them had grown close, then drifted apart as the work pulled them in different directions. They hadn't seen each other in years. In the time Scarlet had settled comfortably into her place as a guild member, Kang Hyo-rin had climbed all the way to Branch Manager.

"Heh. For 'personal business,' you seem to be having quite a lot of fun with Cadet Lee Ho-yeon. Well. I respect people's private work. Bye-bye, Scarlet."

"...Yes."

Kang Hyo-rin waved a careless hand and left. Scarlet, alone now, clicked her tongue.

So she caught me.

That meaningful smile could only mean one thing: Kang Hyo-rin knew she wasn't focused on her work, and that she was up to something else entirely. Factor in Ho-yeon's name coming up, and it was safe to assume she knew everything.

Kang Hyo-rin wasn't the type to go around talking, but it still wasn't a good sign. Scarlet had been careful when she met Ho-yeon, and she had still been found out. However high her stealth techniques, there was always someone in the world who stood higher.

I may need to keep my distance for a while.

Playtime was over. Thinking of Elise, Scarlet quietly slipped out of the warehouse.

Whether it was a café, a movie, or an amusement park — even the finest view in the world was best enjoyed on a full stomach.

"How much is this?"

"This is... how much was it again? It should be on the menu over there."

"The menu? Ahh. Holy—.... How many super chats is one plate of this?!"

Liliana's eyes went huge at the price of two slices of flounder sashimi.

"This isn't even the whole thing — it comes as a course."

"Ah... it's still expensive!"

The look on her face was so cute I had to swallow a laugh.

After we finished taking revenge on Park Min-gyu, I had brought Nam Da-eun, Nam Daehee, and Liliana out to eat at Pungmidang, hoping to lift what might otherwise have become a gloomy mood. It was the same restaurant Mun Su-rin used to take me to all the time. I had wanted to bring Nam Da-eun here at least once, and now that the chance had presented itself, I wasn't going to waste it. With the Buyer Guild gone, they could go wherever they wanted.

"Eat as much as you want. It's on me today."

"Thank you, Ho-yeon oppa."

"Thanks for the meal. It's good, right, Daehee?"

"Yeah. Unnie, unnie. You eat some too."

I had been worried about Nam Da-eun's state of mind, but fortunately she hadn't withdrawn at all. If anything, she looked happy — already thinking about all the places she could take Nam Daehee now, with no one left to stop them.

"After we eat, let's hit a café and the amusement park too."

For the record, the amusement park was the product of some very serious deliberation between Liliana and Nam Daehee.

"Yay! Ho-yeon oppa and Liliana unnie and Scarlet unnie are all coming too?"

"Yeah. Of course."

"Nom nom. Come to think of it, where's Scarlet?"

"She said she had something personal to take care of, so she couldn't make it. She'll catch up with us later."

I thought of Scarlet, who would still be handling the cleanup, and slipped a piece of flounder sashimi into my mouth. It melted the instant it hit my tongue. Yeah. That price tag was earned.

What would this whole thing have looked like without Scarlet?

From the infiltration of the Buyer Guild to the cleanup afterward, there wasn't a single part of the operation her hands hadn't touched. Just imagining how much messier it would have been without her was enough to make my skin crawl. I was going to have to pay her back properly this time.

"Unnie. But why are we going out to play?"

"Mm... because we can now. Ho-yeon and I took care of everything."

"Wow! So now you and Ho-yeon oppa are gonna hang out with me?"

"Yeah. Of course."

Nam Da-eun smiled as she answered her sister. She looked like she wanted to give Daehee everything she hadn't been able to give her before.

"Then does that mean you and Ho-yeon oppa are dating now?"

"...Huh?"

I barely held back a laugh. Apparently she hadn't seen that one coming. I watched Nam Da-eun's flustered face and smiled to myself, careful not to let her catch it.

Nam Daehee had spent a long time locked in a hospital room, barely seeing anyone who wasn't there to hurt her. She was old enough to be starting middle school, and she still had this wide-eyed, untouched quality that was almost painfully cute. I wouldn't have minded having a little sister like that myself....

"W-we are, I think?"

I was still lost in idle thought when Nam Da-eun's answer reached me, and I nearly doubted my own ears.

"What?"

"Ah, maybe not. Forget it."

Nam Da-eun stuffed a piece of beef into her mouth, her face burning. The chopsticks in her right hand were trembling.

"What? Unnie! Don't just trail off like that! Oppa, you tell me! Are you two dating?"

"Mm...."

I glanced at Nam Da-eun out of the corner of my eye. She was pretending not to care and, at the same time, focusing every last nerve on this side of the table.

For the record, Liliana had already finished her own braised short ribs and, still not satisfied, was quietly stealing mine in the middle of the conversation.

Well... if Da-eun was going to put it like that, there was nothing to hesitate over.

"Yeah. That's how it is, Daehee."

"Wow! That's amazing! Unnie~! That means you can live at Ho-yeon oppa's house forever now, right?"

"...Yeah. I guess so."

Watching Nam Da-eun, who was too embarrassed to meet my eyes, I smiled a very satisfied smile.