Day 16: Hunger Pangs in Seoul
“Hmm…?”
Maraseung emerged from his training in the Mara Great Hand Secrets with a puzzled look on his face.
There on his desk sat a single elixir pill he had never seen before.
A slip of paper rested beside it, and on that slip was written—
A reward for training so hard ^^
A single neat line, penned in small, tidy handwriting.
Only then did Maraseung realize that the pill on his desk was a gift from Cheon Seo-ah herself.
Truly.
“Thank you, Heavenly Demon.”
Though Cheon Seo-ah was already long gone, Maraseung pressed his palms together and bowed deeply, offering her his gratitude all the same.
But Maraseung was not the only one to receive a “Cheon Seo-ah brand” elixir pill.
Scattered across the world, every last one of the nine most wicked villains—Maraseung among them—had received a pill crafted by Cheon Seo-ah’s own hand.
Meanwhile, having slipped free of Maraseung’s house, Cheon Seo-ah said,
“Seoul really is the most comfortable place after all.”
She said it while alternating bites of bread and banana milk held in either hand.
“What should I do now, I wonder.”
On a street thronged with people, each hurrying along with their own private purpose, Cheon Seo-ah sat off to the side and watched the crowds stream past in a vacant daze. The words slipped out of her without warning.
What to do next.
Even for someone who had lived hundreds of thousands of years, that question was a riddle among riddles—one she could not answer on the spot.
To be perfectly honest, the Earth of today was far too peaceful.
Granted, compared to the past, this Earth had abilities now. Villains and heroes had sprung up as a result. Even so, to Cheon Seo-ah it felt no different from the Earth she once knew.
If only this world had been like a web novel—gates and dungeons and towers erupting out of nowhere, monsters flooding the streets—she would never have had to suffer this kind of boredom.
How long she sat there staring blankly into empty air, simply watching people drift past, she could not have said.
Grrrrowl—.
“I’m hungry.”
At the sound rolling up from her stomach, Cheon Seo-ah muttered with a faint blush of embarrassment on her cheeks.
Perhaps it was because the body she currently wore was all too human. Cheon Seo-ah found herself fascinated by this thing called “hunger,” which she had not felt even once in nearly two hundred thousand years.
Fascinating was one thing, though…
Grrrrowl—.
The noise kept going, and being embarrassed by it was another matter entirely.
And yet.
“I don’t have any money, you know.”
Even as her stomach rumbled on and her cheeks colored with shame, Cheon Seo-ah could not quite bring herself to move. When she had been operating out of the Proxy’s mansion or Maraseung’s house, money had never seemed necessary. Now, out here, its necessity pressed on her with perfect clarity.
If Earth had been a lawless free-for-all, she could simply have seized whatever she wanted by force, the way one did in the cultivation world. But Earth was not the cultivation world. Law and order held firm here.
If she had known it would come to this—
“I should have taken a little money from the kids while I was at it.”
Or at least dragged David around with her.
But going back now, even for Cheon Seo-ah, felt a little too awkward. Of course those children would welcome her anytime, anywhere. That did not mean she could lean on them forever.
And so, just as Cheon Seo-ah was fretting over the question of how exactly she was supposed to solve this hunger problem—
“Hello there.”
A shadow fell across her without warning, and a beautiful, clear voice brushed against her ear.
Focus returned to Cheon Seo-ah’s eyes, and a woman stepped into view.
A hero, perhaps?
The lovely woman who had spoken to her was dressed in something that looked very much like a hero costume.
“Hello.”
“What are you doing out here?”
Cheon Seo-ah dipped her head in a polite bow as she greeted her, and the woman asked,
“I was just sitting.”
“It’s getting late. Aren’t you going home?”
Hmm?
Late?
At the woman’s words, Cheon Seo-ah tilted her head.
Late, she said. Cheon Seo-ah was certain she had left Maraseung’s house and arrived in Seoul around ten in the morning. And now it was late?
Puzzled, she glanced around—and found that a deep darkness had already settled over the streets.
“Ah…”
How to solve the hunger problem. Had she sunk so far into that question that time itself had slipped away?
She checked the smartphone the Proxy had prepared for her and discovered that it was already pushing eleven at night.
I really overthought that one.
Cheon Seo-ah muttered to herself. And at the same moment—
Grrrrowl—.
An even more ferocious rumble rolled out of her stomach.
She flushed all over again despite herself. The woman, as if she understood perfectly, nodded.
“Looks like you’re starving. How about coming with big sister to get something to eat?”
“To eat?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Why?”
“Huh?”
For the first time, the woman looked flustered by Cheon Seo-ah’s blunt demand for a reason.
Though if one thought about it, the question was perfectly reasonable. Hero costume or not, the two of them had only just met. If a total stranger suddenly asked, “Want to go grab a meal?” nine people out of ten would start wondering, Wait… is this…?
Only then did the woman realize where she had gone wrong, and she scrambled to speak.
“W-wait, big sister isn’t a weirdo. Have you ever heard of a hero called Radiance?”
“Umm, no.”
Cheon Seo-ah puffed out her cheeks and shook her head.
The woman, who had been wearing a rather confident expression, looked even more rattled than before at the news that Cheon Seo-ah had never heard the name.
“Y-you really haven’t?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Really? Not even once? I mean, I’m ranked eighth among Korean heroes, so…”
Why was she so flustered—and so persistent about it?
Ah. Wait a second!
“Is big sister the hero called Radiance?”
“Y-yeah.”
Cheon Seo-ah asked with the look of someone who had just figured something out, and the woman—Radiance—nodded with a dejected expression.
A faint flicker of guilt passed through Cheon Seo-ah’s eyes.
If she’s ranked eighth among heroes, she must take real pride in herself. That one’s on me.
The thought had barely formed before—
“Hehe, just kidding. Of course I’ve heard of you, big sister!”
“R-right?”
Cheon Seo-ah beamed as she said it, and Radiance’s face brightened right along with her.
“But are you really going to buy me food? I don’t have any money.”
“It’s fine. Honestly, I can’t just leave you here like this.”
“Ah.”
At the hero’s words, Cheon Seo-ah let out a soft sound of understanding and nodded.
Outwardly, she was nothing more than a girl of fifteen or sixteen. In South Korea—and in every other country, for that matter—that was the age of a minor. In other words, Radiance was not acting out of simple pity. This was a kind of hero work in its own right.
Still.
Korea’s public safety really is something else.
Cheon Seo-ah murmured to herself.
In any other country—even a place like the United States—a girl sitting alone in a street corner at this hour of the night would become a target for crime in an instant. Korea was different. People might glance at her with curiosity, or even with pity, but she never became a target.
Even with abilities, even with villains and heroes in the picture—Korea is still Korea.
She rose to her feet in a single motion.
“What are we going to eat?”
“Hmm, good question. Is there anything you especially like?”
“Um… dessert! I like sweet things, like cake…”
Grrrrowl—!
Cheon Seo-ah’s mouth snapped shut mid-answer. Her stomach had chosen that exact moment to roar with fresh enthusiasm.
At that thunderous sound, Radiance swallowed the laugh that tried to burst free and said,
“All right, all right. But let’s get some real food first before the cake. Eating nothing but cake on an empty stomach is bad for you.”
With that, Radiance took the lead and walked on, guiding Cheon Seo-ah along.
And the moment Cheon Seo-ah vanished completely from the street in Radiance’s wake—
The shadow that had fallen over the spot where Cheon Seo-ah had been sitting suddenly rippled, and a grotesque figure rose out of it, muttering,
“Of all the luck. Getting tangled up with Radiance, of all people.”
The creature frowned in grim concentration, turning the problem over and over, then finally said,
“I should report this to Lord Chilgeomje for now.”
With those words it sank back into the shadows the same way it had come, and was gone.
“Where is this…?”
Cheon Seo-ah tilted her head and asked. Radiance’s expression turned faintly awkward.
“W-well. It was so late that nothing was open. So I brought you to my team’s dormitory for now.”
“Umm.”
Cheon Seo-ah nodded at Radiance’s explanation.
Honestly, late as it was, Korea had a thriving late-night food culture. And this was Seoul, the capital—if you set your mind to it, you could find an open restaurant in under a minute. The fact that Radiance had brought her to her team’s dormitory anyway said plenty.
She must think I’m a runaway.
Not that it was hard to understand. Truthfully, if Cheon Seo-ah had been in Radiance’s position, she would have thought the same thing about herself.
And so, once more guided by Radiance’s hand, Cheon Seo-ah stepped into the dormitory—
“Hey, you little brat! Do you know what time it is, crawling back in now?!”
A woman burst out with a face full of fury and hurled a rage-filled shout at Radiance.
Then—
“Huh? And who’s the kid?”
Belatedly spotting Cheon Seo-ah standing behind Radiance, the woman looked startled.
Radiance offered the woman—who was somehow managing to look both furious and flustered at once—an awkward smile and said,
“W-well, you see…”
Whisper whisper.
Radiance murmured something into the woman’s ear. Only then did the woman nod as if she understood.
“Haaah, fine. Let’s get some food into her fir—”
Grrrrowl—.
Before the woman could even finish the sentence, that powerful rumble rolled out again. Cheon Seo-ah’s face flushed so red it looked ready to burst, and the woman could not help laughing out loud.