Her Teeth
Time flew by.
At last, with Academy enrollment just around the corner, the final item on the schedule arrived.
The interview…
I'd been putting it off out of sheer laziness, but Kang Jiye's storm of lectures about always keeping one's promises had left me no choice. I threw on whatever clothes were at hand and headed to the agreed meeting place.
"Purple Bunny! Over here!"
When I arrived, two women were waiting at a conference-style café table. One was a woman in a business suit with a press badge hanging around her neck; the other was Han Hye-yeon.
The reporter looks like a sloth. A pretty sloth.
She'd clearly put a lot of effort into her eye makeup, but that didn't fool me. Those half-moon eyes drooping like one half of the Taegeuk were definitely a sloth's.
Thinking what an unusual type of beauty she was, I glanced at Han Hye-yeon. She grinned and dipped her upper body in a polite bow.
She probably didn't know that, according to my resident registration, I was younger than her — though I had a feeling she'd treat me the same way even if she did. Her personality just didn't seem the type to get hung up on age.
Anyway, it's nice to be treated like an adult for once.
"Hello to both of you."
After a light greeting, I grabbed the vanilla latte that had been prepared for me and took a long sip. Watching me enjoy the menu she'd chosen without asking, Han Hye-yeon relaxed and asked,
"Waaah— we finally meet! How have you been, unnie?"
"Hehe, same as always. How about you, Hye-yeon?"
"I've been busy. But thanks to you, unnie, it's not killing me."
Han Hye-yeon seemed to have a lot stored up; she launched into a stream of everything that had happened. Conscious of the interview, she mostly kept things brief, but I still got a decent glimpse of her eventful daily life.
What a good kid.
It felt like only yesterday she'd been struggling with housing. Twenty million won wasn't a small sum, but between loan payments and looking after her siblings, it would have vanished in no time. Now she'd scraped together a decent place by asking around, and her hunter income had stabilized the household. For a mere high school student, that was no small feat.
"Oh right, and from the Hunter Administration…"
Han Hye-yeon was about to bring up something new when she suddenly glanced sideways. The reporter, who had been listening silently the whole time without a word, gave a slight smile.
"It's fine. What you're saying is interesting too."
Han Hye-yeon replied in an embarrassed tone.
"Ah, no. I think I got a little too excited. I'm sorry."
As a temporary exit, she scooted slightly back and lifted her mug. The female reporter offered a calm smile.
"It's really fine… Well then, without further ado. I'm Cha Seoyun, the reporter who contacted you."
I accepted the business card Cha Seoyun held out.
In my previous world I'd had no social experience, so I wouldn't know — but here I'd heard that exchanging business cards was standard for formal meetings. For one thing, a business card wasn't just a scrap of paper. It was closer to a magic tool, made by registering a hunter's mana.
So Kang Jiye had told me to prepare business cards too, but…
I was too lazy to make any.
Honestly, being a Safety Keeper certified by the Deputy Director of the Incheon Branch made the business card itself a powerful weapon. Not the kind you throw like a card to slice people up — a social weapon.
Of course, it didn't do me much direct good. It was more of a gift and a courtesy to the other person. Just possessing my business card could raise someone's status. The title "acquaintance of Purple Bunny" alone would change how people looked at them.
Not simply because I was a famous hunter, but because I was a Safety Keeper. A Safety Keeper's connections could only be secured through direct contact — unless you broke through Hunter Administration security.
I fiddled with Cha Seoyun's business card as I replied.
"…I'm sorry, but I don't have a business card. Would a teddy bear do instead?"
"Pardon?"
As expected, it caught her off guard; her head tilted slightly. Han Hye-yeon, who had been watching with expectant eyes, also blinked. Her face said she had no idea what I was talking about.
I explained matter-of-factly.
"Hunters have to register their mana, right? And pick a design too."
"You mean you haven't made one yet?"
"That's right. You have to go to the workshop in person."
"Uh… for the design you just pick from a few major examples, and they only need a little mana to make it."
"Exactly. Isn't that too complicated?"
"……?"
Looking at me like that won't help. What might be a fun outing for you is, for me, as annoying as crossing the Pacific in a rowboat.
"You're as unique as I'd heard."
Cha Seoyun let out a small laugh. Having already received some information about me, she didn't seem particularly flustered. Fortunately, she treated it as no big deal and began the interview she'd prepared.
The interview topics weren't anything special. When I'd become a Safety Keeper, how I'd decided to help citizens, how I'd met Kang Jiye, and so on. They were all questions I'd expected, so I could deliver the answers I'd prepared without missing a beat.
"Wow— we're already almost at the final questions!"
Cha Seoyun smiled happily at how quickly things were progressing. Her older brother, Deputy Cha Seojun, had warned her the interview might be difficult — but I'd turned out more cooperative than expected. She kept expressing her gratitude, saying she never imagined I'd prepare so thoroughly.
"You must have been busy with Safety Keeper work too. Thank you so much, Purple Bunny!"
"This much is just basic courtesy."
Thud!
"Memorize this."
A file folder dropped in front of my eyes. I tilted my head.
"Huh? Auntie, what's this…?"
"You're going to go out and cause some weird incident again, aren't you. And that reporter is my coworker's little sister — you weren't planning to just answer with half-hearted yeses, were you?"
"……."
"It's two pages of A4. Just roughly memorize the sample answers on there."
"W-wait a second, you said two pages, so what's this?"
"That's the list of things you absolutely must not say or do. Especially — that reporter sometimes asks what she looks like…"
Oh, come on. I'm not a child.
I snorted. Don't mock people's appearances. Don't pick at every little word. If you're wrong, just admit it instead of being stubborn. Weren't these things any civilized person would figure out on their own without special instruction?
The A4 paper Kang Jiye had given me was filled with a manual that belonged in an elementary school ethics class — as if she were trying to educate a completely uncivilized monkey who did whatever it wanted. She was clearly underestimating me just because I was a magical beast.
Well, how would she know. That I'm a modern person.
I felt bad making her prepare all this, but I was an adult who had gone through normal socialization. I didn't need a manual like this.
"Alright then, before the last question… shall we lighten the mood a bit?"
I'd rather wrap this up as quickly as possible, but I just nodded. Cha Seoyun studied my mask and asked,
"Why 'Purple Bunny'? Do you raise rabbits by any chance?"
"Hmm… no. I just get told a lot that I look like a rabbit."
"Oh my, would you mind showing your face for just a moment…"
"I'm afraid that won't be possible."
"Hehe, I was joking. Then what about me? What do I look like?"
So that's what she wanted to ask all along. But is she asking because she doesn't know? With those round, drooping outer corners of her eyes. I don't know why she likes this kind of question, but I'll give her an especially honest answer.
"A sloth."
"Pardon?"
In an instant, Cha Seoyun's expression crumpled like aluminum foil.
Come to think of it, the manual might have said never to mention sloths. But being honest isn't a crime, is it? The one who asked knowing the answer is the one at fault.
"Ah, um."
At that moment, Han Hye-yeon tapped away at her smartphone — tap-tap-tap! — and held it out to Cha Seoyun beside her. Cha Seoyun blinked, then covered her mouth with both hands.
"Oh my, this is what you meant?"
"Yes. There's no way Purple Bunny unnie would have meant an actual animal."
"Ah— I see. What are you doing, Purple Bunny? I almost got my feelings hurt!"
Looking over, it was a drama character. The protagonist was a Safety Keeper whose codename was Sloth — as in, the animal. The actor playing the role looked nothing like an actual sloth.
Thinking what a weird drama, I just smiled.
"Then, the final question."
Thanks to Han Hye-yeon's not-quite-heroics, we were able to finish the interview in a warm, friendly atmosphere. For some reason, after that she started observing me with narrowed eyes.
But seriously. If hearing the answer was going to make you feel bad, you shouldn't have asked in the first place. The world of women is truly mysterious!
"Our little one—! Did the interview go well?"
"Did it go well?"
The moment I got home, Kang Jiye and her daughter rushed over and hugged me. I looked at Kang Jiye — steeped in emotion, joy, and delight — with some bewilderment.
I'd finished the interview without any major problems, but this reaction felt a bit much. Given her personality of writing out precautions on A4 paper, she should have been grilling me the moment I walked in with You did do it properly, right?
"Um, uh."
But Kang Jiye rubbed her cheek against mine before I could even ask a question.
"Mmm— how did you come up with such a thoughtful idea."
"Pardon?"
"I heard everything from Hye-yeon. That all the good deeds you've done so far were for the sake of my image?"
"…Excuse me?"
"Aigoo, and all this time I treated you like a troublemaker without knowing what was in your heart. I'm sorry."
As it turned out… Kang Jiye had called Han Hye-yeon separately, worried I might have said something strange in the interview. My way of speaking, and the fact that the Director had only recently visited — she'd been anxious I might have spilled information related to magical beasts.
That much I could understand, but…
Han Hye-yeon, does this girl have a Happy filter installed on her mouth or something?
Just how had she spun things. In Kang Jiye's eyes, I had become something like a "tactless but hardworking stepdaughter." Since a Safety Keeper represents the image of a certified hunter, she'd packaged it as me working hard so I wouldn't cause trouble for Kang Jiye.
And amazingly, she hadn't actually lied in the process. She'd just cleverly twisted the interview content at the level of "ah" versus "uh" — pure spin.
Pure admiration burst from my lips.
"Wow, huh!"
"What?"
"…Nothing."
I didn't have the courage to say that's not it here. Kang Jiye nodded with satisfaction.
"Anyway, Hye-yeon told me not to make a big deal of knowing… but how could I just sit still. Here."
Kang Jiye held out something that looked like a worn-out parchment scroll.
……?
What is this. I can feel mana from it, so it seems like a magic scroll. The magic circle was faded — it looked like a considerably ancient artifact.
Kang Jiye took hold of both my shoulders.
"It's an Academy enrollment gift. Congratulations, little one."
"Thank you. But what is this?"
"The Royal Witch's Ancient Castle. A keepsake left by my godfather — it's a fairly high-rank item. Of course, I can't use it myself."
"……!"
The Royal Witch's Ancient Castle.
Sometimes when you clear a dungeon, a building shrinks and converts into a jewel or a scroll. That's because it wasn't built by stacking construction materials directly. Having been generated by magic, when the owner dies it reverts to a design item.
So in simple terms, it was a summoning scroll.
One that creates a castle once ruled by a witch.