The Scent of Peaches and Cherries
“We need to get things sorted.”
“You’re right. It’s gotten way too complicated.”
“In that case, let me ask one thing. Do you still plan to continue your idol activities?”
“I suppose so. Things have come to this, so I might as well keep going, don’t you think? I’m not aiming to become some huge star or anything, but I do intend to give it my best.”
“Unexpected. I didn’t think you’d need to cling to idol work.”
“I have my own reasons.”
“The most important thing is Golden Roll’s activities, correct?”
“Obviously.”
After checking the most basic facts first, Tasha reached her conclusion immediately.
“Then what we need to do is clear. We have to bring Na Yeri over to our side.”
“Na Yeri?”
“Yes. Na Yeri. She holds all the keys.”
“Why her?”
After going around in circles, it all came back to Na Yeri. Seong Jiyeong couldn’t easily grasp what Tasha was trying to say. But once she heard the explanation, it actually made a surprising amount of sense.
“First, Na Yeri already knows your true identity. You acknowledge that much, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“And Yu Hana and Ji Seoeun. I don’t know why, but they seem quite close to Na Yeri.”
“...You’re right. Yu Hana’s practically glued to her, and Ji Seoeun keeps hovering around her without even realizing it...”
“I don’t know what kind of relationship the three of them have, but if Na Yeri joins us and we become allies, then no matter who those two are, the chance of them causing us harm drops to almost nothing.”
“Because if something happens to us, Na Yeri would be affected too.”
“Exactly.”
Now that Na Yeri knew Seong Jiyeong’s secret, some kind of action was clearly necessary. Tasha’s opinion was that they might as well make her one of their own. Seong Jiyeong had no choice but to nod.
The most efficient way to keep a secret was obviously “elimination,” but she had no confidence in quietly removing Na Yeri, who was a superhuman with abilities similar to her own. Even if she succeeded, if Na Yeri disappeared, their idol lives would be dragged straight into the gutter. An idol group that suddenly lost a member to an unexplained death? There was no precedent, so who knew what would happen, but one thing was obvious to anyone: it wouldn’t help them at all.
“And as I mentioned earlier, Na Yeri is someone who could be genuinely useful to us. The trust aspect will probably be resolved with time.”
“Hmm...”
“You’ve probably heard this before, Seong Jiyeong. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Na Yeri isn’t an enemy, but if there’s anything suspicious about her, it would be wiser to keep her close and observe her.”
“That’s... true.”
In Tasha’s eyes, Na Yeri was truly an exceptional talent. Superior combat skills, excellent situational judgment, and above all, someone whose abilities she could trust to watch her back. According to the Ryitser evaluation report, Tasha herself was the reckless, self-righteous type—outstanding in attack power and destructive force, but difficult to control, making her unsuitable for important missions. Honestly, it was a ridiculous assessment. She simply acknowledged only those she deemed worthy. If anything was troublesome, it wasn’t Tasha herself, but the Ryitser side that looked down on her for petty reasons despite lacking any real ability.
On the other hand, Na Yeri was clearly a superhuman she could coordinate with. Even in Ryitser, such talents were rare, and no comrade had ever supported her as perfectly as Na Yeri had. Especially that final battle—it had been truly spectacular. Just thinking about it again sent a chill of excitement down her spine. That was why Tasha wanted to stand on the same battlefield with Na Yeri once more.
“But can we actually recruit her?”
“We’ll have to find a way. This is an extremely important matter.”
“That’s true, but...”
“Leave it to me. People like me and Na Yeri, the type whose blood boils on the battlefield, are actually easier to persuade.”
“You sound so confident, it’s strangely convincing.”
Seong Jiyeong decided to entrust the task of persuading Na Yeri to Tasha. There was something a little suspicious about it, but since Tasha was so sure of herself, she had no choice but to trust her. After all, Seong Jiyeong herself had no idea how to even begin convincing Na Yeri.
“Then let’s leave that for now and deal with the immediate problem.”
“What problem?”
“You had business with Storm, didn’t you? I know where their hideout is. Right now, while everything’s in chaos, is the perfect time for a quiet conversation.”
“You know where it is?”
“Why do you think I was late? Obviously because I was tracking down their hideout.”
“You’re thorough from the very start. Good. Let’s go.”
After agreeing to recruit Na Yeri, Tasha and Seong Jiyeong headed toward the hideout where Storm’s boss was hiding.
***
The next day.
The early morning passed without incident. The large room where Tasha and Seong Jiyeong were staying had been completely silent until late dawn, so they must have been out for quite a while. At this rate, it seemed almost certain that the two of them had hit it off.
That meant the real problem started now. The most important thing was to act natural and smooth things over without giving anything away. But that resolve of mine turned to dust the moment the large door burst open.
“Na Yeri!!! I require your assistance!!”
Because that damn hot-blooded idiot was shouting loud enough to shake the entire house.
What... what the hell? How could she react like that in this situation? It was such an unexpected blow that I could barely keep my expression under control.
“Wh... what’s going on?”
“What’s with all the noise this early~”
“Ha, Tasha. Don’t tell me...”
Thanks to Tasha’s racket, Ji Seoeun and Yu Hana had woken up and crawled out into the living room, while Seong Jiyeong was sighing and rubbing her forehead. From Seong Jiyeong’s expression, it seemed like Tasha had acted on her own. I had no idea what to say to someone who had just charged straight ahead like that from the very beginning.
Was she really doing this because she knew, or was she just testing the waters? It made me uneasy, but the best thing I could do was deny everything.
“Uh... I don’t know what you’re talking about. Is there some kind of problem?”
“I know that you helped me yesterday while wearing that strange helmet with rabbit ears.”
“...What are you saying? I have no idea—”
“Denying it won’t change anything. I’m already certain.”
Damn it, what? Did she actually know? People like Tasha weren’t good at lying. But from that expression, she really seemed convinced. That meant she had some solid evidence. How the hell did she find out?
If Tasha hadn’t been obsessively observing me like I had done to her, she wouldn’t have noticed that I was the rabbit helmet. No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
“...I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Hmm. So that’s how you’re going to play it. As expected, this won’t be easy.”
If I asked how she knew here, it would be the same as admitting I was the rabbit helmet. So I had to keep pretending I didn’t know until the very end.
“Then an explanation is in order. So, yesterday...”
As if she understood my position, Tasha began kindly explaining what had happened to her yesterday. This was insane. That explanation even included the fact that she was the Black Yaksha. And it wasn’t just her putting herself at risk. If the story kept going, it would inevitably lead to Seong Jiyeong being Golden Roll.
The fact that Tasha was going this far meant she was 100% certain. But I couldn’t understand how she had the guts to do this when we weren’t the only ones here. I was one thing, but Yu Hana and Ji Seoeun were complete outsiders. Black Yaksha, Golden Roll—people with bounties on their heads were being this defenseless. Or maybe she had some kind of conviction. A conviction that Yu Hana and Ji Seoeun would never report them.
Honestly, even I could tell that Yu Hana and Ji Seoeun weren’t in a position to report anyone. Both of them had way too much to hide. People like that were better off staying far away from the Superhuman Agency. But that was only because I knew those two to some extent. It wasn’t a judgment Tasha, who still didn’t know their true natures, could make.
People like Tasha often had unnecessarily good instincts. Was this one of those cases? But even so, being certain that I was the rabbit helmet was a different matter.
I organized my thoughts and listened to Tasha’s explanation. As she went on at length about yesterday’s events, she finally revealed the evidence that I was the rabbit helmet. And the content was a little shocking even to me.
“You have a distinctive scent. Cherries with a hint of peach.”
“That’s...”
“Yes, your tint.”
With a triumphant expression like some famous detective, Tasha declared “Tint!” and began fleshing out her deduction.
“I didn’t notice at first. But during close combat, I caught a familiar scent from somewhere. That’s when I realized—the rabbit helmet in front of me was none other than Na Yeri.”
“...Peach and cherry are common scents in Korea too. Isn’t it a bit of a stretch to assume it’s me just because the scent was familiar?”
“Unfortunately, the tint you use, Na Yeri, isn’t something just anyone can buy. Not many of them even make it into Korea. I liked the scent so much that I tried to find one for myself.”
“...?”
So... that tint I received as a friend fee was some kind of luxury item? Well, it did suit me perfectly, but wasn’t this a bit much? What the hell kind of tribute had Yu Hana given me...
Without realizing it, my eyes drifted toward Yu Hana. Our squinty-eyed girl was lightly giving me a thumbs-up with her usual smiling face. The one avoiding my gaze was Ji Seoeun, the creator of the X-Bayder helmet (feat. rabbit ears).
Ah, so that’s how it was. This was what had happened.
During rap lessons, Tasha had already coveted my tint and realized it wasn’t something easily obtainable, which made her regretful. Then the incident occurred, and she caught that familiar scent from the rabbit-masked person blocking her way. The reason Tasha could smell my tint was because my helmet couldn’t control the air escaping from it at all.
So the root cause of this entire mess was Yu Hana, who had offered me an excessively expensive luxury tint as tribute, and Ji Seoeun, who had added that ridiculous bad-breath attack option to the helmet.
No, how did things get this twisted? What was even more absurd was how these two idiots were reacting to the same situation. Ji Seoeun, who still had a shred of conscience, was avoiding my eyes, but that damn Yu Hana looked excited, her shoulders actually rising with glee.
Yu Hana, where the hell is your conscience?
“...Shit. I’m fucked.”
I thought for a moment about how to resolve this situation. But there was no answer. It really felt like I’d screwed myself over royally.