What Did You Do, Saintess?!
"You mad?"
"I'm not."
"Then you're sulking."
"I'm not sulking."
"Ha... this is really something."
Kang Seon-ah let out a wry little laugh. One look at Eila marching on ahead—down a street she didn't even know—and it had come out of her whether she wanted it or not.
"You sulking because I left you on your own?"
"I'm not a child. I would hardly sulk over something like that."
She's sulking.
Eila answered only what she was asked, and only in the shortest possible replies. Kang Seon-ah studied the back of her and turned the problem over. How was she supposed to coax her out of this?
She understood it, at least. She'd sat the girl down beside them and then spent hours running her mouth with that bastard, just the two of them. Of course Eila would feel shut out. She could insist she wasn't angry all she liked; the way she looked now, she was plainly sulking.
What am I supposed to... oh.
Glancing around, Kang Seon-ah found something.
"Hey, Eila!"
"...What?"
"Wanna duck in somewhere for a minute?"
"...Where?"
"Mmm~!"
"...Good?"
"Mm! Mm!!"
"Swallow, then talk..."
Eila bobbed her head up and down, a bright smile spread across her face.
She really is eating like it's the best thing she's ever tasted...
Kang Seon-ah, however, could not smile. The plates. That graveyard of stacked plates. Had it been a mistake, bringing her to a conveyor-belt sushi place? She should have just taken her somewhere all-you-can-eat. Every time she blinked, another plate appeared, and for the person who would have to pay the bill, the sight was horror itself.
Kang Seon-ah drew a long breath and talked herself down.
Right. Call it an advance investment. She's an estimated S-Rank hunter, isn't she? The bill's a little steep, but next to the salary you're supposed to pay an S-Rank, it's pocket change. Stay calm... calm...
"Um... Seon-ah?"
"Hm? You call me?"
"Aren't you eating?"
"......"
Eat? Like hell. String together every piece of sashimi that's gone into that stomach of yours and you could stock a small aquarium, you bitch.
Kang Seon-ah held her face together by sheer force of will.
"I—I'm full just watching you eat... What about you? You not full?"
"...I'm sorry. My stomach is already full, but the food is just so good..."
"...Then let's go."
"Yes."
At the register, the clerk was staring at the two of them as if witnessing a miracle.
"Check, please."
"Yes! ...Uh, your total comes to 171,000 won."
"......"
For a moment, Kang Seon-ah's soul left her body.
Fuck. This is supposed to be a cheap place. The most expensive thing riding that rail is three thousand won. One thousand, two thousand, three thousand—make 171,000 out of nothing but those three. What is this, a math problem? Even if she only ate the three-thousand-won plates, that's fifty-seven of them. Fifty-seven plates. Fifty-seven, minimum. I'm actually going to lose my mind. There is no way I can keep up with food bills like this.
"Ma'am?"
"Ah, right, here... card..."
"Yes. I'll just con— ma'am? You have to actually hand me the card. Ma'am?"
"God... damn..."
My blood money. I will not forget this. This grudge. I am going to work you like a dog until you've earned me several hundred times this.
"H-here, payment's through..."
"Have a good one."
Kang Seon-ah took her card and stepped out onto the street. Her phone buzzed. The payment alert, no doubt. She didn't have the courage to look at it. 171,000 won.
"Haa..."
She wanted a cigarette.
"Fuck..."
"Oh, you came out first."
At the sound of Eila's voice, Kang Seon-ah turned. The girl was smiling, easy and bright. The anger seemed to have passed.
A 171,000-won apology. Isn't the value on this absolutely criminal?
"So. You over it?"
"......"
Eila only smiled, and said nothing.
I wasn't even angry...
Eila hadn't been angry at all. She hadn't answered because she had simply been lost in thought, and it had come out that way. But if she said, right now, that she hadn't actually been mad, she might be ordered to bring back up everything she had just eaten.
"...I'm sorry."
So she apologized. It wasn't a lie. She was perfectly aware she had eaten a little too much.
But I couldn't help it. It's the food's fault for tasting good.
Kang Seon-ah looked at her.
"Then we're good."
With that, she started back toward the office.
They walked slowly. A different current moved through the city than the one that had filled the early morning. The same streets, and yet they felt new. Eila went along glancing this way and that, and a voice came from up ahead.
"Anything you're curious about?"
"Sorry?"
"I said, anything you're curious about. If I know it, I'll answer. I'm bored until we get back to the office..."
Eila fell into thought. Curious... if there was something she wanted to know...
"What is your relationship with that man from earlier?"
She heard a sharp little intake of breath.
"......"
Kang Seon-ah stopped walking. Only after Eila had caught all the way up behind her did she open her mouth.
"...A friend. A friend. That's how I think of it."
She let out a long breath. There was nothing between her lips, and yet Eila could almost see gray smoke. Seeing her like that, she didn't press any further.
"Then, my second question. Why did you set those conditions back there?"
"Conditions? ...Ah. You mean that."
Kang Seon-ah thought back over what had happened. The two things she had demanded in exchange for taking responsibility for Eila: a legal identity for her, and a hunter rank fixed at C-Rank.
Eila drew a rectangular card from her pocket. A resident registration card.
"Wasn't I simply supposed to receive some kind of foreigner... something?"
"What's it matter? This way's the easiest. Besides, your birthday was the day before yesterday, which means I can dig my heels in and insist you're seventeen... so I had it issued while I was at it. Made you a new family register and everything."
"Is that so?"
It was true, but not all of it was the whole truth. An ID card meant Eila held citizenship of the Republic of Korea, and folded into that fact was the hope of blocking, at least to some degree, pressure from other countries.
That's why that bastard agreed without a word, too.
Kang Seon-ah looked at Eila turning the card this way and that, marveling at it, and a smile came to her on its own.
"Don't lose that. Getting a replacement is a pain... Oh, and if anyone asks you about the past, what do you do?"
"I know now. Gloss over it. Do you have any idea how many times this is?"
"It's important. That's why."
Eila puffed out her cheeks.
"But when did you realize?"
"Were you planning to hide it?"
"Not particularly, but..."
"Then what's the problem? I don't care where you came from. You're an important employee of Rainbow Entertainment now. Remember that, and nothing else."
"Hmm... Then why did you lower my rank? S-Rank is the highest, isn't it? Surely it's better for an employee to rank high than low."
"Ah. That."
Here it comes.
Kang Seon-ah wet her lips.
"It's all for your sake. A seventeen-year-old S-Rank rookie, appearing out of nowhere like a comet! You hear how terrifying that sounds? Let even a rumor of it get out, and every kind of person is going to take an interest in you. You wouldn't want that kind of attention either, would you?"
"It wouldn't particularly bother me..."
She was a Saintess, after all. There was no reason attention should frighten her. A Saintess burdened by being looked at—she couldn't even picture it. Whether Eila agreed or not, Kang Seon-ah half-listened and went on.
"And the risk is huge. S-Rank hunters get dragged into all sorts of things whether they like it or not, so even other hunters avoid that seat. On top of that, you haven't properly adjusted to this place yet, have you? Too much fame, in a situation like that, would be poison for you."
"Then why does it have to be C-Rank, specifically?"
"F-Rank is an ordinary person. Hunters start at E-Rank, technically... but if I'm being blunt, C-Rank is the most unremarkable of the lot. The idea is we climb from there, step by step, all the way to S-Rank. By then you'll have adapted here to some degree, won't you?"
Eila was impressed. She couldn't follow every word, but it was remarkably orderly, and persuasive, and there was consideration in it. She revised her estimation of Kang Seon-ah a little upward.
And also, because an S-Rank has to be paid a great deal...
Even that was only half the truth. More precisely, it was closer to an excuse—a reason thrown together on the spot. The real reason was that an S-Rank had to be paid handsomely, while a C-Rank could be paid very little. And if Eila became an S-Rank hunter, scout offers might come in from better companies. Against the big corporations, Kang Seon-ah couldn't compete on capital; all she could do was appeal to sentiment. By the time the girl climbed carefully from C-Rank up to S-Rank, she would be attached to this company, and she wouldn't toss it aside like a worn-out shoe. Kang Seon-ah said none of that calculation aloud, and brought the explanation to a close.
"Well, the short version is, it's all for you... but now that I think about it, I pushed the whole thing through without asking what you wanted. Sorry."
"Ah, no! It's all right! I'm the one who should be sorry..."
"Yeah? Then that's a relief."
"Still, it is a little disappointing."
"What is?"
"I was curious too. About just how strong I am."
"Hmm..."
Kang Seon-ah thought back over the feats she had heard of earlier. An A-Rank dungeon, cleared alone. The monsters had been few, the place having only just formed, but that by itself put her at A-Rank at the minimum. A fight with a killer-whale-class Kraken, and a victory. Strictly speaking the Kraken had fled, but it amounted to the same thing. The moment she had faced a Kraken one-on-one and come back alive, S-Rank wasn't even a question.
Did the girl herself know that? Judging by her face, she didn't. Eila looked genuinely regretful.
"Hey, I'm just curious, so I'll ask. You know, that guy from earlier."
"Do you mean Seongho?"
"Yeah. Him. If you fought him, how do you think it'd go?"
"Hmm... I'm not sure. From what I saw, he uses spatial magic, so his mana volume is probably high as well... Wouldn't I lose? I don't think I could even get close to begin with."
"That so?"
Eila tilted her head. Kang Seon-ah tilted hers right back.
"Then go get tested tomorrow."
"Sorry? Tested?"
Kang Seon-ah said it offhand.
"Yeah. Tomorrow's Wednesday... Every Wednesday and Sunday is a hunter rank evaluation day. Your result already came back as C-Rank, so just take the test and don't let the rank change. Then it's fine."
"Is that really allowed?"
"Why wouldn't it be? I'll say it straight. You're stronger than a C-Rank. You ought to know what level you're actually at."
"That's true... Knowing yourself matters."
"Right, right. We'll do the detailed contract tomorrow, once the rank comes out."
Kang Seon-ah gave Eila's shoulder a careless pat.
Well, this works out great for me. Working an S-Rank on a C-Rank's wages... This ought to bring in several times that food bill, shouldn't it?
A smile settled on Kang Seon-ah's face.
"The results are in! It seems I'm a C-Rank?"
"......Fuck, pardon?"
The smile shattered.