A Tense Trip to Town (3)
Before grabbing a late lunch, we stopped by the cosmetics store that Boppy had been dying to visit. "They sell makeup at the mart too. Why come all the way here?"
Boppy answered with an incredibly profound expression. "Sis, the difference between a specialty store and a regular place is the same as the difference between a Quasi-Awakened and an Awakened."
That analogy struck right at my heart, so I simply shut my mouth and followed the kid into the store. Watching Boppy carefully comparing shades among dozens of different cosmetics, I suddenly had a thought. How could that little rabbit who used to rattle the bars of its cage have turned into this?
But I shook my head right away. In a world where mudskippers the size of people roam the tidal flats and unknown things suddenly pop out of the sky, a rabbit that loves makeup is hardly strange. I was the one leaving tonight's dinner menu to Nureongi because I couldn't think of anything, so there was no need for such philosophical musings.
While Boppy was busy picking out cosmetics, I pulled out my smartphone and decided to check the blog where I'd posted photos of the mudskippers I'd caught today. As expected, the comments were a sight to behold.
I couldn't help but press a hand to my forehead. I wondered if everyone became like that with age, but really, I should be blaming myself for posting in a tone those kinds of people would like in the first place. With a deep sigh, I shoved the smartphone back into my pocket, not wanting to look anymore.
Nureongi, who had been standing beside me, must have noticed my sigh and was staring at me with worried eyes. I patted the kid's head and spoke sincerely. "Nureongi, make sure you age gracefully."
"Couldn't you just stop running the blog?"
Hmm, that was a very Nureongi-like, spot-on answer. "Nureongi, what's the point of living if you don't leave behind even one memory?"
"You sound just like them right now, Sis."
As expected, Nureongi was also very good at stabbing right at my heart. If I kept talking with these two, I might really end up crying because of them. I decided to just kill time in silence, hoping we could go eat soon.
A little later, Boppy returned to us with a very satisfied expression. At almost the same time, my smartphone in my pocket began to vibrate. Wing~ The card company was probably sending a "Have you lost your mind?" confirmation text after all the spending today. Still, seeing the kid's brightly smiling face made the card company's nagging something I could easily ignore.
The place we visited after finishing Boppy's cosmetics shopping was a small restaurant near the mart. These days, restaurants that serve both coffee and meals are rare, and the owner here was... none other than a fox beastman. She had a proper name, but I just called her "Miss Jeong" for convenience.
When we entered Miss Jeong's restaurant, we saw her sitting in a chair watching TV with soft music playing. At the sound of the door opening, her pointed fox ears twitched slightly, and without even looking at me, she immediately smiled brightly and greeted Nureongi and Boppy. "Oh my, our babies are here?"
It made sense. When the two kids first transformed into humans, this was the first place they'd run to in confusion. In that sense, Miss Jeong was like a stepmother or godmother to them—something along those lines.
"Not even going to greet me?" I asked gruffly. Miss Jeong glanced at me and snorted. "Here to make me brew ssanghwacha again?"
"Hey, that was just a joke. I know how to drink coffee now too, you know?"
"Ha, just sit down without any more nonsense? Don't disturb business."
There was a reason she was endlessly kind to Nureongi and Boppy but cold only to me. It was simply my fault. When we first met, I'd pestered her about touching her tail because the fox beastman was fascinating, and even after receiving the punishment of turning into a woman, I still hadn't found a way to soothe her sulking heart. I thought that steadily coming here to boost her sales was a more meaningful apology than apologizing a hundred times, but apparently her thoughts were different.
We took seats at a table with Nureongi and Boppy. While the two kids excitedly debated over the menu, I turned my gaze to the wall-mounted TV Miss Jeong had been watching.
[Breaking news: Over ten Hunters active at Gyeonggi's Third Gate...]
It was obvious. It would just be more worship of the successful and popular Hunters. To someone like me who lived day to day as a Hunter-like figure, it was just another world's story—news that made me jealous of my successful cousin buying land.
After Nureongi and Boppy chose pasta and risotto with plenty of cheese, I ordered my usual pizza toast. At first, I'd worried whether rabbits and dogs should eat desserts loaded with cheese or chocolate, but lo and behold, they ate it just fine.
I took the order slip to the counter and handed it to Miss Jeong. She snatched the paper from my hand with one swift motion and disappeared into the kitchen without a word. Watching her annoying back, I let out a small sigh and returned to my seat.
Back at the table, I listened to Nureongi and Boppy's trivial chatter. It was gossip about the strange items they'd seen at the cosmetics store. After listening for a bit, I turned my eyes back to the TV. The anchor was delivering the news with a serious expression.
[...Therefore, the government has once again announced the voluntary registration and mandatory aptitude test period for all Awakened individuals. The target age is...]
Come to think of it, how old should we consider Nureongi and Boppy? They both had proper IDs issued under my surname, but I remembered the county office officials scratching their heads and registering them as "Let's just say fifteen. They look about that age." It had been so long since then that my memory was hazy. The mandatory test age mentioned on TV seemed to match exactly that time.
I suddenly recalled when Hunter Management Agency officials had come to the house and begged me to get the beastmen tested. I'd answered, "These kids are still two years old and six months old," only to get grabbed by the collar by a D-class official, and Park Gyeong-wi had nagged and teased me about it all day. I didn't know why only bad memories kept surfacing the more I thought about it. This place must have bad energy.
Just then, Miss Jeong came out carrying two bowls on a tray. With careful hands, she placed the pasta and risotto in front of Boppy and Nureongi respectively. As for my pizza toast, it was casually plopped down at the serving window in front of the counter. She expected me to fetch it myself, apparently.
"Eat up." I got up, fetched my bowl, and returned. While we were enjoying our rare outing together, my smartphone in my pocket started buzzing again. Checking the screen, it was Park Gyeong-wi this time. I wondered if the money from catching the mudskippers had already come in, but usually the county office contacted directly about reward money...
After gesturing for Nureongi and Boppy to keep eating, I stepped outside the restaurant to take the call. "Did the mudskipper money come in already?"
"If it had, would I be calling? A Dimension Deviation alert just went out saying it's expanding across the Chungnam region. The elders from Dohoang-ri and Sipgan-ri have all been evacuated to the village hall, so you should head there with the kids too."
"Is it standby duty?"
"The city isn't affected yet, but all us rural outposts are on emergency standby. That includes you."
A deep sigh escaped me without thinking. Just when we finally got to go out together after so long, the world wouldn't leave me alone. "Last time you had us do unarmed border patrol. If you're going to keep doing that, just take me off the roster as a civilian."
"You think we'd let a Quasi-Awakened go in a neighborhood where every single Hunter is precious? If needed, I'll open the gun locker, so come to the police outpost before midnight."
Just before the call ended, I could hear the busy voices of people moving around on the other end. They were completely in emergency mode over there too. Well, since he'd said to come by midnight, there was still some time. The village hall elders adored Nureongi and Boppy, so leaving the two kids with them for a while wasn't too worrying. It was just that I would be the one inconvenienced.
I went back inside and relayed what Park Gyeong-wi had just said to Nureongi and Boppy, who were nearly finished eating. Nureongi nodded calmly, but Boppy put down their fork with a thoroughly sulky expression. "If those grandmas pull on my ears again, I'm really going to bite this time! It hurts so much even when they grab lightly!"
"Alright, alright. I'll make sure to tell them firmly."
Fortunately, neither of them insisted on staying home, so that was one less worry. I hurriedly shoved the remaining pizza toast into my mouth. The pleasant outing ended there.