Sowol's Reasonable Suspicion
"Hello there, gentlemen."
Gong Ryun offered a greeting to the mechanical core installation specialists.
"…"
Silence from the work crew uncles.
Apparently not very effective.
Damn, this is awkward.
Gong Ryun turned back around and finished his tteokbokki.
For the past few days he had tried saying hello every day to the mechanical core installation crew who kept coming by for free meals, and every time the reaction had been lukewarm at best. You would think someone might at least give a short reply, but they just stared at him without a single word.
Hmm. Maybe it was too much after all.
Just as he was about to give up—
A soft clink.
A bowl of sujeonggwa was set down on Gong Ryun's table.
"Hm? What's this…"
He hadn't ordered it.
Service?
Wait. Don't tell me…
Gong Ryun glanced over at the workers' table. The oldest of the lot, who looked to be something like a crew foreman, gave a slight nod. Then he wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
It was from him?
"The gentleman over there ordered it for you" — is that what this is?
A tsundere, huh.
Gong Ryun bowed his head in thanks. The old man wiped his nose again and went back to his meal. Not a word spoken, yet somehow the atmosphere felt thoroughly pleasant.
Over the past few days, Gong Ryun had sat in the shop and struck up conversations with people coming and going — like some NPC who permanently occupies a corner of a store in an RPG. Surprisingly, most of them treated him warmly. Even if they didn't talk for long, everyone at least returned a greeting. A few even tossed in things like "Nice weather today, isn't it?" or "Haha, nothing much going on with you?" The more he did it, the more he seemed to be getting the hang of it — still a little rusty, but getting there.
More than anything, the customers were kind. Even to a stranger, they carried themselves with a certain respect. Gong Ryun found himself freshly impressed.
To be fair, the customers had no real reason not to be friendly. They were all, in a sense, part of the same circle — people who used this secretive little shop. Getting in here was no small feat to begin with. It wasn't advertised publicly, and not every member of the Demon Cult could just walk in. Even some cultists never managed to set foot inside. Word of mouth was the only promotion, passed strictly through personal networks — the "I'm only telling you this" kind of introductions reserved for people you trusted.
And knowing the shop existed was one thing; only registered membership holders could actually use it. To join, you had to meet the owner in person and get her okay. Years of hard-earned instinct meant she filtered out anyone who came across as untrustworthy or simply not her type during the interview. Get the owner's approval and you could use the place even if you weren't part of the Demon Cult at all. Eagle Owl Minerva had opened his business that way too.
So the mere fact that someone was sitting here so brazenly already marked them as no ordinary person. If that someone said hello, there was no reason not to welcome them and make a connection. And if they were sitting there every day this naturally, they might well be staff — or personally close to the owner — which only made them more welcome.
In the end, over the past few days Gong Ryun had successfully completed his debut into the dark underworld social scene. He had probably already been flagged as a person of interest among the local networks.
Wow! It actually works! I know more faces now! Gong Ryun felt proud of himself, blissfully unaware of the circumstances behind it all.
And in contrast to this thoroughly pleased Gong Ryun, there was one person wearing a distinctly sulky expression.
That would be the owner's son, Sowol.
"Hm? Sowol. Why are you staring at me from behind that pillar?"
After the work crew had finished eating and left, the restaurant had grown quiet. Right now Sowol was peeking just his head out from behind a pillar, watching Gong Ryun.
"…It's nothing."
He had been like this since a couple of days ago. For some reason he was keeping his distance, and whenever Gong Ryun tried to talk to him he edged away.
"Want to play find the secret room?"
"Really? Ah! I mean—it's fine. We don't have to."
"Hrm."
What's gotten into this kid?
Gong Ryun was puzzled.
Sowol's change had begun a few days earlier, when he went over to a friend's house.
That day, one of Sowol's friends had asked a question.
"Hey Sowol. I heard the road in front of your place got totally wrecked. You okay?"
"Oh, that? We're fine! Nobody got hurt! But you know who did it? Big Bro San-gong-dok did!"
It had been the aftermath of Gong Ryun using Parangjang right in front of the house. Sowol knew his big brother Gong Ryun was responsible. When he asked about it, Gong Ryun had said he'd been drunk. He'd even added that good kids shouldn't drink until they were grown-ups.
Whoa! Big Bro Gong Ryun is way stronger than I thought! So cool! Sowol had been freshly impressed.
"Ehh? For real? The San-gong-dok Freak did that?"
"Yeah! And he said he'd teach me how to use palm techniques later!"
"Huh? That's weird, though."
"What is?"
"Wasn't it your mom who did it?"
"My mom's not that strong — she couldn't do something like that. Hey! Isaac! Is that a dad joke? You making fun of me?"
"No! My mom said she saw your mom come down to city hall and pay the damages!"
"Huh?"
Isaac's mother worked at city hall. And damages for public property destroyed in life-or-death duels were processed through city hall. In a galaxy of martial artists where life-or-death duels happened constantly, this kind of municipal service was commonplace.
Every building and street Gong Ryun had destroyed, the owner had paid for without a second thought. She had paid so casually, in fact, that she never even mentioned it to Gong Ryun — so Gong Ryun had no idea she had covered it. He hadn't known this kind of thing required compensation in the first place, and for the owner the sum had been pocket change, so she had paid it without much thought.
Officially, the rampage that day was also recorded as the owner acting alone. Well, since it's come to this, I might as well pay. Secret account opened. Paid in full. Done. A world in which no one got hurt was complete.
But then it got caught. Isaac's mother, a city hall employee, had seen the owner come in and pay those damages.
Under normal circumstances it wouldn't have been particularly shocking. Life-or-death duels were common, and the damages that came with them were common too — common enough that plenty of insurance products covered them. Still, Isaac's mother had fretted — Why is that kid's mom paying such expensive damages? — and told her son Isaac to ask Sowol about it next time they met.
And being a good boy, Isaac had asked.
Sowol heard it and thought, Huh? That's weird.
Big Bro Gong Ryun did that, though? And Mom paid?
"Huh? Why would Mom pay for something Big Bro did?"
Sowol tilted his head. Isaac added one more thing.
"My mom said the damages your mom paid were, like, super super huge money!"
"Huh? How expensive was it?"
"She wouldn't tell me exactly, but she said it was really, really expensive!"
Well, of course. Gong Ryun hadn't just wrecked the street in front of the house. After that he had gone to a construction site and torn up the whole area in a second round of fighting. Add all of that together and the bill was no joke.
Hah! This is a mystery!
So the friends put their young brains to work and tried a little deduction. Kids always loved this kind of thing.
—Maybe the San-gong-dok Freak lost his wallet?
—You think someone pays your damages just because you lost your wallet? Dummy.
—Maybe she paid for him 'cause he's handsome?
—Does that even make sense?
—Adults buy us food just 'cause we're cute.
—You're a dummy…
Then, from the side, their other friend Ran floated a shocking hypothesis.
"What if he's a gold digger?"
"What does that mean?"
"The San-gong-dok Freak seduced Sowol's mom! That's how he got the money out of her! He tempted her into paying for him!"
Gasp! Everyone sucked in a sharp breath at those words!
Ordinarily, this was not the kind of idea that would come out of a group of little kids. Unfortunately, there had recently been a very famous case in the area.
"That's just like the Three-Sword Style Madman!!"
"I saw it on SNS!!"
"It's a finance crime!"
"What's that?"
"It's a scam, basically! Sowol's mom is gonna get cleaned out of everything she owns!"
"Gasp!!!"
Yes. In this rural city, one of the few genuinely entertaining events had been the Jason versus Three-Sword Style matchup. That duel — perfect both as a story and as a display of martial skill — had been a rare thrill in a countryside with nothing else for entertainment, and it had gone massively viral. The two of them were local stars now. Almost no one in the city didn't know them. At the very least, everyone had heard the names.
Naturally, kids this age who were sensitive to trends had all seen it. Some parents had even shown it to their children as educational material. Once again: that life-or-death duel had been perfect both narratively and martially. Multiple exchanges kept it close enough to be useful as a study in martial arts; there had been a legitimate, understandable reason for the duel; and the ending — the punishment of an unfilial son — had been educationally excellent. Compared to a certain other life-or-death duel that started over the petty monopoly of mercenary contracts, ended in a boring one-turn kill, and concluded with San-gong-dok terrorism, it was a model duel of an entirely different caliber.
In any case, the children who had all watched that legendary match also understood the context of how the Three-Sword Style Madman had done gold-digger work to make money.
—Gasp!! Sowol's in danger!!
—Sowol's mom is gonna spend all her money on the San-gong-dok Freak!
—You've gotta grab the cash in the house before you become a debtor!
—Special mineral jewelry and high-value art pieces are easier to carry!
—Ran, where did you even learn that…?
A full-blown uproar broke out.
In the middle of it, Sowol did try to push back.
"No way! My mom's a succubus — how would she get seduced? Succubi are the ones who do the seducing!"
But the rebuttal was immediately rebutted.
"Uh-uh! Sowol! That's a racist thing to say! That's species discrimination against succubi!"
"I'm a succubus…?"
"That doesn't matter! Stuff like that reinforces stereotypes about specific species! You have to be careful what you say!"
"Uuuugh… the things Ran says are too hard…"
"Ran might be right, though. That… midlife crisis? thing is supposed to be dangerous."
"What's a midlife crisis?"
"I don't know either. My big brother said widows are lonelier than they look. He said that makes them easy to approach."
"What? Widow? Isaac, is that another dad joke!? Are you making fun of me for not having a dad!?"
"Ahh! No! I just meant… the person the Three-Sword Style Madman seduced was a widow too… so that's why I said it… s-sorry…"
"Gasp! Now that you mention it…!"
The children plunged into a cauldron of chaos. For kids still this young, a story like this was far too shocking! Panic and confusion everywhere!
Hearing the commotion, Ran's mother came into the room.
"What's going on~~?"
"Waaah!! Auntie…!! My mom…!!"
"??"
The children explained the whole story with frantic gestures and overlapping voices. After listening to everything, Ran's mother thought to herself:
…Isn't it the San-gong-dok Freak who's getting played here…?
The still-innocent children might not realize it, but from an adult's perspective, anyone could see that Sowol's mother — a succubus — was the one devouring the young man…?
Adults always had worse prejudices. She was a succubus… a species of charm-arts masters. Obviously she held the initiative…
And earlier she had seen the San-gong-dok Freak in person when he brought Sowol over… the guy was absurdly tall and handsome. A lonely widow's dangerous hand reaching for that young, firm, good-looking kid — wasn't that the more common-sense picture?
Not a midlife crisis. A youth crisis.
She never would have thought Sowol's mother was like that.
But she could hardly say any of this to the children.
What was she supposed to tell them? Sowol, honey, it looks like your mom is getting you a new dad. That huge damage payment is money ordinary people like us would never hand over without some ulterior motive.
Of course she could never say something like that.
In the end, Ran's mother fudged it.
"Hmm… as long as the two of them are happy, isn't that enough…? The Three-Sword Style Madman remarried happily and is doing well too, right…?"
At those words Sowol burst into a full-throated wail, and calming him down took some work. But Ran's mother believed she had done her best.