60. Ranfang(12)
60. Ranfang(12)
Why?
That was the first thought that crossed my mind.
I touched my neck, wondering if my eyes had deceived me.
The fur leather collar, about two knuckles high, felt soft against my fingers.
"Why... why did you put this on me?"
"Do I really have to spell it out? It's yours. Take it."
Did he just say take it?
This artifact, practically the single biggest piece of loot from today?
'This can't be right. Didn't he bring me here to exploit me?'
For a moment, cognitive dissonance hit as Hye-yong's actions ran completely counter to what she had been thinking.
And the peak of that feeling came when Hye-yong pointed to the bag where all of today's loot was gathered and spoke.
"This. Handle it yourself and split the points fifty-fifty. Send me my half."
"Huh? F-fifty?"
"Hey now, getting greedy is bad. Honestly, my buffs did more than half the work, didn't they?"
"No, no, that's not what I meant! I... I..."
She had expected him to take everything.
'He's... splitting it with me? And on top of that, the artifact is mine...?'
Looking at Lanfang's face, Hye-yong could roughly guess what she was thinking, and he let out a soft scoff.
"What, you thought I was going to take it all? No matter how much of a scumbag I am, I don't stoop that low. You're the one who fought. And we did the raid together. If I took all the profit... is that a party? That's just slavery."
He was right.
He said he'd help, said he'd party up with her, but he never specifically said anything about exploiting her.
But if that was true, there was one thing she absolutely had to ask.
"Th-then why did you keep praising me!? The buff you put on me was incredible! With a buff like that, failing an F-rank raid would be absurd! It's not something to be praised for—it's just the obvious result!"
"You need a reason to praise someone? You just do it."
Lanfang shook her head, as if her common sense refused to accept it.
"Every reward needs a reason... Getting half the profit like this, and even receiving an artifact, that goes beyond doing the obvious. It becomes an excessive reward compared to the effort put in. So why did you keep telling me I did a good job?"
Seeing how dead serious she looked about this issue made Hye-yong almost flustered.
Was a little bit of praise really something to get that worked up over?
He'd only done it to condition her, that was all.
"Is it really that important?"
"It is important! If I don't hear a reason, I can't accept it. And if I can't accept it, I get anxious...!"
Ah, well, okay.
'I guess there are people with all sorts of personalities in the world.'
Everyone came from a different environment.
Even people born in the same country and of the same gender all turn out differently, so how much more so for Lanfang, born in a different country and a different gender?
What was common sense to Hye-yong might not be for Lanfang. What was trivial to Hye-yong might be a once-in-a-lifetime crisis for her.
"If you want to hear it, I'll tell you... but it might be a little shocking?"
Lanfang gulped.
The reaction was cute enough to make him want to laugh, but it felt more appropriate to keep things serious, so he did.
"P-please tell me."
"Alright, Lanfang... have you ever raised an animal?"
"I've raised some chickens before..."
"Chickens? People in China raise chickens as pets?"
"More than pets... for the eggs?"
Not knowing what kind of environment Lanfang had lived in, Hye-yong couldn't quite picture it.
So he changed his original plan and shifted the direction of his explanation.
"Let's say you're raising a cute puppy at home."
"Okay."
"You prepare food because you're worried it might be hungry, put clothes on it, build a house for it to sleep in, play with it so it won't be bored. Do you do those things for a puppy expecting something in return?"
"Well, you raise it well so it can guard the house..."
Ah, shit.
We're not communicating!
He'd tried to be a little roundabout, but he decided to just come right out and say it.
"Most people don't raise pets expecting something in return, you know!? You give them food, play with them, put them to bed just because they're cute! If you throw a ball, a dog fetching it is just a natural thing for it to do. But if the pet fetches it well when told, the owner naturally wants to praise it just for that. It's love without any strings attached! Because they're cute. Because you brought this creature home because you liked it. Even if it does nothing and just lies on the floor, you say it's pretty, pretty."
Lanfang, who had been quietly listening to the outpouring of words, now had a face like she was working through a complex math problem.
"Uh..."
And after thinking for a long moment, she opened her mouth.
"So, what you're saying is... since I'm cute, you've just been treating me like a pet...?"
"Yeah. I tried to soften it a bit, but we weren't communicating, so I couldn't."
"Why... am I cute? I tried to steal something precious from you... weren't you still holding a grudge?"
"Ah, well. At first, I did. But after watching you for a while, I guess even a grudge can turn into reluctant affection. I don't really dislike you anymore."
"Reluctant affection..."
Lanfang murmured that while looking down toward Hye-yong's shoes.
Reluctant affection.
Was that what it was?
Truthfully, by now, she didn't particularly dislike Hye-yong anymore either.
"Anyway, handle it properly and send me half, alright? I'm heading out first."
"Okay..."
"Ah! And since it's Saturday tomorrow, you're free, right? When I call, you come out no matter what. Got it?"
"I-I will."
Hye-yong left the Otherworld Waiting Room.
Left alone in the waiting room, a silence hanging in the air, Lanfang thought to herself.
'He left all the loot he earned today completely to me. Does he even know how much this is worth? He didn't even check. I could send him less points...'
And on top of that, the artifact.
He hadn't even told her to split that.
He just... gave it to her to keep.
'A pet... huh.'
It certainly fit.
Someone with the ability to go around casting buffs like that could casually toss an insignificant bit of pocket change around without blinking.
But no matter how flush with cash someone is, you rarely see people throwing money around on the street.
Unless... it was charity.
'To that man, I'm not even a person. I'm being treated like a pet...'
But it didn't feel that miserable.
The most miserable moment was when he had spoken in a way that suppressed her, telling her, "No matter what you do, no one will help you."
Compared to that, this didn't even register as miserable.
'He just said he doesn't really dislike me anymore. So when he was threatening and tormenting me... he must have thought of me as someone he hated, right...?'
When she was considered a "hated person," bad things happened to her.
But what about now?
Just because she was considered a "pet," she received praise and got presents.
In that case, wouldn't it be far better to just be a pet?
'B-but still, I'm a human being, you know...'
Her dignity as a human and her future livelihood kept seesawing back and forth.
Lanfang lifted the bag Hye-yong had entrusted to her.
It was heavy.
Inside the bag were over ten soul stones, and although not expensive, quite a few materials that would still sell for at least a few dozen points.
If she sold it all and split it in half, she wouldn't need to worry about living expenses for the time being.
Naturally, it was far more money than the cost of the few meals Hye-yong had taken from her.
This time, she touched the collar Hye-yong had fastened around her neck.
An artifact that raised Stamina, Agility, and Stamina recovery speed by one level each.
The performance was by no means exceptional, but it was undeniably quite useful to have.
All of this was something she could receive because she was considered a pet.
If she had been a hated "person," it was obvious he would have just taken whatever little she had.
— That's it, good job.
— Well done, Lanfang.
— You fight pretty well, huh?
She recalled the moment the man had stroked under her chin while praising her.
Thinking about it as the voice of the person who had tormented her until now was almost jarringly dissonant.
She knew she shouldn't, but being praised felt good.
To be precise, it was relief.
Ah... for this moment, I don't have to agonize, worrying about an uncertain future.
For this moment, it's okay to just be like this.
'Uuu...'
As it tilted heavily toward the conclusion that being considered a pet was better no matter how she looked at it, Lanfang's expression crumpled into a tearful face.
Becoming someone else's pet meant completely abandoning one's dignity as a human being.
It was because she was born human and didn't want to become an animal.
But the heart, as always, tends to lean toward the honest side.
She mulled over Hye-yong's words.
— If you throw a ball, a dog fetching it is just a natural thing for it to do.
— But if the pet fetches it well when told, the owner naturally wants to praise it just for that.
'If I become a pet, I get praised even for doing the obvious.'
— It's love without any strings attached!
— Because they're cute. Because you brought this creature home because you liked it. Even if it does nothing and just lies on the floor, you say it's pretty, pretty.
'Love without any strings attached... If I become a pet, I get affection even when I stay still. He said he'd take responsibility and raise me...'
She couldn't make a complete decision.
Two thoughts kept warring inside her.
[ The Assassin's Stigma buff duration has ended. ]
"Ah."
The moment the buff ended, a feeling of regret washed over her.
She realized in that instant.
Today, her body had felt light, like she'd become something, but without Hye-yong's buff, she would just return to being the nothing she was before.
'Is this just... a dog collar he put on me...?'
Lanfang fully donned the artifact from Hye-yong, making its appearance vanish. She then packed up the loot and left the Otherworld Waiting Room.
She was hungry.
Let's think about this while eating...
With that thought, she tried to sort out her tangled thoughts.
'That's strange. Somewhere, a lingering feeling of regret keeps hanging on.'
[ Regretful Heart ]
Stamina stat increase 1 level
Regretful feeling 2 levels
Cannot know that the blessing has been cast
Rian Pang Exclusive
There would be no way for Lanfang to ever know that the regretful feeling she was experiencing right now was because of a secretly cast buff.
-
June 22nd, 7:21 PM
Otherworld Waiting Room
I'd spent nearly two full days glued to Lanfang, passing the time with raids.
At some point we ran out of F-rank transition stones and went to E-rank. It was a tougher fight than F-rank, but once we got down to it, it was nothing we couldn't manage.
The difficulty spiking sharply with each rank increase was only natural.
An F-rank raid monster was an opponent that multiple F-ranks gathered to hunt.
E-rank was likewise an opponent that needed multiple E-ranks.
So when running a raid solo, the difference of a single rank feels especially massive.
"But this 'Exclusive' part... what is it? With my name written there, it almost feels like it exists just for me..."
"Now you ask that?"
"Every time I tried to ask something, my words kept getting cut off..."
Hye-yong had intentionally made it so she couldn't ask questions.
"Ahem. It does exist for you. That's right. It's your exclusive buff."
"What!? M-my exclusive!? How can something like that..."
"That's my trait. When I cast a blessing on someone I like, it becomes an exclusive blessing."
Whoa... so there's a trait like that too, huh.
Hye-yong might be a more amazing person than she thought.
Lanfang let out a small gasp of admiration.
"Amazing."
"This exclusive buff thing doesn't just get made for anyone, you know? It's a blessing I can only cast on people I consider special."
"I-I'm... special?"
"Yep."
Without any questions or hesitation, Hye-yong smoothly brought his hand near Lanfang's chin.
Without a flicker of change in her expression, Lanfang lifted her chin slightly.
But he didn't stroke her. He just stopped right in front of it.
"Ah..."
Feeling the sudden oddness, a small sound escaped Lanfang.
The moment Hye-yong brought his hand up, her body had moved on its own, assuming she was about to be praised again.
A grin bloomed on Hye-yong's face.
"This much, I'd say that's pretty special."
"Uuu..."
In barely three days, she'd been completely tamed.
Lanfang, lacking assertiveness and being pure, had a personality that easily took on the colors of others.
'Really, what's the difference from a pet at this point...?'
Stroke, stroke!
Just as she was thinking that, Hye-yong started stroking under her chin.
"That's it, that's it."
Following Hye-yong's touch, she adjusted the angle of her head to make it easier for him to pet her.
She'd thought she'd never get used to being praised for doing nothing, but she was wrong.
Humans were creatures of adaptation.
'I can't deny it anymore. I... I like this.'
Outwardly she tried to act like she hated it, but her heart was gradually becoming more honest.
The gentle stroking under her chin was a way of saying "good job"—proof that she was doing well.
Lanfang, who had never in her life received proper praise, was slowly being pickled in the praise that poured down on her just for standing beside him.