Chapter 94
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Who Suits Him Better?
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The Fixer hesitated briefly between simply resolving the request in an ordinary way and taking a more forward-thinking approach to improving the Moss House.
"What do you consider the ordinary method, my lord...?"
"Just what it sounds like—quietly guarding the Moss House until Harmony Spirit arrives."
"And the forward-thinking method...?"
"Making sure the Moss House can defend itself from now on."
To implement his plan, he needed to check out the anomalies and anomalous phenomena inside the Moss House.
In short, the Fixer intended to raise the favorability of every anomaly in this underground facility, turning them into self-appointed guardians of the Moss House.
He planned to turn the Moss House into a sort of anomaly theme park.
"Looks like Basement 1 is the lobby and community center. A space for interaction."
In the Moss House main hall, which spanned 18 basement levels, Basement 1 was the safest floor from anomalies and the one intruders could most easily breach.
"Basement 2 is human living quarters. Basement 3 is for half-breeds. Strictly separated. And seeing as Basement 5 is anomaly housing, you get the idea."
The reason access to Basement 4 and 6 was so tightly restricted.
"Because of the anomalies on Basement 5, right...?"
"Exactly. If those anomalies rampage on 5, it means neutralize them from 4 and 6, don't you think? So realistically, 4 and 6 have already been overtaken by anomalies."
The Fixer's plan was simple.
If unauthorized personnel entered the Moss House main hall, toss them into Basement 4 or 6.
Then let the anomalies on those floors devour them naturally.
Furthermore, the Fixer even planned to wander the floors and recruit useful anomalies to his side.
"And from what I've seen, the Moss House has no code of conduct or manual for its anomalies. They just shoved the hard-to-manage ones into certain floors and locked the doors. That's just neglect. What a waste of anomaly manpower, right?"
"Uh... yeah?"
"Right? The anomalies stuck only on 4 and 6 must be bored out of their minds. Give them a little freedom and some duties in exchange."
The Moss House had indiscriminately stuffed uncontrollable anomalies into Basement 4 and 6 and sealed them off.
The Fixer planned to go there himself, pull out some of the neglected anomalies, rehabilitate them, and distribute them across all floors.
Then create a manual for coexisting with them and distribute it to the Moss House residents. Perfect.
"That way, anyone without the manual gets naturally chased out upon entry. With only three exterior guards possible, we can fill the gaps with spare anomalies. I checked the treaty and regulations earlier—no rule against using anomalies for security."
"Ah... you've already looked into everything."
"Yep. Let's maximize variations within the regulatory framework."
The Fixer's goal was to transform the Moss House from a mere underground luxury facility into an air-raid shelter defense base.
This overhaul would ensure it ran itself even without him.
"What do you think, Ha-il? Pretty brilliant idea, huh?"
"Well... it sounds pretty dangerous, but... you must have it all figured out, Fixer. I think it's fine."
Lee Ha-il gave a positive response to the Fixer's idea.
Having secured the old man's— an elder's—approval, the Fixer boldly approached the real elders for permission.
It was less asking permission and more notifying them.
"So... you're saying you'll release all the anomalies inside and create rules for them to coexist with humans...?"
"Yes. We'll establish boundaries for mutual prosperity. Any unwanted intruders from outside get chased off by the anomalies naturally."
"B-but if an anomaly goes berserk..."
"They won't dare if they don't want to get exorcised, right?"
The key to fortifying the Moss House was a human presence to keep the anomalies in check.
And right now, there was a human specialized in taming anomalies here.
"Open every floor of the Moss House to me. Before Harmony Spirit arrives, I'll turn this place into a fortress nothing short of an army could breach."
"Hah... if you can really pull that off..."
"Do as you wish. We'll give you keys to every restricted and high-risk zone."
At the elders' command, Lee Ha-il pulled a keyring from his inner pocket and handed it to the Fixer.
A hefty bundle with over a hundred keys.
Now he could access every previously forbidden floor.
"Then..."
Basements 2 and 3 were residential areas like hotel rooms or dorms, with no anomalies, so no need for further inspection.
The Fixer headed straight to the problematic Basement 4.
-Basement 4.
-You are on Basement 4.
The elevator doors opened with the familiar announcement.
The atmosphere was quite hostile. All the lights were out, and the endless corridor made it clear this place was detached from reality.
Basement 4 already seemed assimilated into the hidden world.
"My lord... I sense quite a few anomalies."
"Either sealed ones or stragglers who snuck into 4. Let's go."
The Fixer and Sowol stepped out of the elevator.
With no other companions, he'd brought only Sowol down. So only two people should have exited...
But as the doors closed, somehow there were three.
"Huh? When did you get here?"
"Oh... well... I happened to see you boarding the elevator..."
It wasn't just the Fixer and Sowol.
Eve had somehow exited Moss House Basement 4 with them.
When had she boarded the elevator? The Fixer hadn't noticed.
"..."
"Hello... it's been a while..."
"Yeah. Long time no see."
Eve shyly bowed her head, and Sowol responded with a hint of displeasure.
She didn't like how Eve had been hanging around the Fixer lately.
He'd won over even the Ghost Kings, but how to handle the elevator ghost was beyond her.
Eve wasn't simple. She was a tough opponent.
"Since you're here anyway, Eve, let's tour together. They say there are lots of Class-3 or lower anomalies here. We could catch a few and ask them to join our side."
The Fixer pulled a flashlight from his coat's inner pocket and shone it down the corridor.
Something darted into a room, but he wasn't scared.
Instead, he got excited, like he'd found a worker.
"Hey! You there! Where you going? Let's talk! Wanna work at the Moss House? Hey! Anomalies can't run from people!"
The Fixer chased after the fleeing anomaly.
All he could think about was how to settle it down and put it to work.
"Just the two of us now."
"Yeah..."
Left alone in an instant, Sowol and Eve watched the Fixer leave, then faced each other.
The two anomalies had plenty to discuss.
The Fixer always mediated. They never had time alone like this.
"Let's talk, since it's come to this."
"Do you have something to say, Lady Sowol?"
"Oh, I have plenty. There's this one who's been crossing lines lately. It's really bothering me."
Sowol warned Eve indirectly.
Don't cross the line further.
She was holding back too—stop circling her lord and softening his heart.
Eve understood, but twisted the words.
"If my being by Do-hyun's side bothers you that much, does it mean I'm a real threat?"
Eve smiled and asked. Sowol had been indirect, but Eve went straight for the kill.
Come at me directly, no beating around the bush.
Eve, who stammered shyly around the Fixer, showed no such signs alone with Sowol.
She shrank endlessly before her crush but was fiercely bold otherwise. That was Eve.
"What? A threat? You?"
At Eve's blatant provocation, Sowol glared openly.
They hadn't started like this.
Two anomalies who once purely helped each other—how did they end up glaring?
All because of the Fixer, of course.
"Don't make me laugh. No matter what anyone says, my position is rock-solid. You're not climbing to where I am."
Sowol shot back confidently, curling her lips smugly.
She already shared his bed—what was there to fear?
"Then you don't need to feel bothered by me, right? If your spot is that secure. Why are you shaking? Just accept my presence. No reason to feel uncomfortable."
Sowol found Eve's implication—that she feared losing the Fixer—absurd. She refused to admit it.
"You're the one dragging my comfortably resting lord into the elevator. That's why it's annoying—your fault his rest time is shrinking."
"Hold on. I called him? Do-hyun? Goodness, Lady Sowol, are you mistaken?"
"Mistaken? Me?"
"Yes. I've never called Do-hyun out. He always came to me first. Even our first meeting. He always sought me out. Oh, you wouldn't know—you've never had that experience."
"N-never had that? I have..."
"You're like a sunflower, Lady Sowol. Always facing Do-hyun. But oh well—your sun is shining on me."
Sowol, trying to dominate with momentum, was pushed back instead.
No ordinary Class-1 Disaster. Underestimate at your peril.
Not a typical Class-1. Naturally—she was actually Calamity-class.
"Watch your mouth. My lord and I have already proven our love... How dare a mere concubine try to climb up...!"
"Whoa, keep your voice down. He might hear."
"...Urk."
Sowol snapped in a burst of anger.
Eve reacted as if she'd been waiting.
"Proven our love." Those words signaled Eve's turn.
Time to land a blow on Sowol.
"If you've proven your love, have you kissed Do-hyun? You know, lips to lips."
"What? O-of course we've kissed. Ages ago..."
"Liar."
Eve's eyes curved like crescent moons.
Sowol reacted with dread at the victorious smile.
No way. It couldn't be.
He'd never allowed her even once. Why her?
"Don't say it. Stop right there. I warned you."
"Why are your eyes shaking? Scared I might've kissed Do-hyun?"
In that cramped elevator.
If a man and woman were pressed right together...
"What do you think?"
Eve brushed her lips with her thumb.
As if wiping away a smudge.
What did that gesture mean?
"You... did...?"
Eve covered her mouth, bent at the waist, and burst into stifled laughter at Sowol's devastated expression.
Victory confirmed, Eve beamed.
Sowol staggered. Her legs felt weak.
The strongest strike hits when the opponent is vulnerable.
Eve prepared a fatal blow.
"And Do-hyun even brought snacks. Sweet potatoes in syrup. Delicious—I ate them all. He's quite the cook."
You made those sweet potatoes and brought them to me.
To share with me.
You're just the maid.
While you played housekeeper, he dated me.
That was the meaning.
"..."
Sowol clenched her fists.
If she collapsed here, her position would crumble completely.
She wanted to slap her hard, but anomaly fights were best avoided.
The damage was too great, and they often didn't stop until one died.
So, endure. Even knowing the provocation, endure.
Win with words, not violence.
Sowol pondered.
What weapon did she have?
How to shut up this brazen girl.
She found it. The one way to beat the thief of her lord's first kiss.
"But you're just a fling."
A momentary amusement.
A passing breeze.
"He always comes back to me. No matter how much you two fool around in that cramped elevator. He comes to me. And he's never spent the night with you, has he?"
"That's..."
The depth of time spent together differed.
She was the first anomaly to bond with the Fixer, the one with the longest connection.
Moreover, those three months at Cursed Mountain Lodge were the happiest of her life.
"If you're just a pit stop, I'm his home and haven. First kiss? Fine, take it. I'll claim something greater. I can afford to yield one to a latecomer like you."
"You might lose it all. So confident."
"Who knows? I doubt it. My body suits his tastes more than your scrawny frame."
Having taken a hard hit from the "first kiss" bombshell.
Now it was time to strike with deep bond density.
Sowol's turn.
"More than that, can you cook for him? No. Can you stroll the market with him? No, impossible. You don't even know how happy it is to see his sleeping face every night. You can't come to him unless he seeks you."
"Urgh..."
Eve reeled from Sowol's onslaught.
She'd landed the first punch hard with the kiss, but Sowol came back fiercer.
Wasn't first strike wins? Eve faltered against the wave of memories. She didn't have Sowol's depth of them.
"The depth of time my lord and I have shared is different."
"Old things get boring eventually. You'll bore him someday too."
"And you? Different? Cat got your tongue?"
"..."
Eve was speechless.
Sowol claimed victory.
"What are you doing there!"
The Fixer called out just as Eve opened her mouth again.
"Nothing, my lord! Heard a noise here... Just checking with Eve!"
"Coming right now, Do-hyun..."
The two anomalies smiled and replied to the Fixer's shout.
As he vanished into the darkness again, Eve counterattacked immediately.
"For a Disaster-class..."
"What?"
"Just saying a Disaster-class seems too full of herself."
"What? You're judging by class now?"
"Honestly, Do-hyun's side suits a Calamity-class like me better. Don't you think so deep down?"
Sowol grew anxious at Eve's question.
True, Eve might look Class-1 now, but as Threshold Guardian, she'd rise to Calamity.
Twin Ghost Kings: Calamity.
Eve: Calamity.
Excluding Bbingbboong, Sowol was the only Disaster-class anomaly at the Fixer Office.
It secretly bothered her. Being lower class than rivals might mean getting discarded someday.
The Fixer wouldn't, but Sowol's confidence had hit rock bottom.
Sowol pulled out her means to restore her shattered self-esteem.
"But you can't stand among humans, can you?"
She couldn't win on class.
Time for another weapon.
Her face.
"I just need to look pretty to Do-hyun."
"Really? Truly?"
"...As long as I have Do-hyun's love. Nothing else matters."
Eve had her own complex.
She deeply envied Sowol's humanization.
If she could humanize and stand by the Fixer, she'd take a class drop.
Eve and Sowol.
Each had what the other craved.
Fighting would just hurt.
Realizing this, Eve and Sowol walked the corridor in silence.
Spotting a sneaking anomaly, Eve proposed a bet to Sowol.
"Let's make a bet."
"A bet? What kind?"
"Who catches more. Winner links arms with Do-hyun tonight. Deal?"
"I won't lose."
No point fighting. Better a bet.
Sowol accepted and began catching Basement 4 anomalies like rats.
BAM!
Walls shattering and floors cracking—the Fixer peeked into the corridor and looked at the two anomalies.
"What the."
Seeing Sowol and Eve enthusiastically gathering anomalies, he nodded.
"They really get along."
Having missed their conversation, the Fixer felt only peace.