Media (4)
Judging by the mood, I could tell roughly how the situation was unfolding.
Smart girl.
I wasn’t the only one who had managed to ride the tide of the times.
Black Swans must have needed someone who could keep up with a development like this, and internally they’d probably gone looking for talent to settle the matter.
It was a little surprising that the person was Lee Jihye, but it wasn’t so absurd that I couldn’t accept it.
She was good at politics, too, and among the people I’d seen, her mind turned over the fastest.
She was a hundred times better than Jeong Yu-ra, who didn’t even understand her own place.
The fact that she was greeting me so warmly now was probably a calculated move as well.
She wants to show me off, huh?
She was likely trying to flaunt her connection to me in front of the other members of the Black Swans Guild who had come with her.
It wouldn’t have mattered much if I’d pretended not to know her, but if I played along with her act, I’d probably get something out of it too.
Lee Jihye was the kind of woman who understood perfectly well what a bargain was.
“Is it really Jihye?”
“Yes. Nice to see you again here. Hehe.”
“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
“Yes, of course. I thought we’d have a hard time seeing each other again, so I’m glad we met like this.”
“It’s good to see you. Truly.”
Watching her nod with a smile in her eyes, I figured I was right.
The middle-aged woman from Black Swans looked quite pleased.
And, sure enough, even the old fogeys on our side seemed to be enjoying themselves.
“Ha ha ha. What a bizarre coincidence this is.”
“Yes. It really is.”
Why are you laughing? You crazy old bastard.
From the start, I didn’t like that those old men were even here.
And the way they were acting so deferentially was just as irritating.
They even looked like they were reading the room.
I was so dumbfounded I could barely speak.
No matter how large a guild Black Swans was, and no matter how much it represented Lindel, there was no reason for Blue Flame to bow its head in this situation.
Blue Flame was currently in a close relationship with the Red Mercenaries, and the way things were flowing was already in our favor.
What we stood to gain wasn’t just the pleasure of sticking a giant middle finger in Jeong Yu-ra’s face.
In the process of resolving this diplomatically tangled mess, Blue Flame as a whole had far more to gain than I did personally.
Yet they still didn’t seem to understand that.
Maybe they had personal ties, I thought.
At a glance, they did look close.
“I’m truly sorry for coming so late to greet you. We had various circumstances on our end.”
“Not at all. The fact that you came in person is more than enough.”
Enough? What a load of crap. Crazy old bastard.
Watching them beat the drum and play the flute for each other was a spectacular sight.
The people directly involved in the incident were keeping quiet, while these two were exchanging apologies like they were the main event.
They’d greeted us because we were standing here quietly, but from beginning to end there wasn’t a single thing I liked about this situation.
Honestly, it was rude enough to make my skin crawl.
When I glanced at the middle-aged woman again, she must have noticed the look on my face, because she turned and gave me a greeting.
“Ah, I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Choi Eun-hee of the Black Swans Guild.”
“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Lee Kiyoung.”
But this crazy old bastard didn’t seem inclined to help me at all.
He immediately cut me off, then turned back to the woman and started talking again.
“Rather than stand around like this, why don’t we have a simple cup of tea, Ms. Choi Eun-hee?”
“Yes, Elder Seolho. Shall we?”
The old man, only half-glancing at me, resumed his conversation with Choi Eun-hee.
Watching him wreck the entire structure I’d carefully built made my blood boil.
Should I flip the table?
It was absurd that the trash inside the house was more irritating than the enemy outside.
I’d expected he might pull some annoying stunt someday, but I never imagined he’d make such a complete mess of things.
I was turning the problem over in my head, wondering what I should say, when—
“I think it’d be best if the two of you went to have tea by yourselves. There are matters we need to resolve first.”
Lee Jihye spoke up quietly.
“Ah.”
Lee Seolho’s expression looked a little stunned, and Choi Eun-hee’s face as she looked at Lee Jihye was almost the same.
But when I saw Choi Eun-hee nod reluctantly, I realized Lee Jihye’s authority in this matter was greater than I’d expected.
So that’s how it is?
I didn’t know how she’d managed to butter up the Black Swans executives, but she seemed to be trusted quite a lot by the people at the top.
That wasn’t a bad situation for us at all.
“Then shall we do that, Elder Seolho?”
“Pardon?”
“We have things to discuss among ourselves, too. I think it would be best to leave this matter to the children for now. First, I’ll show you the gift we brought.”
“Ho ho ho. That’s very kind of you, Ms. Choi Eun-hee.”
Crazy bastard.
Choi Eun-hee seemed a little better than the Kim Seolho on our side.
At least she looked like she understood the situation.
Choi Eun-hee, who had briefly turned toward me, rose from her seat and addressed Lee Jihye.
“Then, dear, I’ll be counting on you.”
“Yes, sister.”
She didn’t look like anyone’s sister from where I stood, but it was just polite lip service.
Before long, I watched Kim Seolho, Choi Eun-hee, and the other old hands file out of the reception room.
When the door closed, the only people left were me, Lee Jihye, and Jeong Yu-ra.
Unlike Lee Jihye, who was practically beaming, Jeong Yu-ra did not look at all pleased.
It was obvious she’d been through a rough time.
She was probably under a great deal of stress in every possible way.
She was the source of all this mess, after all, and she’d never imagined things would blow up this badly.
Not only was she being condemned from all sides, but her relationship with the Red Mercenaries had fallen apart.
Plenty of adventurers were boycotting Black Swans now, and she probably found it hard even to join an ordinary party.
At this point, her position was nothing more or less than public enemy number one.
It went without saying that her standing inside the guild had dropped as well.
She should probably be grateful she hadn’t been kicked out of Black Swans yet.
Seriously, why did she have to act so damn big?
It was only natural that I was grinning.
Besides, this was a room with only the three of us, and Lee Jihye clearly preferred this kind of atmosphere to something stiff and formal.
Sure enough, Lee Jihye leaned back against the sofa and continued.
“Aren’t you irritated?”
“What?”
“That old man over there. He looked useless at a glance… If I were you, I’d have wanted to rip his head off.”
“Well, you’re not wrong, but… there are reasons for this side too. More importantly, I never imagined you’d come.”
“It just kind of happened. Black Swans had originally offered me a position, but honestly, I was on the verge of fading into obscurity. Then who could’ve guessed the world would change like this? Our guild needed someone to handle the situation, and if it’s a bit shameless for me to say it myself, I do think I’m pretty sharp. The elders in our guild must have decided I was the right person to respond to a situation like this.”
“I figured it would be something like that.”
“This is all thanks to you, Oppa. As they say, a woman really does need to meet the right man.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
“I’m not saying it just to flatter you. I really did benefit a lot from being close to Lee Kiyoung, and I know full well that you’re the one who designed all of this.”
I couldn’t quite read the point of her question.
Still, she wasn’t stupid enough to openly say I’d done it.
Instead, she lifted the corners of her mouth just slightly and spoke.
“Well. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jeong Yu-ra, sitting beside us, looked utterly dumbfounded. She seemed to find it absurd that the two of us were carrying on a conversation while completely ignoring her.
I couldn’t help being a little surprised too. I’d thought Lee Jihye had established herself to some extent, but I hadn’t expected her to push Jeong Yu-ra—who had once been favored by Black Swans—completely out of the conversation.
Instead, it was Jeong Yu-ra who was reading Lee Jihye’s mood.
Huh.
I had to admit she really was capable. No, she was more than capable.
Even if she had only told the guild she had a connection to me, it was still she who had made use of that connection.
“I told you they’d react like that anyway. Honestly, from my perspective, it doesn’t matter much whether I know the truth or not… What’s important right now is figuring out how to clean up this mess. Hmm… before we get into the serious talk… want to play a little after all this time?”
Of course not.
“Not interested.”
There was no way I’d go along with that.
“Oh, how cold. I was thinking it might be nice to reminisce for a moment….”
“Cut the pointless chatter and make your offer, noona. It’s obvious what we’re both thinking, so stop beating around the bush.”
“You really are heartless. If it were that woman beside you, you wouldn’t need to care about her much, Oppa.”
“That’s not why.”
“I think I know why, more or less… Still, before we get to the real discussion, I guess I should get an apology first. Ah! Now it’s your turn, Yu-ra.”
I caught Lee Jihye lightly tapping Jeong Yu-ra on the shoulder.
To be honest, it was a scene I’d never imagined.
I found myself regretting, a little, that I hadn’t managed to bring Lee Jihye over to my side sooner.
She was more capable than I’d thought.
At Lee Jihye’s cue, Jeong Yu-ra began glancing toward me.
Obviously, she had no desire to apologize. She probably believed she hadn’t done anything wrong.
And when she looked at how Lee Jihye and I were acting, that conviction only grew stronger.
Still, she began prying the words out one by one, like it physically hurt.
The sight of her wearing the textbook expression of a loser nearly made me laugh out loud.
It wasn’t exactly the outcome I’d wanted, but this wasn’t bad either.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Oh dear, Yu-ra. You should apologize a little more politely. Our Oppa must feel hurt.”
“I… I’m… sorry.”
“……”
Still, she looked painfully insincere.
That was when Lee Jihye grabbed Jeong Yu-ra by the hair.
Huh.
With a sharp slap, Jeong Yu-ra’s head snapped to the side.
I couldn’t quite make sense of the situation.
I’d guessed roughly that Jeong Yu-ra was wary of her, but I never thought she’d fallen this far.
“Yu-ra, do my words sound like they mean nothing to you?”
Apparently unsatisfied, Lee Jihye swung her hand again, and Jeong Yu-ra’s head jerked over once more.
“Straighten up.”
Honestly, it was hard not to laugh.
Just from the way Lee Jihye was acting now, I could tell how badly Jeong Yu-ra had been broken.
Actually, what interested me more than how far Jeong Yu-ra had fallen was the version of Lee Jihye she was showing me.
Even that sort of behavior must have been the product of careful calculation.
She was proving her authority to her opponent, and at the same time she seemed to be currying a little favor with me.
The fact that she could do all that in a body with no combat ability at all was impressive in itself.
Killing Jeong Yu-ra would have been easier than crushing an ant with a finger.
She was acting with the confidence that this woman couldn’t lay a hand on her, and if that was the case, then it wasn’t just my standing in Blue Flame that was smaller than Lee Jihye’s position in Black Swans—it was probably no exaggeration to say hers was even larger.
“Get down on the floor and apologize properly.”
“……”
With another loud smack, Jeong Yu-ra’s head flew to the side again.
Of course I didn’t feel sorry for her.
On the contrary, it was almost satisfying.
I’m not a pervert, but watching someone who’d been so irritating to me suffer like that felt incredibly good.
Tears were already dripping from Jeong Yu-ra’s eyes. She looked like she was holding back her sobs with all her might.
Haha. Our Jihye is doing great.
The sight of her grabbing Jeong Yu-ra by the hair and forcing her back to her feet was something else entirely. I almost wanted to applaud.
“I told you to apologize properly, Yu-ra.”
Whether she chose this side or that, the humiliation would be the same.
In the end, Jeong Yu-ra slowly lowered herself to the floor.
“That’s better. Now you understand what I’m saying.”
“I’m….”
She flattened herself against the ground as if bowing in prayer.
“I’m sorry. Huuuk… I’m truly sorry. For speaking to you so carelessly… I’m sorry.”
There was a strange kind of catharsis in it.
A woman who could kill me in an instant was crouched there in such a miserable posture that I felt an utterly bizarre thrill.
When my shoulders began to shake slightly, Lee Jihye immediately spoke again.
“Come to think of it, it feels like there’s something you want from me….”
“I guess my shoes got a little dirty….”
I caught sight of Lee Jihye smiling faintly.
What a shame.
That was the only thing I could think.