First Time at Royal Valley

I really meant it. Back when I worked at the Supply Support Team, I only ever visited Royal Valley for official business. Maybe it was because I’d only seen the stiff, dreary sections reserved for ability users—the ones displaying nothing but dull, functional items. This was my first time stepping into the civilian Place that non-ability users could enter too, and honestly, I was a little stunned.

I had to crane my neck all the way back just to see the ceiling, which stretched upward without a single floor in sight. Sleek black and pristine white curved pillars, long escalators that connected the levels in one sweeping glance, and familiar brand signs visible through the tempered glass railings in between. It felt exactly like someone had taken Times Square, doubled its size, and dropped it right here.

“Whoa… what the hell is this place…?”

“Huh? Oppa, what’s wrong?”

Seong Hana looked up from the stack of papers covered in text, pushing her glasses up slightly as she turned her head. Unlike earlier when she’d looked ready to collapse with dark circles under her eyes, her clear, vivid light-green irises now fixed on me. Even her previously lifeless voice sounded crisp and alert. Her messy blonde hair was neatly arranged, and her skin looked smoother too. The simple suit she’d thrown on earlier had been replaced by something that practically screamed, I am originally a luxury suit, adding an intellectual air to her appearance.

Honestly, the most surprising thing here was Seong Hana herself. I thought this every single time I saw her… What if a person could erase all their fatigue after just thirty minutes of sleep? If Einstein had only slept thirty minutes and kept researching, wouldn’t he have announced a theory that surpassed relativity? And what about Tesla, who laid the foundation for alternating current? Or Newton?

In my opinion, if people only needed three hours of sleep instead of thirty minutes, humanity might have already conquered the solar system by now. Not that I personally wanted to conquer the solar system, but I still had the habit of staying up until two or three in the morning, unwilling to waste even a second of sleep. When I really thought about it, humans only lived about a hundred years at most. Maybe that was why the desire to use even a little more time than others felt so strong.

But in the end, it was all just a feeling. I always regretted it the moment I opened my eyes in the morning. I could feel my exhausted body silently cursing me. Still, what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could I do? There was never enough time, and there were too many things I wanted to do.

“…Oppa?”

That was why I often found myself envying Hana’s ability. A healing power that could blow away fatigue entirely. Wasn’t that the true dream of every overworked modern person? To have all your tiredness vanish after just three minutes of sleep, not even thirty… If Seong Hana had been able to use that ability on others, I bet she would have been working in the medical support team inside the Purple Hall by now. After a tough fight, she could put someone to sleep, and three minutes later they’d wake up ready to resume the operation. There wouldn’t even be a need for multiple teams to rotate on guard duty. If you just added one Seong Hana to the team… Wait, wasn’t this insanely efficient? What on earth had the Association been doing all this time? Shouldn’t they have scouted a promising talent like her and put her through specialized training?

“Um… is there something on my face?”

“No, it’s just…”

“You’re a little amazed?”

“Your ability? You always react like this whenever you see it. Your own ability is incredibly strange too, you know. Ha… why did this person sign so tiny…”

Seong Hana trailed off, leaning closer to the documents again as if she couldn’t quite make out the writing. Feeling a bit awkward, I looked around broadly and said,

“No, I meant… doesn’t Royal Valley only deal in military supplies?”

“Excuse me? Are you joking?”

One corner of her eye, previously hidden behind the papers, shot upward. She was the facility manager, after all. It seemed my comment had lightly poked at her professional pride.

“If they only sold that kind of thing in the heart of Seoul these days, they couldn’t even cover the maintenance costs. Ever since they started pushing monsters into the Purple Hall, the number of dungeons spawning outside the Hall has decreased a lot, right? That means demand for equipment has dropped too. If they operated the way they used to, they’d be in the red within three days.”

Tap tap tap tap. She spoke without once lifting her eyes from the paper. As expected, when it came to anything involving Royal Valley, Hana was dead serious… Still, it really was fascinating to see the difference.

The Royal Valley in my memory was a dusty warehouse-like space filled with military supply company employees hauling goods, busy work crews running around everywhere, ability users haggling over wooden crates full of weapons, and supply trucks constantly coming and going. But the world before my eyes now was completely different from what I remembered. It felt like an entirely different place.

Families avoiding the summer heat by heading into the food court on the weekend, couples out shopping, people lining up in front of luxury brand stores. It was all so… normal.

“Wait… what’s with that shocked reaction? Don’t tell me this is actually your first time here?”

“It is.”

“No way. Were you really just working the whole time? You’ve never come here even once?”

“Yeah. When I was on the supply team, every minute and every second counted.”

At the word “first,” Hana’s eyes widened, and she gave me a look that clearly said, No way, that can’t be true. Even her black glasses seemed to be asking, I’ve been here before, though?

Looking at her like that brought back memories of my time on the supply team. Of course I never had time to come here. During those days, I had fought the Purple Hall in my own way.

The moment a military supplier called to say goods had arrived, I would rush straight to Royal Valley to inspect them myself. I checked every single item with my own hands. If even the slightest thing didn’t meet my standards, I would file a claim or return the whole batch. I always demanded only the best.

At first, the suppliers hated it and complained loudly. Before I came along, they had been casually selling whatever they wanted based on contracts alone, and it had been ridiculous. That’s right—there was even a time when a major supplier used my name as an excuse to terminate their contract. They had thrown a tantrum to the Association, saying they didn’t want to see Kang Minwoo anymore.

That day, the money-obsessed Association threatened to expel me. They thought I would fold if they hit me with every possible disadvantage, but they were wrong. In the end, I managed to sign a contract with an even better supplier on better terms than before. The Association, now in a good mood, acted like they had known it would turn out this way and told me to go back to the Supply Support Team.

After that, I would load the received goods into my inventory and carry them to the supply team warehouse. Half a day would fly by in an instant. Then I’d write up the report for the Association, balance the numbers, and the sun would already be setting… After that, I’d load the supplies scheduled to be sent into the Purple Hall into containers…

That’s right. I never once thought about leaving work late or eating dinner. Because while I was doing all that, someone whose name I didn’t even know was fighting inside the Hall under the name of a raid team, risking their life for us.

So I had to support them under the name of the supply team. Late at night, the portal of whatever team needed supplies would open. The more dangerous the operation, the tighter the schedule. The deeper you went into the Purple Hall, the weaker the portal’s transmission strength became.

In those moments, I gritted my teeth and fought off drowsiness, desperate to send even one more item. Fortunately, my inventory ability didn’t care about weight. I could send every single thing they requested through the portal on time. It was small, but it was the best I could do.

It might not have looked like much, but to me, every day felt worthwhile. Even if no one acknowledged it. That was how we fought together.

Maybe that was why. Now that I had been removed from the supply team, the situation felt a little uncomfortable. What if the suppliers started cutting corners again now that I was gone? Would the supplies still arrive properly? Those were the worries that kept nagging at me.

But it was pointless anxiety. This world would keep turning just fine without me. The supply team wouldn’t be any different. It was just needless worry.

By the time I snapped out of it, Hana had buried her face in the papers again.

“Seriously… how is this your first time here… What kind of life have you been living? Hmm… there’s a signature here too…”

“Saving the world isn’t something only the raid teams do, Hana.”

I smiled faintly and reached out to grab the edge of the stack of papers in her hand. This girl really was an incurable workaholic…

“Huh…? Oppa?”

“That’s the supply list to be sent to the Lionel Group, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. How did you…?”

“I glanced at it. The format looks similar to the Association’s.”

“I’ll look it over for you. At this rate, if I follow you to the café, the sun will ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠set before we get there…”

“Uh… but still…”

I had followed her to the café, but seeing how she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the supply list reminded me so much of my old self that I felt a pang of sympathy. So I took the white sheets of paper that had been filling her light-green eyes and pulled them away.

Hana fidgeted with her now-empty hands, looking awkward.

“Come on~ Hurry up. Let’s go.”

“Ah, um… okay…”

Huh? Just now. Did I hear that?

“Siyeon?”

“It’s me, Hana.”

Not you…

The café Hana led me to was a fairly famous one with a long waiting line. Fortunately, the second floor was kept empty for Royal Valley staff to rest. Their employee benefits really were enviably good…

“Oppa, what would you like to drink?”

“Sit down. I’ll order and come back.”

“Oh… you will?”

“Yeah. Here, take the list. I’m done checking it.”

“Already?”

“Of course. Something like this doesn’t take long.”

I handed her the papers I had taken from her. They were covered in my revisions. The Lionel Group was a company on par with the Association in scale. I had heard rumors that they were putting together a team of powerful freelancers thanks to their strong capital, and after seeing the equipment purchase list, it looked like those rumors were true.

But it was kind of funny. I guess the saying that the first time is always the hardest really is accurate. Since it was such a famous group, I had skimmed the list at first, but the further down I read, the more embarrassingly sloppy it became. To the point that it almost made me angry.

They were trying to buy equipment from Chinese ghost companies and shady firms with inflated financial statements. It was clear they had absolutely no idea how this market worked. I hoped the group would take another look after seeing my revised list…

“Um… Oppa, I took a quick look. I only have facility management authority. I don’t have any other permissions, especially not the kind that would let me revise vendors and send supplies like this. I’m only supposed to check the signature and send it as-is…”

“No.”

“Pardon?”

“Just send the revised list back to the group.”

“But… if we don’t deliver according to the client’s order…”

“Please. If they take equipment like that into a dungeon, they’ll all die for nothing.”

I picked up one of the sheets from the table.

“See this? It says Lishao, right? That’s a Chinese company. I visited their factory in person. Want to know what I found?”

“What…?”

“There is no factory.”

“W-what?”

A single drop of surprise finally broke through Hana’s previously calm expression.

“This one too. And this. All of them. They’re all garbage. Absolutely not.”

“Ah… then… ha… what should we do…”

“I’m asking you. In the end, it’s Royal Valley that hands over the equipment. The group really is forming a freelancer team, right?”

“How did you know that too?”

“Anyway, if the Lionel Group’s team goes into some random dungeon, gets ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠completely humiliated, and it turns out the equipment was the problem, it will damage Royal Valley’s credibility. Because in the end, the fact that we supplied the equipment is still true. Don’t you think?”

“Hmm… that’s true…”

I believed that if it concerned the Valley, the ever-serious Hana would understand. Fortunately, after thinking for a moment, she slipped the stack of papers back into the folder. Then she picked up her phone and seemed to make a call. When the conversation looked like it would take a while, she pulled the phone away from her ear for a second and mouthed, I’ll be a while!

I smiled lightly to show I understood and turned around. The stairs leading down to the first floor came into view. I took them one step at a time. Light, easy footsteps. I felt good.

I had just supported someone whose name I didn’t even know. Even though I had been removed from the team, it seemed I was still part of the supply team after all. Or maybe not. Either way, I felt good right now, and that was enough.

I whistled as I lightly jogged down the rest of the stairs. No one would know, but I thought I could hear someone saying thank you in my ear, and it made me happy.

“Anyway, I’m glad~ Now Hana just needs to persuade them properly…”

“Ugh—!”

Thank you my ass… The moment I stepped away from Hana, her cold voice suddenly rang out. I nearly slipped on the stairs. But the coldness felt a little awkward. Like it would blow away if someone breathed on it.

“S… Siyeon?”

“Um… what would you like? Just tell me! I can get two cups! How about that tiramisu… or, uh, macarons?”

No answer. D-did I do something wrong again? Maybe she doesn’t like sweets…?

It was strange. Her voice had definitely been cold, but now it felt so hot that my skin might turn red. The sound just now was definitely the one she made when she covered her face with both hands. There was a slight tremble in it too… Was she going to look at my face and curse me or something? No, that couldn’t be… I’d better close my eyes quickly.

“Siyeon, calm down first…”

I closed my eyes.

“Uh… huh…?”

But what I saw was nothing like what I had feared. Her face wasn’t angry, nor was it coldly scornful. She was simply covering her face, which had turned as red as a ripe tomato, with both hands. It was different from usual. Her long straight hair was neatly braided and tied back. Below that, I could see the white line of her neck. Maybe because she had undone two buttons of her white t-shirt, she looked a little less cute than usual. Over the white shirt, a black suit that perfectly hugged every curve of her body—from top to bottom—showed off the figure of a former combat ability user. And then there were the black glasses she was shyly hiding behind her slender fingers. Between them, her big, red, adorable eyes darted around helplessly.

In that moment, only one word came to mind.

“…Beautiful…………….”

At those words, Siyeon slowly moved the hands covering her face to the side. Even that gesture was lovable.

Her trembling voice barely managed to get the words out. When I thought about how she had been keeping her hair braided back inside the Cube all this time, I couldn’t hold back my smile.

“I really mean it.”

“You’re even prettier than Ha—”

— Bang!

Once again, Lee Siyeon slammed the door shut as she went inside.