Luck-Skinny (5)
About an hour ago.
Trapped inside the blood donation bus—no, the abandoned hospital—Cheong Harin shouted in an excited voice.
"Even if you're dragged away by a tiger, you'll survive as long as you keep your wits about you!"
But that courage was short-lived. It cooled down in an instant.
"But this is an anomaly... Sigh."
If only anomalies were as simple as tigers.
The ones that actually gave you rules to follow were practically saints. Most of them, like this blood donation bus, just pulled a "figure it out as you go" card.
You might think, It's a blood donation bus, so shouldn't you just donate blood?
But was that really the way to escape? Or was it just a way to get eaten?
Still, Cheong Harin hadn't survived this long for nothing.
I'm only unlucky because I used up all my luck just to survive.
A pioneering spirit. That was the sole reason Cheong Harin had made it this far.
Honestly, it was a miracle in itself that a fixer with no abilities had lasted ten years in a world like this.
Even fixers with Sephirah relics dropped dead left and right.
Surviving this long was probably just a side effect of having too much survival luck.
Sure, her office life had been absolute garbage, but she had learned a thing or two from the Cheong Alliance.
What do you do when caught in an anomaly incident?
"Stay silent, but search."
Moving with that mantra in mind, she found a peculiar space surprisingly easily.
Despite being an abandoned hospital, the hospital beds were pristine, and the equipment was state-of-the-art.
Anyone could see that this place was the heart of the anomaly.
"...The problem now is whether to donate blood or not."
She looked around to see if there was an instruction manual, but there wasn't a single written word.
She searched for photos or diagrams, but found nothing.
"Damn it, there isn't a single clue...!"
In the end, Cheong Harin had to make a choice.
To lie down on the bed, or not.
"...Let me think about it just a little longer. Just a bit..."
Twenty minutes passed.
Cheong Harin still couldn't decide.
"Ugh. I need to choose..."
At that moment, she noticed the tips of her fingers. They were faintly translucent, letting light pass through them.
Why could she see the floor that should have been blocked by her hand?
"Ah...!"
Cheong Harin's very existence was fading away.
The longer she stalled, the faster she would vanish.
Which meant refusing to donate blood was suicide.
"Screw it, I don't care anymore!"
She hopped onto the bed. With a metallic clatter, a long tube slithered out from the darkness.
"Eek!"
The needle at the end of the tube pierced her skin with surprising gentleness.
It was a touch so deft it could only belong to a veteran nurse.
"Is... is this it?"
A few minutes passed as Cheong Harin's blood drained through the tube.
Suddenly, the hospital turned into a warzone.
Bang! Boom!
"Kyaaa! What is this?!"
She bolted upright. Pipes all over the hospital were bursting.
Red liquid flooded rapidly across the once-pristine floor of the ward.
The locks on the bed, which had been firmly secured to the floor, clicked open and began to roll.
It started to hurtle forward like a raft caught in a raging rapid.
"Ugh!"
The needle and tube were still stuck in her arm, but the situation had reversed.
The flow of blood had turned backward.
Instead of draining out of her, blood was rushing into Cheong Harin.
"What? Why? Why, why, why is it flowing in?! No, no! Stop, stop coming in! Ugh... it's so cold...!"
Before she knew it, something chillingly cold was coursing through her veins.
But she didn't even have time to panic. The bed she was riding on was sinking.
Blood was beginning to submerge the entire wide corridor.
To make matters worse, a tidal wave of blood was surging from behind, moving faster than her runaway bed.
"Damn it... when was the last time I practiced underwater swimming...?"
Taking a deep breath, Cheong Harin squeezed her eyes shut.
Gurgle.
Even then, she had no idea she was about to become a half-human, half-anomaly.
Sephirah, Qliphoth—in the end, they were just arbitrary standards created by humans.
But because the distinction relied on whether it harmed humans, Qliphoth was heavily tabooed.
The official term for those chosen by such Qliphoth was "Qliphoth Awakened," but most people called them something else.
Anomaly Agents.
Personally, I preferred to call them "blood insurance policyholders," but since civilization was still intact, that term was meaningless, so I'd skip it for now.
Even for me, it was impossible to force apart their blood, which had already completely fused.
To separate them, I would have to absorb both of them entirely, but doing so would destroy Cheong Harin's ego.
For now, I need to figure out a way for Harin to live like this.
"Right, you were... what was it? Atoner... something?"
"I am the Atoner, Rubina. Please call me by whatever name my Parent desires."
"Rubina. Right. I'll accept you as my thrall, but on one condition."
"Command me, my Lord."
"Do not manifest unless I call for you. Humans will try to destroy that body the moment they realize you exist. Instead, lend your power to the host. Any achievements she makes with your power will be credited to you."
"I am deeply grateful for your immense grace. I shall engrave your will upon my blood and obey until the day I run dry."
"Good. Now go back inside. We'll speak again when it's time to reward your service."
Rubina closed her eyes.
As Cheong Harin's body went limp from losing consciousness, I quickly reached out to support her back.
Soon, by engraving a brand onto the blood I had drawn from her and returning it, the master-servant covenant was complete.
"Hmm."
There were fewer than ten Qliphoth Awakened in the entire world.
If word got out, she would immediately become a pariah, especially since half of them were wanted criminals.
If someone posted about this on the gallery, the comments would immediately scream "Anomaly Agent."
In reality, their treatment wasn't much different from actual anomalies.
A human who, in my hazy memories, was just like me back when I was human—someone whose every action led to misfortune.
I couldn't help but marvel at how spectacular Cheong Harin's bad luck was.
"Birds of a feather, I suppose. Hmm."
But there was no need to feel pity.
People like Cheong Harin and me fought harder and more desperately than anyone else precisely because we were unlucky.
That was why I wouldn't look at her with pity.
"Well, I'll just have to be Cheong Harin's good luck from now on."
At the very least, Cheong Harin was fortunate.
I was the only witness to her Qliphoth awakening, and I could control her Qliphoth.
Considering that half of the Qliphoth Awakened were wanted because they couldn't control their powers and caused disasters, maybe we could just register her as a Sephirah Awakened?
After all, my thralls would obey my commands even if they starved to death.
And I had no intention of starving her.
While living outside the borders of Seoul, I had hunted down countless magic beasts to protect wandering humans, so I had plenty of blood to feed her.
Worrying about running out of blood was a waste of time; I'd rather worry about my favorite local restaurant suddenly closing down.
The most urgent matter was getting Woo Cheon-yeop to understand the situation.
I had to convince him that Cheong Harin wasn't dangerous. If that failed, I'd just ask him to fit her with an expulsion device disguised as a choker.
"Ugh. I couldn't eat my jelly, so I have no energy..."
But I'll think about that later.
I only came here to eat jelly, and all I got was a massive headache.
I'm so tired...
"Anomaly incident concluded. The Bureau will take over from here."
"Good work."
"Thank you for your hard work, fixers."
By the time we emerged from the collapsing space of the blood donation bus, the vehicle had already turned into a heap of scrap metal.
It was only natural, considering it had been compressed from the inside and smashed from the outside.
Since Auntie Lokhee had somehow ended up as the field commander, it took some time for her to hand over the case to the Bureau...
And it was nearly two hours later before she and I could return to the office.
Cheong Harin still hadn't woken up, so she was carried on Auntie's back.
"So, you're saying Harin awakened inside? That's good news."
"Yes. It would be great if you could prepare the registration process."
"Hmm. In that case, it might be better to scrap the contract we prepared and write a new one."
"Why go through the trouble?"
"Because the treatment of an Awakened is vastly different from an ordinary person. Once the Bureau verifies Harin's abilities, her standard contract and salary will change depending on the grade she receives."
"Ah."
Perhaps because talking about money was one of the taboos on the Fixer Gallery, I had never really heard much about it.
I had no idea.
Then again, Auntie Lokhee, as the representative of the office, would know far more about this than me.
"But what is her ability? Did you check?"
"I don't know either. I only saw the color change characteristic of an Awakened."
"Hmm. Make sure to check it properly later. That way, I can write down the details when I submit the fixer ability verification request to the Bureau."
"Will do."
"Her employment might be delayed a bit because of this. Is that alright?"
"Well, will it take about a week?"
"At the shortest, yes."
"That should be fine."
"Any rewards or contribution points she accumulates until then will be saved and applied retroactively, so let her know when she wakes up."
"I will. Oh, by the way, how many contribution points will the office get?"
"Usually, it's proportional to the number of people caught up in the incident... Since there were about a hundred people this time, splitting the contribution points between mine and Harin's shares should give us about a hundred."
"One hundred."
It was a smooth start, but pretty stingy.
Only 100 out of 100,000. Still a long way to go.
"More importantly, did you see anyone unusual? Someone must have caused a ruckus inside that bus."
"I was too busy looking for the person on your back."
"Ugh, I thought this was finally my chance to catch them. Are they a ghost or something? How do they slip away so easily...?"
"Who?"
"Who else! The reason I'm hanging around your office."
She was talking about me.
I wondered how this lady would react if she found out the fixer she was looking for was actually an anomaly...
"But the more they run, the more I like it. It fires up my competitive spirit. I've never once lost a target I set my eyes on!"
"Hearing that would make them run away even if they were planning to come."
"Khehe, even better if they run! I love the hunt!"
I really hoped she didn't think headhunting meant actual hunting.
"Whew, anyway, I should head out right after dropping her off... I can't believe I'm working overtime on a dispatch mission."
"At least you're getting paid and earning contribution points."
"It's too little. We need to clear at least a Na-grade case to afford a chicken dinner."
The moment I heard that, a thought struck me.
As soon as Auntie went home, I was going to order from Ssaksak Chicken's famous 24-hour nationwide delivery service.
I also needed to talk to Woo Cheon-yeop.
But that could wait until tomorrow. I needed some rest today.
And so, late at night, a chicken party was held in the secret room behind my small office.
The attendees were just Cheong Harin and myself.
I could have eaten alone, but I specifically called Cheong Harin because there were many things I needed to sort out with her.
And I felt a bit guilty that she had ended up like this because of me.
Yet, as if she couldn't care less about the freshly delivered chicken, Cheong Harin kept her eyes fixed on me the entire time.
She had always been pretty, but with her hair and eye colors changed, she now had an even more striking, eye-catching appearance.
"So... I've become an Awakened?"
"Yes. But we don't know your exact ability yet, so we'll have to figure it out as we go."
"Uh... I'm so dazed... I can't believe a day like this has come for me... Wait, no. I was definitely being injected with blood by the donation bus...? You don't think I had a Qliphoth awakening, do you?"
This is what happens when you know your own bad luck too well.
It wasn't easy for someone to jump straight to suspecting a Qliphoth awakening.
"If you did, they would have dragged you away as an Anomaly Agent already."
Terrified, Cheong Harin covered her mouth with both hands.
"Gasp. Right. Wow. Me, an Awakened...? Was I actually lucky this time...?"
Actually, you were unlucky.
You were unlucky, but because I got involved, you managed to break even.
Or wait, since it happened because of me, was it bad luck after all...?
Still, I was glad that my eating buddy wouldn't die easily anymore. Now, even if she got a hole in her stomach, it would be easy to save her.
"Auntie Lokhee will help you with the ability verification and the employment contract tomorrow. You'll be a Da-grade fixer soon."
"Da-grade?!"
"Well, you're an Awakened. The lowest rank for an Awakened is Da-grade."
"N-no way. Me, Da-grade? Da-grade! Wow!"
"I went to great lengths to get this chicken to celebrate you becoming an Awakened, so don't hold back and dig in."
After staring blankly for a long moment, Cheong Harin asked timidly.
Even with the hard-to-get chicken right in front of her, she kept looking at me as if I were far more important than the food.
"San-a... nim, are you by any chance the representative of this office?"
I thought she would naturally drop the honorific if I treated her like a friend.
But instead of distancing herself, she seemed to be clinging even closer.
"I heard from the Tower Master. She said you were the one who brought me out."
"Anyone could have done that, even if they weren't the representative..."
"No, you didn't just bring me out. You saved me."
"I did nothing but swim inside that blood donation bus, though?"
"Liar..."
Cheong Harin bit her lower lip.
She seemed to know something.
"The voice inside me told me everything. It said you saved me, San-a-nim. And that I got this power thanks to you."
That's strange.
Rubina only manifests when Cheong Harin is unconscious.
Even though she resides in her body, they shouldn't be able to share thoughts.
This is because the consciousness of a blood species sprouts throughout the entire bloodstream, not the brain.
To communicate, they would have to write notes or scribble on each other's faces like in some body-swapping anime, but they shouldn't have had the time for that.
Wondering if her bad luck had manifested in some bizarre way, I asked her.
"Do you happen to experience paranormal phenomena often?"
"Yes... yes."
"And do you get caught up in anomaly incidents frequently?"
"At least once a week..."
"Do you also hear auditory hallucinations or see illusions often?"
"...Yes! How do you know so well?"
I see.
This was the first time I'd seen someone suffer so much just because their anomaly affinity was too high.
Usually, people with high affinity awakened easily and raked in tons of cash.
I stuffed a chicken drumstick into Cheong Harin's mouth and said,
"It seems you're mistaking hallucinations for reality."
"What? There's no way..."
"Just eat this first. There's nothing like chicken to soothe an unstable mind."
"Mmph. Nom... chew."
Poor thing.
I had never seen such a pitiful creature besides myself.
But because she had lived such a life, her desire for success would be intense.
And work would roll in even if she didn't look for it.
She was the type of person who would make it big as a fixer as long as she had power.
She lacked power right now, but I could be her strength until she grew.
Even if Harin slips up, Uncle Woo Cheon-yeop can just handle the information control.
Baek San-a, in charge of surfing the gallery... I mean, information gathering.
Kim Lokhee, the veteran fixer.
Cheong Harin, the anomaly magnet, contribution point generator, Baek San-a's personal nutritionist, and the face of the office.
With these three, it was entirely possible.
To live a leisurely life while racking up contribution points!
"We, might just make a pretty good team, don't you think?"