Agent (2)

A moment of hope.

No demand for payment. No catch. The hiring process simply began on its own — apparently a reward for hitting Level 30.

What do I even pick.

I didn't usually like agonizing over decisions, but this time I genuinely couldn't make up my mind. What would come out? What was this one supposed to be, and what was that?

Barrier technician. Priest. Elf. Pope.

What I was hoping for, of course, was an agent who'd be tied directly to whether I lived or died. Even so, I decided to keep my heart a little detached.

It's so unpredictable, after all.

I swallowed, hard. It wasn't simply being handed to me — I had to draw it myself. Whatever came up would be my own choice, so there was no room to cry foul… and yet the choice paralysis was making this genuine agony.

I scanned left and right with my right hand for a long while. Then it hit me: the cards were face-down anyway. More thinking would only drive me insane. I decided to go with whatever my gut pointed at.

This one.

Third card from the right. I tapped it with my finger.

"Let's go!!! Let's wreck this!!!"

The card my finger had touched flared a brilliant violet, and then—

That light reached the center of my Shelter — right between the fridge and the bed — and began to knit itself into a human shape. There was even a message that the agent would never harm me, and would never disobey an order.

A low rush of air filled the room.

"I'm counting on you."

For the first time in my life, I offered a prayer to whatever gods might be listening. The tension of a lifetime. What kind of agent would it be?

Then—

Hmm… well. They're small, at least.

As the figure took on a human outline, I could already guess: someone about kindergarten to early elementary school size. The forming took a minute, maybe two. I stood there fidgeting, waiting to see who would step out. Cold sweat beaded on my skin.

A little longer, and the agent's form began to solidify.

It's a kid.

Standing in front of me was a young agent who looked about early elementary school age.

"Uh."

Honestly, speaking realistically — I'd been hoping for a priest or something of the sort, but deep down I'd expected someone military. Agent-like. A character with a combat vibe. This was… unexpected.

Tousled, uncombed pink hair in a bob, and a robe that was a little grimy but seemed to have been worn as neatly as she could manage.

A mage? Is this my mage-agent-savior who's going to keep me alive?!

That was how it looked. I'd been braced for someone military, so the surprise was real — but as long as they kept me breathing, that was enough.

Meanwhile the agent opened her closed eyes, swayed as if the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠world were still spinning, and then she found me.

"Huk!!!"

And then she recoiled as if she'd been struck by lightning.

"AAAAAAAHHH!"

I screamed right along with her. Mine was just a little louder.

The instant she registered me, the agent dropped to the floor and began bowing with the utmost formality.

A heavy thud.

"Uh. You don't have to?"

I was about to stop her, the whole display already too much, when—

"Greetings, Boss! Thank you for hiring me! I will work extremely hard! I will devote my life! I will do my very best! I am truly, sincerely grateful!"

"…"

This was so fucking awkward. And the title was even Boss.

"My name is Jenny! Please feel free to call me Agent Jenny!"

A status window for the agent named Jenny floated up before my eyes. She approached me then with a stride that said she was ready to pledge her loyalty then and there.

"Don't come too close… please."

I had no idea how to deal with children, and on top of that she was an agent, so I had no clue how I was supposed to treat her.

"You must speak casually with me! I am your loyal agent, Boss!"

"Don't come any closer."

"Yes!"

Distance first. That much I could manage.

Outside, ambulance sirens wailed. Horns blared. The sounds of people rushing about, the noise of a world still turning. For the time being, none of it had anything to do with me.

The place I occupied was a space sealed off from the world by a barrier — my own Shelter, cozy enough to feel snug. Through the modest growth I'd managed, it was no longer a cramped little room of twenty square meters, but a reasonably spacious place. And with that—

"…Right. So."

I was no longer living alone. A companion — or maybe agent was the better word. Either way, I now had someone whose job it was to help me stay alive.

"Your name's Jenny."

"Yes!"

Even at a glance, she was not from here. She looked human enough, but everything from the name to the clothes said otherwise. I sat her down on a folding chair, kept a careful distance, and started asking questions in earnest. She looked so clearly like a child that slipping into casual speech came easily.

"So. What did you say your ability was?"

I'd already read the details. I wanted to hear it from her anyway.

"I can use Spatial Magic!"

Bright, crisp, and utterly confident.

"You can use what?"

"Spatial Magic, sir! I'm uniquely terrible at every other kind of magic, but I can use Spatial Magic, which people say is incredibly difficult. I'm a mage who—"

What. I have no idea what that means.

Kim Yu-hee had obtained a Spatial Magic agent.

"…"

I brought Jenny here first.

"This place is called the Training Ground. Your name is…"

"Jenny! Jenny Gorwhale, Boss!"

"Right. Jenny."

The In Training designation protected me here, which was reassuring. I stood facing her in the Training Ground, shifting from foot to foot, and then the absurdity of it all hit me all at once.

She was a kid.

I must've looked pathetic.

I'd let the disappointment show on my face, right in front of a child. Jenny, for her part, was burning with a look that said she would give her life if I would only give her something — anything — to do.

"Hah."

A man who always expected maximum happiness. That was me.

Still. Spatial Magic, huh.

I honestly didn't have a feel for it yet. Even so, with a child standing there as an agent, eyes blazing, so determined to help — disappointment wasn't an easy thing to hold ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠onto.

Fine. I drew her. If it's spatial travel, there might be things possible that I haven't even thought of yet.

I changed my mind. Honestly, expecting someone with Damage Immunity or some such to pop out of a card was ridiculous on its face. And besides — having a person throw their whole heart into supporting me could solve a lot of the problems that came with a shut-in life.

"All right, then."

A clap, to reset the mood. If this was how it was going to be, I might as well learn everything properly. Before that, though—

"My name is Kim Yu-hee. You must never, ever say my name anywhere."

An introduction, first. She was going to be living with me from now on. Of course, I fully intended to drill her on every precaution, just to shut down every possible variable.

"Yes! Boss Kim Yu-hee!"

"Right. Does it really have to be Boss, though?"

"It is Boss!"

"…"

Ridiculously awkward, but no other title came to mind, so I let ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it go. Jenny knelt with her back ramrod straight and hung on every word.

"I'll go over the house rules. One: you do not come close."

"Yes, sir!"

There was a clause about mutual damage nullification, but until that lived in my bones, I was taking no chances.

"Two: you do not make a racket."

"Yes, sir!"

That one I'd added because she was young. After that, I walked her through everything else that could pose a well-meaning threat to Kim Yu-hee's one-HP existence. Agent Jenny remained neatly on her knees, hands folded, eyes shining with total concentration.

"That should do it. Can you show me what you can actually do? We can try anything here. It's safe."

"Understood! I will show you with everything I have! From this moment, I will prove my worth to you, Boss!"

The instant the order landed, Jenny closed her eyes.

"Hoooo."

She exhaled as if pouring her entire soul into the effort. And then a low, rolling hum filled the air.

Directly in front of her, a faint swirl appeared — so subtle I could barely see it. Space itself seemed to warp, distorting like a shimmer of Hazy Heat. That same eerie distortion bloomed again off to the left-diagonal.

Two distortion points.

While I was still locked on the magic, Jenny pulled a tiny wooden ring from her finger and closed it in her left hand.

"Hah!"

She hurled the wooden ring with everything she had. It flew straight at the distortion in front of her.

"?"

By all rights it should have dropped weakly to the floor. Instead, the moment it reached the distortion point, it vanished with a soft zip.

And then — whoosh — a clatter of wood on stone. The ring burst out of the distortion on the left-diagonal and only then hit the ground, rolling end over end.

"Oh?"

"This is the magic I can do! I can link or connect two different spaces!"

Huh.

That's basically a wormhole.

Go in here, come out there. Which meant—

"Wait. Can my body teleport through it too?"

"Yes! Of course! I'll do it right now!"

"No. Absolutely not."

"Yes! I'm sorry!"

I had the shape of it now. Jenny could link spaces, or connect them. I turned it over for a moment, and a simple idea surfaced.

"Jenny. Can you only do that up close?"

"It works even from very far away! Though not if it's too far… And I need to know the exact location, or see it with my own eyes! I'm sorry! I'll work harder!"

How far is 'far,' exactly?

There was no answer except to learn it with my body. I set the Training Ground to my current location so I could get a feel for the distances, and started putting Jenny's ability through its paces.

The moment I saw what she could do, a single idea had taken root. If we were going this far anyway, I wanted the most I could wring out of it — and I intended to find out whether that idea would actually work.

"Hah. Hah."

After four or five uses of the spatial magic, Jenny was clearly struggling.

"Ah — that's because I had you do it so many times! Rest."

In the Training Ground, my rounds didn't deplete and neither did durability, so I'd assumed the same would apply to her. Apparently that protection was mine alone. Watching such a small kid break into a sweat made me feel oddly guilty.

"No, sir! I can do it! I will absolutely pull it off!"

…So it wasn't unlimited. There was a stamina cost. She also seemed to be affected by her condition. And after each use, it took a little time before she could go again — concentration, from the look of it.

Still, after a few experiments, I had a read.

At this range, she could probably move things across the whole country.

The distance she could bridge between two points of space was considerable. The catch, of course, was that she needed the exact location, or a clear image of it.

"Hah. Hah."

I let Jenny catch her breath, and lined up one last thing I wanted to check. The building where the gargoyle had been. I was going to go there. Myself.

Not my whole body, obviously. This was the Training Ground, so I could afford a little courage: just the sniper rifle, eased out to the edge. If it worked, it would be an excellent way to extend my firing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠range. Jenny had said my entire body could be moved through, but leaving the Shelter completely carried risk. We would train on poking just a piece of me out. A peek. Nothing more.

While I was still turning it over—

"I can do it one more time, Boss!"

The color had come back to her face. She clenched both fists and flexed, showing off her little biceps. I explained the plan. Whether she was a quick study or simply hanging on my every word, it uploaded into Jenny instantly.

"Let's go! Let's try it!"

"Yes, sir!"

A low, rolling hum. The training began. Jenny focused, and two wormholes took shape — one in my bedroom corner, one on the Gargoyle Rooftop. I took the sniper rifle and eased myself, just barely, into the wormhole.

"…It works."

Whoa. It actually worked. There I was, my upper body poking out of thin air, actually positioned above the Gargoyle Rooftop. I turned my head, and sure enough, there was my little apartment, off in the distance.

"Hoo."

The reason I kept putting myself through this was simple: a very simple operation name had occurred to me. Namely—

And it would need one skill grafted onto it.

"Jenny. How is it?"

"Huk! Where did you go?! You've vanished! What do I do?!"

…The strategy was starting to take shape.