Debut Sortie!
The dinner, still steeped in its afterglow, had finally come to an end.
Fwaaah—!
The moment she got home, Sua stepped into the Special Trait Hotel. The ground under her feet was the Mindscape—her inner world given form, exactly as the name promised. Just now, it had taken on the look of a courtroom. The Sua Court.
Sua shouted.
"Everyone, assemble!"
At once a tremendous host of arctic foxes came bounding in from every direction and settled into the tiered gallery. The center of the court was laid out as a hexagon, a nameplate set at each seat, the names written bold enough for anyone to read.
Lee Kang-cheol was already in his place. A moment later a Sua dressed in Wi Ji-hye's robes, and a Sua wearing Kim Yu-han's uniform, appeared and sat down before their nameplates, facing one another.
One seat, however, was left.
Kim Sohee's place was still empty.
Sua tipped her head and glared up at the Special Privilege window hanging in the empty air. She meant to hold a meeting on something important, and even one more voice would help. A no-show was not something she was prepared to acknowledge.
"Hey, Privilege. Kim Sohee isn't showing up."
No answer.
"Sit Kim Sohee down in her seat."
No answer this time either. Sua bristled.
"Hey! I said bring Kim Sohee here and sit her down!"
The next instant.
Pop—!
In a single blink, Sua's position had changed. When she got her bearings, she was standing in front of Kim Sohee's nameplate.
"...?"
She understood, a beat too late, what that meant.
Ah. So this is actually...
For now, she decided to let it pass. What this session had to deal with wasn't that.
Sua rapped the desk in front of her with her palm.
"All right. From here on, we collect opinions."
Letters rose in the air.
Is it right to attend the regular meetup?
It was the question she had turned over all night and still couldn't answer. Was going the right choice? If she went, how much was she supposed to let slip? And what kind of attitude was she meant to show? Her life had become something else entirely from what it used to be, so the worrying was inevitable—and it was precisely the sort of problem Sua's head refused to produce an answer for.
So the Sua Court had been opened today, to hear the careful counsel of the roles she had lived. Under the eyes of every arctic fox, the session began. The first to break the silence was Kang-cheol Sua.
"Not going is the correct choice."
"Why?"
Sua tilted her head.
"The schedule you'll have to carry from here will grow considerably, and the order Mystic handed down is to condition your body in preparation for it. Registering at a gym and shoring yourself up appears to be the proper course."
"Hmm..."
"I drew up a schedule with principle and efficiency in mind. Rise at six, wash and breakfast, two hours of running, and after that, cultural studies—"
At once Sua and the foxes turned their faces from Lee Kang-cheol. Catching that, Kang-cheol Sua faltered.
"...What kind of reaction is this?"
"No, no. You're so right there's nothing to say."
It's just too correct, and that's the problem! The sort of thing that only works in theory and is far too hard to actually live. You can write it on a planner. Putting it into practice is another misery entirely. Not many people are incapable of thinking that way. Right—the only real problem is the will. The timetable Lee Kang-cheol had brought sat entirely too close to an ideal.
It was around then that Wi Ji-hye spoke.
"I accept the conclusion. Not going is right."
"And Ji-hye Sua's reason?"
"One of the first rank ought to keep a seeker's bearing. Have you ever seen a bird in flight look back? There is no leisure to spare. Seek scripts, experience them, and press on in your training."
"Mmm."
So that really is the answer. Sua was scratching her cheek with one finger when—
"All of you are rattling off the strangest talk."
The first objection. Yu-han Sua, with a shrug.
"Wrong. She must go. That is what is correct."
"Huh?"
"Senior Sua has come an enormous way compared to the past. In a situation like this, there is no reason not to go. No—I believe she is obligated to."
Wi Ji-hye's eyes flew wide.
"...Foolish."
She pressed on, gathering herself to scold.
"You would make time merely to boast? Know that nothing wastes time so grandly as grinding others down to feed one's vanity. One of the first rank must not."
"Come on, just hear me out."
"Be silent. There is nothing further worth hearing."
Wi Ji-hye drew her sword. Kim Yu-han drew a pistol.
A faintly troubled look crossed Wi Ji-hye's face.
"Now. I said listen."
Sua thought, privately, So the pistol wins?
Every gaze had fixed on Yu-han Sua.
"She isn't going in order to boast. It will be an occasion for putting on humility, and the goal is to make allies."
"...Make allies?"
"Precisely."
At Wi Ji-hye's words, Kim Yu-han nodded.
"Senior Sua has no friends, let alone family. She belongs to what society commonly calls a loner. A person cut off from other people."
"..."
Why is he suddenly saying something that hurts.
"In practice, this meetup is her only society, and it needs to be built properly. She goes and simply speaks with humility. These days, thanks to all of you, I'm living hard."
"And what does that accomplish?"
The corner of Yu-han Sua's mouth rose.
"Suppose Senior Sua boasts of what she's accomplished lately and starts handing out gifts. What happens? They'll wonder why it went so well, and later they'll want still more. That's how people are."
"Mmm."
"But if Senior Sua is humble? If she stresses that she is the one in their debt? If she mentions, lightly, that she is getting through a hard stretch thanks to them?"
Yu-han Sua put weight behind his voice.
"From then on, they will cheer for Senior Sua. The larger a figure she becomes, the larger their own stake grows."
"Hmm..."
"Even if someone later approaches them hoping to dig into Senior Sua's relationships, nothing but glowing stories will come spilling out. Because by then, her success is everyone's goal."
"There is reason in it."
In the end Wi Ji-hye sheathed her sword, though she did it with her arms crossed, crooked and unconvinced.
"And yet deceiving one's counterpart is no chivalry."
"It isn't deception. It's guidance. Senior Ji-hye, you ought to know that human beings are not equal from the moment they're born."
"Hmph?"
"You lead those who might work against her onto the path of allies. Is that not precisely the charge of one born exceptional? To climb toward a higher realm together. Is that not chivalry as well?"
"..."
Wi Ji-hye promptly looked away from Kim Yu-han.
"Where in the world did a fiend like this come from..."
Around then, Sua nodded.
"Looks like we've pretty much settled it. I'll go and be back."
She took the phone from her pocket. She couldn't dial right away. Out of nowhere, Yu-han Sua had seized her arm.
"One moment."
"Huh?"
"Who are you planning to call?"
"Eunbi. Ko Eunbi."
"Miss Deer, then. What do you intend to say?"
"That I'm coming to the regular meetup. Obviously."
"That won't do. It isn't enough."
Yu-han Sua shook his head.
"First, tell them you'll arrive late."
"What? I'm free all day that day."
"What matters is making it plain that you're busy and only barely carved out the time. All at once, you give them the feeling that you work hard even where they can't see."
"Ah...?"
"There are a few principles behind it, but the explanation would run long, so I'll just inject it."
Shuk!
Something slipped into Sua's head.
People are bound to doubt a sudden success, and to envy it.
Sua's, all the more, might be impossible to understand and easy to reject, because the Special Privilege is the reason for it. Above all, it looks suspicious.
So this matters.
Hint, offhand, that grinding effort came first. Let enough small moments like that pile up, and one day Sua's success will look like fruit won at the end of blood and sweat. It isn't as though her effort was wholly absent, either.
Yu-han Sua had intended all of it. Even that.
Such was the explanation.
Sua's head tipped at once.
"What, that was short? You injected it because it was long?"
"Pardon?"
"Hey. Don't tell me even you think my intelligence is..."
"...Now, Senior. In any case, that isn't what matters right now."
Yu-han Sua caught her wrist again.
"It isn't over."
"What? Why?"
"You can scrape the time together somehow, but plead that money is tight, and you aren't sure you can attend."
"Huh?"
"Well, because they'll pay it without a second thought."
"Hey, hey, hey, that's way too mean..."
"It is not."
Yu-han Sua shook his head.
"That person will spend the rest of their life honoring the fact that they helped Senior Sua. For a comparatively small sum, they purchase the pride of having aided someone excellent."
...Huh? Is that how it works?
"And in the group chat you were always the one being teased, weren't you? A punching bag, weren't you? How wretched has that been?"
Hmm. That part's true, too.
"Senior Sua only has to keep succeeding, quietly, from here. The more you become their great pride, the more every debt is repaid. No—the more you are the one bestowing the favor..."
The arctic foxes in the gallery shivered from head to tail.
Four days later. The day of the group chat's regular meetup.
At last, the short-film festival announced that it had begun.
Accompanied, no less, by Lee Sua's sortie.
It was also the day Sua made her debut.