Don't You Want to Work as Our Maid?
After Seol-hee noona and Ryu-yeong’s spar ended, Ryu-yeong—who had mercifully stayed unconscious—opened her eyes again about an hour later. Waking in the recovery room inside the mansion and finding herself in bed, she seemed to realize she had lost, and let out a small sigh.
“Haa… I really thought I was going to win this time.”
“No, Little Dragon. You were plenty cool.”
“Oh, really? Then that’s enough! Ahahaha!!”
Ryu-yeong’s eyes went wide at the praise and she laughed, yet a trace of regret still lingered at the corners of her eyes. According to the instructors, if her opponent had been an ordinary middle- or high-school student instead of Seol-hee noona, she would have completely overwhelmed them. At her current strength, Ryu-yeong sat somewhere between a somewhat weak adult and a middle- or high-schooler who was simply good at fighting. Seol-hee noona had only been a tiny bit stronger.
Proof of that came right after the spar: Seol-hee noona had collapsed as well, and from the severe headache and dizziness she had even thrown up while nestled in my arms.
After vomiting into my embrace, Seol-hee noona lost consciousness and did not wake. The instructors and maids who rushed over simply told us she had fainted after overusing her superpower so severely that she threw up.
Seol-hee noona woke only twenty minutes later. She still complained of a headache, but she seemed to have no memory of throwing up on me, so Seol-hwa and I decided to keep that little detail a secret for her sake.
I, however, could not keep wearing the clothes I had arrived in. When the butler handed me a change of clothes and I came out of the shower, I could only curse myself for not checking them beforehand.
“But Harang, why are you wearing a pajama dress?”
“…I spilled that drink on my clothes…”
“You should be more careful. It actually looks pretty good on you, though. Don’t you want to work as our house maid?”
“No!”
Ryu-yeong’s laughter at my answer rang through the recovery room, and even I could not honestly deny that the outfit suited me. The soft beige fabric and the frilled collar with a little bear ornament at its center looked as if someone had prepared it just for me.
The moment I first put it on I went looking for the butler and kept asking whether there was anything else, but he only wore a faint smile and insisted there was not. In the end I had to give up.
When I asked why such clothes had even been prepared, the butler answered as if he had been waiting for the question: last year they had gotten them ready for when I visited Ryu-yeong’s villa, because back then they still thought I was a girl.
I could only nod and accept it. It had been only half a year since I revealed I was a boy; of course a mansion full of women would not have clothes ready for a boy.
Still, the faint smile that never left the butler’s face gave me a strong feeling he was hiding something, yet his flawless answers left me no room to demand different clothes.
“How’s Seol-hee sunbae?”
“Her headache seems pretty bad. She took some painkillers and is sleeping in her room. Seol-hwa was tired today too, so she’s sleeping with her.”
It was nearly midnight. The spar that began at eight had only settled into peace after a little more than three hours.
I asked Ryu-yeong why they always sparred in the evening if it left them unconscious like this. She gave a small laugh and said they normally never went all the way to knocking each other out.
Usually they just ate, digested, and sparred a little before bed as a way of reviewing how much they had trained that day. But because I had come to watch, she had pushed herself to show me how much stronger she had become.
I gave a bitter smile and patted her shoulder. I was grateful she wanted to show me the results of all that training, but I would have preferred she not overdo it.
“I’m thankful for the thought, but from now on stop before you faint, okay? Do you have any idea how worried Seol-hwa and I were when you and Seol-hee noona both went down?”
“Ahahaha!! I’ll try.”
Even at my mild scolding she laughed loudly and promised to try, then lay back down on the bed, clearly exhausted. I wiped her forehead with a cool damp towel.
Seol-hee noona’s side effect was severe dizziness; according to the maids, Ryu-yeong’s was a high fever that ran through her whole body. It was better than muscle pain so bad she could not move, at least. The maids said that wiping her down often with a cool towel would help her recover quickly, so I stayed and kept her temperature from climbing too high.
Mom had once told me that muscle pain and fatigue were the usual side effects of superpowers. Yet Seol-hee noona felt the same dizziness I used to get in the other world when I overused magic, and Ryu-yeong ran a full-body fever. I was sure both of them used to suffer only from muscle pain before. Why it had changed, I could not tell. Whether the change was good or bad was still hard to judge.
Lying there, Ryu-yeong seemed to like the cool towel; she smiled faintly and nuzzled her head against my hand. I chuckled softly and stayed beside her until she fell asleep again.
She must have been truly exhausted, because she did not stay awake long. Once I was sure she was sleeping, I wiped her face a few more times with the cool towel, then rose and stepped out of the room. The butler was waiting outside.
I was a little surprised to find him still awake at such a late hour, but when he offered to show me to a guest room I realized he had stayed up just for me.
I was led to a guest room and sank into the soft bed. I had not originally planned to stay the night, but the butler told me my parents had already called and given permission before I could even ask them.
With a small smile he joked that I might soon have another little sibling; I flushed alone and had to clear my throat. I had lived to twenty-five in the other world, yet then as now I still never knew how to react to jokes like that.
“Please have a pleasant night.”
“Thank you for everything today, Butler.”
He answered my thanks with a slight bow, closed the door, and left. The quiet room held only me; as a boy I could not share a bed with the others, so I lay alone on the large mattress.
It might have felt lonely, yet the cool summer air-conditioning, the soft warm blanket, and the gently burning scented candle made it feel comfortable instead.
Little by little I drifted into deep sleep. Seol-hwa’s growth today, Seol-hee noona’s growth, Ryu-yeong’s growth—all of it had been remarkable.
And in my dream I stood beside every one of them, proudly showing off the magic I possessed.
In the late hours of the night, after every young lady and young master had fallen asleep, this butler could not sleep. Young Lady Seol-hwa’s spar had been most excellent, yet the aftermath of Young Lady Ryu-yeong and Young Lady Seol-hee’s match still needed handling, and a report had to be written for the master.
Scratch… scratch…
Young people these days seem to write their documents on computers or laptops, but at my age such modern devices remain a little inconvenient, so I have always preferred handwriting.
Today, however, I rather regret it. Had I not given up out of laziness on learning those modern devices, I could have sent the master a video of the young ladies’ splendid growth instead of mere photographs.
I wrote of Young Lady Ryu-yeong’s progress and of Young Master Harang, who will one day become her husband, then paused for a moment over the side effects Young Master Harang had mentioned only a few hours earlier regarding Young Lady Ryu-yeong and Young Lady Seol-hee.
It is true that the ordinary side effects of superpowers are muscle pain and fatigue. That is the normal understanding until a woman turns twenty and enters the military.
Once they turn twenty and begin mandatory service, however, women learn a secret that has been kept from children until they are sent into the field.
Namely, that prolonged exposure to erosion particles rapidly increases the density of one’s superpower, and as a side effect the form and nature of that power become harder to change, while each person develops different additional side effects.
No one speaks of this before military service, so that children will not approach the gates that emit erosion particles; it is never written in any document either. It is a secret one does not realize until assigned gate-watch duty in the army, and the experience of watching the gates themselves teaches even adults never to approach them carelessly.
Why, then, are Young Lady Ryu-yeong and Young Lady Seol-hee already showing such symptoms? Even after more than forty years of life, this butler cannot find the reason.
I have recorded the matter in the report for the master. Once the documents arrive, the master will no doubt dispatch specialized medical personnel and staff from the Erosion Control Center for a thorough investigation; it will be best to entrust the matter to them.
Scratch… scratch…
Still, Young Lady Ryu-yeong’s superpower does not yet seem fully fixed in nature, so this butler is somewhat relieved. I can only hope she continues to grow healthy and lively as she is now.
“Ah. How unlike me to make such a mistake…”
I accidentally wrote Young Master Harang onto the maid roster. He would have suited the position so well that I considered leaving it, but I cannot submit a false report, so it had to be corrected.
A slight pity, really.