GGC
I had decided to take my time thinking about the problem of Keira entering Gates.
For the time being, getting used to magic power and mana was the priority.
After a month of diligently going in and out of Gates, my finances were solid.
But then a call came that put the brakes on everything.
I need to find a monster. Can you help me? If you don’t want to, I won’t tell the crew.
Garam’s careful, polite request.
He could have notified the crew first that there was a mage and used the crew’s power to pressure me, yet he contacted me first and asked for my opinion.
As expected, he was a courteous man.
Listening to him, the situation was urgent. The younger sibling of the crew leader was hanging on by a thread.
Finding the monster itself wasn’t a problem. White magic had superior search spells, after all. Now that I could use both magic power and mana, I could borrow white magic to a usable level.
The reward also suited me perfectly. If I helped, I would probably end up joining Garam’s crew—GGC.
Joining a crew was something I had planned from the start. Even if Keira’s existence came to light, the crew could serve as a shield. GGC was ideal for that purpose. Being a large corporation’s crew, it had real power to protect us, and as a new crew, there were few people who would interfere. If I could join now and rise to an executive position, it would be a tremendous help in protecting Keira.
I didn’t want to miss this chance.
In the end, it all came back to the same problem: whether Keira could enter a Gate.
If Keira couldn’t go with me, I simply wouldn’t enter.
If I told Garam right away, he would help. I could test whether Keira and I could enter his Gate together. His lips seemed sealed, so the method wasn’t bad.
But what if the experiment showed that Keira couldn’t enter?
I would refuse Garam’s request, and our relationship would naturally cool. In that state, could I still trust his silence? At best, Garam was someone I’d known for about three days. I knew he was reliable, but giving him one hundred percent trust was a stretch.
Hiring another Keeper for the experiment was equally strange. Of course I wouldn’t reveal that Keira was an otherworlder. Would a Keeper I’d just met even believe me? But in that case the Keepers would question the experiment itself. It was already established fact that Keepers could enter Gates and non-Keepers could not. There was nothing to test.
If Keira entered the Gate with me, fine. But if she couldn’t… I couldn’t even imagine what kind of rumors would spread.
Garam was out. Other Keepers were out. That left only one person.
Park Soyeon.
My university junior, and the person I’d spent more time with than Keira over the past month. I could trust her. She had already kept the secret that I was a mage better than anyone for a whole month.
But still… was it okay?
The reasons she kept my secret boiled down to roughly three.
First was her personality. No matter the reason, if your lips weren’t sealed you couldn’t keep a secret. You also needed a considerate heart for others.
Second was the life debt. I had saved her in the mine shaft. The desire to repay that grace was certainly a major motivation.
If it were only those two reasons, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell her Keira was an otherworlder. She would keep the secret without fail.
The third reason was what made me pause.
She kept my secret because she liked me.
She never said it outright, but it was obvious. Her eyes and actions shouted it. If she put her mind to it, she could have done anything. The only reason she held back was Keira. With a pretty, kind girl like Keira already there, why push?
Heroes might keep three wives and four concubines, and a man’s fantasy was always a harem—but Soyeon was a modern woman. Even if I conceded a hundred times that Keira might accept other women, would Soyeon? A girl who had just turned twenty, still painting her future in soft pink hopes?
I also hated the idea of forcing something like that on her simply because she liked me. That was why I never accepted her. Sometimes I had to push away the temptations that came crashing into my body, hoping her feelings would fade with time.
But showing her Keira?
That wouldn’t quite be betrayal, yet it would certainly deliver a crushing disappointment. That disappointment was very likely big enough to overturn all three previous reasons at once. It would be my own fault if Soyeon—my greatest ally for the past month—suddenly blackened and became an enemy overnight.
There was also the chance that even with the disappointment she would still keep my secret and remain a reliable comrade. In fact, nine times out of ten the Soyeon I knew would choose that path.
But then I would be far too much of a bastard. It would be like catching a sucker who liked me and making her do whatever I wanted. As someone who had drifted through various fishing grounds in college, the mere thought gave me PTSD.
I could claim Keira was merely summoned and that we weren’t anything special. But how long would that last? If Soyeon never knew Keira existed, maybe. Once she knew her, it was impossible she wouldn’t notice the strange current between us. We weren’t exactly lovers… yet we had shared deep physical conversations. Bumping into each other day after day, Soyeon would feel something. And the betrayal she felt then would be far worse. If it came to that, even if she blackened I would have no defense. It would be like refusing to answer her feelings properly and then asking her to help someone who was essentially my girlfriend. That was pure toying with her.
…What should I do?
In truth the answer was already decided.
I just had to face it head-on and become the only villain. Soyeon would get hurt, but if the relationship was never going to work, cutting it cleanly now was better. She would be hurt badly—yet that was still better than Keira disappearing.
So I called Soyeon.
Ding-a-ling.
Soyeon walking into the café was cute. Her bobbed hair swayed; her big eyes suited the word “blinking”; her cheeks still held a little baby fat. Today she had clearly dressed up. Unlike the way she looked in the Gates, her makeup was heavier and she wore a skirt. The heels brought out a figure that usually stayed hidden. She wasn’t glamorous, but she wasn’t lacking in chest or hips either. Knowing she would dress like this the moment I called her privately left me feeling bitter even though it wasn’t my place.
“Ah, Seonbae-nim!”
Watching her approach with that bright smile was hard. Something kept poking at my chest.
“Today, well…”
Once seated, Soyeon began chattering about her own stories. Even while doing that, the moment I started speaking she would switch instantly into listening mode, and her reactions were always good. The more I thought about it, the more of a bastard I was.
“Seonbae…? Do you have something to say?”
Because I stayed silent, she finally asked first. Had she already sensed how this would end? Her expression was extremely anxious.
No. I was the one who had frozen.
“Sorry.”
“Yes?”
“I have someone precious to me. That’s what I called you to say.”
“Ah…”
Soyeon asked with her eyes. Is it true?
I answered with mine. It is.
Her face crumbled—from anxiety straight into despair. Tears welled, then spilled down her cheeks like rain. She lowered her head so I could no longer see her face.
“Hic… hic…”
The crying was heartbreaking. I kept my expression as calm as possible. Showing pity would only give her false hope.
After about ten minutes the sobs quieted.
“…Have you calmed down?”
“…Yes.”
“How do you feel?”
“Bad. You’re cruel.”
“Yeah. I figured. Then, while I’m already being cruel, can I be a little more cruel?”
“What?”
Soyeon whipped her head up. Her swollen eyes were full of questions.
“I’m going to meet my precious person now.”
“Hmph. Do whatever you want, Seonbae. Suit yourself.”
“You have to come with me.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain when we get there.”
I stood. She stared at me as if the whole thing was absurd.
“Come on. Let’s go. It’s close.”
“No— is this even right? Where do you get off dumping me and then pulling this?”
“Sorry. I really have no face left, but even though it’s cruel to you… please help me just once.”
“…If you put it that way…”
After a deep sigh, Soyeon rose.
“…I’ll let it slide just this once.”
Our Soyeon. She really was kind. I would repay this debt later, no matter what.
“Hello. I’m Keira Mustang.”
Mysterious blue eyes. In those eyes that seemed impossible to find in reality, Soyeon understood everything—why Jungmin had fallen for this person, why she herself could never take her place. And she instinctively realized this woman was an otherworlder. The atmosphere was that otherworldly.
The clothes were jeans and a white T-shirt, thoroughly Earth-like, yet an aura that no outfit could hide radiated from her.
Really… this is too much.
Jungmin was cruel. Even when she had been dumped moments earlier, Soyeon had clung to a sliver of hope. Just because there was a goalkeeper didn’t mean the ball never went in; someday there would be a chance for her too. She had some confidence in her looks. In her heart she had been sure she wouldn’t lose.
That hope crumbled into powder the instant she saw Keira. The looks were overwhelming, and the bond was even heavier. A relationship that would vanish if mana wasn’t supplied… she had never imagined a connection heavier than a life debt. From Keira’s side, Jungmin had to be her entire world—just as no matter how much heart Soyeon poured out, Jungmin remained someone else’s.
“It’s shameless of me, but please help us.”
Keira bowed her head politely to Soyeon. It wasn’t a special posture, yet dignity seemed to cling to every line of her. Soyeon couldn’t look away.
She was being asked to help the girlfriend of the man who had just rejected her. If Jungmin hadn’t been her life savior, she would have thrown water in his face and walked out of the café. But when her savior asked, she couldn’t refuse.
So Soyeon had no choice but to follow him to his one-room apartment. And what greeted her there melted even that reluctant “no choice” away.
“…I’ll help. It’s not a difficult thing, after all.”
Soyeon couldn’t understand why she suddenly wanted to help Keira.
I must really be a sucker.
Jungmin was far too cruel.
Keira was even crueler.