Observation

The Gang Leader turned my hand this way and that, studying it. I had already told her I'd checked every common kind—attack abilities, defense abilities, all of them.

"You're sure you checked everything?"

"Yeah."

"Not a shred of hesitation. Must've been quite the expert?"

"Yeah."

Was there anyone on this earth who knew more about Core abilities than the Old Man?

"Oh? Someone famous, then? A hunter of some renown?"

"Who he was doesn't matter."

"Hm?"

"What matters is that I used an Ability Core because of him. And he was disappointed I didn't come away with an attack ability."

"Hmm."

"Once he found out I didn't even have a defense ability, he gave up on me."

"Hm! Good!"

She had been holding my hand loosely. Now she squeezed it tight.

"...What's good about that?"

"Just hearing it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gets my blood up. Let's find your ability and develop it properly! You don't have to land an attack ability to be the best, you know?"

I wasn't so sure.

"Ah, of course... well, sure! That first and strongest hunter, the one who went to the Geofront—he had an attack ability, didn't he?"

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠power to manipulate the earth. A one-of-a-kind attack ability, the strongest there was.

"That hunter got lucky, don't you think?"

"Because he got a powerful attack ability?"

"No! Because he was born before you! That's how he got to be the first!"

"...What are you even saying."

The hard edge I'd seen that afternoon was gone. The Gang Leader had gone soft, and for a moment she almost looked like Hee-ju.

"It's entirely possible. You know rare Core abilities turn up now and then, right?"

"I've heard of it, but—"

Rare was the word. It happened to other people.

"It could happen to you."

"Or it could be mine, and I could go my whole life never knowing."

Sometimes a person succeeded with an Ability Core and still never found their ability before they died. Cases like that were usually written off as rare abilities too—so rare that even discovering them was the hard part. That was the going interpretation.

"That will never happen. I'm here. I'll find it for you, no matter what."

Certainty with nothing under it. That, too, was exactly like Hee-ju.

"And what if I end up wielding something truly terrifying?"

"Hm? What about it?"

"I might smash the cell and escape."

"Pfft... pfft!"

She talked as if she were going to dig up some incredible power, then laughed in my face the moment I mentioned a terrifying one.

"See? You don't actually expect me to get anything amazing."

"No, that's not— hhh!"

I couldn't tell anymore whether she was laughing or crying.

"Whew!"

"Done laughing?"

"Let me ask you something."

"What."

"Earlier today. When you spotted that boss-class creature."

It had been disguised as a tree.

"Why did you tell us?"

"Huh?"

"You could've pretended you didn't see it. You didn't have to say a word to us."

"Then we would've been attacked."

"Wouldn't that have been good for you? A chance to run."

Uh...?

"You already knew it was a boss-class in disguise. Even if it ambushed us, you'd have slipped clear somehow. The rest of us, caught with no warning at all, would've been done for."

She wasn't wrong.

"And in that gap you could've bolted. Slave life, over, just like that."

True enough.

"...Why didn't I think of that?"

"Why, indeed?"

"Why?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Why didn't I think of it..."

"Heh."

The Gang Leader looked as if she already knew.

"Why do you think it was?"

"What else? It's obvious."

"Huh?"

"You recognized a monster in disguise, and monsters are dangerous. Left like that, we—Gwanghwamun—were going to get wiped out."

"So?"

"That's as far as you thought. It never stretched to the part where Gwanghwamun getting hit meant you could run. You stopped at Gwanghwamun gets hit."

No way.

"You're saying I was worried about your crew?"

"You'd know that better than I would."

...I hadn't been worried. Not exactly.

"Don't get so grave. I know it wasn't that you were worried about us. If I had to name what you showed, it'd be closer to a love of humankind."

"A love of humankind?"

"You did what a person ought to do."

Was that it...?

"Give me the other hand too."

The Gang Leader took both of my hands and closed her eyes.

"I told you before, didn't I? Core abilities tend to come according to a person's temperament."

"Yeah."

"Temperament usually has something to do with your weaknesses."

Weaknesses.

"If you're not sure, think about what you're afraid of."

"Hm..."

"Something that keeps tormenting you."

There was something.

"Nightmares."

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah."

"You mean the dreams you have when you're asleep?"

"Yeah. I have them a lot."

The Old Man had said it was because I was weak.

"Do you think there's a particular reason? Like you have a nightmare after something happens—"

Something did come to mind.

Hee-ju had said that.

She would see me more clearly than I saw myself.

"I understand other people's pain..."

"That probably has nothing to do with a Core ability."

"No. Sounds like a usable lead."

Did it.

"Come with me."

She led me to the kitchen. The Head Cook I'd seen earlier was sprawled on the floor, dead asleep.

"Krrrng..."

"Nothing to be startled about. The kitchen's his room."

"Mmm...? Oh!"

"Head Cook."

"Yessir!"

"Could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you give us the room for a bit?"

"Yessir...?"

"There's something I have to do right here."

"Ah, yessir!"

Dragged out of sleep and chased off. The Gang Leader glanced around the kitchen, then—

"Hup!"

She perched on the wash counter and took both my hands again.

"The feeling might come faint, so you have to concentrate."

"What kind of feeling?"

"Depends on the person. Depends on the ability."

This was going to be difficult.

"Think about all sorts of things. As many different things as you can. And don't stay in the same emotional state—that's the worst of all. In the end it's a matter of probability. Finding it takes luck, too."

As if that were everything she had to say, the Gang Leader quietly closed her eyes. She looked sunk in thought.

"Should I close my eyes too?"

No answer. I'd probably have to try it both ways—eyes shut, and open.

A good thirty minutes must have passed. I tried everything, and nothing came.

Is this the sad fate of someone who drew the rarest ability in the world?

For the first fifteen minutes or so I kept my eyes open, and in all that time the Gang Leader never opened hers. I tried this and that, and around the ten-minute mark she still hadn't opened them once. By then I was certain she wasn't going to. From that point I found myself watching her without meaning to. Chances to stare at another person's face from this close are rarer than you'd think.

After about five minutes of looking, it occurred to me that at this rate I'd never find the ability. So I closed my eyes too.

I think I've done about as much as I can.

I opened them again. Time to try another approach.

"Gang Leader, now—"

Hm?

"Gang Leader?"

The face across from me was not the one from a moment ago. Flushed cheeks, a flushed nose. Tears running.

I started to pull my hands free without thinking.

"...!"

She said nothing. She only bore down and clamped my hands tight.

"Gang Leader...?"

Still no answer. And no sign she meant to let go.

So the watching began again. Trembling eyelids. Tears that wouldn't dry. Every time her brow twitched, her lips spasmed with it. Her face was so close it was hard to bear, and I looked away.

A clean kitchen. Nowhere else in the hideout could honestly be called clean, but this place was the exception. The Head Cook wasn't what he seemed.

"Haa...p."

A sigh escaped before I could stop it, and only then did I remember she was right in front of me. I swallowed the rest.

...I know.

It wasn't that I didn't understand what the Gang Leader was thinking.

A notion with absolutely no foundation. All I could feel through her pain was embarrassment.

Hee-ju's advice had been meaningless, really. It had never been something I could control, and the nightmares had gone on repeating without end. So if the answer lay inside the Gang Leader's pain, I ought to have noticed it already. I had never once stopped empathizing.

Clank.

The cell again.

"I'll let you out when the sun's up. Stay here until then."

At last I was alone.

"Hoo."

How could a heart feel this light? My hands tingled. She had been holding on the whole time, and in the end the search for the ability had failed.

So I had to do this again. And again. I couldn't see a way forward.

From the next day, slave life began in earnest.

"An organization only runs if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the rules are actually kept."

Every morning the Gang Leader drilled the rules into me. It was her way of explaining why I had to take on every odd job in Gwanghwamun for the day.

"Jeong-gu, eat this first. Quick, before the Gang Leader sees!"

The crew slipped me the special rations on the side.

"Jeong-gu? Ever tried something like this?"

It was the best consideration they could offer. There were no breaks. When the chores ended, the Gang Leader came for me, and training began.

"You only ever think about bearing down like a brute! Think about how the joints move, you idiot!"

Once training started she became someone else, and I went back to being the dunce I'd been in the cabin. Only the reason was different this time.

"Who the hell did you learn from, and what did they even teach you?"

A lot of what I'd learned from the Old Man didn't match her methods.

"That's not it!"

The Old Man's way was built entirely around his own superior body, which was why it had suited my older siblings too. The Gang Leader was different.

"You need to build more muscle. That's the most urgent thing. But that doesn't mean muscle is what matters most in a real fight."

Her method came out of her own body—a body as unimpressive as mine.

"Direction of force is what matters. Yours and your opponent's, both. Combat is a science. Read the direction and use it, and you can win with less strength."

Maybe because it wasn't a method for becoming the best, she also taught strategies the Old Man would never have used.

"In a case like that, running is the right call."

Fight only the battles you were certain to win, for instance.

"You can always get more gear if you've got the money. People aren't something money can buy."

Or the judgment that it was better to add companions than to acquire equipment. With her standing right in front of me I pretended to agree, though plenty of the Old Man's way fit me better.

"That's it, keep going!"

Training in Gwanghwamun was a matter of mixing the two, half and half.

"Ghk."

"What's wrong?"

Now and then a blue light flashed before my eyes.

"Let's rest a minute, then go again."

I only thought it was from too little rest.