The Gift

That afternoon, the express delivery arrived.

"Hmm. Now you actually look like a human being."

Elise propped her chin in her hand and looked me up and down.

The reflection in the mirror felt like a stranger. A top-tier suit stitched stitch by stitch by an Italian craftsman. A shirt tailored perfectly to my body. And a red silk necktie cinched snug around my throat.

Only yesterday I had been an F-rank pack mule in a wrinkled uniform. Now I looked like some chaebol heir's personal secretary.

"Clothes really do make the man. Expensive stuff is worth it."

"Obviously. I picked it out."

She rolled around on the bed, humming under her breath. The room was buried under a mountain of luxury boxes from her shopping spree. I could almost hear Director Seo Jisu's corporate card screaming in agony.

Bzzzt—

My smartphone vibrated briefly in my pocket. I checked the screen without thinking—and my breath stopped.

"……Huh?"

I rubbed my eyes and looked again. How many zeroes was that? Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands……

I hadn't misread it. Signing bonus, hazard pay, night differential, life-risk allowance, plus the bonus for suppressing Elise's rampage—all of it combined. One week on the job, and a hundred fifty-four million won had just landed in my account.

"What's with you? Your face went stupid."

"Ah—no. Just…… some pretty aggressive financial therapy."

With trembling hands, I opened the banking app. First things first: peel off the leeches that had been draining my life dry.

My finger felt heavy as I hit send. I entered the six-digit password, and the moment the completion message appeared—

"Haaah……"

A long breath escaped me before I knew it. That wretched debt. The shackle my father had left behind. The loan-shark money I'd borrowed for my mother's hospital bills. All of it—gone with a single click.

Sure, my balance had plummeted to the fifty-million range in an instant, but I felt like I could fly. I was free now. Well—still a slave of the Abyss thanks to that five-billion-won penalty clause—but at least I no longer had to worry about catching a knife outside.

"Hey, Air Conditioner."

"Yes, Inmate."

"You look kinda handsome when you smile."

Elise grinned mischievously at me. I smirked back.

"Money really is nice. The smile just comes out on its own."

"Materialist."

"I'd prefer 'citizen of a capitalist society,' thank you."

I checked what was left. Fifty million. Still a lot of money. Even after wiring ten million ahead for Mom's hospital bills, forty million remained.

Then my eyes drifted to Elise, happily sprawled on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the bed in her new clothes. You could say this money existed because of her. Sure, her personality was… a lot, and she treated me like a walking air conditioner, but—

I am grateful, though.

Not the luxury goods bought on the corporate card. Maybe I should buy her a gift with my own money.

"Inmate."

"What."

"I'm going to run down to the commissary for a bit."

"Again? Don't. It's annoying."

"I'll be right back. There's something I want to buy."

"Use my card. If you're running an errand."

"No. I'm buying it with my own money."

I grabbed my wallet and stood. Elise looked puzzled, but she granted permission in the form of a threat: "Be five minutes late and I'll burn you."

Basement Level 2, the staff-only commissary. This place was on a completely different level from an ordinary military PX. Stocked for the high-earning wardens who managed S-rank inmates, it carried goods that could rival a luxury department store.

"Welcome, Warden Kang! You've been pretty hot lately, huh?"

The shopkeeper recognized me. I returned a polite greeting and browsed the shelves.

What should I get Elise? Her room already had tens of millions of won in luxury goods rolling around on the floor. Expensive meant nothing.

Something she doesn't have. Something she needs.

My gaze stopped at the accessories corner. Among the glittering jewels, tucked in a corner, sat a small hairpin. A simple silver pin set with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a red cubic zirconia. Price: fifty thousand won. Dirt cheap compared to anything she owned. But it caught my eye.

That red hair of hers, always a wild mess. The same hair that flared up like a lion's mane whenever she went berserk and blocked her vision.

This might keep it in place a little.

I pulled out my card without hesitation. Not the corporate card—my own debit card.

"Please wrap this. Make it pretty."

When I got back to the night-duty room, Elise was flopping around on the bed with a look of terminal boredom.

"You're back? That took four minutes thirty."

"Safe, then."

I fidgeted with the little box hidden behind my back. Now that it was time to hand it over, I felt awkward. A fifty-thousand-won pin for a woman wearing tens of millions in clothes.

What if she says, "You're giving me this trash?" and incinerates it.

"What? What's that behind your back."

Of course her instincts were sharp. I cleared my throat and held out the box.

"I, uh, picked it up on the way."

"Picked it up?"

She took the box. When she tore open the wrapping, the hairpin with its red cubic sparkled.

"……"

Elise's expression turned complicated. She lifted the pin and held it up to the light.

"This is cubic, isn't it? Not even a diamond."

"Yes."

"And the silver's just plating? Cheap junk."

"……Yes."

As expected. I scratched the back of my head, embarrassed.

"If you don't like it, you can throw it away. I just thought, since I got my first paycheck……"

"Who said I was throwing it away?"

She cut me off. Cradling the pin carefully in her hand, she looked straight up at me.

"You bought this with your money?"

"Yes. It's my first paycheck."

"Not the corporate card?"

"It's my blood money."

The corner of her mouth crept upward. She toyed with the pin, murmuring,

"Hmm. Pretty thoughtful for an air conditioner. Offering tribute to your master and everything."

"It's a gift. Not tribute."

"Same difference."

She sat on the edge of the bed and turned her back to me. Then she roughly swept her tangled hair up with one hand.

"Do it."

"Pardon?"

"You put it in. What, no hands?"

The pale nape of her neck was exposed. I swallowed hard and stepped closer. With trembling hands, I gathered her red hair. Hot and soft to the touch. A rose fragrance washed over me.

"Don't hurt me. Pull even one hair and I'll kill you."

"I'll be careful."

I carefully slid the pin into place. Click. With a crisp little sound, the wild bangs that had always gone wherever they pleased settled neatly into place. A red pin glittering among red hair. It suited her far better than I'd expected.

"All done."

Elise ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turned her head toward the mirror. She tilted this way and that, then met her own eyes in the glass.

"……Not bad."

Her cheeks had flushed a faint red, the same shade as the pin.

"Decent, for cheap junk."

"I'm glad."

"I'll wear it from now on. In recognition of your sincerity."

She couldn't take her eyes off the mirror. A woman who owned jewels worth hundreds of millions of won, reacting like this to a fifty-thousand-won pin. I guess gifts really are about the heart, not the price tag.

"Hey."

"Yes."

"Come here."

She called me over. When I approached, she stayed seated and pulled me in by the waist. Then she nuzzled her face against my stomach and mumbled,

"Thanks."

"……Don't mention it."

"Next payday, bring me something more expensive. Got it?"

"I'll do my best."

She giggled and clutched my clothes tight. The pin in her hair sparkled.

Morning sunlight… didn't exist, since we were underground. Fluorescent light stabbed at my eyelids instead.

I tried to sit up with my stiff body and failed. My left shoulder was too heavy.

"Mmm……"

She was fast asleep, using my shoulder as a pillow. Red hair tickled the side of my neck. And nestled in that hair, the fifty-thousand-won pin I'd given her yesterday was still glittering.

"……She slept with it in."

I'd definitely told her to take it out because it would dig in while she slept. She'd said, "It's mine. Don't touch it," and insisted on keeping it in. Thanks to that, my shoulder had a crisp pin-mark stamped into it.

Stubborn as hell.

I carefully reached over and smoothed out her tangled hair. Her eyelids fluttered, and those red eyes slowly opened.

"……What are you doing?"

"Your hair's a disaster. You're going to get stabbed by the pin."

"I won't. My hair dodges on its own."

She yawned around that nonsense. Out of habit, she nuzzled her face into my chest.

"Hey, Air Conditioner."

"Yes."

"Brush my hair."

She pointed at the comb on the bedside table. By ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now she was casually treating me like her personal stylist. I picked up the comb without complaint.

Shhk, shhk.

The feel of combing through that soft hair wasn't bad at all. She narrowed her eyes like a cat, savoring the touch of my hands.

"By the way, Inmate."

"What."

"Doesn't that pin bother you? You should take it out when you sleep……"

"No."

She shut it down cold.

"If I take this out, my hair falls in my face and I get hotter. Must be high-performance since you gave it to me."

"It's just a market-stall pin."

"Shut up. If I say it's good, it's good."

She adjusted the pin's position in the mirror, fussing over the tiniest angles with more seriousness than a queen wearing a tiara worth hundreds of millions.

"You going out today too?"

"Yes. I have to supervise the penthouse restoration site."

"I'm coming."

"It's going to be dusty."

"Don't care. It's boring here."

She sat bolt upright. The red pin dangled from her hair like a name tag that said Property of Someone.

Basement Level 1 corridor. The penthouse was still a construction zone. Workers tore out melted walls and bolted on special alloys in a frenzy of activity.

"Oh my, Warden Kang! You're here!"

The site manager rushed over, bowing and scraping. His eyes landed on Elise beside me—and he went pale, stumbling backward.

"H-Huk! Inmate Zero-Zero-One as well……"

"Work. Don't stare."

Elise snapped it out coolly and hooked her arm through mine. At her appearance, the workers' hands sped up to double time. Nothing supervises a job site quite like an S-rank witch.

We sat on a folding chair set up along one side of the corridor. Passing wardens and inmates shot us sideways glances. More precisely, they were whispering about the thing stuck in Elise's hair.

"Yo, look at that. What's on the witch's head."

"Is that a hairpin? Looks super cheap."

"You idiot, keep your voice down! That's the sealing artifact from the rumors."

"Sealing artifact?"

"Yeah. I heard the new warden put it on her to control the witch's power. Touch it and it explodes."

The rumors were drifting further into pure fantasy. A sealing artifact. It was a commissary cubic pin.

But Elise seemed to be enjoying the misunderstanding. She deliberately tilted her head this way and that, making the pin sparkle.

"Did you hear that? A sealing artifact."

"Want me to correct them?"

"No. Leave it. The story'll grow on its own."

She rested her head on my shoulder and snickered.

"Hey, though."

"Yes."

"When does that construction finish?"

"At least two more weeks, they say. Materials are delayed."

"Two weeks?"

Elise's brow furrowed.

"So I'm supposed to live in that cramped night-duty room for two weeks?"

"It's better than the panic room, isn't it?"

"I hate it. The bed's too small. It's tight for two people to lie down."

Her voice got louder. Nearby ears pricked up hard at the words two people to lie down. I frantically tried to cover her mouth.

"Shh! You're too loud."

"It's true. You kicked me with your foot yesterday. Because it was tight."

"When did I ever! You shoved me off!"

"Don't care. It's small. It's uncomfortable."

She crossed her arms, thought hard, then snapped her fingers like she'd made a decision.

"This won't do. We have to change it."

"Change what?"

"The bed."

She pulled something from her pocket. The unlimited corporate card Director Seo Jisu had given her.

"Hey. Call a furniture store."

"Pardon?"

"King-size. No—large king. Order the biggest, softest one they have. Right now."