The Black and White Set

“Where am I? Who am I?”

By the time my brain started working again, I was somewhere I didn't recognize. I looked around, but nothing jogged my memory. Where on earth is this?

Just then, the door opened and the secretary walked in. And the moment I saw her face, the bombshell Han Min-joon had dropped on me yesterday came rushing back.

“Um…, Ms. Secretary?”

“Oh my, so we're back to titles, are we? I distinctly remember you saying you'd call me by my name—Jina.”

There was something that looked an awful lot like killing intent in her eyes as she said it.

I hastily corrected myself. “Jina-ssi?”

“…….”

The silent pressure bore down on me a second time. It was devastatingly effective.

“Jina?”

Only when I called her by her bare name did the killing intent finally recede. I had no idea what had happened, but something clearly went down while my brain was out of commission.

“So, um…, where exactly is this?”

“Ha. You really can't remember anything, can you? You were completely wiped out, so I brought you to the lodging attached to the forge.”

“How much time has passed?”

“Hmm…, counting from the day you arrived? About a day.”

At those words, I turned to stone. A whole day gone meant I'd burned an entire night here.

With this terrifying woman, no less.

“Um…, did something happen between us?”

“Oh, something happened all right. Shall I tell you about it?”

Seeing her say that with such a knowing look, an inexplicable cold sweat broke out. Listening to her explanation here felt like a losing hand.

“No, I think I'd rather not.”

“Tch.”

She clicked her tongue the instant the words left my mouth. My instincts had been right on the money.

“Oh, and there's no need for formal speech with me. I'm just a secretary.”

“Ah, this is just what I'm comfortable with.”

Being told out of nowhere to drop formality would only be awkward. We'd been speaking politely to each other this whole time, so this still felt natural ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to me.

Besides, suddenly having a secretary was a problem in itself.

From now on, I have to build my foundation in the Roa Kingdom.

In other words, I had no real use for a secretary in Korea.

As I was racking my brain over how to shake off this secretary, I remembered the others had come with me too. “What happened to the others?”

“Grandmaster is still working, and the other two were given rooms of their own.”

Coming to before the work was finished seemed like a lucky break, all things considered. So I decided to be honest. “Look…, I don't really need a secretary….”

“Oh my, I'm not going anywhere. I've already submitted my resignation to the guild, and your mother and father told me to live with you.”

“Do people normally decide things like that without asking the person involved?”

“How would I know? Besides, I've quit my job, so you have to take responsibility.”

“No! Why would you decide something like that on your own without even asking me?!”

No matter how I turned it over, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how it had come to this. I immediately dialed my mother.

“Mom?”

Mom was using her first name with blatant familiarity. She'd already gotten her hooks into my parents, without a doubt.

“No, how could you decide that without even asking me!”

When I snapped at her, Mom answered with a single quiet remark—and that one line made my whole body shrink on its own. No child ever beats their parents.

Still, I mounted my final resistance. “Even so…, suddenly living together is a bit much. We're not even the same gender—she's a woman!”

Nothing I said was wrong. Two adults, neither of them even dating. And those two living under one roof? Unthinkable in the East's bastion of etiquette and propriety.

All I could do was repeat “what?” like an idiot. Until the moment I left the house, my belongings had still been sitting in my room. And now they were telling me everything had been moved in the meantime.

What kind of bolt from the blue is this?

But I refused to give up and played my last card. “Mom, I have to stay overseas for a while. What's the point of a live-in then?”

The Roa Kingdom was still something I had to keep hidden. And she was telling me to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bring her there.

“Absolutely not. I'll just live over there on my own.”

Those words hit me like a thunderclap. The reason I lived was my family. But if I couldn't see them?

It would be like losing the very engine of my life.

“That's not okay!”

Hearing my answer, Mom hung up immediately. When the call ended, I sank to my knees.

“To think I was…, this powerless….”

“What on earth are you doing?”

I wept and lamented the sheer impotence of my negotiating skills, while the secretary looked on as if I were pathetic.

“The Grandmaster's work should be wrapping up soon, so let's head down.”

“Already?”

Only a single day had passed. Smelting the entire pile of materials I'd given him should have taken a full three days. And it was already done?

“You didn't misunderstand something, did you?”

“I know exactly what you're thinking. It's finished.”

“No, really, doesn't it take at least three days to smelt all that material?”

“Surtr's Heart met the world's greatest craftsman. It would be strange if it wasn't done this fast.”

With that, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the secretary quickened her pace, then threw in exactly one more word as she walked.

“Casual speech.”

“Ah, yep.”

Something about being around this secretary gave me the same crushing powerlessness I felt around my mother. Even when I tried to resist, my body and brain capitulated before I could stop them.

What is going on with her….

And so I simply gave in. This secretary was just a peculiar person, that was all.

While I was busy accepting that, we arrived at the forge from yesterday. Even calling it "yesterday" felt strange—my brain had been scooped out, so it felt like I was seeing the place again for the first time in far more than an hour.

“There you are.”

Stepping into the forge, I found the Grandmaster lying flat on the floor to greet us. He did not look well.

“Did something happen?”

“Ah, taming that thing after so long took it out of me.”

The Grandmaster said this with a glance toward the blast furnace. Surtr's Heart—the item he'd said came from an SS-rank gate, if I remembered right.

He can control an item like that….

The Grandmaster truly was SS-rank himself….

The moment that thought crossed my mind, a system message popped up before my eyes.

The instant I read the message, I scanned my surroundings. And one thing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stood out immediately.

The armor pieces glowing with white light.

“There—that's your armor.”

“That's…, my armor….”

I approached as if in a trance and took hold of the pieces. The moment I did, the armor radiated brilliant light that washed over everything around me—and when I opened my eyes, it was already on my body.

“Khekhek. Looks like the little ones have accepted you as their master too.”

“Yes.”

“Well then, go on—check the information.”

At the Grandmaster's words, I steadied my pounding heart and pulled up the item details.

“Ha.”

Reading the item descriptions and the set effects, a hollow laugh escaped me.

Transcendent grade. Before my regression, I'd only ever laid eyes on an item of that grade once. And now four of them stood right before me.

As a set, no less!

It'd be weirder if my eyes didn't bug out!

But the messages didn't stop there.

An achievement!

An even better reward than I'd expected. The more achievements, the better—always. And honestly, the look of the set suited me too. A crisp white coat over casual clothes, wearable day to day without a second thought.

“Why don't you give Inversion a try?”

“Inversion?”

Just as I was marveling, the Grandmaster spoke up from beside me. I did as he said and activated the Inversion bound to the armor. The clothes I'd been wearing just moments before transformed on the spot.

“Ha.”

Seeing my inverted appearance, a hollow laugh burst out of me on reflex.

Standing there was someone dressed in a look that was completely, utterly different from before.