Stories of Everyday Life (7)
Once permission was granted, everyone headed inside.
The bodyguards, for the record, were left waiting outside. There was no need to bring them all the way in. That would have been an invasion of privacy.
Stepping through the door, we found a scene none of us had quite expected.
I had been told this was a café. Looking at it now, though, it was less a café and more… a space that defied easy description.
What even was this place supposed to be? A halfway decent bar that had managed to snag a private room? It was a café, technically — just one that seemed willing to serve just about anything.
"I'll cover everything. It's not exactly a financial strain for me, so don't worry about it. Order whatever you like."
The menu that followed was a wall of things I didn't recognize. Drinks, alcohol, food of some kind, presumably. I couldn't make sense of a single item, so I just asked someone to order for me.
Don't know. Don't care. Whatever.
"So… who's the mage…?"
"Ah. You haven't heard yet. That would be me."
"Oh…"
Once the snacks were ordered and a little time had passed, conversation started up on its own. Of the four AckMaGal members — two men, two women — the older-looking woman spoke first.
"Let's start with introductions."
"Ah. Right."
Come to think of it, we had no idea who any of us actually were.
"I'm Kang Suhyeon. I go by MageLoveCrab online."
"Lim Jeonghwan. Handle's Helme42."
"I'm An Sujin. My username is ThreeYearsAsASupporterAndYouRecitePoetry."
"I'm Yu Ari… and my username is… AriAriRang…"
"…Sorry, what was that? Your username?"
"AriAriRang…"
AriAriRang. Wasn't that the minor? The one who'd been dropping those bizarre dirty jokes?
That was her?
She looked about the same age as Seoyeon or Raein — a girl who might have just scraped 150 centimeters. And she was that guy?
So that's why the sexual harassment never stuck.
A female minor as the accused? Even if they tried to prosecute, the penalty wouldn't have been severe. Especially if the charges were only harassment or distributing obscene material.
"I'm Baek Sowol. I was MageMage. And the two behind me…"
"Han Yaeseo. I'm an S-rank hunter, for whatever that's worth…"
"Lee Jihyeon. I recently made A-rank…"
"Whoa…!"
And just like that, the introductions were done. Lee Jihyeon and Han Yaeseo probably didn't know much about the gallery, but once they heard we'd met through the internet, they got the general idea. People rarely used their real names online without some established trust — Jihyeon, especially, would understand that.
"So… you're really a mage, right…?"
"Yeah. Want me to show you?"
"Just something simple…"
"Easy enough."
Wmmm—
I sketched out a light spell on the spot and let them see it. Everyone reacted with a chorus of awe. There was clearly a far more accomplished mage sitting across from me, so why they were impressed, I had no idea.
Maybe he hadn't shown them anything.
"Um, unnie."
"Hm?"
"Can I… call you unnie…?"
"Sure, go ahead."
AriAriRang asked if she could call me unnie. I said yes without thinking. I wasn't the type to care about that sort of thing.
"Unnie… you're seriously so pretty…!"
"Huh? Oh. Thanks."
"Um… can we follow each other on Instagram?! And can I take a picture? What cosmetics do you use? How do you do your makeup? Wait — I think you're the prettiest person I've ever seen!"
"Uh? Uh? R-really…?"
And just like that, I was hit with a full barrage of high-school-girl energy. Young as she was, her social boldness stood out even in a setting like this.
No — she was just built different. Considering the kinds of comments she posted online without a shred of shame, maybe this was only natural.
We swapped numbers and Instagram accounts — mine existed in name only — with almost alarming ease.
And then…
"Ari. That's enough."
"Why? Sujin unnie?"
"You're making her uncomfortable. No matter how much you want to be friends, you don't just rush someone like that. Look — everyone else is hanging back for a reason."
"Hmph… but still."
"Enough."
An Sujin cut the conversation cleanly short. She looked older than me, and Ari seemed to listen to her because of it.
"Well. Bit of a ruckus there, but it's good to meet you all. Everyone came for their own reasons, sure… but does it really matter why? What matters is that we showed up. Right?
"Haha. I think the best thing we can do is just enjoy ourselves. We all came out to have a good time, after all."
Kang Suhyeon took hold of the room the way only someone who'd run a major organization could. After that, conversation flowed freely among us until the food arrived.
"I have to say… I was genuinely shocked. Baek Sowol, was it? I'd heard the rumors, but I never imagined you were actually a mage…"
"That surprising?"
"Well, I didn't expect a mage. Especially since we were the ones who told you to keep that fact hidden.
"You did such a thorough job of it, too. We just never figured you'd get famous for something else entirely."
"Was I famous?"
"When you run a guild, you have to think about promotional faces. If there's a hunter as beautiful as you out there, of course every guild wants to recruit her.
"The HR teams at most guilds have probably already got your name on a shortlist. Sujin — you recognized her too, didn't you?"
"Ah. HR didn't tip me off. We just knew each other already."
"What…? You knew her? Sowol?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry? Hang on — we've met before?"
When had we met? Someone from before I became Baek Sowol?
Damn. I hadn't seen this coming. Of course Baek Sowol would have had connections from before — I just hadn't accounted for them.
What now? Say my memory was fuzzy? I had a medical certificate, so they'd believe me… but then Jihyeon and Yaeseo would find out I'd been lying to them.
"You don't remember. That's fair. You came into the hospital that day with your hand all torn up."
"Pardon?"
"A knife had gone straight through your palm. You showed up with the whole thing wrapped in a hurry. I was the one who treated you."
"Ah…!"
The day Heo Donghyun's life ended and Baek Sowol's began, I had driven a knife through my own hand to awaken as a mage.
And then? It worked. I ran straight to the hospital.
So that was who I'd run into.
"I wouldn't expect you to remember. I can't recall every patient I've ever treated either. You just… stood out. The looks, the hair — hard to forget."
"Ah… I see…"
"So here's what I've actually been wondering. Your hair was white back then too… Did you bleach it?"
"My hair? It just grows like this…?"
"…? Sowol, you mean you didn't dye it?"
"It just grows this way."
The conversation drifted, almost inevitably, toward me — the most unusual person at the table. To the regulars I was the newcomer, so of course they paid attention. And Jihyeon and Yaeseo, close as we were, still didn't know everything about me. The questions kept coming.
"Oh, right — she doesn't even wear makeup. Watch this: her skin just goes smooooth like that, and she still won't put any on because it's too much trouble."
"What? Sowol, are you barefaced right now? For real?"
"Excuse me?"
"Huh?"
Four women and one… woman? gathered in one place, and girls' talk activated on its own. Then Han Yaeseo dropped the bombshell.
That I was barefaced. The others might not have known — but Yaeseo, the one who'd actually picked out proper clothes for me, absolutely did.
"And don't even get me started on her clothes. Zero sense. She just banks entirely on that face and buys whatever."
"…Honestly, I still think my clothes were fine."
"See?! If she felt even a little self-conscious I wouldn't bring it up! But she walks around with zero makeup and zero thought put into her outfits!"
"…I did get clothing recommendations when I posted on our side."
"…So you've finally accepted that you can't dress yourself?"
"Well, everyone frothed at the mouth so hard I figured I should at least take the advice."
Honestly, I still didn't get it. But a mage's way of thinking said to follow along. Wearing strange clothes cost me nothing. Other people finding them strange, though — that was a cost.
So adjusting for other people was the correct move. Why force everyone else to match me? If something needed fitting, I could do the fitting myself.
"…That's barefaced…?"
"No way…"
"…I'm so jealous. Being young…"
The other women, Yaeseo aside, muttered among themselves. For most women, makeup was treated as a given. Skipping it was possible, sure.
But skipping it and still being beautiful? That was rare enough to draw open envy. Not that I saw much to envy. The biggest advantage looks gave you was in romance.
And I was in no position to date men. Dating women wasn't exactly straightforward either.
I glanced at the other side of the table. The men had nothing to contribute. Makeup not being the default for guys probably meant they had no real opinion on the matter.
There had been a little awkwardness at the start, but none of us had the kind of personality that made socializing difficult, so we warmed up fast. We were all in the same industry, after all.
"So working as a supporter — you wouldn't believe how often it just grinds you down."
"Is that right? I imagine supporters have their own set of headaches."
"The class is what it is, so outside of unconquered gates, nobody even calls you in. And some mages have supporter skills on top of everything else, so…"
We had been waiting for a while when a voice suddenly cut through the chatter.
"Your food is ready."
The food arrived.
Though come to think of it — wasn't this a café? Why was food coming out?
Well, Kang Suhyeon wasn't about to drag us somewhere illegal. It probably didn't matter.
"…? Is this alcohol?"
One detail did catch my eye. The drinks set in front of us looked like alcohol and smelled like alcohol. A bizarre establishment that might have been a café, a restaurant, or a bar could conceivably have a liquor license.
But there was a minor here.
And Lee Jihyeon had driven.
"As long as the minor doesn't drink, it's fine. And driving's no issue either — I can break down the alcohol with magic. Of course, you're free not to drink at all."
In a way, there wasn't really a problem. Plenty of ordinary restaurants sold soju. Minors weren't barred from being present.
As long as Ari alone stayed dry, we were in the clear. And even if she didn't, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Plenty of people had been given a drink when they were young, once in a while.
But… I've never actually drunk in this body.
The problem was on my end.
Heo Donghyun had been a strong drinker. The kind of person you almost never saw drunk. Whether Baek Sowol could say the same was another matter. Alcohol tolerance came down to liver function, not willpower.
Still… I wasn't going to go my whole life without drinking. Trying it now didn't seem like a bad idea. A light drink or two shouldn't cause any real trouble.
"Well then…"
I brought the glass lightly to my lips.
"Hnnngh. Whyyy izz this dwink sooo stwong awreadyyy~?"
Huh? Why did my pronunciation sound like that?
My mind was perfectly clear.