Taxi Date (Multiple Illustrations Included / Data Warning)

Inside the taxi on the way home, it had started out so awkward we couldn't even look each other in the eye.

"You really got into the Tower because you were talking in your sleep?"

"Well... maybe it's a more common case than you'd think?"

"Ahahaha! Unbelievable! I bet nobody else walked in while they were asleep the way you did, Jaeha!"

It was almost moving, how natural this had become. Even if I was the only one getting teased.

"I didn't know it was going to turn out like that either...."

"Dummy. Dummy! Ahaha!"

She laughed and even smacked my arm, tap-tap. Ow. That hurt. A little gentler, please. And yet—why did it feel so good? Maybe I'd awakened to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something. Hnnn....

When Sia stepped out of the car, the scent that had filled my lungs left with her.

"Then get some real rest!"

"Yeah. You too."

"I'm fine, you know? You're the one who needs to rest, Jaeha. Hehe! Okay, bye!"

"Yeah."

The taxi pulled away again. The sight of her waving until the very last moment stayed caught behind my eyes.

How do I buy more time?

I had to come up with something.

Eight-thirty in the morning. I reached the Hunter Association earlier than training.

Time to sell what I farmed.

I'd skipped it yesterday, with Sia waiting on me.

"Hello."

"Ah! Hunter Yoon Jaeha, welcome."

"Is the support officer in?"

"Yes. I'll let them know."

"Thank you."

First I checked what was actually worth selling.

A five-hundred-gram gold bar, and... there's really nothing else?

The clothes I'd meant to sell might have to go on mannequins, so I held those back. Same for the bag. The Energy Cube was at home, kept as a memento, and the junk was set aside for reinforcing armor. What remained was an LP, a ballpoint pen, and some cigarettes. I genuinely had nothing to sell.

Did I call the support officer for nothing?

I waited a little while.

"Hunter Yoon Jaeha."

"Hello."

"Hello. I heard you have something to sell?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, though. Once I sorted through it, this was all that was left...."

"Haha, that's perfectly fine."

The officer looked the items over.

"The Hunter Association will buy the gold bar immediately. The rest should do well at auction."

"Even a ballpoint pen sells?"

"Of course. We purchase scrap metal, lumber, plastic—things like that."

Right. They'd said those materials went into equipment-crafting commissions. Nothing from outside the Tower could be taken in. Gear made from resources brought out of the Tower, though, could. It fell short of finished goods from inside, but where else were you going to get basic equipment that cheap?

"I see. I'll just sell these for now, then."

"Please do. Hmm. The price should come to about a hundred million won."

What? Had I misheard?

"A hundred million?"

"Yes."

A five-hundred-gram gold bar. Wasn't that a souvenir? Something this small and thin was worth a hundred million?

"Th-thank you...."

"Haha, of course. I'll contact you once the settlement is finished."

The officer stepped out of the training room. None of it felt real. I'd thought this extraction hadn't amounted to much, and one gold bar had turned out to be worth a hundred million.

"Hehehehe."

"Trainee, we do not laugh."

"Yes, sir!"

Even while I brought the hammer down on the dummy.

"Trainee, we do not let our minds wander."

"Yes, sir!"

Even while I climbed the rope, up and down.

"Trainee, move! Faster!"

"Yes, sir!"

Even while I parkoured from building to building.

Hehehehe.

I couldn't stop smiling. A hundred million won. A hundred million, and it was mine. A post I'd once seen on a forum came back to me.

Japanese food... I could give that up, couldn't I?

I'd seriously wrestled with it back then. Not anymore.

Why would I do something that stupid?! I'm not giving up a single one, and I'm still keeping the hundred million! I'll buy all of it with the hundred million!

I didn't have to agonize over nonsense like that anymore. I was a man who had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠made a hundred million won in two days!

"Bwahahahaha!"

"Trainee, we do not laugh!!"

"Yes, sir!!!"

Reality had me crawling an alley on my belly, but still.

"Trainee, when is your next entry?"

"In two days, sir."

"Good. Then we'll stop here for today."

"Thank you, Instructor!"

Training ended at six in the evening, earlier than I'd expected.

"Rest well the day before you go in. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

Haa. I thought I was going to die. Why had I agreed to training like this in the first place? What riches and glory was I even chasing?

Bzzzt.

My phone vibrated, and I checked it.

Ding.

"Kuheo—hell yeah!! Of course this is why I signed up! To live in riches and glory like this! Next time I go in, I'm hauling back a billion. Me."

Nothing hit the dopamine like money. Motivation I hadn't had a moment ago surged up out of nowhere.

"Extra training, let's gooooo!"

I sprinted back into the training room and granted will to the dummies.

"We're sparring. Attack me like a zombie."

A nod. The spar started at once.

"This is too easy."

I raised it to three dummies, and it was still too easy.

I might have gotten way too strong.

Walkers probably wouldn't even count as training anymore.

"Now come at me in runner mode."

A nod.

Tat— tak— tatatak—

The speed and the pressure were in a different league from before. Even so, I snatched the arm lunging for my shoulder, drove it down, and brought the hand axe onto the head it left open. Crack—! I yanked the arm I was holding so the body wouldn't hit with a sound, set it down without a fuss, and slipped clear. Tak— A hand raked empty air, a beat too late.

I planted a foot on the railing and vaulted, caught the upper rail in one hand, and met the runner charging in late with its own thick skull. Thwack—!

"Hup."

I locked both legs around the collapsing body, touched down light, and finished the last of them. Crack—!

"Easy. Way too easy."

My body felt absurdly light. It wasn't only the coffee doping.

Simple repetition really is the best there is.

The movements sat in me the way using chopsticks did. I could feel exactly what the training had done.

"Release link."

I severed the connection on the dummies I'd granted will. Fwaaat! Blue light burst out of them, and their joints returned to what they had been.

I could have repaired them, of course. They registered as items, so the Tower of Calamity app shop would do it. Or I could restore them with the new additional option.

But.

I can't take the dummies in with me anyway.

For now it was easier to burn through them like consumables.

What I needed was on its way, too.

"I made a fortune, so maybe it's time I started enjoying it."

In the taxi home, I opened a delivery app. Normally I would have agonized and agonized, then settled on whatever a coupon or a flash deal allowed.

No need to worry about that today.

I didn't even check for coupons. Chicken and pizza went straight into the cart.

Hmm.... Still, eating in, or at least pickup, would be fine, right?

Going to get it would count as exercise.

Oh. Right!

I quietly closed the app. I'd made this much money thanks to Sia. Treating her big, just this once, would be fine, wouldn't it? I hesitated, then hit call.

Trrrring.

The ringtone broke the quiet.

I'm only calling her. Why am I nervous again?!

"Hello?"

"Uh, i-it's me."

Ugh. I hadn't expected her to pick up that fast. I wasn't ready!

"Oh—yeah. Training's over?"

"Y-yeah, it's over. Have you had dinner?"

"Not yet. You?"

"Me neither."

Want to eat together? Who knew one line could be this hard.

"I'll buy. Want to come out? I just got paid for what I farmed."

"Whoa. Now you can actually go around calling yourself a real hunter?"

"I couldn't say it back then. I didn't have a choice."

"I know, I know. So where should we go?"

Now that she asked—where? A neighborhood gukbap place, rice and hot soup, was a hard no. But me being the one to suggest somewhere expensive first would be a little weird, wouldn't it? What if she said it was too much and turned me down?! At a time like this—

"I only got paid because of you, so I'll leave it up to you!"

Hah. Credit passed to Sia, and my inability to choose cleanly severed. Beautiful.

"Great. Let's meet in front of that café from last time! Expensive food is okay, though?"

"Obviously. You can pick the most expensive place there is. I made money in the hundred millions."

"What? Oh—you sold the Energy Cube?"

"No, that's still at home."

"Then what did you sell?"

"I'll tell you when we meet."

"Got it. We're really going somewhere expensive?"

"Yeah, yeah! However much you want!"

Hmm. I'd said it on a high....

Right! If I don't enjoy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it now, when will I?

I steeled myself and headed for the café.

"Jaeha, over here, over here!"

Hup. I caught my breath without meaning to.

"Oh. You're early?"

"Yeah. I just finished a shoot and was on my way home."

The moment our eyes met, we both looked away.

Uuugh!

I'd been sure the awkwardness was gone when we parted yesterday.

Why is it awkward-awkward again?! Awkward-awkward!

"Where are we going?"

"Just keep going this way."

"All right. Let's go."

Wait. Straight this way? We weren't even taking a car? Was there a place that expensive in our neighborhood?

What we reached was a samgyeopsal joint. Pork belly over a grill.

"This is fine?"

"Yep!"

"I thought we were going somewhere dazzling and expensive."

I'd never been to a place like that, but I'd come mentally braced for it.

"Ahaha! That was a joke. A joke!"

"We really could go somewhere expensive."

"Hehe. It's fine. I like it here."

Her voice had gone quiet. Looking at the shop sign, Sia seemed to be remembering something.

"All right. Then let's go in. Order whatever you want."

"Okay!"

Samgyeopsal browned over the charcoal, and soybean-paste stew bubbled in an earthen pot. Maybe because I'd just come from training, it felt like I could eat without end.

"This looks amazing!"

"Right...? I seriously thought I was going to starve to death."

"Was training hard?"

I nodded. Nodded again. There was no putting all of it into words.

"You worked hard, huh? Good job."

Pat, pat.

Huk!?

The sudden touch snapped my back straight.

"Ah!"

Sia seemed to catch herself a second too late and straightened in her seat.

Sudden contact, hmmmmm.... How interesting....

I barely caught my mind before it flew off, and grabbed onto small talk.

"So why did you want to come here?"

"Oh, it's nothing much."

Sia dropped her gaze.

"I don't actually live in this neighborhood, you know?"

"Ah. Then...?"

"Right. This is where my mom lives."

Ah. Her mother was sick, so she'd been staying at her mother's place for a while.

"Before Mom got sick, whenever I came to visit, we'd come here."

Uuuugh. Wh-what was I supposed to say to comfort someone at a time like this?

"Hey, don't make that face!"

"Hup—wh-what kind of face was I making?"

"I just wanted to come again. Coming alone felt a little off, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you know?"

I'd never been here either. Solo samgyeopsal is no joke.

"Honestly, I was a little worried until now. But I'm not anymore!"

"Right, right. You've got me!"

"Hmmmm? I don't think I ever said I was going with you, though?"

"You're going to ditch me now?!"

"Who knows? Hehehe."

Sia covered her mouth and laughed.

"I'll think about it."

"If you don't take me, you're really going to regret it."

"You thiiink so? Oh! It's burning—eat, quick!"

Ugh. Dodging the answer right to the end!

"Fine. Food first."

Right. Nothing was promised yet. It would be fine.