Proof (2)
"I can do this!" I clenched my small fist and stepped out of the car, steeling my resolve. A single house stood alone in the middle of this wide clearing. It was the Sword Empress's hideout. To think that a woman once called the strongest was living in such a shabby house....
"She must have earned a fortune..." The house didn't match her reputation at all. If she had run off to the mountains just because her husband died, then that was probably all she amounted to. There had been reports that she was in bad shape after losing her husband and suffering greatly, so this might turn out easier than expected.
With a pointless chuckle, I approached the house when an elderly housekeeper came out to greet me.
"...What brings you here?" Her eyes carried a clear note of wariness. To ease her suspicion, I smiled brightly and spoke.
"Ah, I'd like to see the madam. If you tell her I'm an acquaintance of her late husband, she'll understand."
"...Please wait a moment."
Still eyeing me with suspicion, she left me standing there and went inside the house. A short while later...
"...Please come in."
With the Sword Empress's permission, I was invited inside. The fact that I'd gained entry so easily made the corners of my mouth curl upward. In the operation to recruit the Sword Empress, approaching her had been listed as the greatest difficulty. Yet I'd cleared that hurdle in one go! As expected, bringing up her husband had been the correct move.
Following the housekeeper inside, I adjusted the camera hidden in my bag and scanned my surroundings. ...This should have captured enough, right? Nothing particularly important was visible, so even rough shots would probably be fine.
At that moment, the housekeeper gave me a pointed look urging me to hurry and led me toward the stairs.
"...The madam is on the second floor."
This old lady has quite the impatient personality.... She reminds me of our Father. I followed her up to the second floor, and
"You can go right in."
The time to finally meet the Sword Empress had arrived. Filled with strange excitement and anticipation, I flung the door open and discovered a woman sitting by the window. Long brown hair, crimson eyes. She looked almost exactly like the Sword Empress I'd seen on TV.
"Hello!" I greeted her with a bright, cheerful smile, but she didn't respond at all, simply adjusting her posture slightly. It seemed she had no intention of returning the greeting. Come on! When someone greets you, aren't you supposed to greet them back?
Still smiling brightly, I sat down in front of her and tried once more.
"Sword Empress! It's truly an honor to meet you like this! My name is Gong Yoo-mi!"
She slowly crossed her arms, her eyes flashing as she finally spoke.
"Who are you?"
Ugh.... They said she had lost her mind, but was that all a lie? Intimidated by her sharp gaze, I forced a bright smile and answered.
"...I'm an acquaintance of Sung-jae oppa. His younger sister, I..."
"My husband had no acquaintance like you."
I was slightly flustered by Ju Yeon-hee's curt dismissal. Wait! How would she know whether he had an acquaintance like me or not? Sigh.... While carefully choosing my next words, her piercing stare made me quickly change plans. In that case, I had no choice but to dangle the bait first!
"...F-first, please look at this!"
I hurriedly pulled the prepared document from my bag and handed it to her.
"I'm sure you'll like it!"
After glaring at me for a moment, she took the document. Rustle. Rustle. As if my prediction had been correct, she examined the materials with meticulous care. A sense of victory made the corners of my mouth slowly rise.
The plan I'd brought contained something she would be tempted by: a ritual to resurrect the dead! It might sound like absurd nonsense, but if she had truly loved her husband, it was something she must have considered at least once. Of course, we couldn't actually bring back the dead. We weren't gods. But if we used the Lady's ability, we could imitate something close enough. Once we dragged her to the church and had her meet Father, even the Sword Empress would fall into our hands...!
Thud. The moment Ju Yeon-hee set the document down, the air suddenly froze over.
"...You're a cultist."
Huh?
"W-what do you mean...?"
I was greatly flustered by her words. There had been no mention of religion anywhere in the document...!
"Hiiiiiik!"
Before I knew it, she was pointing a thin, long blade at me. When? How!? Even though I was a B-rank hunter myself, I couldn't perceive her movement at all.
"If you don't want to die, tell me everything."
Unlike the killing intent radiating from the sword tip, Ju Yeon-hee's eyes as she looked at me were utterly indifferent. They were the eyes of someone who felt no hesitation about killing people.
"Ugh..."
I'd die like this. But betraying the family would also get me killed. ...I shouldn't have come.... I wish I hadn't come...! I should have sent someone else!!!!!
But the water had already been spilled. The result of stepping forward to look good in front of the Lady and Father was nothing but death. I subtly turned my eyes toward the window right beside me. If I used my ability, maybe I could survive somehow? My ability was Instant Acceleration. If I poured everything into it, I could probably dodge once...
"One."
The moment Ju Yeon-hee's low voice pierced my ear, I exploded all the mana in my body and hurled myself toward the window.
BANG!!!
The wind pressure crushed my entire body. Bounced out at tremendous speed, I was already flying over the dense trees, having passed the clearing where the house once stood.
Ugh...! I hurriedly looked around, but there was no pursuit. D-did I survive...? Seeing that my neck was still attached, it seemed I hadn't died. Thinking to run far away first, I descended to the ground and took a step, but...
Thud!
I lost all strength and collapsed. Because I fell face-first onto the dirt, I planted my face straight into the ground.
"Uphub! Ptooey!!"
I spat out the sand in my mouth and brushed off my face, muttering
"Damn.... Really...."
As I cursed myself for doing something so stupid and tried to get up...
"Hmm?"
I spotted something rolling in front of my eyes.
"...Kyaaaa, kyaaaa!!!!!"
It was an ankle spurting blood.
"...Soyeon. I've already bought four packs of snacks..."
"What?"
I flinched at Min Soyeon's sharp glare and had no choice but to back down.
"...Th-then should we stop at that...?"
"Hmph."
She placed the snacks in the shopping cart and walked ahead. I let out a short sigh as I watched her. Why was she angry again...? She had seemed fine during practice, but suddenly she started fuming, and now she was rebelliously grabbing all kinds of snacks in the cutest way possible.
It seemed like she was mad at me, but I couldn't figure out why no matter how hard I thought about it.
"...Soyeon! Wait for me!"
I quickly pulled the cart and followed after her. Min Soyeon glanced back at me, then grabbed the cart and led me to a different aisle.
"...Soyeon, we have chocolate at home.... Ah, okay.... Just one?"
As I kept giving in one by one....
"T-two is too many! Just one! Let's buy just one!"
Before I knew it, the shopping cart was completely full of snacks.
...Wasn't this too much?
While I stared blankly at the snack-filled cart, Min Soyeon tugged on it firmly and spoke.
"What are you doing? Aren't we going?"
"...Y-yeah, let's go...."
All I could do right now was go along with whatever she wanted. Once we got home, I'd have to coax her gently. After buying two more bags of bread, we finally left the mart. Because we'd bought so much, we took a taxi back to Min Soyeon's house.
Upon arriving, Min Soyeon tossed the grocery basket into the kitchen and immediately headed to her room, saying she was going to change. Normally she would have organized the groceries with me before going upstairs, but today she disappeared without even glancing back. Did that mean she was really angry?
But she had still let me into the house.
"...This is tough."
I really couldn't understand the heart of a teenage girl. As I quietly sighed and began organizing the groceries one by one,
"...I'll help."
Min Soyeon appeared and started helping me.
...Huh? But Min Soyeon's outfit was a little strange. Instead of the oversized t-shirt she usually wore, she had on a beige sleeveless top, and her bottoms were short dolphin shorts. Even though the weather had warmed up a bit, wasn't that too short?
"...Soyeon, aren't you cold?"
Instead of answering, Min Soyeon shot me a sharp glare, then turned her head away and quietly continued organizing the items.
...Why was she acting like this? I had no idea.
After finishing organizing with Min Soyeon, I immediately started preparing dinner. Today's menu was spicy chicken stew, a dish Min Soyeon had specifically chosen. I cleaned the chicken I'd bought at the mart, blanched it, then mixed it with the pre-cut vegetables and seasoning before setting it to boil.
After adjusting the heat, I glanced toward the living room and saw Min Soyeon playing her game with clear irritation.
...Was now the time? I turned the heat down a little more, grabbed her favorite snacks, and carefully headed to the living room.
Tap. Tap. She was so focused on the game that she didn't even notice I'd arrived. How deeply concentrated must she be to not even realize her shorts had ridden up? If she showed this level of focus during training....
Letting out a silent sigh, I carefully sat down beside her. Only then did she sense my presence. She glanced at me, bit her lip hard, and began staring at the TV. Seeing her bite down until her lips turned white, there was clearly something bothering her. But what? As usual, I couldn't guess.
...No choice then. I'd have to interrogate her with snacks. I rustled the bag loudly enough for her to hear. As expected, she glanced at the snacks in my hand as if possessed by something.
She really couldn't resist these, could she? After eating one myself, I held the bag out to her and asked,
"Want some?"
I normally never gave her snacks before a meal because it would ruin her appetite. But today an interrogation with snacks was necessary, so it couldn't be helped.
Min Soyeon, who had been staring at me, paused her game and reached for the snack as if she didn't care.
"Whoa, wait a second."
I quickly pulled the snack away and grabbed her hand.
"...Why."
At her low growl and murderous glare, I suddenly remembered my wife from her younger days and instinctively let go of her hand.
...Like mother, like daughter.
"It's getting on the game controller. I'll feed you."
"...What?"
"Aren't you going to keep playing?"
Min Soyeon looked back and forth between me and the snack for a moment before finally grabbing the gamepad again. It meant she wanted me to feed her.
At the sight of her like that, the corners of my mouth unconsciously turned up, and I began delivering the snacks. At first she cautiously stuck her lips out to take them, but soon she got used to it. She waited with her mouth slightly open like a baby bird expecting food.
Crunch. At the sound of the breaking snack, I peeked inside the bag and saw it was already almost empty.
...Was this enough? With my wife, one bag had usually been sufficient. But this was my first time doing a snack interrogation with Soyeon, so I didn't know exactly how many she'd need. Still, if I opened another bag, she might really skip dinner.
No choice. Time for a direct approach. I placed one snack in Min Soyeon's mouth, then subtly leaned closer and spoke in a gentle voice.
"...Soyeon."
When I spoke instead of offering another snack, she clamped her mouth shut.
...As expected of my daughter, her senses were sharp.
"...Did something happen today? Won't you tell me about it?"
She glanced at me, then turned her gaze back to the TV. If I backed down now, dinner would be over.
"...If I did something wrong, I'll apologize. But I need to know the reason so I can apologize properly."
At that moment, Min Soyeon slammed her gamepad down.
YOU DIED
Along with her character dying in the game. As a somber BGM flowed through the living room, Min Soyeon slowly turned her body toward me and met my eyes. With a slight frown, she glared at me.
"...Are you dating Gong Haeseon?"
...Huh?