I Have a Major Announcement! (Real Life)

Once SC's match was over and Han Seongun's interview had wrapped, the arena emptied in a rush.

JG and KST still had a match left after this, but most of the people who'd been sitting here were SC fans. Or maybe it was more honest to call them Han Seongun's fans.

The bulk of SC's support belonged to Han Seongun, and what little remained belonged to Coach Kim Sangho.

Anyway, the SC fans seemed to decide they had no particular reason to sit through JG versus KST. They drifted off one by one, and the moment they did, the arena that had been packed only a little while ago showed its empty seats in earnest.

They're too much. At least stay through the second match... How long does it even take?

Arena seats are finite. It varies by venue, but PCK Park holds about five hundred. Those five hundred, limited as they are, sell out in a single second—the scramble is that fierce. For a popular team like KZ, even more so.

If a team that popular is scheduled for the second slot, there's no problem. If they're scheduled first, there is. They watch the opening match and leave.

"Aren't you heading out, Miss? I thought you came to see Seongun..."

Driver Kwon sounded doubtful that I was still occupying a seat.

In truth, what I'd come to see was SC against TLB, so I could have gone home whenever I liked. But...

"Well, that's true, but... it wouldn't be respectful to the KST and JG players. And it wouldn't be respectful to the fans of both teams who wanted to come watch in person, either."

I knew their faces. I'd even spoken with JG and KST before, and walking out felt like a slight against them. Beyond that...

Outside is packed with Han Seongun's fans. If I leave now, I might get spotted.

I didn't know why, but Han Seongun's fans disliked me a great deal. The women, especially.

From what I'd heard, they hated me—the friend at his side—because they thought he couldn't put up results on account of me. And they'd seen today's interview, hadn't they? He'd said he won today thanks to me.

Picturing how furious that interview must have made them, I couldn't help a snicker.

"Hoh..."

Hearing me say it would be disrespectful to the players on the stage, Driver Kwon looked a little startled.

"What. Does it look strange when I say something like that?"

What is that face?

"Ah, no. I only thought... as expected of my brother's daughter."

"Your brother?"

"Ah. A slip of the tongue."

His brother's daughter. He had to mean Father.

I'd already heard, long ago, that Driver Kwon and Father were like sworn brothers. Even so...

"Now that I think of it, you said the two of you were like sworn brothers. How did you end up that way?"

It occurred to me that I had never once properly asked about the relationship between them.

"Hmm..."

Driver Kwon let out a low sound at the question, the look of a man deciding how he ought to answer. Then—

"I'm sorry. This isn't something I can speak of lightly."

As expected, there was no answer worth having.

I knew it. Driver Kwon's mouth is famously heavy.

"If I may say only one thing, I once received a great kindness from the Chairman. That is all."

"Hmm... All right. I understand."

He didn't seem to want to tell me, and Father had never said a word about it either. Pressing further would have been rude.

"Oh. They're starting."

The JG and KST players were filing into the booths that SC and TLB had left empty. It was as good as a notice that the second match would begin in a few minutes.

Against expectations, JG won the match. The second upset of this Promotion Series.

However last-place KST might have been, they were still a first-division team. JG, on the other hand, was still missing Forest, the ace who carried them.

Or maybe it wasn't that much of an upset. JG had come out of the upper-middle of the first division, after all. Even without the ace who hauled the roster along, they were a side with enough foundation to show their strength. Nothing especially strange about it.

More than that...

"Haaahm... Let's go home. I'm tired."

"For someone who says she's tired, I believe you slept straight through the match."

Ah—how did he even see that?

"Nngh... that's..."

Manners were manners. What was I supposed to do when the game itself wasn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fun?

If Forest had been there, maybe. A match with no high-level entry was nothing but boring.

Entries aren't popular for nothing. The flashy play that hooks a crowd and won't let them look away is something only the entry position can do.

"A-anyway, let's head home. I'm getting hungry, too."

"As it happens, I was told they're already preparing food at the house, timed for your return."

Heh. Perfect timing.

"Ah, I wonder what the menu is today. I look forward to the housekeeper's cooking every single day~"

I hummed my way toward the arena exit.

"The housekeeper?"

Driver Kwon repeated it as if he hadn't understood what I'd said.

"From what I was told, tonight's dinner isn't the housekeeper. Madam is the one cooking..."

"Eh... ehh..."

And then disaster arrived.

"Um... Mr. Kwon?"

"? Is something the matter?"

"Would you maybe want to eat dinner out?"

Please.

Naturally—if anything in the world was natural—Driver Kwon did not grant my request.

From where he stood, Father, his employer, came first, Mother second, and I third. He could hardly defy something the second person on that list had said.

I understood. I did. Even so, he could have let it slide just this once.

"How is it, Eunha? I got a little help from the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠housekeeper this time..."

"Mother."

The unspoken rule of our house was to endure Mother's cooking and let it pass. This time, I meant to break that rule.

"Did... the housekeeper really check the seasoning?"

Because this was more than I could bear.

Ordinary spicy pork stir-fry is defined by a heat that still tastes good. That heat is its identity. It is the entire ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dish.

But the stir-fry Mother had made—no, this meat dish that merely wore the name—

"Isn't this... way too spicy? Cough! Cough!"

It was viciously, unreasonably hot. Not simply spicy, either—an artificial burn, so much so that for a moment I wondered what I had done to deserve this from her.

And the identity of that heat...

"Well, spicy pork is better when it's spicy, isn't it? So I added a little capsaicin..."

It was capsaicin.

"Capsaicin?"

"Mm."

"You really only put in a tiny bit?"

"Ah! We were a little short on gochujang, so I was generous with the capsaicin. Is it all right?"

?

"Pardon...?"

Do people usually use that as a substitute for gochujang...? Even if you add it, isn't it a minuscule amount? And that's people who like spicy food...

Unable to believe what I'd just heard, I looked at the housekeeper. Apparently it really was true.

I survived the ruinous dinner at last, and I was drinking the pear juice she had grated for me, cooling a tongue gone numb, when—

The phone I'd set an alert on went off.

"Email? At this hour?"

I hardly ever checked my mail, so I'd set the phone to notify me whenever something arrived.

"What?"

Whether I'd configured the alert wrong or something had actually gone wrong, the inbox was holding more than a hundred messages.

Hoping something important might be in there, I hurried through the pile one by one. The conclusion I reached...

"These bastards..."

Ninety percent of what had arrived was garbage not worth reading.

Ha. These people, honestly. They were testing the limits of a person's patience.