An Unnie's Youth (2)
Miss Jeong and I sat side by side at a window seat where the breaking waves filled the view in a single sweep. A moment later, the cafe owner who had been standing at the counter came toward us with an elegant step.
"So you must be... that... Hwaryeong's benefactor and nemesis?"
I couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh.
"Haha... if I'm being honest, I'm a lot closer to the nemesis."
"Heh... you're an interesting one."
She gazed at me steadily, a seductive smile playing at her lips. She looked so much like a fox spirit out to bewitch someone that it jolted me wide awake instead.
"Yes. Which is why I got smacked with divine punishment and turned into a woman."
I rambled on for no good reason. She looked me up and down at her leisure, then dropped a rather meaningful line.
"For a divine punishment... it's far too perfect, don't you think?"
"Pardon?"
"If it had been a curse that changed you, we could have undone it for you."
Leaving that rather mysterious remark hanging in the air, the cafe owner returned to her post. As if I could possibly understand what she meant. She probably just meant I would be living like this for the rest of my life.
I was staring blankly at her receding back when a chilly voice slid in from beside me.
"What? Is that unnie's tail fluffier?"
"Ah... I said it's not, seriously..."
Miss Jeong's fox ears stood bolt upright and refused to so much as twitch. She was well and truly in a sulk. It wasn't as if I were some dense protagonist out of a comic. I knew perfectly well why she was upset.
"I already graduated from the tail thing, okay? So, is she your unnie?"
I casually changed the subject.
"Not a blood sister. Let's just say... a slightly higher unnie."
A higher unnie... she was probably something like an elder in the fox beastkin community. Most beastkin lived a long time, after all.
For a while I kept feeding Miss Jeong bits of idle chatter, trying to soothe her mood. Fortunately the effort seemed to take. Those ears that had been standing there in discontent were soon swaying gently in my direction.
"I did take you on a drive. Least I can do is buy the coffee, right?"
"Heeeh~ putting on the gentleman act now, are we?"
"Huh? I'll have you know I'm an extremely gentlemanly person."
"Ha. Then why don't you try ordering something that matches my taste?"
"Uh... I didn't mean it quite that far..."
I was doomed.
How was I supposed to know the mind of a fox beastkin, said to be deeper and more inscrutable than any human's? If I got this wrong, I had a sinking feeling I might actually have to walk all the way from this beach back to Dohwang-ri. Pick something like a fruit-loaded ade just because she was a fox beastkin, and she would only get angry and accuse me of putting on a cheap little song and dance.
I sat there fidgeting, staring at the menu, while Miss Jeong watched me with a smile so leisurely it was downright infuriating. Her tail was swaying softly behind the sofa, so she seemed to be in a good mood... but that was no guarantee she would give me a ride back to Dohwang-ri in one piece.
In the end, what I chose was not a clever trick. It was a frontal assault. I might look like a woman right now, but my heart was still a man's.
"Let's go with iced coffee. An iced americano."
"...Are you kidding me right now? Did you just pick the cheapest thing on the menu?"
"Whenever we were together, this is all we ever drank."
My trump card — romance and our shared history, both deployed at once. Now, how would that land?
She stared at me for a beat. A small puff of laughter slipped out of her, and then she couldn't hold it anymore. A bright, ringing giggle spilled over.
"Hahaha! That's so you! What, were you scared I'd actually dump you here if you got it wrong?"
"...That's not it."
"Well, you're about half right. But I like that nerve, so I'll let it slide."
The way she giggled and teased me was nothing like the cafe owner's mature air. It was the pure, native playfulness of a fox.
...It was cute.
Yeah. I was taking that thought to the grave.
Anyway, Miss Jeong seemed pleased enough, so I walked to the counter to place the order as promised.
"One iced americano, and... this one, please."
I pointed at something glittering in the case, labeled fruit tart. I was not the delicate type who would memorize a name and order it properly.
The owner behind the counter took my order, then glanced toward the seat behind me and asked with a gentle smile,
"It's been a long time since I've seen Hwaryeong laugh like that. Did something nice happen?"
"Just... making some silly conversation."
"Fox beastkin do love sweet things, it's true. But of all the many options, was there a reason you specifically chose the fruit tart?"
At her mischievous question, an old memory surfaced on its own.
"Because Hwaryeong... doesn't like chocolate or rich whipped cream."
"Oh... you know her well."
The owner's bright smile was truly beautiful. The gaze I felt from Miss Jeong behind me was not beautiful at all. Trying my best to ignore the stare burning a hole in the back of my head, I just gave an awkward smile and hurried back to my seat.
"You were chatting with the owner for quite a while. What'd you talk about?"
"Nothing... I ordered the tart. The one with fruit."
"So you haven't forgotten how to live. I figured you'd go, 'For you it has to be cake!' and order something all rich and creamy."
"I'm not that old, you know."
"Heeeh~ is that so? Then how about naming a famous Hunter these days, or the title of a hit song?"
The way she grinned and teased me was a fox through and through. I didn't bother answering. I just smiled awkwardly and looked out the window at the sea. As if I would know. I barely even kept up with the news.
The pager on the table buzzed. I started to get up, but Miss Jeong raised a hand to stop me and stood first.
"You paid, so I'll go get it."
"Oh... thanks."
She walked to the counter, exchanged a few words with the owner, and came back with a tray. One iced americano and one fruit tart. It was a modest spread, but it was a monumental snack — the first one we were sitting down to eat together after properly making up.
"Why are you smiling like that? It's creepy."
Miss Jeong, who had already put her lips to the straw and taken a sip of coffee, asked as she looked at me. I just beamed back at her.
"It's the first snack we're eating since we made up. I want to take a picture and send it to the kids."
"Oh, come on... you just had to tack the kids on at the end..."
Miss Jeong turned her head as if she couldn't believe it, but she didn't seem to mind. I pulled my smartphone from my pocket and clicked the shutter toward the table.
"This is... Hayeon's, isn't it?"
"Yeah. The Hunter Management Bureau compensated me with a latest-model one a while back, and I just swapped with Hayeon."
"You do realize you're acting exactly like a mom, right?"
"Yeah, I know. I'm not even going to deny it."
"...And what's this about the Hunter Management Bureau?"
In that instant, the drowsy air inside the cafe seemed to go cold. Her voice, playful just a moment ago, had dropped low and turned icy.
"It's nothing. Just... I had a bit of trouble with some Hunters."
"Are you lying to my face?"
"This much... is personal. I'm asking you. Just trust me."
I had shot a Hunter who had tried to hurt me, and the Hunter Management Bureau had buried the incident to save their own face. I did not want to tell her about dirty business like that. Business that wasn't like me at all. Not Miss Jeong, and not the kids either.
"That measly pride of yours again?"
"...Yeah. Sorry."
"Haa... as if a human could change that easily. Fine."
She let out a deep sigh, but she didn't press any further. Instead, she looked me straight in the eye, as if she had to confirm just this one thing.
"Then tell me just this. You're not getting mixed up with those Hunter bastards, are you?"
"No. If anything, they made sure we wouldn't get mixed up, so don't worry."
"Who said I was worried about you? I'm worried about the kids."
Miss Jeong snapped it out, but her tail under the table had gone a little stiff, as if she were uneasy.
"It's all in the past. The coffee's going to go flat."
I deliberately took a cool sip of coffee like it was nothing. Miss Jeong sighed once more and picked up the fruit tart from the plate.
We had properly made up. We had come to understand each other's hearts, if only faintly. And more than anything, thanks to the kids, we had learned a little about how to trust each other. We were still childish adults who dug in our heels — but today was different.
"So, what are you doing for vacation?"
Not wanting to linger on heavy topics, Miss Jeong changed the subject.
"...Housework?"
"Haa... should I just drop you off here and let you walk?"
"No... I genuinely hadn't thought about it. Check the guns, go to the shooting range, play with the kids if I have time. That's the whole list."
"How can a person be this simple? Has hanging around Variants all the time atrophied your brain?"
"That's harsh. You think I don't play because I don't want to? Do you know how hard I worked to buy Eunseo a pocket..."
"There you go again. Always the kids first."
In the end, the conversation circled back to the kids again. I was at a loss, and Miss Jeong seemed equally at a loss, because the two of us looked at each other and snorted out a laugh.
"In the car it was all 'youth' this and 'youth' that. That was all just hot air?"
"Even if I went on about youth in a backwater like Dohwang-ri, the old folks would just whack me across the back with a cane. 'A young one going on about youth,' they'd say."
"Then why not come to the city while you're at it?"
"And what about the elders in Dohwang-ri?"
"You've really gone full country, haven't you. Or maybe you just think differently from us beastkin. I can't tell."
"What, do you people live alone in the mountains building shrines or something?"
"Where did you even pick up that nonsense?"
"You know, the thing. Wearing a pretty shrine maiden outfit..."
Before I could finish, the tissue box on the table flew at me like a bullet and smacked me square in the forehead.
"Yaaah... I'm a Semi-Awakened and you still threw that hard enough to hurt."
"Don't say stuff like that. I've already got enough of a headache from the weirdos."
Mm... fair enough. For people around my mental age, beings that belonged in comics and games were standing right there in the flesh, running cafes and restaurants. Of course their eyes would pop out of their heads.
After that I had no choice but to sit there and listen to Miss Jeong vent for a good long while. Kids around Nureongi or Ppoppi's age weren't like that, she complained — it was always the uncles and aunties around my age... no, my mental age, who made a huge fuss. She even said the village elders treated beastkin like her more comfortably and naturally. All in all, it was the kind of talk that drove a stake through the heart of anyone my age.
Once Miss Jeong had thoroughly unloaded her stress, she put on a foxlike smiling squint as if none of it had happened, gave her tail a playful swish as though a new bit of mischief had occurred to her, and opened her mouth.
"Ah~ right. I hear you've become a rising star these days?"
Ah, damn it. The topic I had been hoping wouldn't come up had come up after all.
"Ahem... I wouldn't go as far as 'star.'"
"Heeeh~ is that so? The Bang-Bang Huntress of Dohwang-ri?"
"...What kind of childish nickname is that? Even the kids wouldn't come up with that."
"Huhu... well. Were you thinking that 'bang-bang' was the gunshots? I sanitized it as much as I possibly could. Want me to say it properly?"
"...I'll pass. Sincerely."
"What on earth possessed you to go on TV? When I put it on, our shop customers were staring at the screen like their souls had left their bodies."
"You... you played that at the shop again?"
"Nothing's more fun than teasing you."
I sighed and explained myself.
"It's not like I got some big head. If more weirdos keep flocking to Dohwang-ri it's going to be a headache... Lately you see videos of non-ability users sneaking into Gates and restricted zones. I figured showing my face once was better than having someone wander around the hunting grounds and get hit by a stray shot."
"Oh? So it wasn't for the kids?"
"...If I said it was for the kids you'd just tease me again."
"I was going to tease you anyway?"
This fox...
Yeah. Maybe this was Miss Jeong's real personality. A fox who loved teasing people — but also loved hanging out and playing with those same people.
After finishing our coffee, Miss Jeong and I stepped outside, and a muggy heat slammed into my whole body so hard I wanted to run right back into the building. Miss Jeong had already opened the car door — baked hot in the meantime — and turned on the air conditioner in advance. I paused for a moment and looked out at the distant sea once more.
I had gone out in a way that more or less suited this body's age, but in the end every thought circled back around to the kids.
An unnie's youth, my ass. This was just a mom's youth.
But I didn't mind. Spending my youth like this was enjoyable in its own way.
"You getting in or not? I'll leave you."
Miss Jeong, already in the driver's seat, urged me on. I looked at her, and decided to go back to where the kids were.
Today, at least — together with her.