Ch.173Chapter 7. Suffocatingly Tight

Turning into a child could cause various problems.

What if I succeeded in transforming but couldn’t change back to normal?

“Little boy, where did Librarian Do Ji-hwan go?”

“I… suddenly turned into a child.”

“…An ability that turns people into children? I’ve never heard of such an ability user! Take this kid away for research immediately!”

That’s how I’d become a research subject.

Therefore, I needed to be extremely careful about returning to my original form when transforming, and above all, I needed to be able to freely switch between child and adult states.

But surprisingly, this wasn’t a big issue.

There was no time lag in returning to my original form after transformation, and I could change my body freely.

The only drawback was that mana continued to be consumed after transformation.

Unlike the Dark Knight who can maintain permanent invisibility, I could maintain a child’s form by using a small amount of mana continuously, similar to Ghost Agents.

In Taowu’s case, transformation reduces mana consumption, but in my case, I have to deliberately use mana to transform.

Naturally, there should be benefits to becoming a child, but so far I’ve only experienced one.

“Manager Do! Come here! Let me hug you.”

“Teacher, can I keep hugging you? Can I use you instead of a body pillow when I sleep?”

…Apart from getting more intense skinship or more physical contact from Taowu or Ymir, there weren’t any particular advantages.

Hiding my identity as Do Ji-hwan might be meaningful, but if my identity were to be revealed anyway, turning into a spirit would be better.

Well, anyway.

“Hello, Ji-hwan.”

“You worked hard, Seol-hee. You must be tired after your afternoon lecture.”

“Well, that’s… Did you grill meat?”

“Yes. I grilled some beef.”

I greeted Baek Seol-hee in my usual adult form as Do Ji-hwan, busy ventilating the room.

“Meat… Did Ymir grill it well?”

“No? The teacher grilled it for me. I just ate what I was given. Hehe.”

“Ji-hwan, you did it yourself?”

“Yes. Going to a restaurant would mean being conscious of other people watching, and I was worried about getting photographed and causing rumors. So I bought the meat in advance.”

“…If I had known, I would have skipped dinner.”

Baek Seol-hee sat down on a chair with a gloomy face.

“Didn’t you say you were having a beef dinner with the faculty?”

“Who I eat with is a different matter.”

“Ah.”

Beef is beef, but eating beef with uncomfortable people is like sitting on a bed of thorns.

“And I couldn’t even eat properly.”

“Why?”

“A drunk professor insisted on flipping the meat with his own chopsticks instead of using tongs.”

“Ugh. Why didn’t you say something?”

“When I mentioned it, he said, ‘I’m going to become a demon at this rate! Haha!’ and the dinner ended right there.”

“……”

What’s worse? Using your own chopsticks to flip meat instead of the provided tongs, or saying something you should never say to an ability user after making such a mistake?

Personally, I think it’s the former, but from an ability user’s perspective, the latter is far more unpleasant and irritating.

“Good timing. Would you like me to grill more?”

“No. You’re ventilating, and I don’t want to create more smoke. I ate plenty before that old man came, so I’m fine.”

“…Did the professor walk around from table to table with alcohol?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, that’s really annoying.”

Ymir shook her head in disgust.

“Then he probably went around with drinks, forcing people to drink, right, unnie?”

“Exactly. He even tried to clink glasses on the side where his saliva was, saying it was a toast.”

“Wow, that’s disgusting.”

“And he came in after smoking.”

“Aaaah!”

Ymir screamed in disgust.

“Ugh, I really hate that…”

“Ymir, you could have experienced it too. The Korean K-company dinner culture.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because it’s the unwritten rule for internship mates to have drinks together on Fridays.”

No matter how badly the internship goes, everyone eventually enters Sejong Island together.

Unless you become mortal enemies who never want to see each other again, you typically share a meal or have a company dinner at the end of the internship to chat about various things.

The staff creates that atmosphere, setting up tables for ability users to talk among themselves.

“It can be a bit dangerous when ability users get drunk, but that’s why they assign staff and heroes to take care of it. Though this time, everything fell apart.”

“It wasn’t a dinner, it was a funeral.”

The group with a demon among the internship mates, as well as those whose internship ended on the first day and returned to Sejong Island, couldn’t possibly have a proper dinner together.

At most, they exchanged contact information after briefly getting along on the first day, or had simple conversations.

Proper dialogue was impossible.

“Sigh. If the conclusion had come a little earlier, the dinner would have ended sooner, and I could have come to eat the meat Ji-hwan grilled.”

“Conclusion?”

“Yes. It’s about you, Ymir. They’ve decided on the treatment for Platinum Sun.”

“…Oh.”

Ymir, who had just taken a bite of dessert ice cream, perked up.

“The word ‘treatment’ sounds strange, but is it okay to leak this information now?”

“It’s fine as long as you don’t say ‘Baek Seol-hee told me.’ Right, Ji-hwan?”

“…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear anything.”

Though my cat might have heard it.

“Ahem. Since there will be a government announcement tomorrow morning anyway… Regarding Platinum Sun, the association has officially decided to request cooperation.”

“Cooperation?”

“Yes. After all, Platinum Sun is a ‘hero,’ so unlike asking a villain for help, it’s possible to request assistance from a hero, right?”

Baek Seol-hee stood up from her chair and made a motion as if swinging a baseball bat.

“Whether it’s once a week or once every ten days, they’ve decided to request help from Platinum Sun. From now on, if anyone is caught as a demon, they’ll ask Platinum Sun to purify them when they’re captured.”

“So they’re not asking for help every time a demon appears, but at set intervals?”

“Yes. It’s a kind of consideration for Platinum Sun.”

“Is that consideration? It sounds like they want to use her regularly.”

I felt irritated for no reason.

“Aren’t they just trying to use Ymir as they please? First they wanted to use the Goblin to create an execution ground, and now they want to use Platinum Sun.”

“That’s right. That’s what the government has decided.”

“What do you think, Seol-hee?”

“……”

Baek Seol-hee bowed her head for a moment.

“…First of all, I think the ‘purification’ itself needs to happen. We’ll need to discuss compensation further, but for now, the conclusion reached today is to request support from Platinum Sun.”

“And that’s what the dinner was about?”

“Yes. The opinion that Platinum Sun should receive proper compensation was held by only a few, including myself… They dismissed it, saying ‘we’ll discuss it later.’ It’s a familiar story. Budget constraints, public interest, and so on…”

“Then what if I don’t show up?”

Ymir tilted her head.

“Why does everyone assume I’ll go purify demons…?”

“Won’t you?”

“I will go to purify them, but from what you’re saying, it seems the government has a certain expectation…”

Ymir narrowed her eyes, placing her index fingers on her temples.

“Using Platinum Sun’s demon purification ability to benefit Korea by purifying demons not just from Korea but from other countries too…? Something like that.”

“Exactly. You got it right. Korea is trying to run a ‘demon purification business’ for demons worldwide. And they’re trying to persuade the core technology holder, Platinum Sun, with this.”

“With my chest?”

“…With patriotism!”

“I’m a foreigner. Sometimes my eyes even turn gold when I use my ability.”

“You haven’t been going around telling people you’re a foreigner. And plenty of people’s hair or eye color changes when they use abilities.”

Baek Seol-hee pointed to her own hair.

“My hair is white too. My eye color is close to grayish-white.”

“Hmm… So they think I’m Korean, and they’re trying to use that patriotism to exploit me for national interests?”

“Yes. They’re exploiting your belief that demons must be purified. Mir.”

Baek Seol-hee looked at Ymir with a determined face.

“Don’t let them manipulate you. I may have no choice, but you’re free. You could even go back to Canada, your original country, if you wanted to. Your identity might be somewhat revealed, but that’s unavoidable. Or you could debut as an S+ rank hero in America.”

“Unnie?”

“I’m saying this as your senior hero, as your unnie, and as… something of a comrade. Don’t let the country manipulate you. You should be the one influencing the country. Understand?”

“…It feels strange hearing you say that, unnie. Don’t you think so, teacher?”

“Indeed.”

It’s surprising to hear such words from Baek Seol-hee, who works harder than anyone for her country.

‘Is it because of my and Ymir’s influence?’

Even if she can’t escape herself, she wants others to be free from the country’s leash.

The mere fact that she’s thinking this way is evidence that her pure white is gradually becoming tainted.

“Sigh… Okay, unnie. Thanks for the advice. It feels like you said something the teacher would normally say…”

“Ji-hwan would feel the same way, right?”

“…That’s right.”

Wait, a curveball here…?

“Oh right. What am I thinking? Ji-hwan, I brought you a gift.”

“A gift?”

“Yes. Because I’m always grateful.”

Baek Seol-hee handed me a shopping bag she had brought.

“This is…”

“Dress shoes. I hope you’ll wear them when you work.”

“……”

This is a trap.

“Dress shoes…?”

“Yes.”

Baek Seol-hee looked at me with a calm face.

Her brazen expression now is even more outrageous than the advice she gave to Ymir.

“Shoe size, 280mm.”