Ch.62Chapter 3. It’s Not Technology Leakage, It’s Advice! (3)

“Ymir student.”

“Yes!”

“Having dinner is fine, but why here of all places?”

“Well, if we eat at a restaurant, we might get attacked by a rampaging villain!”

Ymir’s reasoning was valid.

“If I eat with you at a restaurant, I’m afraid a rampaging student might show up, or a demon might appear, or a villain might attack. It’s safest to eat here. Nothing like that would happen here!”

“Isn’t it problematic for a student to be here?”

“If I were a high school student, it would be very problematic for you, but I’m an adult, so there’s no issue?”

“Wouldn’t this damage your public image?”

“If I worried about every bit of gossip behind my back, I wouldn’t live long.”

Her logic was sound, and though I wanted to argue, I still had to say something.

“Coming to a man’s house whom you’ve barely met, taking over his kitchen and cooking isn’t exactly normal.”

“But there’s no safer place than your faculty housing, right?”

That’s true.

Ymir is now in my house, cooking.

“There are no students in your housing, and no students means no one to go berserk. That means it’s safe!”

“Can’t adults become villains too?”

“Even if there were a villain here, it wouldn’t be a problem. It would be resolved before I had to step in.”

“You stepping in…?”

“…Ah! I meant that someone as weak as me wouldn’t need to step in. Hahaha.”

Ymir poured pasta sauce while breaking into a cold sweat.

Perhaps because she was from Canada, she seemed to prefer Western food over Korean, and she was a better cook than I expected.

“…Wow. Ymir, did you study cooking professionally?”

“Not professionally, I just learned from someone I know. For about half a year?”

“You learned all this in just half a year?”

“I can only make certain dishes. I can barely make Korean food, just Western.”

“That’s impressive.”

I’m not just saying that.

I genuinely mean it.

“I’d like to marry a woman who’s good at Western cooking someday.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“I’m pretty good at Korean cuisine.”

I lightly tapped the refrigerator.

“I can make Japanese, Western, and Chinese food to some extent, but Korean is my specialty.”

“You cook for yourself?”

“Yeah. But unless it’s a really special occasion, I just eat chicken breast and vegetables.”

“When is it a special occasion? Like when you’re eating with a woman?”

“When I’m eating with someone else.”

“So today is a special occasion?”

“I suppose it is.”

I took out dishes suitable for pasta from the cupboard, and Ymir neatly plated the pasta.

“Do you prefer talking while eating, or talking after the meal?”

“I usually adapt to the other person.”

“Oh my, me too. Then… shall we talk while eating over there? I have something I want to discuss.”

“Sure.”

I pulled up the kitchen island table to make space.

It was a bit narrow, so the two pasta dishes were placed diagonally, and when we sat down, our knees almost touched.

“Hmm.”

“Next time I should get a wider low table.”

“Why? This distance is just right.”

“Good for hitting you?”

“Ouch.”

I lightly flicked Ymir’s forehead as she leaned forward.

“That’s too much! Even with all the beauties on Sejong Island, treating a super gorgeous foreign girl like this!”

“You’re a student, and I’m staff.”

“But I’m a college student? And did you know?”

Ymir twirled some pasta around her fork.

“The government is trying to lower the legal pregnancy age for ability users down to high school age.”

“…Are they insane?”

No.

Is this country insane?

“What did you just say?”

“They’re preparing legislation to keep the current age for minors, but for ability users, they want to lower the ‘adult’ age—specifically for pregnancy—to 17. So at 18, as a high school sophomore, you’d immediately become an adult.”

“That’s madness.”

I understand there are differences between ordinary people and ability users, but lowering the adult age just for ability users?

“The students here on Sejong Island are already prone to going berserk, and they want to lower the adult age?”

“It’s about patriotism. From the nation’s perspective, the more ability users born, the better.”

“But lowering the adult age just for ability users would cause massive backlash.”

“As a Korean, you might not know, but there’s this meme in other countries.”

Ymir lowered her voice and leaned in slightly.

“Getting ‘Koreungtang-ed.'”

“…That’s a rather bitter topic.”

“But it happens all the time, doesn’t it? Bodies suddenly disappearing, perfectly normal people going missing, or ability users going berserk and killing people with the cases being swept under the rug.”

“…There’s a saying about that too.”

I raised my hands to cover my eyes and ears.

“Your Honor, I saw nothing and heard nothing.”

“……”

“How was that?”

“Teacher.”

When I removed my hands and looked ahead, Ymir was staring at me with her head slightly tilted.

“I don’t think that’s your true feeling, is it?”

“My true feeling?”

“I think if something like that happened to you, you’d do everything to overturn it. Or you’d say ‘This world is filthy’ and leave this country.”

“I might get ‘Steven-ed’ for that?”

“Even if you get Steven-ed, if living here is miserable, you leave. Plenty of people have done that.”

“……”

“If you’re upset, go abroad. Canada and the United States have accepted many immigrants from Korea, haven’t they?”

“I don’t know the details.”

I do know.

I just can’t talk freely about it because this is Sejong Island.

“Ymir, I’m not particularly patriotic, but if someone else said what you’re saying, they might get kicked off Sejong Island.”

“Oh my, would I get a bowl of Koreungtang then?”

“A thick, hearty bowl of it.”

“Oh my. Should I report this?”

“Whatever.”

I tried to flick her forehead again, but Ymir leaned back and raised both hands.

“Are you going to keep hitting me?”

“Even if I threw a straight punch at you, it wouldn’t hurt an ability user like you at all.”

“It hurts my feelings.”

“Then I’ll refrain. Just stop saying strange things.”

“You started saying strange things first.”

“There’s a demon in your head making you think that way.”

“Then I should blame the person who put that demon there!”

Ymir poked at her pasta with her fork.

“I told you they’re preparing legislation to lower the adult age for ability users. Do you know why? From a foreigner’s perspective, looking critically at the country?”

“You mean from an unpatriotic, country-bashing perspective?”

“Yes. If we think with real malice.”

“Well, obviously it’s that.”

I picked up some pasta too.

“The president’s grandson and granddaughter. They’re 17 this year, right?”

“You got it!”

Ymir clapped her hands.

“The granddaughter is here on Sejong Island, and the grandson is in Busan. Both of them…”

“S-class. And twins at that.”

The president’s grandchildren being S-class.

It’s not common.

But if you think about it from a twisted angle, this scenario becomes possible:

-My pledge is to raise my grandchildren as proper heroes who will contribute to our nation!

If voters overwhelmingly supported a politician with S-class grandchildren, and that person became president…

“Their names are ‘Jo’ and ‘Irin,’ right? The boy is Jo. The girl is Irin.”

“Yes. Both are S-class ability users this country can’t do without.”

“Not heroes?”

“…To be honest, just between us, those kids are really rude.”

Ymir continued in an even more serious voice.

Her voice was full of resentment toward the president’s twins.

“How would you know that?”

“They’re kids who live for their own glory. And because of their bullying and violence, many C-class and B-class ability users have emigrated. If you search online, you’ll find plenty of interviews condemning them.”

“…That’s information you can’t find AT ALL in Korea.”

“That’s because of information control. They’ve probably even killed people.”

“I doubt it’s that bad.”

No.

“If they were such villains, Goblin would have stepped in and cracked their skulls long ago.”

“Even though they’re the president’s blood relatives?”

“Goblin’s club doesn’t spare those in power.”

“Are you a Goblin fan?”

“…A bit?”

I’m not exactly a fan of myself, but still.

“Fair enough. I like Goblin too.”

“You do? Why?”

“He’s cool.”

“Cool? Goblin? No way. Under that mask, he’s probably ugly and—ow!”

My shin hurts.

“Did you just kick me?”

“That’s punishment for insulting Goblin. Hmph.”

“Wait, you’re a Goblin fan?”

“I wasn’t originally, but I’ve become what you’d call a ‘fangirl’?”

This is unfair.

“I can overlook country-bashing, but I can’t tolerate Goblin-bashing.”

“Ugh…”

I’m Goblin, yet I’m being attacked for insulting Goblin.

“This is too much. An ability user hitting a person.”

“I’m E-class.”

“E-class or not, it still hurts. If I bruise, I’ll sue you, so look forward to that.”

“I was prepared for you to say I’d be responsible if something broke, but I didn’t expect talk of lawsuits.”

Ymir twisted her lips with a sour expression.

“But you hit my forehead too.”

“Is me hitting you the same as you hitting me?”

“Let’s settle on mutual assault?”

“…Sigh. You never back down. Always talking back.”

“I’m good at debate.”

Our meal finished while we were talking and chatting.

“So what did you want to discuss?”

“…Oh! I completely forgot.”

“I thought you were going to have a serious talk over tea after dinner, but I guess not.”

“I’m sorry. I got distracted talking with you.”

After cleansing her palate with green tea, Ymir stood in the center of the room.

“Teacher.”

“What?”

“I’ve developed a new costume.”

She took off her Taegeuk Watch, tossed it onto my bed, and took a stance that looked like she was about to perform taekwondo—

“Watch my transformation!”

“You said you were a Goblin fan, but are you perhaps a Doji Rider—”

“Sun Crystal Power!”

Her whole body began to sparkle with rainbow light.

“…Hey!!!”

“What?”

“Your body is completely exposed!”

“This is how girls transform!”

I was expecting Doji Rider to appear.

“Ta-da!”

Magical Ymir appeared.

Wearing a hanbok with a skirt that came up to her thighs.