Ch.7474. Karma

The magical girls were a bit noisy, but I finished my meal anyway.

When I made pizza myself, it never tasted like this store-bought kind.

I suppose commercial products have their own special sauces that only the company uses.

Still, except for Korean-style pizza, I can easily make gorgonzola or pizza margherita.

I can even make New York-style pizza or Chicago deep dish.

I learned bit by bit while traveling around America eating pizza with Ellie during my vacation from Eden, so that much is simple for me.

I’ve also been to places like Italy briefly on business trips to collect certain things.

Besides the pizzas I tasted during those trips, these Korean-style pizzas are really hard to replicate.

Pizza… Maybe I’ll make pizza myself next week.

No one would complain if I slightly modify the monthly meal plan. I’ll just quietly change it.

Oh, right. I forgot to check what they wrote down for what they wanted to eat next week.

I should have done that yesterday.

With everything that happened, I couldn’t check.

I started doing this a few weeks ago, and the response was good.

Well, it’s not like there are dishes I can’t make. There was no reason not to make what they asked for.

There was joy in seeing them enjoy the food and thank me.

Hmm, I can’t deny I felt a bit of satisfaction in conquering these magical girls with my cooking.

But, are they still fighting?

“Yoonseul?”

“Yes, yes…! Miss Hyewon!”

“Come on, why so formal between us, hm?”

“Hahaha, r-right?”

“Right, we’re close. And yet you didn’t tell me about such things, hm?”

A subtle sun-like magical aura surrounded her.

Right beside her, another magical girl was enveloped in a peach-scented magical aura.

Both magical girls looked like something terrible would happen if anyone disturbed them.

Ah, I’m thirsty.

Was there cola in the refrigerator?

Oh, it came with the delivery service.

It might be a bit lukewarm, but I can have it with ice.

Just as I was about to get up to take some ice from the refrigerator, a question came my way.

No, rather than a question, it seemed more like a notification, or perhaps a sentence.

“Vine, where are you going?”

“I’m thirsty, so I was just going to get some ice…”

“Yuri unnie, could you get some ice please? Vine, sit down here.”

“Are you… talking to me…?”

“Is there another Vine in this house besides you? Sit down now.”

“You’re speaking in a tone that’s quite unlike your usual crybaby self, and it’s a bit scary…?”

“I’m considerably angry. It would be best for you to sit down. Ah, unnie. You should come back quickly too. There’s so much I want to ask, you know?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Though I wasn’t particularly conscious of it, the white tiger’s tone indicated that the current situation was more serious than I thought.

With a sharp, anger-infused voice like on my first day in this house.

Her low, rumbling voice was not her usual relaxed tone, but one that revealed she was angry and had no intention of being lenient.

And then, the crybaby’s voice that followed turned its arrow not toward Blanc but toward me.

“Well, let’s say Yoonseul has her reasons, but Vine, don’t you have anything to say?”

“Are you… talking to me…? Did I do something wrong…?”

“Wrong? So you think you didn’t do anything wrong?”

“Well… honestly, I’ve accumulated so many wrongs up to now…”

“That’s not what we’re trying to talk about, is it?”

“Umm… honestly, I don’t know what you mean…”

“Why did you try to follow Yoonseul? At the very least, you shouldn’t follow when a strange person comes and offers you money. And Yoonseul, you too, recklessly trying to buy someone with money like that… haah…”

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me… Even if I hadn’t followed Blanc that day, I would have sold my body anyway.”

“…What? Yoonseul, you said you told me everything you knew. Why am I hearing something different now?”

“No, I really did tell you everything I knew, really, okay?”

“Hmm… Well, I’ll accept that for now. But Vine, what do you mean by selling your body?”

“Because I had no money. In the end, that was the only option left for me. Even with this small body, to embrace those who like it, to sell spring and receive money. Well, isn’t that a fitting end for a villain?”

“No… haah. Really.”

“Unnie, now you understand why I did what I did when I first heard this? I really didn’t do anything wrong… right? Hyewon, right?”

“Yoonseul, just be quiet for a moment. Haah… my head really hurts.”

“Ah, okay…”

As she clutched her head and groaned as if she really had a headache, I wondered if I should bring her some water.

But she seemed to have just held back from getting extremely angry at Blanc. In situations like this, it’s best to just sit quietly and observe.

She’s scarier than expected when angry.

The kind of anger that might only be satisfied by taking the neck of a fragile villain like me.

Certainly, when we first met in this house, she lunged at me, tried to kill me…

Hmm… it was quite a scene, wasn’t it?

That blonde crybaby… was wailing. At Blanc, no less.

Best not to provoke her. Yes, yes.

The crybaby who had been sighing heavily was the first to speak, and surprisingly, she addressed me.

“Vine.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Do you still think that way?”

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to…”

“Do you still think… that a fitting end for you is… in that slum, selling your body… haah…”

“Isn’t that what you wanted? Revenge for your sister.”

“No, that’s…”

“Wasn’t it a good thing for you? In the end, didn’t you uproot this vine that made your sister fall from the sky and throw it in the trash can over there?”

“How is that… a good thing… sister, haah…”

“When I first came here, this is what you told me… Why is a bastard who should be locked up in Marina standing here so proudly…”

“Kuhb…”

The crybaby, upon hearing my words, seemed more flustered than angry and couldn’t continue speaking.

Is it that shocking to hear one’s own words repeated back?

“Vine, what are you talking about…?”

If Ellie hadn’t asked about my words, this conversation could have ended right here.

“Hm?”

“No, I was listening… but what. I can’t make sense of any of this in my head? Slum? Selling your body?”

“Ah, Ellie. That’s…”

“This is so different from what you told me. Didn’t you say you were hiding and living well until Blanc caught you and made you work here…?”

“Umm… that’s also true, right?”

“Vine! No, Blanc. I need a proper explanation from you?”

It might be fortunate that Ellie’s blade was directed at Blanc rather than me.

No, surely that blade will return to me, so I need to prepare an excuse somehow…

“…The Vine I saw in that neighborhood was really… haah…”

“Stop whimpering and speak clearly. If anything you say differs from what Vine tells me, I’ll be genuinely angry.”

“Haah… fine, I get it. You know that neighborhood, right? Happy Village? There was a fire incident a few years ago, and it’s famous for various reasons.”

“Yes, I know it.”

“…It’s a shantytown, as you know.”

“……”

“Vine was there.”

“Why would Vine be there? Surely… Eden’s operational funds… no, at least the money earned during the prison term should have been there.”

I have nothing to say.

The money I earned during my prison term.

I was robbed of more than half of it by a drunk on the street while carrying it.

With this body, wearing a collar, and having a criminal record. It was better to give up half than to cause more trouble.

Still, I had enough for the monthly rent for that house.

…I spent three years in prison.

Doing labor that paid just under 20,000 won per month…

700,000 won.

Hmm…

Actually, I received less than that.

Prison guards aren’t kind to villains.

That might be expected, but still.

I still grind my teeth when I think of that person.

Sending me to solitary confinement just because they were in a bad mood.

Making me do all the labor but falsifying documents so I’d receive less than I should.

Even in such places, the position of a villain inevitably brings unfairness.

Was there not a single guard I became friendly with during those three years?

Except for that woman, I did talk to some of them to some extent.

It’s a place where people live, after all. Yes.

Listening to other guards, I heard that person had suffered damage from Eden.

The house they had finally managed to get.

They said they had somehow secured it by drawing on subscription housing and youth support…

But because of my battle there, the building collapsed.

Due to the government’s inadequate response, the victims of that building received meager compensation and were told to get back in line, which was absurd.

They said they incurred a large debt because of that incident.

It must have been a significant amount compared to a correctional officer’s salary.

And coincidentally, the main culprit of that incident was right in front of them.

A weak girl who had lost her power.

And they had a job that allowed them to do whatever they wanted with this girl, and nothing that happened there would ever leak outside.

Confirming their power, confirming my position.

They thought they could bully me because I was a villain.

No matter how much she tormented me, beat me because I had a sturdy body, and even…

… Just thinking about it, haah…

This is also a kind of PTSD.

Something someone like me shouldn’t suffer from.

With just under 700,000 won.

The cheapest and smallest house in the least accessible area of the shantytown.

Even though it was far from the communal bathroom, close to the mountains where wild animals frequently appeared, and in a slum neighborhood with many drunks and violent people.

With 70… no, 30 in hand.

Considering the money I was robbed of multiple times while looking for housing.

The landlord who barely accepted me…

Said to pay 70,000 won monthly without a deposit.

Still, it was woefully insufficient.

In winter, I would need to burn briquettes, but I wasn’t sure if I could afford them.

How would I handle food expenses?

Even if a monster’s body is more efficient than expected, one still needs to eat.

…I had no money.

Yes.

“I had no money. None at all. How could I access Eden’s operational funds? I would have been monitored from all sides. It was just bad luck.”

“Vine…”

“No, it was just my karma. Yes. Anyway, that’s how it was.”

Those eyes looking at me.

They sting.

Even warm sunlight can be painful, I see.