Ch.88. Early Morning, A Peaceful Day.

A night on the sofa was truly comfortable and nice.

The sofa was soft enough that I slept well too.

I start my day early as usual.

Yesterday was an exception. Falling asleep while being embraced like that naturally prevents proper rest, making it impossible to do anything but wake up late.

Thinking about it again, seriously. Hah, how annoying.

Normally, I would have gotten up this early and started looking for a new labor office first.

All the labor offices nearby have blacklisted me.

No, I was blacklisted. Well. Forcibly.

No matter how far I went, I couldn’t find a labor office. At the very least, I should have collected cardboard.

Even then, after embarking on the great journey to find a labor office and returning, someone would have already taken all the cardboard. Usually, I considered those days a complete waste.

On days when I couldn’t earn a single penny, I would survive on an empty stomach, drinking rusty water from public taps mixed with sugar from expired packets discarded by restaurants.

Somehow, having a body that refuses to die, I had to consume at least those calories or else I’d enter a low-activity state and writhe in even greater agony.

Hmm, living now is actually better.

Though mentally, it’s quite distressing.

A former villain settled right in the middle of magical girls’ den, living in enemy territory where I could be attacked at any moment.

Hmm, is this also the fate of the defeated that I must accept? Such strange thoughts cross my mind.

I get up from the sofa and stretch.

“Uuugh…! Cha… Haa, no one else is up yet.”

While I did wake up early, isn’t it too much that no one else is awake?

They call themselves magical girls. Yet they’re deep in sleep at this hour.

Hmm, if I were still part of Eden, I’d want to ambush this dormitory immediately—it’s so quiet and peaceful.

Well, I’m a housekeeper now. I should be faithful to that role.

I’ll prepare a simple steamed egg for breakfast.

It would have been better with meat or fish.

Maybe use the leftover galbi-jjim from yesterday? Yes, that sounds good.

As I’m preparing breakfast, the redhead who leaves earlier than Arin comes down the stairs first.

Coming down, she seems startled by my unexpected presence, flinching and releasing magic from her fingertips.

But soon after, perhaps remembering yesterday’s events, she redirects her magic flow back to normal, comes to the kitchen, and gets some cold water.

Seemingly trying to wake herself up fully, she drinks the water in an instant and greets me warmly.

“Vine, good morning.”

“Yes, good morning. Do you always wake up at this time?”

“Yeah, I have to go to school on weekdays.”

“Doesn’t Arin go to school too?”

“Arin is in elementary school. It’s fine if she’s a bit late. But what’s that?”

“Ah, I was preparing breakfast. I am the housekeeper, after all.”

“Oh, I see. Then I’ll go wash up.”

“Yes, I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”

As I place a step stool that was by the cutting board under the range to make steamed eggs and turn on the heat to start cooking, the redhead, whom I thought had gone to wash up, asks me:

“Vine, isn’t that uncomfortable…?”

“If you’re referring to this step stool, yes it is, but questions about my height are sensitive, so it would be better if you didn’t ask further.”

Either I made a mistake in managing my expression, or she properly noticed my glare, because she simply apologized before heading to the bathroom to wash up.

While the redhead was washing up, the next person to come down was Blanc.

Blanc also seemed slightly surprised to see me when she came down from upstairs, but she greeted me naturally.

“Vine, are you making breakfast? You don’t have to do that.”

“Didn’t you hire me as a housekeeper? Then I should prepare three meals a day and do the household chores that you all are terribly incapable of doing.”

“No, you could just rest and do nothing…”

“By the way, Blanc, why are you up at this hour?”

“I usually get up at this time to take care of Seohyun and Arin… But you’re already doing it.”

“This is my job. There’s absolutely no reason for you to worry about it.”

“Hah, you won’t even let me help?”

“I’m saying that you, as the employer, should just sit comfortably and rest. You’d be more of a hindrance.”

“Vine, you’re still so cold…”

With that, Blanc sits on the sofa with a gloomy expression and watches TV… no, wait.

Why is she staring at me? It’s really distracting.

Deliberately ignoring Blanc’s gaze, I finish cooking and set the table. Only then does Arin come down, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“Mmm, Blanc unnie, I’m… Eh? Unnie? Unnie’s on the sofa, then in the kitchen, ah.”

“Vine unnie, good morning… Are you making us food again today…?”

“Yes, that’s right. Is there anything that doesn’t suit your taste?”

“No, the food you made yesterday was really delicious. But I’m worried that it might be too much work for you to do this every day…”

“It’s fine. My body is strong, so I don’t even feel tired from this much. Actually, working like this is physically more comfortable for me.”

“Hmm, but… I feel bad for Vine unnie…”

“Well, I’m getting paid for it. And I’ve been provided with a place to stay. Arin, you just need to enjoy the food.”

“Hey, Vine. Why do you treat Arin differently from us?”

The redhead, having finished her bath with a towel wrapped around her hair, asks as she comes out of the bathroom.

“Isn’t it obvious? Arin wasn’t my enemy.”

“But Arin is a magical girl too?”

“Arin is young, isn’t she?”

“Vine unnie! I’m not a child! I can handle a D-rank monster by myself!”

“Hmm, Arin really doesn’t know me, it seems.”

“I know you were in an organization called Eden! And that you fought with the unnies!”

“Yes, Arin. Let’s go wash up first. Or would you like to eat first? Oh, Blanc, is the unemployed one not coming out?”

“Ah, Yuri unnie usually doesn’t eat breakfast. She usually wakes up around lunchtime, eats, and then goes back to her room to work.”

“Hmm, then three sets of utensils should be enough.”

“No, four. You need to eat too.”

“I’ll eat separately after you finish.”

“No, eat with us. From now on.”

“How could I refuse my employer’s words? Yes, of course.”

Hmm, do I really have to eat with them… There’s no need to accommodate me.

So, I ended up eating breakfast with Arin and Seohyun, who had quickly washed up and prepared for school, and Blanc.

“Vine unnie, is this really steamed egg? It’s bouncy like pudding, and it’s so delicious!”

“Yeah, it’s really tasty. I wonder how you learned to make this.”

“I taught myself at Eden. Eden’s communal dining was famously terrible in the villain community.”

Hmm, who would have thought that the cooking I started because I’d rather learn to cook myself than eat that horrible, barely-food organic matter would be used like this.

Well, getting praised like this isn’t bad. Ellie used to praise me like this too.

Before I knew it, all three plates were empty, and everyone was expressing their satisfaction and thanking me.

I felt a mix of surprise at being thanked by magical girls and a genuine happiness I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Hmm, it was brief, but I even considered surrendering the bet right here.

After sending off the two who were heading to school, only Blanc and I remained.

“Vine, let’s clean that room today. It’ll be your room from now on.”

“My room? I really don’t need to go that far.”

“Hah, having you in the living room makes us uncomfortable.”

Ah, I guess it would be cumbersome if I’m sprawled out in the living room. It would be unpleasant if they got up at night and saw me there.

When I think about it that way, it makes sense for me to have a room.

“Hah, alright. You mean that room?”

“Yes, the room next to mine on the second floor. Why? Is there another room you want?”

“No. There isn’t. Well, shall we clean it?”

At that moment, the sound of someone entering the passcode at the front door was heard,

And the last magical girl of this house revealed herself.

“Yoonseul!! I’m back!!”

Her voice happily calling for Blanc.

“Yoonseul, you said you were bringing a dog. Where is…”

Her gaze sweeps over me.

Our eyes meet,

Ruby and amethyst stare at each other.

Magic begins to surge in a way I’ve never seen before.

“You, why are you here? You, you definitely…”

Filled with intense anger.

* * *

“Unnie, unnie, are you okay? Wake up. Unnie!!”

A small golden girl cried out, looking at a magical girl in a yellow dress.

That yellow fabric was stained with bright red,

Soon turning dark reddish-brown.

The small golden girl looking at the magical girl being treated in an Association hospital,

Soon learned that the one who attacked that magical girl was

Eden’s right hand.

The vine that obstructs justice.

Vine.

To the golden girl, Eden’s Vine became

An object of vengeance, someone who must pay for her sister’s pain.

An enemy who must be eliminated.