Part 1, Chapter 6 (2)

June 1st, 1 PM, Seomyeon, Busan

I arrived at the meeting place. As per the client’s request, I was suitably disguised and sat on a park swing, swaying back and forth.

“Ahem!”

The client appeared. Her appearance, wearing a trench coat, black sunglasses, and a white mask, was even comical. I stopped the swing and glared at the woman with the strange getup, Seok Harang.

“What are you doing now? Are you a pervert?”

“D-disguise, isn’t it?! What about you, then?!”

I got up from the swing. I subtly smoothed out my skirt, which had been pressed by the seat.

“Can’t you tell by looking? It’s a school uniform.”

“Do you have a clothing fetish?”

“Would a pervert in a trench coat entering a cafe draw less suspicion, or a blooming 17-year-old high school girl entering?”

“…My bad.”

Harang took off her trench coat. It seemed she had intended to come out very casually, as she was wearing a gray hoodie and sweatsuit, looking like she was just out for a neighborhood stroll.

Her shoes were even three-stripe sandals.

“Are you kidding me? You’re going to scout the cafe looking like that?”

“…What’s wrong with this? Can’t I just dress up nicely when we go on a date later?”

“How dare you try to charm Miss Eun Yuha with that kind of fashion!”

I rushed to Seok Harang and hugged her tightly. My hands held her back, and I spread mana throughout my entire body.

“…….”

Seok Harang waited silently for my mana-sensing to finish. Fortunately, she had developed a little resistance to physical contact with me now.

“But what are you doing now?”

“Figuring out your three sizes. Hmm, for Rusalka’s daughter, your chest is quite…”

“What did you say?!?!”

Seok Harang, startled, pushed me away. Her huffing and puffing made her look like an angry wild boar.

“Are you bragging about being big?! I’m still bigger than the Korean average!”

“Ah, can this be adjusted?”

When I adjusted my mana, my chest area suddenly deflated. Seok Harang seemed shocked and couldn’t say anything. I sighed and restored my chest to its original state.

“…Look, this is a human form. In other words, it’s a mimicry (擬態) created with mana. A spirit’s true body is-“

“C-can I make my chest bigger too?! Ah, no, can I adjust my body like that?!”

“The former is your true intention, isn’t it?”

“Anyway!”

Even a resolute will could be seen in Seok Harang’s eyes. I offered my condolences to Seok Harang.

“You can’t, because you’re human. Only spirits can.”

“Why?! You said I’m a spirit too!”

“You’re not a pure spirit. You’re a half-human, half-spirit born between a human and a spirit. Unless you shed the shackles of your human body. Ah, there is one way…”

Seok Harang pricked up her ears and concentrated. I found that so cute that I stroked her head. Of course, since I couldn’t reach, I floated up slightly with my wings.

“If you get pregnant, your chest gets big-“

“Drop dead!”

An ice spear shot up from below. I retreated immediately, dodging the surprise attack. Seok Harang, her face red, pointed her finger and shouted.

“You perverted bastard! How dare you say such things to a virgin!”

“Wow, subtly appealing that she’s a virgin here, what a pro. Impressive.”

“W-well, that’s just a figure of speech! Do you think I haven’t done it at this age?!”

She crossed her arms and turned her head, looking quite triumphant. But I already knew the whole truth, so I didn’t press the matter further.

The current Seok Harang is a virgin. She’s a ’00 liner, so specifically, she’s 26. I can swear on Phoenix that’s true.

I saw it. I confirmed it myself.

“W-why are you looking at me like that? Hehe, yeah. You’re inexperienced, aren’t you? I knew it. Hehe.”

However, pitifully, Seok Harang was still acting, boasting as if she had a lot of experience. It was extremely galling.

“Miss Eun Yuha acts cool, but she’s secretly the type to care about her partner’s chastity.”

” “

Seok Harang froze.

It seemed that was the decisive blow. I tried hard to suppress my laughter and patted Seok Harang’s shoulder.

“I figured out you’re a virgin while mana-sensing, so don’t joke around. If you joke like that, the person listening might get angry.”

“……Isn’t this sexual harassment? Shouldn’t I be the one getting angry? Right?”

“What are you talking about? Do you know what the look you’re wearing is called? It’s a birth control look. 99% effective. I thought you’d finally started dressing up, but you were a complete homebody when you were younger.”

Although Seok Harang’s good figure meant it didn’t show much, she still needed clothes that matched her physique. I placed my hand on Seok Harang’s stomach.

“So, let’s change your clothes.”

Her hoodie began to surge with mana.

* * *

Seomyeon Cafe, Padre Juan.

“D-don’t they have blankets? This is a bit much…”

Seok Harang rubbed her legs, conscious of her surroundings. There wasn’t a single customer in the cafe, but the cafe owner was leisurely selecting coffee beans.

“It’s early summer, what do you need a blanket for? Get used to it. Don’t go around wearing only those sweatsuits.”

A plain white shirt with black hot pants. Over that, a thinly sheer, oversized mint-colored cardigan. Black sunglasses were placed on the bridge of her nose to conceal her identity, and to emphasize her fresh, youthful age, she wore sneakers with a suitable blend of white and jade green.

Perhaps because she was human among spirits, Seok Harang had an unusually large number of ‘skins’ (outfits/forms). Among them was a skin with a freshman college student concept, and I used that memory to transform Seok Harang.

Seok Harang seemed awkward in the outfit, constantly adjusting her clothes and looking embarrassed.

“Aren’t hoodies and sweatsuits way more comfortable…?”

“As a public figure, shouldn’t you at least adhere to TPO (Time, Place, Occasion)?”

“The Association dresses me anyway, so why would I spend money on expensive clothes?”

My head hurt. Indeed, even in the original work’s Seok Harang route, Seok Harang was the dried-fish type who would stick to one sofa at home, watching movies or dramas like a frozen pollock, even on dates.

“If Miss Eun Yuha saw your closet, she’d flip it over immediately.”

“R-really?”

“You must have a lot of money saved up, so hire a personal stylist. Don’t think about getting corporate sponsorships.”

“…Instead of that, I think it’d be better to get styling through unnie-nim’s sponsorship, wouldn’t it? Yuseong also has a fashion business, doesn’t it? It’d be good for me and good for unnie-nim.”

Is she a genius? My mana instantly convulsed, giving me goosebumps.

“Miss Eun Yuha would like that. Alright, now for a quiz.”

Ding-dong.

The bell rang. Perhaps because it was a cafe designed with an antique base, there were no vibrating pagers. I went straight to the counter and picked up a tray. The owner, Juan, smiled and responded.

“Thank you.”

“Que te vaya bien.”

“This is Korea, you know?”

“……Have a good time.”

The fine wrinkles around his eyes trembled. I placed the tray in front of Harang. Harang, with a sour face, glanced over the drinks.

“I really can’t understand. What’s the point of drinking this bitter stuff?”

“Don’t you know that for the person you love, you have to accommodate even what you dislike?”

Americano, espresso, cafe latte, cappuccino. Every coffee menu item in the cafe was on the tray.

I picked up an affogato and placed it in front of me.

“Alright, then, guess. What would Eun Yuha like the most?”

“Ugh…”

Seok Harang crossed her arms and fell into thought. I leisurely scooped ice cream with a teaspoon and put it in my mouth. Seok Harang picked up a steaming hot americano.

“This?”

“A safe choice, but wrong. As a penalty, drink it all while you listen.”

Seok Harang sighed and picked up the americano cup with both hands.

Crack, crackle. Frost formed on the outside of the cup, and the steam instantly vanished. Seok Harang turned the hot americano into an ice americano without ice in an instant.

“Wasting mana like that. I didn’t awaken you as a spirit for that.”

“What are you talking about? You’ll use it to burn trash too, won’t you?”

“…I admit it.”

Seok Harang chugged the americano like beer. She had a face like she’d bitten into a bug.

“Anyway, listen carefully. Until Seongju arrives, we need to collect as many cubes as possible and awaken all the executives as spirits.”

Seok Harang picked up a cappuccino. I shook my head. The cappuccino cup froze again.

“Once Seoul is established and South Korea is stable, I plan to travel abroad immediately. Cubes aren’t only in Korea, you know.”

“What about the spirits?”

Seok Harang drank all of the cappuccino. Foam was on her lips.

I extended my index finger and wiped Seok Harang’s lips. Seok Harang blinked like a goldfish, then pursed her lips and licked the foam.

Lick. I put my index finger in my mouth and licked the foam off. Seok Harang’s face turned red, and then,

Poke!

The Mini Phoenix on her hairpin pecked Seok Harang’s forehead with its beak. Having done its job, the Mini Phoenix scurried back to Seok Harang’s hairpin.

Seok Harang, who had been dazed by the pain, revived.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?! To test me!”

“It’s the fault of the one who let their guard down. First, I’ll travel around looking for cubes and also search for the executives.”

I stirred the affogato with a spoon.

“There are two executives whose locations I know. They were entrenched where they awakened.”

“Who?”

Seok Harang picked up a cafe latte. It would be easier to drink than the cappuccino, being smoother.

“Fenrir of Gale, and Chaos Dragon.”

“……I’m really curious, who gave them those epithets? Aren’t they really embarrassing? Don’t your toes curl?”

“Yeah, your mother, Rusalka of Snowy Night.”

“Hey!!”

Seok Harang shrieked. I put down the spoon and loosened my tie. It was starting to feel stuffy.

“Strictly speaking, they’re epithets given by the Association, or rather, ‘to be given’. They’re code names officially given by the Hero Association to the executives of evil organizations.”

That’s also why the executives from the Otherworld were given the names of mythical beasts (幻獸) or legendary monsters from Earth’s myths.

“Unlike me, who started out in human form, they all went on a rampage in their monster forms at least once. They are names given with reverence (敬畏) for the monsters by the higher-ups of the Association.”

“The old folks at the Association have terribly old-fashioned tastes. Azure Flame Phoenix… Ah!”

Seok Harang clapped her hands and grinned.

“Puhaha! You’re that guy, aren’t you?! That phoenix-type monster who got hit in the gut by a missile in the West Sea and crashed into the ocean!”

“Oh? Was that it? Wasn’t it a nuclear missile? I don’t remember well. Did something like that happen?”

“Ahaha! Look at you pretending not to know! China destroyed all the data, so you don’t know, but I felt you two fighting even from Busan. You were duking it out with Unjang in the West Sea, how could I not know? I was wondering, but pffft!”

“Shut up.”

Bringing up someone else’s embarrassing past. I crushed the ice cream with my spoon, suppressing my anger.

“Anyway, it’s the taste of the Association’s higher-ups. I’m not at fault.”

“W-well, let’s just say that. Even I’m embarrassed to be called a princess at this age.”

“Actually, for me, the epithet Seolhwa Princess is more awkward.”

Seok Harang, who was about to pick up the last espresso, froze with the cup in her hand.

“Are they crazy…? No, it’s getting even worse? Are those old folks insane? What are they trying to do from Seolhwa Princess?”

“All those old folks do when they gather in their back rooms is that, isn’t it? Deciding hero and villain names.”

If even one S-rank awakens, a 100-minute debate immediately begins. I swallowed the remaining affogato, emptying the bowl.

“The heroes under the Praetor are at least okay. Because they can receive relatively normal epithets like or .”

“The Praetor doesn’t have normal sensibilities either, does he? He always cuts it down to two characters.”

I burst out laughing. Cheongsong’s future as Praetor will change significantly once he joins this side, but even in the original work, he was one of those old folks in the back room, a major contributor to tormenting the protagonist and heroines.

“You know that epithets are updated every time a hero’s rank goes up, right? But since you’ve had from the start, how disappointed the Association must be.”

“If they give me a weird epithet, I’ll flip over the Association and everything else.”

Seok Harang chugged the remaining espresso in one go. Her face crumpled like a Vajra Yaksha.

“W-what the hell is this! Is this something a human drinks!”

“Look, Miss Snow-Moon-Flower (雪月花) of the future.”

Seok Harang froze.

“That’s Eun Yuha’s joy in life. Like your blueberries.”

“……Whine.”

Seok Harang buried her head on the table. She was more miserably frustrated than when she heard her future epithet.

I gestured to the cafe owner, Juan. He placed the affogato, prepared in advance at my suggestion, on the table and leisurely disappeared.

“Do you know what affogato is? It’s ice cream drowned in espresso.”

“……So?”

Seok Harang slowly lifted her head. There wasn’t a single heroine who didn’t like sweets, except for one.

I sipped the smoothie I had ordered for myself through a straw.

“A journey of a thousand li begins with a single step. If you have someone you love, you adjust your tastes one by one, don’t you agree?”

“…Ugh.”

Seok Harang picked up a spoon and poked the affogato. Trying to scrape off the espresso from the vanilla ice cream with a spoon, she looked exactly like a picky eater.

‘Can I really do well with her?’

To subdue the executives smoothly, several people would have to rush them, but seeing what Seok Harang is doing now, I have no faith at all.

Cheon Gaeul, Eun Yuha, and Seok Harang.

It was truly sad that only the main heroines could reach the minimum threshold of Affinity Rate 100, capable of dealing damage to the Otherworld God.

“I suddenly want to see Yuna.”

“…Who’s that now?”

I need a healer type.

* * *

New Seoul, Yuseong Family Mansion.

“Alright. I understand. Secure the highest quality supplies.”

[Understood. Miss. Please rest.]

Eun Yuha lowered the screen and lay down on the sofa. Heo Yun-hwan clutched a bottle of tequila and sipped from it, then picked up the list on the table.

“Are these the relief supplies requested by Seoul?”

“Yes, father-nim. Some are for the residents of Seoul, and some are to be sent directly to the Azure Syndicate.”

Most of the list consisted of food ingredients and daily necessities, but gradually, furniture items also began to increase. The quality of the easy-to-assemble furniture for delivery wasn’t very good, but it was proof that the quality of life had improved enough for Seoul residents to turn their attention to residential living.

Heo Yun-hwan flipped through the list, and his attention was drawn to a section with a particularly large asterisk.

“Phantom Request? What’s this? Isn’t Phantom that actress young lady? And why are there only strawberries in the requests?”

“…She’s the Tentacle Woman.”

Eun Yuha pointed out in a subdued voice. Heo Yun-hwan spoke with a serious face, as if admonishing Eun Yuha.

“That’s not something that young lady wanted, is it? It’s all that trash’s fault.”

“…But it seems the customer is quite considerate of Harang?”

“What?”

Heo Yun-hwan’s expression vanished. Eun Yuha chuckled and made a phone gesture with her hand.

“Do you think Harang would have found and introduced a cafe like that herself? Some customer who knows my tastes well must have instigated it. Hehe, going to a cafe with Harang is also a new experience. We always used to drink together as Eun Jaemin.”

“Is that your taste?”

Heo Yun-hwan pointed at the cup in Eun Yuha’s hand.

“Oh, this? No.”

Eun Yuha shrugged and looked at the cup with affection.

“…This is a new menu item we’re developing.”

In the cup Eun Yuha was holding, crushed strawberry pulp was floating around in the milk.