Chapter 24
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
Even after the lightning had completely stopped, the sky didn’t clear so easily.
The dark clouds remained as they were, only no longer striking down.
Broken concrete debris left in the abandoned lot, the smell of something burned.
And corpses.
Among the assassins’ corpses, I found Mr. Rukal unconscious.
Fortunately, he seemed to be breathing evenly and out of danger.
“I-is it over, boss?”
“…….”
Kim Yang and Renea approached.
After going around Baek Yeonhwa, who had been crying for a long time, they came up to me.
“Well.”
Could I even call this over?
“I’d say it’s become a little quieter.”
Renea’s words fit perfectly.
It had become a little quieter.
The fallout from this incident would come crashing down.
Had things calmed down somewhat?
Baek Yeonhwa approached hesitantly.
The horn, wings, and tail that had marked her as a dragon were already gone, and she had returned to her usual appearance.
“Um... hero.”
“Are you feeling a bit better, Ms. Baek Yeonhwa?”
“Ah, yes.”
She bowed deeply with a cupped-fist salute.
“Thank you, truly.”
I couldn’t know everything she was thinking, but it was clear she had overcome something.
I wanted to end things on a moving note, but unfortunately that was only possible in manga.
In reality, there was definitely such a thing as cleanup afterward.
KWA-AAANG-!
The abandoned complex shook once more, and smoke billowed up.
Clack, clack. The sound of heels was cold, as if walking on glass.
When the smoke cleared, standing in the abandoned complex was Yoo Ye-na of the Seven Extremes, who had just been confronting the Azure Dragon.
Despite looking quite exhausted and unwell, her eyes quickly found Baek Yeonhwa, and she immediately made a sweeping gesture with her hand.
“Kgh!”
Under an invisible pressure, Baek Yeonhwa flattened herself at once.
Yoo Ye-na began listing the things she had inferred with a cold gaze.
“Azure Dragon, Taeguk Yin-Yang Sect, Yin-Yang Dual Meridians Baek Yeonhwa. It seems unlikely that you have nothing to do with the current situation.”
Had the Hunter Administration already finished investigating even Baek Yeonhwa?
Or maybe they had been keeping an eye on anyone who could threaten the 3rd Floor from before.
In any case, Yoo Ye-na pressed Baek Yeonhwa even harder without the slightest mercy.
“The Tower Administration has delegated arrest authority to the Korean Hunters Association. As of now, you are under arrest as a suspect in a terrorist act.”
“Kgh!”
A groan escaped Baek Yeonhwa’s lips. Seeing that, I hurried forward and tried to stop her.
“There’s no need to subdue her this forcefully. Ms. Baek Yeonhwa is a victim—”
“She may not be. During the investigation, as you said, Baek Yeonhwa may be found to be a victim. Even so, I don’t think what I’m doing now is excessive.”
“…….”
“Seoul nearly collapsed again. This isn’t something we can just let slide.”
Yoo Ye-na deliberately didn’t meet my eyes. It was her own attempt to separate public duty from private feelings.
“Don’t butt in, Joo Seon-ah. Don’t make me restrain you too.”
“Then ease up a little. So she can at least breathe.”
“...Fine. Sorry.”
“Cough! Cough! Haaap!”
Baek Yeonhwa, lying face-down on the ground, could barely draw a breath. But she looked up at me without a hint of resentment or pain.
“You don’t need to worry.”
“Ms. Baek Yeonhwa...”
“There will be parts I did wrong, and parts I’ll have to be investigated for. I won’t run from it anymore.”
The tear tracks were still there, but no more tears were falling.
She must have grown.
I looked down at her for a moment, then nodded with a bitter smile.
“Yes. Keep at it. Our Meracle even takes in ex-cons.”
In truth, it didn’t seem like the Administration would actually assign a criminal record to Baek Yeonhwa after sorting out the situation.
Still, I said it a little exaggeratedly to reassure her.
“What are you talking about, hero?”
Baek Yeonhwa tilted her head and answered.
“You defeated me, hero.”
…….
………….
…………….
“Huh?”
When I asked back in confusion, Baek Yeonhwa answered with a face flushed shyly.
“Ah, please take care of me from now on.”
* * *
One week later.
Sizzle, sizzle.
Sizzle, sizzle.
The savory smell of beef teased the stomach.
Everyone at the table was just staring blankly at the meat.
“B-boss— I can’t take it anymore.”
“So it seems.”
Kim Yang stared down at the beef with his mouth hanging open.
I wiped away the string of drool with a wet towel.
“But listen. Can a sheep even eat a cow? Aren’t they kind of relatives?”
“C-cows and sheep are different.”
Renea tried to keep Kim Yang in check, hoping to reduce the number of mouths eating.
“B-by that logic, if you’re the elf queen, y-you should love animals too. I mean, they’re nature, aren’t they?”
“Oh ho, we protect the forest. On the other hand, cows zealously graze on grass, so they’re our natural enemy. Please understand if I eat a bit combatively; it’s something like the fate of our race.”
What a bunch of lunatics.
A bizarre war of nerves unfolding before the dinner table.
“Even if it’s beef, do you really have to go that far? If you’re both adults, at least eat like adults.”
I clicked my tongue at the two of them and sighed, and immediately they both glared at me.
“Aren’t you the one who ordered two servings of beef for three people and said we should share?”
“C-cheapskate.”
These bastards...
“No, then you two pitch in. And look at the side dishes. Hey, the side dishes alone make up a whole serving. Two servings are plenty, I’m telling you.”
“Th-then boss can just eat the side dishes. I-I’ll eat the meat.”
“That’s a good idea. Here, have some seaweed stems. They say it’s good for you, you know?”
The side dishes were slid toward me.
Seeing those guys who really only wanted to eat meat, I snatched one up and ate it.
“W-what?! Why are you eating first?!”
“When eating meat, one must say ‘ready’ and then ‘start’! Where did you learn manners like that—!”
“No, I was checking whether it was cooked. It’s not done. Don’t eat it yet.”
“The meat you’ve eaten while checking whether it’s cooked is already three pieces.”
“I-I’ll just eat it and get a stomachache.”
The meal began like that.
No joke, all the meat disappeared in two minutes.
“Truly sweet, yet fleeting.”
“Meat...”
“Lick the grill or something.”
Even two servings had already blown far past my entire week’s food budget.
If I wanted to buy an apartment, I had to save up piece by piece without any leaks, even in small expenses like this.
“How about rock-paper-scissors, and whoever loses orders one more serving?”
“A-alright. Boss, hold out your hand.”
“Let’s just eat ice cream instead. They have free ice cream here, you know? About three refills of that—”
“Please add three more servings.”
A black-haired woman sat across from me without making a sound.
Yoo Ye-na, whom I had seen a week ago, was sitting in a barbecue restaurant this time.
“W-who are you?”
I stared at her in shock at the suddenness of it, but the other two had already moved on.
“Three servings!”
“Meat!”
The owner brought the meat right away, and Yoo Ye-na crossed her legs and gestured with her chin.
“Grill it for me. The way you grill it tastes the best.”
“As if I’ve had it that many times.”
Sssssss.
Beef sizzling on the grill with a savory aroma.
After taking a sip of water as if wetting her throat, Yoo Ye-na looked at me calmly.
“Ms. Baek Yeonhwa was cleared of all charges. However, she’s banned from entering the 3rd Floor for six months.”
“That far?”
“Whether it was intentional or not, Seoul nearly collapsed. Miraculously there were no casualties, but there were quite a lot of injuries.”
“What about the Azure Dragon side?”
“That’s the problem. There was a need to take responsibility. Thanks to Ms. Baek Yeonhwa’s help, the talks are going well. We were able to cut it down to six months because she helped set up a deal with the guardian beast of the 5th Floor.”
“A sentence negotiation, huh. That’s beastly, all right.”
“We can’t throw them in prison. We have to get something equivalent.”
Even so, Yoo Ye-na didn’t seem especially happy about it.
This was a matter that could have snowballed into an inter-floor war if handled badly, and yet it ended this lightly.
“Officially, we brushed it off as a natural disaster caused by bad weather... something like that.”
“I know, I saw the news.”
A guardian beast from the 5th Floor came down and almost sparked a war.
Broadcasting something like that on the news wouldn’t be good for public sentiment.
“Still, there will be separate rewards. For you and Ms. Renea.”
“Hm?”
The old lady who was already putting undercooked meat into her mouth tilted her head.
Yoo Ye-na bowed slightly toward Renea.
“Thank you for helping us back then. Thanks to you, Seoul was able to remain safe.”
“Mm-mm, it was nothing.”
“It’s unofficial, but a separate medal and reward money will be issued.”
“Reward money! How much? How much is it?”
Yoo Ye-na looked slightly taken aback by Renea’s overexcited state.
“Just let it go. She’s trying to get married late in life and has no money, so that’s why.”
“...Marriage.”
Kim Yang asked Yoo Ye-na, who had fallen silent for a moment, cautiously.
“B-boss, your friend should j-join Meracle too.”
“Hey, there’s a line of people who want to marry her. What—”
“Should I?”
At Kim Yang’s suggestion, Yoo Ye-na smiled slyly. Crossing her arms, she motioned with her chin.
“My conditions aren’t that strict.”
“Those are the most troublesome conditions.”
Wasn’t Baek Yeonhwa exactly like that just now?
“Same age, money doesn’t matter, and it’d be nice if he ran at least a small business.”
For some reason, Yoo Ye-na’s gaze shot straight at me.
“Looks should be decent, and smoking... it’d be better if he quit, but I can tolerate it.”
“Yeah, well. At that level, it shouldn’t be too hard to find—”
“Someone who knows how to save money, has some principles, but also the courage to break them.”
“That’s a vague standard, but our Meracle—”
“It’d be nice if he were a graduate of Hunter Training Center Class 111.”
“...Among my classmates—”
“Would it be alright if I said any more than this?”
Yoo Ye-na pressed me with a sly smile, resting her chin in her hand.
Kim Yang and Renea watched with great interest as they chewed their meat.
“Really?”
Faced with Yoo Ye-na demanding an answer, I stuffed my mouth with meat, as if conceding defeat.
Anyway, her head had always worked well in strange directions.
“If you want more, order more. I’ll leave the card behind.”
Yoo Ye-na held out a black card over the table.
“Where should I return it?”
“I’ll come pick it up.”
She stood up from her seat, gave a brief farewell, and was about to leave, but—
“Oh, right.”
In the end, a little irritably, she tossed me a thick letter from inside her coat and left.
“Ms. Baek Yeonhwa asked me to give you this.”
“…….”
The letter slid down and came to rest against my thigh.
Feeling a gaze, I turned my head, and Renea was staring at me with sparkling eyes.
“So this is why you’re the president of a matchmaking company! A-amazing! T-teach me too! How to become a total heartthrob! I want to seduce a Cha Eun-woo lookalike too!”
“Haa.”
With a sigh, I opened Baek Yeonhwa’s letter with a heavy heart.
-----
- To the hero,
By the time this letter reaches you, I will probably already have everything settled and be going about my daily life.
The investigation is over.
It was simpler than I expected.
It was something that just required following the prescribed procedure.
What you said to me that day was, in fact, even more than—
(omitted)
.
.
.
In six months, I’ll be able to go down to the 3rd Floor again.
The dowry isn’t a problem. My family will prepare it.
However, which area would you prefer to live in, hero—
(omitted)
.
.
.
Hero, the Azure Dragon said he loved me and locked me away.
But I won’t do that.
However, I hope you’ll choose for yourself.
For reference, I’ve already set out about six possible date courses—
(omitted)
.
.
.
And this part,
I’m telling you because I think it would be best to sort it out in advance.
From now on, please reduce unnecessary contact with other women as much as possible.
It’s not a matter of trust.
It’s not jealousy either.
I just don’t like situations where there are too many variables.
I believe you’re the kind of person who would understand, hero.
Six months isn’t long.
If necessary, we can bring it forward.
Or we could meet on the 4th or 6th Floor.
It would also be good if you came to the 5th Floor.
I’ll look forward to the day we meet again.
P.S.
Please reply quickly.
If I don’t receive a reply, I may come looking for you.
I’m joking.
But please do reply.
-----
“Ah...”
Sensing the strangely coercive obsession in the letter, I simply pretended not to notice and folded it up, putting it in my pocket.
Maybe because that’s what she saw and learned.
“In the end, children take after their parents.”
Old sayings are never wrong.