Chapter 44
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
If I had to describe how I feel right now—.
“Ah, the egg bread is really sweet!”
Exactly this.
And no, I don’t mean egg bread is actually sweet.
Watching Omega Devils collapse so miserably just makes me feel awful.
And the discomfort doubles when the guys who bet on the other team even mock us from the opposite stands.
“Pwahahaha!”
“You don’t know baseball, so you picked a place like that.”
“This is skill! This!”
Did I really have to anticipate a simulation where our catcher suddenly gets tangled up in drugs and gets arrested?
“This really feels like total trash.”
I complain that it’s beyond unreasonable, but Ryu Seo-ram just quietly watches the ballpark.
She looks like someone who could fool people into thinking she’s reading the game’s flow.
Even in this situation, she wasn’t giving up.
If anything, she looked too used to it.
The bearing of a veteran who had seen a hundred battles.
Ah, so she really is used to it.
Because she cheers every day for the league’s last-place team, Daehung Bear Force.
Watching Ryu Seo-ram focus so calmly makes me feel, almost by association, relieved too.
“J-Joo-seon.”
“Hm?”
“Th-that.”
Kim Yang, munching on popcorn, jerks her chin toward it. When I turn my head to follow her direction, I see one of Ryu Seo-ram’s legs trembling like a vibration motor.
“…….”
“…….”
Right, if she’d found enlightenment, she’d have quit being a baseball fan.
“Hey, Seo-ram. Can we actually win this?”
“Baseball is a game where you don’t know until the bottom of the ninth.”
Well, she said it in a plausible way, but I wasn’t exactly expecting much—.
Crack!
“H-he hit it! He hit it!”
Ryu Seo-ram shot up like a spring.
The ball kept sailing farther and farther.
As the ball finally sailed over the opposing fence that had been taunting us, a fanfare blared.
[HOME RUN!]
It was a home run hit by Omega Devils’ cleanup hitter.
“T-the lead! It’s a comeback! We’re back in it!”
“Waaahhhhh!”
Cheers and screams mingle together.
At that shiver of excitement, the people on the other side howl, breaking chairs or smashing railings, and it naturally escalates into a fight.
Joy and sorrow swap in an instant, like two sides of a coin.
Seeing the true face hidden behind the flashy facade makes the corners of my mouth slowly drop.
“J-Joo-seon.”
Kim Yang tugs at my collar.
It seems she, too, saw something more than what’s simply visible.
“O-our fault? W-we did something wrong?”
“No, it’s not our fault. But you know that humans’ instinct is to blame others when faced with absurdity.”
It’s common among our customers too.
Signing up as a member at a matchmaking agency is an act of looking back on your own life.
But the unfortunate thing is that what we judge is only the result.
Even if you studied until you were coughing up blood for over five years for the civil service exam, if you ultimately failed—.
We brand you as an unemployed bum.
A tragic story, but since the world itself is tragic, from the world’s perspective you could call it right.
I strayed a little, but anyway.
They’d also lost their heads and couldn’t control themselves because the baseball game that had been going well until now had suddenly been upended by a home run.
“You fucking bastards-! You rigged this!”
“Investigate them! Tear this whole thing down! This is void!”
“I even bet my mother’s hospital bills! Are you people even human?!”
Once the game ended, the shouts flew back and forth.
Even as casino guards approached and aimed nonlethal subdual pistols at them, their yelling continued.
Bang! Bang-bang! Taang!
With those indifferent, clean-up-like sounds, the casino returned to normal.
“……Shall we go?”
“Y-yeah.”
Anyway, since we’d won money, I was about to leave, but Ryu Seo-ram stood there without budging.
“Hey, Ryu Seo-ram. What are you doing? I said let’s go.”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“So baseball was a sport you could actually win.”
“…….”
What kind of team is Daehung Bear Force that they can break a kid like that?
* * *
We only played one game, but I’d lost any affection for the casino, so we couldn’t keep going.
They’re not people I’d feel sorry for, but even a criminal’s corpse is unpleasant just because it’s a corpse.
Even if it’s their own fault for stepping into the gambling den, watching people sink into despair wasn’t pleasant.
So we headed to the wine bar inside the casino.
The atmosphere here was similar too.
Under the subdued wine-colored lighting, some people brag about today’s haul while downing expensive whiskey.
Others sip beer sparingly, sighing miserably.
A stark contrast.
We take our seats at the counter, right on the strange boundary between the two.
“Hey, this one’s on me.”
Ryu Seo-ram’s generous offer, made after doubling her winnings not only by predicting the result but also the cleanup hitter’s home run.
“Kim Yang, order the expensive stuff. Can you handle alcohol?”
“I-I can’t.”
“Figured. Get something sweet.”
“Y-yeah.”
“Where else do you get a place where the boss doesn’t force booze down your throat and actually looks after you like this?”
“Chr, Christmas. Uh, work.”
“…….”
“Y-you jerk.”
Pretending not to hear, I ordered some drinks, and then the LED screen behind the bartender caught my eye.
It was covered in dense writing, so I thought it was a menu, but looking closer, it was completely different.
[4th-Floor Gellerwind Great Mage’s Expected Time of Death]
- Options: Within 1 week / Within 6 months / Within 1 year
[Whether the Second Interfloor War Will Break Out]
- Options: YES/NO
[Whether the 6th-Floor Cyber City AI Will Launch a Full-Scale Assault]
- Options: YES/NO
[Whether the 7th Floor Exists]
- Options: YES/NO
[Time of Change for the 3rd-Floor Chilgeukin]
- Options: Within 1 week / Within 6 months / Within 1 year
“…….”
All of them were pretty huge matters.
You could even bet on things that sound like urban legends.
“Are you interested?”
The bartender, who had brought the drinks, noticed my gaze and smiled with his eyes.
“Are there actually people who can guess those? Isn’t that basically prophecy?”
“That’s right. We put them in to fit the casino atmosphere, but not many people seriously bet money on them.”
Considering they casually included even people’s deaths, I guess that’s very Cyber City of them.
When I shook my head to say I wasn’t interested, the bartender immediately stepped aside and started making other drinks.
Three glasses were set in front of us.
“Cheers.”
I smiled to liven the mood, and the other two clinked their glasses against mine from both sides.
* * *
Nice atmosphere.
One drink, two drinks.
As the glasses emptied, Ryu Seo-ram’s eyelids kept drooping too.
Before long, her head had tilted forward and she was nodding off.
Seeing that, Kim Joo-seon let out a hollow laugh.
“Hey, Ryu Seo-ram. Kim Yang’s already drunk. Anyway, once alcohol gets involved, they just end up flopping over like this.”
“I’m not drunk-!”
Even saying it while swaying with a face flushed bright red didn’t sound very convincing.
“Hey, Joo-seon-.”
A languid smile lingered at her lips.
With her chin in her hand, Ryu Seo-ram asks Joo-seon.
“How about working with me? Hm? I’ll make sure your salary is nice and fat.”
“There she goes again. I said no. And I don’t even have a Hunter license, so I can’t get into your company.”
“You brat- then why not quit the company and open your own office or something?”
“You want to go independent?”
At Ryu Seo-ram’s words, Kim Joo-seon showed interest for the first time. Indeed, if they did that, they could work together even without a license.
Even if Hunter work was impossible, office work or auxiliary combatant work, maybe?
“J-Joo-seon? A-are you abandoning me?”
Then Kim Yang, who had been sitting beside them, pouted and cut in. They’d been drinking a low-alcohol cocktail, but they seemed a little tipsy too.
Seeing her pout and grumble, Ryu Seo-ram burst out laughing.
“Pffft! Hey, with an employee too, are you going to cave that easily? Why would I quit the company? Do you know how much the salary is here?”
“Ugh, Ryu Seo-ram, seriously. Quit lying. That’s no different from before.”
“Heh... whatever. Go soothe your employee.”
Watching Kim Joo-seon soothe the sulking Kim Yang, Ryu Seo-ram tilts her glass and takes a sip.
Then an old memory rose up.
“Ah, this happened before too.”
It was like this back then too.
Around the time we graduated from the hunter training center.
Everyone was in the middle of talking about where they’d go after graduation once they became Hunters.
“Let’s join a major company together, okay? We can do it at our level.”
“You think so? That’d be right, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah. Hey, do you know how much the pay is there?”
Right.
It was Christmas then too.
“...Joining a company?”
The question from Yu Yena, sitting across from us, was practically a complaint.
Since Yu Yena had to follow her father into the Association, if she went to a major company, they’d have to split up.
“Ahem, no. I mean. It’s not like I definitely mean that.”
“Pffft! That’s right! Joo-seon should go to the Association with Yena! Love over money, huh? Cool, Kim Joo-seon!”
“Damn it. You knew and were testing me, didn’t you?”
Watching Joo-seon soothe the sulking Yu Yena, we drank like this back then too.
“Heh... memories.”
When was that again.
The time when you didn’t turn your back on me.
Going back even further, to a time now hazy and faint.
It was Christmas, but back when two broke aspiring Hunters shared a single 500ml beer in a gosiwon.
Back then, it definitely felt like you were looking at me.
Well, what does it matter?
It’s already in the past.
It’s different from baseball.
It’s definitely different from holding on to a perennial last-place team.
Human relationships don’t have bottom-of-the-ninth comeback home runs.
“Ah, I’m sleepy.”
Yawning, I lightly lean against Joo-seon’s shoulder. I can feel Joo-seon’s gaze, but I just close my eyes.
“That’s why I told you to drink in moderation. What are you even doing if you can’t handle your liquor-.”
“S-sorry…….”
A quiet apology.
Actually, being good at drinking
is a secret I’ve kept hidden from Kim Joo-seon.
I’m a liar, so isn’t this much just a joke between us?
For the sake of their good mood, the tactful move for a side character is to fall asleep.
I’ve already done it once before.
This time, I should be able to do it better.
“J-Joo-seon. Y-you’re annoying.”
“No, Kim Yang. I told you I’m not trying to abandon you. Meracle is my company.”
“I-I’m changing jobs too.”
“Huh? Why is our employee acting up again?”
Using their voices as a lullaby, I forced myself to sleep.
Because I’m not shameless enough to try to reclaim what I already missed.
This Christmas, too, I’m by your side.
I’m not the lead, but I’m still in the same scene.
Quietly, and still.
Doing nothing.
So, Joo-seon.
Just let me stay here.
“Y-you’re annoying, Joo-seon. P-pay me back the money.”
“If we do promotion well, customers will increase quickly, you know? We might even catch up to Wedding Company.”
“I-I’m a fool? Th-that place is huge.”
“...Calling the boss a fool is a bit much.”
“F-fool. Joo-seon. F-fool.”
Breathing even more shallowly so as not to break the fluffy, soft atmosphere.
“This winter too, Merry Christmas.”
My Christmas always ends the same way, though.
Even so, I want to keep being here.