Chapter 64
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
Creak.
“Hm?”
Early morning.
I’d come in earlier than usual because I’d taken yesterday off, so I wanted to get some things sorted out in advance.
A kind of warm-up to clear out the extraordinariness of yesterday and return to everyday life.
“Heave! Heave!”
But when I opened the door and went in, someone was already there.
Renea was busily mopping the floor with a mop.
Her slightly dusty clothes made it look like she’d just finished a shift at a convenience store.
“Swish! Swish-swish!”
“...Ms. Renea?”
“Huh?!”
She seemed so focused that she jumped in surprise and dropped the mop.
She looked at me standing at the entrance, then checked the time.
“Y-you’re already at work? There’s still an hour left.”
“I took yesterday off. But what are you doing?”
“My convenience-store part-time shift ended early, so I was just doing some cleaning!”
Renea puffed herself up, as if expecting praise. I set my bag down at my desk and asked,
“How did you get in?”
Only Kim Yang and I have keys.
“I came in through the window!”
“...”
Come to think of it, she’d also climbed over the balcony last time. Maybe elves were used to climbing trees, so anything up high just made them want to cross over first?
But this is the second floor.
How did she even get over here?
“Th-then please don’t do that from now on.”
“Why?! I cleaned hard!”
“...That part was good.”
It was a relief she hadn’t been reported.
If the lady who ran the gukbap restaurant on the first floor and owned the building had seen her, she would have been horrified and called the police.
“By the way, isn’t your convenience-store part-time schedule fixed separately?”
This all seems a bit of a mess.
“Since I’m working part-time at Miracle, I adjusted the hours! I just slip in for the 3- or 4-hour gaps! Mercenary!”
So even convenience-store part-timers can be mercenaries.
But I wasn’t planning to keep her on at Miracle full-time either.
“Y-you know we can’t keep you employed for long either, right?”
“...Eh?”
“Well, the ad we ran at Luminous Plaza is starting to lose its effect too. We hired you pretty hastily back then, so... you know, kind of like a mercenary!”
“Eh...?”
The old lady looked stunned.
If she’d been wearing dentures, they would’ve definitely popped out from how wide she opened her mouth.
“I’m the one who wants to say ‘Eh?’ You told me from the start.”
“Th-then where am I supposed to earn money?! I’ve been working hard because I thought I’d become a full-time employee!”
“Your goal is to be a full-time employee? You need to get married!”
“That’s because I can’t get married! The boss keeps bringing me weird profiles!”
“What am I supposed to do when they’re F-rank?!”
“You introduced me to a B-rank last time!”
“Then you should’ve held onto him then—ah, right. Do you know Mr. Han Hyojae is getting married this time? Good for him, right?”
“Gyaaah! Why is everyone getting married except meeee?! I want to get married toooo! I’m old, so I can’t be pushed back any further!”
Renea rushed over and started thumping me with her fists.
While the scuffling went on for quite a while, the door opened early again.
“...”
Kim Yang, wearing a black mask, came inside and saw me bickering with Renea; Kim Yang’s eyes widened slightly.
“Ah, Kim Yang. You’re here? You came early.”
“Kim Yang-! The boss is trying not to get me married! He’s being terribly ruthless about it!”
“...”
Kim Yang stood there blankly, looked over at us, then slowly went to their own seat and put down their bag.
“Are you okay?”
A cautious question.
I smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, it got sorted out.”
I’d heard there were people trying to start a war between the floors, but since Yeo-na had caught the would-be assassin of Young Master Cheonjong...
It wasn’t something the owner of a mere matchmaking agency needed to get involved in.
I should worry more about my wallet than the safety of the world.
“...I see.”
Kim Yang nodded.
Renea looked back and forth between us, then tilted her head.
“I see! Did you resolve the demon problem?”
“Yes, it’s solved.”
“Oooh!”
Renea seemed impressed and, apparently in a good mood, started mopping again.
Is she getting dementia?
She’d just been making a fuss about wanting to get married, and now she’d forgotten it right away.
Well, she seemed happy enough, so I decided to let it slide.
“Hngh—! Then since we started early today, let’s work hard and do our best.”
I said it with a smile, and Kim Yang glanced at the clock before answering.
“Ah, not yet. It’s not time to clock in yet.”
“...Would you die if you worked one hour earlier?”
“A-an extra hour’s pay?”
“Go play.”
* * *
Lunchtime.
After eating at the gukbap restaurant on the first floor, I smoked a cigarette while checking my stocks.
[Shilla Tea Industries: 320,100▲(0.2)]
[Hunter Korea: 122,000▼(-1.44)]
[Hunter Power Corporation: 173,200▲(0.48)]
“Phew.”
Overall, it wasn’t bad.
I almost called Yu Yena when I saw Hunter Korea drop, but I held back.
When Yena came to pick me up from the tower yesterday, some people saw her and thought something had happened, so meme pictures are being spread around the community boards.
I guess that’s probably why the stock price dipped temporarily.
I’d already sold the dwarf-run "Brimlak Smelter," the old martial world’s "Dragon Horn Blade Divine Institute," and the beastkin security company "Wolfguard Tactical Solutions."
I thought they’d stop once they rose to a certain point, but—
Damn it. I shouldn’t have sold them.
They’re climbing way more than I expected.
Especially Brimlak Smelter; I sold it as soon as it dipped because of that drunk-driving dwarf.
Once I learned a bit more about how dwarves worked, I had no choice but to get out.
The surprising one was Baekdu Pharmaceuticals.
The club I’d once gone to in order to find the wild man Mr. Kim Cheolsu had requested.
There, my old hunter classmate Geum Taemin and Baekdu Pharmaceuticals had once exposed illegal body trafficking targeting wild men.
I’d seen Baekdu Pharmaceuticals at -12% in the news, though.
[Baekdu Pharmaceuticals: 100,500▲(1.08)]
A chaebol really is a chaebol.
I seem to remember it dropping to 70,000 won, but it stubbornly climbed back up to the 100,000 range.
If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve bought some.
No use regretting it now.
After closing the stock app, I finish my cigarette as the two of them come out of the gukbap shop.
“I’m full.”
“B-boss. Le-let’s go out together.”
Renea patted her belly with satisfaction, while Kim Yang grumbled that I’d gone out for a smoke right after eating.
“You were the ones who ate too slowly.”
“B-boss. Gukbap? Who t-takes only five minutes to finish that?”
“...It’s delicious.”
“Th-that’s not the point. It’s so hot my tongue feels like it’s cooking in my mouth.”
“I don’t mind anything else, but if you eat all the kimchi by yourself and leave, are we supposed to eat only soy-braised beans!?”
“You weren’t eating it...”
“Five minutes! For rice! Damn it! You eat that fast!”
“...”
Kimchi refill would solve it.
“All right, I’ll buy the coffee. Happy now?”
“Th-that long-named menu item.”
“I want green grape ade! And cheesecake!”
I almost snapped at her on the spot, but barely held it back.
I can’t take that away from an old lady who wants to eat something delicious before she dies.
In the end, I got an iced Americano from a nearby café.
Kim Yang got, well, something with a ridiculously long name and a mountain of whipped cream on top.
And Renea got green grape ade and cheesecake.
Back at the office, we each sat at our desks and savored what little lunch break remained.
Bzzz!
My phone buzzed.
When I checked the message, it was a wedding invitation.
-----
[We’re getting married.]
Two people who had come together from different paths now wished to walk in the same direction.
If you can spare a moment despite your busy schedule, we would be deeply grateful if you could warmly witness the beginning of our life together.
Groom: Lee Kangho
Bride: Yu Mi-a
20xx year x month x day (Sat), 2:00 PM.
-----
“Oh?”
Lee Kangho and Yu Mi-a.
The names felt awkward, but those two were our clients.
“Ms. Renea, do you remember? When you first came here, you went with Hunter Lee Kangho to look for Ms. Yu Mi-a.”
At my words, Renea, with cheesecake smeared around her mouth, nodded.
“Aaah—! When I made 100 million won?”
“Right.”
That was the time when she captured the named monster called the Net Queen and Renea properly jumped into the marriage market.
“They sent a wedding invitation saying they’re getting married.”
“Why are you telling me that?”
“...”
“What is it? What, you want to fight?”
She’s annoyingly sensitive.
“Fine, sorry.”
Renea irritably stuffed cake into her mouth, then suddenly put down her fork.
“Ugh, you’re really annoying me!”
“I said I’m sorry!”
“A-are you going?”
At Kim Yang’s question, I thought for a moment.
“I was invited, so I should go. How much of a matchmaking fee did I get from them again?”
It’d be fine if I just put 30,000 won in the envelope, right?
“Ah... I also said I’d go to Hyojae’s wedding. I’m going to be out some money this month.”
60,000 won could cover a week of groceries if I spent carefully.
If I ate nothing but ramyeon, maybe even a whole month—
“I guess I can’t go making a scene at the wedding.”
“...”
Beside me, I heard an ominous voice mixed with a curse from 1,902 years ago.
I didn’t want to get involved with whatever that was even a little, so I pretended not to hear it, but then Kim Yang asked,
“I-is that normal? Do you normally invite people?”
“Normal? No, not normally. Who invites the boss of a matchmaking agency to a wedding?”
Even as I said that, I puffed up proudly.
Didn’t that mean our clients were satisfied enough?
I thought they’d praise me as being even more impressive, but when they went back to work without saying much, I grumbled and returned to my own tasks as well.
“Come ooon, don’t gooo, everyone.”
Of course.
“Where are you going and leaving only me behind?”
I couldn’t focus because the elf next to me was crouched by the desk, muttering to herself.
“I told you not to leave me behind! It’s hard to keep up, you knowoo.”
Even though she’d been left behind for 1,900 years.
With a sigh of pity, I finally cut in.
“Ms. Renea, I mean, if you work hard, that’s enough, isn’t it? Right? If you work at a matchmaking agency, you’ll end up getting married eventually.”
“...What if I can’t?”
It was meant as comfort in its own way, but it had no effect. The fact that other people were getting married seemed to hit harder than I’d expected.
“What will you do if I can’t? Will the boss take responsibility?”
“Huh? No—”
“Could it be? If you pay so much money to a matchmaking agency and still can’t get married, the boss personally makes it up with his own body—!”
“What nonsense are you talking about!”