Chapter 15
Today, too, she was wearing a black leather jacket and leather stretch pants that clung tightly to her body, along with a crop top that revealed not only her cleavage but even her navel.
The exposed pale skin glistened, slightly damp with sweat.
Seriously, I didn't know where to look.
“You must've had a rough day. ‘Tired’ is written all over your face.”
A refreshing laugh rang out from inside the full-face helmet.
“It's not like that.”
“Is that so? Then why do you look like that?”
“I'm not tired. Something a little special happened.”
“Hmm~. Is that right? Well, if that's the case, then.”
Her voice echoed faintly inside the helmet.
Even after entering the store, Lumina hadn't taken off her helmet.
Because of that, the pale skin on display seemed even more conspicuous.
“By the way, the manager said some special item was coming in today. What is it?”
“Oh, the manager didn't tell you?”
“She only said a shipment would arrive this afternoon.”
“Hmm~. Maybe she thought it would be fine since I was here. I'll bring it in. Want to come with me for a moment?”
Lumina casually pointed toward the black motorcycle parked by the entrance.
She opened the delivery box attached to the back of the motorcycle.
As before, she skillfully pulled out the cargo one item after another.
The boxes she set down contained not only goods sold in the convenience store, but also items I'd never seen before.
One box was covered in strange talismans, magic circles, and even warnings.
-Warning! Do not open.
“What's this?”
When I pointed at the box bearing the ominous warning, she chuckled.
“That's the specially ordered item. Apparently, a customer asked us to set one aside.”
“……”
“You need to inspect it carefully. If anything goes wrong, it could cause an accident.”
“It certainly looks that way at a glance.”
A dark reddish smoke was slowly seeping out of the box.
I could even hear what sounded like screaming.
This is just my imagination, right?
“You have to inspect it inside the store. I'll give you the item list, so cut open the packaging with a box cutter and check whether it matches the list.”
“Is that really okay?”
“The manager's power is imbued in the store, so you shouldn't get cursed unless you touch it directly.”
Huh?
A curse?
Didn't she just say it was a cursed item?
“That's right, a cursed item. It's a necklace carrying an exceptionally nasty curse.”
“Why are we selling a cursed item in a convenience store?”
At my question, she turned her head toward me.
“Didn't you know? Convenience stores sell everything.”
“I'd heard that. That they sell practically anything. Alchemical reagents, minerals, and even items made in forges are sent here and sold, too.”
“Right. There's no reason we can't sell cursed items, either. It's a world where undead walk around, after all.”
“Oh.”
Right.
Taepyeong City was a place where common sense didn't apply.
In the first place, it was a world where undead and monsters lived alongside one another.
In a world where beastfolk, elves, dwarves, and spirits walked around as a matter of course,
there was no law saying we couldn't sell cursed items.
“Ahem, then I'll open it.”
“Go ahead. I'll move the other items, so check its condition carefully.”
When I sliced through the tape with a box cutter and opened the box, the dark reddish smoke that had been seeping out burst into the air.
Inside lay an ugly necklace with a skull-shaped pendant.
Just looking at it made the back of my neck prickle; it was obviously no ordinary item.
“It looks like something you'd find for sale on the black market.”
“Heh heh, right? I run into them fairly often, but I just can't understand the aesthetic sense of the liches who work in curse research labs. What's so appealing about a skull?”
“Still, I never imagined I'd be receiving a cursed item as part of my convenience store job.”
Lumina chuckled from behind her helmet as she replied.
“It might be a bad curse for you, Min-cheol, but it's an essential one for clearing the Tower. While you're wearing it, it horribly reduces your movement speed and defense, but it's a debuff-type survival item that forcibly nullifies an instant-death pattern once. It's apparently popular among undead hunters tackling the upper floors these days.”
“It reduces movement speed and defense, yet it's a survival item. It's cursed, but it's become trendy……”
I tilted my head as I watched the dark reddish energy slowly wafting from it.
“Is this a good curse?”
As I muttered and carefully picked up the necklace with my bare hand, Lumina startled and reached toward me.
“Hey! If you touch that carelessly……”
“Hm? Why?”
Lumina looked from my hand to the necklace and back again before trailing off.
“You're fine? Normally, if an ordinary hunter touched that with their bare hands, they'd be sick for days. It's a curse that's somewhat lethal to living things, so even in a convenience store protected by the manager, you weren't supposed to touch it bare-handed……”
It was that dangerous?
I hurriedly put the necklace back in the box.
“I'm fine, though?”
“…That's strange. You said you're human, right?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Does it not target humans? No, maybe it's because your body is special.”
After finishing organizing the items, Lumina looked me over from head to toe.
“What do you mean, special?”
“You don't have even a trace of mana in your body, do you? Since you have no mana at all, the curse doesn't affect you.”
After checking the item inside the box, I put it in the special safe.
Lumina continued staring at me with her helmet on.
Her gaze lingered strangely long, so I spoke first.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”
Lumina dropped into the chair in front of the counter and asked,
“It's just that I've never seen a human before. It's fascinating. Why are you immune to curses?”
A blue glow flickered inside her helmet whenever she spoke.
“Can I hang around here for a while before I go?”
“Huh? Of course. You worked hard, so have a refreshing drink and rest for a bit.”
When I took an ion drink from the refrigerator and handed it to her, she nodded and accepted it.
But even while holding the drink, she continued wearing that thick helmet.
“By the way, aren't you taking off your helmet?”
“My helmet?”
“Yes. I understand wearing it while riding a motorcycle, but I didn't expect you to keep it on indoors, too. You'll have to take it off to drink.”
At my words, Lumina ran her fingers along the helmet's chin strap and laughed softly.
“Do you want to see?”
“……”
I froze for a moment at her question.
Could she have severe burn scars, or some other complex as a different species that she didn't want others to see?
I realized I'd asked without thinking and hurriedly tried to take back my words.
“No. If there's a reason behind it, you don't have to take it off. It's not my place to pry.”
Lumina shrugged, then grasped the helmet with both hands.
“If it were anyone else, I wouldn't show them. But since my cute part-timer is curious, I'll make an exception.”
Psssh.
With a light hiss of escaping air, she lifted the helmet straight up.
“……Huh?”
I nearly dropped the items I was organizing on the floor.
There was nothing.
I couldn't see her face.
No, in the first place, there was no head where her head should have been.
It was empty, as if her neck had been severed.
All that existed above the rider jacket was blue flame.
Blue flames rose from the cross-section of her neck.
So that was the reason for the blue flicker I'd seen inside the helmet.
“H-her head……?”
That was the first thing that slipped out among the countless words racing through my mind.
“I'm a dullahan.”
Even though she had no head, her voice sounded perfectly natural.
“I don't remember where my original face is, you see. I travel all over the country delivering cargo while searching for my head. So? Surprised?”
“Ah……”
I alternated my gaze between the empty helmet and the cross-section of her neck, unable to close my mouth.
“I'm very surprised.”
“I don't usually show it, but I'm showing you because you're cute, Min-cheol.”
There had been a doppelgänger who copied memories,
a minotaur who streamed,
and even an elf doing backbreaking labor in this city.
What was so strange about a dullahan working as a delivery driver while searching for her head?
“Pretty hip.”
“Right? Maybe it's because I don't have a head. People seem to look over here a lot.”
Lumina said that matter-of-factly while lightly drawing together the pale cleavage exposed by her crop top.
I don't think they're looking because you don't have a head.
They would've looked even if you had one.
How could anyone not look at those breasts?
“You get embarrassed over things like this, unexpectedly. When you saw my head, your reaction was calmer than I expected.”
“T-this is a little embarrassing.”
“You're so innocent. Teasing you is fun. Is this why the manager dotes on you?”
A bright laugh rang out.
Lumina watched my gaze wander helplessly through the air, seemingly amused, and the corners of her lips…… No, she didn't have any.
The flames rising from her neck flared a little more violently.
She lifted her crop top slightly and fanned herself with her hand before letting out a deep sigh.
“Good grief, why is it so hot today?”
She tugged lightly at the neckline of the crop top that revealed her cleavage and fanned herself with one hand.
Beads of sweat that had gathered inside her leather jacket slid precariously down her pale skin.
At her blatantly seductive pose, I cleared my throat and abruptly turned my gaze away.
“I've got the store's air conditioner blasting.”
“Really? Then why is our Min-cheol's face burning up like this?”
Lumina leaned her upper body over the counter and came right up to me.
The smooth line of her waist exposed beneath the crop top shimmered before my eyes, while the blue flames rising from her neck came close enough to touch the tip of my nose.
The flames weren't hot; they gave off a chilly aura instead.
“Even without eyes, I can see everything with this flame here.”
Her voice tickled my ear.
“I can feel exactly what you're looking at as you avert your gaze, and how fast your pulse is beating.”
So this was the charm of an older woman?
Her dizzying provocation made it genuinely hard to breathe.
Just as I swallowed nervously at the perilous distance,
“How cute.”
Lumina lightly leaned back and burst into a cheerful laugh.
The dangerously charged tension eased in an instant.
Tap.
She carefully set the helmet she had been holding in one hand on the counter.
Then she took out a pack of wet wipes and began lovingly wiping the helmet's scratched surface.
“Haa, after spending all day making deliveries, the inside of my helmet is soaked with sweat. Still, this one's practically my other half.”
“……That isn't just an ordinary helmet from a motorcycle supply store, is it?”
“In a way, it's a substitute for my head. I don't want to show people what I really look like.”
Lumina slid the clean helmet toward me.
Then she rested her chin on both hands—and although she had no face, that was the pose she made—and gave the impression that she was staring intently at me.
“Min-cheol. I worked really hard carrying things today, so could you pat my head?”
“Huh? Your head?”
“Yeah. Here.”
She was pointing at the jet-black full-face helmet sitting alone on the counter.
“You don't have a head…… I mean, you want me to pat the helmet?”
“Since I really don't have a head, pat this instead. Come on, I've been craving praise today.”
“Uh…… O-okay.”
Was she serious?
A little bewildered, I gently patted her helmet.
When I softly stroked the crown of the helmet,
Pong, popong.
The blue flames rising from Lumina's neck puffed up into round shapes and bounced upward with little pops.
“Huh?”
“Th-there, that's enough. I-it's cheered me up plenty.”
She hurriedly took the helmet back.
“M-men's hands really are big. It's a little different from when I clean it.”
“……”
What was that reaction just now?
“Are you okay?”
“Of course. I'm fine. I was just flustered because my energy surged too much.”
After saying that, she stood up.
“I've rested too long. At this rate, I won't finish all my work today. I'll be going now, so take care, Min-cheol. I'll come again soon.”
“Take care.”
She put her helmet back on and left the convenience store as if fleeing.
That reaction just now, could it be……
Was she embarrassed?