Chapter 84
Pretending to be her boyfriend out of the blue.
Ian had just learned today that if something was ridiculous enough, not even a hollow laugh would come out. He pressed his fingers to his throbbing forehead and let out a long sigh.
“A-ah!”
At that sigh, Yuna realized her explanation was lacking and hurriedly added more.
“W-well! Lunar New Year is coming up soon, right?! So my older sister's coming home for the holiday!”
“…….”
“B-but my sister worries a lot. She asks me every day whether I haven't fallen under some weird guy's spell or anything.”
“……So?”
“So! To reassure her, I lied and said I had a g-good boyfriend and that I was happy!”
“……Haa.”
Ian rolled the cigarette between his fingers and let out a long sigh. Yuna flinched at the sound for a moment, but cautiously opened her mouth again.
“My sister wants to see my boyfriend's face this time. So I was hoping you'd do me a favor...”
“……Is there no one else you can ask besides me?”
“I-I only know you... you're the only guy I know...”
With that answer, Ian had nothing more to say. He paused in silence and carelessly tucked the unlit cigarette between his lips.
Honestly, it wasn't that burdensome a request. Acting like her lover? Pretending for a little while was no big deal.
The only problem was that Ian wasn't exactly used to that sort of thing, and he had no dating experience either.
Come to think of it, it was only natural. In school, he'd been ostracized for being an orphan, and once he became an adult, he'd done nothing but work to make ends meet.
Dating? Where in the world would he have had room for that?
It wasn't that he had never been confessed to before, but real life had been too rough, so he'd turned them all down.
He didn't regret that choice. Of course not—everyone was just trying to make a living, and he couldn't be out there dating while starving.
Anyway.
Setting aside how difficult the request itself was, the contents were definitely off-putting. It wasn't that he couldn't do it, but agreeing to it for nothing in return felt a little embarrassing. At the very least, there had to be something coming his way before it was worth seriously considering.
“A wish!”
Yuna seemed to have reached the same conclusion, because she shouted it out before Ian could even speak. The rustle of blankets slipped through her words.
“If you do me this favor, I-I'll grant one wish of yours for free too!”
“……And how do you know I even have anything to ask for?”
“……W-well, what are you going to ask for?”
Her voice carried a mix of anxiety, embarrassment, and resolve. Ian let out a long sigh and set the cigarette between his fingers on the table.
“Forget the wish. Later, when I'm handling a request and ask you for help, just come along and we'll call it even. But only twice.”
“I-Is that okay?”
“A modest cash reward would be even better.”
“I'll transfer it right away!”
“What? No, I was joking—”
“Ding.”
Before Ian could finish speaking, one million won was deposited.
“I-I won't take a refund. Just do your job for what I paid...”
“……”
Instead of answering, Ian wore a complicated expression.
Pretending to be a boyfriend for money. Wasn't this basically a rental boyfriend?
If he thought about it any more, he'd start to hate himself, so Ian stopped thinking.
*
Yuna's older sister was coming on the second day of the Lunar New Year holiday. Ian and Yuna met the day before for a sort of meeting that wasn't really a meeting.
“M-my sister's personality is totally different from mine. She's not shy at all, and she's super outgoing.”
A small cafe at lunchtime.
In the crowded place full of office workers who had come in to take a break, the two of them chatted while sipping their drinks.
Of course, Han Yuna's drink was a strawberry yogurt smoothie. As she swirled the straw around, the pale pink liquid gently spun inside the glass.
“She's the type people would call a social butterfly.”
“You're the exact opposite.”
“I said so, didn't I? You don't need to say it again...”
“Are you the suspicious type?”
“Probably not...”
Han Yuna trailed off and slurped up the smoothie. As the sweetness spread through her mouth, her face softened a little too.
“Anyway, the important thing is to trick her into thinking you and I are a perfect couple. Can you do that...?”
“But to do that, shouldn't we at least do something couples do first?”
Ian glanced at Yuna.
“Can you handle getting touchy-feely with me?”
“......D-do we really have to?”
“Don't know. It probably depends on how your sister acts.”
He let out a long sigh and leaned back against the chair.
“At the very least, I think we'll need to hold hands...”
“Eee...”
Han Yuna looked down at Ian's snow-white hand and blushed. Just imagining herself holding his hand made her face burn.
Ian wasn't much different. On the outside he acted completely at ease and unfazed, but inside he felt oddly ticklish.
He knew Han Yuna was a mage. He also understood that, in terms of identity, being a mage mattered more to her than being a “woman.” If she had been a complete stranger with no connection to him, Ian wouldn't have paid her much mind, just as he hadn't with Kim Yul.
But he was going to keep building a relationship with her. No matter how he put it, he couldn't help being conscious of that.
‘It'd be better to hypnotize myself into thinking of it as strictly business.’
Thinking that, Ian stared at Yuna. He tried to think of her, with her somewhat sullen face and rather attractive looks, as nothing more than a stone rolling along the street.
Fortunately, it worked fairly well. Apparently the skill he'd learned from handling a foreign god's grimoire hadn't gone anywhere, because Ian felt more at ease than before as he opened his mouth.
“Let's not practice ahead of time under the guise of good deeds. The sight is just too weird.”
“Mm...”
“Then let's end the meeting here for now. Let's talk about the request.”
Ian changed his expression and showed Yuna the phone screen. Yuna licked the smoothie off her lips as she studied the screen.
[High-Rank Vampire Elimination Request]
[This request is not led by vampire hunters, but by the cartel, which is also providing the reward.]
[According to the cartel's intelligence network, there are currently three high-ranking vampires hiding on the Korean Peninsula. One of them has been located and is hiding in a small village on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province. Its disguised form is that of an ordinary girl. At first glance, it doesn't differ much from a human.]
[According to the information passed on, the vampire's ability is mind reading. If your mental barrier is strong, you can defend against it, but for most people it will be impossible.]
[The objective of the request is to capture or kill the vampire. If it's killed, the body must be recovered.]
[Reward: 300 million won for capture, 100 million won if delivered as a corpse.]
[If you have a party, the reward for this request will be split N ways. Please keep that in mind.]
After reading the fairly long request document, Yuna let out a low murmur and tilted her head.
“A vampire? Y-you mean a vampire, right?”
“Yeah. You know how ghouls have been running rampant lately, right? They're the ones causing that.”
“Ah, I think I've heard about that...”
Yuna nodded and fiddled with her straw with her fingers.
“M-mmm... The reward's good and everything. What about the request's difficulty?”
“Don't know. I've never faced a high-ranking vampire before. But I'm planning to go with veterans, so it shouldn't be as hard as you're worried it will be.”
Ian took back his phone and casually checked the contacts.
Albert and Benjamin.
The names of the professional hunters who had joined him for his first vampire-hunting request were clearly displayed on the screen. Cecilia's name was listed beneath them as well.
“We're going with two vampire hunters and one Vatican nun. That makes five including you and me.”
“Isn't that a little too many people...?”
“It's better than throwing a fit just to wring out more money.”
Ian put his phone in his pocket and answered. As he gulped down the Americano with half-melted ice, a chill briefly circled inside his body.
“And anyway, nothing's set in stone yet. They'll come if I call them, but there might be circumstances where they can't make it. Then it'll just be the two of us.”
“Eee... It's my first time dealing with a v-vampire...”
“It won't be that hard.”
Ian said it casually and set the empty Americano cup on the table. Yuna also slurped up the last sip of her smoothie.
“I don't know exactly when the request will be. At the earliest, it'll be after Lunar New Year, and only when there isn't anything else going on. It won't go past February, so keep your schedule clear.”
“I've got nothing but time anyway... Hehe... don't worry...”
Ian let out a small laugh at her words, her earlobes turning red.
After finishing their talk, the two of them left the cafe and had a late lunch at a nearby restaurant. They'd gone through the strange procedure of cafe first, restaurant second, but the food was decently good and they were full, so they didn't mind much.
“Then shall we part ways here for today? Where should I go tomorrow?”
On the way out after paying for the meal, Ian asked with his hands in his pockets. Yuna said, 'Wait a sec,' and checked the message from her sister.
“Uh... she said to come to the cafe by 11 a.m. Is the time o-okay?”
“11 o'clock... no problem. Just send me the address.”
“Y-yeah!”
Leaving her answer behind, Ian fiddled with the cigarette pack tucked inside his coat. He wanted to smoke one, but stopped because Yuna was beside him.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Ah, okay. T-thanks for hanging out with me.”
“It's fine. I got plenty out of it too. Don't worry about it.”
“T-then I will.”
Ian chuckled at her quick change in attitude, turned on his heel, and slowly waved.
“I'm heading off first. Get home safe.”
“Mm. S-see you tomorrow...”
The day after they exchanged those farewells.
Ian arrived at the cafe ten minutes early and waited for the two of them. A moment later, the cafe door opened with a jingle, and the two sisters, who looked alike, came inside.
One was Han Yuna. Maybe because she had put on makeup she usually didn't wear, her face looked a little brighter than it had yesterday. Apparently, she normally went around bare-faced.
The other woman looked similar to Han Yuna, but her demeanor was completely different.
“Ah.”
With a rather pleased smile on her face, she noticed Ian sitting all by himself and began whispering to Yuna. When Yuna nodded, she put on a surprised expression and smiled slyly.
“Hehe, my little sister's got good taste too.”
“S-sis...!”
The faintly audible voices gave him a rough idea of their conversation. Ian smiled faintly to himself, thinking it was going to be a rough day.
“Ah, babe.”
“...Hyaaaak!”
At Ian's spur-of-the-moment line, Yuna's face turned bright red.
[Bzzzz!!]
The Hand of Re-Creation, which had been quiet until now, started vibrating as if it couldn't take it anymore.