What's the Problem if There's an S-Rank?

Heehee. That was super tasty.

Yeah, it really was.

After finishing the lavish meal, Utaha changed into workout clothes and headed out to use the gym provided to Signiel Residence residents, having been invited into Eve's usual routine.

In Japan, Korea is seen as the birthplace of trendy fashion, so her agency had prepared dozens of outfits for outside schedules.

But because they had focused too heavily on official schedules, every single one of them was flashy and a pain to wear. Surprisingly, the outfit she had arrived in was the only one chosen with airplane activity in mind, so it was the most practical.

“That's fine. To prepare for that, I've prepared workout clothes tailored to Utaha's measurements.”

“Th-thank you….”

“Mwahaha.”

With the dressing room packed full of flashy clothes and not a single outfit meant for exercise, Utaha's cheeks burning hot, she took the gray leggings and short sports top from Maid Claire and went into the dressing room.

ㅡRustle….

The maids took away the school uniform to wash it, neatly emptied the contents from the pockets, and set them on the dressing-room table. One thin sheet of paper among them was caught by the breeze and fluttered down to the floor.

“Ah, this is….”

* * * * *

“Mother, what's this..?”

“Hehe, a talisman, right? A talisman infused with Mom's love and care?”

“And this drawing is….”

A shrine of the Tennoji family, rooted near Osaka and now carrying on its shrine duties in Kyoto. Utaha's mother, Shizuka Tennoji, who was only faintly known in the area, would sometimes write a talisman on yellow paper and place it in her daughter's hand whenever her awakened daughter went off to do something big.

Whether it really had any mysterious power or not, even Utaha herself wasn't sure. There were more stories about a gorgeous, well-endowed shrine maiden living at a small mountain shrine than there were about her driving away ghosts and earning fame.

On top of that, after she awakened as an S-rank Hunter, tourists swarmed in for a while, but once the Japanese authorities banned foreign visitors, Japanese tourists came for three or four months before the crowds died down again.

“An arrow..? Why an arrow drawing? Does it mean getting hit by an arrow or….”

“Hmm, maybe it's the opposite this time?”

“The opposite?”

“Yep! I saw it in a dream.”

The whole “I saw it in a dream” line had been used dozens of times by now. It was as pointless as remembering how many pieces of bread she'd eaten, so I'd stopped keeping count. That didn't mean I could just toss away the talisman Mom had given me because I thought it was unnecessary.

More than anything, this talisman had been written by Mom Shizuka herself after cutting the tip of her finger, in her own blood.

“Okay, thanks.”

I still wasn't sure what the opposite of getting hit by an arrow was supposed to mean. Maybe it meant I'd gain an archer-class skill or something.

* * * * *

“Gasp, unnie….”

“Hm?”

Utaha unnie's workout clothes are kind of something else. They're clearly the same clothes as mine, just in a different size, so why do they feel so different? It feels like something you should never show to men.

“I'm just going to do a little on the treadmill, a little calisthenics…. Ah, but since you're an Awakened, stuff like this probably isn't exercise at all for you, right?”

“No, if I deliberately limit my mana, I can work out just like a normal person. You know that too, Eve, right?”

“Hehe…. They said my body is basically no different from a normal person's. I think they called me a special case.”

“Really? That must be hard.”

“But, well, the—um…. the maids do everything for me?”

Come to think of it, Utaha unnie doesn't know that the maids are golems I made. If I suddenly said, “the golems do everything for me,” it might sound a little strange. The only golem close to me is Doggy.

While Utaha unnie and I chatted about this and that and lightly jogged on the treadmill, I could feel the people around us in the gym staring over here. Then again, since this is the wealthy residents' gym, there aren't that many people, but still, there are a few.

Since the treadmill was by the window, they couldn't see my face, so even the people on the neighboring treadmills peeking around to catch a look at my face were obvious....

Since Utaha unnie and I were speaking Korean, they must have been unsure, and I hoped she wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

“Are you uncomfortable, unnie..?”

“No, I'm fine. I'm used to this wherever I go. If anything, it's better here because people don't come straight up to me.”

“R-right..? I'm glad.”

After a little sweat from exercising and calisthenics, we went home and then straight into the bathtub. Of course, not the same tub as Utaha unnie's; each room had its own private bath, so that was the only option.

Honestly? To be frank? I do kind of want to try bathing together once? But my conscience would prick me too much, so I can't do that.

Still, after the bath, we did that together too. You know, smearing lotion and all sorts of other stuff all over our bodies. Ophelia, Flora, and Sophie did mine, while Claire, Tessa, and Anna did Utaha unnie's.

Then, in bathrobes, we lay down on something like a sunbed and lounged together as a pleasantly scented mist was sprayed over us.

“How is it, unnie? Nice, right?”

“Mm-hmm, do you do this every day, Eve?”

“It's a pain sometimes, but they say it's good to do it…. I mean, in my spare time I just play games and stuff, so this is a little more productive—well, maybe this isn't really productive either, but anyway….”

“I see.”

Utaha unnie's house was said to be a traditional wooden house in the Japanese countryside. They had plenty of money, but because of family circumstances, Utaha unnie and her mother said the shrine would dry up if they left it empty.

That said, it would also feel a bit wrong to leave Mom behind and live alone in a nice house. There are advantages, though: if you live in a mountain valley, nobody recognizes your face and comes up asking for autographs or photos. Japan apparently is really bad about that, and with her personality, she'd probably never be able to refuse.

“Being famous is hard too, huh….”

“I suppose there's nothing for it.”

* * * * *

“Yaa, I heard the news. I've been waiting for you to come.”

“Ah, yes…. That would be us.”

An office of some private company on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.

“For my homeland, something like this is no problem. After all, I was able to get this big thanks to the authorities' help.”

ㅡClatter….

“Here, 300 kg of mid-grade mana stones. What exactly am I supposed to do with this?”

“I can't say that much….”

“Ah~ right, right. Prying into things like this is dangerous. I understand. How far should I take it?”

In front of a man in an expensive suit and sunglasses inside a dark room, about four non-Hunter Awakened Chinese nationals in work clothes were huddled together on a two-seater sofa.

The man in the suit's name was Huo Jingxing. When one of them stood up, walked over, and held out a sheet of paper on the desk, Huo Jingxing nodded.

“Mm-hm? That's a bit far. Well, all right. I'll send it without issue, so I hope you carry out the work the Party assigned you properly.”

“Understood.”

The Chinese crew, who had once used their awakened ability to cloak a drone and inspect the inside of Seoul Aegis Academy, had contacted a local businessman of Chinese origin who had naturalized in Korea, received a large supply of mana stones, and were planning to cause trouble during the Aegis Academy students' future entry-type gate field-trip.

By now, a Chinese government information-type Awakened had already obtained all the information on the candidate sites for the entry-type gate field trip discussed inside Aegis.

Aegis's information security is extremely tight, but since the entry-type gate field trip requires outside cooperation, some information is bound to leak elsewhere.

‘These fellow countrymen are pitiful too. They'll be the kind you use and throw away.’

The naturalized Huo Jingxing had already received most of the information as well. Including the plan to overload the gate with a large amount of mana stones and throw Aegis's plan into disarray.

And even information about the financial gains he could reap from the resulting stock losses and falling land prices. The way he had amassed huge amounts of won up to now had all been like this.

“Have a meal before you go. It's all on me.”

“T-then, thank you….”

After the four disposable pawns left the office, Huo Jingxing skimmed the paper on the desk once more.

“This is going to turn into a problem.”

Opening the drawer beneath the desk, Huo Jingxing took out an old wooden abacus and slowly began tapping it as he calculated. Getting the information was one thing, but whether to turn it into financial gain was entirely his own choice.

Many naturalized Chinese-born people like him, who had not known that, had taken in information from the authorities and instantly made financial gains in the hundreds of billions of won, only to get caught by the Korean government.

His principle was that everything had to be done just right, thinly and over the long haul so it wouldn't be discovered.

“300 kg…. The output…. Hmm. Deep Shaco?”

ㅡYes! How can I help you?

“According to Korea's difficulty-rating standards, if the mana output of a B+rank entry-type gate rises by about 466 percent, what happens if that entry-type gate turns into an open-type gate?”

ㅡ466 percent is an enormous number! Calculated by the difficulty-rating system used in Korea, it would still fall just short of an S-rank gate.

If you can tell me the location and why you're asking, I'll give you the supplies needed for an evacuation plan and the nearby shelters equipped with anti-mana facilities!

“...No, it's fine.”

* * * * *

“Kyaaah~~~”

“Byung-ho, you're noisy.”

“Ahh, right now I don't mind being noisy.”

Super Ultra Omega Deluxe Cyclone High-Tension senior Byung-ho. The reason was obvious.

“Out of all days, Utaha is in our class for the field trip to the entry-type gate..!”

“Sigh.”

“Bruh, what's with that sigh? Aren't you happy to be taking the same class as Utaha just two weeks into your exchange-student life?”

“Eve gets to see Utaha every day because you're homestaying with her, don't you?”

“Ha, the world is unfair. While we're at it, Utaha-san, please shake my hand just once.”

“Ah, yes….”

Utaha unnie reluctantly shook Senior Byung-ho's hand, and with maximum reluctance, even gave him a tiny business smile.

“Jesus. I didn't wash them before anyway, but now I guess I'll never wash my hands again.”

“Ah, oppa, please.”

“Of course I'm joking, Choa….”

“You're not joking, oppa.”

“Byung-ho doesn't wash his hands, either. He even wipes his butt with them.”

“Gyeongwon?”

Since Utaha unnie was coming with us, the A-class was headed to the toughest site among the entry-type gate field-trip locations. It's a B+ rank, which may sound low, but it's the same difficulty as the Desert Mausoleum we went to back then.

Of course, that place was a dungeon structure, so its difficulty rating system is a little different from that of an entry-type gate, but even accounting for that, it comes out to around B- by dungeon-structure standards. It's on the outskirts of the Gasan-dong Digital Complex in Geumcheon District, and because Nova owns the gate, there are a few Nova people around too.

All of my golems are currently off work to prepare for my field trip. If something looks like it might become a problem, I can call Grandpa Galahad, Bradamante, Suri, twenty-five soldiers, five cavalrymen, thirty house fairies, five blacksmiths, and even Ophelia!

Now that I say it out loud, that's a ridiculous number. Oh right, five maids too. But those guys can't fight, can they? Anyway….

“Minyum! If it gets hard, tell me! I'll call everyone else too!”

ㅡClack!

“You said I can do it by myself? Hehe, okay then. Doggy, do your best too, okay?!”

ㅡBeep!!

Since everyone seemed to be finished preparing, Teacher Baek Sangjun gave us a very 500-line... no, not that much—just a brief rundown of the precautions.

“Okay, does anyone know what this is.”

“A gun.”

“It's a flare gun. If something goes wrong, shoot it straight up into the sky. It's loaded, so the team leader is carrying it, and you must fire it when danger strikes. Got it?”

-“Yes~”-

Like last time, the expedition was split into Senior Gyeongwon's team and Senior Byung-ho's team, but since we're clearing the same route, it's basically just a 26-person expedition, 24+2. Utaha unnie is on our side.

“All right, let's go in. The teacher is coming in with you too, so don't worry. Don't chicken out—be aggressive, but that doesn't mean showing off against an opponent you can't beat. It means fight actively. Understood?”

“But teacher, are you stronger than Utaha unnie? Why are you helping us?”

“Hmm….”

Teacher Baek Sangjun was left speechless by Choa's brutal honesty. Utaha unnie, who had been listening from the side, even stepped in to cover for Teacher Baek Sangjun.

“W-well, there's such a thing as combat skill and experience….”

“You're kind, unnie.”

“Enough chatter, get in there already. Let's see if you can save these guys.”

“Mwahaha.”

This is going to be so fun.