Chapter 7
“Would you… like to eat together? I… I'm small, so I can only eat half anyway~!”
The offer to eat together.
In effect, it was like asking someone she'd met for the first time that day to share a table.
Considering how I usually do nothing but browse the gallery, I wonder what possessed me to do something like this….
I had to ask.
I felt like I could only resist browsing the gallery if I had someone with me.
The reason I'd been picking up and putting down my terminal the whole time earlier was that I'd almost given in.
I'd planned to take a day off from the gallery to make the gallery users squirm, but I almost replied on reflex to a post looking for me.
‘No gallery today. No gallery today. No gallery today—.’
The worst disease a modern person can get is definitely internet addiction, no matter how I look at it.
I couldn't even hold back without someone else's help.
Fortunately, the woman who'd tied up my hair accepted my offer….
“Thank you so much for inviting me to eat, little miss…!”
And so, a one-day party to keep Baek San-a off the gallery while eating delicious food was formed.
* * *
I lived alone for an immeasurable amount of time.
I often made friends, found companions, or had subordinates, but maybe because I didn't have a set lifespan, in the end they all left.
So at some point, I stopped going out of my way to make friends first.
If someone approached me, I might end up becoming friends with them.
“When the world is safe again someday, we'll be able to eat all kinds of ramen. The chef here said he's a ramen master, so as long as he can get a few fresh ingredients, he can make new menu items.”
“New menu items?! What do you think they'll start with?”
“Since plants are easier to grow than animals, maybe miso ramen or shoyu ramen?”
“Just imagining it is amaaazing….”
“Y-you're drooling.”
“Slurp.”
But this woman, Cheong Harin.
At least when it came to food, we got along pretty well.
She was even incredibly good at describing it.
No, I swear, just listening to her made me feel the flavor and texture!
It was the first time I'd spent the whole wait for food talking about food and drooling.
Cheong Harin was a food lover on a whole different level from Mr. Woo, who only ate for survival.
I liked that attitude and made an additional offer without thinking.
I needed someone beside me to keep from browsing the gallery anyway!
“I don't think half a bowl will fill you up… How about we have another meal at a different place?”
“I-is that okay?!”
“My treat.”
I wanted to use the terminal Woo Cheonyeop gave me as little as possible, but I figured treating someone else to a meal was nothing to worry about.
‘He said it was a shell company, so couldn't we just say someone came to register with the office and the representative treated them to a meal while interviewing them? Like an interview expense.’
Though it was a pet, not the representative, who was treating her.
The books probably wouldn't get into that kind of detail anyway.
“Damn, if only I had money, I'd be the one treating you. Sorry, my living expenses are really….”
Of course.
I had my reasons for treating you, too.
Don't feel bad.
Besides, it's not my money anyway.
“It's okay, it's okay~.”
“Thank you so much!!”
Cheong Harin, apparently moved, bowed to me again and again.
…Though she was so grateful that she kept thanking me even while we moved to the next restaurant and ate, I had to stop her.
Only when we were leaving the second restaurant did she return to normal and ask in a voice full of curiosity:
“By the way, San-a, are you a fixer?”
“No? Why?”
“Oh, really? I asked because most people who are financially comfortable these days are fixers, but I guess that's not the case.”
According to what Cheong Harin said next, the jobs available at institutions that served as the city's backbone were extremely limited. Aside from the citizens who worked there, most people lived worse than fixers.
With anomalies flooding in and threatening humanity's right to survive, fixers who dealt with them and the military on the outskirts of the city received the best treatment.
Basically, it was rare to see anyone generous.
Cheong Harin asked again.
“Or, is your father a fixer?”
“That’s not it either, but why? You sound like you hope he is.”
Her face quickly filled with worry.
We'd gotten along well and talked freely, but she seemed to realize she'd crossed the line a little just now.
“Ah, sorry. I should've just eaten in peace, but I unconsciously started asking questions about your background….”
“It's okay. You kept asking, so I actually got curious.”
Cheong Harin, who'd been watching my reaction, scratched her cheek and cautiously told me about her situation.
“Well… the place I used to work went under overnight. But ever since I entered society, I've only ever been a fixer, so I've never thought about any other kind of work. I guess I'm at the point where I have to apply to every office I have any connections to.”
“You were a fixer?”
“Ah, yeah! Do I not look like one…? Hehe.”
“Not really.”
“Heh. But, well… I get it. The work I used to do wasn't anything impressive…. It was mostly support work, like controlling the area and supplying materials when an anomaly incident happened. I never even faced an anomaly directly….”
…Wasn't that way too different from the exploits of fixers I'd heard about on the Fixer Gallery?
‘So you had to be important enough to brag about it on the gallery.’
If I were interviewing candidates for a fixer office, Cheong Harin would've been rejected on the spot, but….
Gasp! I'm an anomaly, aren't I?
If Cheong Harin is a weakling, that's actually good for me, isn't it?
‘Compared to a human like Woo Cheonyeop, she's the best.’
Anomaly wavelengths are always detectable, whether the anomaly is good or bad.
For sensitive people, even eating beside someone with a strong wavelength can be uncomfortable.
Woo Cheonyeop, armed with all sorts of powerful Sephira, is a prime example.
But the wavelength I sensed from Cheong Harin was zero.
She was so comfortable that I could even doze off beside her.
You could say she was the perfect candidate for a prospective meal buddy.
‘I don't really like eating with other people….’
On days like today when I needed to keep myself off the gallery, Cheong Harin would be helpful.
And after I'd gone through all the restaurants on my list, her restaurant recommendations would come in handy.
And aside from those other reasons, she didn't seem like someone I'd regret befriending….
‘I wondered when I heard she was a Cheong, but seeing as her company suddenly went under, it's almost certain she was with the Cheong Clan Alliance.’
It wasn't intentional, but when the Cheong Clan Alliance got crushed, she lost her livelihood.
Somehow, I felt like looking after her.
‘Would it be hard to register her with our office? We could hire her as another employee.’
I had an idea, but I couldn't act on it immediately. First, I had to use the terminal I'd sealed away from myself.
I wasn't going to use the terminal while I was with Cheong Harin, at least….
“You don't happen to be out of money for food even today, do you?”
“No, I can buy survival food at a convenience store! Why?”
After this food tour was over, I should ask Woo Cheonyeop.
Something like, couldn't we hire one person to feed the pet—?
If I explained that she was a poor person who'd lost her livelihood because of yesterday's incident, I could probably persuade him.
“Then that's a relief~.”
* * *
It took a full day just to review half of the Cheong Clan Alliance and isolation facility files.
Woo Cheonyeop, worn out and sprawled on a folding bed, received just one message.
The Buksabu chief only contacted him when necessary or flew over in a drone like last time, so it was obvious who had sent the message without even looking.
[Baek San-a: Buksabu Deputy, sir]
[Baek San-a: I have a request of you]
[Baek San-a: Could we hire just one fixer for the Ghost Office~?]
[Baek San-a: Someone to feed Baek San-a, maybe…]
[Baek San-a: They're a poor person who lost their job when the Cheong Clan Alliance went down……]
…Hadn't they talked everything through about this yesterday?
Oh. Had he stopped short of giving her the authority because she wanted to be a pet?
He should've just given it to her yesterday.
‘Maybe it was a mistake to let her do nothing but laze around during isolation.’
When he first met her, Baek San-a had seemed quite enthusiastic.
Half a year in isolation had turned her into a total NEET.
At least it was fortunate that the incident happened and she got out after only half a year.
If she had spent the full year, how much more reluctant would she have been to go downtown?
But Baek San-a going downtown was currently the only condition under which Woo Cheonyeop could reunite with his younger sister.
He was going through all this as a Buksabu official for that reason; he couldn't just stand by and watch.
‘I should use this opportunity to apply a little pressure.’
The Ghost Office currently had a fake identity that existed only as data serving as its representative.
Woo Cheonyeop held the authority to manage the office, but he could hand it over to anyone he wanted at any time.
The authority to hire employees or use the office's fund account, for example.
In other words, he could let Baek San-a get whatever people or things she needed on her own.
If people who wanted to work under the office started gathering, the office would naturally grow.
Cheong Harin seemed passionate about finding a job, so maybe she could get Baek San-a, an addict too lazy to move, moving.
‘If the office runs well, Contribution Points will accumulate on their own, and going downtown will happen naturally.’
More than anything, exposing Baek San-a to that kind of environment would give him something to monitor and report to the Management Bureau: her choices.
The Management Bureau was always desperate to discover harmless, new, and unusual anomalies.
So Woo Cheonyeop readily made one proposal to Baek San-a.
…But first, he had to give her a warning.
[Woo Cheonyeop: First, don't call me Buksabu Deputy]
[Woo Cheonyeop: It'd be a problem if someone saw or heard you calling me that]
[Baek San-a: Hooooooly crap]
[Baek San-a: I'll be carefuuuuul]
[Woo Cheonyeop: That's enough about that]
[Woo Cheonyeop: About what you asked for]
[Woo Cheonyeop: If you check the terminal I gave you for meals, there's an office management app on it too]
[Baek San-a: Wasn't it in a no-permission state??]
[Baek San-a: Wasn't it just a corporate card?]
[Baek San-a: ? What]
[Baek San-a: Why are all these functions unlocked???]
[Woo Cheonyeop: I was going to unlock them yesterday, but you seemed too lazy, so I just did it now]
[Woo Cheonyeop: All the representative's permissions are unlocked, so hire or fire people, take on requests, do whatever you want]
But Baek San-a didn't move according to Woo Cheonyeop's intentions.
Hadn't he said it before? Over the past half year, Baek San-a had become an anomaly that could be summed up in two words: sloth and gluttony.
[Baek San-a: No, for now I just need you to hire someone to feed me…]
[Baek San-a: Could you just do it for me……]
[Baek San-a: I'm not good at managing things………]
[Baek San-a: In the first place, it makes no sense to just hand representative authority to a pet who only stuffs their face and browses the gallery…………]
[Woo Cheonyeop: You're a ‘self-proclaimed’ pet]
[Baek San-a: Ehh~? I'm a Buksabu-approved pet, though? I absolutely refuse to give up this safe-looking image]
[Woo Cheonyeop: It's not as if pets are always safe… There must be a place where the pet is the representative]
[Baek San-a: Why do I feel like I know which place you mean]
[Baek San-a: No, but isn't that a different caaaase?]
[Baek San-a: That pet physically chews up anomalies, so that's why]
It seemed the bait he'd offered wasn't enough to tempt her.
Then how about this?
[Woo Cheonyeop: You never know]
[Woo Cheonyeop: If you manage the office well, maybe they'll completely remove the expulsion device around your neck]
[Baek San-a: What]
[Woo Cheonyeop: I can speak to the higher-ups for you… but I trust someone as quick-witted as you has figured it out]
[Woo Cheonyeop: We need a pretext. A ‘result’ that looks good to anyone]
[Baek San-a: U-ummmm]
[Woo Cheonyeop: And it's not as if you don't know]
[Woo Cheonyeop: That the office representative gets a portion of the fixer's Contribution Points]
[Baek San-a: A commission!]
Perhaps she was taking a long time to think it over; Baek San-a didn't reply for a while.
It wasn't until Woo Cheonyeop's eyes were about to close from exhaustion that her reply came back.
[Baek San-a: Still, for now, I'll just hire someone to feed the pet…]
[Baek San-a: (I'm absolutely not dragging this out because I want Team Leader Woo to manage the office for me)]
A response that wasn't particularly positive or negative.
“You were going to do it eventually, so why keep dragging your feet….”
Woo Cheonyeop squeezed his eyes shut.
He resolved never to do the work Baek San-a was supposed to do herself.