Chapter 59 - The Great One (3)

"Ahhh-!? Why did you hit me! Seriously!"

Soo-ah grumbled while rubbing her head, then brazenly typed in my home address on her phone's delivery app and ordered food.

"I'm getting salmon sushi~ Do you want some too, mister?"

"I'm good. I already ate dinner."

My eyes naturally narrowed to slits.

So annoying....

Still, she was an ill-mannered brat, but if she'd shown up out of the blue like this, there had to be a reason.

For now, I offered her something to drink and tried to start a conversation.

"Water, milk, or green tea?"

"Warm tea, please."

Soo-ah said this and casually snuck a glance at Yo-han's back as he prepared the tea.

'Hmm~ So he does give things when asked.'

He hit her, sure, but he held back when he did it.

She'd noticed this before too, but he seemed indifferent while still looking after people.

Of course, that didn't mean Soo-ah underestimated Yo-han.

Well, everyone has buttons that set them off when pushed.

From what Soo-ah could tell, Yo-han had a sort of... meltdown? A danger button.

As long as she steered clear of that, she could poke and prod him all she wanted, and whether it was just his personality, he'd let most of it slide.

At the very least, she could feel that he actually acknowledged her rather than ignoring her.

And then the green tea was ready.

"Here, warm tea. So, what's the reason you came?"

I brought the small table over, set the warm tea down, and spoke.

"If you're just here because you're bored, there's nothing fun to do. Eat your sushi when it arrives and go home."

"Oh, you'll let me eat the sushi here?"

"You already ordered it, so what can I do? If you take it all the way home from here, it'll go bad, and you'll be hungry."

"...I'm not here because I'm bored."

Soo-ah pressed her lips together for a moment, sitting on the edge of the bed with her legs stretched out, tapping the floor with her feet before she spoke.

"Mister, can you tutor me?"

"...What?"

Private tutoring. It wasn't exactly a strange thing to say.

But it was unexpected, something I had no connection to.

I was technically a former college student, and tutoring was something any college student could do, but....

Naturally, the moment the words "philosophy major" entered the equation, the story changed entirely.

Getting called "teacher, teacher" by people older than yourself, receiving fruit baskets as a tutor... that was a privilege reserved for kids in STEM majors.

Not that the work wasn't hard, of course. There'd be plenty of complaints from parents too. Anyway.

The untouchable caste of the humanities.

If a philosophy major had the nerve to offer tutoring, what they'd receive in return wouldn't be money.

It would be ridicule and the fury of parents trying to protect their children.

'Booo... Have some shame and get lost!'

'Get away from my child right now-!? You freak!'

...Well, regardless.

There was no way Soo-ah had brought this up because she genuinely wanted tutoring for her grades.

From what I'd seen of the way she talked all this time, she didn't seem like the type to care about grades in the first place.

"Tell me more."

"Hmm~ So, basically, will you be hired as my magic tutor slash bodyguard?"

As expected, it wasn't about academics.

But magic tutoring... It was an out-of-nowhere proposal, but.

She'd watched the zombies get blasted to dust by magic beams at the campground, so it made sense she'd be interested.

Even I would be.

But I had no reason to teach her, and no intention of playing bodyguard.

"If that's what this is about, no. For bodyguard work, go consult with a licensed professional agency."

I am my own top priority.

Saving other people's lives on the side while taking out anomalies was one thing.

But when push came to shove, when some unexpected situation arose...

I didn't want to risk danger trying to protect someone else's life.

At the quick refusal, Soo-ah was equally quick to add more.

"No! I'm just using the word bodyguard loosely! Not actual guarding... Okay! I'll just tag along on my own.

Think of me as an assistant and teach me magic on the side. You're basically half-unemployed when you don't have work coming in, mister.

So I'll hire you for about a week. How about it?"

Half-unemployed... that was technically true....

Anyway, after listening to the flood of Soo-ah's rapid-fire words,

I had something that nagged at me, so I asked.

"I don't really mind, but why specifically a week?"

Soo-ah lowered her gaze slightly and spoke carefully.

"...The truth is, I think I'm going to be invited to some kind of dinner gathering within the next week."

Summarizing what Soo-ah told me, it went roughly like this.

There was a corporate chairman called Chairman Kim who hosted a suspicious dinner gathering at regular intervals, and Soo-ah's father had been periodically invited to it.

Soo-ah's father always declined every invitation he received.

So this time, it seemed Chairman Kim was planning to invite Soo-ah to the dinner gathering instead of her father, Namgung Soo.

Even if Soo-ah said no, he'd force the issue.

I listened to everything and thought for a moment.

It could be written off as Soo-ah overreacting, but.

"Hmm...."

Based on what I'd heard so far, even I felt something was off.

It could just be a normal dinner gathering, but still.

If a corporate chairman was going out of his way to gather people and host an event, it wouldn't be an ordinary meal.

It was probably the kind of gathering where connections were made and various flows of money were exchanged.

...But Soo-ah wasn't even an adult.

If the parent had declined, dragging their high school daughter into a dinner gathering was suspicious.

Some kind of purpose, some uncomfortable intent could be sensed.

And that intent was obviously not...

'Ugh! I prepared such delicious food! It's such a shame they turned down the dinner gathering... I should at least feed the daughter something tasty!'

...something like that.

'...Is he trying to force drugs on her at some drug party and use it as leverage?'

This wasn't some over-the-top soap opera.

Even I was dumbfounded by my own cliche-riddled speculation and laughed inwardly.

For now, a common-sense approach seemed best, so I spoke to Soo-ah.

Soo-ah's parents... she said she didn't have a mom.

"Have you talked to your father about this?"

At the word "father," Soo-ah's brow furrowed ever so slightly.

"What? You're lecturing me?"

"No, getting a read on the situation."

".........."

The crease in Soo-ah's brow smoothed out, and she murmured quietly.

"...I did tell him."

In Soo-ah's mind, the image of Namgung Soo surfaced, not even looking at her, speaking quietly and flatly as if telling her to stop being a bother.

"He said he'd assign more bodyguards if I was worried."

"Not bad."

Chairman Kim hadn't directly threatened Soo-ah, and for the time being, that was the best course of action.

Given that he hadn't ignored her request, it seemed he wasn't completely indifferent to his daughter.

Well, judging by Soo-ah's expression... she probably hadn't gotten the words or reaction she wanted from her dad.

But that wasn't any of my business.

"If you've got bodyguards, there's no need to hire me, is there? If you're anxious, going to Sister Ellie would be better than coming to me."

She was kind-hearted and strong in the physical sense, after all.

"I don't want to bother Ellie unnie with something like this."

"...That's an admirable thing to say. But I'm fair game?"

Soo-ah tilted her head and smiled triumphantly.

"With you, mister, it's nothing new~."

I looked at Soo-ah, sitting boldly on someone else's bed in a short dress, swinging her legs.

".........."

...Fair point. If she cared about that sort of thing, she wouldn't have shown up out of nowhere and commandeered the bed.

Then again, she did ring the doorbell, and I opened the door and let her in. If she'd broken in without ringing, I would've just thrown her out.

In any case, Soo-ah continued talking.

"The bodyguard thing was just something I threw in while I was at it. I figured I might as well learn some magic from you, mister. Your super cute assistant will help you out, so teach me magic! Okay?"

My eyes narrowed.

"...Bold statement. I like the positivity, though."

"It's not positivity, it's a fact~ I'm crazy adorable, you know~."

Ding-dong-.

The doorbell rang just then, and Soo-ah checked her phone.

"Ah! The sushi's here."

I didn't want Soo-ah going out and having the neighbors get the wrong idea.

I went out myself and brought back the sushi that had been left at the door.

"Eat this and go home tonight."

I unwrapped it and set it on the table.

"I can't say I'll do something I can't. I won't be a bodyguard. So forget the hiring fee."

Inside were a row of salmon sushi and two pieces of egg sushi.

"We'll call the magic tutoring fee even with you working as my assistant."

Charging money on top of making her work seemed a bit much.

Besides, I had to wait two weeks for the Hand of Glory to finish curing in pepper and salt.

With nothing pressing to do, I could humor her for about a week.

"Just know that magic isn't as convenient a power as you think it is."

And I didn't expect Soo-ah to stick around for long.

She was showing interest now, but once she started learning, she'd lose interest and drift away on her own.

"Hmm~ Got it."

Soo-ah nodded and handed me the two pieces of egg sushi.

"Here, this is yours, mister. You ate dinner without me."

Then she smiled triumphantly.

"See, I even look out for what's yours. Can you feel the difference in character?"

I stared at Soo-ah in silence.

'...Is she actually insane?'

Well, there was no need to react to every little joke.

I'd already eaten, but two pieces were small enough to fit.

There was no reason to turn down what was being offered.

"Sure, thanks."

The egg sushi was soft and sweet. It was good.

".........."

Soo-ah watched Yo-han quietly as she ate her sushi.

She hadn't sought out Yo-han solely because she was interested in magic....

The memory of Yo-han's voice shaking the auditorium, of him sweeping away the zombie horde at the campground, came back to her.

It was because, for this one week, being by Yo-han's side felt like the safest place.

He had a sense of danger similar to Chairman Kim's, yet different. A kind of... specialness.

If Chairman Kim was a hyena, then Yo-han was something like an elephant.

If you climbed onto an elephant's back, wouldn't a hyena stop being scary?

'Let's go~!'

'Brrrrrmmmm~!'

And....

Soo-ah found herself irrationally irritated and quietly glared at Yo-han.

...Beyond just phone calls, she'd kind of wanted to see him, too.