Episode 63

“Ah! No, we still have a few left.”

Besides the staff member answering me as if they’d completely forgotten about the plushies, several people behind them let out an “Ah” as well. Then they busily began rummaging through the boxes under the table in search of one, and no sooner had another staff member trotted over to the neighboring table and said they’d found it than I heard the rustle of a thick plastic bag.

At the same time, an all-white, round, fluffy, large bird plushie resembling a long-tailed tit made its appearance.

It was the long-tailed tit I’d seen back in the hidden dungeon. That friend who’d given us quite a hard time in Silver Spider with its gimmick of copying itself through mirrors. The gimmick was a little different, but it appeared not only in the hidden dungeon, but also as a phase two add mob in the normal dungeon.

When they said “white creature,” I’d more or less expected it. There wasn’t really anything else that deserved a name like that besides the long-tailed tit, and since its round, compact appearance was cute, it was popular enough to be mentioned often by users who’d cleared the mirror maze.

As expected, a round, downy ball of fur was the sort of character that won more than half the battle on looks alone. Since it had been made into the most expensive plushie here, you could say it had climbed pretty high for a mere add mob.

I gestured to my uncle, took the card from him, and held it out toward the staff member.

“Please take the plushie out of the bag for me.”

“Yes! Ah, and we have coupons we give out for every ten thousand won spent. Should I put them inside as well?”

“Please gather them on one side so they’re easy to take out later.”

Freed from its sealed bag and settled into my hands, the long-tailed tit plushie must have been made from high-quality materials, because the pure white fur touching my palm was incredibly soft. The tiny wings and tail attached to its sides, almost as if they were there and not there at the same time, were quite adorable in their own way too.

Big, furry plushies like this weren’t my taste, but I had my reasons for buying it. First, it was perfect for filling up the amount I needed to spend. Second, Gang Jegyeong seemed to like soft fur. And third, most importantly, I was curious what Gang Jegyeong would look like holding something this cute.

Right on cue, I saw Gang Jegyeong walking toward me with a paper bag that had only a small Dusk logo stamped on it. Facing the approaching Gang Jegyeong, I calmly took back the card, crumpled the receipt in one hand, and stuffed it into my pocket.

When he saw me holding a plushie piled high with white fur in one hand and a paper bag stuffed full of goods in the other, he looked startled.

“What… No, when I said I’d buy you something, you weren’t interested at all. What did you buy so much of?”

After asking in a hollow voice, he peered into the paper bag and began rapidly reciting numbers. Five thousand, ten thousand, fifteen thousand, thirty-nine thousand… The way the numbers kept rising made it obvious he was calculating the price of the goods. To stop Gang Jegyeong from calculating, I handed the paper bag over to my uncle entirely, and in exchange, pushed the plushie in my left hand into his arms.

“…What’s this?”

Gang Jegyeong widened his eyes and lifted the white plushie in his arms with both hands. After turning the plushie, which was three or four times larger than his own small head, this way and that, he found the long-tailed tit’s wings and carefully stroked the fur with his fingers.

During the short time we’d spent together, I’d thought Gang Jegyeong was entirely pitch-black… but unexpectedly, next to something white, he felt pure white himself. Maybe it was because of his clear, bloodless skin, pale in a way that didn’t suit someone whose job had them working outdoors.

In any case, it had been worth buying.

“Do you like plushies? You’re not allergic to fur or dust, are you?”

I asked, pressing down my satisfied feelings. Gang Jegyeong, however, maintained an expression I couldn’t tell was pleased or displeased.

“I’m not, but… wasn’t this plushie 53,000 won? The one I bought you cost…”

“You don’t put a price on gifts.”

“…Is that so?”

Gang Jegyeong, who had been disarming people with that sly smile of his since the first time we met, stared fixedly at me without any expression. It was meaningful. As if he were starting the engine to commit some kind of act.

Just as I was about to say something while meeting that gaze, Gang Jegyeong abruptly turned his head toward the staff.

“Do you still have any plushies left?”

“Ah, yes!”

“Could I have one more?”

When he immediately took out his wallet as if he were about to pay for another plushie, I hurriedly grabbed Gang Jegyeong’s arm. Whether I grabbed him or not, Gang Jegyeong tried to stretch his hand out with force, so I also put strength into stopping him. Our two arms hung in the air, not easily moving to either side as they strained against each other.

Our gazes collided. It was round two after the staring contest.

“I gave you one, so why are you trying to buy another?”

“I can buy one more, can’t I?”

“What are you going to use it for?”

“If a plushie is all alone, it might die of loneliness. I can’t leave it to pine away in solitude.”

What a load of bullshit. He was saying that, but it was obvious he intended to foist it off on me.

“Then you can stay with it, Jegyeong.”

“I’m busy working.”

“Then you can carry it around while you work, right?”

“What if I carry around the gift Goyeong gave me and it bursts or tears? I might cry.”

“Then quit your job.”

“…And Goyeong will provide for me?”

That would be absolutely perfect.

“Shall I?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

I was hurt by the voice that asked as if he meant it. I was pretty serious.

While we fiercely competed in strength without either of us going easy, at some point Gang Jegyeong’s arm began to get pushed toward me. Color rose faintly enough to show at his nape and around his eyes, and the pale lips he was biting down on were redder than before.

“Ha, no, what kind of strength…”

It was obvious at a glance that his strength was gradually draining. Since he was a bodyguard, I’d been secretly worried I might get owned, but perhaps he wasn’t as strong as I’d thought; as time passed, he grew flustered and gritted his teeth. Well, lasting this long against me, who was stupidly strong in brute force alone, was impressive in itself. Though still not as impressive as me.

“Why are you so weak? Look at you trembling.”

“I really want to throw you over my shoulder…”

“I wonder if you could even carry me on your back.”

After we held out like that for a while, the arm that had been rigid and heavy gradually became lighter. Sure enough, as if he had half given up, Gang Jegyeong relaxed a little while furrowing his brow deeply. Because of his sharp eyes, his expression looked fierce with irritation, but even so, it only felt cute to me.

Admitting defeat, Gang Jegyeong let out a short breath and lowered his arm limply.

“Don’t underestimate me. Judo is a sport where you use your opponent’s strength against them, so I can throw someone like you more than well enough, Goyeong.”

In short, he was saying I was stronger.

“Mm-hmm, got it.”

“…Why are you answering like that? Should I throw you right here?”

“If you want your face in internet news articles too, go ahead.”

Of course, even if he really did throw me, there was no way an article would come out. Scuffles of that level happened all the time, so they wouldn’t even become an issue, and I would block every article that tried to put me in it anyway.

Gang Jegyeong had said that, but he didn’t seem to actually intend to throw me; he controlled his impulsive temper by steadying his breathing. His face, heated more than before from excitement and exertion, was stunningly pretty.

He was pretty to begin with even when he was bloodlessly pale, but back then he’d felt like a porcelain doll, so right now he felt a little more human. The way he had always smiled gently like a doll, only to get worked up and huff over something trivial, was full of humanity too.

I firmly told the staff members who had gathered to watch, “Even if this person comes back later without me and asks for a plushie, absolutely do not sell him one,” then bowed to them. After that, I pushed Gang Jegyeong, who was sticking out his lip, on the back and walked out of the goods shop. The corridor was completely empty, as if the few remaining people had all gone upstairs.

We should head up soon too. But before that, there was something to do.

“Before we go up, that—give me your paper bag for a second, Jegyeong.”

“…Why?”

Gang Jegyeong, who had been tormenting the plushie I’d given him by pressing down on it with both hands, glared at me as if he wanted to kill me, his eyes full of distrust. What are you going to do now? It seemed like he was asking that.

No, if he was going to receive something, he should receive it properly. I called my uncle over, took the paper bag, placed it on the bench installed nearby, and rummaged through it diligently. The bundle of coupons the staff had neatly tied with a rubber band brushed against my fingertips, but the coupons weren’t yet. If I suddenly gave him seventy ten-thousand-won coupons, he’d freak out. Those were the finale. For now, I needed to give him something a little lighter.

“This, and this. This too. Take them.”

I put the Jeoba tribe mug and tumbler, which I could find quickly because they were packaged in square boxes, into the eco bag and handed it to Gang Jegyeong. I wanted to add one of the Eunseo tribe body pillows wedged tightly inside the paper bag too, but he was already scheduled to throw a fit over just this much.