Pretending to be her boyfriend out of nowhere.
Ian had come to a fresh realization today: when something was too absurd, it wouldn't even elicit a hollow laugh. He pressed his fingers to his throbbing forehead and let out a long breath.
"A-ah!"
At the sound of his breath, Yuna realized her explanation had been insufficient and hastily added more.
"W-well! Seol is coming up soon, right?! So my sister decided to come home for the holiday?!"
"……."
"B-but my sister worries a lot. She even asks me every day if I've been bewitched by some weird guy."
"……So."
"So! To tell her not to worry, I-I lied that I had a good boyfriend, that I was happy right now!"
"……Haah."
Ian slipped a cigarette between his fingers and rolled it, letting out a deep sigh. Hearing that, Yuna flinched for a moment, but cautiously opened her mouth again.
"My sister said she wants to see my boyfriend's face this time. So I was going to ask you a favor…."
"……Is there no one else you can ask besides me?"
"Y-you're the only guy I know…."
With that answer, Ian had nothing more to say. He fell silent for a moment and roughly wedged the unlit cigarette between his lips.
Honestly, it wasn't such a burdensome request. Pretending to be her lover? Doing that for a little while was no big deal.
The problem was simply that Ian was quite unfamiliar with such behavior, and that he also had no dating experience.
Thinking about it, it was only natural. During his school days, he had been ostracized for being an orphan, and after becoming an adult, he had worked tirelessly just to earn a living.
Dating? Where on earth would he have had the leisure for something like that?
It wasn't that he had never received confessions before, but life had been hard, so he had rejected them all.
He didn't regret that choice. After all, he was doing everything to survive; how could he date while panting from hunger?
Anyway.
Setting aside the difficulty of the request itself, the content was honestly quite off-putting. It wasn't something he couldn't do, but doing it without any compensation was a bit embarrassing. He needed at least something coming his way to consider it positively.
"A-a wish!"
As if Yuna had reached a similar conclusion, she shouted brightly before Ian could open his mouth. A soft rustling sound, like a blanket brushing, slipped between her words.
"If you do me this favor, I-I'll grant you one wish with no compensation too!"
"……How do you know what I'll ask for?"
"……W-what are you going to ask for?"
A hint of anxiety, shame, and determination laced her voice. Ian let out a deep sigh and placed the cigarette he'd been holding between his fingers on the table.
"Forget the wish. When we're resolving a request later, I'll ask you to accompany me as a favor, and we'll call it even. Two times, though."
"T-that's okay with you?"
"A small monetary reward would be even better."
"I'll transfer it right now!"
"What? No, I was joking—"
Ding.
Before Ian could finish speaking, one million won had been transferred.
"I-I won't take it back. Do as much as I gave you…!"
"……."
Instead of answering, Ian wore an ambiguous expression.
Accepting money to pretend to be her boyfriend. Wasn't this basically a rental boyfriend?
…Thinking about it further would only bring self-loathing, so Ian stopped himself.
*
Yuna's sister planned to visit on the second day of the Seol holiday. The day before, Ian and Yuna met in advance to have a meeting that wasn't really a meeting.
"M-my sister's personality is completely different from mine. She isn't shy at all and is really outgoing."
A small cafe at lunchtime.
In the crowded spot filled with office workers who had come to rest, the two of them conversed over their respective drinks.
Naturally, Han Yuna's drink was a strawberry yogurt smoothie. As she stirred the straw, the pinkish liquid gently swirled inside the glass cup.
"The type of person people call an 'insider,' you know."
"The complete opposite of you."
"I-I already told you that. Did you really have to say it again…?"
"Is she suspicious?"
"Probably not a small amount…."
Han Yuna trailed off and took a long sip of her smoothie. As sweetness spread throughout her mouth, her face softened slightly.
"Anyway, the important thing is tricking her into thinking you and I are the perfect couple. Can you do it…?"
"But to do that, we'd have to do couple-like things first, wouldn't we?"
Ian glanced at Yuna.
"Hey, can you do skinship with me?"
"……D-do we really have to……?"
"Who knows. Won't it depend on how your sister acts?"
He let out a deep sigh and leaned back against the chair.
"I think we'll have to hold hands, at the very least…."
"Hueeeh…."
Han Yuna looked down at Ian's pale hand and blushed. Just imagining holding hands with him made her face burn.
Ian wasn't much different either. On the outside, he pretended to be perfectly calm, as if nothing was wrong, but inwardly he was quite embarrassed.
He knew Han Yuna was a mage. He could rationally understand that her identity as a mage was greater than her gender as a 'woman.' If she had been a complete stranger with no connection to him, Ian wouldn't have cared much about it, just as he had with Gim Yul.
But he planned to build a continuing relationship with her. No matter what, he couldn't help being conscious of it.
'It's best to hypnotize myself into thinking this is strictly business.'
Thinking so, Ian stared at Yuna. Despite her gloomy expression, she was quite beautiful; he tried to see her as nothing more than a stone lying by the roadside.
Fortunately, it had quite an effect. Perhaps the skill with which he had handled the grimoire of an Outer God hadn't faded; Ian opened his mouth feeling more comfortable than before.
"Let's not practice beforehand under the guise of getting a head start. The picture would be too strange."
"Ungh…."
"Then, let's wrap up the meeting here for now. Shall we talk about the request?"
Ian's eyes changed as he showed Yuna his phone screen. Yuna licked the smoothie off her lips and peered at the screen.
[Vampire High-Tier Elimination Request]
[This request is led and compensated by the Cartel, not vampire hunters.]
[According to the Cartel's information network, the number of high-tier vampires currently hiding on the Korean Peninsula is three. Of them, one has been located and is hiding in a small village on the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do. Its disguised form is that of an ordinary girl. Outwardly, there is little difference from a human.]
[The vampire's ability, according to the transferred information, is mind-reading. It can be defended against with a sturdy mental barrier, but it is practically impossible for most.]
[The request's objective is to capture or kill said vampire. If killed, the corpse must absolutely be secured.]
[Reward: 300 million for capture, 100 million if procured as a corpse.]
[The reward for this request will be divided by N if there are companions. Please take note.]
Having read the fairly long request form, Yuna let out a low murmur and tilted her head.
"Vampires? Y-you mean vampires, right?"
"Right. You know ghouls have been running rampant lately. These are the ones causing it."
"Ah, I think I've heard about that…."
Yuna nodded and fiddled with the straw with her finger.
"U-um… the reward is good, and everything seems fine. How difficult is the request?"
"Who knows. I've never faced a high-tier vampire before. But I'm planning to go with veterans, so it shouldn't be as hard as you're worried."
Ian took back his phone and quietly checked the contacts.
Albert and Benjamin.
The names of the professional hunters who had accompanied him on his first vampire hunt were clearly listed beyond the screen. Beneath them, Cecilia's name was also listed.
"We'll be going with two vampire hunters and one Vatican nun. With you and me, that makes five."
"I-isn't that too many……?"
"This is better than bullshitting to take more money for no reason."
Ian put his phone in his pocket and answered. As he downed the Americano, half-melted ice and all, a chill briefly swirled inside his body.
"And well, it's not set in stone yet. They'll come if I call, but they might not be able to make it if something comes up. Then it'll just be the two of us."
"Hueeeh… I-it's my first time facing a vampire…."
"It won't be that hard."
Ian spoke dismissively and placed his empty Americano cup on the table. Yuna also finished the last sip of her smoothie.
"I don't know exactly when we'll take the request. At the earliest after Seol is over, and when there are no other matters. It won't go past February, so clear your schedule accordingly."
"I-I have nothing but time… ehehe… don't worry…."
Ian let out a short laugh at her words, spoken with reddened earlobes.
After finishing their conversation, the two left the cafe and took care of a late lunch at a nearby restaurant. They went through the bizarre procedure of cafe-then-restaurant, but the food was reasonably tasty and they were full, so they didn't mind much.
"Then shall we part ways here today? Where should I go tomorrow?"
As they were leaving after paying for the meal, Ian asked with his hands in his pockets. Yuna said, "Hold on," and checked a message that had just come in from her sister.
"Um… she says a c-cafe, by 11 in the morning. Is that o-okay?"
"Eleven… no problem. Just send me the address."
"Y-yeah!"
Ian set her answer aside and fiddled with the cigarette pack he'd stowed in his chest pocket. He wanted to smoke one, but stopped because Yuna was beside him.
"See you tomorrow."
"A-ah, okay. Th-thank you for going along with this."
"Forget it. I've received a lot too. Don't worry about it."
"T-then I will."
Ian let out a short laugh at her quick change of attitude and turned on his heel. Then he slowly waved his hand.
"I'm heading off first. Get home safe."
"Yeah. S-see you tomorrow…."
The next day, after exchanging those farewells.
Ian arrived at the cafe ten minutes before the appointed time and waited for the two. A short while later, the cafe door opened with a jingling sound, and a pair of sisters with similar faces entered.
One was Han Yuna. Perhaps having put on makeup she didn't usually wear, her face felt a bit more radiant than when he had seen her yesterday. It seemed she usually went around bare-faced.
The other was a woman similar in appearance to Han Yuna, but with a completely different atmosphere.
"Ah."
She had been wearing a rather pleased smile, but upon seeing Ian sitting alone, she began whispering with Yuna. When Yuna nodded, she made an expression of surprise and grinned mischievously.
"Ehehe, my sister's got good taste, too."
"U-Unnie…!"
Their faintly audible voices allowed one to guess the content of their conversation. Thinking inwardly that today would be a difficult day, Ian smiled.
"Ah, honey."
"……Hiyaaak!"
At Ian's ad-lib, Yuna's face dyed bright red.
[Vwooom!!]
The Hand of Re-creation, which had been docile until now, vibrated as if it couldn't stand this.