# 60
60. The Maid Left Alone (4)
He answered casually.
"Because I've used it often."
"You do this kind of thing often?"
"This kind of thing, only sometimes when I get introduced."
"That's unexpected."
"I hear that a lot."
The pen moved in his hand, making a pleasant scratching sound. It was a practiced motion, as if he had really written often. When I quietly watched him, he glanced at me.
"What."
"No, I'm just surprised you can read too."
"Of course."
"Then why don't you do something other than manual labor? I mean, sitting-down work."
"Who would hire someone like me for that kind of work? They'd hire someone more outstanding and educated. They say even the same writing looks better when written by a smart person."
Such pitiful words flowed out so matter-of-factly. He didn't seem bothered either. But the meaning within wasn't light. Rather, that calmness seemed to reveal the discrimination he had faced all along.
Status brings discrimination proportional to its difference. Moreover, for those whose status was unclear, the discrimination was even more severe.
A life that wouldn't matter even if it ended. Hadn't I experienced what that was like to the bone?
Knowing that, I couldn't easily bring up words. When I fell silent, he didn't speak further either. The scratching sound of the pen spread through the room again. But the brief silence became heavier and more uncomfortable than before, almost unbearable. Eventually, I opened my mouth again.
"What do you like so much about Alicia?"
"Is her name Alicia?"
"...You asked me to introduce you when you didn't even know her name?"
"Hah, I've never even had a conversation with her."
A sigh escaped me at his stammering. My feelings that had briefly tried to turn serious were in vain. At my reaction, he shouted.
"I-I could not know!"
"Right, right. So why do you like her?"
At my question, he calmed his anger and reddened. I frowned as if I'd seen something I shouldn't have. Unbothered, he answered shyly.
"She's pretty."
It was a blunt answer, but not incomprehensible.
Even though she was my blood, Alicia's appearance was truly proper. She even matched the description of being beautiful. How could she not, having maintained and adorned herself her whole life.
Of course, Alicia also knew her strengths well. So she feigned innocence to seduce men, and enjoyed receiving confessions.
But Alicia had no interest in him. None at all, absolutely none. His predetermined future was truly pitiful.
"Do you just like her because she's pretty?"
"She's not just pretty, she's too pretty. I fell in love at first sight the moment I saw her. She was so pretty even just standing still. She's exactly the woman of my ideal type. When our eyes met and she smiled at me, I was so happy."
Seeing his ecstatic face as if recalling their first meeting, I was dumbfounded. He went on and on, but in the end, he liked her because she was pretty. He's fallen hard. I scratched my neck and shook my head.
"You haven't even exchanged a single word with her."
"Still... Haven't you ever felt that way? Heart racing just from watching someone."
He suddenly asked. Just as I was about to retort that of course I hadn't, the newspaper content I'd just seen flashed through my mind. A man and woman who suited each other so well, faces smiling affectionately.
The peaceful face that had once looked at me raked through my mind again. Sitting across from each other sharing meaningless conversation, me acting stiffly with an awkward tone, and that man who had smiled at such a me. That unfamiliar smile.
"Hey, hey. What's wrong with you?"
A hand waved in front of my eyes. The affectionately smiling man disappeared, and a man with wide eyes appeared. Seeing his face examining my condition, my dazed mind returned. I let out a hollow laugh. Memories I had forgotten for so long sometimes surfaced this vividly, out of nowhere.
That shouldn't happen. It's because of the newspaper I just saw. I shouldn't have looked.
Smiling bitterly, I buried my face in the paper. The man kept trying to examine my face. I buried my face deeper to avoid his gaze. My vision blurred, making the letters hard to see. I definitely didn't want to show my face, which was bound to look strange. Long bangs were useful at times like this.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"No."
"What?"
"I said no. That kind of thing. Absolutely. Never happened."
"..."
"And give up on Alicia. You don't suit each other."
I always say this, but it's advice for your sake. I murmured thus and ended the conversation. With my face still buried in the paper, I focused on transcribing. Pressing the pen nib firmly onto the paper, the scratching sound rang loudly.
"But since when could you read?"
"A long time ago."
"A long time ago, when?"
"..."
The silence was a warning not to speak to me. When I didn't respond, the gaze on my head felt stinging. I thought he'd ask why I was ignoring him, but this time he didn't try to talk to me either.
A day in this place passes quickly. I received today's wages and held them in my arms. Transcribing pays quite well.
When I opened the door, the sky was dyed in red light. As I stared blankly upward, he followed behind and tapped my shoulder.
"Hey, what's your name?"
"Why do you ask."
"We'll be seeing each other often from now on, so it'd be good to know. My name is Johnny."
He greeted me brightly. I looked back at his beaming face with a dull expression.
"No need to know."
"What?"
"And don't act like we're close."
Connecting with people is troublesome. Five years had passed, so there was no reason to run away anymore, but I still wanted to be careful. Besides, getting involved with someone interested in Alicia had never turned out well. He kept annoying me to introduce them. It was better to avoid troublesome things in advance.
Leaving him bewildered, I turned around. The streets were busy with passersby. Perhaps because a large plaza was located just beyond the next building, there were many shops and street vendors around here, so it was usually crowded, but in the evening, it was hard to even walk. Thanks to that, I kept getting bumped by people as I walked.
Coincidentally, people were pouring out of the plaza. As I pushed through the surging crowd, I suddenly realized I had left my bag behind. Lost in other thoughts, I had completely forgotten. With a sigh, I turned around again.
It was when I reached Emily's house, pushing through the crowd I had just emerged from again. I saw someone standing in front of her house. Two adult men wearing black coats and narrow-brimmed black hats were conversing with Emily.
Emily was dealing with them with an annoyed face. However, the men had rather serious expressions.
Who are they? I also held my breath and observed them.
Then someone tapped my shoulder. My body froze to the point where I couldn't even scream. I just moved my lips and rolled my eyes. Who, who is it. Who. Struggling to move my stiff body, I turned around.
And I met the face of someone looking at me with a startled expression.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
"...Ha. Haha."
The tension in my frozen body released. A sigh of relief burst out. The man who had introduced himself as Johnny was standing behind me. Confirming his face, my tension eased.
"What are you doing here?"
"I forgot my bag... What about you, why haven't you left yet?"
"I was about to leave. More importantly, you! You just ignored me and left!"
"Why do you keep yelling. You're noisy."
"What? Hey!"
When he shouted, I panicked and covered his mouth. The men were still in front of Emily's house. As I glanced back, Johnny struggled, making muffled sounds. Dragging him who couldn't stay still, I went into the alley right next to us.
Only after hiding did I let him go. Johnny immediately spat out. It wasn't even that much? I was dumbfounded but let it pass, and hiding behind the wall, I observed Emily's house again.
Johnny, who had been watching me, asked what I was looking at. I murmured to be quiet. But my eyes were fixed on the men confronting Emily.
When I didn't respond further, Johnny also stood slightly behind me and observed the front.
"Ah, they're doing that again."
"Do you know who they are?"
When I asked in surprise, he looked at me as if wondering why I didn't know.
"You're the one who doesn't know? They're the guys going around saying they're looking for people lately."
"They're looking for people?"
"Yeah. They say they're looking for people to work. They're famous lately. Two men in black clothes giving off a dark atmosphere. Seems to match exactly."
"Famous?"
"Yeah. They look a bit shady. And their conditions are funny."
Johnny suddenly laughed. He seemed to have recalled the conditions. When I motioned with my eyes asking what they were, he continued speaking.
"They say they only look for pretty people."
"What?"
"The people who were offered to work together were all beautiful women or handsome men. In other words, appearance is the condition. They say the employment conditions are incredible enough to make you gasp."
With that, he also mentioned that someone he knew had received an offer. I looked at the front again. Whether her conversation with the men had ended, Emily was gone. Instead, the two men in black were talking to each other. The surroundings were noisy, so I couldn't hear well what they were discussing.
They only look for pretty or handsome people? It was such a blatant condition that my face frowned. Is it the taste of these men's employer? Could it be a strange job? Selling their bodies, for instance. That possibility was fully there. They say people in that line go around recruiting directly.
"Did the person you know go with those men?"
"No. They said it felt unpleasant so they refused."
Definitely, they were strange people in many ways. Thinking so, I was keeping a closer watch on the men when, suddenly, they turned their heads this way. I quickly hid my body behind the wall. Johnny, who also hid, looked at me strangely.
"What's wrong?"
When I didn't answer, Johnny tried to peek outside again. I grabbed him and pushed him in the opposite direction.
"Hey, hey, what. What are you doing!"
"Just shut up and let's go. Okay?"
I forcibly pushed his back as he kept trying to look behind. Johnny walked while grumbling. I quickened my pace while glancing back. The men I had just seen floated in my mind. I didn't know what was what, but it felt ominous. And when things felt ominous, avoiding them was the best.
When I came out after washing, the sky was dark. It was late, but Alicia showed no sign of coming. Had something happened? She was the type to dart off somewhere if left alone, so I was worried. Then I recalled the men I'd seen during the day. They said they only looked for pretty people—could she have been caught by them?
A sense of foreboding surged. The thought that it might be so gradually grew larger.
Eventually, as I was getting ready to go find Alicia, the door suddenly burst open. Startled, I turned around to see Alicia entering in a huff.
"So annoying!"
She's throwing a temper right after coming in.
"Why are you so late? Did something happen?"
"Hah! I ran into some unlucky incident on the way here."
Alicia sat on a nearby chair with a sullen face. She leaned diagonally against the backrest and crossed her legs. Seeing her clearly showing her bad mood, something must have really happened.