While everyone at the Cheong-Am Center was spending their day off however they pleased, Yi Rang was having dinner with an old friend who had recently returned to Korea.
"Yo! So I line up all those Cheonrang punks, make 'em hit the deck, and give 'em a proper beatin', right? Then the Center Director damn near pisses himself and bolts, and the Deputy Director's on his knees in front of me, beggin', 'Please, I'm sorry!' They even changed the damn Center's name to Yongho Office 'cause I scared 'em that bad. Musta had 'em terrified, huh?"
Sitting across from her was Chae Da-Seon, a bear beastkin woman with long brown hair and a relaxed, mature smile.
"Rang, your Busan dialect is coming out again."
"Huh? Ahem... Standard Korean still doesn't come naturally to me, okay?"
Da-Seon did not take Yi Rang's boasting at face value.
More importantly, Rang had said plenty about the people at Cheong-Am while somehow avoiding the obvious question of what kind of Center it actually was.
"What exactly is this Cheong-Am Center you transferred to? I've never even heard of it. Is it new?"
"Well... it's not bad!
Especially the people there. You wouldn't believe what a bunch of weirdos they are..."
Yi Rang eagerly told her about Alice, who seemed competent but was surprisingly scatterbrained; Kim Ga-Eun, who acted adorable while being disturbingly obsessive; and Yu-Han, who was simply an insufferable bastard.
Da-Seon had been listening with a slight frown the entire time.
"Rang. I'm saying this as your friend. Why don't you quit being a Euthanasia Sanctioner?"
"And that Yu-Han bastard acts like he's the mature one, but he's such a picky eater—huh?"
"It's dangerous.
It's not the kind of job you should be laughing about like it's nothing.
And that Cheong-Am Center sounds suspicious."
Yi Rang's face scrunched up at the advice.
Her wounded pride might as well have been written across her forehead.
"...I can handle myself. Don't worry about it."
"But your life could be at stake."
"What are you, my mom!? Why do you have to butt into everything?
You, Dad—why does everyone keep trying to tell me how to live my life?!"
Yi Rang was genuinely angry.
To Da-Seon, however, it apparently looked like little more than a cute tantrum.
"Fine, fine. Sorry. How about three more servings of skirt steak? Cheer up."
"Tch. Fine. I can't say no to skirt steak... Just don't do it again!"
Yi Rang immediately forgot her anger and went back to devouring meat.
Da-Seon watched her with concern.
***
A few days later, after the holiday was over.
Alice was gradually getting used to life in Old Seoul.
More importantly, Euthanasia Sanctioners made surprisingly good money. She probably would not have to worry about finances anytime soon.
'There's nothing urgent to do right now... Maybe I should figure out what kind of magic to learn next.'
Someone with exceptional aptitude could sometimes use a particular kind of magic without knowing anything about it, but such cases were rare.
Normally, learning new magic followed a process like this:
Use the magic with the aid of an incantation, magic circle, ritual, or similar method.
Repeat the process until the sensation of mana control becomes familiar.
Learn to use the magic without assistance.
Of course, without the necessary aptitude, reaching the third stage was impossible.
Some people lacked even the aptitude required to use the relevant incantation, circle, or ritual. Other magic was theoretically usable but practically impossible.
There were spells whose incantations took as long as seventy-two hours.
That alone said enough.
'If I were still human, I'd spend my entire life just studying the theory...'
Alice downloaded various papers on magic directly into her memory.
In truth, this robotic body was so good that she barely felt any desire to return to being human.
It was sturdy, effectively ageless, and equipped with everything needed to experience human sensation and happiness.
It could even route calls to the Center directly into her head.
As it happened, someone was calling her now.
Alice accepted the video call.
A handsome young man she had never seen before appeared on-screen.
[Greetings, Director Alice!]
"I don't believe we've met. Who are you?"
[What? You really don't know me?]
His attitude was already getting on her nerves, but Alice simply searched his face online.
"You're Son Min-Hyeok. Leader of the dungeon-raiding team 'Red Chasers,' active internationally."
[Exactly! Director Alice, I have something to discuss with you.]
"With me?"
[I saw you on the news after I got back to Korea.
A robot girl! Did someone transplant a brain into that body? Or are you some kind of mechanical artifact?]
"..."
[Either way, fascinating! You're already plenty strong. How about joining my team?]
"No. Goodbye."
[Hey, hold on! Playing house with trash in some garbage dump like that gets you nowhere! You should be working on a bigger stage!]
His words crossed the line.
Alice was furious, but she still lacked experience dealing with insults that blatant.
Just then, the sleeping-room door flew open and Yi Rang stormed out.
"Alice! Sorry, I overheard, but don't listen to that asshole!
He's infamous for screwing around with women!"
[Who is this tiger!? Don't you think that's a bit much to say to someone you've never met!?]
"You called us trash before you even met us! Alice, just hang up!"
"Huh? Hang up?"
Alice ended the call almost reflexively.
Only afterward did she wonder whether that had been too hasty.
"But... isn't that just a rumor? What if it isn't true?"
"Urgh. Someone who knows his crowd told me, so..."
"...Well, I already hung up."
Alice had no way to find Son Min-Hyeok's private contact information.
She waited for him to call again.
The silence that followed felt strangely ominous.
***
[Goddammit!! Those Cheong-Am bastards have some nerve! Especially that tiger!!
Do they have any idea how strong our team is!? Do they wanna die!?]
Son Min-Hyeok was raging in the Red Chasers' private channel.
Three other team members were listening.
Shim Yun-Seol, a magic specialist.
Eurel, an elf who specialized in archery and nature magic.
And Chae Da-Seon.
Da-Seon was in the underground parking garage of her luxury officetel, taking part in the conversation.
She switched to a separate private channel shared only by the other two.
"Hey. What the fuck is wrong with him this time?"
[Alice from the Cheong-Am Center rejected him, apparently.]
[And some strange tiger beastkin there insulted him on top of that...]
Da-Seon sighed internally.
"I'll deal with it myself."
She unmuted the channel with Son Min-Hyeok.
He was still furious.
[So go wipe out the Cheong-Am Center!]
"Leader. Think about it for a second.
If word gets around that we murdered an entire Center because you lost an argument, how does that make us look?"
[You damn bear. Are you defying me...?]
"Of course not.
I'm saying there's something more effective than killing them.
Just leave it to me."
***
That evening, Yi Rang entered an alley after Da-Seon contacted her, saying she had left something behind.
Something felt wrong.
'That's strange. I'm sure I didn't leave anything...'
Da-Seon was waiting for her with the same poker face she always wore.
She raised a hand in greeting as naturally as ever.
"Hey, Rang."
"Wh-What...?"
She looked exactly like the same old friend.
And yet Yi Rang felt strangely tense.
Maybe all the recent combat and training had sharpened her instincts.
Then Da-Seon spoke quietly.
"I'm gonna need you to stay down for a while. Two weeks of recovery should do it."
"!!"
Da-Seon's fist came screaming toward her.
Yi Rang twisted aside just in time.
"Oh? Not bad."
"Wh-What the hell are you doing!?"
"You pissed off our team leader.
The idiot went crazy and wanted to kill everyone at your Center. I barely talked him down to settling for me roughing you up instead."
"You think I'm just going to accept that!?"
But Yi Rang was already much stronger than she used to be.
The fight dragged on longer than expected.
Da-Seon seemed flustered.
"Why don't you take some responsibility like an adult!"
"I'm not taking responsibility for something that stupid!"
Yi Rang whipped a vicious roundhouse kick past Da-Seon's head.
One strand of her hair floated to the ground.
Now Da-Seon looked visibly shaken.
"You've gotta be kidding... How did you get this strong...?"
"You think I'm joking!? Friend or not, you crossed the line!"
"No way... Am I... losing?"
Had Yi Rang really grown this much without even realizing it?
Victory surged through her.
She drove a full-force punch toward the opening in Da-Seon's solar plexus.
Da-Seon stopped it effortlessly.
"Huh...?"
"That's about it, huh? Have fun while I was playing with you?"
Her eyes changed.
Then she began beating Yi Rang mercilessly.
Even then, she carefully controlled her strength so the injuries would amount to roughly two weeks of recovery.
"I warned you, didn't I!? You always have to make things so complicated!"
Da-Seon raised her fist for the finishing blow.
A pitch-black carbon-coated blade shot through the alley, aimed precisely at her wrist.
"!?"
Da-Seon knocked it aside with a mana-coated knife-hand strike, then calmly opened the distance.
A man walked out of the darkness.
Yu-Han.