It was a very flustered voice at the first call ever received. He didn’t even know if he knew the number.
“Hey, if the refugee wants, can he quit being a secretary and freely return to Tar?”
– Refugee… ah, Cheche… No, the penalty fee is quite large, so he won’t be able to terminate for a year. It’s not really employment but essentially a contract, so…
“You’re saying he can go once the contract ends?”
– Yes, since he’s a free person.
“Damn it…”
Evil ground his teeth. The external affairs director was startled and added.
– But he won’t try to go. If a Tartarian returns to Tar, their life becomes endangered. Moreover, the ‘young hero’ is hated by both the rebels and government forces…
“Both rebels and government forces hate him?”
– Yes, as you know.
It was a fact everyone interested in Tar knew, but it was the first time Evil was hearing it.
“How would I know? You have to tell me for me to know!”
– Not long ago, I organized Cheche-nim’s personal information and submitted a report…
“What? When?”
– While investigating John Gale, it was attached to the back pages…
“Are you kidding? Do you think I would have read that to the end?”
– …I’m sorry.
Evil threw a tantrum and held his head.
“Explain briefly quickly. What’s the refugee bastard’s situation in Tar?”
– Yes, Cheche-ssi is…
Cheche was the hope of Tar’s people.
When he was only nine years old, he ran into pouring bullets to save a child younger than himself; when he returned to a destroyed village with falling shells to rescue one fallen rebel; when he escaped with children kidnapped to a foreign minister’s mansion; when he limped out of government buildings after being kidnapped by government forces and tortured in every way—he became a hero through all these events.
Among the countries adjacent to Tar was a powerful nation called Vilain Jerado. Unlike Alcity, which boasted peaceful and warm wealth, Vilain Jerado was a military state that pursued strong centralized politics. The Tar government had shown an extremely friendly attitude toward this powerful nation.
To put it nicely, friendly; to tell the truth, they were polite as if serving an elder. Like a subordinate faithfully carrying out a superior’s orders, they had accepted without complaint all kinds of unfair trade that Vilain Jerado proposed. In short, Tar was a vassal state of Vilain Jerado.
At first, they weren’t rebels but ‘anti-Vilain.’ People who emerged claiming Tar should take the anti-Vilain path held protest demonstrations whenever the government tried to accept Vilain Jerado’s unfair proposals. Then an Alcity military equipment company got involved in this situation, and the anti-Vilain organization’s protests quickly degenerated into terrorism.
The protesters committed counter-terrorism against everything the government did. Because they had a powerful military equipment company behind them, the government had no choice but to bow their heads to them. Since what the Tar government did was immediately what Vilain Jerado ordered, the protesters became a thorn in Vilain Jerado’s side.
Until then, they were merely an opposition group against Vilain Jerado. If it had only progressed that way, it wouldn’t have developed into a civil war.
The civil war began in earnest thirty years ago, when Vilain Jerado demanded healthy young people’s labor from Tar. Among the target ‘youth’ were early teenage girls, and this was the trigger for the civil war.
They claimed the government composed of pro-Vilain factions must be torn down and caused large and small terror incidents at government offices. The government didn’t stay still any longer either. The government officially called them rebels and declared war. Since Vilain Jerado willingly sent troops for the Tar government to oppose the rebels, it was essentially a confrontation between Vilain Jerado and the rebels.
Behind the rebels was an Alcity military equipment company, and behind the government forces was Vilain Jerado.
“So what are you saying? Is the refugee affiliated with the rebels?”
– Cheche-ssi is neither government forces nor rebels but a different side. At first he joined the rebels, then years later became affiliated with government forces. And after something happened, he ran out of the government forces and joined the rebels, but having been betrayed once, it seems the rebels didn’t welcome him. Now he’s become someone chased by the rebels too. Since he’s a figure enthusiastically supported by the citizens, it seems both sides are jealous. You can see Cheche-ssi himself as a third force.
“Amazing. With a young kid.”
Evil sneered very coldly and bleakly.
“What about this person called Karon?”
– Karon… Karon Envillius is the name of the government forces commander. He’s essentially the same as the actual ruler of the Tar government, and I’ve heard he has a very cruel nature. Even Vilain Jerado people can’t move in front of Karon.
‘Especially Karon, who’s obsessed with you, is already sharpening his knives because you escaped there…’
Evil decided to remember the name Karon Envillius. He had a hunch that something annoying would happen because of that guy later.
“What about Akeo? That seemed to be a person too.”
– I haven’t heard about Akeo.
“Maybe it’s slang… I need to know about Tar. Organize it in more detail and give it to me by tomorrow.”
– Yes, understood.
“Ah, and Tartarian language… is there something like a textbook for Tartarian too?”
– …There probably is.
“I guess there are people trying to learn that beggar country’s language. Buy a few of those and send them too.”
– Yes.
After hanging up, Evil clenched his fist and took deep breaths to control his bubbling anger. He wanted to kick and smash the table, sofa, and bookshelf, but if he did that, it would be heard in the secretariat, and the petty refugee bastard who still remembered being hit once would be surprised, so he held back.
‘Why did you accept when you knew it didn’t suit your station?’
‘I accepted because it was a situation where I couldn’t refuse.’
Was that answer this meaning? That he escaped the country he loved so much because two forces threatened his life?
Fucking annoying. That bastard is dying of love for his country, but why does the country hate him? Isn’t it just a simple matter? The government just needs to not accept Vilain Jerado’s unfair demands.
To Evil, who had never once received anyone’s orders, the government seemed stupid, the rebels seemed stupid, and the military equipment company exploiting stupid people seemed stupid too.
Most idiotic of all was the refugee.
Arrogant bastard. Behind that indifferent face, bringing out Tartarians, colluding with a broker, trying to use being an S-rank Souler shrewdly…
“…Wait.”
Evil realized this wasn’t a situation to criticize the refugee for being arrogant.
Both Tar’s government forces and rebels are hostile forces.
The situation was different from the past year when Cheche came to Alcity and lived quietly. Cheche, who had been away from public attention during that time, was someone the two hostile forces didn’t need to keep in check, but not long ago Cheche became the secretary to this world’s only SSS Multi User, and since then his name kept appearing in articles with Evil.
And soon it would be announced that he’s an S-rank Soul Aura User. The birth of the only Aura User among all the world’s poor countries, and S rank at that.
There’s no way the two forces would leave him alone. That narrow, damp semi-basement room had now become too dangerous.
Evil tried to calm his breathing and think calmly, but his heartbeat wouldn’t slow down easily.
I can’t leave the refugee in danger.
That was the only thought filling his head.
***
That afternoon, the Center officially announced that Cheche had measured as an S-rank Soul Aura User. Naturally, heated reactions followed.
‘The Center expected Cheche to be an Aura User from the beginning, which is why they brought him out of Tar,’ ‘Don’t jump to conclusions hastily and wait until re-measurement. I know someone who came out as S rank on the first measurement but was B on re-measurement,’ and even the bizarre rumor that ‘Evil, the unprecedented SSS Multi User, made Cheche into an Aura User with an ability we don’t know about’ circulated.
Cheche, as soon as he came to work at the Center the next day, had to be dragged to a press conference to announce his thoughts. After reading the statement written by external affairs staff in a dry tone, Cheche added at the end.
“I think the reason I became the first Aura User among Tartarians is because I was the first among Tartarians to receive official Aura measurement. Tar doesn’t have a proper system established for measuring Aura. I hope Tar quickly achieves peaceful independence so that everyone is given fair opportunities.”
As he’d discussed in the phone call with John Gale the day before, Cheche made a statement with quite significant repercussions, using his position as the first refugee-born Aura User.
‘Peaceful independence.’
With that word choice, Vilain Jerado came up in Alcity’s media. Many people learned the reason why Cheche from Tar had spoken that way.
Some people described that statement as arrogant.
A Tartarian who became an S-rank Souler. The weak who had been ignored everywhere had gained the ability of the strong, and now the gazes toward Cheche were followed by envy and jealousy along with sympathy. Cheche was no longer weak but strong.
People envied Cheche. It was natural since he was a lucky case who manifested as an Aura User as an adult, breaking through extreme odds. However, Cheche had already been an Aura User since childhood. It wasn’t that he manifested after becoming an adult, but because there was no one around to teach him how to handle Aura, because it wasn’t an environment where Aura Users would emerge, he’d unconsciously suppressed it. Perhaps, as Cheche said, there might be other Aura Users in Tar.
However, people don’t think about such things. Until the re-measurement results came out, people would excitedly gossip about Cheche. Conspiracy theories full of envy and jealousy would follow Cheche’s name for a while, and no one would feel sorry about it.
Of course, there were people who showed positive reactions too. That it was a gift the Earth gave to someone who lived through hardship but didn’t let go of goodness.
Whatever the reaction, it didn’t reach Cheche anyway.
After finishing the interview and leaving the press conference, Cheche headed to the secretariat as if it were natural. Though Cheche, who manifested as an Aura User, should receive education as a User and then be deployed to the field, re-measurement was still remaining, and the top official who would approve that hadn’t yet ordered a department transfer.
As soon as Cheche opened the secretariat door and entered, the phone rang.
“Yes, Director. …Yes, understood.”
Julia, who quickly answered the phone, turned her head to Cheche.
“Cheche-ssi, go to the Director right away. He says to come quickly.”
“Yes.”
Cheche turned around as is and headed to Evil’s office. In the office, the TV that was always off was unusually on. Evil, who had been staring blankly at the door, made an even blanker expression when Cheche entered.
“Don’t you fucking greet people?”
“Hello, Director.”
“This isn’t even receiving a prostration bow… Just sit down quickly.”
Cheche sat on the now-familiar black sofa. Evil stood up from his seat and came to face Cheche. Evil with his legs crossed in a completely delinquent posture, and Cheche with his knees neatly together. It was like a meeting of protagonists from novels of different genres.
“Hey.”
“……”
Cheche looked at Evil without answering. Evil spat out casually as if talking about something trivial.
“We’re going to live together starting today.”
“You and I, Director?”
“Yeah, at my house.”
“Why? We’ll both be uncomfortable.”
“You wanna die, really!”
Evil shouted loudly.
He’d thought all last night about how to explain the reason they had to live together. And reached a conclusion.
“If I say we’re living together, we’re living together. You’re my secretary anyway.”
Just to push through.
“You manifested as an S-rank Soul Aura User as an adult. You used Aura unconsciously last time too. That’s actually extremely dangerous. You’re like an unexploded bomb dropped in the city center, so you need monitoring. If it’s monitoring an S-rank Soul Aura User, naturally I should do it.”
“An unexploded bomb…”
“I’m also fucking annoyed and hate it too, you know? I get irritated thinking about seeing your swollen face every morning! Plus, I have to see you eating with that small mouth mumbling both outside and inside. I really hate it. After you wash up, you’ll walk around with that gray hair wet with moisture, and I’ll have to see you walking around the house with swollen eyes after waking up from sleep. The house might be too big and scary, so you might crawl into my bed at night. I really hate just thinking about it!”
Unlike Evil who shouted threateningly with a fierce face, Cheche had an indifferent face where one couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“I’ll send James, so go home and pack.”
“I have to work.”
“What work? Sending faxes? That’s not your job anymore. Tell the secretaries to do that.”
“You said I’m still Evil-nim’s secretary though.”
“…You’re an Aura User secretary, so from now on you’ll help with my work as an Aura User. The Non-User secretaries help with my work as Center advisory director. Got it?”
It was tremendous quick thinking.
To Evil’s thinking, it was a very perfect justification. Still, if he resists, I’ll just grab him by the collar and drag him. Thinking that, he opened his eyes wide.
“Yes, understood. I’ll go home.”
It was an unexpected answer.
What, it’s too easy.
Since there was less resistance than expected, Evil raised one eyebrow.
Cheche calmly stood up from his seat and headed for the exit. However, the door handle wouldn’t turn. Only after trying several times did Cheche realize Evil’s Aura was blocking it. When Cheche turned around, Evil immediately spat out.
“Why are you so obedient? Are you that happy to live with me?”
“……”
“You really like it?”
“…Because I’m an unexploded bomb.”
Cheche answered while blinking.
“An unexploded bomb dropped in the village center is very dangerous.”
After saying that, Cheche turned the door handle again. As if expecting it would naturally turn. And the door naturally opened.
“……”
Evil, who let Cheche out, leaned deeply into the chair and closed his eyes.
Befitting his small frame, even his footsteps were small. They were very small sounds, so small it seemed they might disappear soon.
Evil closed his eyes and listened until those sounds gradually became smaller and could no longer be heard.
<To be continued in Volume 2>
