# Chapter 16
The next day, instead of heading straight to the office, Iyeon took Sano and the fur ball to the department store.
‘I’ll just show him directly.’
It couldn’t be postponed any longer. If Sano refused to choose until the end, Iyeon was prepared to choose for him. Seeing the tablet neatly tucked inside the bag he’d packed for work, Iyeon’s eyes got a little hot, but he strengthened his resolve.
While buying Sano’s household items, he also planned to get a few things for the fur ball. This would have been an impossible decision with Iyeon’s usual financial situation, but now he had a powerful weapon to enjoy capitalist society.
So this is why people keep talking about money. Even his peace of mind was different now.
“Is there anything you’re looking for?”
“I’m here to buy a bed.”
Though he had come along, Sano, clearly annoyed, sat down heavily on a bench in the corridor instead of entering the store. Iyeon wasn’t surprised and placed the fur ball next to Sano. This worked out well.
“If you’re not coming in, just watch from there.”
Though pets were allowed in the store, since the fur ball was a black dog, it would be problematic if its fur got on the white bedding. Sano’s expression wrinkled with displeasure at being suddenly left with the fur ball, but Iyeon paid no attention and moved inside.
“What size are you looking for?”
“The largest one, please.”
Je Sano’s build clearly wouldn’t fit on a super single or double. He probably wouldn’t even fit comfortably on a queen-size bed, which Iyeon was currently using. Iyeon spoke lightly and smiled kindly.
“Price doesn’t matter.”
The employee’s eyes sparkled at this magic phrase.
After much deliberation, he also bought a matching dresser and nightstand. It was modern, dark furniture that would suit Sano. When he asked for the fastest possible delivery, the employee solemnly promised to contact the factory.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes, thank you!”
As Iyeon, having received his card back, turned around, several store employees who had been attending to him saw him off from behind. It was like a victory parade. The fur ball, quickly spotting Iyeon approaching, promptly came over and nuzzled against his ankle.
“Shall we go eat lunch now?”
Iyeon, who had bent down to pat the fur ball a couple of times, asked cheerfully. The fur ball jumped up and down as if pleased. Although Sano looked at this scene with distaste, he quietly followed.
At the same time, something like a faint stain in the corner of the store, behind a wall, slithered subtly.
It was quite out of place for a pattern on the matte marble-finished wall, but with everyone’s attention focused on Iyeon marching confidently out of the store, nobody noticed.
When they entered the food court area, the department store staff said pets weren’t allowed and offered to look after the fur ball temporarily. Would that be okay? After a moment’s hesitation, Iyeon crouched in front of the fur ball and patted its head.
“Can you stay quietly?”
The fur ball wagged its tail obediently, as if it understood. Whatever it was, it was clearly an intelligent creature.
“Now that I’ve bought it, I really feel relieved.”
Iyeon, who had just sat down at a food court table, murmured with satisfaction. In front of the two of them were cups of coffee they had ordered from the café next door. Sano took a sip of his Americano and remarked sarcastically:
“Of course you’d feel that way, since you bought it as you pleased.”
“Hey, do you know how much thought I put into choosing furniture that would suit you? You’ll like it too. I picked it as carefully as if decorating a nursery. I wouldn’t have been this meticulous even if I were having a baby.”
Despite Iyeon’s assertion, Sano just snorted.
“I like bright colors.”
“…You do?”
Iyeon’s gaze swept Sano from head to toe. Even setting aside his black hair, his entire outfit was close to that of a grim reaper. Anyone would think he was someone who perfectly loved black. Noticing Iyeon’s gaze, Sano explained:
“It’s annoying when dirt shows up clearly.”
“…”
He must be talking about dust?
“Hey, how can you say that now?”
Iyeon desperately pretended not to hear what he’d just heard and grumbled pointlessly. It’s cheating to not express an opinion at all and then complain after the purchase. He should have said something when they were buying.
But.
“I like bright colors too.”
Sano’s indifferent mumble somehow looked strangely… really strangely.
“Does it not suit me?”
Uncharacteristically, he looked a bit dejected.
“…Should I change it for you? Should I go change the order?”
Iyeon finally asked quietly. Though he didn’t know why, Sano seemed to have an incredible yearning for bright colors, and it felt uncomfortable to just ignore it. However, Sano shook his head at Iyeon’s suggestion.
“It’s fine.”
“What’s fine? If you want, I can make it snow-white. Do you like white? Would that work?”
“It’s done, since I already chose it.”
His tone strangely stimulated guilt.
“You stay here, I’ll go change it! Please let me change it!”
“I said it’s fine.”
“Hey! When I’m saying I’ll decorate your room like a snow field…”
BANG!
Iyeon’s pleading was drowned out by a sudden loud noise. What’s happening? The expressions of both men changed instantly as they stood up simultaneously.
Situations with such large explosion sounds were one of three things. An accident or terrorism.
“It’s from above.”
“I know.”
And a variant attack.
Shortly after the loud sound was heard, an announcement flowed through the speakers.
[Variant appearance. Variant appearance. All hunters currently in the building, please come up to the 9th floor. Regular customers, please follow the staff’s guidance for temporary evacuation. Once again…]
The 9th floor was where the furniture store they had first visited was located.
With the evacuation announcement, people throughout the department store began to murmur and bustle. Fortunately, citizens were accustomed to variant appearances and didn’t panic. If all these people had run around acting on their own, chaos would have ensued. After confirming that people were going down to the lower floors in an orderly manner following the guidance, Sano nodded.
“Let’s go.”
“Without using your ability?”
He seemed to intend to just walk, judging by how he was turning. Couldn’t Je Sano break through the floor and go up with his ability? At this puzzled question, Sano glanced at the upper floor where small sounds were gradually becoming audible.
“It’s inefficient.”
Going through the floor would be faster, but this building was a large structure filled with people. It would be troublesome if breaking through accidentally caused the building to collapse or injured civilians.
The sight of the two going up via the escalator while everyone else was going down was conspicuous. People going down while murmuring glanced at them, but the two paid no attention.
Upon reaching the 9th floor, a department store employee who had been nervously pacing nearby spotted them and waved.
“Oh my! There were hunters here. Thank goodness you came.”
“No one else came?”
Iyeon asked curiously. The department store’s food court was in the basement, and the two had moved by escalator. If there had been other superhumans on other floors, they should have arrived already, but the 9th floor was empty.
In this city, there were close to 200,000 superhumans of Tier 2 or higher. With so many people in the department store, only Iyeon and Sano were hunters? It was too suspicious…
“Yes, I suppose because it’s a weekday lunchtime…”
“…”
The vast majority of the city’s variant response-capable superhumans were office workers. In other words, they should all be at work at this time. It was stranger that Iyeon and Sano could be leisurely hanging around a department store at this hour. Iyeon, whose poor work ethic was inadvertently revealed, made an excuse.
“We, we have flexible working hours. Today is a late start day for us.”
“I see… That’s a good workplace.”
She didn’t seem convinced.
“Explain the situation.”
Sano, who had been quiet all along, asked. True to being part of the department store, considered the pinnacle of the service industry, the employee didn’t flinch even when facing an unusual rudeness of being addressed informally by a stranger.
“I, I was the first to discover it.”
The employee’s explanation was summarized as follows:
While performing inspection and supervisory duties, the employee was walking around the store and discovered a black stain on the wall. The stain was quite large. Since the building was only a few years old and cleaning was done meticulously, it seemed strange, so when the employee touched the stain, it moved as if avoiding the touch.
At first, they thought it wasn’t a variant but a prank by a low-tier superhuman. Such pranks, showing off abilities, were common occurrences. So the employee called other staff and instructed them to catch and wipe the stain, but when they began to approach the stain in earnest…
“Something jumped out and attacked, right?”
“Yes.”
Trying to handle something unknown—regular people are quite brave. Iyeon shook his head inwardly.
“Is anyone injured?”
“Just bruises, nothing serious.”
Considering it tried to escape rather than attack first, and its counterattack wasn’t strong, it didn’t seem to be a particularly aggressive variant. If an aggressive variant had appeared in such a crowded place, it would have been a major catastrophe.
“What did it look like?”
“I couldn’t see clearly…”
The employee trailed off with a troubled expression. Even after jumping out from the wall, it remained strangely faint like a stain, suggesting it didn’t have a precise form.
“What’s certain is that it had the shape of a four-legged beast.”
This was enough information for now. Iyeon sent the employee down to the evacuation floor. The employee disappeared with a request to protect the department store’s property as much as possible. Once they were completely alone, Iyeon turned to Sano.
“Do you know what it is?”
“No.”
A beast that changes into a wall stain—there was no such thing among the low-grade variants that Iyeon usually dealt with.
If Sano didn’t know it, it probably wasn’t high-grade either, perhaps mid-grade? Not good, not bad. Iyeon made a grunting sound as he reached into the sling bag on his back and rummaged around. Papers that were stuffed to overflowing, and…
“…Huh?”
