'When a rat dies it leaves a foul odor.'
Black gloved knuckles gently knocked on a carbon metal door. The sun beamed golden rays onto the door. The first light of morning was welcoming the dawn of a new day. The cool morning air had become somewhat sweet in scent. It was quiet, tranquil even.
'This foul odor is what can be called the scent of death. When the mana and flesh of a creature unwind, let loose any and everything that remained within the body.'
A camera stationed in the corner of the corridor whirred quietly. The lens expanded and contracted, trying to catch any movement within its sights. Cube, as lax as their security was, did not want a repeat of the previous incidents. Especially something as horrible as the mysterious elevator combustion that seemed to have no rhyme nor reason in its act.
'The scent of death, no matter how faint, always brought flies.'
Minori cast a sideways glance at it, murky gray eyes flickered before looking away. A tight mesh of threads woven into a complex pattern was holding its shape right in front of the camera. This was the magic circle for the spell 'Minor Illusion.' A spell that Minori had come to enjoy despite its absurd pattern and lack of mana efficiency.
'In my situation, both the rat and the flies are Djinn.'
The sound of a muffled yawn and the soft padding of feet could be heard approaching the door. Minori reached into his inner pocket and fiddled with a coin, he didn't feel right without it these days. Keeping it encrypted just made him paranoid despite it being the safer option. Perhaps he was just used to feeling the imprint of it against his chest, or maybe the realisation that he was finally trailing the truth had left him anxious.
Either way, it didn't provoke any thought.
Click–
The lock to the door was undone, it seemed slow and somewhat hesitant. It was to be expected, since the door didn't have a peep hole and if the resident were to look at the footage of the camera, it would display an empty corridor.
Nevertheless the door cracked open to reveal an eye, a shiny plum eye that stared up at Minori. They were murky, as though they had struggled to get out of bed but widened with a gleam that seemed vaguely hopeful. A tangle of black hair draped over their appearance and pale skin, similar to a certain Video Tape ghost. Similar to her, the girl behind the door was also wearing an oversized white shirt. Only the girl had a picture of a bunny plastered on hers. The shirt was just the right size to cover the girls upper thighs which were smooth, pale and supple, as though they hadn't seen a day of sun in their lives yet still hold their milky white colo-
'Stop Looking There.' Minori internally gutted himself for staring at the wrong places.
But it seems he was caught as the girl's mouth opened before shutting, a pink flush of embarrassment creeping up her neck and onto their face.
Then just as quick, the door slammed shut. And with it, Minori's grim thoughts vanished as well. Replacing them was, surprise.
"...huh… should I have texted first?" Minori, wide eyed by the display, muttered to himself.
'Right, I suppose we haven't talked much since france… and I did come at… five in the morning…'
Minori made up reasons to mask his embarrassment even as his imaginary sense of self worth was being bled to death.
'...yeah. There's no way I'm recovering from that embarrassment by making stuff up… thankfully she didn't yell at me, or I'd be in trouble… As for what to do now? I guess I'll wait until she comes out and pray to the gods she doesn't mention me staring.'
"..."
Minori turned his head to the side, looking as the golden sheen of clouds was slowly being covered by light blue tendrils of clear sky.
A moment of silence passed as Minori regained composure. He had mentally prepared himself for this interaction on the elevator ride up only for it to break the moment something out of his expectations occurred.
—Creak
With all the care of a cat on stilts, the door was opened once more, this time instead of the dishevelled yokai woman who had crawled out of a TV to greet the door, was a prim and proper young woman.
Still dressed in that white shirt, but now with a pair of similarly white pajama pants. The girl's hair had been tied into a messy bun, and her bangs had been hurriedly styled. Even so, she exuded an air of pristine beauty.
The girl, now recognisable as the daughter of Yoo Jinwoong, Yoo Yeonha, held an expression of excitement, her face dusted with a pink hew and a confident smirk playing at her lips.
Behind her was a hastily cleaned room, the morning glow had illuminated the flecks of dust that lingered in the air. If one looked closely at the luxurious room they would have found a closet stuffed to the brim with a random assortment of things.
"Good morning, Minori. Please come in." Yoo Yeonha, puffed, as though she hadn't just ran around her room cleaning and getting prepared. She then moved to the side, it seems she was trying to buy some time to get her head straight (and also to catch her breath.)
Minori on the other hand, walked in, making sure to keep his expression professional, if he smiled now, the atmosphere would be ruined.
He had already formulated how this conversation would go.
First, check on how Yoo Yeonha feels about… exterminating Djinns. From there he could extrapolate what to do.
If she seems eager to help, Minori would reveal how he found a watch that may have a lead on the Djinns, this was the main reason Minori came to her so early in the morning, to use her.
Well, not her exactly, but her connection and Essence of the Strait.
And if she seemed to be… wavering, maybe it's time to give her a reminder about what Djinns really were. Was it cruel? Was it manipulative? Of course not, Minori had clearly stated his desire to "work with her" in the extermination of Djinns. Yes, he had clearly stated his desire to Yoo Yeonha, the guilt plagued, grief stricken Yoo Yeonha. The Yoo Yeonha who had yet to talk to her family members in person after the midterms.
'Her mental state is the second thing I need to check on. It would be a shame if she got cold feet or felt as though she could back out. No, no, no, we can't have that at all.'
Minori took a seat on the plush couch and marvelled at how soft it was. He waited till the door shut and Yeonha made her way to the seat in front of him, across a short coffee table.
"..." Yoo Yeonha looked expectant, her smile was unusually warm, yet there was the way her fingers knit together tightly. Was she nervous? Flustered by the early morning visit?
That's to be expected.
"Yeonha-" Minori spoke, his voice was calm and measured, his eyes looking up and down at Yeonha in a way that made her hairs stand on end.
She never quite understood why it felt like this to be stared at by Minori. Although she was thankful for being saved and even more so for being comforted in a time where she had slipped off the edge of a cliff. It still felt rather tense to be in the same room as him, but didn't she feel the same way with Shin Jonghak?
Why did the two feel so similar? Why did her heart tighten when their eyes landed on her?
Yeonha was not an emotional person, she believed that everything had a logical reason. She just had to tell herself that when faced with the beating of her own heart.
"-I'd like to have a serious talk. About our next actions." Minori's black scaled gloves rapped the desk, catching Yeonha's eyes.
She blinked before straightening and putting on a serious face.
"Yes, right now we have a small amount of time to act. Cube's tightened security, for real this time, a lot of disruptions have slowed to a halt and more importantly, outside forces are just waiting." Minori spoke his reason, checking Yeonha's expression.
Her eyes were guided down, as if in contemplation, she raised a hand to her chin and then looked back up sharply. It wasn't a glare, it felt more like the look you give someone when you realize something you didn't know before.
'She's wondering how I know that. I'm willing to bet my life that someone like Yoo Yeonha already knew the information I had given, that's why I said it without much restraint. In truth, that information was something I fabricated from rough guesses. What goes on within the walls of Cube are only a few text messages away from being found out. I've done my best to be friendly so it's not like I'm an outcast when it comes to information. As for outside forces, I would logically have no clue about them, but I have access to Violet Banquet, Kim Hajin's brief chats as well as my enemies to infer from.'
"Indeed. Many of the Djinn associations have halted their activities on the surface, and a lot of larger projects had seemingly been postponed. Even some mercenary groups seem to be rather tense at the moment. It's unprecedented… and worrying." Yeonha nodded her head grimly.
Minori paused as new information entered the field.
"Hold on, even some Mercenary groups?" He tried to sound skeptical, controlling his facial expressions to not let a thing slip.
"Yes, both Jeronimo Mercenary and Vast Expanse seem to have paused their major operations… but it could be a coincidence." Yeonha hesitated the moment her eyes met Minori's murky pupils.
"No, it's reasonable to believe the two are related. Though, do we know of a possible motive for this? If a large event is coming up soon that both Djinn and Mercenary have stopped, it would be understandable…" Minori speculated out loud but Yeonha shook her head gently.
'...how strange… I'll note that down and ask Hajin later. He seems to be generally in the know.'
"I'm sorry. I'll try to look into it a bit more." Yeonha frowned.
'Oh, my expression slipped…' Minori realised he must have been scowling pretty hard to elicit the response.
'...thankfully it seems she's actively looking into the Djinn's so I don't have to worry about her backing out now.'
"No, that was good. I actually had another reason for coming here."
Minori fished into his pocket and pulled out a sleek black watch, it was similar to the Cube watch with a minor design change to the strap, imbued with slightly more mana. Minori hadn't cared to look into the spell, since he had dampened the thread pattern with a shapeless mesh that covered the spell.
Yeonha tilted her head as Minori set it onto the table.
"...? This is… a regular cube watch?"
"No… it's a little more curved around the edges and the straps are too stiff. It's a counterfeit, or rather a fake. I got it when a Djinn ambushed me."
Yeonha tensed a little at the implied violence, said in that calm tone. It was spoken like a history teacher ranting about Napoleon for the seventieth time.
It disturbed her.
"And… you came to me because you… wanted someone to hack into it?" She hazarded a guess, and it seemed correct as Minori leaned back into the sofa.
"...I'm glad I picked you as a partner."
Minori, smiled somewhat awkwardly, he was trying his best to cheer up the Yeonha who had shivered when their eyes met.
But… that probably wasn't a good idea.
'...Picked? What do you mean picked?... it probably means nothing, yeah, nothing.' Yeonha's eyes widened at the word choice. But the sweet words that came after, had made her reconsider if it meant anything.
"But yes, you're quick on the uptake, I want someone to hack into this thing. It may have some important messages, and who knows, maybe we'll be able to get a good headstart on revenge." Minori uttered the key word.
"Revenge…" Yeonha repeated, tasting the word as her eyes glinted with fierce determination.
"Alright, I'll get this over to someone and in about a week we'll have our results-"
Yeonha reached over to grab the watch but Minori pulled it back.
"Um, sorry but, I'd like to meet this person. Make sure they're trustworthy… so I think it's better if I hang onto this." Minori had an apologetic smile as he shoved the watch back into his pocket.
Yeonha was surprised by the refusal but retreated back into the sofa, slightly embarrassed.
"A-Alright then… If we, uh, yeah. Ahem, let's head over to Seoul on the weekend." She nodded, a small flush creeping up to her cheeks.
There was a short silence just after that as both had exhausted their major topics. The air was still cool from the morning, rich with mana and golden light.
Yeonha felt awake, and a little better about looking Minori in the eye.
Previously, something felt off about him, as though he were never there, always seeing just beyond anyone. And to an extent, he felt the same in the present, only now, his eyes were looking at her.
But it's strange, she could've sworn they were a different shade of gray.