Only Weapon Master

Even though a day had passed and it was the weekend.

The MOL gallery’s embers hadn’t died down but rather blazed more vigorously as news of the match between Ching Anmun and YongYongLion, and the translation of YongYongLion’s Chinese insults spread widely.

In reality, the protagonist of that incident knew nothing about it and was spacing out with drool dripping from her mouth at the fact that she had to go outside on the weekend.

The hastily made appointment due to the variable called Sekai 3rd Gen that ruined Ara’s peaceful weekend.

Since the cause of making an appointment on the weekend was because of Sekai 3rd Gen, Ara was strongly developing hostility towards them.

“Grrr…Sekai..grrr…kill..”

“Um..Reina-yang. Is Ara-yang’s condition not good today..?”

As she expressed killing intent while growling, CEO Kim Yeji felt awkward and whispered softly to Reina.

“Hmm.”

Reina knew the answer. But…

‘Ara is~ in a bad mood because of the hastily made appointment with no mental preparation, plus it’s the weekend and she had to come outside. Tehe☆’

She couldn’t give the truthful answer to the face of the CEO who made the appointment, so she instantly discarded the truthful answer and inevitably decided to pull out the magic word.

“It’s because of ‘that day’. Ara doesn’t have pain, but her personality gets prickly…”

Reina, lying without changing her facial expression.

“…I see, ‘that day’, then it’s understandable. Let’s finish as quickly as possible. Ah, but I’m envious that she doesn’t have pain.”

Yeji deeply empathizing with that lie.

“Hehe. Me too.”

She felt a bit guilty for lying to the CEO, but for Ara. Yeah.

“Grrrrrr..I’ll kill Sekai 3rd Gen…”

“…Ara, stop.”

— Pi-nch

“..Yip.”

During the time they went to order desserts and drinks before discussing work, Reina tamed me who had become a beast, and thanks to her, I came back to my senses and recalled what we had decided to work on today, how to kill Sekai 3rd Gen… Ah no.

Our work was two-fold.

The first task was to get the concept of the virtual characters that Reina and I would use confirmed by the CEO.

The second task was to immediately adjust time and make plans by talking with CEO Kim Yeji regarding the suddenly adjusted schedule.

Because there wasn’t much time due to the variable, a place was created where we could directly present our opinions to the CEO right away at a café rather than at the company.

After clearly recalling the content of today’s mission, I saw Yeji coming with drinks and desserts on a tray.

The CEO, Yeji, placed the desserts she brought on the tray on the table for Reina and me to eat easily and finished preparing to start work by taking out her laptop.

The first task began as soon as the CEO’s preparation was finished.

Reina and I started briefly telling Yeji what character concepts we had envisioned while eating drinks and desserts.

“I’ve decided on a black color scheme with ■■ as the motif, and ●● as the race.”

“Hmm. I have white with ■ as the motif, and my race is the same as Ara’s! Hehe”

Since both of us lacked talent in drawing, we showed Yeji what kind of feeling we wanted with AI images.

“Hmm… This seems good enough. You worked hard thinking about the concept. Let’s decide on the names after receiving the characters. But it’s quite good how you connected it with the story from ■■. I’ll outsource this to a place I know. Parts to modify as designs come out…”

Receiving Yeji’s positive response, the topic related to character concepts ended on a good note, and to celebrate the end of the first task, we took a short break, and the CEO and Reina went to the bathroom.

Haah… It’s tiring.

You’re asking if I’m not going to the bathroom? Ah…whatever. Being here on the weekend is already too much…

— Slurp slurp

— Gurgle gurgle

Ah. I finished my smoothie.. Ha-life… F*ck

“What were you doing~?”

As soon as I finished my smoothie, Reina, who had returned from the bathroom, asked what I had been doing.

“I wasn’t doing anything.”

I answered that I really wasn’t doing anything since I hadn’t been doing anything in particular.

“Eh… Are you hiding secrets from Reina?”

“What secrets. And talking to me in the third person isn’t cute at all.”

“Tch-“

I told the truth, but why are you clicking your tongue, bringing bad luck? I really should take you to the kendo hall for some etiquette training.

“Huhu. You two get along well~”

Yeji’s face, smiling and gently narrowing her eyes.

Something about the CEO’s vibe is definitely different from when she’s working.

Even Reina, who isn’t particularly perceptive, is tilting her head looking at the CEO’s face.

Kim Yeji always exudes a cold atmosphere when talking about work, but now, should I say she seems to have many gaps?

I became curious and asked.

That her atmosphere seems different at the company and now during break time.

After thinking deeply about my question, Yeji began to speak to us carefully.

“Hmm… Don’t tell anyone else about this, okay? If you promise, I’ll tell you.”

Reina and I nodded our heads, locked our pinky fingers in a promise, and even stamped our thumbs, and only then did Yeji take a sip of coffee, moistening her mouth to prepare to speak.

“I should speak comfortably, so I’ll speak casually. Is that okay?”

“Yes!”

“Yeah.”

Since we were the ones who were curious, we didn’t care much about her declaring she would speak casually. She’s older than us anyway, so…

“You can also call me unnie when it’s just the three of us~ We’re only about 7 years apart in age?”

— Nod

Reina and I, who had instantly become like sisters with the CEO, nodded our heads to show agreement with Yeji’s words and opened our ears, super-focusing to hear the reason for the different atmosphere from Yeji’s mouth.

“Sip. You probably know what nicknames are circulating about me, right?”

A question asked while drinking coffee.

Is it okay to answer this…

“Yes! That you’re a nouveau riche’s daughter and VT is a company made as a hobby….hup”

Oh dear.. Reina.. Saying that to the person’s face. Covering your mouth after saying it all is really malicious..

“..I’m sorry..”

To Reina’s quick apology, Kim Yeji gestured that it was okay and finished preparing to speak.

“Hmm, it’s okay, it’s okay. As Reina said, it is true that I’m a nouveau riche’s daughter. It’s true, but I’m serious about nurturing VTubers, not doing it as a hobby. But if I were to be all smiles at the company, the employees might be comfortable, but there’s a possibility they might not do their work properly, thinking ‘Isn’t it just a hobby activity anyway?’ in their hearts.”

Oh… That’s true. The feeling that just a nouveau riche’s daughter and a VTuber business created by a nouveau riche’s daughter bring is different.

For the former, people would just say they’re envious and that’s it, but for the latter, there’s room for misunderstanding that they’re just splurging money.

‘Hmm. I see.’

“So I think if I’m not cold and charismatic at the company, there’s a possibility that employees might look down on me, that’s why I act that way. I think if I treat them flexibly, employees won’t feel attached to the company. As Reina said, they might think inside, ‘The nouveau riche’s daughter just set up the company for fun!’ That’s why~ Ah, of course, I’m not saying Reina thinks that way~”

“..Eh… Um… I…”

Reina trembled as she recalled what she had said at Yeji’s self-deprecating words, but Yeji didn’t mind and continued speaking.

“But there are many inconveniences with keeping up a concept. It’s really hard to hold back laughter when walking down the corridor and an employee makes a joke that matches my taste. Oh, there’s that too! Sitting up straight during meetings is so hard…!! The employees might hate meetings, but I hate meeting times the most because of my concept act. That’s why our company rarely has meetings unless it’s really! Very important, hehe”

‘Hmm. I see… But..’

“Ah. I want to drop the concept act, but if I reveal my true personality, people might be disgusted, how should I say it? It’s not that I don’t trust our company people, but……”

This person… Why does she talk so much?

“Ara.. My ears hurt..”

“….Sorry..”

I did feel suddenly sorry to Reina, thinking this happened because of the question I asked Yeji.

Is this Pandora’s box… F*ck, where’s the lock.

“Hya. I also want to drink soju and hang out with company people. Ah well, but I feel a bit more comfortable after opening up to Ara and Reina, how should I put it? Hihi, actually, I do have one close friend. Ah! Just one. I rejected everyone else who approached me because of my family ……(rambling)…… that person doesn’t listen to me properly and can’t even meet because they work from their room……(babbling).”

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(30 minutes later)

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After 30 minutes of Yeji talking with a motor attached to her mouth, there was no sign of her stopping, so I ignored Yeji’s joyful expression and cut into her speech.

“Unnie. I think we’ve rested enough, so shall we quickly talk about our schedule until debut..?”

“Yes, yes, unnie! Let’s talk about that and then have fun..!”

Reina also provided supporting fire to my words, perhaps wanting to shut Yeji’s mouth.

‘Really… What sin did that unnie commit..’

I paid my respects in my heart to Kim Yeji’s only friend.

“Mmm, shall we? Oh my, the time is already like this.”

Yeji looked at the watch on her wrist after hearing our words.

“Ahem. Now that we’ve had enough fun, shall we move on to work?”

Seeing CEO mode Kim Yeji who instantly returned to a cold expression, I shook my head.

“Is that what they call being eaten by a concept, Ara?”

“It’s a different feeling somehow… Sshup, maybe not, it seems like it.”

Seeing that she doesn’t drop her concept act even when Reina and I are here and still talks about work, it’s certain.

That Kim Yeji is secretly enjoying her concept act.

We quickly finished setting up the pre-debut schedule and left the café.

“Hah… The sun was definitely up when we came in..”

As I thought about how a weekend day had instantly flown by, I felt a void in one part of my heart, when Kim Yeji, who had dropped her daily mode, suggested going to a karaoke place.

I nodded my head.

Reina tried to escape, saying she had something to do at home, but I caught her, and we went to the karaoke place together.

“KIEEEEEELL!!!”

“Reina…that… Does Ara always sing like this…?”

“..Uugh… I… I… said I had something… to do… at h-home… un. unnie..”

CEO Kim Yeji saw Reina’s face, who looked like she was about to die because of Ara who was singing.

She was probably making the same face too.

‘….Can this be corrected with training…?’

She thought to herself whether this skill would improve with practice. All the way until she drove Ara and Reina in her car and dropped them off at their respective homes.

And the conclusion.

‘If training doesn’t work, well… it’s a sorry thing to say to Ara, but I might have to make her just dance behind Reina.

Human Kim Yeji was noisy, and CEO Kim Yeji was cold.

Not knowing Yeji’s thoughts about making her a VTuber backup dancer, Ara couldn’t contain her excitement due to the dopamine from the karaoke place and was singing in the shower when she got smacked on the back by her mom for being too loud.

♦♦♦

The cathedral where Saint Christina, who caught the Demon King with Ara in the otherworld, stays.

“Krisha~ You’re here again?”

“Hehe. I just wanted to get some fresh air..”

At the voice of Jane, the saint’s guard knight and friend, she turned her head and said she wanted to get some fresh air, but.

“Thinking about the Hero?”

Could it be that she couldn’t deceive her friend’s eyes? She was immediately caught.

“..I can’t fool you, Jane.”

She was thinking about the hero, just as her guard knight Jane had said. It wasn’t romantic feelings… more like a mixture of longing and worry?

The hero that the saint had seen rarely showed a smiling face, often had sudden outbursts that knocked out people around her, and had a natural talent for leaving everyone behind.

Although she knew that such a hero, Ara, was difficult to approach and received a lot of criticism from others.

From the hero party’s perspective, Hero Ara was remembered as a warm, just person and a friend who had been through a long journey together.

“Yeah. Just. I wonder if Hero-nim is living well?”

“Hu. Ara-nim well..”

“I hope she’s not being too sharp with those around her..”

“Hihi, but she’s fun~”

Jane kept answering with a smile while thinking about the hero, but Saint Christina didn’t look at Jane strangely.

Although she was difficult to approach, when she recalled how she would perform new antics almost every day while staying with her…

— Dizzy.

“Whoa, what’s wrong, Christina?”

Ah. Maybe because she recalled cleaning up after those antics, she suddenly felt dizzy.

“Ah. It’s nothing, I think it’s because I’ve been sitting for too long. I just couldn’t put my strength properly when getting up holding the ground. I’m fine..”

“…Really? Well, that’s fine then~ Let’s go eat!”

Jane seemed to have noticed it was a lie, but because she felt her physical condition was normal, she said nothing and suggested they should fill their hungry stomachs, linking arms with Christina as they moved towards the bustling area.

“Krisha. Is there anything you want to eat?”

“Hmm… That… barbecue? Thinking about Hero-nim makes me want that, which she occasionally made for us when we were camping.”

“Hmm… Should we make it ourselves?”

Since there wasn’t anything like the barbecue food that the hero had made near the cathedral, Jane suggested they make it themselves, but.

— Shake shake

She shook her head and refused.

“Let’s just go into the cathedral and eat.”

“Sure~”

With Jane’s agreement, they changed their destination from the bustling area to the cathedral and walked.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to eat barbecue. But to recreate that taste.

It’s a food that should be eaten while sitting on the ground in the dark evening, looking at the stars, and chatting together.

The saint recalled nostalgic memories.

Ara grilling meat over the fire.

The archer making a love confession to Ara who was focusing on cooking, and getting kicked.

The magician mocking such an archer and saying, ‘Watch what I do, idiot lol’ before making a love confession to Ara, then receiving a punch to the solar plexus and crawling on the ground.

And she and Jane watching their daily life with smiles.

I miss it. Yeah.

‘…If only we could see each other just once more someday’

She prayed inside that it would be nice if Hero Ara and the hero party could gather again and see each other’s faces just once, as she headed to the restaurant with Jane.

Not knowing even in her dreams that the goddess would hear her prayer, as she momentarily forgot that she was a saint.