12

“I’m home.”

I came home more tired than usual from work.

“Sister, you worked hard!”

“Big sis is back!”

Julie and Rio ran out excitedly to greet the returning worker.

Thanks to consistent medication, Rio had improved enough to run around the house. Seeing that, I felt the money spent was worth it. I stroked each of the two adorable little dogs—too cute to call ugly even as an empty joke—who were in my arms and went into the house. Spending every day together had, admittedly, made things a bit more comfortable.

“You’re back?”

My younger older-brother, Marcella, raised a hand in greeting. He had gathered some decent wooden boards from somewhere and quickly finished a table and chairs.

‘According to Julie, the local women cheered every time he swung the axe.’

He frowned at me slightly and then stood up.

“What’s up, are you okay?”

“Not really.”

“Your expression looks rotten.”

Then he went to the kitchen and started making something.

Marcella fiddled for a bit and then plopped a steaming soup down on the table in front of me.

One spoonful loosened the tension I hadn’t realized I was holding.

“You said work stays at work. What’s going on today?”

‘Was it obvious?’

Julie and Rio sat down and began dinner with us.

I didn’t want to answer much, so I changed the subject.

“Did anything special happen today?”

Marcella shook his head while twirling his fork between his fingers.

“Not really. Anyway, since this is the capital, prices are no joke. Even ordinary necessities cost like 1.5 times what they do in Opel.”

“Land is expensive. To pay rent you have to earn a lot, so prices have to go up.”

“How do you know things like that?”

“I told you I’m not from here, didn’t I?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You must’ve overheard it somewhere while working at the company.”

They still didn’t believe I wasn’t their family.

I wanted to grab them by the collar and shake them yelling ‘just believe me, you idiots!’ but I didn’t have the energy.

Life in the capital wasn’t easy, as he said. Marcella still hopped between exhausting day jobs, and with rising prices our meals hadn’t improved beyond thin soup and hard stone bread. That was what angered me most.

“What about the doctors? Have you looked into them?”

“Yeah. Temple priest healing is hard unless you’re high nobility, so I’m trying to find a suitable doctor.”

Because of our status, it’s hard to get help from the temple, and regular doctors are costly.

“We still have some medicine left, so let’s keep looking.”

Marcella tried to cheer us on, saying how far we’d already come.

Yeah, compared to when we were worrying about medicine money, this wasn’t bad. I pulled myself together and took out the fruit and snacks the seniors had given me.

“Wow, apples! There’s oranges too! Are these ours?”

“Cookies! They look delicious. Sister, who should I give these to?”

Of course they assumed these weren’t ours. Given our finances, it’s been ages since they’d had fruit.

I felt tears sting my eyes and told them not to worry since they were from my workplace and to eat. Julie and Rio cheered and each took one to eat.

All the while, Marcella half-ate a cookie and stared at me intently.

“I told you to tell me.”

“What?”

“Why your expression’s so sour.”

‘Wasn’t that over earlier?’

Marcella’s questioning was relentless.

“What’s the point of saying it? It’s not like it will be solved.”

I didn’t want to burden them with needless worry since they weren’t truly my family, so I tried to change the subject, but suddenly a sharp pain stabbed at my forehead.

“Ouch!”

I winced and looked up to see him poised to flick my forehead with his finger.

“What the—this!”

“That’s because you only talk nonsense. Don’t you know your glum face and silence make it more worrying?”

“…”

“Even if it’s rough, spit it out and curse if you must. I’ll listen.”

“Yeah, sis! Say it and feel better! We’ll curse them together!”

Julie chimed in from the side.

“People who bother big sis are bad people; I’ll go and scold them!”

Rio joined in.

Seeing that made me snort-laugh.

‘What kind of kids are these?’

Half resigned, I answered.

“There’s just this shitty bird, no, person, at the company…”

After a while.

“Is that bastard insane? Who is he? I am going over there first thing tomorrow!”

I hadn’t even explained half of it properly, and that was the reaction.

Marcella was furious, and behind him, Julia and Rio were even more fired up than I was.

“That guy is weird, he is a weirdo!”

“For real, weirdo, that guy!”

I was sweating trying to calm the three of them down, worried they might actually show up at my workplace.

Strangely enough, the usual end-of-workday gloom had completely vanished.

Everyone was busy working.

“Jemina senior.”

“Mm? What’s up?”

That’s odd. This senior.

“Where should I put this document?”

“Uh, uh… this? This… give it to me. I’ll take care of it.”

I couldn’t put my finger on it, but he was different than usual.

‘I feel uneasy.’

“Bator, what did you say to do with this?”

‘Wait, you’re asking that guy for work? He doesn’t even seem to be stuttering now.’

“Give it here.”

But Bator, instead of ignoring or sniping like usual, answered curtly.

‘Is this how he normally is?’

Maybe with time he’s slowly gone back to his usual demeanor.

‘It’s probably just my imagination. Let’s work.’

I must have gotten edgy from recent events.

I felt like I needed to clear my head, so I stepped out of the office for a moment.

I walked to a quiet spot behind the building and ran into a familiar, welcome face.

“Coco!”

Pinea hugged me tightly.

“I’ve been wanting to meet you quickly, but I’m so busy adjusting to the job. Everything okay?”

Ever since I said she could call me Coco when we came up to the capital, Pinea and I had gotten rapidly closer.

Pinea gleefully ruffled my hair and kept laughing like she was pleased about something.

Not my hair…!

“Cut it out, okay?”

“Okay. Sorry, sorry.”

Pinea was assigned to the External Relations Department. She said she publicized company activities and results to the outside and promoted products. They also handled cooperation and communication with external organizations.

‘That sounds like a ton of annoying work.’

It’s a department that does publicity, marketing, and PR all together; must be quite a headache. Hard enough doing one thing, let alone three.

“You’re working hard too.”

“Don’t even mention it. I’m working overtime every day. Even when there’s no work, it’s still overtime.”

She said the head of External Relations thinks leaving late is a virtue, so everyone watches the clock at quitting time.

‘What era is this nowadays… oh right, this place is old-fashioned. But can you call a world full of magic as old-fashioned?’

A fundamental question popped into my head, and as I started getting sucked into that pointless thought, another familiar voice cut through my ears.

“Pi-Pinea, the senior staff is looking for you!”

“Huh? That voice is…”

It was definitely Jemina’s voice from the same administration department.

“Se…nior?”

When Pinea looked puzzled she introduced the man: Jemina senior from External Relations.

“You didn’t know? The two are twins!”

“Twins?”

“Yeah, supposedly they’re fairly famous here. Twins aren’t common, and their personalities are totally different, so that makes it more so.”

“Oh… really?”

I remembered the odd feeling I had in the office moments ago and approached him.

“Hello, senior. I’m Cornelia from Administration, working with senior Jemina.”

“Oh, um. Hi…”

“Coco, the senior says his throat’s not good today so it’s hard for him to speak.”

Pinea kindly confirmed my suspicion.

“Is that so?”

The closer I got, the more his pupils trembled.

“Coco?”

Pinea gave me a questioning look.

Something was off.

In cases like this my instincts hit like a ghost. It was why I had survived the tumultuous job in my previous life.

“Strange, I don’t understand why my direct senior is in External Relations.”

“What do you mean by that?”

He slowly turned, then hurriedly tried to run away. He staggered and was caught not far off.

“Senior, what on earth is happening? Did you switch places and come to work for each other?”

“What?! Could it be…”

Only then did Pinea grasp the situation and cover her mouth in shock.

“Ah, it hurts…”

Jemini—no, Jemina—pulled his grabbed arm away with a miserable face.

‘No way, how much force could I have used… wait a second…’

I grabbed Jemina’s arm and boldly rolled up the sleeve.

“Gasp! What on earth is this.”

Pinea joined in covering her mouth with her other hand. Her reaction confirmed the situation: Jemina’s arm was covered in bruises.

“Excuse me, senior.”

I was concerned about the way his legs had staggered when he was grabbed.

I boldly rolled up one leg of his trousers. It was the same there.

I didn’t need to ask who had done it. If it wasn’t that bastard, the twins wouldn’t have any reason to switch roles.

‘That bastard is truly scum beneath scum.’