[Conqueror]

  Hey princess, mind shopping with me?

  Gonna get Althea some stuff for BY

  Also keep it lowkey

  [Celestial Empress]

  In public? Didn’t know you were that bold lovely

  [Conqueror]

  Stop calling me that

  And wear a face mask or something

  [Celestial Empress]

  Dw I have my own way of concealment

  But yea I’ll come with

  ***

  “Let’s see…” I began crossing items off my list.

  “I didn’t expect you to bring an actual list,” said my “date” sitting on the other side of the table, trying too hard at “cutely” sipping her iced coffee. She was kicking her legs, the point of her shoes barely brushing against my shins.

  I spun my pencil around my fingers, half-tempted to flick it into her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You know, uh…” Leo, as wonderfully eloquent as she was, drank too much coffee and it had affected her vocabulary. “I thought you’d be spontaneous if that makes sense.” (“It doesn’t.”) “You come in, see where the smooth-stones will take you, and buy-out a store’s entire catalog on a whim.”

  “We’ve been glued to each other’s asses for a year at this point—” (“It hasn’t been two months!”) “—and you think I’m that pretentious?”

  Leo’s sunglasses tipped down her nose slightly as she sipped. “System Articles, our first fight, Astraria—you like thinking with your gut.”

  I clicked my tongue and continued to work on my list. “I investigated corporate fraud, solved the case of the mauled servants and the mystery of the Summer Scare—sometimes, I also like thinking with my head.”

  “And.” Leo reached over the table and plucked the shopping-list from my fat fingers. “You can’t find a middle-ground. Answer me truthfully, Alex. How much research did you do on Baekyong?”

  “A normal amount.” I tried taking the list back but this annoying idiot wouldn’t make it easy. “I looked up their school policies. Obviously, we can’t smuggle a rocket launcher onto campus, but apparently K-pop posters are permissible.”

  Leo sighed and set her coffee on the list, the perspiration dampening the paper. “Your bedroom is plainer than vanilla, Alex. What makes you an authority on how a girl oughta decorate her dorm?”

  “I’m her brother.” (“Sure.”) “I know all her favorite bands, shows, comics, you name it.” (“Uh huh.”) “And I’ve seen her room a thousand times because it’s constantly a mess.” (“Right.”) “I know my sister’s ‘style’ to put it simply.”

  Leo glanced at my list again. “You’re also buying her clothes. Only a control-freak would dictate his sister’s wardrobe.”

  “Because she’ll need a large closet.”

  “For what? Baekyong is filled with heirs and heiresses, but fashion comes second to the Rankings. Not even that.”

  “Exactly. Knowing the trouble she’ll get herself into, her clothes will constantly be dirty, ripped, or both.”

  Leo opened her mouth to protest but she saw the logic in my purchases. Seeing her defeat, she pouted and crossed her arms. “...Can you start thinking with your gut again?”

  “I’m not an idiot. Most of the time.” As soon as Leo sipped her coffee again, I snatched my list before she could do anything. Dammit all, my writing had smudged. “What else you think Thea needs?”

  Leo held her coffee close to her nose, watching the dewdrops race to the bottom. “Besides her [Loadout], nothing I can think of. Shopping-wise, I mean. I’m surprised you’re taking this well.”

  “The operation?”

  “Duh. Your sister’s gonna be alone in Baekyong for who-knows-how-long with little-to-no support. Raw firepower isn’t enough to survive. She needs practical intelligence, a dash of cleverness, and endless paranoia—if she dreams of surviving.”

  I swallowed her concerns by drinking my own coffee that I’d been neglecting. “I—shit, Leo—you know I’m scared for her, obviously, but my faith is stronger than my fear. My faith in her, I mean. She’s more capable than she thinks.”

  “I’m scared too, because we can’t train her for the bullshit that happens there.” Leo leaned forward, arms on the table. “Schemes upon schemes, backstabbing, tactics so crude and vile that even us—the Demonic Cult—will blink twice at. These kids are fucking heartless, Alex. Nothing’s sacred.”

  I stared at my list, not reading anything on there about war crimes. “We had a taste, but Thea can handle herself. She won’t have Lee Na-yoon at least. From the intel docs, supposedly Yoon-ho is the black sheep of the family.”

  “The sun burns regardless of what color it is,” Leo snarled, her caramel eyes boiling underneath her sunglasses. “Baekyong is a different ballpark than Oasis Guild. I know I sound crazy, but believe me here.”

  I wasn’t doubting her. For the heiress of the Demonic Cult, going into Baekyong was like walking into the jaws of a shark and living there.

  “...Why did you attend Baekyong in the first place, princess?” I asked.

  Leo exhaled, seemingly predicting that question. She slumped in her seat and stared at the rest of the shopping mall, watching shoppers from families to couples enjoy themselves on this beautiful summer day. In contrast, sitting at a table outside a cafe were two miserable swords.

  “When… When I graduated high-school, I wanted to prove to Auntie that I was capable enough to stand by her side—this was before I was informed about Sundown by the way. I created a [Character], enrolled in Baekyong, got exposed, and they turned my life into a living hell. Instructors, administration, my classmates, my ‘friends,’ they stopped at nothing to break my spirit.

  “It worked. They won. They beat me. I still have nightmares to this day. Now?” Leo bit hard on her lip. “I’d give anything to see that school burn down and Taeyang with it.”

  I recalled seeing headlines of the famous battle between Ryu Gyeong-hui and Lee Na-yoon a few years ago, but I never paid attention to them. However, I knew the rest of the story: shortly after dropping out of Baekyong, Kosmos had offered her a place in Angels Guild, leading us to today. Three years after the fact, however, the scars were still fresh.

  Her legs were jittering underneath the table. She looked half-ready to jump out of her seat at the first loud sound. While her sunglasses concealed her gaze, it was aimed toward the horizon and onward to Korea. To Seoul, the capital and the home of her trauma. Whenever Oasis Guild and High Home were brought up, I must’ve had the same expression.

  It was…interesting to be a witness this time around.

  I didn’t like it.

  Leo was so deep inside her head that she didn’t notice that I’d gotten out of my chair and stood beside her.

  With my pencil, I poked her cheek.

  “Geh—?!” Instinctively, her murim-in reflexes kicked in and slapped my hand away. “What the hell, Alex—?!"

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  I laughed at her face. “Smile, princess. Today’s too pretty for a long face, and Ordo has too many good memories to be caught up in the bad ones.”

  Leo stared at me for a couple seconds, bewildered, and something was going through her head. I wasn’t a mind-reader, so your guess was as good as mine, but in the end, she was laughing. Looks like my tongue did more than just lashing.

  “Alright, lovely.” She got up and took her coffee. “Let’s make the most out of today.”

  ***

  “I’m home! Uncle’s hanging back at HQ for a little bit—woah, whose birthday is it?” Thea stopped halfway to the living room, seeing an enormous selection of bags and boxes strewn over the floor, chairs, and tables. Luxury brands were slapped onto most of the packaging, names that we couldn’t afford or even pronounce before the Scare.

  The receipts easily totaled someone's salary. As much as I loathed to admit, but we were living in an ivory tower. While making big purchases like these would not be a common occurrence, splurging for my sister’s success was a pretty good excuse to cosplay as a spoiled rich douchebag.

  Leo sneakily approached Thea from behind and clapped her shoulders, causing my sister to yelp. “It’s for you, sweetheart.” (“Eh?”) “Your brother thought it was a good idea to spend our team’s budget on essentials for Baekyong.”

  “Essentials?” Thea picked up the nearest box. “Designer sneakers are ‘essentials’?” Then she peeked into another bag. “Designer sweatpants are ‘essentials’? You gotta be bullshitting me here.”

  I revealed myself behind the couch and stood, my knees cracking after crouching for so long. “You know, I had this long spiel about how designer brands will help you blend in better, but uh, we decided to go crazy.”

  Leo waved me off. “This was completely his idea.”

  “You took me to the ‘best’ stores which all happened to be for black-card holders.” I crossed my arms, watching Thea tiptoe around the labyrinth we’d made. “But this is all for you. Every single thing.” ("Actually, I brought a few things for myself.") "Almost everything."

  “Guys, this is…” Thea rubbed her mouth multiple times, her brain trying to process the extent of our bad decision. “This is excessive. I-I like therapeutic shopping as much as the next gal, but this is fuckin’ crazy! I don’t need all this stuff!”

  “We wanted to treat you,” said Leo.

  “But what am I gonna do with all this? I… I don’t even know if Baekyong’s gonna let me bring all this crap onto campus!”

  I carefully approached her. “Thea—”

  Thea, contrary to our expectations, was overwhelmed in the worst way. She clawed at her hair, the sight of our shopping trip bringing anxiety rather than joy. “Why didn’t you tell me you were gonna pull this shit on me?! Huh?! Who did you buy this for? Just ‘cause we came onto a lot of money doesn’t mean you gotta—ugh!”

  She craned her head to the ceiling and circled around.

  On the other side, Leo slowly reached out. “Sweetheart—”

  “Don’t touch me!” Thea pulled herself away. “You guys are so fuckin’ ridiculous, you know that?” (“Thea—!”) “Shut up, I don’t care anymore. Figure this shit out yourselves. Return ‘em, sell ‘em, it’s not my problem.”

  I spoke up, “Althea—!”

  “I’m going to my room.” Without another word, she stormed off and punctuated her exit by slamming the door shut.

  Well, we’re fucking idiots.

  Leo let out a long, long sigh and banged her head on a nearby wall. “We’re fucking idiots.”

  “You read my mind.” I joined Leo at the wall, leaning my own head there. “I think… I think we went overboard with our grand gesture.”

  She nodded, hair scratching on the plaster. “It’s my fault—” (“No—”) “—I was the one who suggested we’d visit those stores—”

  “The purchases are under my name. I should’ve known better—” (“Alex—”) “—alright, look, how about we say it’s fifty-fifty and move on? We’ll be arguing all night otherwise.”

  Leo pouted. “Seventy-five-twenty-five, me.”

  I squinted. “Princess.”

  “I’m joking, but you’re right.” Her head smacked against the wall again. “We got a little too carried away, hehe… It is unfair for us to—fucking—dump a truckload’s worth of clothes and accessories while she’s training twenty-four-seven for Sundown. Instead of cheering her up, we brought her grief. Literally and figuratively.”

  “Yeah.” I rubbed my nose, sniffling. “Guess we’re no match for an eighteen-year-old girl’s brain.”

  “Apparently.” Leo quietly chuckled. “What should we do? Start going through receipts and calling numbers, or…?”

  “Let’s give Thea some time to cool down, then I’ll talk with her.”

  “I can help—”

  “No, this has to be between us, but I appreciate it. In the meantime…” I looked at our shopping spree again and whistled. “Let’s organize a little bit.”

  “Yessir.” Leo patted my shoulder for good luck and got to work.

  ***

  Holding my breath, my knuckles softly rapped against Thea’s door. “Are you ready for my apology?”

  I heard shuffling inside her room. “Are you gonna rent someone to read it for you?”

  “Leo volunteered for free but I turned her down, unfortunately.” From the corner of my eye, said volunteer flipped me off.

  “Ugh. Your face annoys me right now.”

  “That’s alright.” I turned around and sat with my back against her door. We had several conversations like this. “I’ll entertain your immaturity this time.”

  Thea did the same thing. “Asshole, aren’t you gonna apologize?”

  I stretched my legs out, smiling. “I am. You’re right for getting pissed. What we did was pretty stupid. We piled more shit onto your workload and expected sunshine and rainbows. But we want the best for you. We want you to succeed. That doesn’t pardon our mistakes, but that’s where we’re coming from.”

  She didn’t respond for what felt like hours. While the Shens loved to carry grudges—take Mom or Uncle for instance—Thea was on another level. Last year, she had showed me a “hit-list” of our worst enemies that we should “start working on in the near future.” However, she wasn’t completely unreasonable. Just a normal, annoying amount.

  “...There’s a lot on my plate, asshole,” her voice filtered through the door.

  “I know.”

  “I have to study the mission materials, memorize all these names and backgrounds, go through boot camp, learn how to use a [Character] and Mom’s techniques maybe—all in two months. Like…” Thea sounded like she was shaking her head at the absurdity of it. “I thought I’d be, y’know, working side-by-side with the rest of the team. Not this: being a super-spy.”

  “You always wanted to go to Korea. This is, twistedly enough, a dream come true.”

  “Yeah, no kidding. Infiltrating a school filled with heirs of chaebols? That’s something outta a webtoon, but the prep-work is insane… I mean, I get it, but it’s gonna be really tough. It already is tough.”

  I turned toward the door. “Do you actually want to do this—?”

  “Of course I do.” Thea banged her head, the vibrations hitting my back. “This is our chance—my chance—to do something about this shitty fuckin’ world. Taeyang, Oasis, they’re different sides of the same coin fucking over everybody in the same way. They hurt us. They hurt Leo. They hurt thousands, millions of innocent people. Taeyang might be geddons. If payback means living the worst year of my life, so be it. I just… I just didn’t think this was how I’d be fighting back. I’m not gonna complain, though. In a way…” Thea laughed. “It’s sorta exciting.”

  See? Thea loved holding grudges. Spite was her caffeine. Lyressa and Leo previously assumed I was an anti-castle punk from how I’d handled System Articles and Glory Guild; on the contrary, the real punk was my sister. She always had an axe to grind against mega-corpos and castles; everyone in the family had an axe, but she was itching to use hers.

  I said, “Yeah, well, you’ve always been weird like that.”

  “Asshole.”

  “Mhm. I mean it, though. Everyone wants to extinguish the sun, but most of all, everyone wants you to go far. We’ll do anything to mold you into a badass super-spy or whatever you’re calling yourself. And once you leave, you’ll be in our prayers everyday.”

  “Sheesh, Alex, don’t get sensitive all of the sudden—”

  I lightly banged the side of my fist against her door. “You’re flying free from the nest, Thea. While you’re still here, we'll do everything we can to make these last two months memorable."

  Thea went quiet again.

  There I go, embarrassing her.

  “...Fine,” she said after some time. “Only because you’re cooking our meals. If I piss you off, you might kill me with cyanide.”

  “Won’t deny it. Now…” I stood on my legs, groaning like an old man. “Let’s decide what we’re doing with your early Christmas presents.”

  Althea opened the door, looking tired as ever—tired from training, tired from studying, tired because of me. “Y’know, isn’t it a bit ironic that you guys brought luxury items while we’re fighting a chaebol?”

  “Hypocrisy is probably one of the least bad things about us.”

  “Tell that to the judge. But yeah, I’m not gonna throw away your gifts.” Thea paused to think for a second. “Unless you got me hideous clothes or plain junk, then they’re absolutely going to the garbage.”

  “Don’t worry!” Leo’s voice rang from deep in the living room. “I prevented any fatal mistakes!”

  “Except for that one,” I muttered. "Just go through your gifts with the princess. Someone has to cook dinner, and I don’t trust either of you with the stove.”

  “Roger. If you hear me bitch and cry, it’s your fault.” Thea marched into the living room to see what Leo was doing.

  I chuckled to myself.

  I really hope we can enjoy July and August as much as possible. Lord knows she’ll need the happy memories before she starts tearing Baekyong apart by the bricks.