Mira took the spoon away before Jin could call it clothing.
“I haven't said anything.”
“You held it against your sleeve.”
The permanent patch hovered over the kitchen counter.
WORLD TRAVEL — REGISTER RETURN PAIR
EARTH ANCHOR: CURRENT POSITION
FOREIGN ANCHOR: LAST EXIT POINT
P0: HOST AND WORN CLOTHING ONLY
NO CARRIED OBJECTS. NO ADDITIONAL PASSENGERS.
CROSSINGS LEAVE A TRACE.
He put his phone, wallet and keys beside the bark. The spoon went into Mira's pocket.
“Two minutes,” he said.
“Say when you're back. I'm studying in my room.”
She left him standing in a clean shirt with no knife and a terrible amount of curiosity.
Jin confirmed.
The kitchen folded away.
He landed beside the cedar where the white seam had been. There was no seam now. Kessa stood beside the tree, her bow unstrung and her left wrist wrapped. Her right hand held a spear pointed at his face.
Again.
Jin lifted his hands.
“Customer retention.”
Her mouth opened. She lowered the spear, took two steps toward him and prodded his clean shirt.
He spread his arms.
Her eyes narrowed.
She pulled his sleeve up far enough to find the dressing below his left elbow.
Jin pointed at himself. “Same idiot.”
Kessa released him and shouted over her shoulder.
Two men came down the path. One carried a lantern; the other carried a board with a drawing on it.
A stick figure stood before a yellow-crowned beast. Its arms were flung wide.
Jin recognized the bow he'd made before the charge.
The man tapped the stick figure, pointed at Jin and raised three fingers. Then he tipped three copper coins onto the board.
Jin had understood money before he learned most Korean verbs.
“For the monster?”
The man nodded enthusiastically.
Jin reached.
Kessa caught his wrist.
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She turned the board over. Another beast occupied the back. This one had a tail ending in a club.
The man pointed at that beast, the three coins and Jin's magnificently stupid pose on the front.
Jin slowly lowered his hand.
“You want me to do it again.”
Kessa crossed her arms.
The man added a fourth coin.
Jin's hand began to rise. He caught it with his other hand.
Kessa watched the struggle without sympathy.
“Later,” he told them, pointing at himself, then the path. “Not tonight.”
He mimed sleeping, returning and looking at the picture. Kessa repeated the looking gesture, stabbing two fingers toward her own eyes before she pointed at the enormous tail.
Yes. Look first. Survive the interview.
The man reclaimed his coins, less delighted. Kessa stayed close while Jin called Earth.
The last thing he saw was her face when he disappeared.
Back in the kitchen, the clock's minute changed.
“Back,” Jin called.
“Still have all the parts?” Mira called through her door.
He checked.
“The expensive ones.”
“Then let me revise.”
Both anchors remained on his private pane. He could go again.
He could earn the four coins, if he found out what they were worth and how not to be underneath the tail.
Tomorrow, apparently, he also had to supervise an S-rank.
Theo arrived at the Academy vending machine wearing a sling and the expression of a man attending somebody else's sentencing.
“You put it on the public feed,” Jin said.
“The brand has a public account.”
“You tagged the entire combat department.”
“Quality control.”
Students had gathered around a folding table. Somebody had taped Jin's pigeon comparison to the vending machine. Another student was taking predictions beneath it.
Jin inspected the list.
“Why is ‘apology’ paying worse than ‘death’?”
“People know your work,” Theo said.
Jin bought two coffees. Both had lids this time. The cost hurt more because the machine made the same insulting noise twice.
Song Yu-ra arrived with a woman carrying a camera and a man in the coffee brand's jacket.
No sword.
Jin was grateful until he saw the vendor's metal sign bend against her shoulder. She moved past without noticing. The man in the jacket straightened it with both hands.
Yu-ra took one cup, removed the lid and drank.
She looked at the advertisement.
Then at the cup.
“Oh.”
Jin waited.
She tried another sip.
“Why does it taste frightened?”
The students broke.
The brand man stepped forward. “It's a robust—”
“Don't make it worse,” Yu-ra said.
The camera woman turned her laugh into a cough. Yu-ra handed the cup back to Jin.
“You could have reported it normally.”
“I was speaking to management.”
“My face is on the machine. That makes me the victim.”
The brand man reached for the camera. The woman moved it out of reach.
Jin's fifteen-point offer waited over Yu-ra's shoulder.
She noticed him looking past her.
“Well?”
His throat tried to close. He thought of the coins, the yellow crown and the number that had finally moved.
“I'd like to offer my services as your supervisor.”
Theo turned toward the wall.
Somebody behind the predictions table squeaked.
Yu-ra looked at Jin for one long second.
“Accepted.”
SPECIAL QUEST COMPLETE: EXP +15
LEVEL UP: 4 → 5
LEVEL 5: 1/15 | FREE AP: +5
WAYFARER: SKILL MILESTONE REACHED — CALIBRATION PENDING
Heat rushed through his legs.
Yu-ra picked up both cups and set them in his hands.
“Your first supervisory duty is demonstrating the product.”
The brand man brightened.
“Specifically,” she continued, “how much of it you can keep out of my hand.”
She took the lids away.