The winged creature on Garran's board had a person in its claws.
That improved Jin's understanding of the job considerably.
Garran drew three little marks beneath its wings. He put the board down, picked up the padded spear and showed Jin the same small change of footing again.
On the board he'd connected the bird, the club-tailed animal and the broken fence with a line running downhill. This wasn't a collection of unrelated problems.
The point arrived where the creature's belly would be.
Jin tried it with an empty hand.
Better. Not good. Better.
He pointed at the picture, then himself. Garran pointed at the practice weapon first.
“Fine. I see why the chairs didn't impress you.”
Kessa smiled into her good hand. She stayed to look at the picture while Jin crossed home without his money or broken spear.
By morning, Jin had earned more from looking appalled at coffee than from a week of recovery shifts.
The camera woman had bought permission to use his face in the follow-up. Fifty thousand won. Theo sent him the payment notice and a proposed new professional title: DRINKING PROBLEM.
Jin paid the missing balance on Mira's Friday registration.
Her reply arrived from the school bus.
Thank you. Now stop offering to supervise dangerous women.
He looked at his newest card.
It hadn't improved overnight.
SPECIAL QUEST — SHOW YOUR WORK
EXPLAIN YOUR CLASS'S CHANGE TO AN EARTH HUNTER YOU TRUST.
USE TWO SOCK PUPPETS. INVITE A QUESTION THROUGH ONE PUPPET AND ANSWER IT THROUGH THE OTHER.
REWARD: EXP +6.
Theo came to the flat with a bag of buns, his left arm still in its sling.
He stopped at the kitchen door.
Jin had a sock on each hand.
Theo slowly placed the bag on the counter.
“I knew the promotion would change you.”
“Sit down.”
“Which one said that?”
Jin raised the gray sock.
“This is me.”
“I recognized the distress.”
The black sock represented Wayfarer. Jin had cut a paper crown for it, then decided the resemblance to the forest creature was unhelpful and removed it.
“My Level moved,” he said.
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Theo stopped reaching for a bun.
“In the other world.”
“Moved where?”
“Eight.”
Theo looked at the socks.
At Jin.
“You're not describing a game.”
“No.”
Jin lowered his hands.
Theo caught one wrist with his good hand and lifted it again.
“No, finish. Apparently I'm getting this from the senior sock.”
Jin told him. The impossible first three points, the world where bodies became light, the larger creature and Kessa, the fixed door he could now open. He left out no danger to make the story easier to hear.
Theo stayed quiet through the club-tailed beast.
Then he touched the edge of his own status window. Jin couldn't see it. He knew what would be there: Moon Dancer, E-rank, Level One.
The same wall they'd both spent years facing.
Theo looked up.
“You found stairs.”
Jin's throat tightened.
“I think so.”
“And introduced yourself to everything on them.”
“There's a dress code.”
Jin opened the gray sock's mouth. “The floor is open for questions. Please hurt the stupid one first.”
Theo looked at the socks again. His mouth twitched, then refused to settle.
“Show me the step.”
Jin put the gray sock on the table and moved three paces into the clear space beside the sofa.
He walked a short route to the end of the rug, then reset.
“Here to there. One burst.”
“Can you change it halfway?”
“Not once it's going.”
Theo stood by the far end.
“Touch my sleeve.”
“Your shoulder—”
Theo held out his uninjured right arm.
“That's why I kept the other one.”
Jin selected Replay.
The room rushed past. Theo shifted his weight and made one short Moon Dancer glide to the side.
Jin grabbed empty air.
He reached the end of his route, windmilled and dropped onto the sofa with a noise that emptied both socks of dignity.
“Fast,” he said. “You also tell the whole room where you'll be.”
“The room has been very rude about it.”
Theo pulled the gray sock over his good hand, made it gape and held it toward him.
“What if your target moves?”
Jin answered through the black one.
“Apparently I become upholstery.”
Theo's laugh came out too loudly. He pressed the sock against his mouth, lowered it and tried again.
“Then learn what to do after you arrive.”
SPECIAL QUEST COMPLETE: EXP +6
LEVEL UP: 8 → 9
LEVEL 9: 4/15 | FREE AP: +5
Jin spent them: two Strength, two Agility, one Endurance.
MODIFIERS: STR +12 | AGI +18 | END +10
AP REMAINING: 0
Theo returned the gray sock. Jin pulled it back on without thinking, staring at the points he'd just spent.
Theo noticed.
“Just now?”
“Yes.”
Theo took a long breath.
“When your door can bring someone, tell me. Meanwhile I'm learning how to stop ending up in a sling.”
“I'll tell you before.”
“Good. I hate reading reviews of your near-death experiences.”
He offered a bun.
Jin took it with the sock still on.
They looked at the grease patch spreading through the gray fabric.
“He's been promoted to oven mitt,” Theo said.
Jin's phone buzzed before he could retaliate.
An Academy group had shared a poster.
His squat. Theo wiping his face. A bold heading: SURVIVE AN S-RANK: THE COFFEE METHOD.
Thirty places. Payment in advance.
Theo leaned closer.
“We did nine seconds.”
Jin enlarged the smaller text.
PERSONAL INSTRUCTION FROM KANG JIN. TOMORROW MORNING.
At the bottom was a photograph of a man neither of them knew.
REGISTER WITH HIS AUTHORISED ASSISTANT.