How to Survive as an Extra

Chapter 130

European-style dishes appeared in a long procession.

Each held its own distinct flavor as it dressed the solid-wood dining table, and only when there was no room left to place more plates in front of us did the procession finally stop.

“Aileen, I think you prepared too much.”

Even as Do Minyeong spoke, Aileen bustled about in the kitchen.

She was not carrying out more food, but warming tea leaves for after the meal.

Watching that diligent movement made it feel as if I had come to a countryside grandmother’s home.

Warm, homely, and soothing to the mind, yet also a blessed game I could not escape unless I tasted everything laid out on the table……

“There was not enough time, so I could not even prepare half of what I wanted. It is nothing, but eat as much as you like.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Only after I saw Do Minyeong pick up her utensils did my appetite finally stir.

Yet faced with the colorful dishes, I developed indecision I never even had.

“Start with the soup. Aileen makes onion soup as well as a famous chef in Dublin.”

“Really?”

“You can dip a little bread in it too, and those shrimp patties have mild seasoning but deep flavor, so they are perfect to wake up your palate. And that is Aileen’s pride, stir-fried glass noodles……”

Before I knew it, she had launched into an elaborate explanation of the food.

With how interested she was in eating, how had she endured life at Hero Prep?

It was impressive she had managed to live off convenience store meals.

Like a contrarian, I picked up the lamb chops that had not yet been explained.

When I cut off a generous piece with my knife and ate it, Do Minyeong watched my expression and asked cautiously.

“……S-So? How is it?”

“It is delicious. Especially the sauce. It is not salty, and it is not sweet. It soaked in perfectly.”

“Thank goodness.”

Do Minyeong looked relieved.

“Did you make this?”

“Ah, I only helped with the sauce a little……”

“Hmm. You have real skill.”

“It is not like that. I only helped as I was told.”

Just then, Aileen sat down.

“Being able to do as you are told is a skill as well. Do you know how many people cannot even manage that?”

“Is that so.”

“Yes, indeed. Seokhyeon, does the food suit your taste? I asked Minyeong what you liked, but she said she did not know anything besides strange drinks, so I was at a loss.”

Ah. Carbonated coffee.

No wonder Do Minyeong could not answer.

My meals, like hers, had mostly been convenience store lunchboxes.

It was not as if I was saving points for exams, so it was not that I lacked points, but eating at Grand Pistachio still left a bad taste in my mouth.

Whenever I looked back, every single one of them had been eager to gossip about me.

Even if I tried to endure it generously, telling myself they were my precious creations, human psychology did not accept open insults kindly.

“Everything you made is delicious. It has been so long since I have been treated like this that it is almost moving.”

“Hee hee. Come visit often. You can even come secretly without Minyeong knowing, and you may bring another girlfriend as well.”

Do Minyeong cut in, looking flustered.

“A-Aileen…!”

“Oh? Why are you putting such force into your words? You said the two of you are not dating.”

“It is not that. You keep putting pressure on him!”

“I am sincere. A spirited young man visiting a quiet neighborhood is something to be grateful for. Is it not?”

Aileen smiled with a sly warmth.

All I could do was follow her with an awkward smile.

After the meal ended, I patted my abdomen and leaned back in my chair, half-reclined.

Had I ever overeaten this much since opening my eyes in this world?

When Do Minyeong beside me leaned back as well, Aileen spoke with a satisfied expression.

“Why do you not go for a walk together? There is a large lake park right nearby. I will wash the dishes while you are gone.”

“N-No! I will do it!”

“It is fine. A guest should not.”

“Please. Let me do it.”

“Hm?”

Aileen looked back and forth between me and Do Minyeong, her expression puzzled.

It seemed she had been trying to give us time alone.

I quickly stood and headed for the kitchen.

“You two should go for the walk. The construction at Hero Prep will be finished soon, so it will be hard to meet often.”

“If that is the case…… then will you at least let me treat you properly this evening?”

At the word evening, Do Minyeong tilted her head.

“This evening?”

Then she cast a worried glance at me.

A silent question of whether someone in the Special Affairs Division would have time to stay until evening.

But before I could answer, Aileen spoke first.

“You came all the way to District 30, so you were planning to sleep over, were you not? Ah, and for the record, I could not clean the other rooms, so the two of you will have to sleep together in Minyeong’s room.”

“…….”

“…….”

***

After Do Minyeong and Aileen went out for their walk,

I diligently finished the dishes.

Time was already approaching 3 p.m.

In the height of summer, the sun should have blazed until seven, but perhaps even here, Seoul was still Seoul, because the sun had already begun to sink sharply.

“Then, let me see……”

I roughly poured lukewarm tea water to fill a cup,

took a sip, and headed to the living room.

Aileen had said she could not clean the other rooms.

As if proving it, the living room was littered with all kinds of everyday traces in plain view.

Even though she had returned home four months ago, it still was not organized.

“Perhaps she still has habits from living abroad.”

She had to move residences frequently, avoiding people’s eyes.

Of course, this house was indeed the place she originally lived.

“Usually, if someone is in a position where they must pack up and run at any moment……”

I used Demonic Eye and calmly surveyed the living room.

There was something I was looking for.

I needed to confirm with my own eyes whether the setting I had assigned in the original work was still applying as-is.

“……Found it.”

Soon I discovered a small bag inside her thick coat.

It was only about the size of a hat, but it was quite heavy, as if packed with many things.

From inside, I pulled out a medication pouch that crinkled conspicuously.

Its surface was covered in technical terms, but as expected, its contents were narcotic painkillers.

A prescription drug with nothing to do with awakened beings.

But to Aileen, a non-awakened person, it held significant meaning.

“So it really comes to this.”

In the setting, Aileen suffered from a mild chronic illness.

But as the years passed and old age piled on, it had worsened into something close to incurable, and she would probably die within days.

She was seventy-six this year.

In the first place, it was remarkable that a normal human like Aileen had managed to live in hiding overseas with Do Minyeong for so long.

“…….”

For a moment, I stared down at the medication pouch, lost in thought.

Her death had been a choice I made as the original author, yet now I could do nothing for her.

Only helplessness and regret prodded at my guilt.

A little later, Do Minyeong and Aileen returned.

Both looked bright, as if they had shared some truly enjoyable conversation.

But the instant Do Minyeong’s eyes met mine, she hurried up to the second floor.

“Ah! I-I am going to check my room for anything weird for a moment……!”

Watching her back, I asked Aileen.

“Do we really have to use the same room? The living room seems empty.”

“Do as you like.”

Lowering her voice, she added,

“My hearing is dull when I sleep, so do not worry about it.”

“…….”

***

I barely made it through dinner.

I did not know if that was even the right expression, but I had battled meals even more enormous than lunch.

We sat on the living room sofa and talked about various things, and before I knew it, bedtime arrived. After a quick wash, I headed to Do Minyeong’s room on the second floor.

“Are you really going to sleep here?”

“As if.”

“Th-Then why did you come up……?”

“I will lie on the floor for a while, and once Aileen falls asleep, I will go back down.”

“Stop indulging her. She is always that mischievous.”

“It is not as if I see her often.”

“The problem is that she teases me because of you.”

“Why does she tease you because of me?”

“Th-That…… you do not need to know!”

Do Minyeong, already in pajamas and sitting on the bed, suddenly pulled the blanket over herself and lay down.

With the lights still on, no less. Was she telling me to turn them off?

I moved sluggishly and switched off the room light.

Then I lay on the bare floor, and her voice added slowly.

“If you have something you want to say, you can. ……I am invincible as long as I am under the blanket.”

“What do you mean invincible? What do you think I am going to say?”

From under the blanket, Do Minyeong revealed just the corner of her eyes.

“You are going to reject me. About what happened in District 10.”

“…….”

“If you did not contact me at all until yesterday, it is obvious what you are thinking.”

I sat up and looked toward the bed.

“Are you…… all right?”

“Do you think I would be?”

“……I am sorry.”

“If you are sorry, then.”

This time Do Minyeong sat up.

The blanket was wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

“If you are sorry, at least tell me why. Is it because you like someone else……?”

Before I could answer, she continued.

“Is it Cadet Cha Yeri?”

It felt familiar.

I was certain Cha Yeri had mentioned Do Minyeong as well.

“It is not like that.”

“Then that is enough.”

“Huh?”

“If you do not like anyone, then that is enough.”

Do Minyeong lay back down and pulled the blanket over herself again.

“Aileen said that sincerity reaches someone eventually. If there is not truly someone in your heart, then until then, before that time comes…… I will not give up.”

“…….”

“So if you ever come to like someone, tell me at any time.”

For an instant, her voice grew thick.

As if she had buried her face in the pillow.

“I do not want my selfish feelings to remain as a burden on you.”

“…….”

After that, Do Minyeong made no sound at all.

I sat on the floor for a long time, then quietly left the room.

At this rate, neither of us would be able to sleep.

When I went down to the first floor, Aileen was sitting at the dining table, looking down at a thick album.

“You have a heavy face.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Of course. I know that face better than anyone.”

I sat across from her.

The thick album was filled with photographs of Do Minyeong and Aileen.

Pictures they had taken while living in hiding overseas.

From six years ago when they first left the country, all the way to last winter, relatively recent.

“I just remembered that I told you earlier I would show you the album. And I thought you would come down soon anyway, so I was waiting.”

“Is that the kind of thing you know with experience?”

“Hee hee. There is an intuition that awakened beings do not have.”

I drew a faint smile.

“Then tell me. What happened, and how you lived. ……I do not think I will fall asleep easily tonight.”

***

A few days later.

As always, we spied on the Saintess Society’s gathering.

─Investigator, please turn your head slightly to the right. Yes! That direction! Seokhyeon, do you see it? That potion with the gray liquid.

“Is that a forced awakening potion?”

─Yes. It seems even if they are not the leader, they carry the potions.

The gathering proceeded as before, guided by the vice leader without the leader present.

However, near the end, one believer stepped onto the platform, and the vice leader pressed a potion into his hand.

“It looks like they are trying to provide a demonstration, like handing out samples at a market.”

─Seeing is believing. It is the most effective way to incite people.

The believer on the platform had only one arm. He was frail, and his back was hunched.

A non-awakened person who looked to be in his eighties.

But the moment he poured the potion into his mouth, his body convulsed violently as if exposed to electricity, and in an instant, an arm began to sprout.

His back straightened like a young man’s, his skin regained elasticity, and keen light returned to his eyes.

“Forced awakening……”

Through Yun Jeongseop’s piercing, the believers’ fervent yearning poured in.

─Oooo! O Saintess! Accept our faith!

─Grant us the power of eternal life! Eternal life!

Then the vice leader raised both arms high and shouted.

─Pay homage to the Saintess! Revere her! Obey! And I will grant all of you the power of eternal life!

For a time, the in-ear audio broke.

So many cries overlapped that I could not even distinguish words.

I switched voice channels and clicked my tongue.

“Should we just rush them? I cannot stand watching this.”

─Stay calm. We have secured live evidence. All that remains is to arrest the leader.

“Hah. Where is that leader hiding, that he never shows his face?”