Chapter 39

Hurry Up, Ms. Sejin

“What happened? Court? Documents?”

After hearing the whole story, it was so exactly what I had expected that it actually gave me chills.

The people who had sued Ms. Seorin were none other than the ones who had systematically moved to attack me, spread suspicions, and fabricated evidence.

In other words, Seira and her gang of fabricators. Apparently Seira’s real name was Oh Seira. Good grief.

They were demanding compensation because their reputations had been damaged by that exposé stream and their streams had all been ruined...

These crazy bitches really have a death wish. I knew this was coming, but it still pisses me off.

“They’re seriously insane. What reputation?”

They were the ones who had driven an innocent person into a corner with ridiculous rumors in the first place, and when that did not work, they fabricated evidence. Then they got ruined because they were exposed.

They did all the wrong themselves, and now they were shamelessly picking a fight with Ms. Seorin.

There is no way I can let this slide.

“Those crazy bitches, are you really going to leave them alone?”

“Ah... well...”

“Instructor, people like this need to be taught a serious lesson.”

“But—.”

Hah, this person. What do you mean, but? There is such a thing as being too nice.

“...Instructor.”

“Huh? Huh?”

I grabbed both of Ms. Seorin’s hands tightly and pulled her toward me.

Ms. Seorin flinched and tried to pull her hands free, but I had now transcended the one-kilogram pink dumbbell and reached the realm of superhumans. There was no way a frail woman could match my strength.

“Ah!”

...Oh my, she pulled free.

Kgh, as expected of a healthy adult woman trained through horseback riding...!

“Y-You startled me, Lili-chan.”

But that did not change what I had to say.

“Instructor, leave it to me.”

“Huh?”

“Those bastard sons of bitches, I’ll drive a tank over there and blow all their heads off!”

“...Lili-chan?”

I had merely copied a grand declaration I saw on the internet, but Ms. Seorin only blinked at me in shock.

Hah, not knowing memes like this. You do not fit our YOUNG and MZ generation. Yare yare.

“Don’t worry! I’ll slaughter them so thoroughly they won’t even be able to open their mouths!”

I clenched my fist and passionately declared that—.

“Miss.”

“Eek.”

“You watched something weird on the internet again. Good grief, no matter how many times I tell you...”

“It’s not weird! These are all time-honored famous quotes! I’ll drive a tank—!”

“Where are you going to get a tank?”

“Th-That’s...”

I mean, I think one of Shinil Group’s defense-related companies probably does produce tanks...

“More importantly, Miss, do you even know what a tank is?”

“A t-tank. Of course I know that much.”

“Let’s say you have a tank. What about driving it?”

“Driver Park ahjussi can.”

“You’re going to make Driver Park drive a tank too? Good grief, I can’t live like this.”

Isn’t that a bit much over one joke...

The tank was just a metaphor I threw in because it sounded funny.

But just because I do not have a tank does not mean I do not have another method. I have something much scarier than a tank.

Ms. Seorin still looked like she had no idea what was going on, glancing back and forth between me and Ms. Sejin.

“Um, Lili-chan. I’m really grateful for how you feel. But this is my problem, so it’s not something you need to worry about...”

“No. I’m going to worry about it. And this is my problem too.”

I cut her off firmly.

“Instructor Seorin stepped forward for me too. So this time it’s my turn to help.”

“But you don’t need to—.”

“Ehh, you helped me but won’t let me help you? That’s unfair.”

“U-Unfair?”

“I really do have a plan, so just trust me.”

“Haa...”

Ms. Seorin looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end she gave a small smile and nodded. She still seemed only half convinced, but at least she looked a little more relieved.

Good. Now it was time to go home and prepare a real tank... no, a real solution.

— — —

The moment I got home, I grabbed Ms. Sejin.

“Ms. Sejin. We have lawyers at home, right? The, uh, company legal team.”

“The legal team? Why...”

“I want to assign them to Instructor Seorin. You said those people are really strong.”

Naturally, our family’s legal team was not made up of ordinary lawyers.

They handled all kinds of lawsuits for Shinil Group, meaning they were top-tier experts who would be offended if you called them second-best in the country. If people like that got involved, Seira’s gang’s crappy lawyer would not even be competition.

“...Miss. It isn’t that simple.”

Huh? Why does Ms. Sejin look like that?

“Why? Can’t we just assign them to her?”

“To mobilize the legal team, we would have to tell the Chairman. And to do that, you would have to explain why you want to help that person.”

“We can explain. She’s being unfairly attacked.”

“Haa...”

Ms. Sejin stared steadily at me. Why?

“You streaming is still a secret from the Chairman. Surely you haven’t forgotten.”

“Ah.”

“How are you going to explain why Ms. Seorin needs help? Does it make sense to assign a chaebol family’s legal team to an instructor you met at a riding center?”

“Uh.”

That is true...

Grandfather does not know that I am Lilith, nor that Ms. Seorin was the person from the exposé stream. No, he probably does not even know that there was some huge mess on the internet in the first place.

“You understand, right? So you shouldn’t make promises so recklessly. I’ll try to figure something out somehow—.”

“...”

Normally, I would have given up at this point and left it to Ms. Sejin.

The thought of bringing up my streams to Grandfather was dizzying enough by itself. Imagining myself standing in front of his dignified face and confessing, Your granddaughter has been playing a vampire princess every night, made cold sweat run down my back.

But—.

Ms. Seorin’s dark expression kept lingering before my eyes.

She had put even her streaming career on the line for me. If I backed down here, what kind of person would I be?

“...I’ll tell him myself.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll go to Grandfather myself and tell him everything.”

Ms. Sejin’s eyes widened like saucers. This ahjumma is actually quite beautiful when you look at her like this. Why is she still stuck to me doing all this?

“M-Miss. What are you saying right now...”

“I told you I have a plan.”

“I don’t really understand...”

“I’ll go tell him myself, so don’t worry!”

I confidently thumped my chest.

Then, before Ms. Sejin could even respond, I started running toward the front entrance.

“M-Miss! Wait!”

— — —

Sejin doubted her own ears. She had no choice but to doubt them.

What had their young miss just said? That she was going to visit the Chairman herself?

That could not be right. The young miss Sejin knew was not that kind of person.

Ever since Sejin had first come to this house, the young miss had been a child who found dealing with people painfully difficult. A child who could barely make eye contact with strangers and shut herself in her room looking at the internet. And among everyone, the Chairman was the person the young miss found most difficult.

Yet that young miss was going to seek out the Chairman of her own accord?

And to help someone else.

“Sniff...”

One corner of Sejin’s chest grew hot.

Looking back, the young miss had been changing little by little lately.

When Sejin first found out that she was doing internet broadcasts, it had been quite a shock, but she had assumed it was merely a hobby.

But after watching her as her manager—.

Though the people beyond the screen were certainly rather strange individuals, the young miss was clearly connecting with them emotionally. Even if she had wrapped herself in that strange vampire persona.

Every night she bickered with the people in chat while calling them her subjects, laughed at the jokes they threw at her, and sometimes even got genuinely angry.

To Sejin, it was not merely a broadcast. It was the process of a child who had lived with walls around herself learning for the first time how to interact with someone outside.

Even agreeing to a collaboration and fearlessly going all the way to an unfamiliar studio had been truly unexpected.

Little by little, the young miss was stepping out into the world.

The young miss herself did not seem to notice the change. But to Sejin, every bit of it was so clear she could almost reach out and touch it.

Sejin had waited a long time for this moment. For the young miss—no, for this child—to open the door on her own. Like a parent watching a child take her first steps, the years Sejin had spent waiting beside her for her to grow flashed through her mind.

And now that long wait was clearly bearing fruit.

“Miss...”

The Chairman’s residence was not far away within the clan village. The young miss was pattering down the road toward it without the slightest hesitation.

There was no trace of fear in those steps. It seemed the simple fact that there was someone she wanted to help had swallowed all of that fear.

As Sejin watched that small back, tears finally welled in her eyes.

When had she grown this much? When had that timid, delicate child become so—.

“...Ms. Sejin! Why are you so slow!”

The young miss, who had gotten quite far ahead, turned around and shouted. The solemn determination from earlier had vanished from her face, replaced entirely by her usual innocent expression.

Sejin hurriedly wiped away her tears. She did not want this overwhelming emotion to be noticed.

“I-I’m coming right now, Miss!”

Then she hurried after that small yet spirited figure with quick little steps.