Chapter 81

Kato Mikane brought the shivering, rain-soaked Seo Dami into the Team House and let her wash up with hot water.

Then, after asking her Hubae to bring a change of clothes, she sat in a chair and thought.

‘Who is she asking me to save?’

Unless she had misheard, Dami had clearly asked her to save her Oppa.

It seemed she was calling the Miscellaneous Ghost attached to her body ‘Oppa’.

“This is serious~.”

As she was waiting, the Director came over and asked who her visitor was.

“Kato. I heard you have a guest? Who is it at this hour?”

“It’s nothing. I’ll send her back soon.”

“Right… I understand.”

The Director read the hidden meaning in Kato’s words and quietly backed away without probing further.

It was because her words carried the implication that she would handle it herself, so he shouldn’t worry.

Just from this, one could tell that the Director of Team Kamui was completely powerless against Kato Mikane.

It might have been a different story if he were a powerful Director, but the current one had been appointed only two years ago. In contrast, Kato Mikane had been with Team Kamui since its founding and was the super Ace who had led the team to a World Championship victory.

She was a player who truly fit the description of being greater than the team.

Because of this, neither the Director nor the Coach could touch her over trivial matters, and she lived like a king in the Team House.

A short while later, Seo Dami, her hair still wet, came out of the shower.

“Wear those clothes. The ones I left by the door.”

“…Thank you.”

It was a Team Kamui training t-shirt and shorts, adorned with a cute fox.

After Dami changed, Kato Mikane took her to her own room.

“Now, shall we hear your story?”

“Hmm-hmm.”

Having heard all of Seo Dami’s story, Kato Mikane nodded her head slightly.

She hadn’t grasped all the details.

That was because Seo Dami hadn’t told her everything that had happened.

For instance, Seo Dami had omitted things related to Jung Yunseul and other minor memories, conveying only the essential points.

“Anyway, to summarize, you want me to save the ghost currently inside your body, right? No, not a ghost. You said his original body is still alive. So it’s a Soul.”

At Kato’s words, Seo Dami nodded her head.

“What an interesting story.”

A talentless player who was nothing more than a Third Division League player met the Soul of a First Division League player who had been in an accident and improved her skills in a short amount of time.

Kato Mikane thought it would have been a pretty interesting story even if she had seen it in a movie or a manga.

And she could also understand why Seo Dami had been so against the Exorcism back on Jeju Island.

Because he wasn’t a ghost.

He was merely a Soul having an Out-of-Body Experience, and on top of that, he was a great help to her.

It was highly likely she had been worried that if his Soul were to disappear, she would become a nobody as a player again.

“I understand the situation. I can also tell that if you just leave that man be, he’ll die soon.”

At the words that Han Youngin would die soon, Seo Dami trembled and pleaded desperately with Kato.

“Please. Please save my Oppa.”

“Hmm. I do have the ability to save him.”

“A-Are you going to help me?”

“No? Why would I…?”

When Kato said that with a smile, Seo Dami was so shocked she was momentarily at a loss for words.

“I mean, isn’t it the natural order of things to go when it’s your time to die? I don’t really see a reason why I should go out of my way to help. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything in it for me.”

“I’ll do anything. Anything! If you need money, I’ll give you money!”

“Hmm.”

At the offer of any amount of money, Kato Mikane pondered for a moment.

But the number of people who could keep that dying Soul alive could be counted on one hand, even in Japan.

It was that difficult a task.

The act of holding onto the life of someone on the verge of death.

Exorcising a ghost or an Evil Spirit was a one-time job, but something like this required continuous attention, so it wouldn’t be profitable for any reasonable amount of money.

So she was about to refuse, but Seo Dami grabbed her and begged her to help just this once.

“If you tell me to die, Kato-ssi, I’ll die. So please, just this once…!”

This woman is so burdensome, her heart feels heavy.

Kato Mikane thought so and told her to let go for now.

But even after thinking it over, her mind didn’t change.

“I can’t. No matter how I think about it, the numbers don’t add up~.”

As Kato refused, fiddling with her fan, Seo Dami’s eyes widened as she glared at her.

“…It’s because you lost back then, isn’t it.”

“Eh?”

“Isn’t it because you lost to me on Jeju Island? Because you’re angry. That’s why you’re saying you can’t help me, right?”

“Hah?”

Kato Mikane was momentarily dumbfounded.

That day, her Condition had been so bad that she had coughed up blood, which was the only reason the game had been stopped.

If it hadn’t been for the forfeit, she could have crushed a place like Korea with just her pinky finger.

But what?

She wasn’t helping because she was angry about losing?

From Kato Mikane’s perspective, it was utterly absurd.

“What kind of ridiculous nonsense… Know your place. A plebeian League like Korea’s can’t win no matter how hard you try!”

“Then why did you say you’d do it for free on Jeju Island! You said you’d solve it without any compensation, for free! You liar…”

At the word ‘liar,’ Kato Mikane flinched.

Seo Dami had said it without knowing, but for Kato, it was a word she couldn’t help but be conscious of.

Because an Onmyoji could hide the truth, but they must not make a habit of telling lies.

Worried that her own abilities might diminish, Kato Mikane let out a deep sigh.

And besides, it wasn’t even a lie in the first place.

What she had promised Seo Dami back then was getting rid of a ghost, not saving a Soul.

Of course, Seo Dami, who had no time to think about such things, continued to say her piece.

“I don’t care if you’re a liar. If you want me to lose the game, I’ll do it. Just please save my Oppa… hic.”

Getting angry one moment, crying the next—what kind of crazy person was this, she thought.

But what was even more infuriating was her talk of throwing the game.

In front of whom, so arrogantly?

She was the world’s strongest, and this girl was talking about letting her win? How dare she?

The corners of Kato’s mouth lifted unknowingly as she spoke.

“Fine. As a professional courtesy to someone in the same industry. I’ll solve it for you specially, for ‘free’.”

Repeating the same words she had said on Jeju Island last summer, Seo Dami, who had been squeezing out tears, shot her head up.

But this time, even Seo Dami could tell that something had gone wrong.

The expression on Kato Mikane’s face as she looked at her was clearly smiling, but there was something terribly menacing about it.

“On one condition: you have to beat me.”

Answering thus, Kato Mikane cackled.

“You, who was talking about letting me win and all that, you can do it, right? I’ll keep him alive somehow until this year’s World Championship. If you can’t keep your word by then…”

Pausing for a beat, Kato muttered in a grim voice.

“Your precious Oppa is going to die.”

I had a long dream.

It felt like I was drowning in the sea, but when I came to my senses, I couldn’t quite remember what the dream was about.

Anyway, the important thing was that I wasn’t dead yet, and I had regained consciousness.

Was it not my time to go yet?

I remembered saying my final goodbye to Dami and then falling asleep as if I had fainted…

As my thoughts reached that point, something felt strange.

My surroundings were pitch black, a similar environment to when I was trapped in my original body.

But there was a difference.

I also had the sensation of my arms and legs moving properly, just like when I was inside Yunseul’s or Dami’s head.

My body was glowing brightly in the darkness, so it wasn’t hard to make out its shape.

In other words, it was a similar environment to being inside someone else’s head, but I couldn’t see outside.

As I was pondering what this could be, I sensed a presence.

With a pop-! sound, another being appeared in the dark space.

Recognizing the person, I couldn’t help but be startled.

The person who appeared in the space, her body cloaked in light, was none other than Kato Mikane.

Why on earth…?

Don’t tell me I’m possessing Kato Mikane this time?

As I was having that thought, she gestured for me to sit down.

“Looks like you’ve finally come to your senses.”

“Ah, yes…”

“So this is what the ghost looked like.”

“……”

“You know who I am, right?”

“Yes.”

Kato Mikane.

The Leader of last year’s World Championship winning team.

She was an Attacker known as the strongest in the world, beyond just Asia.

“I don’t have time for a long chat, so I’ll be brief and get to the point. The reason you’re here is…”

Kato Mikane explained the reason I was here.

She told me that Seo Dami had flown to Japan and left me in her care.

As soon as I heard that, I had many questions, but Kato Mikane didn’t give me a chance to ask, continuing to speak in a Rapid Fire manner.

“You were completely drained of Vital Energy, so I’ve temporarily replenished it with the Power of the Ley Line. It’s not perfect, but there should be no problem in just prolonging your life. How does it feel? The feeling of being a mayfly that could die at any moment without someone else’s help.”

“…Not exactly pleasant.”

“I’d imagine so. But try to think positively. You were fated to die anyway, but now you get to live a little longer.”

Kato Mikane said that, but added that this extended life would only last until the end of this year.

“Seo Dami. That insolent girl, can you believe she challenged me?”

“Dami did…?”

As if grinding her teeth at the memory, Kato chuckled.

“She made a pathetic Provocation, so I told her I’d fix you if she could beat me. Which is impossible, of course.”

“……”

After rattling off only what she wanted to say, Kato Mikane said she had to go because it was time for her match and vanished again with a swoosh.

Wait, I had so many questions, and she’s just leaving like this?

Left alone in the darkness, I shouted loudly, “At least take my questions!”

“Hey! Wait a minute! You can’t just abandon a person like this!”

After I shouted loudly a few more times, Kato Mikane’s voice returned, sounding annoyed.

“I have a match, so stop talking to me.”

“Wait… Then am I not inside your body right now, Kato Mikane-ssi?”

“That’s right.”

“Then at least open up my Vision. This is too frustrating.”

“What kind of nonsense is that!”

A freeloader demanding to share her senses.

At Kato Mikane’s remark that it just sounded like a perverted ghost, I was at a loss for words.

“No, I mean… You could at least let me see the outside for a little while.”

Even prisoners get to walk outside for a certain amount of time each day.

Isn’t this worse than being a prisoner?

If I could at least hear something, I could imagine how the game was going outside, but since there was truly nothing but darkness, the loneliness was even more intense.

“Hello? Can’t you call me when you’re watching TV or something? You will, right? Huh?”

When there was no answer, I sat down and thought.

How on earth did Dami think of entrusting me to Kato Mikane?

Seeing as Kato was in a match, Super Sylph must be in the middle of their matches in Korea too. I was curious about how their games were going.

Super Sylph’s May race had been a complete mess, perhaps influenced by the fact that I was about to die.

I hoped they would get their act together and play properly now.

“Man, time sure is dragging…”

How much time had passed since I lay down spread-eagled to pass the time?

Hadn’t it been at least an hour?

Just then, a good idea popped into my head.

Can’t I just do an Out-of-Body Experience?

Kato Mikane was replenishing my energy for me anyway.

It seemed like just peeking my head out to look around wouldn’t be a problem.

“Alright!”

With a surge of Fighting Spirit, I raised both arms to the sky and prepared to go outside.

I must have been quite frustrated during my quiet hospital stay after parting with Yunseuli.

I kicked off the ground forcefully and flew up toward the sky.

It was time to see the world again.

“Now! On the Champions Field, where roses have bloomed spectacularly! For the final victory of May! Both teams are clashing fiercely!”

“Ah-! Golden Legacy! A sharp Drive! A blow that truly threatens the queen-!”

Champions Field.

Team Kamui’s Home Ground.

Unlike the second division, UA Division 1 Pro League teams each had their own home Arena, and Team Kamui’s home, Champions Field, was Japan’s largest VR Stadium, boasting a capacity of 100,000 Spectator Seats.

And the Team Kamui fans, who filled most of those seats, were chanting one player’s name with fervent cheers.

-Kato!

-Kato!

-Kato!

Kato Mikane.

The woman who had brought Japan to the pinnacle of the world was showing off her skills to her heart’s content today against Golden Legacy, the 3rd ranked team in the League.

And her opponents were desperately fighting back against the woman called the queen.

‘I’ll win at least one game…!’

The first Set was already a Total Defeat for Golden Legacy.

And now in the second Set, on the Deathmatch Battlefield, Boundary, Golden Legacy was focusing all their Attackers on taking down Kato Mikane.

It was almost time for the central Mana Pack Regen.

If they could take down Kato Mikane within 20 seconds and secure the Mana Pack, there was a chance they could somehow catch up on the Score.

“Attack! Drive!”

The Attackers of Golden Legacy, who were running using Acceleration, circled around an abandoned building using it as Cover, then aimed at Kato Mikane with a Drive Shot.

The Drive Skill, which put a spin on a Live Round to make it curve, was a good Skill for an Ambush from a blind spot.

One’s eyes might have spun from the rotating bullets pouring in from left, right, and all directions, but Kato Mikane did not lose her relaxed smile as she Cast Gun Kata.

She put on a spectacle, parrying bullets with her own bullets.

The Spectators of this amazing Performance responded with loud cheers.

An unbreakable iron wall.

The Golden Legacy players gritted their teeth and poured out Skills until their Mana was depleted.

The die was already cast.

If they couldn’t take down Kato Mikane here, their defeat was certain, so they had no choice but to pour out their Skills until the very end.

‘Foolish people.’

Kato Mikane thought as she spun in place, cutting down the bullets.

The game was too easy.

Of course, the feat of blocking bullets with bullets was a Performance no one but her could pull off.

She would probably get a lot of flak for saying the game was easy while performing such a god-like feat, but for Kato Mikane, this was just another day.

Just as she was about to finish the game in style, Kato Mikane’s eyes flew wide open.

‘Ah, no-!!!’

Her stomach rumbled.

In that moment, Kato Mikane was more flustered than she had been at almost any other time in her life.

The unwelcome guest she had suppressed in her stomach was about to burst out.