A Story for Rent

“Well then, if you’re feeling better.”

Kaliban suddenly spoke.

“Tell me a story, darling.”

It was abrupt, but I wasn’t particularly surprised.

He was asking for a story.

While exchanging pointless chatter, sometimes just sharing the same space while doing completely different things, and even at moments like when I had just woken up, Kaliban would suddenly say something like that.

〈Tell me a story.〉

When I first decided to stay in the greenhouse, Kaliban had asked for that.

According to him, Post-Apocalypse Creatures that take on human form have an instinct to return to a stronger form.

So in order to keep maintaining a human appearance, they need awareness.

〈A personal history accumulated while living.

And the history of relationships formed when those personal histories weave together like warp and weft.

I lack that.〉

“……”

The history of relationships.

If I had to interpret it, maybe he meant that he needed real relationships—ones that hadn’t been degraded through edits or copies—to keep his reason intact.

But why do that with me?

I’m not someone who actually exists here.

Well… maybe that’s exactly why I’m suitable.

Except for me, the other people of Bran would actually be troublesome for Kaliban to grow close to.

Seonjeong-gong had to remain fair, after all.

With me, no matter what happens, that fairness can still be maintained.

As I’ve said before, I’m not someone from this world.

Kaliban knows that too.

Even though I understood it logically, the feeling was strangely complicated.

“So that’s today’s rent?”

“You could call it that.”

“The month hasn’t even changed yet and you’re already collecting rent again?”

“Hahaha. Maybe it’s daily rent instead of monthly rent.”

Kaliban casually lifted me again and sat me down on a chair woven from golden vines.

“Now relax. Relax, darling.”

Then he took a seat across from me.

“You’re telling me to relax.”

More accurately, he lay sideways.

Even loosening his robe carelessly.

“…You look far more relaxed than I do.”

The situation wasn’t unfamiliar.

The conversation was the same as always.

And yet somehow I felt awkward.

Even speaking felt strangely difficult.

Maybe it’s because he took off his hood.

Inside the robe he usually kept tightly closed, his outfit was surprisingly light.

His well-defined body and sculpted face were fully visible.

“Anyway, landlord, you never said anything about daily rent when we signed the contract.”

“Well, you should read the contract terms carefully. It was probably written in tiny letters on the back.”

While exchanging idle conversation, I met Kaliban’s eyes as they curved habitually in a smile.

Within his neat eyes, faint silver and violet colors spread like the dawn sky.

Reflexively, my eyes shifted away.

Damn, he’s ridiculously handsome.

Even the golden vines climbing brilliantly upward faded from my attention.

The gemstone plants filling the greenhouse and the jewel butterflies fluttering around seemed to exist only as decorations for one person.

“Scammer.”

“Hahaha. So are you not going to do it?”

Kaliban laughed and tilted his head sideways.

His golden hair flowed like falling silk.

“From now on, try wearing your hood in front of me.”

I had been staring at him without realizing it, then sighed and said that.

“You said it’s a luxury item. If you got a luxury item, you should use it as long as possible to get your money’s worth.”

“Hahaha, but if we’re talking expensive robes, I have plenty lying around—”

“Wear it often.”

“Hahaha.”

“Often! Every day! Every hour! Got it?”

Kaliban looked puzzled but said he understood while laughing.

…Stop laughing.

Is his original form some kind of fox or something?

“Though with those muscles, probably not a fox.”

“Hm? What was that, darling?”

“Nothing.”

Maybe something like a siren or an incubus.

Whatever it is, it doesn’t really matter to me.

“Kaliban, what is your true form?”

So the question was just simple curiosity.

“Hahaha, suddenly?”

“Everything in life happens suddenly. Think of it as life experience and adapt.”

I thought he might ignore it entirely, but unexpectedly Kaliban paused with a thoughtful “Hmm.”

“Want to guess?”

Of course, that didn’t mean I’d get a meaningful answer.

Typical of him.

“If I guess right, do I get a prize?”

“My love?”

“Ah, I see.”

Not Seonjeong-gong’s love, but Kaliban’s love.

So even if I died, he still wouldn’t hand me a parachute.

Seems like my life won’t be easy this time around either.

“A snake?”

“Haha, a snake? Why do you think so?”

“You always try to slip past things like a snake crossing a wall.”

Hmm. That would explain the thickness of his arms.

Though his thighs would have to be thicker…

“Hahaha, wrong.”

“A fox?”

“Hahaha, nope.”

“A flower? A huge one. A monstrous flower.”

“Hahahaha. Am I that beautiful? Thank you, darling. I love you.”

“You’re rejecting it in the most obnoxious way possible. Are you a dog?”

“Bowwow?”

“An American dog?”

At first I was guessing half-heartedly, but after several wrong answers I became stubborn.

Before I knew it, I had even stood up.

“Wait, are you even a living creature? Maybe you’re secretly a rock or iron or something—ugh.”

Then I gasped.

“My ankle. My ankle.”

I had kicked the ground reflexively and apparently hit something hard.

My ankle throbbed painfully.

“You should be careful, darling.”

But I didn’t fall.

Right before that happened, Kaliban caught me lightly and sat me back down.

“……”

Once I was seated again, I looked down quietly at the arm holding my waist.

Even after waiting, Kaliban’s hand didn’t move away.

So I looked up.

“Kaliban?”

At that moment I realized how important facial expressions and eyes are for communication.

“You’re in a bad mood right now, aren’t you?”

When he had his hood up, I couldn’t tell even when we were nose-to-nose.

But now that I could see his face and eyes, I knew.

The earlier clinginess and the sudden “after-service” kiss came back to mind.

It was unusually excessive.

He was always clingy, but today it had been even worse.

They say when people are lonely, even someone else’s body warmth can be comforting.

Maybe it was something like that.

Even though the man in front of me wasn’t human, I found myself asking anyway.

“Did something happen?”

Kaliban blinked slowly at my question.

Inside his almond-shaped eyes, darkness spread.

Not ink-black darkness, but a blackness filled with countless shining silver specks like stars.

“What are you suddenly talking about, darling?”

“You look like you’re in a bad mood.”

Kaliban closed his mouth again and tilted his head this time.

“Does it really look that way?”

“It does.”

“If it looks that way, maybe it’s simply your own feelings reflected in me.”

“Am I looking at a mirror?”

“Hahaha. People do say that others are mirrors of oneself.”

I frowned.

“Isn’t it children who are supposed to be mirrors of adults?”

Kaliban shrugged.

Probably meaning Was it?

Anyway, only then did he release my waist and step back.

“Even if I’m not a mirror, maybe I’m just something that reflects your face.”

“You keep trying to make it sound like I’m the one in a bad mood.”

“Well, isn’t that true? What reason would I even have to feel upset?”

I stared at Kaliban.

Our gazes met.

He didn’t avoid my eyes, smiling faintly.

“That’s true.”

I was the first to look away.

That face had too much destructive power.

“You’re still kind.”

Kaliban suddenly said that.

When I reflexively looked back with a “Huh?”, he smiled brightly.

“You even worry about a creature like me, whose thoughts you can’t even read.”

“Hey, that’s just obvious—”

“But I don’t like people who are too kind.”

I had been awkwardly responding to what seemed like casual praise, but froze at his next words.

For a moment I wondered if I had heard him wrong.

“It’s a waste of emotion.”

“What?”

“And a waste of time.”

“……”

“I’m saying this because I thought your nightmare might have been about Imok. Wasn’t it?”

Well…

“Yeah.”

“Haha, I thought so.”

The words themselves weren’t strange.

They didn’t sound hostile either.

But still…

“What exactly bothers you so much?”

I ended up asking while looking into Kaliban’s eyes.

His eyes still curved gently, but the smile within them gradually faded.

As it did, the metallic sheen in his gaze felt strangely sharp to me.

Sharp.

Cold.

Chilling.

Like…

A blade.

A finely sharpened blade.

“I don’t know what happened between you and Imok.”

Looking at that gaze, my throat felt strangely tight.

So I barely managed to say that much.

“But don’t take it out on someone else.”

Kaliban laughed at my words.

“You’re right.”

Then he raised both palms toward me.

As if to say he wouldn’t do anything like before again.

“But I won’t take back what I said about wasting time and emotions. I can roughly guess what you saw. And why you feel uneasy.”

The way he spoke made me wonder if Kaliban knew Imok’s past too.

A prophet who apparently knew everything.

“But Imok is already deleted data now. So thinking about him any further? It’s meaningless. Haha.”

“Did Imok do something to you?”

After saying it, I realized it sounded a bit ridiculous.

“Though I doubt that bastard ever treated anyone well.”

Still…

“I thought your feelings toward all the candidates were equal.”

“Of course they are. Completely equal.”

“For someone saying that…”

“Don’t misunderstand. I only meant it’s pointless to waste time on meaningless data, darling.”

Kaliban cut me off and smiled brightly.

Seeing that familiar expression made me suddenly lose my words.

“You understand what I mean, right?”

“Live efficiently. That’s what you’re saying.”

“Yes. Efficiently.”

“Got it.”

Pretending to think of a suitable story to tell, I erased the ridiculous thought that had just crossed my mind.

Yeah, ridiculous.

The idea that Kaliban had been in a bad mood all along because my thoughts were tangled up with Imok.

“Anyway, a story. I don’t have the creativity or storytelling ability to get hired as Scheherazade, so how did I end up with this job?”

“People often end up employed in fields unrelated to their majors, darling.”

“Please shut up.”

Even while exchanging trivial words like that, the thought refused to disappear completely.