His hands moved quick and capable until everything squeaked, and when the cleaning was done he looked around the spotless lounge with a satisfied smile. Then he settled his bag onto his shoulder and set off for the dorm. He trotted up to the door and flung it wide open, and Jihan, who’d been rolling around on the floor of the room, turned to look at him.
“Oh, you’re back?”
“Mm.”
Ain answered, then caught himself with an oops and dipped his head.
“I’m home.”
“Yeah, welcome back.”
Jihan greeted him with a snicker, like something about it was funny. Ain left him to it, pulled the crossbody bag off over his head, and stood it neatly beside his bedding. Then, as he was sneaking the empty packet out of it, Jihan’s head shot over his shoulder.
“Did you eat gummies again? I keep telling you, you eat way too many. That stuff’s bad for you!”
At that, Ain let his eyes slide vaguely off to the side.
“Th-there was only one left, so I just ate it...”
“Liar... huh? Hey, did something happen to you?”
How’d he know? Ain whipped around in shock, and Jihan tilted his head with a puzzled look. His narrowed eyes went over Ain’s face slowly, inch by inch.
“Your whole vibe’s different... Normally your head’s, like, one big flower garden, but right now it’s more like, how do I put it, you’ve gone full menhera?”
“Flowerhead... menhewa... whassat mean?”
There were times when he couldn’t make out a single word of what Jihan said. He asked with genuine curiosity, but Jihan just said it’s a thing and ruffled Ain’s hair into a mess. Ain was smoothing the fluff back down with his hand, about to get undressed, when that voice came again.
“Oh right, there’s huge news.”
“...?”
“They say a humanoid monster showed up in our country too!”
Thud. His heart felt like it dropped straight out of him.
A humanoid monster. Don’t tell me... me?
The news caught him so off guard that he just stood there with his mouth open. Jihan shoved his phone out at him and rattled on.
“Look at this. First humanoid spotted in Seohwon-dong. I always figured the ones they found overseas were faked, but I guess it was real. You know RX Guild? A hunter of theirs found it in a dungeon. So everything’s in an uproar right now. It’s nonstop on the news, too.”
“Th-then what happens to it?”
“What d’you mean, what happens? If you run into one, you’re screwed, that’s what. You report it right away. So the hunters can dispose of it.”
Dispose... report...
Luckily it didn’t seem to be him they’d found, but not one of the words coming at him meant anything good.
Ain stood there blankly, sunk in confusion, his mouth pressed shut.
His head was a tangled mess.
Meeting Dojin, getting shoved by him, and now a humanoid monster being discovered on top of it. Back in the dungeon, what should I play today? was the only thing he’d ever had to think about. Now there was so much to think about that his head was about to start aching. Beside him, Jihan guessed at something and tried to comfort him.
“Don’t worry about it. Monsters like that are only in dungeons, so we’d never see one anyway. And they say you can tell at a glance. It’s called humanoid, but it’s not actually shaped like a human, is what I heard. One look and you know. Probably some weird shape.”
Even so, the unease wouldn’t loosen its grip. Ain asked in a trembling voice.
“Hey, um. Do people hate humanoid monsters a lot?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Who’d like one of those?”
“...It could be a nice monster, though.”
Jihan gave a short snort, like he’d just heard pure nonsense.
“Nice? There’s no nice or nasty with them to begin with. They’re not human.”
“...”
“Just thinking about it is gross. A monster, copying a human. Ugh.”
Jihan gave a full-body shudder, like the thought made his skin crawl. Then he patted Ain on the back.
“I said don’t worry. The hunters’ll take care of it just fine.”
...I was going to ask if hunters hated them a lot too.
He was spared the effort, since he didn’t have to hear the answer, but Ain’s mood sank even further. And what if Jihan found out what I really am? ...He didn’t want to think about it. After Dojin and Kim ajusshi, Jihan was the third person he’d gotten close to.
A voice talking about the humanoid monster spilled out of Jihan’s phone. Listening to it only made him more unsettled, so Ain got up. He gathered his shower things and headed for the bathroom, then spotted a fresh towel and picked it up. He held it out to Jihan.
“What’s this, a towel? You getting in the tub today?”
Nod.
The dorm came with a small bathtub, too. He’d heard someone say that being a top-tier guild, they treated their people pretty well. Jihan only kept giggling, so Ain made his request carefully.
“Please do it for me...”
“Pffhaha.”
Jihan burst out laughing at whatever he found so funny, and whipped up a sheep-head in no time at all. Ain went into the bathroom, pulled the sheep-head snugly onto his head, and looked in the mirror.
To my eyes, I’m a perfect human wearing a sheep-head. But my real body is a Slain. And my real body is very good too. Well, of course, that’s what I actually am!
...Anyway, if I don’t say anything, people won’t know. I know it’s bad... but it’ll be fine as long as I lie well.
Dojin’s face rose up in his mind all on its own. Ain let out a long sigh.
...Gettin’ through life as a human sure ain’t easy.
This time he even added the head-shaking, back and forth, the way Yeongi ajumma did it.
Brisk footsteps landed on the asphalt. The feet that had been walking without a shred of hesitation came to a stop in front of one particular building.
The man lifted his head. His eyes were screwed up so tight with purpose that anyone watching would have assumed he was off to collect on money somebody had run out on.
Ain slipped a hand into his pocket and felt the scrap of Dojin’s T-shirt he’d torn off yesterday. He’d fiddled with it so much that the surface already felt smoother than before. Feeling the cloth under his fingers, he pressed his lips into a firm line.
Okay. Let’s go.
Pat, pat, his feet carried him into the lobby. The inside was bright and clean, with a faint cold smell that new buildings always had.
He looked this way and that, then wheeled his cleaning cart toward the training room he’d been assigned to.
There it is. Room 12345...
He’d learned his numbers well, so reading it was a breeze. I really have grown a lot. Once again, he felt quietly proud of himself.
To see how big a space he had to clean, he peered through the little window set into the door and let his eyes sweep the inside. Even while he checked, his heart slammed hard enough to leap out of him. The reason was obvious, too. It was the thought that Dojin might, just maybe, be in there.
Room 1, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4...
He combed through every inch of them with those small windows, but Dojin wasn’t there. Even so, the trembling wouldn’t stop. The last one. Room 5 was still left.
Ain made his way toward the final training room with the most careful steps he’d ever taken in his life. Then he stretched up onto his tiptoes and planted his forehead against the glass.
Please...!
He cried it out without even knowing who he was begging, then opened the eyes he’d squeezed shut.
...Huh? There’s nobody in there.
The inside was completely empty. Relief swept through him, and at the same time his mood drooped. Why’d I just figure he’d be here? He might not come at all.
But then, a moment later, he decided it was for the best.
If Dojin came, I prob’ly couldn’t keep my head on the work, an’ then I couldn’t clean good, an’ if I don’t clean good then Dojin’s the one who suffers for it, so this is a good thing for Dojin!
Having tied his reasoning off with that strange bit of logic, he got his heart back in order and stuck his eyes to the window one last time. He’d already confirmed nobody was there, and still he wouldn’t give it up; even he had to marvel at his own stubbornness. And then, out of nowhere, a voice came from behind him.
“You there.”
“...”
A low voice. N-no way...
Ain turned his head, creak by creak. The person standing in front of him was so tall that a broad chest came into view first. One look at a chest that big, and Ain knew exactly whose it was.
Creak... He tipped his head up a little, and there stood that same familiar figure, hands shoved in his pockets, weight slung to one side. He said nothing for a long while, then tossed out a line.
“You again?”
Dojin’s gaze was just as sharp as yesterday. But Ain decided he wasn’t going to shrink from it. He knew what Dojin looked like when he was gentle. For whatever reason he wasn’t like that right now, but that kindness hadn’t gone anywhere; it had to still be in there, inside him.
Ain gathered up his courage and opened his mouth.
“Hi!”
Dojin just stood there watching him without a word. Ain drew a deep breath and kept going.
“I’m cleanin’ here startin’ today. I’m, uh, Sl-Slain.”
“Slime?”
Dojin’s head snapped up and his eyes fixed on Ain. Startled, Ain blurted out a “Huh?” before he knew it. Then Dojin closed the distance in a few long strides. Feeling threatened by how near he’d come, Ain pressed his back flat against the training room door without meaning to.
“What did you just say? Did you say slime?”
“Ah, I’m...”
Gulp. Dojin’s face was frightening. His eyes had gone wide and his brows were knotted up tight, like he was furious.
How was he supposed to answer? If he’d had his way he would have shouted Yeah, it’s me, your friend the slime! and thrown his arms around Dojin, but... he looked different now.
“Just thinking about it is gross. A monster, copying a human. Ugh.”
On top of that, every single human in this place hated humanoid monsters. Neither Dojin nor Jihan was glad about a monster turning into a human. And Dojin had gone on killing monsters all this time. Back in the dungeon he’d even killed one of Ain’s own friends, cruelly. And yet, somehow, he found himself thinking that the Dojin from back then and the Dojin standing here now were a little... alike.
“Head’s a flower garden” (대가리 꽃밭) is slang for being blissfully airheaded or delusionally rosy; “menhera,” borrowed from Japanese slang, means emotionally unstable. Ain garbles both words in the next line.
A “sheep head” (양머리) is the Korean bathhouse towel wrap, folded so two ends stick up like ears.
In Korean he fumbles his own name, “Shin Ain,” into “Sillain,” which lands close enough to seullaim — “slime” — for Dojin to mishear it.
