Chapter 41
My body moved before my mind could catch up.
By a hair’s breadth.
That was how close it was — my hand brushing the Rabbit Butler’s wrist.
A lock of Mo Haein’s hair vanished without a trace.
The ray had grazed her cheek, leaving a red line behind.
A burn from the searing heat.
But she wasn’t dead.
Mo Haein was alive.
I was immensely relieved to confirm she was alive.
But then goosebumps crawled up my spine.
A primal fear gripped me — radiating from the presence standing right behind me.
"Roasted Chestnut."
The Rabbit Butler was still standing behind me as he asked,
"What’s wrong?"
Pure curiosity bled through the short question.
The butlers hate the Cleaners.
Even the Footmen — who were once Cleaners themselves before being hired by the mansion — loathed them.
To them, Cleaners were nothing more than fuel used to maintain the mansion.
They held no value beyond that.
The Cat Butler, who had relatively refined tastes, was at least a little kinder to the Cleaners.
More accurately, he simply didn’t bother paying attention to filth.
But the Rabbit Butler had made his distaste clear. He disposed of Cleaners without hesitation if they so much as slightly displeased him.
By his standards, my actions right now must have been completely incomprehensible.
The only reason I was still alive was because my affinity with him was high. If not, I’d have been dealt with the moment I touched his wrist.
I’d have gotten a hole through my forehead and been absorbed by the mansion by now.
If I answered wrong here, my affinity with him would plummet.
If it was just an affinity drop, I’d be lucky.
Mo Haein might end up as fuel for the mansion this time for real.
I thought carefully, turning over possible answers in my mind — picking the right one, not too slow, not too hasty.
The Rabbit Butler turned me around to face him.
"Roasted Chestnut. It’s fine."
He spoke slowly, looking me in the eye.
"Just a young butler’s mistake. I’m not angry."
Then he patted my shoulder. A gesture that seemed to say, calm down and tell me slowly.
It was the perfect attitude of a senior handler soothing a rookie’s mistake.
Thanks to him, I bought myself a little time and could answer more calmly.
"I thought her skills were decent. Maybe we could give her one more chance. I was thinking it might be good to bring a maid into the mansion."
I looked up at the Rabbit Butler and continued.
"The Master might take a Mistress, so—"
But I couldn’t finish.
"HAHAHA!"
The Rabbit Butler burst into loud laughter.
He laughed so hard his long ears swayed back and forth.
Everyone was silent while he laughed, so his laughter alone shook the entire mansion.
After laughing for a good while, the Rabbit Butler abruptly stopped.
He swept his hand over his ear.
The metal ear bent smoothly under his touch.
"Roasted Chestnut. You used to be human."
It was a hard statement to parse.
The Rabbit Butler looked at me for a moment, then turned his gaze away.
He tilted his head toward Mo Haein.
"You. Go to the basement."
"...Thank you."
Mo Haein answered in a cracked voice and bit her lip.
She forced herself to her feet.
She swayed slightly, but thankfully, she managed to walk.
Kwak Hanmuk watched her for a moment, then reluctantly walked in the opposite direction.
I felt the Rabbit Butler’s gaze on me.
"Let’s get back to work."
"Yes."
I didn’t watch Mo Haein’s retreating back.
"■■ and ■■■■, and ■ — go to the basement."
As if it had been nothing more than a momentary curiosity, I assigned the next Cleaner’s zone with an indifferent expression.
I couldn’t tell how much time had passed.
Under the Rabbit Butler’s guidance, I finished assigning zones to the Cleaners.
By the time we were done, it was already dinner.
I wanted to skip the meal, but I couldn’t.
Two Footmen attached themselves to me to attend to my dining.
Following orders from the Rabbit Butler and the Cat Butler, they served me food and filled my plate.
I only took one bite of each dish they offered, but I ended up eating until I was stuffed.
And yet — it was delicious.
The Cat Butler asked me about my first day on the job.
"This is your first time as a butler, isn’t it, Roasted Chestnut. How do you find it?"
"It was a little hard."
I pretended it was tough, afraid that if I said it was manageable, they’d make me stay on as a butler permanently.
And I didn’t forget to butter up the butlers.
"It made me realize how impressive you butlers are, managing such a grand mansion."
"Roasted Chestnut, you always know how to make us feel good!"
The Cat Butler seemed delighted.
My mood lifted too.
The more I ate, the better I felt.
After that, we talked about various things.
Mostly light conversation about the mansion. As expected, there was no mention of the new Cleaners.
I’d have to give up any hope that Je Hyun-oh might come up in conversation.
Instead, I learned that the mansion currently had twelve Footmen, that none of them had what it took to become butlers despite their numbers, and that when the Master returned, he was considering renovating the mansion with a modern interior.
"After all, fashion has changed a lot since the Master last stayed here!"
It seemed the Master had left the mansion at least a hundred years ago.
When will he come home?
Even though it was just a short temporary position, now that I was a butler, I wanted to see the Master before I left Clean3.
Probably because he was a character I’d been curious about for a long time.
The Cat Butler had a Footman pour red wine into my glass.
I took a sip out of courtesy, but if I ate any more, I felt like my stomach would burst.
That was when the Rabbit Butler saved me.
"Roasted Chestnut is human. Can’t eat more."
The Cat Butler looked at me as if to ask if that was true, and I answered honestly.
"I’m full..."
"Oh my! I was being inconsiderate. My apologies."
The butlers who had been enjoying dinner with me until a moment ago all set down their utensils at once.
Glancing at their plates, I realized something belatedly.
The butlers had eaten exactly as much as I had.
As if they’d been eating something they didn’t need to eat in the first place.
Were they matching me?
Well, it did seem a bit strange for beings with metal heads to eat food.
After dinner, the butlers escorted me to my room.
"It was a pleasant time."
"Roasted Chestnut. Get some rest early tonight."
"Yes. Good night."
I said my goodbyes politely and saw them off, then closed the door.
Click.
"..."
Finally, I was alone.
I leaned my back against the closed door and squeezed my eyes shut.
The butlers might still be nearby, so I couldn’t even let out a proper breath.
The plan completely fell apart.
In the mansion, Cleaners didn’t have quarters.
They had to spend the night however they could in their assigned zones — and night was when the creatures began their real activity.
Once the sun set and darkness settled, screams echoed throughout the mansion.
The basement where Mo Haein had been assigned was the most dangerous zone in the mansion.
Among the various types of creatures that appeared in the mansion, the most ferocious and troublesome ones spawned there endlessly.
Of course, with Mo Haein’s skills and the ray gun I’d given her, dealing with creatures wouldn’t be a problem at all.
But at night, just surviving would be a struggle.
Since she could only move to another zone after killing every creature in her assigned one, searching for her was out of the question.
In the end, Captain Kwak and I will have to figure out Lieutenant Colonel Je’s location on our own.
I also wanted to check on Mo Haein — the last time I saw her, she wasn’t in good shape.
But with creatures swarming the other zones too, the two of us alone wouldn’t make good time.
And more than anything, I wasn’t sure I was allowed to leave the guest room.
I’d already drawn attention by saving Mo Haein today.
If I was caught somewhere outside the guest room...
Even if I came up with a plausible excuse, it might cause problems when linked to my earlier actions.
The best-case scenario was Je Hyun-oh finding his way to the guest room on his own.
...Wait.
A thought struck me — something I hadn’t considered until now.
The system window was gone, but maybe my abilities were still intact.
I tried using the ability I needed most right now, as a test.
Message.
The system window didn’t appear.
But strangely, I felt certain I could send a Message to Je Hyun-oh.
I fired one off to him immediately.
Lieutenant Colonel Je. Please come to the guest room on the third floor of the East Wing.
Whether it went through or not — I’d just have to wait and see.
I paced around the room, organizing my thoughts. The situation had gotten tangled in so many ways that my head was a mess.
I’d been pacing for a while when I heard a very faint sound.
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape...
The faint noise felt like wind brushing past at first.
It was easy to ignore, but the person I’d called was someone who moved in abnormal ways.
I ran to the window and opened it.
Then I looked down.
"...Hah."
I sucked in a startled breath.
Je Hyun-oh was climbing the wall.
^ ^♡
Our eyes met, and he displayed a smile emoticon above his goggles.
He added a music note beside it, then reached the third floor in an instant.
He must have climbed the wall because spreading his wings would have been too noisy and easy to detect.
His metal hand slid smoothly over the windowsill.
The sill looked like wood, but oddly enough, it held firm under his metal hand without cracking.
Je Hyun-oh sat on the windowsill and stared at me.
He’d found his way here quietly, but staying by the window wasn’t ideal.
He might get caught by a creature, or worse — catch the butlers’ attention.
"Lieutenant Colonel Je. Please come inside quickly."
But Je Hyun-oh didn’t seem to want to come in.
He spoke aloud.
"What the hell are you?"
The sudden question made me aware of my appearance — dressed in butler’s attire.
Before his metal hand could tear me apart, I quickly explained the situation.
"Circumstances came up. I was hired as a butler instead of a Cleaner."
"Goyo."
"Yes?"
"I got a quest."
Click.
Je Hyun-oh pushed his goggles up onto his forehead.
His eyes — with their golden irises — were revealed.
"To rescue you."
"..."
I was speechless.
Rescue me?
I couldn’t understand why a quest completely unrelated to the Trial had appeared.
Especially since no system window had appeared for me.
"I... don’t know why the quest appeared either. But it’s meaningless anyway."
"Why?"
"Even though I’m a butler, it’s not much different from being hired as a Cleaner. I agreed to work for only seven days."
Hearing my explanation, Je Hyun-oh tilted his head slightly.
"Who told you that?"
"It was a decision I reached after discussing it with the butlers."
The moment my answer landed, Je Hyun-oh’s eyes slowly narrowed.
He asked me,
"And you believe that?"
I hesitated for a moment, then answered.
"...I’m not sure what you mean."
Je Hyun-oh slowly raised his hand.
"An NPC from the Trial told you something, and you — without any doubt, so naively —"
His metal hand tapped my chest.
"You just believed it all, didn’t you, Goyo."