City of Witches

1.

After their shift for the day was over, they held a simple party to celebrate the day’s great success, which was over by the time morning came.

Now, the host club was quiet, as if yesterday’s hustle and bustle was a lie.

Siwoo, who had already drunk a bunch of alcohol during his shift and drank even more alcohol at the party, took a nap for around two hours.

Normally, after he woke up, he’d be dealing with a terrible hangover, but thanks to his spirit body, he didn’t need to suffer through that.

He suddenly felt like wandering around, so he went down to the first floor and found Takasho writing something under the gas lamp’s light.

Seeing how he hadn’t changed his clothes yet, it seemed like he immediately went back to work after the party.

“You haven’t slept yet?”

At Siwoo’s call, Takasho raised his chin and smiled at him.

“Hey, looks like our host club’s ace is awake. Want a drink?”

“Nah, I’ll pass. I had around ten bottles yesterday, just seeing another one already makes me want to puke.”

Seeing how he spent fifteen minutes on each one of the 120 witches that came yesterday, he most likely drank more than that.

It was to the point that he felt sick of the alcohol since he had to drink everything that the witches offered him, all while serving them to the best of his abilities.

“Anyway, what are you doing? The sun is about to come up.”

“Writing documents and organizing the customers list and the queue order.”

Just as he said, there were queue tickets and admission forms scattered around the table.

The sight made Siwoo rethink his impression of his dear friend. There was no way that he could dismiss him as a womanizer when he would go out of his way to work overtime like this even though he was the boss of the place.

He couldn’t help but admire this dear friend of his inwardly.

“The customer list especially is extremely important to organize. This way we can know which of them are willing to spend a bunch of money at once and deserve to be treated as VIP.”

“Need some help?”

“Nah, I’m almost done.”

Siwoo pulled out a chair and sat down comfortably with his legs on the table.

“Siwoo… Thank you, really… Tell Ms. Periwinkle that I’m really thankful to her as well.”

“Oh, c’mon, stop that already. You’re giving me goosebumps.”

“You know, I did my best to make this business work, but I still failed miserably. It was thanks to both of you that I can finally feel hopeful about the future…”

“Do you think it can work out?”

The thing was, Siwoo wouldn’t be working here forever, so the important thing here was if Takasho could make Rose Glass operate without him or not.

Fortunately, it seemed like Siwoo didn’t need to worry about the matter, as Takasho smiled happily before nodding.

“There are more than ten witches who left their business cards and asked me to invite them again when everything settles down. While the number of witches who promised to come again next time easily doubled that. I can safely say that we hit the biggest jackpot this time.”

“That’s good to hear.”

It was only after he heard Takasho’s words that Siwoo was able to rest easy.

The reason why he offered to work as a host, even though he knew nothing about the industry, was because he wanted to help Takasho so that his business could do well.

“But still… I don’t know how to put this… Uh, this place is more innocent than I thought…? Considering how you used to go around and have sex every day, it’s a surprise that your business didn’t lean toward that way, you know…”

“You really just went ahead and said that kind of shit right in front of my face, huh?”

Takasho slammed the stamp on his hand on the paper in front of him with a wry smile.

“Anyway, this is what a first-class host club is like. Only second-rate host clubs would offer their hosts as a walking dildo for the customers. That kind of club would go out of business before a year.”

“Right, you told me about that before, I think.”

“In any case, for the time being, I’ll continue running the club with this policy. Once we start to have regulars, I’ll think up of holding some kind of event to keep things fresh. Maybe I’ll take them all to the Narrow Sea or bring in an item from the Modern World to introduce to them.”

After Takasho finished working on the documents, he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up.

Maybe, because he was exhausted, he didn’t seem as rowdy as usual, but Siwoo could see it clearly from his face…

He was extremely happy about this whole thing.

“You changed a lot, you know? Back then, you were a miserable fucker who couldn’t even talk to women properly. Yet, here you are, handling those witches like a fuckboy. How the hell did you do that?”

“I don’t know. Things happened and I just somehow ended up like this, I guess.”

His words were true though. Back then, Siwoo didn’t even dare to look at the witches’ eyes, but now he was handling them well.

“Anyway! We can say that both of us had ascended! Once upon a time, we were merely lowly slaves, digging ditches at the Trinity Academy and now look at us! Puff your chest out, my friend! Be more proud of yourself!”

“Shut up, you didn’t even dig the ditch back then.”

“Right, you were the one who did while I was busy digging up the witches’ pussies. Also, you know, if I were to swing that way, maybe we’d dig each other’s asses instead, don’t you think? Of course, I’ll be at the front and you’ll be coming at me from behind.”

“Ugh, stop it… Just thinking about it makes me sick. Stop it before I actually kill you.”

Though they were exchanging such nasty jokes, the atmosphere felt pleasant.

Suddenly, Takasho pointed out something.

“Right, did your girlfriend give her permission for you to work here?”

“What?”

“C’mon, this is a host club, you know? Won’t she get jealous?”

Jealous?

Permission?

Both words were something that didn’t even cross Siwoo’s mind before.

“...It should be okay. It isn’t like I’m doing something big anyway.”

Hearing that answer, Takasho narrowed his eyes as he shook his head.

“Our Shin Siwoo has changed a lot, hasn’t he? But I understand. Now that you’re the big boss, there’s no reason for you to settle with a single partner, huh? Soon enough you’ll become a VIP at Gehenna’s Obstetrics and Gynaecology.”

“Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep. Don’t you need to prepare for tomorrow?”

“Right. What about you, though? Don’t you need to sleep as well?”

“Nah, I don’t need to sleep anymore. Even if I really exhaust myself, a short nap will make me feel better again.”

“Must be nice to have the body of a witch.”

Of course Takasho didn’t really care if Siwoo had become a witch or not.

He shrugged his shoulders and stood up.

“Please come often, even after your two weeks are up. You’re the only friend I have now, you know?”

“Sure, just write a list on what you want me to buy you, I’ll bring it the next time I come back from the Modern World.”

“Of course. Thank you in advance.”

After exchanging a light goodbye, Takasho then crawled into his accommodation.

2.

Magic was a complex study and being smart wasn’t enough to master even a fraction of it.

That was the reason why many witches likened magic to something like an elaborate orchestra.

In magic, artistic inspiration was as important as systematic knowledge.

After all, since ancient times, it was well known that spiritual sublimation and transcendence came from art.

That was why there were witches who devoted themselves to liberal art classes, such as music, art, and dance ever since they were apprentice witches.

And one of them was Lucy Yesod’s apprentice, Diana Yesod, who was devoted to her ballet classes.

Or, to be more precise…

The Countess was devoted to teaching her ballet, but as for Diana herself…

“Ugh… It’s so hot…”

Countess Yesod’s mansion, inside a dance room that was reserved only for one person.

Huge mirrors—each 4m tall—were installed to the two walls.

Though the room wasn’t large enough to play football, it was large enough to play futsal. Inside, Diana let out a long sigh.

In one of the corners of the room, there was a cushion placed there.

Diana sprawled her body on top of it.

Her skin-tight white tights were soaked with sweat, beige-colored toe shoes covered her feet.

She wore an extremely beautiful-looking ballet dress that probably if she were to walk past Edgar Degas’1 tomb, the man would jump out of his grave to admire her.

When she was aware that Countess Yesod was watching her, she’d pretend to practice hard, but as soon as the Countess left her to her own devices, she’d stop her practice without any hesitation.

“This is why I hate exercising…”

There was a dissatisfied glint on her topaz-colored eyes.

It was clear that Diana hated to exercise.

In truth, she preferred to sit down and play some piano instead of doing ballet, but the Countess pressured her to do it, so she couldn’t really do much about it.

Though Diana could choose to opt out of it, the Countess would definitely ground her if she were to do it.

That was why, despite her annoyance, she still chose to do it anyway.

At a glance, a ballet exercise didn’t seem to be that bad, but it wasn’t the case at all in Diana’s opinion.

Her gray hair that she had tied for a good while now, had fallen down and turned disheveled.

The toe shoes that she wore were so tight that she could feel the pain on every part of her feet.

Not only that, the sweat that came out from her collarbone after merely a single dance was completely unpleasant for her.

Then there was the leotard and tights.

The way they clung tightly to her body made her embarrassed whenever she looked at herself in the mirror.

When she was younger, she used to love them, thinking that they were pretty, but now that she had grown up considerably, she’d repeatedly ask herself, ‘Who in the right mind would think that these things look pretty?’ whenever she saw them.

“Whatever. Today’s exercise is done.”

I’ll lounge around here for two hours and leave when lunch time comes.

After that, I’ll take a long nap until it’s time for tea at 3, then go out to the garden to play around.

Then, after dinner, I’ll take a bath for three hours before going to sleep.

As she was planning out her next activities, she suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine.

The cause? A certain person had just passed by the wall mirror.

Countess Yesod, who was glaring at her with her arms crossed.

“M-Mom…?”

Diana hurriedly got up and pretended to practice again, but even after that, the Countess’ menacing glare didn’t leave her eyes.

It was too late.

Moreover, the atmosphere around the Countess was different, as if she had made up her mind about something.

“Diana, how long did you plan to stay like that?”

“I was just taking a short break, after that I will get back to practice again. Do you want to see the moves I’ve been practicing, Mom?”

“Do you think I’m a fool?! I watched you doing nothing for a whole hour as soon as you thought that I left! Didn’t you promise me that you’d practice hard? Was it too much for me to ask you to practice?!”

Diana tried to act cute and quell her anger, but the Countess still didn’t budge. On the contrary, she continued to nag her even more.

“Studying magic is good and all, but I told you to move your body once in a while! Even this ballet class only lasts four hours a week! And you still laze around during that short time?!”

“...I-I’m sorry, Mom…”

Diana lowered her head.

Her arms dangled weakly on her sides.

Not only that, her shoulders showed clear dejection, as if she had properly reflected on what she had done wrong.

“It was because my feet hurt so much during practice… I promise I won’t lie to you again from now on…”

She said those words with a weak, trembling voice.

Following that, tears slid down her chin down to the floor, drop by drop.

Since her Plan A to act cute failed, she immediately went to enact her Plan B: Crocodile tears.

This was her special move, the move that had never failed her before.

Even though Countess Yesod was determined to scold her, it was clear that Diana’s tears affected her.

Her fingers started to tremble.

Maybe if she were to let her guard down a little, she would run over to Diana and embrace her.

But, she knew that she had to stand firm here.

Because she didn’t want her precious child to grow to become the embodiment of sloth.

Though, it was probably too late since Diana was already way too old to be called a child.

“Stop showing me those fake tears! I know you aren’t really crying!”

“T-They aren’t fake…”

Even though she said it wasn’t fake, her tears immediately dried up like smoke when she raised her head back up again, making the Countess stare at her dumbfoundedly.

“Can you spare me this time…? I promise I’ll work hard from now on…”

“Spare you? Of course not! You’ve been slacking, lying and even deceiving me with your acting?! You— I swear you’ll be the death of me!”

Meanwhile, Diana was also left dumbfounded since not only did her special move fail, but her mother kept on scolding her relentlessly.

It seemed like her mother wouldn’t let her off so easily this time.

And her rough guess was right, as a shocking declaration came out of the Countess’ mouth, leaving Diana dumbfounded once again.

“Get out of the mansion.”

“...Huh?”

Diana started to stammer.

“Y-You’re kicking me out?”

“Yes! Even if you stay here, you’ll only slack off at the corner of the mansion anyway! It’ll be better if you do it out of my sight, so get out!”

“But…it’s more comfortable inside…”

“Get! Out!”

She could feel her stomach sink.

Kicking her out of the mansion was the worst punishment she could ever get.

This was all because she had a passive skill that would make her health point decrease the further away she got from home.

Of course, no matter how mad she was, the Countess was still a fool for her daughter.

Though she said she wanted Diana to get out of the mansion, she didn’t mean that she was kicking her out for real and turning her into a homeless person.

“From now on, after you eat your breakfast, go out and don’t come back until dinner! Of course, you can’t just stay inside the bathroom either!”

“I need to go out…from morning…to evening…?”

“Starting today! That means, right now! Get out!”

“...Yes, Mom…”

This time, Diana wasn’t acting, she was truly discouraged.

Countess Yesod could feel her heart ache as she saw Diana’s head hung low, her gaze focused to her toes.

To leave her cute and lovely daughter outside…

The decision truly made her heart broken apart.

If she were to follow what her heart told her, she’d run over to her daughter and hug her, repeatedly assure her that she loved her so very much.

“Huu…”

But this time, she had to put up with this feeling.

Because after she passed on her brand to her daughter, she had to live by herself in this cruel and harsh world. Her nagging and punishment was nothing compared to the harsh reality.

Diana’s chronic laziness was pretty much a disease.

And the Countess was ready to pay any price as long as she could cure that disease.

“I love you… My dear daughter…”

Tears came out of the corner of Lucy Yesod’s eyes as she saw Diana’s departing back, leaving the ballet room towards the dressing room.

1. Edgar Degas: An impressionist artist that lived in the 19th century. He's famous for his paintings and half of his paintings depicted dancers, specifically ballerinas.