STVWK | Ch 09

Episode 9

While Rania was still dazed, the man came closer to the bed. He had a flat tray with a shallow dish, a water bottle, and a cup. Two small pills rolled on the dish.

Rania blinked, still half-out-of-it from the headache and the surreal situation, and asked like she was in a trance, “Who are you…?”

“I’m Yurion. From today, I’ll be assisting you, Rania. We met at your café yesterday, but it seems you don’t remember,” he said.

The guy who’d been bustling behind the counter, making snacks and pouring her drinks — that was Yurion. He’d seen her all evening, so he might have expected her to remember, but he also knew she’d been drunk.

Yurion’s job was to help Rania and explain what she needed to know. First, though, she had to be able to think straight. He kept his voice calm.

“Take these first. They break down harmful stuff in your system so it leaves through sweat and urine. The guild made them — they work way better than regular stuff you can buy.”
“Guild?” Rania repeated, pale.

“Yes. And to be clear, we only used ingredients that aren’t harmful to the body. The Master takes these, too.”

Rania went even whiter. Guild, Master… memories of last night started surfacing, like something rising from murky water.

“Wait, wait, hold on. Um… ah…” She fumbled for words and groaned. Besides the headache and nausea, her whole body ached like after hard exercise. Muscle pain.

Yurion said gently, “You did a lot last night, so it makes sense you’d be sore.”
“…Huh?”
What “a lot”? She didn’t want to know. She wanted to, but she didn’t.

Rania’s face showed confusion, but Yurion just smiled and held back details. He put the tray on the bedside table and sat in the chair.

A few minutes after waking, Rania finally realized she was in a strange room. She reflexively glanced to where Enoch had been — no one was there.

Noticing everything she did, Yurion said, “The Master will come in the evening. If you need anything else, I’ll tell him. He said he’d come within ten minutes if you call.”

Rania panicked. “No! That’s… that’s scary. Don’t — don’t tell him! I don’t want that!” She waved her hands, refusing desperately.

To the guild members, Enoch saying he’d come in ten minutes was almost unbelievable — it meant she’d be considered important to him. But Rania didn’t know that, and hearing she’d see Enoch again that evening made her pale.

Yurion understood her hesitation. If he were the one getting that kind of attention from Enoch, he’d want to give up on life. Still, people often think, “As long as it’s not me,” so he kept calm and took out some papers from a drawer.

“Don’t hate the Master too much,” he said gently. “He has some good sides.”
“Well… maybe….” Rania started.

Yurion accidentally dropped the papers. Rania, already foggy, watched them fall. Then she spotted the papers on the floor and felt a prick of dread — like she was missing some huge thing. She didn’t want to remember, but her brain was curious.

The pills kicked in and cleared foggy thoughts a bit. Yurion tidied the papers and handed one over to her.

“This is for you to look over,” he said.

It was the employment contract — the same one Enoch had pressed her thumb onto yesterday. Memory fragments returned: the talk about a job, Branch No. 8, being the branch manager, her objecting because it’s a “bad guild,” and her saying she was sorry and wouldn’t do it.

“I said I’d refuse that offer…” she whispered.

Yurion: “Ah — you forgot that too. Please look below.”

She looked down, throat dry. White paper, black ink. Something stood out: a black fingerprint at the bottom of the contract, clear, right beside her name.

“That fingerprint is yours,” Yurion said.

Technically, she hadn’t intentionally signed it, but that detail wasn’t helpful now. Rania’s face went pale again — she’d kept refusing, or at least she remembered refusing.

“I don’t remember doing this,” she said weakly. “I don’t remember…”

“It looked like you were very drunk, but not remembering it doesn’t make the contract disappear,” Yurion said bluntly. It sounded shameless coming from the person who’d caused her haze, but he was calm and matter-of-fact.

Rania clutched the paper; her shaking hand crumpled it. Yurion added, “This is a copy. The original is safely stored. If this one gets damaged, we’ll bring another.”

“…” Rania didn’t know what to say.

“All right. Looks like the hangover medicine worked. Shall we discuss the job now?” Yurion asked smoothly.

Rania muttered a helpless apology to her customers — sorry, everyone, my café’s become a villain hideout — and swallowed her tears, stunned.