Kang Jiesu cleared his throat hesitantly.

"...Gū-dè mò-rè-níng?" 

He struggled to enunciate the syllables, and his pronunciation was beyond awful. Every single element of the phrase was completely butchered and mangled through a kitchen blender, and it almost unrecognizable. His Galuterican was broken and heavily accented... but at the end of the day... I still understood what he was trying to say.

I paused in place.

His message had transmitted successfully.

A passing grade.

It was actually shockingly impressive that he managed to mimic the phonemes of Galuterican to this extent over one night. Our languages were untranslated, which meant that all of his inferences about the vocabulary had come entirely from scratch. While it was true that Kang  Jiesu frequently got top marks in our school, he certainly wasn't a professional linguist. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since we arrived in this isekai world.

Was my childhood friend always this gifted with languages?

Somehow, I was skeptical.

I made hesitant eye contact with Kang.

"...Good morning," I repeated slowly back to him.

"Gūd mòre-ning." Kang copied my pronunciation.

"Good morning," I said firmly and clearly.

Kang Jiesu smiled at me.

It was a dangerous smile; the kind that belonged on the face of a poisonous snake. I reminded myself to take special caution, because Kang Jiesu was a manipulative and untrustworthy riajuu. Even if he swayed your feelings with his sunny personality and warm aura, he was searching for a crack in your heart to plant a seed. Later, when it sprouted, it would grow into self-destructing a parasitic plant.

The only way to protect yourself was to kill the seed before you're brainwashed for good.

A faint frown appeared on Kang's face.

He switched back to speaking in Mandarin.

"Look, I really appreciate your help and everything... but I don't need a maid. I understand that you're doing this as a form of hospitality, and I appreciate the gesture, but I don't need it. You don't have to clean my room in the morning or do my laundry. Please. Allow me to refuse your assistance. I can do all of it myself."

Of course, I only blinked and feigned confusion at his ambiguous hand gestures and sign language. 

How sweet of him, but it's useless if he says it in Mandarin.

Good luck figuring out how to communicate that in Galuterican.

As far as I was considered, all of it was empty and meaningless words.

It didn't mean anything until my managers understood it. I was just a mindless NPC underling, and my scripted response wasn't going to change until Kang somehow made it through to my boss. I wasn't exactly working for him by choice. If he had a problem, he would have to bring it up with management.

+ + +

I turned away to resume my morning chores, and I made my way into the bathroom to check the sink.

Universal plumbing technology and pipelines were not developed in the Kingdom of Galuterica. Instead, most households relied on magical appliances and a system of condensers, tanks, and reservoirs to draw moisture from the air. However, this meant that toilets needed to be recharged with mana crystals, and the waste needed to be periodically emptied to prevent an overfill.

Fortunately, changing the waste water wasn't my job, and a lower-ranking scullery maid would be assigned to it later in the day.

However, it was my responsibility to turn on the water-heating spell matrix and replenish depleted mana. If the water level in the reservoir was too low, I would have to call for maid to physically transport a few buckets of water upstairs, which sometimes occurred if it had been a particularly dry night.

I fumbled around with the plumbing and installed fresh mana crystals in the power chamber.

As I was doing this, I heard faint footsteps coming from Kang's bedroom.

...

I packed away the spent mana crystals, stood up, and then opened the bathroom door.

Sure enough, it was exactly what I had feared.

Kang Jiesu had unabashedly gotten out of bed.

Of course, he was still wearing his underwear, so it wasn't like something vulgar was dangling around. However, by Chinese standards, this was still grossly inappropriate. I really didn't think he had the guts to flash himself so boldly, but apparently he was eager to prove me wrong. Kang Jiesu was unexpectedly fearless.

In Galuterican culture, this was totally normal, so I had to force myself to keep a straight face.

Fuck.

Was it seriously that difficult for him to cooperate? 

I just wanted him to sit quietly in bed and stay out of my way. In fact, I had purposefully taken away his clothes with the specific intent to keep him underneath the sheets. He was supposed to be awkward, flustered, and embarrassed about it.

"Excuse me, but could you show me where the wardrobe is?" He said calmly after making eye contact with me.

His expression was totally normal and relaxed.

"I believe you took my pants."

∎