Side Story 3. Hot Spring Trip (2)

12:00 PM, Seok Harang’s residence in Busan.

“…….”

“Harang-ah, are you okay?”

“Lift your head. It’s unsightly.”

Harang lay face down on the beanbag and swayed his body left and right. Phoenix, perched on a chair, kicked Harang’s side, making him jiggle, and the more he did, the deeper Harang burrowed into the beanbag. Yuha sat demurely on her knees, wiggling her fingers on the table.

“Were they in this kind of relationship?”

“Rather than ‘were,’ it became this way. Get up. It’s time for reflection.”

“Aaaahhh!!”

Harang buried his face in the beanbag and shrieked. At the scream full of injustice, Yuha glared at Phoenix.

“Just how much did you torment her for the kid to end up like this….”

“It’s a misunderstanding. She’s doing that because she feels wronged.”

Phoenix puffed out her cheeks and pointed at Harang with her chin. Harang flipped over and lay spread-eagled towards the sky.

“Do it then.”

“……Hmph. You’re still clumsy in close combat.”

Phoenix materialized flames. A two-head-tall Phoenix (monstrous human form) and Seok Harang, formed from flames, began bickering on the table.

“You should either fight purely from long range, or decide on a main weapon and train with it. Right now, you’re neither here nor there.”

Yuha recalled their battle that unfolded within the Barrier.

Close combat. Phoenix easily subdued Harang even in her human form.

Long-range combat. When they fought by scattering their Divided Spirits like a barrage, Phoenix barely managed to win.

Finally, (Seok Harang’s) all-out battle. Phoenix received Harang’s full power while in her monstrous human form, and won all three matches. Harang was in a state of self-loathing, unable to accept those three consecutive losses.

“No! Unnie-yah saw it too, didn’t she! I lost by just a hair’s breadth!”

“A loss is a loss. You don’t even consider that I let you almost win by a hair’s breadth, do you?”

“What the hell are you talking about! Both you and I are SS-rank!”

“It’s different. You just barely passed 95, and I’m at 99.”

Phoenix took a drink from the refrigerator and sat at the table. Harang pointed at the refrigerator, which only contained blueberry drinks.

“There’s canned coffee, isn’t there? Unnie-yah wouldn’t drink something like this.”

“I wouldn’t drink canned coffee even if I died.”

“……Thank you.”

Yuha fiddled with a milk carton, looking back and forth between Phoenix and Harang, who were exchanging sharp words. Their conversation was concise and blunt, but listening closely, a world unique to them, difficult for others to understand, was unfolding.

“Look here. I told you I was going to go in there, didn’t I? Then you would’ve immediately shot a pillar of fire from here to intercept. Right?”

“No. At that time, I was preparing my Ultimate Skill. You should have come in.”

“How was I supposed to go in? Was there some good way?”

“Either charge in with an ice shield in front, or fight fire with fire.”

“Easy for you to say. If that were possible, would I be like this?”

It seemed understandable yet not. Yuha sipped her milk, waiting for their argument to end, and their reflection on the battle didn’t take long. Phoenix flicked her finger, dispelling the flames.

“I’m telling you to clearly decide on a path. If you’re going to main ice, abandon water. Don’t try to half-heartedly divide it into a main weapon and a sub-weapon. Anyway, let’s stop talking about this.”

Phoenix sat cross-legged on the chair. Phoenix, who had been spinning the milk carton in her hand, opened her mouth as if something had just occurred to her. Yuha put down her milk and asked,

“Did you forget something?”

“…No. I just thought they’d manage well on their own.”

Surely, grown adults wouldn’t cause trouble. Phoenix drank her beverage, lost in thought.

* * *

At that time, Padre Juan

“So Phoenix definitely said that, didn’t she? That she was the one who would get Harang pregnant.”

“That’s what I’m saying. She even called me her father-in-law and stuff.”

The two disguised individuals, Heo Yun-hwan and Anastasia, drank tea, deep in thought. Even setting aside issues concerning their marital life or the end of the world, the immediate problem that plunged them into worry was their daughter-Seok Harang.

“Could Harang not have noticed?”

“She probably didn’t. If she had, she would’ve recognized you long ago.”

Even taking a seat in the same cafe was quite an adventure. After Anastasia pressed Phoenix, they infiltrated the cafe that Phoenix and Harang frequented, and Phoenix explained the situation to Juan, the owner, secretly watching the two from a spot beyond the wall.

“When did Harang start following her like that?”

“She’s playing pranks on her that she never even played on me.”

“Is that from when you claimed to be her master?”

“Yes. It’s so different from what I heard from the Chairman-nim. The Chairman-nim clearly said that Harang would try to kill that trash.”

Heo Yun-hwan felt somewhat disappointed. When you think about it, Phoenix was the enemy who killed his master and father, yet now, Harang was making explosive growth by taking that very enemy as her master and friend.

Heo Yun-hwan himself knew all too well that his educational methods were severely flawed, but even so, the pain of having his daughter and disciple taken from him right beside him was difficult to express in words.

What a truly complex problem. Anastasia’s movements froze at a call that came in on her smartwatch while she was drinking coffee.

“Who is it?”

“……Dad.”

Heo Yun-hwan’s cheeks flushed red, then turned pale again. He couldn’t have imagined the word ‘Dad’ coming from Anastasia’s mouth, but he certainly never dreamed of having a father-in-law.

Yun-hwan swallowed hard and nodded. He suppressed the flow of mana as much as possible, even holding his breath to erase his presence. Anastasia was about to go outside to answer the call, but seeing Yun-hwan’s efforts, she steeled herself and answered the phone right where she was.

“Yeah, Dad. I’m in Busan right now.”

[Daughter, when are you coming back? Your unnie and oppas are waiting so much for you to return, you have no idea.]

“I told you it was a Round Table business trip, didn’t I? I’ll go back when the work is done.”

[Seolhwa Princess, that young lady, has been registered as SS-rank, so can’t you come back now? …Wait. Daughter, why are you at a cafe?]

Anastasia pressed her heel into the ground. Her father was, unexpectedly, a person with remarkably keen intuition.

[Surely there isn’t some scoundrel across from you that my daughter has fallen in love with, is there?]

“…….”

Yun-hwan vehemently shook his head. He hadn’t even properly sorted out his stance on Harang yet, and facing Anastasia’s background caused him great mental turmoil.

However, Anastasia thought differently. Once she started, Anastasia began to act as she pleased, like a runaway train with broken brakes.

“That’s right. I’m with my boyf…boyfriend.”

“Rusalka?!”

[Whose male voice was that just now?]

Subrov’s expression turned chilling, as if frost had descended. Anastasia had arbitrarily changed even the middle name she received from her father to ‘Rusalka,’ so anger surged within him at the voice that had called out that middle name.

However, Subrov immediately replayed his memory. It sounded like a voice he had heard somewhere. Anastasia quickly cleared her throat, drawing attention.

“Dad, aren’t you being too much? You let my unnie and oppas freely date as much as they want, so why can’t you just leave me alone?”

[Th-that’s not it, Anastasia. I respect your choices. But it’s just so sudden. You’ve never done anything like this before, have you?]

“I’m an adult now. A grown-up. If you keep doing this to me, Dad, I’ll have my own thoughts.”

Anastasia took a deep breath and played her trump card.

“I’m quitting the Round Table and settling down in Korea. So don’t look for me.”

Click. Anastasia lowered the screen and calmly raised her glass. Yun-hwan covered his face with both hands, falling into deep distress.

“……I’m grateful and thankful for you making that choice, but you could have chosen the opposite too. Rusalka, no matter what-“

“Don’t misunderstand. You and Harang are my top priority, but my current family is also precious to me after that. That’s why I’m trying to settle down here.”

Anastasia subtly scanned her surroundings and spoke very carefully.

“The Oracle’s prophecy, Day of Ruin. The monster from outer space, ‘Seongju,’ will appear on this land.”

* * *

“Oh my. So that’s why you told me to build a rocket that could go to the moon?”

Yuha covered her mouth in surprise. I climbed onto Harang’s back and massaged him as I replied,

“More precisely, it comes to where the ‘Cubes’ are most concentrated. It just happened to be Korea.”

“Hweoooooo—“

Harang groaned, making a strange sound that was neither a moan nor a scream. It wasn’t a muscle-relaxing massage, but one that smoothed the flow of mana, a massage that any ability user couldn’t help but feel utterly relaxed by.

“Why? Do you want me to do it for you too?”

“……Later.”

Yuha nodded, though her face was flushed. While she didn’t mind dolls, she was reluctant to have others touch her body, so she had considerable aversion to receiving a massage naked.

“Unnie-yah, this one, she’s really good at this, if nothing else, haaang?!”

“Don’t enjoy it, pervert.”

“Th-then there, haaah?!”

My thumb pressed firmly into Harang’s side chest. Harang stomped her feet but didn’t particularly avoid my touch. She herself knew how well mana flowed with my massage, so she was desperately trying to endure it.

Gulp. I heard a swallowing sound, so I raised my head.

“…Customer-nim. It’s truly a good thing your appearance is female, because if I made even one wrong move, someone might think I’m doing something improper.”

“Anyway, someday you’ll have to do something even more than that ‘improper’ thing. That’s how you draw out the Spirit’s power to its maximum.”

Harang turned her body in surprise. I frowned at the sight of myself still on Harang’s side and got up from her.

“Th-that, is it ‘that’ thing I’m thinking of?”

“Of course, it’s S@X.”

Harang’s face flushed like an active volcano. I pulled down my rolled-up shorts and sat on the chair. Yuha straightened her posture, appearing to listen intently.

“Synchronization is ultimately about two beings merging into one. Naturally, it involves their minds and bodies moving together, leading to copulation.”

I curled my fingers into a circle, then poked repeatedly into the hole with the index finger of my other hand. Harang had completely lost her ability to speak and was frantically trying to cover herself with the t-shirt she had taken off, while Yuha was listening to my explanation with a rather serious expression.

“It sounds like you’re talking about someone with the talent of a commander.”

“That’s right. That’s why a commander is the one who can most easily raise a Spirit to SSS-rank. Though they’ll all be extinct within 5 years.”

“What?”

Yuha turned pale. I immediately recited the reason.

“The executives started hunting commanders. They killed them or turned them into invalids. But a commander is, after all, the fastest path, and synchronization with a Spirit ultimately requires this.”

I twisted my thumb and index finger together. Seeing that neither Yuha nor Harang understood, I pointed to my heart with my thumb.

“Love. Only great and true love will be the key to saving the world.”

Yuha and Harang’s expressions soured. I tried to persuade them by expounding on the greatness of love, but they treated me like a peddler and kicked me out of the house.

* * *

-It’s all flashy words, isn’t it.

“It’s not wrong, is it?”

Changyeom pecked at the cake on the railing with her beak. Annoyed by her constantly pecking at something she couldn’t even eat, like a woodpecker, I swallowed the cake in one bite.

Munch munch. Strawberries weren’t my favorite, but Juan’s cake was still delicious. Changyeom flapped her wings left and right with a satisfied expression. It looked just like she was dancing, which made me laugh spontaneously.

“If we went to a strawberry buffet, it would be chaos.”

– What did you say?

“So you were also just a concept.”

– Shut up and explain first, isn’t it.

“How can I explain if I shut up?”

Changyeom had become aware of her existence as a game character by reading my memories, but she had only ‘read’ them, not experienced them directly. I briefly explained what a strawberry buffet was, and Changyeom drooled flames from her mouth.

“Quite a serious case.”

I sat on the railing and stroked my chin. A buffet centered around strawberries didn’t exist in this world yet.

“Should I ask Eun Yuha to make one?”

– If you do that, I’ll specially spare that young lady, Eun Yuha.

I was dumbfounded and flicked Changyeom’s beak with my finger.

“Was your love that shallow?”

– It’s the number one priority in my life, you know? I’ve become a soul that can’t live without strawberries now!

“And your zero-priority is you?”

At my words, Changyeom flinched and turned her head. The moment I was about to ask something else, Changyeom turned into a spark and disappeared. Feeling awkward, I lay on the railing and looked up at the sky. Judging by the sun’s position, it wasn’t even 1 PM yet.

“What should I do until 5 o’clock?”

Maybe I should go find the Azure Syndicate kids. I jumped straight off the railing.