Ch.628Chapter 24. Real Estate Never Die (6)

South Korea sold Do Ji-hwan to Black Rider.

This could be maliciously characterized as “male prostitution” by some, but strictly speaking, it was a legitimate transaction conducted through supernatural means.

“Let’s look at this from an objective perspective, removing The Syndicate’s viewpoint. Let’s say… through the eyes of a random twenty-something civilian named ‘Do Ki-woo.'”

“Is there actually someone named Do Ki-woo?”

“There’s bound to be at least one person with that name somewhere. So, non-powered college student Do Ki-woo hears this news. What would he think?”

“Hmm…”

Baek Seol-hee crossed her arms and pondered deeply.

“That Black Rider Seong Ji-eun made a deal with South Korea to ‘awaken’?”

“Correct.”

Seong Ji-eun lifted her top.

“As you can see, I also have an awakening inscription right here.”

“Ugh…”

On Seong Ji-eun’s abdomen, an inscription born from someone’s idea gleamed with a black light.

“Ah. Is the color strange? I can switch it like this.”

Click.

As soon as Seong Ji-eun snapped her fingers, the awakening inscription on her abdomen changed to chestnut brown, matching her hair color.

“With this, I can switch between hero mode and villain mode. Hehe.”

“…Is that how you distinguish between hero and villain states? Are you planning to use some kind of sub-character to deceive people? What would 23-year-old military-discharged Pusan National University student Do Ki-woo think about that?”

“He’d probably think, ‘American heroes must have it tough too,’ since he’s seen The Syndicate create duplicates to commit villainous acts.”

Do Ki-woo would think:

Just as Armored Taejo and Black Taejo fought, the battle between original and copy surely isn’t limited to Taejo.

“How will you create the copy? Make a doppelgänger to fight like Taejo did?”

“There are many methods. What’s important is not getting caught by people; the method is just a matter of creativity.”

Human imagination is boundless, and we have countless supernatural abilities at our disposal.

With the content of this world, plus the content from my world, we have more than enough to work with.

From the beginning…

‘Even in this world, it’s common for a 2P character who covets the 1P position to be released as a separate playable character in the next installment.’

Since everyone understands the concept of separating original and copy, we just need to set it up that way.

We’ll confuse people with the color of the awakening inscription, and for that, Seong Ji-eun needs to officially awaken.

In other words:

“Black Rider awakened through the patriotic master’s consulting. And using those awakened abilities, she’s developing a large apartment complex here in the northern region.”

Seong Ji-eun looked at me meaningfully.

“So let’s do it. Supply me with magical power.”

“W-wait a minute. What are you talking about?”

Baek Seol-hee wedged herself between me and Seong Ji-eun to separate us.

“I never heard anything about selling Do Ji-hwan’s night! And for three nights at that!”

“The Hero Association and government making decisions about heroes without informing them isn’t exactly new.”

“What if I, a pregnant woman, get shocked by this news?”

“They’re probably thinking something like this.”

Seong Ji-eun raised one index finger to point at Baek Seol-hee, then raised her other index finger to point at herself.

“Do Ji-hwan’s seed-planting! Ah, Black Rider’s condition…?”

“That’s not it. The ‘parent’ of the child born from Black Rider would be recorded as the patriotic master.”

“That’s the baseline, but the government probably has additional expectations. After receiving Do Ji-hwan’s patriotic consulting, Black Rider might become his concubine and naturalize as Korean—that kind of expectation.”

“From Korea’s perspective… it’s not a bad deal. No wonder the Association recently sent abalone and eel to Baek Seol-hee’s home.”

“Ugh…”

Having thoroughly enjoyed wild abalone and eel paid for with national taxes, Baek Seol-hee could only clutch her head in frustration.

“Is getting another S-rank all that matters? Is this country allowed to do this?”

“Should someone who publicly announced her pregnancy retirement to have an S-rank baby be saying such things?”

“Urgh…!”

There was no logical high ground left for Baek Seol-hee.

“After enjoying all that patriotic fun with Do Ji-hwan, you’re trying to prevent someone else from taking just three nights?”

“Who says I’m always being patriotic with him? That’s Ymir, not me!”

“But 23-year-old Pusan National University military-discharged virgin student Do Ki-woo would think more about Baek Seol-hee, who awakened as SS-rank and got pregnant, than C-rank ability user Ymir. He’d wonder ‘how much did they bang?'”

“She gets banged more than I—!”

“Sorry, but public perception is exactly what you think about Ymir.”

Patriotically, supernaturally, and socially, Baek Seol-hee already couldn’t win against Seong Ji-eun.

“I’m… Ymir-level…?”

“You’re fine because she filters all the community information for you, but on the internet, you’re already what you think of as ‘Ymir-level.'”

“Ah, aah…! That can’t be…! There’s no such information in my Hero Wiki entry…!”

“It’s okay.”

I hugged the anxious Baek Seol-hee from behind.

“It’ll all be resolved once you give birth to an S-rank. Those were just foreign IP trolls trying to prevent SS-rank pregnant women from having S-rank babies.”

“Really…?”

“Yes. I’m not joking, this is real. On your Hero Wiki page, there are tavern owners working in 4-shifts? They’re preventing people from vandalizing and terrorizing your ‘pregnancy’ section to damage your mental health.”

“……”

Knowing such people exist doesn’t harm one’s mental state.

Directly seeing and hearing such malicious content is what negatively affects mental health and prenatal care.

“Would people from other countries want to use VPNs to target S-rank pregnant women like that…?”

“You’re experiencing exactly what the leeches used to do.”

“The leeches did that? Mental attacks on foreign powered pregnant women?”

“It increases the scarcity of powered individuals.”

“…That’s pretty bad.”

Like Ymir, Baek Seol-hee had developed a certain threshold for society’s dark side.

“Wouldn’t it benefit society to just freeze such people solid?”

“Oh. A little further and you could become a Syndicate executive.”

“Maybe I should create a sub-character too. Actually, instead of a Syndicate executive, I want to be Scholar’s wife.”

“……”

In response to Baek Seol-hee’s blatant expression of desire, Seong Ji-eun twisted the corner of her mouth and—

“How dare you covet the Scholar’s wife position that I bid on first?”

“What?”

“I’m the Scholar’s wife. Get lost.”

…suddenly declared herself the official wife of the sub-character.

“You confronted Scholar. I’m going to develop my own sub-character. I’ll create something like an Underground Female General and become Scholar’s official wife.”

“Are you crazy…?”

“The crazy one is you, who already has the main position as Do Ji-hwan’s patriotic partner but still wants more. Hey, Baek Seol-hee. Don’t you think you’ll get taught a lesson for being so greedy?”

“A lesson? I might be a bit distracted worrying about my baby because of my pregnancy, but if you and I fought at full power, who do you think would win? You? No, I would.”

“Even if I were pregnant, I could easily beat someone like you in a fight.”

That’s right.

Beyond their incompatible personalities, there’s one fundamental reason why these two are so hostile toward each other.

“During my active days, I was always called away for strange missions, but if I had trained combat skills like you, I would have won from the beginning. Got it?”

“I think it’s still the same now. Just because you died and came back as a virgin ghost doesn’t mean you’ve surpassed me.”

“You got wrecked by Do-Ji-Rider who merged with Qiongqi!”

“I never got wrecked! It was just a stalemate when he left the scene!”

They’re something like rivals.

Unlike Baek Seol-hee, the ice sorceress who was mainly deployed for villain suppression except during summer and had plenty of time to hone her combat skills against people—

—What? Combat training? Use that time to think about building one more apartment!

—Don’t you know that skills for saving people are more important than skills for killing people?!

Seong Ji-eun didn’t develop many combat skills during her active days.

It was more the government’s will than her own.

But.

“So what is Baek Seol-hee good at? Freezing the Haeguneul headquarters building? Can you erect better than me?”

“H-hmph…! Of course! I don’t know about other things, but I’m definitely better at erecting than you!”

“Oh really? Then let me ask. Who erects better?”

“If we’re talking about erecting buildings, obviously it’s Hundun.”

Baek Seol-hee didn’t look at me with particularly betrayed eyes.

She had already specified “erecting buildings” before I answered.

“Then what about other things?!”

“Well. I’m not sure what you want me to erect.”

“The goblin club!”

“The goblin club is always erect.”

“Hey!!”

Baek Seol-hee punched my arm repeatedly.

“This is a matter of pride! Aren’t you going to answer?”

“Is this really something to stake your pride on…? Is it that important?”

“It is to me. Answer. How is it?”

“Well. Obviously.”

I tapped my Syndicate watch to check my schedule.

“Whether the black cow stands better or the white cow stands better, we’d have to compare directly to know.”

As it happened, the timing was just right.

“Let’s go check into the hotel. Hundun. The reservation?”

“Of course for two… Just kidding. For three.”

Seong Ji-eun twisted the corner of her mouth toward Baek Seol-hee and tapped her Syndicate watch.

“Guest, Three People. Okay?”

“…Call.”

We headed to the hotel.