Reunion

Weapons can wait until I'm home...

I was still on the walk back, and pulling another weapon I'd have to lug the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rest of the way sounded like nothing but a hassle. The weapon draw could wait.

Skill level-ups unlocked at shop level five, if I remember right.

Back when I'd first earned Level 5 shop access, I'd browsed the listings and seen skill level-ups sitting right there on the menu. I'd poured every point into ability draws, though, and had nothing left to spend, so I'd let it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pass.

So where do I even start?

I'd been handed so many rewards that choosing which one to crack open first was a problem all its own.

This one. Let's start here.

I decided to begin with the ability draw I'd received as a quest reward.

A bright chime rang out. The enormous slot machine I'd seen before materialized in front of me and began to spin like mad.

What's it going to be?

I watched the reels with my hopes already up for whatever new ability I was about to land. At last they stopped, and the result appeared.

Telekinesis?!

A superpower I'd only ever seen in the movies. I was so wired I wanted to test it that very second, but this was hardly the place for it. I swallowed the excitement and promised myself I'd try the ability the moment we got home.

Heh. Easy. Calm down.

The smile creeping out at the corner of my mouth refused to cooperate.

"What the hell are you thinking about, making a face like some pervert?"

Kang Hanna had caught the look. She frowned as she asked.

"...Huh? Oh. Just thinking about keeping that promise I made you, once we're home. Puts me in a good mood."

I wasn't some grade-schooler who could blurt out I got a superpower and I'm happy! So I said something else.

"Promise?... Oh!"

Only then did she remember what she'd promised, and color flooded her face.

"You did say you'd do anything. Didn't you?"

I stepped in close and murmured it against the ear of a Hanna gone apple-red.

"Y-you—!"

On any other day she would have unloaded a barrage of curses. They were her own words, though, and she had nothing to throw back—only a strangled, indignant noise.

"Come on. Let's get home."

The whole day had been nothing but good news. I picked up the pace toward the house in high spirits.

Next, the skill level-up?

We could walk and check rewards at the same time. I set my finger on what remained: a skill level-up ticket.

At the system's prompt, I ran through the skills I owned. There was the Telekinesis I'd just picked up, and the old set besides: Third Eye, Sixth Sense, Imperial Swordsmanship, One-Shot One-Hit, and Ultimate Dick.

Ultimate Dick was an automatic pass. The rest were solid skills, no question, but I meant to raise a combat skill first, which knocked out Third Eye and Sixth Sense. That left Imperial Swordsmanship and One-Shot One-Hit.

Telekinesis stays out of it.

I hadn't even tested the thing, and its ceiling hadn't looked especially high to begin with. Off the list.

Imperial Swordsmanship for the ceiling, or One-Shot One-Hit for the versatility.

In raw fighting power the sword art was ahead. In all-purpose utility, One-Shot One-Hit won. I turned the two combat skills over and started to agonize.

Hmm... Imperial Swordsmanship after all, isn't it?

I'd been using a blade long enough that it sat naturally in my hand, and a lucky draw had even landed me a hwando, a traditional single-edged sword. Leveling Imperial Swordsmanship would be the more useful choice. Decision made, I tapped the skill and spent the level-up.

I cocked my head at the description.

So I have to train for it. That's what this means?

Reading it over, I couldn't tell whether I was supposed to celebrate or sulk. I'd burned a skill level-up ticket, and instead of getting stronger on the spot I had homework. I hadn't tried it yet, but the disappointment was real enough.

Ugh... I'll use it and judge from there.

In the end I decided to test it at home. The list of things waiting for me there was starting to pile up.

And last of all...

It wasn't a reward, strictly speaking, but the most important thing was still sitting there. Points. I'd cut down zombies without number during the emergency quest, and my pulse kicked up at the thought of how many points that slaughter was worth.

Heh. Let's have a look.

Heart fluttering like a teenage girl's, I opened the points window.

The daily quest I'd forgotten had cleared itself while I was killing zombies, and the kills from the emergency quest had been tallied on top of it.

Variant zombies pay more than regular ones.

Going by strength alone, a variant was dozens of times a Regular Zombie, and the payout was only ten times as much. I had complaints. Then again, it beat getting the same ten points as an ordinary one, so I let it go. Stack that with the points waiting on the main quest—gathering companions—once I finished it, and the total would be obscene.

I'd emptied my balance opening the Level 2 shop, and now the number was back in four digits. I was busy enjoying that when a voice cut through.

"We're finally here."

Kang Hanna's announcement landed at the perfect moment, just as I finished checking the rewards, and snapped me out of it.

"Haa... Why does it feel like it's been forever?"

The way a barracks looks dear when you march back in from the field—that was my house, after everything I'd suffered at that store. Seeing it again left me strangely moved.

"Hurry up and get inside. Stand around any longer and this old man'll drop dead in the street."

"Right. I'm worn out too."

The gate creaked. I wanted rest every bit as badly as Mr. Jang did, so I didn't linger—I pushed the front gate open and stepped through.

"Unni!"

"Grandpa!"

"Jia! Jaemin!"

Waiting to greet us were Lee Jaemin and Lee Jia, the student duo. Before we'd left I'd told them to sleep on the first floor—it had been the dead of early morning—but worry over Kang Hanna and Jang Sangcheol had apparently kept them up through the small hours, eyes wide open.

"I'm so glad you're safe, Unni!"

"Jia, that was thanks to you! You did great!"

Two beautiful women pulling each other close. There wasn't a better sight.

"Mr. Jang, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you're not hurt anywhere?"

"Aye. Thanks to you, I came back with the body still attached."

Jang Sangcheol and Lee Jaemin were having a fervent reunion of their own, man to man.

"A reunion's a reunion, but first—"

I stepped into the middle of it and put the whole homecoming on hold.

A stomach let out a long, miserable growl.

"Let's eat."

I was simply that hungry.

Fat hissed on the grill.

"Whoa, Mr. Jang, it's beef! Beef!"

"I can see it myself, you brat!"

"Th-that looks so good..."

Kang Hanna and the others hadn't tasted a proper meal in ages, and the moment that fine cut of beef started searing they couldn't hide how excited they were. Even Lee Jia, calm through just about everything, swallowed and stared at the meat.

"Help yourselves."

"Th-thank you for the meal!"

I set the finished beef on the table, and chopsticks rose all at once.

"It melts in your mouth!"

"Heh heh. Thought I'd never get to enjoy a luxury like this again."

"I-it's delicious!"

"I've had it before, but this is really something. You go to a beef-grilling academy or what?"

They marveled between bites, and Kang Hanna, startled by how well the meat had been cooked, turned the question on me. Back when I'd worked at a slaughterhouse, beef was what we ate at the drop of a hat, and the foremen had drilled their grilling methods into me.

"Natural talent."

Explaining all of that sounded like a chore, so I shrugged and let it pass.

"Guess I'll have some myself."

The long fight had left me hollow too. I started putting the beef away.