Chapter 28: Promises Are Made to Be Kept (1)
"I'm stuffed... I can't eat another bite..."
"And how long has it been since I filled my belly like this..."
The group tore through the beef with gusto and brought the meal to an end.
"Then, shall we talk?"
Once the eating was done, I drew every eye in the room.
"However this shakes out, I am the owner of this house. So while you're under this roof, I'd like you to follow what I say."
It was, in plain terms, a declaration that I would be taking the role of leader.
"Heh heh. Do as you please. After a show of might like that, there's no fool here who'd object."
"Might? Were you that impressive when you caught Choi Minhyuk?"
"You rascal, Choi Minhyuk isn't the point. He brought down a monster a full ten feet tall, all by himself."
"R-really?!"
"......!"
Lee Jaemin looked thoroughly stunned at Jang Sangcheol's words, and Lee Jia's eyes went wide, her surprise written plain across her face.
"Come to think of it, I never even told you my name. Good to meet you. I'm Park Dohyun."
"Hello. I'm Lee Jia."
"I'm Lee Jaemin."
They'd been in such a rush getting out that the student pair had never introduced themselves. While offering my own name, I switched on Third Eye and pulled their information.
Third Eye has been activated.
Lee Jaemin's numbers were those of an ordinary high school student. Lee Jia was another matter. Her stamina and strength fell short of his, but her intelligence ran high, and more importantly, she had already awakened a special ability worth having.
I had always valued intelligence and special abilities over strength and stamina. Strength and stamina could be trained up. Intelligence and a special ability barely moved, no matter how hard you worked.
Archery. I'll have to find her a bow later.
And at this stage, a bow was a damned useful weapon. You could put zombies down with almost no sound and without dragging the rest of them in on you, which made it more useful than a gun just now—unless you had enough people that it didn't matter how many gathered, and you could simply mow them down with gunfire. On that count, Lee Jia's Archery was a very attractive ability.
"You two don't have any special talents, do you?"
I was curious whether Jia even knew what she had, so I played ignorant and asked, just to hear how she would answer.
"Uh... I'm a Challenger in Legend of Legends."
I frowned at Jaemin's answer. In the world as it stood now, a completely useless talent.
"Right. So Jaemin doesn't really have a specialty. What about you, Jia?"
"That's mean..."
I ignored his whining and waited for Jia.
"I know how to handle a bow. A little."
"That's right! Jia's an archery athlete. She won the national high school tournament!"
Contrary to what I'd assumed, she had been good with a bow from the start. Whether she had excelled at archery because the ability had always been in her, or whether that past was what had made the ability bloom, there was no way to know.
"...I didn't make the national team, though."
"Oh, right! At the Olympics last year she missed it by a single place. So close!"
Jaemin kept chattering at her side as if he had appointed himself her spokesman.
"...You know an awful lot about Lee Jia."
"Y-yes?! Ah, ah, th-that's just because Jia's the star of our school! I mean, there aren't that many people who even try for the national team, right?!"
There was a barb in the remark, and Jaemin grew so flustered he stammered his way through the whole reply.
"That's really something. And here I had no idea."
Hanna, who clearly hadn't known any of it either, stepped in close and praised her.
"Ah... it's really not that impressive..."
Smack!
"Ack!"
"Square those shoulders and live a little, you. Do you have any idea how incredible it is to have a gift like that at your age?"
"...Thank you."
Jia had insisted it was nothing, and Hanna's answer was a palm across her back, cheering the girl on in her own rough way.
"We're tired, so why don't we rest first? I'll assign the rooms. You can sleep there."
I'd heard what I wanted to hear. I gathered them and set about giving out rooms for the night.
"Hyung, hyung—is it one person per room?"
Lee Jaemin raised his hand as he asked.
"Later, maybe not. With the numbers we have now, there are plenty of rooms. One each shouldn't be a problem."
"Yes!"
At that, Jaemin clenched a fist and whooped. Jia didn't show it so openly, but the corner of her mouth lifted in a satisfied smile.
No matter how friendly you got, falling asleep with a stranger right beside you was misery. Another person's presence, the snoring, all the rest of it—none of it left room for real sleep. I'd suffered plenty of that in the army, when my senior snored like he was trying to bring the barracks down. And with men and women living together, there would have been plenty of other awkwardness besides. Changing clothes, for one.
"Just know that if more people show up later and the rooms fill up, you may have to share."
"Well, of course!"
Jaemin all but shouted it, delighted. After that, I started assigning rooms.
"Jaemin, you take this one."
"Yes!"
The moment it was his, he bolted inside.
"Mr. Jang, you can stay here."
"Heh heh. Much obliged."
Jang Sangcheol went in to rest as well.
"Jia, you stay here."
"Thank you."
She bowed her head to me and stepped into her room.
"And mine? Should I stay where I slept before?"
The only one left was Kang Hanna.
"No. Your room's on the second floor."
"Huh? Why? There are still plenty of rooms left on the first floor."
A question mark might as well have been floating over her head.
"Because my room's on the second floor."
"Wh-what?!"
She blurted it, plainly thrown.
"Wh-what does that have to do with anything?!"
"Because you're mine. So you stay next to my room."
"This bastard's been talking shit since earlier—!"
Squeeze.
I cut the curse off mid-spit by grabbing a firm handful of her ass.
"Nnh...!"
"You said it yourself. Save you, and you'd do anything. How is that any different from becoming mine?"
Still gripping her, I leaned in until my mouth was at her ear.
"If you've got a problem, you and your people can just—"
"I-I get it, so let go of that..."
"......?"
I'd been halfway through threatening that if she didn't like it, she could take the others and get out of this house, when Hanna whispered that she understood and to let go—and the threat died in my mouth. I hadn't expected her to obey so easily. I'd even lined the threat up, and she folded before I could finish delivering it. It threw me.
"What are you spacing out for? Aren't you going to show me my room?"
"Ah. Right. Let's go."
I came back to myself at that and led her toward the second floor, though the question stayed with me all the same.
Was Kang Hanna weak to being cornered?
I set it aside and went on up.
"This is your room."
On the second floor, I gave her the guest room beside my own.
"This is way nicer than I expected."
Hanna sounded genuinely impressed, and she could hardly help it. The owner of the house had been a fairly successful doctor; from the look of the place, his money had been considerable. Every room was filled with expensive furniture. There was no way not to be pleased.
"Then let's go."
Finished showing her where she'd be staying, I said it plainly.
"What? Why? Where?"
The suddenness of it put a frown on her face.
"To my room, obviously. It's time you kept that promise from before, Kang Hanna."
"Wh-what?! Y-you goddamn bastard!"
The meaning landed, and the curse came right after it.
"Move."
Squeeze.
When she looked ready to fight it, swearing as she went, I clamped down on her wrist and hauled her along.
"O-okay, so let go! I-it hurts!"
In the end, under that pressure, she was dragged into my room.
"Haa. You goddamn bastard, aren't you even tired?"
"I'm always good to go."
Dragged all the way in, Hanna grumbled. I didn't care.
"Then first, the clothes—mmph—!"
I was still talking when a kiss came out of nowhere and shut my mouth. Only then did I realize she had grabbed me by the collar and kissed me. The question lasted a heartbeat. I caught her by the waist and took the kiss.
Schlrp.
My tongue pushed into her mouth. Hers met it clumsily, tangling with mine, and my hand caught her back before I'd quite decided to.
"....Nnh...?"
Mid-kiss, I saw her eyes. She had started this herself, and yet those eyes were packed with resolve.
That was when I caught her intention. She meant to satisfy me with a kiss and settle the whole promise with that alone—before she got fucked.
I had no intention of allowing it. I smiled with my eyes and laughed in her face.