Return, and Then... (3)

Cha Soyoung took Sophia, who was still loopy and drifting, and headed downstairs. I went up to the twentieth floor with Hwayeon, peeled off the filthy school uniform, and washed.

I had half hoped, somewhere in the shower, that Hwayeon or Franc might come in. They didn't. They gathered the clothes I was meant to wear and started talking just outside the door.

Franc was telling Hwayeon the things she hadn't said in front of the others.

"So Seoha's Phase World really is no ordinary place."

"No. The mermaids, the ruin-cavern beneath Elephanturos Mountain, a high-tier Aberrant fused into the lava itself... Seoha's Phase World is extraordinary in every way."

"In the middle of nothing but bad news, hearing that you can use Spatial Perception is a great comfort, Franc. It eases me to know Seoha's safety will be that much more secure."

"But Seoha and I are both built for long-range combat. It would only be complete if you joined us as the vanguard, Hwayeon..."

"If anything, I worry I would only get in the way of the two of you."

"Never. If that strong body of yours stood as a wall at the front, I would feel so much safer."

"Seoha has recovery as well... Very well. I will have to train harder."

"I need to think about how to grow stronger too. At this rate, we'll only hold Seoha back."

"Then let us call Lady Yu and think it through together."

"Yes."

I was happy just having them beside me. For them, it seemed, that wasn't enough.

Their talk ran on while I finished washing, and when I stepped out of the bathroom naked, Franc and Hwayeon flushed—and still stared, unblinking, straight at my cock. Hwayeon watched for a moment with want gathered in her eyes, then cleared her throat, face burning, and held out not underwear and a school uniform but a coordinated set: casual, and still formal enough to pass.

I lifted the Phase Stone vest.

"What do I do with this?"

"Take the Phase Stones out and rework it, and it can be made thinner than this. I'll have it altered so it's easier to wear."

"Yeah. Honestly, three centimeters was a little thick. Set the Phase Stones aside and give them to me. I'll charge them up and hand them back."

"...Eighty Phase Stones. That would be hard assets worth twenty-five trillion won. With money like that..."

A faint smile touched Hwayeon's mouth, as if a great many uses had just occurred to her.

In the elevator she ran quickly through what not to do at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the press conference, and what to watch for. Most of it concerned abilities that had to stay hidden. I told her I was already being careful, and that seemed to settle her.

We arrived on the first floor, and one whole side of the broad hall was taken up by what looked like fifty reporters, with Time River's raiders keeping order around them.

So this was what she'd meant by getting ready.

Hwayeon led me up onto the platform set before the press, and dozens of reporters unleashed a baptism of flashes, as if they had been waiting for exactly that. Behind them, cameramen were already filming us with broadcast cameras.

The armbands on their sleeves said these weren't only domestic. Reporters from newsrooms famous around the world were in the pack. What had they been told, that they'd film a nobody like me this hard? I wasn't even a star raider.

Stage fright had my heart hammering. I steadied it, gave a nod, and the reporters burst into noise like chicks frantic to be fed.

"Jung Seoha! That heaven-sent opportunity in the Phase World—!"

"Word's going around the attackers were Japanese! What do you—!"

"We heard you sat down with Korean Branch Director Kang Hyunwoo and President Yu Youngeun! What was discussed—!"

"Is the range of your analysis ability really a kilometer and a half?! How can an ability like that—!"

Too loud. I needed them quiet first... I started to open my mouth, and then I remembered the gym at Dad's hospital.

Hm. What if I gathered just a thread of Phase Power in my throat and tried it?

I set Mana Sieve against my vocal cords and let the word out with care. My voice went humming through the wide hall, clear as a bell. The reporters heard it. So did people merely passing through. They stopped dead and turned to look.

Whoa. That hit way too hard.

It went quiet, yes—but once the silence filled that cavernous hall, my heart started pounding all over again. Their faces weren't exactly terrified. More like something had pressed down on them. As long as they didn't take it for an attack, that was enough.

I drew a small breath, and a big, heavy broadcast camera caught my eye. So that thing was about to put my face on news around the world?

Felt like my dick was trying to crawl back into my body. I didn't let it show. I released the Mana Sieve from my throat and spoke a little louder.

"You all seem to have a lot of questions, so I'll answer a few of them... if that's all right."

The moment the word questions left my mouth, every hand in the press shot up at once. One word from me, and that was the reaction. It felt better than I'd expected. Ahem. Like I'd suddenly become someone important.

So this is why they call it celebrity syndrome.

I figured I ought to take a domestic reporter first, and pointed at one from the network Dad watched all the time.

"You there. MBCC."

"Park Chuhong, Ability User Desk, Phase Information Bureau, MBCC! There's word that you obtained a heaven-sent opportunity in the Phase World, something that sets you apart from everyone else. Is that true?!"

A heaven-sent opportunity? What opportunity? Thanks to my lovers I'd come to a few realizations, but a heaven-sent opportunity? Hm. If meeting Franc counted, then maybe it did.

"I'm not sure what kind of opportunity you mean, but if it's one related to my ability, there wasn't any. Next—the reporter from CNNN."

I turned from the man, who looked parched for a fuller answer, and pointed at the blonde, blue-eyed woman staring at me with glittering eyes, as if she meant to swallow me whole.

"Louise Carey, CNNN. I understand you held secret talks with President Yu Youngeun of the Republic of Korea and with Kang Hyunwoo, Director-General of the Korean branch of the Ability Users Association. May we know what was discussed?"

Secret talks... She had asked in Korean, not English, and I was about to answer when Hwayeon stepped in beside me, covered her mouth, and whispered at my ear.

"Lady Yu said even the Elephanturos chieftain's corpse is fair to disclose. She's watching the live broadcast right now. She said she'll leave the call to you."

Live...? This was live?

My head went white for a second. I put myself under a little hypnosis—compared to fighting that chieftain, this was nothing—and turned back to Louise Carey.

"We talked about my ability, and about the attackers."

Not the answer she wanted. But it was the truth, wasn't it? That's what you get for asking something that broad.

I ignored the way her expression had started, just slightly, to fall, and pointed at the Western man beside her. He shouted as if something had seized him.

"You said you were a detection-type ability user—how did you make it back alive?!"

"That question would be better taken up with Time River and the government, not with me. The person next to you."

Beside him stood a woman from KBSS.

"The blonde woman at your side was seen coming out with you when you returned from the Phase World! Who is she?!"

I looked at Franc, gone rigid with nerves, and gave her hand a light tug.

"Just a little. Show them."

"Yes."

Franc raised both hands, brought her palms close, and called up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a current. An arc leapt between them.

Rrrumble—.

A thread of pure white light, trailed by a faint peal of thunder, wound around Franc's slender, lovely arms. The reporters blurted their shock aloud.

"Lightning?!"

"A lightning-attribute ability user!"

"Who is she?! A lightning-attribute that young and that beautiful—!"

"She is the spirit of lightning who has chosen to spend her life with me."

With the words, Franc vanished for a breath, then showed herself again as if hanging from my shoulder. White current ran and flickered across parts of her body, put there for them to see, and this time the hall fell silent for an entirely different reason.

"For the rest, please wait for Time River and the government."

The reporters snapped out of it, surged up in a rush, and started shouting over one another at the top of their lungs. How I'd walked out of the Phase World in one piece. More about Franc. My relationship with Hwayeon...

One of them cut through. A reporter in the armband of Japan's HNK, yelling to ask what I thought of the attack.

I turned to him, focused Mana Sieve into my throat again, and spoke quietly.

As I spoke, I drove Mana Sieve through my whole body and triggered Mana Mode, hauling the output as high as it would go.

A terrible strength flooded every inch of me. Cold blue radiance wrapped my body like a sun, and people staggered back as if the light itself had struck them.

The shock landed harder on the raiders—the ability users—than on the reporters. Hard enough that I half worried their eyes might fall out.

I walked toward the frozen reporters. They flinched and opened a path to either side. I passed between them, got into Hwayeon's car, and headed home.

The moment we reached the apartment complex, Spatial Perception caught ability users scattered through a kilometer and a half—D-Class down through E-Class, every sort, more than twenty of them.

"That's a lot of ability users. What's going on?"

I tensed despite myself and started sorting their positions, their faces, their ability types. Hwayeon told me to relax.

"They're with the government, and with our Time River. Escorts for Father, Mother, and Siha. We've secured housing in the complex, so you'll be seeing them often."

"So you did arrange something. Thanks."

"Ah—no. It was only what had to be done."

At that, Hwayeon flushed and rubbed her thighs together, just slightly. Franc must have seen it from the back seat. She laughed, mischievous, and spoke.

"Does Hwayeon get excited every time she hears Seoha say something kind?"

"Wh—?! F-Franc, what are you saying!"

Hwayeon startled at the words, then startled harder at the hand slipping in between her thighs.

"Oh my. Then what, I wonder, is the reason this place is a little wet?"

"Ah—?!"

The moment the car stopped in the garage, Hwayeon—horrified by Franc's touch—threw the door open and bolted. Franc went after her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Had she developed a taste for teasing Hwayeon too? Watching the two of them get along warmed my chest.

From the underground garage I sensed the apartment. Dad was home, and so were Mom and my sister. I reached the door and rang the bell, and Siha—who had been on the sofa watching the news—shot upright and flew over to open it.

"...Seohaaaa."

"I'm home."

She threw herself on me and started to cry. I patted her back and stepped inside, and Mom came running too, pulling me into her arms and sniffling.

"You're back. You're not hurt?"

"Yeah. The only things that could hurt me now are high-tier Aberrants. Even a B-Class ability user couldn't scratch me."

It was a bluff. I said it full of confidence anyway, so Mom and my sister would ease off, and they stopped sniffling and stared at me, bewildered.

"I'm an outlier, in a lot of ways. C-Class on paper, but basically A-Class."

I said it with a crooked grin. My sister let out a wet little laugh through her tears, and Mom started to sigh in relief—then saw Franc smiling behind me, and jumped.

"F-Franc? Is that you?"

"Huh? Franc? It's really you?"

...And where were the tears from a second ago? They flipped completely, caught Franc by the hands, sat her down on the carpet, and started running their hands over her in wonder.

"Ah, um—Mother, just a moment, aah! Lady Siha, please, wait—!"

"Incredible! So you found a body after all?"

"Congratulations, Franc!"

"Ah, ahh—thank you! So if you could just move your hands for a moment...!"

The pecking order seemed thoroughly settled. Mom > Sis > Franc = Hwayeon.

Hwayeon looked a little left out, so I took her into the living room. Dad, who had been silently watching the squealing knot of women, turned to me.

"Growing that much in so little time worries me."

"What does?"

"Put overwhelming force in the hands of a child who has not even settled what he believes, and he will not be the one wielding that force. The force will wield him. I worry you will be driven by your power, and destroy yourself."

"Oh, that? It's fine. Franc and Hwayeon are right here. If I try anything dangerous, or anything stupid, they'll stop me themselves."

"...Hah. Very well. That will do. Listen to your daughters-in-law, and all will come out right."

First time I'd ever seen Dad smile like that. And right before the smile, I'm pretty sure his face had said he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Mom and my sister, done tormenting Franc for the moment, returned to the sofa looking satisfied. In the meantime Franc's face had gone white.

"...You okay?"

"I'm fine!"

She did not look fine. Anyway, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠family on the sofa asked what the third Phase World had been like, so I spun the tale at a level that wouldn't set them off.

I'd expected them to be sick with worry over the attack. They were calmer than I'd thought. Had Hwayeon put in some work?

I watered the fighting down considerably so Mom and my sister wouldn't be rattled, and even then I could see their hearts in their throats when I got to the Elephanturos. I was tense myself, half afraid they'd faint again.

I turned the story at once after that—mermaids I'd seen, bragging over how the land-crab Aberrants had tasted, the grandeur of the Elephanturos volcano erupting in the distance, a flood stretching on without end under a gray sky—and they listened, delighted, and seemed to forget the fight almost immediately.

"Then shall Mom show what she can do for lunch? Girls, will you help me?"

"Yes!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Mom looked thoroughly pleased with her two prospective daughters-in-law and didn't so much as glance at my sister. Siha, displeased, stuck herself to Mom's side and grumbled.

"Oh, come on. You don't even need me?"

"You hurry up and get a boyfriend, you!"

Scolded, my sister pouted and muttered, looking at Franc and Hwayeon.

"With sisters-in-law around, I have a feeling Mom's nagging is only going to get worse."

Franc ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and Hwayeon flinched at that, but they seemed to grasp at once that Mom sat at the top of the house. They turned from my sister and followed Mom straight into the kitchen.

Siha suddenly glared at me, kicked my thigh, and went after them.

Seriously. With a personality like that, I worried who'd ever take her.

Rubbing the kicked thigh, I asked Dad. He had already picked up a book, glanced at me when I spoke, and lowered his eyes to the page again.

"You and Mom didn't go to work today?"

"We couldn't leave the house while you were in the Phase World."

"Huh?"

"There was an attack, was there not. Lady Yu came in person and said it would be best if we refrained from going out until you returned, if at all possible."

She... had?

"Now that I think about it, Mom and Sis took the attack a lot better than I expected. Did something happen?"

"Your eldest daughter-in-law kept stopping by..."

"You're calling Hwayeon your daughter-in-law now?"

I cut in, grinning. Dad stared at me in silence. A little scared, I turned my head, whistled, and played at looking elsewhere, and he picked the story back up soon enough.

"When word of the incident came, your eldest daughter-in-law arrived and passed the particulars along in reduced form. Framed it as nothing so serious."

"Reduced? How?"

"That you had fled into the Phase World before the attack landed. That sort of thing."

"And she told you everything?"

"Yes. After that she came often, and worked hard so your mother and Siha could be at ease."

Hmm. So that was the reaction. I turned on my phone to see how Youngeun had worked public opinion.

Dad turned a page and went on.

"You're back, and you seem to have decided to reveal your ability, so the uproar will continue for a while. Until it dies down, I intend to stay in."

"Then I should too..."

"I saw the live broadcast. You won't be getting beaten up out there anymore. Don't talk nonsense. Go to school, and go every day."

Tch. Had it worked too well? I wanted to loaf at home too.

A proper feast took shape over the course of an hour. Mom fussed, patting Franc's shoulder, looking thoroughly satisfied. Hwayeon, by comparison, had gone a little glum. The gap in cooking must have shown.

"I thought a foreigner wouldn't manage Korean cooking, but you did wonderfully! The seasoning was especially close to how we do it at home!"

"Thank you, Mother!"

...Well, she had watched every time Mom cooked in this house. Franc's bright smile looked like someone finally rewarded for all that effort. Hwayeon looked like she would be starting cooking lessons the moment she got back.

I kept showering the women who had worked so hard with compliments—delicious, really, incredible—and ate with appetite, until Mom, not eating herself, spoke to Franc, hovering just behind me.

"Franc, you have a body now. You're not going to eat?"

...Ah. I hadn't thought of that. Franc's eyes went round as she looked at Mom. She had only just realized it herself.

"I hadn't considered that. I have a body, but I haven't felt anything like hunger."

"Then why not try a bite?"

Right. All she had to do was eat. Franc took the chopsticks Mom offered and, with awkward chopstick-work, picked up a piece of pan-fried tofu and brought it to her mouth.

Everyone watched her tuck the neatly fried, bite-sized piece into that dainty mouth and chew. Franc flushed a little, then nodded.

"It's light, and nutty!"

I turned Spatial Perception on her throat and stomach. The moment the finely chewed food reached her stomach through the esophagus, Phase Power rushed the morsel and broke it down. So that was how she took in energy?

Franc seemed to feel it too. She glanced down at her stomach, then broke into a bright smile.

"Wonderful! Eat plenty!"

Mom lifted a rice bowl, heaped it full, and handed it over. Franc—moved? Reminiscent? Whatever it was, plainly overjoyed—sat down beside me and ate with earnest, clumsy chopsticks.

"I'll be taking my leave."

After lunch, over a cup of tea and idle talk, Hwayeon rose and bowed to Dad and Mom.

The moment she said she was heading back, my sister seemed to catch that she meant she was going to work.

"Are you that busy?"

"I held my post for twelve days, so the work piled up. I'll have to clear it bit by bit now."

"Want me to help?"

"No. Stay home and rest a while longer."

I followed Hwayeon toward the entryway.

"Nothing I can help with?"

"Once the noise dies down, there'll be plenty I'll need from you. I'll ask then."

Whether she was still practicing her smile or not, the one she gave me was a clear step up from the awkward one I'd seen a month ago.

The family saw her off, and I followed her out. At the elevator she waved me back.

"Go on in."

"I'll see you off."

Franc and I followed her all the way to the car in the underground garage. Once I was sure no one was around, I caught Hwayeon's hand and pulled her into my arms. ...It stung a little that I was too short to sweep her up with any real style.

"S-Seoha?"

"Thank you."

"Thank me for what? I-I only did what had to be done."

"Even so. If I'm grateful, I'm grateful."

I really was an idiot. Hwayeon was my woman too. Of course she had been worried sick, and I hadn't offered her a single warm word since I got back.

"You know I love you, right, Hwayeon?"

"Y-yes..."

I held her a little tighter, and Hwayeon reached around and wrapped her arms across my back.

After that we said nothing, only felt each other's warmth, and then—neither of us could have said who moved first—we kissed. It wasn't fierce. A light kiss. But whatever passed between us must have been enough. Hwayeon flushed, that pretty face gone pink, and she didn't look away.

So I stole those pretty, full lips once more. Longer, this time.