Me, Franc, and Hwayeon (7)
The result of my second entry into the Phase World left me with a significant growth potential for my abilities, and it seemed that any gains I might bring would eventually be shared between Korea and the Alliance.
I was a bit displeased because someone had traded me while I was away, so I kept a slight frown. Hwayeon, perhaps because she had said something embarrassing, was turned away from me with her back to me. Suddenly, a bug-like chirping sound came from somewhere.
"Chiriririk."
What kind of sound is this? There shouldn't be any bug sounds in a place like this, right?
Upon hearing that sound, Hwayeon flinched, covered half her face with a towel, and ran towards the door. Ah, it's a recovery ability user... Eh?! Wait! If I open the door like this!
"Wait..."
"Welcome."
Through the gap in the door, I saw a pure, blonde young woman in a white one-piece dress standing there, and I closed my mouth.
The recovery ability user Hwayeon had called was a woman.
Of course, that's why she called her in such attire. How distracted must I have been to forget even Spatial Perception for a moment.
"Have you finished your training? Boss?"
"Just now. Since I had the chance, I called you to introduce you."
"Ah, the amazing detection ability user who entered this time?"
"Yeah."
The two of them were talking while walking towards where I was. The new blonde woman was a beauty with an incredibly pure and elegant figure, but still not as good as Unnie.
Seeing me sitting on the floor, she sat down with a fresh smile and opened her mouth.
"Ufuhung. This guy is the owner of the Ice Queen!"
"......?!"
"Eh?"
Ice Queen is Hwayeon's nickname. That I'm Hwayeon's owner? Suddenly, an image of Hwayeon in a short skirt maid outfit flashed in my mind.
Good. I should make her wear a maid outfit later too!
"W-what are you saying!"
"Right? The owner of the Ice Queen appeared, and the boss said she's my woman and all that?"
"Kuk!"
At the blonde girl's words, Hwayeon turned her head sharply and glared at me. She had a "is it true?" expression.
"Don't worry. I'll take responsibility for Hwayeon."
"......!"
"Wa-ao! Bold statement!"
What bold statement? The blonde girl looked at me with sparkling eyes while calling Hwayeon's name, her chest fluttering, then changed her expression, covered her lips slightly with one hand, and gave Hwayeon a flirtatious smile.
Hwayeon, who was flustered by that but pretending not to know, and the blonde girl teasing Hwayeon. I felt a sense of kinship.
Hwayeon, who reacts well to subtle pranks, like Unnie often teases her.
"What bold statement? Since I already got a stamp on Hwayeon, it's only natural, right?"
"Ah... yeah?"
"So, I got a stamp on Hwayeon. The rumor hasn't spread accurately yet, so spread it a bit. Hwayeon is completely my woman."
With that, I smiled faintly.
"......"
The two girls, blonde and black-haired, opened their mouths slightly and looked at me with the same expression, which felt oddly good.
"Ah. Um. Then, recovery..."
The blonde girl seemed a bit flustered, her ivory skin slightly blushing as she tried to turn the conversation.
I shouldn't have joked and run away first, right?
"Eh? You're not answering?"
"Net?"
I was still smiling brightly, waiting for her answer. Sensing my intent, she smiled bashfully and answered.
"...Ah, yes. I'll spread it accurately!"
"Just don't vaguely spread it, but accurately spread the rumor. Hwayeon got a stamp on her."
"Ah... haha. Okay."
"Wait! What stamp?!"
Only now did Hwayeon relax, and she started to fluster and flail, and the blonde girl belatedly realized what the stamp meant and looked at me with shock.
"What are you surprised about? I meant the lip stamp."
"Ah......"
You thought it was a meat stamp? With a flirtatious smile implying that, Hwayeon realized she was being teased and sat down weakly, and the blonde girl looked at me with a forced complex expression.
See? That's how teasing is done.
Sensing my thoughts, the blonde girl spoke with her eyes!
Amazing. I learned one move!
Oh, so that's what it means when eyes communicate? But it's a pity that the one who got it was Franc or Hwayeon, not me.
It took a little time for Hwayeon to return to her original form, but when I gently stroked her hair, she showed an aggrieved, "I don't like it" look, then quickly recovered her trademark cool expression.
Even so, her face was still red, so the cold and dignified feeling didn't come through at all.
A bit late, but Hwayeon opened her mouth as if to introduce each other.
"Introduce yourself. This side is Sophia Adelberg, one of the two vice-captains of Time River, a founding member."
The blonde girl bowed slightly to me, lifting the hem of her one-piece dress in a gesture. She greeted me in the same manner as Franc had shown in the Phase World.
"Sophia Adelberg. I'm the vice-captain of the second division of Time River."
"This side is Jung Seoha. The mastermind behind this incident."
"Hello. I'm Jung Seoha."
I was about to greet with the same manner as to Franc, but since I hadn't done it to a woman I just met, I decided to greet normally.
Just as I stood up to ask for a handshake, Sophia briefly looked at my hand and face alternately, then took my hand. Hmm, her hand is really small. Fingers are thin too... if I squeeze too hard, it might break.
Sophia Adelberg was an upper-tier ability user even among C-Class who had gathered 3.42 million phase power in her slender body.
Her phase power pattern was a large mass near the heart and smaller ones dotted on the limbs, like a Holstein cow.
The breasts were below average, but calling it a cow, pfft.
Hmph. As expected, this dotted pattern was for the recovery type. The physical reinforcement type was a whirlwind, elemental was tree rings, special was Möbius strip, so the remaining one was this dotted pattern.
But something was a bit strange... The elemental, physical reinforcement, and special types had phase power spread to other parts besides the pattern, but the recovery type didn't.
Only the large mass glowed with a milky light, and parts without it were no different from normal people. Does the phase power spread in the body improve physical abilities? Then the formula would be physical reinforcement > elemental > detection = recovery.
"Sophia. Please do the recovery."
"Sigh. Boss, aren't you thinking of stopping this training method?"
"A certain degree of injury is acceptable with such excellent technique. It's necessary for tanking. So, please do the recovery."
Sophia Adelberg looked at Hwayeon, who was urging the recovery with a calm face, with displeasure. But injury?
"What do you mean? Does it mean that every time you train, you get injured because of the Chi Hwa Yu Line?"
"More than that... "
"Yes!"
Hwayeon tried to deny with a "bang!" sound, but Sophia, who blocked her words with an angry look, poured out the story.
"The ability user who created the Chi Hwa Yu Line was a stamina-type physique among the three body types for physical ability. Naturally, the basic condition to master the Chi Hwa Yu Line requires a physical reinforcement type stamina physique, but the boss is an agility type. The boss's skeletal muscles can't handle the burden given by the Chi Hwa Yu Line, so the muscle fibers keep getting damaged and injuries occur!"
Sophia, explaining, had a look as if she wanted me to stop Hwayeon's training, but as a beginner like me, how could I stop it with logic and evidence. Hwayeon has a responsibility as a tank.
With a troubled face, scratching my head, Sophia sighed deeply as if she had won and reached out her finger to the standing Hwayeon.
Noticing that she was about to use the recovery ability, I activated Mana Vision and focused on the flow of phase power inside Sophia's body with Spatial Perception.
There was no external change. Instead, waves spread from the largest mass of phase power in the heart, and when those waves reached the phase power masses gathered in the side, left hip, right thigh, left calf, right shoulder, left arm, waves spread from them too.
Like raindrops falling on a calm lake creating countless ripples, the waves intertwined and resonated with each other.
The phenomenon didn't show outside the body but agitated inside, then gathered towards the extended left arm, and when all the waves gathered in the left arm, a milky sphere with a soft feeling from fingers as thin and fine as Hwayeon's hand shot towards Hwayeon.
This happened in just 1 second, and the process was very natural and smooth, realizing that her ability mastery was top-tier.
She must be a vice-captain of Time River.
The milky sphere Sophia shot was made of waves. It hit Hwayeon's body and spread throughout her body like water being absorbed by a sponge.
Not stopping there, it met Hwayeon's phase power and helped activate it.
Hmm... Although I learned it at school, recovery abilities have long-range and contact forms. And the recovery type I saw was two types: one with phase power masses spread throughout the body and one with masses gathered in the torso.
If Sophia's is long-range, the one with masses gathered in the torso seems to be a contact-type healer.
But instead of healing wounds, it activates phase power? Hmm. Intuitively... or rather, a hunch. I realized that extracting TP from the fingertips is a higher version of this ability.
But this resonance is worth trying. Something else feels different.
Staring at Sophia with a serious expression, Hwayeon shot a cold gaze at my face, Sophia blushed slightly and covered her chest. Only then did I realize my gaze had been on Sophia's chest and turned it away.
"Miss Adelberg. There's something I want to ask."
"Sophia, please call me that. Since you're the boss's pillar, you have enough qualifications to be called that..."
"No!" "No way?!"
Seeing Hwayeon react the same way, Hwayeon looked at me too.
Sophia, covering her mouth and giggling while laughing at our identical reactions. This girl seems to really like pranks.
"What do you want to ask? If it's about my breast size, I can't tell you..."
"Sophia, are you a long-range healer?"
With only A-cup breasts, what. The words got cut off because it was ridiculous, and she answered with a pouty face.
"Yes, I'm a long-range healer."
"I used the recovery just now."
"Of course."
"Healers don't heal wounds? Why did you use recovery when Hwayeon has no wounds?"
Sophia, with a teasing expression on my question... Sophia tilted her head, hand on one cheek, looking curious.
"Um~? Seoha is a detection type, right? Why are you asking that?"
I thought this woman might not be a mind reader, but from her expression, it didn't seem so.
"Because I came to use recovery on Hwayeon who had finished training on purpose."
"Ah~ So that's what you were curious about? Do you know what the character for recovery means?"
"Recovery for returning to the original state, right?"
"Right?"
...I didn't explain at all, what 'right?' is!
So, what Sophia wanted to say is that it returns to the original appearance, the previous appearance, in a comprehensive sense, not just restoring wounds?
"Not only wounds, but also diseases or aging? That would be in the realm of gods."
"Kukuk. You can be pampered like a god~?"
What did this girl say. I stared blankly at Sophia smiling brightly, and Hwayeon sighed lightly and stopped her.
"Sophia. Tone down the pranks. Don't believe Seoha."
"Yes~."
"...Huff. The recovery ability user's ability not only directly repairs wounds with phase power, but also recovers stamina. That's why it's a necessary ability for combat."
"Ah, so that's it."
The phase power is stimulated to replenish one's own stamina, but people think recovery ability users recover stamina too.
Nodding, Sophia started approaching Hwayeon, holding her hand and eyes sparkling.
"Come on, boss? All the company people are talking about your young male friend right now? And because of your male friend's request, I have the duty to spread more detailed and accurate stories, so from the first meeting until now, all the stories..."
"Ah? Aaaang??"
"Go back!"
Hwayeon, with a red and firm face, lifted Sophia like a sack and ran to the entrance.
"Aaht~ Boss~ Wait~ ......Aing!"
Bang.
Hwayeon forcibly threw out Sophia and slammed the door shut, then sighed heavily and came back, wetting the towel with water and rubbing it all over her face.
Since her face was flushed, I decided not to tease her lest she explode, and first try to clear my curiosity.
"Sophia is amazing. She's a foreigner, how did she become a vice-captain?"
"...Sophia is the daughter of a British noble. Her father and mother are a noble lady from a family with titles and strong speaking power. She declared separation from her parents who were fighting and trying to arrange a political marriage, and ran away. Then she came to Korea, and through her mother's introduction..."
Hwayeon stopped explaining, thought for a moment, and slowly shook her head.
"By chance, she met me and became a comrade who helped create Time River... a precious one."
Sister? I briefly recalled Sophia Adelberg's appearance.
A slender type similar to Unnie, but as expected for a Westerner, her figure is very desirable. Even though her breasts were small, she was very pretty both outwardly and inwardly.
I briefly recalled her pink, fluffy, dense place with fine golden hair, erased it from my mind, and answered.
"Since Hwayeon thinks of me as a sister, I'll return the favor. But she looks about the same age as me, yet calling her sister?"
"You think I look old?"
"...No way!"
"The answer is late..."
A sense of crisis overwhelmed Hwayeon's narrowing eyes.
What? What is this? Is this the tail of the rumor I heard, to tame the boyfriend? With a hunch that answering wrong would lead to something scary, I accelerated my thoughts.
"Hwayeon is a physical reinforcement ability user. But asking such weird questions is ridiculous, that's why. Anyway, I can't guess the age, when did you meet? By the way, Hwayeon is only 20 years old now. How could she become a B-Class and create such a raid team in that short time?"
Hwayeon, who had returned to a serious expression, thought for a moment and looked at my face.
"You need to know about me and Time River. Before that, I'll go wash up, so sit on the sofa and wait."
"Yeah. Should I help you wash?"
"What?! N-no need!"
Hwayeon, whose face turned red and ran to the shower room, I laughed, and Franc, who couldn't stop me, shook her head.
With such a cute girlfriend, having to hold back until 19, it's sad, I feel like my thing is about to burst.
Thinking of lewd imaginations, Franc, who had been quiet since Sophia arrived, opened her mouth while Hwayeon was in the shower.
-Perhaps Hwayeon was influenced by her mother's status and various things.-
"Eh? What influence?"
I stood up and walked to the sofa, listening to Franc's story.
-Worldwide high-ranking officials' children, meaning those with positions, honor, and money, can enter the Phase World after being judged to have the aptitude for minors under 19, can enter through trading with the ability user alliance.-
"Eh? Even if under 19 can enter?"
-So, to put it a bit more bluntly, it's getting an early entry permit by collateralizing the family's status, honor, property, etc.-
"Hmm. So, if you do something harsh in the Phase World and endanger reality, you'll lose all the power and family you've accumulated so far? People who don't have that status won't even be given entry permission?"
"Yes."
This... Gold spoons are gold spoons wherever they go. What an unfair world.
-But it doesn't mean you can just enter without reason. I heard you have to accompany a manager from the ability user alliance and other minor restrictions.-
Sitting on the soft sofa, Franc leaned her body against me.
"So, Hwayeon also received early entry permission and started activities in advance?"
-Perhaps.-
"Ah. Maybe the manager wasn't Choi Soohan?"
Franc's eyes widened at my opinion.
-It's possible.-
Before 10 minutes passed, Hwayeon, who had finished washing, came into the dress room naked, wiping her body.
Hwayeon walked to the corner of the dress room, grabbed the handle on the wall, and pulled it, and the wall slid out, revealing a hidden closet inside.
There were hundreds of neatly arranged clothes, all skirts. Especially that one, isn't it an evening dress? I thought there were no skirts, but she had them.
I thought she would come out in normal clothes, but Hwayeon started choosing clothes with a serious face.
...Before that, she should have put on underwear. Watching Hwayeon choosing clothes naked was... good. Hmm. Is there a peeping wall in me?
In the meantime, Hwayeon selected about ten pieces, stood in front of a large mirror, and started trying them on various things on her body.
"Would she dress like this to look pretty on me?"
I felt like laughing. For such a beautiful woman to be dressing up for me.
-What? -
"After washing in 10 minutes and going to the dress room, I thought what she was doing, but now she's worrying about what to wear among various skirts and clothes."
"Ah... kukuk. It's natural for a woman to want to look pretty for her beloved man. Especially since she heard such a story yesterday, it's a natural action."
"Eh? Yesterday?"
-You don't remember? The words you said to Hwayeon in the car wearing a skirt.-
...Eh.
"Considering that, you're wearing it now..."
Ah, somehow happy. Hehehe.
Franc, having heard my story, asked where the dress room was with a curious expression, and flew over there.
Among the many skirts, she narrowed it down to three types: a side-slit long skirt from a few days ago that the lady wore, a more fluffy and pleated one, and a short pants style skirt that seems to reach the middle of the thighs, and finally a one-piece skirt and leggings.
Even if I wear anything, it's pretty, but the skirt leggings with little exposure is not great. Besides, the short pants that make it look like a skirt are not a skirt?
Hwayeon, sensing my thoughts, picked up a military green long skirt with vertical pleats and a sky blue thermal shirt with no band at the bottom of the clothes. Then she opened the underwear drawer and took out over a hundred sets of bras and panties, specifically white mesh lace panties with lace top bra. But the bra is a full coverage type!
It covers the entire chest and cleavage! She's guarding against me!
But it's useless. I can see everything with Spatial Perception. Kuku.
Hwayeon put on all the clothes, turned her slightly wet hair behind her shoulders, checked her appearance in the mirror, took a deep breath, and came out of the dress room. Franc peeked from behind at the sight, then followed Hwayeon, her expression as if seeing a cute younger sister.
Looking at Hwayeon walking towards me, her movements were stiff, as if all tension was visible.
Hmm... What should I say... This fashion is one that even a normal person would find hard to digest. Hwayeon, who has no missing parts in face or body. Literally, the clothes are alive because the hanger is dead.
When I praised her, she was wearing a skirt, but the exposure was a bit hesitant, and the top was just picking a comfortable shirt.
Still pretty, so praise her.
"Ah. You wore a skirt again today. Skirts suit you well."
Giving a thumbs up to the slightly shy Hwayeon, praising her, her stiff expression finally relaxed.
With a brighter expression, Hwayeon sat on the sofa opposite me with a slight smile. Wearing a long skirt, but since the bottom was empty, she gently stroked her legs with her hand, and the sight was oddly cute.
Hwayeon blushed at my gaze and couldn't meet my eyes.
"Hmm."
Watching the scene for a moment, I sat next to Hwayeon on the sofa, and she flinched and slowly distanced herself from me.
I just held one of Hwayeon's hands and fiddled with it.
"Here. Tell me."
"Uh, huh? Ah, yeah. Time River was created three years ago with my help, the two vice-captains, Sophia Adelberg, Cha Soyoung, and Lee Hyeryeong. Especially Cha Soyoung was the ace of Hwarang, and when I left Hwarang, Cha Soyoung came with me to Time River as a grateful older sister."
Eh? Before Time River, she was in Hwarang.
"When I was in middle school, I was sucked into the Phase World and became an E-Class ability user..."
Hwayeon slowly started telling the story.