16. Noah's Ark
16. Noah's Ark
Dal-kak-
After finishing the meeting with the parents and returning home, I showered and lay down on the bed, then inserted the card into the game console I'd prepared in advance.
The loading time felt endlessly long.
But eventually,
<#Ha Suyeon>
So the mother's name is Ha Suyeon. What a beautifully elegant name.
The image of Ha Suyeon on the screen had thick, long straight black hair, a small face that had borne Hana and Ina, large and benevolent eyes, and a perfectly straight nose.
But above all.
"......"
Voluptuous. That was my immediate impression. Ina wasn't small by any means, but this—this was something else. Is this the dignified bearing of a mother of two daughters?
Thanks to the realistic graphic AI, I could see the mother-in-law as a stunningly beautiful married woman in the nude.
Taboo! Pure taboo!
Honestly, I hadn't planned on getting any taboo thoughts about the woman who'd become my mother-in-law. For real.
Sure, in games it's all about milfs and married women, but in reality, you'd just call her an ajumma.
- That's my mom and dad? They've known each other since they were kids. They were childhood sweethearts!
Real families like this actually exist.
Like some novel or Shower of Blessings story—a well-educated rich girl meets a passionate but penniless young man.
That's why Hana and Ina had heard their parents' love story until their ears were calloused from a young age.
Given the era, Ha Suyeon's family had fiercely opposed it, and in the end, she got pregnant with Hana as a student.
Then, three years later, once things stabilized, they planned and had Ina.
In reality, Ha Suyeon was now 41 years old. And her husband was a full-time housewife who swore off even a drop of water from her family and even worked two jobs.
Thanks to that, she really had that youthful glow. Not a single blemish on her skin.
No wonder her speech dripped with refinement. Real families like this actually exist.
In contrast, I'd planned to make Hana a character heroine from the start. But even if I hadn't originally planned it, once you get these powers, isn't it natural to first think that way about your female friend?
But why did I get those thoughts about Ha Suyeon?
On the first day, I was too tense to really see her, but while gathering info from Ina for the parent meeting—including photos and videos—I checked those out too.
The photos made her look like an older sister with barely any age difference.
You could chalk it up to "tech magic!", but the videos showed the same—elegant and full of maternal grace.
And at the actual parent meeting, seeing her in the flesh confirmed it.
If it had been, "Oh, photo tricks after all," I'd have just politely shown her into the meeting room as planned.
But from her makeup to her walk as she came down, my hands started moving on their own.
Right. I'm trash. Ah! I'm trash!
I've confessed to my conscience, so now I'm innocent.
"Hmm."
I dragged #Ha Suyeon over to where #Lee Ina was alone.
- @#$!% %^#$
- @$%~ @#$%
Mom and daughter. The moment they saw each other, they jumped in surprise and started chatting away.
Perfect.
Now it's time for the 1-star work.
That means there's one problem. Exactly how should I raise her?
Time for some serious deliberation.
Dal-kak-
I opened the file on my laptop with the backed-up strategy guides.
It contained not just SAIMIN HITOZUMA but guides from other players too.
Even so, the one I chose was Saimin Hitozuma-nim.
The name alone screams "Hypnotized Married Woman."
For this person, daughters are just bridges to cross.
What they really target with full passion and dedication is married women.
Customization exists anyway, so aging can be blocked and altered.
- Contract Route
- Pet Route
- Debt Collector Route
......
......
......
- Tiki-Taka Route
- Affair Route
Hundreds of routes just for married women.
With this level of obsession, they must be doing something incredible in real life.
I named the file containing all these strategy guides <#Noah's Ark>.
One wrong letter and the route changes completely—but they've refined and optimized them.
Noah's Ark is a fitting name.
Dal-kak-dal-kak-
Anyway, now that I've gone this far, I should raise our mother-in-law on a route that suits her, right?
To do that, I read through them one by one and organized.
TMI, but choosing Ina as my first character was a drunken mistake. I'd originally slated Hana or someone else.
I'd even found custom routes, but honestly... confessing here, this one hooked me more.
Mother-daughter rice bowl. You gonna hold back?
Sister rice bowl vs. mother-daughter rice bowl. I'm gonna eat 'em all anyway, but if I had to pick first, as an average Joe with personal tastes, I'd go mother-daughter rice bowl.
§
New Year's Day.
News of my girlfriend's pregnancy spread like wildfire. Family-only, that is.
"Congrats~."
"My niece got knocked up?"
Varied reactions.
"So when's the wedding?"
"When is it? Some place with good food?"
From that to worries, all sorts.
And thanks to it, at 23, I got the most New Year's money of my life.
Wooong-
Wooong-
Checking my phone, messages from Ina were piling up.
- Waaang~! Too much attention!
- They want pics, can I show them?
- I'm showing them!
Looks like you were getting tons of attention too.
No denying it—this New Year's, I was the star.
"So what do your parents do?"
"Your in-laws? Something like a small business~. The mother-in-law? Full-time housewife. But her parents—you know that company? Her dad's the CEO."
Of course, my parents were getting just as much heat.
Pretending not to care while slyly spilling the tea—Mom's got a knack for that.
Like listening to a visual radio, totally hooked.
New Year's wrapped up after a few days, and I finally headed back home.
And over the next few days, I scoured Noah's Ark for the hottest (horniest) option.
- Odd Jobs Route
I weirdly didn't vibe with the hypnosis-falling-in-pure-love pure love stuff. That's not what pure love is about.
Like~ she permits it reluctantly, but in the worldview, it's normal. That tastes better.
Probably 'cause that doesn't happen in reality.
I got back to my studio apartment around sunrise. Mom and Dad had force-stuffed my fridge with side dishes from Grandma's "for you and Ina," overflowing it, before I sat down.
Checked my phone, took a short break, then tackled what I'd put off during New Year's.
"Hmm."
I let out a long sigh, pondering over and over.
Truth is, there were tons of fitting growth trees. Strategy guides for married women from various players were like a bottomless spring, piled up in the data.
So I centered the Odd Jobs Route and spread out a few others, thought it over, then nodded.
"This is it."
After much deliberation, I stuck with my first pick: Odd Jobs Route.
Reality has no save reloads. So I had to consider relationships with future heroines too.
The safest yet fitting one? Odd Jobs Route.
Tok, to-dok-
Finally, I started entering the #Hashtag Story for 1-star on the board.
<#Hashtag Story Registration>
<#Story>
- I'm worried my daughter might meet some weird guy.
- For this reason, I'm anxious about her boyfriend.
- You've decided to get close to your daughter's boyfriend.
- The closer you get, the more the anxiety fades and psychological intimacy builds.
Loading finished, and Ha Suyeon's profile opened.
<#Ha Suyeon★>
<#Worry>
For a mom with a grown daughter, her biggest worry is whether she'll meet some weird guy.
You can tell from Ina or Suyeon, but the content itself is ordinary.
To a normal person living everyday life, it might seem obvious. That's what makes it so vicious.
The same words, interpreted differently, yield different results.
Religions' scriptures say the same things, but depending on the interpreter, they become heresies or cults.
Like how ordinary piles up into the extraordinary, I could wait.
§
<Ha Suyeon>
After coming back from New Year's, the next few days were ordinary days.
<1,5>
<4,3>
<4,2>
No one but Inmok knows the game ends and the fatigue dice roll, steadily building the alteration rate.
<#Worry (45%)>
One day, like any other, while doing housework, Suyeon suddenly started feeling anxious.
Anxiety is a nasty emotion—it can turn the tiniest negative thought into a mountain.
Suyeon was the same.
One month. Just one month.
Way too short to really know that guy.
But two weeks since the pregnancy. Meaning they'd been together before, and per Ina, since January 1st.
In other words, young passion led to hooking up, and boom—baby.
"Whew."
With the parent meeting done, no turning back. Anxiety just piled up.
<#Worry (88%)>
By afternoon, the anxiety grew bigger.
What if that boy pressured her with force, or blackmailed her into it? Was the daughter too nice to refuse?
Or maybe they drank and messed up? Too heartbreaking to abort..., so they decided to marry?
Anxiety's seed sprouts and roots in every crack.
100%
Of course, Suyeon doesn't know. But anxious, every wild thought came.
"Mom?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Why are you staring like that...?"
She must've unconsciously glared at her daughter chilling with the TV.
Quickly softening her face, she smiled benevolently.
"Daughter, what kind of guy is your boyfriend~?"
Sitting lightly beside her daughter Ina, she spoke in a gentle voice.
"I just want to know more about your boyfriend."
"Hmm. Super respectable guy?"
"Eh...? R-Really?"
Not the answer or expression she expected.
If something bad had happened leading to the baby, Ina wouldn't casually watch TV while answering.
"Then, uh, yeah. Does he ever hit you or get forceful?"
"Eh? No? He takes great care of me on dates? Planned the whole course days ahead, researched good restaurants too."
He's affectionate. As a mom, that was a relief at least.
"Then does Inmok act rudely or anything?"
"Hmm~."
Ina let out a long breath, lost in thought, and Suyeon got scared.
Is he rude after all?
"No? If anything, he's always sorry for my mistakes and the trouble I cause."
"R-Really?"
Different from expected again.
"Mom doesn't get it~. How sorry I feel to oppa. So I'm studying up on him separately."
"St-Studying...?"
"Yeah, he treats me so well, but I know nothing, so I don't know what to do for him. Dating's my first time too."
R-Right. Our daughter's new to dating.
"Then does Inmok have lots of girls around? Or lots of ex-girlfriends?"
Shake shake-
Daughter shakes her head and looks at her.
"Mom's weird today. Oppa barely has any girl friends. I hardly see him contact any. And......"
She even heard about the ex who cheated on the guy her daughter would marry.
This is too... nosy, maybe.
"Why~, oppa's not a bad guy~. No need to worry so much~."
"How can I not worry."
"Then, Mom. Would you like Dad getting suspected like that?"
Daughter's retort shut her mouth like it was honeyed.
After a sort of verification, she cautiously said,
"S-Still, as a mom, I'm worried if Inmok—that friend—can handle it. If he gets close to me, maybe he'll treat my daughter right?"
"Ehhh~. You're worrying too much. You weren't like this with Do-jin oppa."
Right. When she learned about Hana's boyfriend Do-jin, she hadn't worried like this.
"Daughter. Theirs was just dating, but Ina's got a baby. That's why."
"That... makes sense? Mom, I want a tangerine."
"Yeah~, Mom'll get it."
In this house, the bosses are the high school senior and the pregnant daughter.
Suyeon got up, rushed to grab a tangerine, peeled it for her, and asked,
"Or maybe he spends money wastefully..."
"Uses his part-time earnings super thriftily. Mostly on me."
"Then from a poor family? Then our daughter......"
Ina munched the tangerine and looked at Suyeon.
"Seriously, why today, Mom~. Worried I'll turn out bad~?"
"Yeah, that's how moms are. You'll know when you have a daughter like you."
She never thought she'd repeat to her daughter what she'd heard from her own mom.
Days like this come too.
"Aw~! Go away~. It's my marriage, I'll handle it."
Even pushed out, she still felt uneasy.
Lying in bed, telling her husband, he patted her belly and said it'd be fine, don't worry.
How can she not, with her daughter pregnant at 20.
But Suyeon knew this anxiety wouldn't resolve on its own.
To ease it, she'd have to learn more about the root—the daughter's boyfriend.
"So then......"
She'd have to get close. He wouldn't spill details just 'cause she suddenly asked.
That was her conclusion.
"Daughter~, can you give me Inmok's number?"
Getting the number was a breeze. Not dating—fiancé. In Korea, mothers-in-law having the son-in-law's number is common sense.
TV shows even have mothers-in-law and sons-in-law joking around closely.
Rrring-rrring-
She called the son-in-law, and after a few rings,
- Yes~, hello~.
§
"Yup! Yes? Oh. Yup. That's fine. Yup. Then.... can I schedule for my day off?"
Summarizing the call: just meet once.
Soon a message from Ina.
- Oppa, Mom called? Don't worry.
- Wants to meet once?
- Huh? For real?
- Eee~
- But can't refuse mother-in-law, so set a date.
- On my day off, but no date that day, okay?
- Eeeee~
- No choice~! Mom's a big worrier.
- Sorryyyy
Crying emoticon and dogeza ones flew in.
Well, moms worrying about daughters is natural.
"Let's meet."
Day off is this Thursday, three days away.
And with the contact, the prerequisite for 2-star is met.
You might wonder: why conditions to advance stages? Can't you just force it?
Of course possible. If fatigue dice roll well, 2-star in a day, 3-star in two.
But then no time to build plausibility.
Take Ina: for 1-star (problem),
- Lots of guys approach you with impure intentions just for your face and body.
If you jump straight to 2-star, that (problem) didn't happen, so 2-star (reason) glitches.
- For this reason, you realize you must actively follow the contract.
I've said it a ton: if just capturing the daughter, no need for this, human.
Rush to 3-4 star in a day or two, enjoy till broken, discard.
So I waited after 1-star for Suyeon to contact me directly.
Can't predict how it'll glitch, so follow the standard strategy guide.
Alright, time to take Suyeon to 2-star?