248. Guangdong Province (1)
248. Guangdong Province (1)
The dozens of people crowding in front of me sent my pupils quaking like an earthquake.
'What is this, some kind of Indian rain dance......!!'
An Indian rain dance.
A ritual with a 100% success rate that Native Americans supposedly performed to pray for rain during droughts.
How is it 100%?
Because they keep performing the ritual until it rains.
Whether someone collapsed in the process or not didn't matter—if they just kept up the rain dance, the rain was bound to come eventually.
If you wait long enough, rain eventually falls.
But these people were on another level entirely.
I stared at the gleaming eyes of the women standing before me and swallowed hard.
'This is insanity.......'
Yeah. It was insanity.
Rain, at the very least, falls equally on everyone in the world.
But my case?
Honestly, if it weren't for Shin family, it might never have come at all.
Even if China requested the academy to dispatch someone, sending a different party instead of us—who were on China's bad side—made for better optics on both ends.
And even if we did end up coming because of business, we might not have necessarily used this Spatial Movement Formation.
So they'd been camped out here waiting for someone who might come someday—or might never come at all.
This wasn't something a person in their right mind would do.
'......So this is the class of the continent.'
The thought came to me unbidden—that's how insane it was!
Tug.
Just then, Shin Se-hee, beside me, gave my collar a slight pull.
"Jin Yu-ha."
Shin Se-hee whispered in a small voice into my ear.
"Hm?"
"With people like this, couldn't we use them?"
"Use......?"
"Ah, they're fans who came all this way because they wanted to see you, Jin Yu-ha. That word choice was a bit excessive. Let me correct that—not use them, but receive their help."
She'd corrected her wording, but I still didn't quite get it and tilted my head.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, anyway, we've come to a foreign country—China. And we need to gather information on Shin family here, right? Especially since information about Shin family is too tightly controlled to dig into over the internet."
"......Let's say that's true?"
"At times like that, if we can get help from locals, things become a lot easier. And these people waited here like this just to meet you, Jin Yu-ha. So there shouldn't be any issues on the security front, either."
"Ah."
I looked at Shin Se-hee with surprised eyes.
In the game, ordinary people who aren't hunters basically only appear as the weak and as objects to be protected.
So the idea of receiving their help hadn't even crossed my mind. It was a total shift in perspective.
"Shin Se-hee, are you a genius?"
"Hoo-hoo."
To look at that insanity and immediately think of using them—Shin Se-hee really was on a different level.
"Hmm, so what should we do, then?"
Since Shin Se-hee had been the one to bring it up first, I figured I'd trust her and leave it in her hands, so I asked.
At that, Shin Se-hee nodded and answered in a voice brimming with confidence.
"We have to start with affection farming."
"......Affection farming?"
"Yes. These are people who waited so long just to see you, Jin Yu-ha. We should give them proper fan service, shouldn't we?"
"F-Fan service!?"
At the unexpected words, I looked at the women crowding around me with a flustered expression.
Eyes sparkling excessively, as if expecting something.
Gulp.
'F-For these people......?'
* * *
With Shin Se-hee's proposal, an impromptu Jin Yu-ha fan meeting began in front of the Spatial Movement Formation.
Honestly, I'd never even imagined doing something like this, much less actually done it, so I felt goosebumps crawling all over my body from sheer awkwardness.
But I did my best with everything I had.
"Kyaaaa! Really? I-I can really t-take a picture together with you? I was just planning to take a picture of you alone, Jin Yu-ha......!"
"Ahem. A-Anything you'd like. If you have a pose you want, please just request it."
"A-Anything!?"
"Yes."
"Ah, th-then, um, here—a half heart with your hand, and I'll make the other half...... C-Can you bring your face cl-closer?"
"......Yes, I'll do that. C-Come this way."
"Kyaaaaaaa!!!"
Click─
I brought my face close enough that our breaths could touch,
and with an awkwardly upturned corner of my mouth, formed a half heart with my hand and took the picture.
"N-Next is me! Um, c-can you maybe make an expression like a bubbly entertainer?"
"......I'm not sure what a bubbly entertainer is, but I'll do my best."
Click─
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're seriously, seriously so handsome!"
Another one departed.
'How many are even left now.......'
"Alright then, next....... Huh?"
Looking at the woman who approached for the next turn, I couldn't help but round my eyes.
'Why are you coming out of there?'
Because Shin Se-hee was standing in line with a prim expression on her face.
I glanced behind her and saw the other party members also mixed in among the people, standing in line.
"Shin Se-hee?"
"Yes, what is it?"
When I called out to her in a puzzled voice, Shin Se-hee answered shamelessly with that prim face.
"Why are you......."
"Since you're doing it anyway, do it for us too. You're a pro, aren't you? Were you the type to discriminate between fans who came to see you?"
"No, that's not......."
"Or are you saying you don't want to take pictures with us, Jin Yu-ha? We've spent so much time together, and yet we've never once taken a picture together."
"N-No, it's not that. Come here."
When she put it that way, I had nothing to say.
Then, Shin Se-hee came and stood slightly apart from me.
A fresh shampoo scent wafted richly from her.
Maybe she was embarrassed too—the top of her head that I could see from above was burning bright red.
'She's dying of awkwardness herself, so why'd she do this.'
I let out a small laugh.
"Why are you standing so far away?"
"......Excuse me?"
"Everyone else got right up close for the picture. Why are you standing so far away? You don't want to take one with me? After all the time we've spent together?"
I put on a mischievous smile and threw Shin Se-hee's own words right back at her.
"No, that, th-that's not—."
"Here, come closer. Didn't you say to give proper fan service?"
Grab.
I pulled Shin Se-hee's shoulder toward me and raised my phone camera high.
"Alright, I'm taking it. Kimchi—"
"K-Kimchi."
Shin Se-hee, tucked into my arms, squeezed her eyes shut and drew a V-sign with a face as red as a tomato.
Click─
"......."
"......."
"......."
At that, the other party members' gazes toward me seemed to turn a little frosty, but whatever.
I'll just take pictures with all of you too.
"......You guys too! Wait your turn, I'll do it for you!"
.
.
.
"I don't like kimchi. It's spicy."
"Huh? O-Oh, really?"
With a blank expression, Ichika clung to me almost like she was glued on and drew a V-sign with both hands.
"Rakkyo."
Click─
Doing the poses each person requested one by one, receiving their greetings—it ended up taking quite a while.
'Still, this is the last one now.'
"Alright, next person, please."
I greeted the fan with an attitude far more practiced than at the start.
The person who approached, trembling, was a young girl with her hair in buns.
She was shabbily dressed, but had a cute face.
'Hm?'
The moment I saw her, a sudden pang of déjà vu made me tilt my head to the side.
'I feel like I've seen her somewhere.'
Where had I seen her?
I was staring at her, pondering for a moment, when—
Grab.
The girl suddenly seized my hand.
"J-Jin Yu-ha oppa!"
"Huh? Yeah, I'll take your picture, come over here—"
"I'm begging you! P-Please come to our house with me!"
"......Excuse me?"
At the sudden request for a house visit, my mouth fell open in disbelief.
* * *
So after the fan service wrapped up one way or another.
Shin Se-hee said she needed to have a more detailed conversation and took my fans aside to a separate spot.
The other party members followed Shin Se-hee as well.
And I was left alone with the bun-haired little kid who'd requested the house visit just moments ago.
'Where have I seen her.......'
I definitely felt a sense of déjà vu, like I'd seen her somewhere, but I just couldn't place it.
Just then, the girl who'd been staring directly at me spoke first.
"Jin Yu-ha oppa! Please come to our house with me!"
The girl repeated the same words from earlier like a parrot.
"Um, when you put it like that, it catches me a little off guard. It's too sudden. Can you try calming down first?"
I tried to soothe her with a calm voice, but the girl showed no sign of settling down.
"My father is in danger! Please, please save my father......!"
The girl pleaded for help in a desperate voice.
And in that moment.
A light of realization flickered in my eyes.
'Father? Ah, no way......? Is she, that one? The daughter of the Landlord of Guangdong?'
Right now, China outwardly professed to be a single nation.
But many people saw it as having effectively fragmented into multiple countries.
Because the power of the landlords representing each region had grown too strong for the central government to control.
The reason was simple.
The landmass was simply too vast for the central government to handle every gate that appeared across all of China.
So they had no choice but to grant the regional landlords the authority to dispose of gates autonomously!
Among them, Guangdong Province.
A place where the landlord's power was nearly at the level of an emperor.
And also the region where Shin family was currently entrenched.
In other words, our target destination.
'But how did she end up here......?'
I wore a puzzled expression.
Wasn't she supposed to be missing in the game?
"Can you tell me a bit more in detail?"
I asked the bun-haired girl.
And she spoke in a trembling voice.
"Yes, yes! W-Well, you see......."