The Changhae Family (3)
The Changhae Family (3)
There was still time before the Calamity Flame Family and the Taesan Family arrived in Seolgyeong.
I decided to invest that time into building affection.
The target was, of course, the Changhae Family.
Though this wasn't the main house, members of the Changhae Family were stationed here for the talks, so the situation was perfect.
'I should stack up points in advance.'
It had been the same last year when I visited the Calamity Flame Family.
A slightly transparent goal: to leave a good impression on the family members during my stay.
Still, wasn't that much better than just standing around idly?
I had already paid my respects to Baek Wol-seon and Kim Yu-yeon.
Since I'd thought of this beforehand, I didn't hesitate.
'Especially the Changhae territory has plenty of things to help with.'
The Snowy Plains weren't exactly a land suited for human habitation.
There were plenty of minor problems, and plenty of things to help with.
'I can do a lot.'
After all, I had a lot of skills.
I could help with most reasonable tasks.
Clenching my fists, I hurried along briskly.
.
.
.
[Hello? Is there anything I can help with—]
—Yes! No problems at all, Young Master!
[Eh?]
...
[Hello? Is there anything I can—]
—Your words alone are thanks enough. But I draw a salary; how could I borrow the Young Master's hands for something so simple?
...
[...Hello...?]
—Welcome, Young Master! Huh? Help...? Uh... Ah! Since it's about that time... if you're feeling peckish, how about having a bowl before you go? It's the region's famous seafood pasta!
[No, no, wait... I didn't come here to eat...]
...
—Creeeak...
The door gently shut after carefully sending me away.
With pasta sauce still on my lips, I gaped at the umpteenth rejection.
[Cold]
—Ugh, pfft pfft.
A snowflake inevitably slipped into my mouth.
Startled, I frantically spat and worked my tongue, but the snow had already melted long ago.
* * *
The citadel at the center of Seolgyeong.
Normally the Seolgyeong administrator resides there; occasionally members of the Changhae Family visiting Seolgyeong stay there as well.
It's also where the dignitaries attending the upcoming talks will be staying.
[What no problem?! I checked with Observation that the internal spell was damaged before I went there...!]
Lee Ha-yul, having returned to that citadel, trembled his fists in frustration and vented his anger.
Since the range of Observation easily swallows a city like Seolgyeong, I already knew about the problem before I went.
But all I got in return were things like, 'Your words alone are thanks enough.'
Or, 'Anyway, aren't you hungry? It's free, so why not have a bowl before you go...'
The Azure Sea people were too kind!
"The pasta was delicious. Is it because the sea is right there? The seafood was really tasty too."
"Mm... it certainly was."
Daera nonchalantly left a review of the pasta restaurant, while Lee Ha-sol, mindful of Lee Ha-yul's mood, downplayed the taste talk.
[Could you listen to me...]
But ultimately, it was all different topics.
Lee Ha-yul, who had plopped down beside them, pouted his lips and swung his arms wildly.
Daera and Lee Ha-sol, who had been pretending to talk about something else, straightened their expressions.
'He reacts like that, so we pretend not to listen.'
Maybe it was intentional, but the way he grumbled for us to pay attention when we pretended not to listen was just too cute.
It almost made you want to provoke that reaction on purpose.
But if you kept pretending to ignore him, he really might get upset.
Daera, having enjoyed the reaction just enough, shrugged.
"But isn't that to be expected?"
[Huh?]
"Look at your status right now, Junior. Would there be many subordinates who'd eagerly say 'Oh, good, please help us' when a high-ranking person shows up and asks if they need anything?"
[Ing...]
"That's right. Isn't Ha-yul an incredibly high-status person right now? To the residents here, you'd feel awfully distant."
...That was true.
The sight of me wandering around outside might just look cute.
But in reality, wasn't I a giant among giants that most ordinary people would never so much as lay eyes on in their lifetime?
When such a giant suddenly shows up at a pasta restaurant and asks if there's anything to help with, why would they casually admit they just happened to need something?
[Boo...]
Struck by sound logic, Lee Ha-yul pouted his lips even more.
Was he demanding a kiss?
Swallowing that question and impulse, Lee Ha-sol gently stroked Lee Ha-yul's head and changed the subject.
"By the way, can you really see through errors in spells that easily? Wasn't there a security spell?"
[There was security, but it doesn't matter to me.]
"I'm not a mage, but I can tell that's the kind of statement that would make a mage seethe."
[Hmph.]
"So you just came back, saying there was no problem?"
[I already fixed it.]
"Huh? When?"
[When I was sitting at the table.]
Daera blinked.
But Ha-yul was sitting with us at the time... when did he fix a spell inside the building...
"Well, he's my junior, so he must have figured it out somehow."
"You're just... accepting that and moving on...?"
As Daera shrugged and roughly closed the question, Lee Ha-sol murmured with a subtle expression.
"My junior casually does things that are conventionally impossible. So it's easier to just accept it."
After all, there had been so many things he'd done since the moment we first met in the Reverse Side.
Daera was starting to believe it if Lee Ha-yul turned out to be an alien.
'Is he seriously an alien?'
Daera, who had shelved that thought as a joke, narrowed her eyes.
A memory from just before vacation rose in her mind.
—[Senior, it's a present.]
—A present? Again...?
Daera, who felt pressured just hearing it was another gift without knowing what it was, received a thick book that was presented with effort.
She thought it might be a memory injection device like the one shown before, but the contents were even more absurd.
[Expansion Abilities Related to Heavenly Thunder (Examples)]
—Heavenly Eye
Sensory-type Expansion Ability.
Operates in three stages.
Examples of mana manipulation described below...
...
—Thunder Rain Domination
Area-control type Expansion Ability.
Releases a large amount of lightning energy to encroach upon the space.
...
—Lightning Step Movement
Movement-type Expansion Ability.
Prerequisite: the attribute power of transforming into lightning energy.
...
—Sky-Walking Heaven Path
Movement-type Expansion Ability.
Expands the range of Heavenly Thunder, exerting dominion over the area corresponding to the heavens.
...
—What the hell is this?
She gaped at the lines listing expansion abilities she didn't even have.
Expansion Abilities weren't just any random dog's name.
When there were plenty of superhumans without even a unique ability, an expansion ability?
Not just one, but at least half a dozen kinds at a glance, and with absurdly powerful functions just from reading the descriptions?
'If he can do all this, what kind of monster is he?'
Thunder Rain Domination. Area-control techniques were common, but judging from the description, the scale seemed beyond what one person could manage alone.
Lightning Step Movement. How was the prerequisite elementalization, the highest-difficulty technique among attribute types?
Sky-Walking Heaven Path... What kind of bullshit was this?
If some half-baked idiot had spouted this, she'd have flipped them the bird and told them to stop talking nonsense.
But amid it all, there was one description that caught her eye.
Heavenly Eye.
'Connection and amplification of senses using lightning energy.'
Daera actually charged lightning energy in her body and used it that way.
'Manifesting external senses using spread lightning energy.'
The phenomenon of occasionally seeing a bird's-eye view from the sky.
'Inducing sixth sense and intuition through the unity of internal and external senses.'
The phenomenon of a flash of lightning striking the mind and sending a surge of instinctive signals.
That intuition had saved Daera's life several times since the manifestation of Heavenly Thunder.
Reading the appended explanations, it was all too detailed and accurate.
Even though books and letters weren't familiar to her, she had stayed up all night reading this one despite its difficulty from the very day she received it.
"...Junior."
[Yes.]
"Junior, you're actually an alien, aren't you?"
[Don't curse at me...]
Emerging from the recollection, Daera narrowed her eyes.
The day after receiving that book, she had gone to ask what it was, but instead witnessed a sight she could scarcely believe.
A streak of lightning crackling and rising from Lee Ha-yul's palm. Beyond just the properties of lightning energy, it was an innate talent so familiar it was nearly identical.
'He's using someone else's unique ability like he's picking a dish?'
It was Daera's Heavenly Thunder.
She poked it, wondering if it was a prank, and got shocked.
'If he's an alien, it'd make sense...'
How could a person arbitrarily manifest another's innate talent at will?
Even this very conference was an event triggered by Ha-yul manifesting the unique abilities of the Three Great Families simultaneously.
'So Calamity Flame, Azure Sea, Taesan. And Heavenly Thunder on top of that? And if he wants, he can pull out other unique abilities too...?'
Heeek.
Daera, who had counted the number of unique abilities in her head, recoiled in fright.
Her skull ached at having such obvious common sense denied.
"...It's a relief you're a good kid, Junior."
[Suddenly?]
Lee Ha-yul made a baffled expression at the sudden remark, but Daera paid no mind and hugged him tight.
"Sorry for teasing you about being an alien. Please stay a good junior..."
[I feel like I was praised, but it feels strange...]
His words and expression said that, but he didn't actually reject the embrace.
In a daze, Lee Ha-yul's body relaxed limply in Daera's arms.
'So comfortable...'
Not that I wasn't tired; some fatigue had accumulated.
Even though I'd been turned away a lot, I did help, even tampering with the barrier magic that kept the city standing in this harsh environment.
I'd also wandered around with the group and Lee Seo-yul, sightseeing in Seolgyeong.
"Daera, you'll suffocate me like this. Let go quickly."
"A junior who's comfortably buried in my chest wouldn't suffocate from this."
'I should rest a bit, then head out again...'
Lee Ha-yul, struggling to breathe, calmed his thoughts for a moment.
Then it happened.
Amid his spread Observation, something big and help-worthy was caught.
—Yes, it's about time to head out for the ocean subjugation. I came to grab some snacks.
[...That's it.]
"Huh?"
Lee Ha-yul shot to his feet.
* * *
"You're that age and you act so childish toward a kid?"
"Hmph. What did I do..."
In the citadel at the center of Seolgyeong, Baek Wol-seon had entered the top-floor office and averted his gaze under Kim Yu-yeon's sharp glare.
"...It was just a joke. Did you think I seriously wanted him to speak informally?"
"From the other person's perspective, how awkward must it have been at a first meeting?"
"Alright, I'm sorry."
Only after he apologized did her sharp eyes soften.
Her normally gentle eyes became so piercing when she was angry.
Baek Wol-seon shook his head and sank into the sofa.
As Kim Yu-yeon sat beside him and leaned on his shoulder, Baek Wol-seon chuckled softly and adjusted his posture to let her lean more comfortably.
In the process, the opposite sofa came into view. It was the sofa where Lee Ha-yul had been sitting.
"By the way, you aren't meeting that child for the first time either, are you? You seem to be covering for him."
When he voiced the thought that had just crossed his mind, a complex look clouded Kim Yu-yeon's expression.
"A-rin stressed so much that he's someone precious to her."
"...Is that so?"
Baek Wol-seon fell silent.
Baek A-rin. As his firstborn, she was naturally a precious child. As a parent, everyone feels the same desire to grant their child's every wish.
Baek Wol-seon was the head of the Changhae Family. In a position where more things were possible than impossible in this world, he wanted to do many things for his child.
But even as head of Changhae, he couldn't completely bring back the dead.
That was impossible even for Lee Ji-ah, head of Taesan.
Even that Lee Ji-ah, who had surpassed the ultimate arts of Taesan, could only create undead in the end.
Baek Wol-seon, who had lost his wife, felt his heart torn as well, but could it compare to a child who'd lost her mother at a young age?
That was why Baek Wol-seon was especially soft on Baek A-rin.
"...So because A-rin likes him, you're viewing him favorably too?"
"After seeing him in person, I think he's even better."
"Ugh..."
Baek Wol-seon groaned at Kim Yu-yeon's smiling remark.
"They say he's been going around the city helping everywhere, and he even fixed up the city's defensive barrier."
"I already heard about that. They say he's a mage beyond a mage; that sort of thing would be easy..."
Lee Ha-yul. How could I not know those three syllables?
He was so famous that my ears were calloused before I even met him.
And I knew that most of it was about his good deeds.
'......'
Having met him in person, he wasn't different from the rumors. It was a short time, but I'm not someone who keeps my eyes just for decoration.
"...Still, there are too many rumors about women, aren't there? Yeon-hwa, Ji-yeon... practically gathered them all at his mansion... huh?"
"Is that something for you to say when you've taken in two wives?"
"I-I only had two!"
"Yes, yes, just a joke."
When Kim Yu-yeon, who had been pretending to glare, chuckled, Baek Wol-seon, who had looked away, let out a sigh of relief.
—Ding!
It was then that Kim Yu-yeon's smartwatch rang. She checked the notification while still resting her head on Baek Wol-seon's shoulder.
"Oh?"
"What's wrong? What is it?"
An exclamation burst from her parted lips. With Kim Yu-yeon's eyes wide, Baek Wol-seon also turned his gaze to the hologram.
"...Huh?"
Soon, Baek Wol-seon's eyes blinked as well.
[Contact: Changpaju Baek Yu-rim]
▶Changpaju Baek Yu-rim: Chief Administrator
▶Changpaju Baek Yu-rim: (a photo of Lee Ha-yul sitting on a chair)
▶Changpaju Baek Yu-rim: The young master has boarded the ocean subjugation vessel...?