The Eve of the Storm
The Eve of the Storm
We had not been out long, but it was already evening.
After having a blast running around Busan all day, we finally headed into the hotel to sleep.
The Signature Hotel, the most expensive five-star hotel in Busan.
Personally, as a patriot, I did not like that such an iconic Busan hotel had an English name. They should have used Korean. Why use "signature" when the perfectly good Korean word "sign" existed?
...Come to think of it, "sign" might not be Korean either. Wait, was that even what "signature" meant here? Whatever. Let's go inside.
The lobby inside was incredibly spacious and classically elegant. It looked like a place that could comfortably fit hundreds of people. I told Soo-bin to watch the luggage, and Seo-eun and I headed to the front desk to check in. Seo-eun had made the reservation, so she came along.
"Welcome. What is the name on the reservation?"
"Ah, it should be under Han Seo-eun."
"Yes, I found it. Here is the key to Room 2708."
"...Is there only one room?"
"Yes. You reserved a single room."
"Ah, okay..."
I trudged back out into the lobby holding the single key card and asked Seo-eun, who was beside me.
"Seo-eun, why did you book one room?"
Avoiding my questioning gaze, Seo-eun replied.
"Well... saving money is a good thing..."
"Why would we need to save money? Between you and me, money's the one thing we've got overflowing."
"Ugh! The bed is super king-size, so just come sleep with us!"
"Seo-eun? There's only one bed, too?"
As I stared at Seo-eun in dismay, Soo-bin came over, wrapped an arm around Seo-eun, and said,
"It'll be nice for the three of us to sleep together for once. Hehe, I'm looking forward to it."
"Uh... The three of us have never slept together before..."
The two of them ignored me and hurried toward the elevator.
My authority as head of the family...
***
"Whoa, the room is really big!"
Seo-eun ran around, bouncing with excitement as soon as we entered the hotel room.
It was nice to see her moving around so energetically with her eyes sparkling, when she usually sat primly in front of her computer.
Students really should go out and run around a bit, absolutely.
"Wow, the bathroom's as big as a spa."
Soo-bin, who had gone into the bathroom, spoke with her eyes wide.
So this was what a five-star hotel was like.
It was the biggest, most spacious hotel I'd ever been in my life.
Even the furniture was made of expensive-looking wood, as though accidentally burning any of it would leave me owing tens of millions of won.
Definitely no playing with fire in this hotel. Ah, wait—you're not supposed to play with fire anyway, are you?
"The night view is nice."
I said that as I pulled back the curtain. And I meant it. Maybe because we were on a high floor, it was a spectacular view overlooking the Busan cityscape at night. I could even see the night sea, waves crashing, far off in the distance.
"Yaaawn... Whoa, the TV is huge."
I admired the TV in the bedroom. The one at our base wasn't even this big. Maybe we should replace it.
But despite that, there really was only one bed. Of course, it was enormous, almost as though four beds had been pushed together... but did Seo-eun really have to book a room with only one?
I spoke first to the two of them as they stood around uncertainly with their suitcases.
"Let's unpack, wash up, hang out a bit, and then sleep."
I was beat after walking all over the place all day.
***
So everyone washed up and lay down on the bed.
Seo-eun was in the middle, with me and Soo-bin on either side.
We decided to just lie down, watch some TV, and rest.
As I was flipping through channels looking for something fun, Seo-eun, who was on her phone beside me, spoke up.
"Big bro, get me some water."
Huh? What did she say?
Did I mishear?
"Water."
But Seo-eun repeated herself without a care.
Seo-eun, did you not have hands or feet...?
"Seo-eun... now you're ordering me around? Sob... I raised you wrong. I should have been stricter. Oh, woe is me..."
As I let out a playful lament, Seo-eun waved her hands in a fluster and said,
"No, big bro, that’s not it! You have telekinesis. Can’t you just use it to pull one over? All you have to do is move a finger, right?"
Ah, so that's what she meant.
And here I thought my little Seo-eun had become a complete ingrate...
"Sorry, Seo-eun, but you'll have to get up and get it yourself."
"Aww... okay."
"The reason is that I need to conserve my strength."
"Strength? What do you mean?"
"Hmm... Haven't I explained this? Let's see... You know MP in RPGs, right? Or mana? The resource wizards use when casting spells."
"Ah, that thing? The blue bar under the HP bar?"
"Right. My telekinesis works like that. If I use it too often, I run out of power and it becomes no stronger than the claw in a crane game. But if I leave it unused, or charge it—what should I call it, concentrate?—it gets a little stronger. So I have to store up power in case of an emergency."
The last time I had used it was against Crocodile Man a few months ago, so it felt fairly powerful now. Patience wins...!!
"Oh. Now I get it. I thought you could just use it whenever... I'll go get the water."
And with that, Seo-eun trudged off toward the hotel minifridge.
I could flip through the channels while she was gone.
Variety shows... news...
I just put the news on.
Honestly, the news in this world was more entertaining than variety shows.
How could news about B-rank villains and flame ability users not be entertaining?
When I tuned in, a photo of a blonde woman and a woman with long sky-blue hair appeared. The one on the left was Stardus. The one on the right was her—the Northern Sea Ice Maiden.
The anchor's voice came from the TV.
[Following reports that Shadow Walker had fallen into a coma, public concern over national security showed no sign of fading. A-rank heroes Stardus and Icicle of the Hero Association stepped forward to address the issue directly. They announced that they would remain on emergency standby twenty-four hours a day and confirmed that, as before, Stardus would cover Seoul and the capital region, while Icicle would handle Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, and Busan.]
Stardus had always covered Seoul while the Northern Sea Ice Maiden handled Busan, so this basically meant both of them would be working twenty-four hours a day. Poor things...
Northern Sea Ice Maiden—nobody called her that yet; she appeared in the news under her official hero name, Icicle. That was only natural, since 'Northern Sea Ice Maiden' was an epithet she would earn later in the story after freezing North Korea.
While I briefly recalled the original work, the anchor continued.
[In response to citizens voicing concerns like, 'South Korea is vast; how can just the two of them cover it?', the Association released a statement advising people 'to keep a baseball bat by your bedside while you sleep in case of danger,' which has sparked nationwide outrage.]
...The Hero Association was still like that.
But the Hero Association had always been like that, so it was not particularly strange. If I remembered correctly, even the Association president was a little crazy...
Public safety really was unstable, though. Should I prepare something too?
"Big bro, you’re watching the news again? At times like this, you really seem like an old man."
Seo-eun returned to the bedroom and suddenly landed a critical hit. No, that was unfair. This might be everyday life to her, but to me it felt like watching a movie.
"Huh? Wait, that's not water, that's cola. Where'd you get that?"
"Cola? It was just sitting there when I opened the minibar?"
For a moment, I nearly screamed.
"Seo-eun! Why would you drink that? Do you know how absurdly overpriced hotel minibar drinks and snacks are? That can of cola probably costs five thousand won!"
I said, alarmed, but Seo-eun just shrugged like she didn't see the problem.
"What does it matter whether it costs five thousand won or fifty thousand? We have plenty of money."
At Seo-eun's words, I was instantly speechless.
Right. We did have plenty of money.
Between the money I had made using knowledge of the Original Work since falling into this world and the money Seo-eun had already earned, we had an enormous amount.
But I'd been living like an ordinary citizen for so long that I kept forgetting that.
"Big bro, do you know how much this hotel alone is worth? This is probably the most expensive land occupied by any building in Busan. It's the only five-star hotel here."
"Mm, fine. Drink up. Just make sure you brush your teeth afterward."
"Come on. Am I a child?"
Seo-eun puffed out her cheeks in protest. Uh, right now, you look very much like a child...
Soo-bin just watched the two of us and laughed quietly.
*
"Yaaawn... I'm sleepy now. Let's call it a night."
If we wanted to get up early and have fun the next day, we had to sleep early.
So we all brushed our teeth, turned off the light, and lay down.
We were all in the same bed, but it was so big it wasn't really uncomfortable.
Though sharing one blanket was a bit... well, you know.
Not long after we lay down, I heard the quiet sound of Soo-bin's even breathing from the other side.
Asleep already? Out the moment her head hit the pillow.
As I lay there with my eyes closed, trying to sleep, Seo-eun, who was next to me and apparently still awake, quietly murmured.
"Today was fun..."
"Mm? Yeah, what was the most fun?"
"Seeing the ocean was nice, and looking around the market was fun... I think it'd be nice to travel like this sometimes."
"Yeah. Let's come out for fun every now and then."
Assuming we could.
First, I needed to finish all the attack plans and the Stardus growth project in my head...
"Let's sleep now so we can have fun again tomorrow."
"Okaaay..."
Seo-eun yawned once, then buried her face in her pillow.
I should get to sleep, too.
The hotel was so quiet that I thought I'd fall asleep fairly quickly.
And just as I predicted, I sank into a deep sleep a few minutes later.
The sun would be up when I opened my eyes tomorrow, right?
***
But late that night, while the moon still shone over the dark city, at the hotel—
Thud.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Heavy footsteps came from every direction.
KABOOM—
Something exploded somewhere.
Aaaah. Crash.
A scream, followed by the sound of something shattering.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM.
The pounding against our hotel-room door.
"FBI, OPEN UP!!!"
And then came the shout outside our door.
"What the fuck..."
I woke up and muttered.
Why did this keep happening to me?