Mokdong Settlement (1)
The Mokdong Settlement was a fairly large settlement. Of course, that was partly because its basic framework was a sports stadium, but they had also set up watchtowers around it with various materials, or stacked containers with cranes to form the entrance.
After verifying Uncle’s identity, the guards let me and Uncle through. Since it was my first time at this settlement, my heart wouldn’t stop pounding this time either.
When Uncle Dusik and I arrived at the plaza inside the Mokdong Settlement, quite a noisy sound reached us. Outlaws spouting curses and the people surrounding them. And a man and woman with a somehow peculiar atmosphere stood awkwardly in the middle of it all, looking at a loss.
“Hey! What’s going on?”
Uncle shouted loudly as he approached.
“Boss, you’ve arrived?”
A man carrying a long polearm on his back approached. He had short hair, protective gear reinforced with iron on his shoulders and both arms, and what seemed like leather protectors on his legs.
“Yeah, Chunsik, what on earth is this about?”
“Yes, well, actually, we managed to escape by carefully avoiding the orcs just as you said, Boss. But on the way to the settlement, right in front, we ran into these guys and got into danger, and then we were able to get out of the situation thanks to those two kids over there from Garam, Kang Hyeonseok and Seo Yeonseo.”
Looking in the direction he pointed, a rather handsome man and pretty woman were standing there. The man had his black hair tied up, and at a glance he had purple eyes. He wore a long coat with white lines on a navy base, a light blue vest and white dress shirt underneath, gray suit pants, and dark brown boots.
In contrast, the woman had light sky-blue hair gathered and tied toward her left shoulder, and matching eyes. She wore a rather luxurious-looking white robe embroidered with gold, a navy cardigan with a white shirt and gray miniskirt underneath, white knee-high socks, and brown-heeled gray Rita shoes.
Both of them look pretty good. Especially the guy… Wait, why am I looking more at the man than the woman?
Perhaps sensing my gaze, the woman who had been standing still strode purposefully toward me.
“Hey! What are you staring at like that!”
Her voice was as sweet as rolling jade beads, but her tone and actions were quite rough.
“Nothing, I wasn’t looking…”
When I turned my head to avoid her, she came even closer.
“Don’t lie! You were looking at our Hyeonseok, weren’t you?! I know everything, you foxy woman!”
The moment I heard that, some inexplicable irritation rose up.
“What?! Why am I a foxy woman!”
“Why? It’s obvious just looking! That was a gaze aiming for Hyeonseok!”
It was absurd. Me, after a man? Even if I’d become a woman, my preferences were strictly for women. Of course they were.
“Hey! Why would I be after that guy! This is ridiculous, really!”
“Look carefully! That high-bridged nose, those full lips, and those rather refreshing eyes! Our Hyeonseok is this handsome, so of course a foxy woman like you would go after him!”
Following her words and looking at the man, it was exactly as she said.
No… why am I agreeing with that…
“That guy isn’t my type, okay?! So stop picking fights over nothing!”
“Don’t lie! You think this is the first or second time I’ve seen this? A foxy woman like you…!”
As she and I argued, Uncle Dusik and the others stood around not knowing what to do, when the man approached.
“Yeonseo, stop it! Sorry, our Yeonseo gets a bit jealous, haha…”
“Hyeonseok, I’ve told you over and over, you have to cut off foxy women like that right away!”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Come on, let’s go over there for now. Sorry. I’ll treat you later, so let it slide.”
Seeing him smile gently toward me like that, I felt some inexplicable ticklishness in my lower abdomen. Flustered by that ticklishness, I felt heat flush across my face and could only lower my head.
Foxy…!
I heard strange words, but by the time I came to my senses, the two of them had already gone far away. Of course, even as they left, the woman kept flailing her arms and legs as she was dragged along.
After those two left, the man named Chunsik who had been talking with Uncle Dusik approached.
“Charlotte, are you okay?”
“Huh? Yes, I’m fine. More importantly, those two saved the others, right?”
“That’s right. But who is this young lady…?”
“Oh, I haven’t introduced her! This is Charlotte, the benefactor who saved me when I was being chased by orcs. Charlotte, this is Seo Chunsik. He’s a friend who works as the vice-captain in the raid team I lead.”
“Nice to meet you.” / “Thank you for helping Boss.”
After exchanging introductions, we walked toward where the leader of the Mokdong Settlement, a man named Kang Hancheol, was. Of course, even while walking, I kept feeling like someone was glaring at me, but as we walked for a while sightseeing the Mokdong Settlement, there was a large building quite deep inside.
“This is where Boss Kang Hancheol, who leads our settlement, is.”
“Well, it’s just big; inside it’s pretty much the same as a residential area.”
As he said, when we entered, there were rooms where children were playing, and rooms where the aunties gathered to cook or mend clothes. Besides that, there were duty rooms and document storage rooms, so it was more proper than Uncle’s words of it being just like a residential area.
Climbing the stairs, passing the conference room on the third floor, when we arrived at the room labeled Kang Hancheol, loud arguing sounds were heard.
“So I’m saying, please let me do it———!”
“How many times do I have to say it, no means no. It’s too dangerous!”
“But you saw it!”
Standing in front of the door, Uncle and I waited with bitter smiles for the conversation to end. After a few minutes, with a Bang! a woman burst out.
“Ara!”
A voice calling her name was heard, but she glanced at me and Uncle and said,
“I’m glad you’re back, Uncle.”
“Ara, what’s going on?”
“It’s nothing special. I’ll go down first.”
Quickly bowing her head and leaving, the woman disappeared with sounds of jumping several steps at a time down the stairs.
“Let’s go in for now. It’s probably nothing.”
Guided by the man named Chunsik, Uncle and I entered the room of Kang Hancheol, the leader of the settlement.
Hair that seemed to have a lot of white, slicked back, a rather large burn scar prominently on the right forehead, and a man with a goatee that felt like it hadn’t been managed for quite a long time. This person was Kang Hancheol, who took on the role of leader of this Mokdong Settlement. As a former firefighter, he liked helping people and had done a lot of volunteer work, so he gathered people himself and became the settlement’s leader.
“So, there were quite a few problems raiding the tower, I hear?”
He opened his mouth while looking at various documents on the table.
“There were a few problems, but if we rest for a day and go raid right away, it should be fine.”
“Hoo, we have to. Otherwise nothing will work.”
Saying that and raising his head, he seemed not to have noticed my presence and looked back and forth between me and Uncle Dusik with a rather surprised expression.
“Ahem, I showed an unsightly side in front of a guest. So, who is that young lady?”
“This is Charlotte, the child who helped me.”
“Charlotte Magnier. Just call me ‘Charlotte’ comfortably.”
“Alright, I see. Chunsik, you can leave now.”
“Yes, sir! Good work!”
With Kang Hancheol’s gesture that it was okay to leave, Seo Chunsik exited the room.
“Have a seat for now. Unfortunately, in times like these, all I can offer is water.”
He poured water from a plastic container into three cups, placed two in front of me and Uncle, and with a gesture for us to sit in the chairs, sat in his own seat. Only the quiet sound of sipping water spread through the office; what broke that atmosphere was Uncle Dusik.
“Boss, so why did Ara run out like that?”
“Haa… Don’t even start. You saw them on the way, right? Those gang bastards. It’s because of them. She said she knows where they are, so she’s gathering people to go.”
“That Ara kid, I told her not to do that…”
“Looks like she already told you too. Ha, really, at times like this she should just stay still. Who does she take after.”
“Well, since she’s your daughter, Boss, she takes after you.”
Kang Hancheol glared at Uncle Dusik for a moment as he said that, but soon snickered and laughed.
“Yeah, she’s my daughter. That’s why I’m worried. So, you’re resting today and going to raid the tower starting tomorrow?”
“Yes, of course, if Charlotte here is okay with it.”
Hearing that, Kang Hancheol looked at me and said something like ‘the world really is in its last days’ and
“Even so, you’re taking a kid like this? Hey Dusik, no matter how people have gotten stronger with abilities and whatnot, a kid is a kid! And one about the same age as your daughter…!”
“Boss!”
Uncle’s appearance cutting off Kang Hancheol’s words with a cold voice was full of killing intent.
“Oh, I misspoke. Sorry. The point is, no matter how in this world people of all ages and genders get abilities, a child who’s not even an adult…”
No, hearing him keep treating me as a child, some inexplicable irritation surged up. If it were my usual self, I would have let it pass, but with the stabbing pain in my stomach from earlier and the ticklishness rising, it felt like my patience had disappeared.
“Excuse me. Mister! I may look like this, but I’m twenty-two years old, you know?”
At my words, the two men widened their eyes.
“What? Twenty-two?! No, that’s two years older than our kid!”
Looking quite surprised, the man named Kang Hancheol jumped up from his chair and approached me.
“No, with this height and this appearance, twenty-two?! Huh!”
“Hey…!”
I was angry at his attitude of continuing to be surprised even after hearing my age, but I clenched my teeth to suppress it as much as possible.
“Boss, please sit down for now.”
“Ahem.”
Clearing his throat, Kang Hancheol returned to his seat.
“Anyway, even looking like this, Charlotte is stronger than me. I can prove this. She’s got the skill of taking down two of those giant orcs.”
“Haa… Dusik, did you pick an unlucky day today? You keep bringing only surprising things!”
Then the two of them talked about putting me in the tower raid team, and
“So, Charlotte was it? What about you, young lady? Will you participate?”
“Yes, well, I didn’t really have anything to do anyway. I’ll help out for Uncle Dusik’s sake.”
“Alright, then Dusik, you guide her to the outsider lodging.”
“I’ll do that. After dropping the rest off, let’s continue talking. Come on, let’s get up.”
So Uncle Dusik and I stood up and approached the door.
“It was nice meeting you, Leader Kang Hancheol.”
As I left the door, I turned my head and greeted him, and he received my greeting as well.
“Haha! You’re the benefactor who saved this friend’s life, and I don’t care about formalities like that anyway, so just call me Uncle comfortably too!”
After finishing the meeting with Kang Hancheol, following Uncle Dusik’s guidance, I arrived at the lodging prepared for outsiders and was about to go straight into the room and lie down. Because from earlier, the stabbing pain in my stomach continued, and the ticklishness that started after meeting that man wouldn’t stop, so I was out of it.
But a voice that shattered my wish came from the room.
“Hey, foxy woman. Talk with me a bit.”
Ah, really, even the heavens are heartless; that strange woman from earlier was inside the room.
Why is this happening to me, seriously!!!