Leona's Secret Hobby # 6
Leona's Secret Hobby # 6
"Whoa! Kim Geun-cheol, you really nailed it! You saved the kid and Lee Si-hoo! How is this even possible! You seriously have a gift for screaming! I thought it was only a theoretical possibility!"
A thrilled Leona held me like a bazooka and bolted.
Well... I admit I'm pretty good at yelling, but I never expected it to be this effective.
Monsters reacting to human screams? Is that normal? If my screaming really has that effect, I can use it as an amazing wide-area aggro skill.
But why does my talent have to be this, of all things?
What is this, Kung Fu Hustle?
"Kim Geun-cheol, I won't nag you about screaming anymore! This is talent, pure talent! You pulled every last bit of aggro with a single scream!"
"R-right... if you call that talent."
"You have to spread your wings of talent!"
She has a point.
Anyway.
—Fwoosh!
"Ah! Lee Si-hoo! You're here!"
"Si-hoo, you made it!"
As we were fleeing flat out, Si-hoo came running up with the kid slung over his shoulder. The aggro was nicely split up, so he shook them off and rejoined us!
"Yeah! Man, that was seriously close! Thanks, Geun-cheol! Who knew your huge scream would sound like the trumpets of heaven!"
The trumpets of heaven, my ass!
"Heh heh heh! He's right, in that you'd have actually gone to heaven if you'd failed! Anyway, I'm telling you, Kim Geun-cheol has talent! But Lee Si-hoo, what about the kid!"
"The kid?"
I glanced at the elementary schooler Si-hoo had abducted.
"Whoa, whoa! This little bastard's foaming at the mouth and passed out cold?!"
The kid was unconscious with foam bubbling at his mouth!
"Wha—what did you say?! Geun-cheol! What do we do?!"
"How should I know, goddammit! Let's just run to the hospital, fast!"
"Okay!"
"Right! Kim Geun-cheol, keep watch on our rear while we run!"
"Say what?!"
—Spin!
Leona simply rotated me in her arms. That way, I could monitor the rear while she kept running...!
Now that's ingenuity!
"How is it?!"
"Yeah! They can't keep up!"
Dozens of Antazora were clearly leaping across the building rooftops chasing us, but we aren't grade-schoolers—we're hero cadets.
Of course we're faster.
"We're safe! We're faster!"
I twisted my head to look back and report.
—Thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup!
A helicopter was flying in from that direction.
"Oh! A chopper!"
"Yes! The soldiers are here!"
"Let's get to the hospital, now! That kid could croak!"
Still held by Leona, I swept my gaze over the soldiers.
—Rumble-rumble-rumble.
—Clank-clank-clank.
Armored infantry flanked an armored vehicle with a mounted machine gun. The soldiers in those powered suits are all professional soldiers, I'm told.
This world's Korea is a bit different from my homeland.
I enlisted as a trainee, made sergeant, and got discharged, but soldiers here serve as privates, get promoted to corporal on their discharge day, and off they go.
Anyway. In this world, professional soldiers do twelve months as a second-class private at their duty station, go straight to the professional-soldier training center, and after finishing training there, they receive a corporal's insignia and return to their unit.
Those armored infantry over there are all that type.
They learn to operate powered suits at the professional-soldier training center. Military-issue suits like those naturally have inferior performance compared to the ones Awakened individuals use.
If the powered suits Awakened people use are high-end models, the soldiers' versions are mass-production types focused on unit cost and manufacturability.
But they aren't the ones to worry about.
"They're getting worked to the bone."
Behind the armored infantry, regular infantry in protective gear were advancing on foot. Those guys are conscripts, plain and simple. Their pay is supposedly normal, but conscripts in real combat... the Republic of Korea's situation is seriously not good.
But there's no choice: without deploying conscripts to actual battle, they can't cope with the gate incidents that erupt daily across the country. Not much to add when even the U.S. and Europe are supposedly benchmarking Korea's conscription system to keep their manpower running.
Who ever imagined Korea's conscription would be the global benchmark someday... When I checked, their active-duty strength totals just over a million, men and women combined.
I also heard that reserve forces receive nine-night-ten-day mobilization training every year for ten years. Is that insane or what? In their shoes I'd have lost my mind, but the Republic of Korea's Sovereign Commander is an S-rank superhuman, they say... can't mouth off about it. He's no mere president—he's an absolute monarch wielding legislative, judicial, and executive power all at once.
They even say he has the authority to summarily execute civilians, which tells you everything. Though I gather it's never actually been used—who would dare run their mouth against a superhuman who reigns supreme.
"Wow."
Still, it gives me chills. If I hadn't been an Awakened but a regular person? That soldier over there would have been me, goddammit.
Anyway, we made it to the hospital.
"Hurry! The child is dying!"
"Gasp! M-Monster Shock! It's pediatric Monster Shock! Doctor! We have a pediatric Monster Shock patient!!!"
"Excuse me?"
The nurse went nuts over "Monster Shock" and frantically paged the doctor. Apparently it's a medical term used when someone goes into shock after being chased by monsters.
* * *
"Ugh! You do a volunteer activity and this is what happens? Hasn't today been way too long?"
Her tone was complaining, but Leona looked totally refreshed. She must feel good after doing a good deed.
"Ha ha ha, you're right. Still, it was a rewarding day. We even saved a kid at the end, right?"
"And I got to see Kim Geun-cheol's talent again. I'm glad I came."
"Geun-cheol gets a perfect score."
That's right.
When you think about it, it really was a rewarding day.
On a weekend, not only did I volunteer at an orphanage with my friends, we also rescued a civilian boy from a zone where a gate broke open.
"Heh heh heh, more than a perfect score. Honestly, I did everything today single-handedly. Hard carrying that team."
"Single-handedly carry, my ass. Today was my carry, you know?"
"I'm the one who saved the kid, though?"
We briefly argued over who did the best in a bit of credit-grabbing. But like everything in life, no conclusion was reached.
"Oh, but can we write a report on this and submit it to school?"
We did good work—if we can get an award from the school, we should.
"Probably? Let's all write it together and submit it. If we submit something like this, I heard you can get exempted from something you have to do over break."
"Wait, we have to do something over break?"
"Yeah. I don't know the details, but I heard you have to write something and turn it in. But if we submit this, we get exempted! What a steal!"
"We're definitely writing it!"
"Let's meet up tomorrow and write it!"
Sounds great!
"Heh heh, that's good. So where should we meet?"
"I'm a girl, so I can't go into the boys' dorm. Let's just go to a nearby café and write it. Kim Geun-cheol? You do know you have to be quiet in a café, right?"
"Do I go around screaming at every random place? Huh?"
After that discussion we stopped by the Schweinshaxe house and picked up the packaged food. It was probably all cold by then, though.
"We got it packaged, but finding a place to eat it is awkward. It's probably not great cold. And it's about time to head home."
"Mm, you're right. Curfew's coming up for us too. Geun-cheol, what should we do?"
"What do you mean? Kim Geun-cheol, you take this. You should eat it with Lee Si-hoo at the dorm."
Oh!
"You're just giving this to me too!!! I knew it, you're Angel Leona!!!"
"Take this debt to your grave!"
"Absolutely!!!"
What a glorious day! I even farmed Schweinshaxe! With that wrapped up, we boarded Leona's flying limousine and returned.
* * *
_________________________
「Main Quest: Omen 2」
「Quest Complete」
「Assault-Type F-rank Gate Destroyed」
「Reward: 2,500 Coin」
__________________________
"Oh...!"
The quest was completed by the time we arrived in front of the dorm! That makes two main quests cleared!
Not that I actually did anything active. All we did was pull monster aggro and rescue a civilian. But it seems it still counts as a clear.
Anyway.
[Coin Held: 5,020]
My wallet is finally crazy loaded! By clearing two main quests back-to-back, my coin balance has cracked five thousand.
"Heh heh heh."
A laugh slips out.
At that moment.
—Ding.
A chime rang.
[A new skill has been unlocked.]
An astonishing notice appeared!!!
"Geun-cheol?"
"Huh, uh?"
Just as I was about to scream, Si-hoo's face appeared in front of me. Well, sure. It's nothing urgent. I can check it a bit later.
"What should we do with the Schweinshaxe?"
This is the dinner Si-hoo and I are sharing. The work's been wrapped up cleanly. Let's enjoy a feast.
"Si-hoo. Let's go eat in your room."
"Oh, come on, again! Last time we ate chicken in my room! Today we eat in Geun-cheol's room!"
"Uh. Sure."
Doesn't matter to me.
"Heh heh heh, let's head inside then."
I opened the door and went straight into my room. The moment I got in, well, I took off my jacket, then peeled off my shirt, and right after I yanked off my pants.
"Wh, what?! No, no, no, no! Geun-cheol?!"
"Ah shit, you scared me. What? Why are you yelling?"
"Wh-why are you taking your clothes off...!"
"What?"
Si-hoo stared at me with a face gone completely red, shouting.
"I mean, we're home, so I took them off. Aren't you hot? Take your jacket off too."
"Oh, uh, th-that... I'm fine."
"Yeah?"
Anyway, I stripped down to just my boxers and a white tee. Nothing beats that feeling of taking your clothes off at home.
"Um, Geun-cheol... even so, just being in your underwear is kind of..."
"They're boxer briefs."
"Put something on!"
"Jeez. What's so fussy between guys?"
Lee Si-hoo is really sensitive about this kind of thing.
"Fine, man. I'll put on shorts."
"Mm... Oh, I'll pop this in the microwave."
I immediately grabbed a pair of shorts, put them on, and went to the bathroom to wash my feet. Taking off your socks and washing your feet is the unwritten rule.
"Yo! Let's eat then! Si-hoo, set the table!"
"Got it."
—Slide.
Si-hoo laid out the Schweinshaxe on the table. We'd let it cool and then reheated it in the microwave, but meat is still meat. I set the drinks, brought the utensils, and sat down; my stomach was growling.
"Si-hoo. Let's eat."
"Yeah. We've got to thank Leona for this one."
"She really is an angel."
—Psssh!
I cracked open a cola.
And popped a nicely sliced piece of Schweinshaxe into my mouth.
"Whoa...!"
It has this unique pig's-trotter flavor!
"This is a rare delicacy!"
"Heh heh. It's tastier than I thought. Kind of a distinctive pig's-trotter taste."
"I agree. Whoa... but wasn't today spectacularly insane?"
"It definitely was."
"We need to report this. Let's tell the school too. The gate was weird, right?"
At that, Si-hoo nodded.
"Yeah. We should. This is definitely strange."
"But at this point, don't you think it'll be on the TV news?"
"If it really was a warningless gate, it'll absolutely be on the news. It'll probably be reported worldwide."
"So we'll get interviewed too, then?"
"Geun-cheol, do you want to become the Scream Man who took the world by storm?"
"Doesn't sound bad."
"Heh heh heh. You sound like an idiot."
Anyway, Si-hoo and I devoured all the Schweinshaxe just like that. Probably because we used a lot of energy. It went down easily. Too bad Leona couldn't eat with us.
"Ah, I'm stuffed. Si-hoo, did you eat well?"
"Yeah. It was good."
"Wanna hit the bathhouse, then?"
"Again, again with the bathhouse. Geun-cheol. You know, right?"
"That you're coming?"
"No way I'm coming! I said I won't go!"
But why won't he go?
We're way overdue for a trip, aren't we?
"But Si-hoo, why exactly won't you go? I like going to the bathhouse with friends. Do you hate it?"
"I t-told you! It's embarrassing!"
"What's embarrassing between us? It's just you and me. The dream Geun-hoo combo. Bathhouse, let's go."
"Yeah. Absolutely not."
He's so finicky, honestly.
"More importantly, Geun-cheol. We said we'd write that report tomorrow, so think a bit in advance about how to write it."
Will do.