The Flood Disaster (3)

I scrambled into My Room thanks to Yoo Joonghyuk's unexpected help, and the rest of the party soon followed in for dinner. What followed was an awkward meal with the group.

…Joonghyuk's dragon-phoenix soup actually tastes good. But the stares from the women in our party nearly killed me from sheer discomfort.

Except for little Shin Yooseung, every woman at the table kept shooting glances at my face while eating the soup, and that made the whole meal genuinely unbearable.

But hey, that's all on me.

I'd been so fixated on the vitality-boosting skill that I completely failed to check my surroundings. Purely my fault. Still, investments for the future had to start now.

That was the only way to enjoy quality time with my future lovers and wives, after all.

Anyway, we finished dinner without incident, and I headed into the living room of My Room.

Time to make private rooms for everyone.

A little disappointing that Gilyoung, Jung Heewon, and Gong Pildu aren't here, but we'll meet them soon enough. No big deal.

I pressed the room-decorating button of My Little Hideout for the first time in a while. A translucent blue 3D screen of My Room's layout lit up.

"Expand My Room by fifty pyeong."

Spending the coins expanded My Room by about fifty pyeong, bringing the total to one hundred thirty.

Next I started efficiently allocating the space.

"Leave the living room as is, expand the kitchen a little, add a second bathroom, and make two shower rooms. Keep the interior simple—modern apartment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠style."

I bought ordinary flooring and wallpaper from the general store, applied them to My Room, and purchased the necessary furniture.

"First my room, then Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk, Han Sooyoung, Yoo Sangah, Jung Heewon, Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye, Shin Yooseung, Lee Gilyoung, Lee Seolhwa, and Lycaon, in that order."

Gong Pildu could get his room later, once we met up again.

I hated the idea of everyone still sleeping piled together in the living room, so I began creating private rooms for the party.

"I'll just use the king-size bed already in the living room for my own room. Double beds should be fine for everyone else."

A bed had to be comfortable enough to sleep and sprawl on, so I bought doubles instead of singles or super-singles.

I set the wallpaper to plain white and started filling each room with the basics: a bookshelf, desk, chair, dresser, wardrobe, and lighting.

"I'll take about fifteen pyeong for myself, give Lycaon the same fifteen since he's huge, and eight-pyeong studio-sized rooms for the rest. That should be plenty."

I was the owner of My Room, so no one would complain about me taking a little extra space. Lycaon's bulk justified the larger room, and eight pyeong wasn't exactly tiny anyway.

"Finally looks like a place where people actually live."

With the remaining space I built a storage room for general goods, another for monster byproducts, and a freezer for monster meat and the like.

"Finally done."

Decorating and expanding had burned through a fair number of coins, but after so long it felt good to spruce the place up.

Just then, multiple sets of footsteps approached from the kitchen side of the living room. I turned my head.

"Hey! Park Jinwoo! The whole My Room just started rumbling and shifting—!"

Kim Dokja appeared first, followed by the rest of the party. She had clearly been about to report the strange phenomenon on everyone's behalf.

I raised one hand and waved her off.

"That was me. I changed the layout and a few other things. Perfect timing that you're all here. Follow me."

"What?"

I left the bewildered party behind and started walking. They had no choice but to trail after me like ducklings.

Their obedient little procession was so cute I couldn't help a small smile as I began explaining the renovations.

"We've got more people living in My Room now, and everyone sleeping in one place was getting a bit much. So I made private rooms for all of you."

"Private rooms?"

Yoo Sangah tilted her head at my explanation. I nodded and stopped in front of my own door, opening it and giving them a little nod.

"This one's mine for now. After that I've made private rooms for Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk, Han Sooyoung, Yoo Sangah, Jung Heewon, Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye, Shin Yooseung, Lee Gilyoung, Lee Seolhwa, and Lycaon. I'll hand out nameplates with your names on them soon so they're easy to tell apart."

"Uh… uh…?"

I handed wooden nameplates engraved with each person's name to the blank-faced party and gave them gentle shoves toward their doors.

"Go check out your rooms first. I'll explain the rest later."

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Everyone except Yoo Joonghyuk rushed to open their doors and inspect their new rooms.

"Ohhh! You decorated these pretty nicely!"

Kim Dokja let out a small sound of admiration.

"Not bad."

Yoo Joonghyuk gave a calm nod.

"Only the basics, but… well, not bad."

Han Sooyoung reacted primly, though the corners of her mouth were twitching.

"Thanks to you, Jinwoo-ssi, we're living in luxury."

Yoo Sangah checked her room and beamed.

"It looks bigger than the room I lived in before the scenarios."

Lee Hyunsung was purely delighted.

"Whoa! This is awesome! Thanks for making me a room, Oppa!"

Lee Jihye confirmed her room and flashed a bright smile of gratitude.

"Is this really my room, Oppa?"

Shin Yooseung was just as purely happy as Hyunsung. Having her own room for the first time in her life probably made it even better.

"My goodness… You really are talented in every direction, Jinwoo-ssi."

Lee Seolhwa peered into her room with a look of mild surprise.

"Thank you for your consideration, Hoju."

Lycaon bowed his head politely in thanks.

"Thanks for being so genuinely happy about it, everyone."

I smiled at their delighted faces and nodded.

After making private rooms for the party and taking a quick wash, I turned in early. Today was the day Han Sooyoung would leave us.

Thud. Thud.

Right around the crack of dawn, I heard someone carefully, quietly walking outside my door.

I waited a moment, then heard My Room's door open and close. I immediately stepped outside.

Creeeak.

I opened the door quietly. Han Sooyoung was standing outside My Room, letting out a small sigh and casting a reluctant glance at the door—until her eyes met mine.

She flinched hard!

"Y-you…! What are you doing here?!"

Han Sooyoung bristled like a cat with its fur standing on end and glared at me with full wariness. I gave a small shrug and leaned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my back against My Room's door.

"Leaving already? After we finally got friendly and I even made you a private room."

"……………."

Her mouth clamped shut at my words. She avoided my eyes for a second before speaking.

"How did you know?"

"Went to bed early, so I woke up a little early too. Heard someone tiptoeing around outside, so I followed."

I glanced over her outfit and the bag slung on her back as I continued.

"That getup screams 'person who's leaving' to anyone who looks."

"Ah, shit…"

Han Sooyoung scrunched her face, scratched her head, and got a little snippy. Then she jabbed a finger at me.

"I don't have a choice either. I only stuck with you guys temporarily because of the contract with Kim Dokja. Lately the Constellations' sponsorships have dried up while I've been hanging around you, and having someone they don't trust nearby just makes things awkward for everyone."

"So you're bailing halfway? What about the contract?"

"That."

Sizzle!

An Avatar appeared beside Han Sooyoung. She fed it some ominous-colored liquid—poison, apparently—and the Avatar promptly collapsed onto the abandoned building's floor.

"This way the penalty for breaking the contract will hit the Avatar instead."

"That so? Clever as always."

"Of course. You think I became a genius beautiful girl author for nothing?"

Once she finished speaking, silence settled between us for a moment. Han Sooyoung scratched the back of her head again with an uncomfortable expression, then turned and started walking toward the building entrance while continuing.

"Anyway, I'm going. If there's a next time…"

"Sooyoung."

"…What now."

When I called her name she stopped dead and shot me a sidelong look. I smiled faintly at her.

"You said you only stuck with us temporarily because of the contract with Kim Dokja, right?"

"And?"

"Then how about becoming an official member of our party?"

"…What?"

Han Sooyoung's eyes went wide as if she truly couldn't believe it. I kept looking at her and continued.

"If it's because you attacked as the First Apostle and hurt Jihye, or because of Sangah-ssi's hostility, I'll talk them around. You know how good I am at persuasion, right?"

"……………."

Han Sooyoung just stared at me blankly. Then she scrunched the corners of her eyes a little and spoke.

"Hey. You know I'm the bitch who attacked your comrades, right? And you're offering a chance to a bitch like that? What are you, some goody-two-shoes hero from a novel?"

"Who knows. Does reaching out to people automatically make you a hero? Ordinary people can offer a helping hand to someone else too."

I pushed off from My Room's door and walked slowly toward her.

"So what's your answer? I'd prefer a good one, but looking at your face I doubt that's happening."

"…You know me well."

Han Sooyoung turned her head away with a prim expression, then rolled her eyes to glance at me again.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll pass. Like I said earlier, hanging with you guys made the Constellations' sponsorship money drop too much. I hate that."

She turned her back again and walked slowly toward the abandoned building's entrance.

"Still, thanks for the last few days. Your My Room was comfortable. And thanks for making me a room too."

"Hey, wait a second."

"Ah, seriously, what now—!"

Thud.

When she spun around again with a small burst of irritation, I held out a bag of lemon-flavored candies I'd bought from the general store.

Han Sooyoung stared blankly at the lemon candies in her hands, then lifted her head to look at me.

I smiled at her expression and said what I wanted to say.

"Parting gift. Stay healthy and don't get hurt until we meet again."

"…Says the patient covered in bandages."

Han Sooyoung snorted a laugh, tucked the candy bag into the pocket of her subspace coat, and finally turned for real, walking toward the building entrance.

"I'll enjoy them. You get better soon too."

"Yeah. Take care."

With that, Han Sooyoung walked out of the abandoned building with easy steps. I wouldn't see her again until the sixth main scenario on Peace Land.

Still, saying goodbye properly like this leaves me feeling at ease.

I glanced at the Avatar collapsed on the floor and slowly began unwrapping my bandages.

Thanks to the high-grade stamina recovery potion, my body had almost fully healed.

Crack! Pop!

Once the bandages were off I loosened up lightly, stretched big, and headed for the entrance Han Sooyoung had used, stepping outside the abandoned building.

"Alright, time to limber up a bit?"

Today was the day to take down the Disaster of Water, so I wanted to test the new skills I'd acquired. I started walking the area looking for monsters.

"Lizardmen, huh?"

Without even activating Clairvoyance I wandered the streets for a few dozen minutes. In the distance I spotted three 6th-grade sea species—Blue Lizardmen—prowling around. I smiled and walked toward them.

Krrk? Kwaaaak?

One of the Blue Lizardmen seemed to notice me. It turned its head, looked my way, and tilted its head in confusion.

Then—

Kwaaaaaak!!

It let out a great roar and charged. Its large bulk closed the distance to right in front of my nose in no time. Watching its movement, I smiled faintly and spoke.

"Scales of the Ice Ghost Dragon."

The moment I activated the skill extracted from the Ice Ghost Dragon, pure-white dragon scales sprouted across my entire body.

The Blue Lizardman swung its sharp claws at me.

Skreeeek!!

But its claws didn't even leave a scratch. Instead the tips of its claws snapped.

Grrrk…?!

The Blue Lizardman had swung an attack, yet I was unharmed and its own claws were broken. It tilted its head in pure confusion.

"Hmm. Performance is solid. Next up—Glacier Shaping."

The air around me grew sharply cold. The moment I pictured the shape I wanted in ice—

Crackle-crack!

An ice weapon formed in midair exactly as I'd imagined. This time I'd pictured a massive greatsword.

"Oh. It came out exactly the shape I wanted. Doesn't even cost that much mana."

Slash.

Kek…!!

I casually swung the greatsword and took the head off the Blue Lizardman that had been staring down at me in a daze.

"Excellent as a weapon too. Until the weapons I commissioned from the blacksmith of the volcano are ready, I can use this alongside Varisada."

The simple, heavy swing cleanly severed the Blue Lizardman's neck. I looked satisfied.

"Alright then…"

Crackle-crack!

I looked at the two remaining Blue Lizardmen snarling at me and activated Glacier Shaping again.

Dozens of elegant-looking ice spears formed in midair.

The Blue Lizardmen froze the moment they saw the spears, staring blankly at me.

I smiled at the frozen pair and flicked my hand, launching every ice spear at one of them.

Whoooosh!!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

One monster's life ended that easily. Impaled all over by ice spears, the Blue Lizardman died without even a final scream.

"Guess fighting the Ice Disaster paid off. Sixth-grades are easy now."

Watching two of its kin die so pointlessly under my hands, the last Blue Lizardman forced strength into its terror-locked body, turned its back, and fled.

"Oh? Who said you could run?"

My experiment wasn't finished yet.

Whoooooosh!!!

The moment I activated Snow Dragon Formation, a massive blizzard roared out with my body at the center.

Krrk…?! Krrrk…!!

The Blue Lizardman caught in the range was swallowed by the blizzard, its entire body beginning to freeze over slowly.

I narrowed my eyes at the freezing creature and spoke.

"Hmm… It's taking cold damage faster than I expected?"

I couldn't tell whether it was because Blue Lizardmen were sea species or something else, so I gradually reduced the mana feeding into Snow Dragon Formation.

The skill's range shrank and the freezing speed of the Blue Lizardman slowed.

I watched the range and freezing rate decrease, then nodded with a smile.

"Range and continuous damage scale with how much mana I pour in. Good info."

That finished testing the three skills extracted from the Ice Ghost Dragon. Now only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one remained.

"Thanks, buddy. You gave me a lot of good data. Last one."

"I'll send you off as painlessly as I can."

The technique the Ice Ghost Dragon had used to corner me began to reappear right here.

The moment the skill activated, cold-attribute ether condensed at my fingertips. That ether took the form of a frigid flame and steadily grew larger.

"Bye. I'll put your parts to good use."

KRAAAAAAANG——!!!

Once enough ether had condensed, I fired the Ghostly Cold Ice Flame to end the suffering of the half-frozen creature.

Everything in the path of the Ghostly Cold Ice Flame froze solid. The moment it brushed the Blue Lizardman, the monster's entire body froze and its life ended.

The aftershock of the Ghostly Cold Ice Flame froze the entire stretch of ground in front of me. It looked so much like an ice age had arrived that I scratched my cheek with a sheepish expression.

"Huh? Did I pour in too much mana? Everything's frozen solid."

I stared blankly at the frozen landscape for a second, then quickly pulled myself together and extracted the Blue Lizardman.

"Time to head back, I guess."

I'd tested the new skills, gathered data on them, and obtained 6th-grade monster parts. I smiled brightly and walked toward the abandoned building, whistling.

In that good mood I arrived at the building—only to find the entire party clustered inside, glancing at Han Sooyoung's collapsed Avatar on the floor and talking among themselves.

"What are you guys doing?"

When I spoke first, they all turned to look at me. Kim Dokja walked over.

"Han Sooyoung left an Avatar behind and took off, so we were talking about that. And where does an injured person get off wandering around?"

"I'm all better, don't worry, don't worry!"

I grinned cheerfully and patted my body to reassure the worried Kim Dokja. She gave me a skeptical look and scanned me over.

"Looks like you really are better. That's a relief. By the way, Jinwoo."

"Yeah?"

"What time did you leave your room? Did you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see Han Sooyoung?"

"Yeah, I saw her."

"What? Then why didn't you stop her?"

"She left of her own free will, and she was complaining that hanging with us had cut her Constellation sponsorships. How was I supposed to stop that?"

"Ugh…. From her perspective there were some awkward reasons, so I can understand why she left."

I watched Kim Dokja rest her chin on her hand and mutter thoughtfully, then spoke up.

"Hey, Dokja."

"Hm? What?"

"What are you doing today?"

"Today? I'll help Yooseung grow a bit, then cross the Han River to look for Gilyoung and Han Donghoon, I think."

"That so? Then I'll duck out for a bit in the middle of that. Gotta take down the Disaster of Water."

"What…? How are you getting north—ah, right, you have a spatial movement skill."

"Yep. Grab some coins, extract the Disaster of Water's parts and skills."

"Really…? Hmm…."

Kim Dokja rested her chin on her hand again and started thinking hard. Then Yoo Joonghyuk, who had been listening nearby, walked over to me.

"You're going to face the northern Disaster of Water?"

"Yep. For coins."

"I see."

Yoo Joonghyuk nodded slightly at my answer, then spoke. Kim Dokja did too.

"Then let's go. To kill the Disaster of Water."

"Prepare yourself. I will also go to kill the Disaster of Water."

Huh?

Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk spoke at the exact same time, then glared at each other.

"Why are you going that way? Weren't you supposed to head to the center?"

"Then why are you going? And thanks to Park Jinwoo's spatial movement skill, we can gather coins and grow stronger more efficiently by facing the northern disaster."

"What? Park Jinwoo is my party member. Who are you to order my comrade around?"

"Watch your words. The one who first proposed becoming comrades on the subway when the first main scenario began was Park Jinwoo. Therefore that guy was originally my party member, Kim Dokja."

Twitch!

Kim Dokja's eyes twitched at Yoo Joonghyuk's words. She turned her head and looked at me.

"Is everything she said true, Park Jinwoo?"

"Uh, uh? Yeah… Joonghyuk's right about that?"

It had already been more than a month, so the details were fuzzy, but I clearly remembered that when she'd been about to stomp me to death I'd opened the attribute window and asked her first to accept me as a comrade.

My honest answer made Kim Dokja's expression harden. Yoo Joonghyuk just looked at me with her usual blank face. I panicked at Dokja's expression and hurried to explain.

"N-no, Dokja, wait, listen. I did propose becoming comrades first, but I never got a clear answer from Joonghyuk back then! She just said I was useful and to follow her. Really!"

"Then I shall answer now. I will accept you as my party member, Park Jinwoo."

"Ha…?"

This time my expression froze solid at Yoo Joonghyuk's words. I never expected the great Yoo Joonghyuk herself to answer like that.

I stared at her in confusion.

"W-wait, you threaten to kill me every day because of my behavior and pranks, and now you're suddenly reacting like this?"

"…That is because you are a talented individual. There is no other meaning."

Right then Kim Dokja suddenly stepped in front of me, placing herself between Yoo Joonghyuk and me. Her face hardened as she glared at the woman in front of her.

"Hey. Are you trying to poach my party member right now? I never knew our Joonghyukie would pull something this underhanded."

"You're the one who has been dragging someone else's comrade around without my permission all this time. Step aside, Kim Dokja."

"No? I don't think I will. Not with a fox trying to steal someone else's member."

"What? Fox? Are you calling me that?"

"Who else is here?"

"………………."

"………………."

The two women fell silent and glared fiercely at each other. I clamped my mouth shut and looked back and forth between them with thoroughly confused eyes.