Chapter 39. Hero, Are You By Any Chance Sleeping...?
Chapter 39. Hero, Are You By Any Chance Sleeping...?
The economic sanctions were lifted faster than expected.
This meant the IRA was relentlessly pecking away at China without a moment's rest.
[ Author: Anonymous ]
[ Title: Thought the IRA was gonna rip my guts out, fuck ]
[ Content: (mosaic-covered photo of Chinese visa and passport) Fuck, man... I run a wholesale business and got dragged in by the cops all of a sudden... read more ]
└ For real?? You're lucky to be alive lol
└ OP: Well, my shop's a tiny hole-in-the-wall, so this was about it. Heard some bigger factory owners got beaten up pretty bad.
└ Anonymous I saw the pictures of the people released, their faces were fuckin' hollow.
The people who had been detained by the public security officers were swiftly returning to Korea.
And matching that pace, the Korean government also quickly held a press conference to clarify its current stance.
[ Illegal Fishing in the West Sea & China Coast Guard's Use of Force, 'Will Respond Strongly' ]
[ Korean Government Strongly Condemns China's Historical Distortion... 'Immediately Revise the Northeast Project' ]
[ Revocation of Medical Benefit Preferences for Overseas Chinese... 'They Are Not Citizens of the Republic of Korea' ]
└ This was how it should be, damn it lol
└ Why were they only doing this now?
└ We didn't have the power back then.
The majority of reactions were positive.
Yet, among them, a few negative comments existed here and there.
└ No, was it really right to discriminate against people living in Korea like this?
└ Unbelievable, they've been freeloading all this time and now they've lost all conscience.
└ Yep~ Serves you right lol
But the negative comments were met with countless dislikes and malicious comments.
While the citizens were rejoicing as if at a festival, I wasn't there yet.
This was merely reclaiming the rights we should have had all along.
'What's there to be so happy about already?'
The most important talk of 'compensation' hadn't even come out yet.
'You have to let it simmer for a long time... wait for the right moment, and then squeeze out every last drop.'
As the year-end party ended and the IRA made noise both inside and out, time flew by in an instant.
---
"Come to think of it, Lunar New Year is coming up..."
"Lunar New Year... is it something like the founding day of the Everheim Empire?"
To be honest, I didn't really know the origin of 'Lunar New Year' either.
I'd just always thought of it as a long holiday, a day off.
"I'm not sure..."
"Right! Hero, just a moment!"
Before starting the stream, Laila said she had something to prepare and went into her room.
A few minutes after hearing rustling sounds from inside, the door opened and Laila came out.
"How do I look?"
A Hanbok.
Laila wore a blue jeogori and a red skirt, with a golden hairpin in her hair.
She grabbed her skirt, twirled around once, and smiled bashfully.
"..."
"Hero! I asked how I look!"
"P... pretty..."
My face flushed for no reason.
After returning to Earth instead of the battlefield, I recognized where my heart was heading.
I kept asking myself over and over if it was just a misunderstanding.
And then I reached a conclusion, and in front of the extraordinarily perceptive Laila, I desperately pretended to be nonchalant.
"Let's start the stream for now...!"
Laila, now skilled at setting up the stream, typed in the title and turned it on.
[ World's Strongest Hero : A New Bride in a Hanbok ]
'...?'
[SaintessSaintess what is that supposed to mean...]
[Fuck, I was about to write a 5700-word essay as soon as I got here, but seeing the Saintess made me forget everything I was gonna say]
[Wow... this is insane...]
Laila in her Hanbok looked like a nine-tailed fox straight out of a folktale.
A nine-tailed fox so beautiful she could enchant anyone.
"Hero... Hero! Hero!"
"Huh!?"
"Hero, why can't you focus these days!"
The problem was... I was enchanted too.
Ever since we were kids, Laila had always been stuck right by my side.
It wasn't much different from now, but as time passed and she... grew (?), it became a problem for me.
'...'
I kept glancing over at Laila, who was communicating with the viewers next to me.
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- Why is this bastard so unfocused today?
I flinched in surprise at the sudden AI voice.
I let out a sigh and swept my hair back.
"Ah, I'm sorry. There's been a lot going on lately, you know? It's because of that..."
[Anonymous He must be busy]
[Right, he's the one at the center of it, he must be troubled]
I was sorry for not being able to focus.
It wasn't that I was troubled because of that (?) issue, but either way, I was troubled.
As soon as we more or less finished the stream, my mother came into the room as if she had been waiting.
She told us to get ready to go to the main family house.
"The main house?"
"That's right. We're going now because the traffic is going to be jammed on the actual holiday."
"I don't mind that, but what about the five years I..."
"It's fine. Nobody's going to ask."
"..."
She spoke firmly, as if the conversation on that topic was over.
Just then, Laila hesitantly spoke from beside me.
"Um... I'll stay at home, so please go and come back!"
"What are you talking about? Laila, you're family too, so we have to go together."
---
Compared to other families (?), our family wasn't large.
In the first place, my mother had no siblings, and my father only had one older brother.
'My grandmother and grandfather on my father's side passed away a long time ago...'
Before I disappeared, we simply met up with my uncle's family and had a light meal together.
─ Ding-dong!
"Brother, we're here."
The door opened, and I saw the face of my uncle, still just as I remembered it.
"Oh my, younger brother's wife has arrived?"
After greeting my mother and father, my uncle's gaze lingered on me for a moment.
His expression looked like he had a lot to say, but he simply smiled.
"You look healthy."
And finally, his eyes widened when he saw Laila, who was dressed neatly in her Hanbok.
"Wh... who is this...?"
"Brother, let's go inside and I'll explain slowly."
"Ah, very well..."
When we stepped inside, we could already see a feast prepared by my aunt.
My aunt also looked like she had a lot to say, but just like my uncle, she simply remarked that I looked healthy and said that was a relief.
Fortunately, the meal was harmonious, and the drinking session continued among the adults.
Then my uncle, who had been glancing at Laila, cleared his throat and drew everyone's attention.
"So, is this our nephew's girlfriend? She looks so beautiful in her Hanbok."
"It's... not like that, she's just a colleague."
"Hmm, is that so?"
If it were the viewers, I would have just lashed out in anger, but when an elder in the family asks like this, I didn’t know what to do.
Detecting my discomfort (?), my mother changed the subject.
"Laila, shall we go to the mart together?"
"The mart?"
"I'm going to buy some snacks for the drinks."
My mother took Laila by the wrist and headed outside.
"Younger brother's wife, there's still plenty of side dishes..."
"We'll be right back!"
"Ah, yes..."
---
As my mother and Laila went out together, I felt my father's gaze on me as he sipped his drink.
"?"
"Laila is excellent daughter-in-law material."
"Wh... what are you talking about...!"
"It's about time you became independent."
My aunt and uncle were watching us with expressions of interest, as if observing a good spectacle.
"Son, have you really never once looked at Laila as a woman?"
"..."
"Who did you take after to be this clueless... tsk tsk..."
At my father's words, my uncle burst out laughing, and my aunt covered her mouth and giggled.
"Khuhu... To think I'd hear such words from your mouth... If you hadn't married your wife, you wouldn't have managed to marry my younger brother's wife either!"
"Brother, that was ages ago...!"
"Dear, you're really not one to talk, are you...?"
"..."
I heard that when my father and uncle—these two—were dating my mother and aunt, they were hopelessly clueless and incredibly frustrating.
So much so that my mother grabbed my aunt's hand and even settled it (?) in front of my grandmother.
"Your mother grabbed my hand and went to your grandmother."
"?"
"Even your aunt didn't know she'd march right in and ask her outright whether she preferred a grandson or a granddaughter."
"My mom did that...?"
It was unbelievable.
It's not just because I was her son, but my mother had always been a capable career woman even in the past.
That kind of good wife and wise mother said that sort of thing to my grandmother...?
"Aigoo... How is it that all the men of the Song family have absolutely no clue?"
Aunt...
As a son of the Song family who hears that, it stings a little, what do you mean by that...
"Ahem... Anyway, once we got married ourselves and saw the young kids, we could tell right away."
"What kind of thing...?"
"Just whether they'd live well or not if these two married and started a family."
My aunt continued my uncle's words with a smile.
"Her name was Laila, right? One thing for sure is that this child is the same type as your mother."
---
Just as I was stammering under the combined offensive of my uncle, aunt, and father, my mother and Laila returned from outside.
"What are you talking about so interestingly?"
"Ah, younger brother's wife, you're back. It's just the usual nagging of adults every holiday."
The drinking party went on late into the night.
My aunt and uncle were considerate and suggested we go home first.
"Is that okay?"
"It's fine. Conversations among adults are boring, and you're streaming again tomorrow, right?"
"Yes..."
"You should head home first."
We said our goodbyes to the adults and came outside.
Truth be told, I had drunk quite a bit as well, so I felt fairly tipsy.
Should I detoxify the alcohol with magic...
"Hero, why don't you just go to sleep?"
"Uh, huh...?"
"Wouldn't you feel more refreshed if you just slept deeply and then woke up?"
"I guess so..."
Perhaps because I was drunk, my thought process wasn't working smoothly at that moment.
Even after returning home, I half-heartedly washed up, roughly changed my clothes, and went to bed.
---
─ Creeak...
"Hero, are you asleep...?"
After poking her head through the doorway, Laila carefully opened the door and tiptoed inside.