The Jang Family
"Today's weather is sooo good!"
Hye-mi sat in the passenger seat with the window rolled all the way down, gazing at the cityscape whipping past. The weather really was great, just as she said — the sun blazed down on a sky so cloudless it looked like a sheet of pale blue drawing paper stretched taut. The road stretched endlessly, lined with fresh green trees, and the girls' spirits were soaring.
"It's been ages since we've had a day trip like this, seriously."
Hana, sitting in the back seat, said the same thing in an excited tone. Zixu, in the seat beside her, had her icy expression slightly thawed, her energy clearly rising.
"I'm so excited. Right, unnie?"
"Y-yeah, sooo!"
Hye-mi and Hana laughed together, their chemistry clicking perfectly. Hye-mi especially was in an even better mood than usual — probably because she'd achieved her first Awakening yesterday.
◈ Heals From Behind (B / B): Recovery skill effect +20%. Intelligence +1.
◈ No... Saiting (B / B): Intelligence +3.
Hye-mi was thrilled to have crossed level 100, the boundary of a beginner. In military terms, it felt like her remaining days had dropped from three digits to two.
Unfortunately, Kang-jun's emotions for such trivial things had nearly withered away, so he could only guess. He vaguely recalled feeling something like that, back when he was younger.
If only he'd been ten years younger...
After thinking that, he caught himself. Was he really getting old? It was a strange feeling — his body was young, but his mind was aging. Then a chuckle escaped him. Thinking of it as the desperate regression chronicle of a smut novelist addicted to sex, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.
I definitely had a pure time, too.
First playthrough, the fourth dungeon — smashing zombie heads around. That pure youth, driven by a sense of justice, not even knowing his own head would get smashed!
Yeah, there was a time like that.
Kang-jun groped through those hazy memories like a blind man feeling for objects. It wasn't bad, in its own way. There had been so many events and incidents — there was a certain pleasure in chewing over each one again.
The sedan came to a screeching halt in the middle of the city. The three women got out of the car, already buzzing with shopping thoughts.
"Alright, have fun. Don't come back too late."
"Yes, sunbae-nim! See you tomorrow!"
"Take care, team leader."
"Don't worry about us."
Each of the three women said something according to her own taste. The sedan roared away from the spot.
With the nuisance gone, Kang-jun turned up the music loud and drove joyfully down the road. He tapped his fingers to the beat and bobbed his head lightly back and forth. The car soon left the city center behind, the surroundings shifting from concrete buildings to a world of deep blue trees. Speeding through that was another kind of pleasure — the swaying trees gave a nice mood shift.
Jang Hye-yeon. How should I cook her?
Kang-jun wrestled with that question for quite a while, since the road alone was boring. How should he cook her so it'd become famous for being well done? Whether he ate her or not wasn't really the issue — eating or not eating didn't matter much. His aunt was always ready with her thighs spread, ten times more delicious than her niece. What mattered to him was the buildup for an even more thrilling pleasure.
If she saw her aunt getting eaten... what kind of reaction would she have?
The thought made his mouth water. His cock stood up. The twisted sensibilities he'd developed through terrible suffering over four playthroughs made him feel a strange pleasure when witnessing others' despair. Was this a kind of abnormal sexual desire?
Wow this is so damn depressing, seriously.
Fuck, this is the moment.
But Kang-jun was stubborn. Had he been played by that kind of political maneuvering just once or twice?!
Found a gap!
It didn't matter what the small talk below said.
· · ·
The sedan engine cut out on the gravel road, the wheels crunching beneath it. Kang-jun stepped out of the driver's seat. The sun was still strong — it was 3 PM, still in its prime.
"You've come."
Jang Hwa-young had come out to the gate at the sound of the car. A flush bloomed across her face. Her flower bud, which hadn't bloomed in her twenties, had fully opened like an autumn flower blooming in late fall.
Her skin and hair seemed to glow with more luster than before. Love, it seemed, was a source of vitality in life.
"It's hot out, why are you here..."
"When a precious guest comes, I can't just sit and welcome them, can I?"
They walked inside shoulder to shoulder. Jang Chul-min, who always greeted him with a hearty laugh, wasn't there. When he asked where he was, she said he'd gone to the city yesterday for household matters.
"What about Hye-yeon?"
"She'll be training at the dojo."
With the practitioner gone, only a man and a woman walked the corridor. Kang-jun suddenly felt playful and spun Hwa-young around to a corner of the hallway. Ah— Her eyes went wide, and instinctively she scanned her surroundings.
"Kang-jun, you keep scaring my heart like this! I told you not to play tricks like this, okay!"
"You're especially beautiful today. One kiss...?"
Kang-jun asked smoothly. Hwa-young smacked his arm.
"Tsk. Not during the day. I've decided that now."
She pushed his chest a bit hard while wall-pushing him. Her gaze as she looked up at him carried a sense of determination.
"From now on, that's the rule. Got it?"
"So that means I can do whatever I want at night?"
When Kang-jun whispered that, a flicker of embarrassment crossed Hwa-young's face. She seemed surprised that he'd say something like that.
"A, that's not what I meant..."
"Anyway, I understand. I don't really like forcing people who say no."
Kang-jun backed down obediently. His expression said: This guy? He'd retreated more gracefully than expected. But since he was agreeing to follow the rules, there was no point arguing about it.
Hwa-young slowly turned around. Kang-jun seized the moment and smacked her butt. Ah, this guy! She startled, her body jerking once. Then she whirled around to face him.
"A, my mistake."
Kang-jun grinned. Hwa-young pressed her lips into a straight line, gave him an up-and-down look, and then strode forward.
Cute. Makes me want to pound her.
The place they arrived at was her personal training hall. The quiet space seemed perfect for mental cultivation. Occasionally, the pleasant sound of wind rustling through trees could be heard.
"So, you shot a mana bullet with your sword."
Getting down to business, Hwa-young had now transformed into a martial artist. Somehow, the story of A-class Carlos had reached Hwa-young's ears, and she'd summoned him yesterday. Since there was an appointment to visit the mansion, Kang-jun had gladly driven over.
The talk about breaking Hye-yeon's mind was actually secondary. The real purpose was to discuss martial arts with Hwa-young.
"I suppose so."
The lecherous look had disappeared from Kang-jun's face too. When discussing martial arts, he became serious as well.
"It probably wasn't a superpower... You're a swordsman."
"Of course."
Hwa-young slowly took a seat. Kang-jun sat facing her.
"Actually, it's not that superpowered people can't be martial artists."
Her explanation began.
"There's a saying that everything converges at the extreme. Whether you're a superpowered person, a swordsman, or an archer — when you reach the extreme, everything meets at one point."
One Point.
She was talking about something similar to what the Sword Emperor had said.
"Of course, you might have the talent of a superpowered person. But, you said you shot a mana bullet through your sword. ...Having a medium is a different matter."
Hwa-young's gaze briefly touched Kang-jun's sword before dropping away.
"Except for mana cores, storing mana in an object is impossible without high-level skill. You know that well."
"That's right."
"The fact that you accomplished that is incredible. ...Other people probably won't easily believe it. Of course, I do. I know you well."
She emphasized her trust a bit.
"So... how did you do it?"
Actually, Kang-jun didn't remember that feeling well. He'd done it without really knowing, by accident.
So he made a gesture of tapping a single dot on the smooth wooden floor with his finger. Hwa-young looked at him with an expression asking what that meant.
"There's a dot here."
"Right."
"I put everything I could into it."
Hwa-young's eyes sharpened.
"And?"
Her voice was a bit eerie.
Kang-jun answered.
"So, I felt like I could do anything."
Ah—.
Hwa-young understood from there. This guy already knew the way to reach the extreme. The extreme of martial arts.
...Just where is your end, Kang-jun?