Chapter 122. A Vacation After So Long.
Chapter 122. A Vacation After So Long.
I apologized to the researchers, telling them the tour would have to be put on hold for a moment.
"The Yong Corps? What's this about all of a sudden?"
"Before we crossed over to this place, the Yong Corps' movements were a bit strange."
"Strange how?"
"Yeah, word was that after finishing their last missions and requests, the entire Yong Corps had returned to headquarters."
It was impossible for all of them to gather. As befitted their fame, they were constantly flooded with requests. The news that they'd cleared every last one of them and returned struck me as deeply suspicious.
"They said the Yong Corps was taking a brief rest to go meet the Commander..."
"Did they know about the dimensional fusion in advance?"
"We don't know the details either, but there's a high probability that the Queen and the Yong Corps knew. The last trace the Yong Corps left was in one of the other races' nations."
This was absolutely something the Advisor had planned. He must have obtained some kind of clue and slowly leaked bits of information to those close to me. And among them, the Queen would have been a top-priority target because of her connection to me.
"But how did they find out about the dimensional fusion in the first place?"
"That, we don't really..."
The people who would have known about the dimensional fusion were, at minimum, those with 'divine authority.' And among them, the ones friendly to me and willing to share information with my Yong Corps...
"The Pantheon..."
"Benefactor, surely not those stuck-up bastards..."
"They might have at least shared some information."
Even on Titan, the common people's image of the Pantheon was a lofty one: the palace where the gods dwelled. After all, an ordinary person couldn't dare set foot in the place to begin with.
'In the end, they're just living beings with personalities too...'
Thinking about it now, everything fell into place. The Pantheon had a 'returnee' they'd sent to help me. Of course, that returnee had turned out to be trash, completely different from what they'd intended.
"So then, the Old Man heard this from the Pantheon and issued a recall order to the corps members in preparation for the dimensional fusion..."
Why did the Pantheon tell him?
To repay the debt they owed me.
Why did they send a returnee?
Because he was meant to be someone who would assist me at my side.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't find an answer to the most important question: 'How did they know?'
"Ah, worrying like this isn't my style anyway. I'll find out when I meet them."
After resolving the situation, I called the researchers back and gave them the tour of the village as originally planned. I handled the chieftain and the researchers; my companions took care of the rest.
As they toured the village, the researchers and the dwarves mingled together, exchanging ideas about integrating science and magic.
Chieftain Galrand and Research Director Edwin approached me as they were looking around.
"Benefactor, I never imagined we could learn so many things!"
"President Cheon, I'm looking forward to the village's development. Relocating here seems to have been a good choice. New possibilities are opening up, and the opportunity to share our knowledge and grow together has been created."
I looked at them and said with a smile.
"That's a relief. I was worried you might be disappointed, thinking it's too rural."
Maybe because they didn't pay much attention to any place other than the area where Chairman Lee lived, they finished their tour faster than I expected. Then, when I offered to escort them to Incheon Port, they politely declined, saying they were fine.
"I suppose I should call you President Cheon now. If you ever go to Incheon Port, I would be grateful if you could procure some equipment necessary for our research."
"Something like that, sure. I'll keep it in mind."
I designated their residential zone, provided them with houses, and let them loose to tour around on their own. When I got home, the girls, who had already finished their schedules, were waiting for me.
As time passed and the weather grew properly hot, the clothes the girls wore around the house had gotten considerably thinner.
"Sihu, you went to the East Sea the other day, right?"
"Right?"
"Now it's gotten pretty safe thanks to the dwarves. Want to go play at the beach?"
The dwarves had installed in the village the artifact they'd used when they shot down the drones. Simply put, it was a nuclear umbrella etched with magic circuits.
"That doesn't sound half bad..."
"Right?"
We'd been running ourselves ragged until now, so taking a break every once in a while seemed like a good idea.
"Then we'd better set up a rotation system for who goes and who comes back. If we're the only ones to go, there'll be talk."
"Sihu, then I'll go round everyone up!"
She was so excited at the mention of going to play that she personally gathered the people, and to my surprise, everyone else seemed just as thrilled—they assembled in the hall in an instant.
"President Cheon, what's this about a sudden vacation...?"
"The village defenses have gotten a bit safer thanks to the dwarves, and it's tough if all we do is work ourselves to the bone, isn't it?"
"Do you happen to have a concrete plan in mind?"
"We'll head to the sea for the first time in a while. Eat some meat, have a drink or two."
I thought the beach was something mainly the younger crowd would be excited about, but I saw the old men with subtly expectant expressions as well. To what degree, you ask?
'Even the Chief of Staff, that old fellow, looks really happy...'
There were also some who voiced concerns.
"Won't it be a little inappropriate if it's just us?"
"We'll form groups and rotate so everyone gets a turn. We don't know what might be out there, so the first trip will be us going to check it out ourselves."
"Hmm... if it's the sea, there might be a lot of people..."
"If we go to places like Samcheok or Goseong on the Gangwon-do side, there won't be many."
Contrary to their initial concerns, they were now engaged in an animated discussion among themselves about what to pack and how to distribute the personnel.
'Around the time the apocalypse broke out, it was the off-season for the beach... so it should be fine.'
Just as I was mulling it over on my own, their conversation seemed to wrap up, and they called out to me.
"Then we'll post an announcement for the others. When do you plan on departing?"
"Hmm... let's make it a quick trip there and back. Who knows what might happen."
The party members each went out to wrap up the tasks they were responsible for. We butchered a large quantity of meat, something absolutely essential for a vacation. Thanks to the Second Awakening that had occurred this time, Father, whose ability had previously only worked on plants, could now apply it to animals as well.
'He's really like a druid... and his daughter uses elf skills...'
The situation was so exquisitely coincidental it made me laugh. After spending a few days finishing the personnel distribution and organizing the supplies, we boarded a helicopter and headed for the sea. The location chosen was a beach tucked away in a corner of Gangwon-do, truly a place where no one would be.
* * * * * * * *
Perhaps because it was a genuinely long-awaited vacation, the people were excited even on the helicopter. Of course, the sight of broken and collapsed buildings and cars outside was scenery that really didn't match a vacation at all.
"President Cheon, thanks to you, we're being treated to a luxurious vacation even in this situation."
"Well, everyone's going through hard times together. We've got to have days like this once in a while."
We had prepared for this day by roughly cutting a drum barrel in half to set up a makeshift grill plate. We also set up a few tents so people could rest, and everyone had gone off somewhere and come back changed into different clothes.
The girls had changed too, and they came wearing bikinis.
'Wow...'
Some of the others, who looked around our age, kept sneaking glances at them. As if conscious of those looks, I quietly asked,
"Where did you even get swimsuits like that...?"
She answered with a bright smile.
"When we went to that department store in Daejeon, and the last time we went to Busan—we went to a department store there too, remember? We brought them along just in case something like this ever came up!"
I was speechless at their meticulous preparedness.
"Sihu, so what do you think of me and unnie?"
They each struck a pose, showing off their figures for me. To be honest, they looked absolutely amazing, nothing short of perfect. After seeing nothing but blood-soaked zombies all the time, having this kind of eye candy put me in a very good mood. Without a word, I simply raised my thumb in approval.
The girls laughed, as if satisfied with my reaction, and the older adults spent their time just dipping their feet in the water. The kids around my age were swimming or splashing water around, playing pranks.
Just then, the President, dressed like a neighborhood ahjussi, and old man Chu Seong-geun approached me.
"Are you not going in the water?"
"Ah, yeah... I'll go dip myself in the water too, soon."
"President Cheon, with no zombies in sight, it's hard to believe the apocalypse has come..."
That was true. This beach was located in a remote place with absolutely no signs of people. It was so close it nearly touched North Korea, a place ordinary people couldn't even approach.
"But isn't everyone adapting, bit by bit?"
"You're right. We often hear news of pregnancies in the village as well."
As the three of us were talking, other older adults gathered around us and joined the conversation.
"Oh my, Mr. President. It's not just pregnancies; there are some who've already given birth~"
"Oh dear... I hadn't heard about that yet."
As the conversation was growing lively, my mother-in-law looked at me and steered the topic our way.
"Anyway, you two, are you not planning on having kids?"
"...?"
"Seeing the three of you stuck together all the time, it still looks pretty hot and steamy, so isn't it strange there's no pregnancy news?"
If someone told me to charge into a war barehanded, I'd do it, but being surrounded by older adults and asked this question left me quite flustered.
'Even though I'm far older in years... I still get flustered by questions like this...'
"Once the situation improves a bit, we'll think about it..."
"By then, won't we be too old? What if we die without ever seeing our grandchildren...?"
There was absolutely no chance of that. Their bodies hadn't awakened through some shortcut; they had accepted pure mana that I personally taught them. I couldn't guarantee immortality, but they would easily outlive their peers by dozens of years, at the very least.
Still, the older adults were smiling among themselves.
"You know, if you have a child, I can raise it like my own grandchild."
"I, too, have always wanted to leisurely play with a child, rather than living a headache-inducing life of politics or whatever."
Both were without children, which seemed to be why they were having this conversation. As we chatted away happily, the sky soon turned crimson, and the sunset glow appeared. It was gradually time for dinner, so people started preparing the meal on the beach. The girls still had large hoodies draped over their swimsuits.
'Ahem...'
After the meal was over, everyone else except me and the girls continued the drinking party, and we walked along the beach.
We must have walked quite far, all the way to a spot where rocks jutted out sparsely along the shore. The sight I had seen earlier wouldn't leave my mind, and I squeezed their hands tightly.
She said quietly,
"Sihu... there's nobody here..."