Chapter 86. Touring the Group.
Chapter 86. Touring the Group.
Chaeyeon didn't make a big deal out of it at all.
"What's the problem? It's not like she caught us in the act. Couples do that kind of thing."
Jia, on the other hand, went bright red and was completely mortified.
"Eep... Your mother saw me like that... this is so embarrassing!!"
Well, at least it's not as bad as the guy who made direct eye contact with her.
Honestly, knowing Chaeyeon's personality, I'd expected her to be dying of shame. That she wasn't surprised me. Jia asked her about it, and Chaeyeon answered.
"She's always been like that. Told me to bring a boyfriend home, said if I gave her grandkids early she'd take care of them. That kind of thing."
"Your mom is something else, and so are you, unnie..."
"Well, I'd already decided Sihu would be my first."
"Ah! My first time is yours too, oppa!"
The moment she said that, Chaeyeon gave me a quick peck on the lips. Not to be outdone, Jia announced her first time too and gave me a peck as well. And my lower half was being very honest with me.
"...♥"
"Oppa♥"
The moment we got up, we made love. Then we all went into the bathroom to wash up together, and we couldn't hold back and did it all over again.
* * * * * * * *
We finished showering, changed clothes, and headed out together when we got the call to come eat lunch. Since I'd never started my day this late, everyone was looking at me with curious eyes.
While we ate, I found it hard to meet my mother-in-law's eyes because of what had happened earlier, but every time our gazes crossed, she just smiled at me.
Ugh... I'm gonna get indigestion.
I wolfed down my food so fast I couldn't tell if it was going up my nose or down my throat. Those with work to do left, while a few of us lingered over tea, making conversation.
"Son-in-law, you're impressive. I've got a new respect for you."
"...Excuse me?"
"Two at once..."
My father-in-law must have had the gist of the situation explained to him, because he was clearing his throat loudly right next to her. And Chaeyeon, who apparently never imagined her mother would bring that up here, snapped.
"Mom!! We're in front of everyone... how embarrassing!"
"Oh my~ I'm complimenting your husband, is that a crime?"
Chaeyeon was yapping back and bickering with her mother, and Jia had her head practically buried in her chest. That's when the old man and my father-in-law sidled up next to me and spoke.
"Hey, you. You been sneaking some kind of good stuff without us?"
"Son-in-law, I'm of the opinion that one grandson and one granddaughter would be just dandy."
Ah, I just lost the ability to speak...
"Anyway, everyone should get back to what they were doing. I need to look around a bit and then pack my things as well."
I put an end to that dizzying conversation and stepped outside. As I walked around and people greeted me, I looked at the surroundings and saw everyone, even in the midst of ruin, carving out their own futures. They were steadily developing everything, too. Though, the one thing that was a little disappointing—no internet?
If any other survivors heard me say that, they'd say I didn't know how good I had it...
I suddenly got curious about what the researchers were up to, so I headed toward where Chairman Lee Hyeon-cheol's family and the researchers were living. When I got there, the researchers took one look at my face and stiffened up like some high-ranking official had just walked in, greeting me rigidly.
I'd heard from a college buddy that when a general visits a base, the soldiers go tense and rigid like that. Seemed like a similar deal.
"Hello, Representative! Are you here to see the Chairman?"
"No, I didn't come to ask for anything. I was just curious and stopped by."
"Yes, sir! Please, look around at your leisure."
"Ah... right. Keep up the good work."
Since I was honestly just bored, I poked my nose in here and there to see what they were doing. They were constantly tinkering—fixing machinery, assembling parts, their hands never still. At some point, someone must have sent word, because I saw Chairman Lee Hyeon-cheol and his family coming from a distance.
"Representative, I heard you'd arrived. What brings you here without any notice...?"
"Chairman, I was just taking a quick look around to see what everyone else has been up to before I head out tomorrow."
"Ho ho, please, there's no need for 'Chairman.' Just speak comfortably."
"Ha ha, I'll work on that once I get more comfortable. You're my elder, after all."
Chairman Lee guided me to his house, which was built large by linking several container homes together. Actually, we'd offered to give him a proper family house to live in, but he'd said it wasn't necessary and refused.
Didn't he say since he's Awakened, he had strength to spare and hauled the materials himself?
He personally prepared the tea we would drink. To return the favor, I pulled out a truly enormous quantity of chocolate I'd stuffed into the subspace back in Japan.
"Representative, you still have chocolate left...?"
"Ah, time doesn't pass inside this anyway. Don't worry, you can eat it."
"Goodness... I'm not sure we should be the only ones enjoying such nice things."
"I'm going around and handing it out to everyone anyway, so please, don't worry and help yourself."
As for the news he shared, they were currently planning to supply small generators to every household. And they were working on modifying cars to be sturdy enough to handle collisions with zombies. I spent a few dozen minutes chatting with them, then left with them seeing me off.
After that, I went to the training ground that'd been set up just for our party, outside of the regular training hours. The girls were there, along with Commander Go, Min-cheol, Seok-hyeon, Yuna, Yuto, and the others.
"Oh, hyung-nim! What brings you to the training ground?"
"Nothing much. I was just making the rounds before I leave tomorrow and got curious."
Min-cheol and Seok-hyeon, both swordsmen, often sparred with each other. Yuna practiced archery with Jia. And the old man, Chu Seong-geun, sparred with Yuto in a style where Yuto attacked and he focused purely on defense. Chaeyeon was learning magic from Terion, who was something of a star instructor here.
As I stood there quietly watching their training, I started to get a little fidgety myself. So I got up from where I'd been sitting, dusted the dirt off my pants, and spoke.
"Everyone, hold on a moment."
They all stopped their training and sparring and turned to look at me.
"Let's have a sparring match. With me."
"Hmm... would we even be a match for you?"
"Old man, all of you can come at me at once. I won't attack. I'll only defend."
As I said that, I drew a circle in the dirt roughly big enough to fit a car.
"If you make me step outside this circle, or even leave a single scratch on me, I'll count that as your win. And anyone who pulls it off, I'll grant you one favor. Anything you want."
At the promise of having any favor granted, their eyes all lit up at once.
The Disaster... granting a favor...?
A favor from the Representative...
Hmm...
"We haven't even started yet, so wipe those 'mission accomplished' looks off your faces."
Everyone was checking their gear and getting re-situated. Terion had even returned to his main body and was clutching his staff.
"No. Terion, you're out."
"Hmm...? Am I not permitted to join?"
"If you do, every piece of terrain and structure around here is going to get smashed to bits..."
"I had a favor I was truly keen on asking. A pity, that..."
"What was the favor, anyway?"
The thing Terion had wanted to ask me for was a tiny mote of my origin essence. Being undead, he could possess corpses, but more than that, he wanted what only the pinnacle of the undead—a Lich—could achieve: permanent possession.
In other words, he wanted to return to a human body. There simply wasn't a physical form on Earth that could hold Terion's mana. So he was planning to use my origin essence to forcefully reinforce a body. Since he'd just be using an already-dead corpse, it didn't really matter much to me.
Well... he's protecting the group well enough, and he's teaching Chaeyeon. I'll give it some thought.
I suddenly got curious about what the others wanted.
"What about the rest of you? What were you going to ask for?"
The eldest among them, old man Chu Seong-geun, was the first to step up and answer.
"Hmm... if we ever met Dwarves later on, I was going to ask for their technical knowledge. I've heard they're loath to pass it on to other races. But a request from you—wouldn't they grant it?"
"We don't even know if they'll come or not."
"Ho ho, I've got a feeling we'll meet them. Just chalk it up to an old man's intuition."
Maybe because the old man had spoken up first, the others started saying what they wanted too. Seok-hyeon, Min-cheol, and Commander Go, true to their martial leanings, asked me to teach them a way to increase their mana. Chaeyeon and Jia said they'd tell me when they thought of something.
"Alright, last but not least, what about you two?"
The siblings hemmed and hawed. Yuto elbowed Yuna, as if telling her to hurry up and spit it out.
"I said I wanted a bow... like Jia unnie... And my little brother, he said he wanted a pair of daggers..."
Hm... Something they could use...
I was mulling over what to give them, but Yuna must've taken my hesitation the wrong way, because she hurriedly started backtracking, saying it was fine.
"No, that's not it. I was just thinking about what would suit you two."
"But... if it's something too valuable..."
"It's fine. The only reason I'm even holding onto them is because I collected them as war trophies without a second thought. They're not especially precious or meaningful to me. And they were never a threat to me in the first place."
In the first place, is there even a weapon in existence whose performance alone could threaten me?
"Anyway, the chit-chat's over. Now... come at me."
* * * * * * * *
In the secluded clearing they used as the training ground, people were sprawled out all over the place. Some were gasping for breath, others lying flat on the ground in silence with their eyes closed.
"Ugh... Sihu! Just let me land one hit, please!!"
"Ughh..."
Jia was throwing an adorable little tantrum, and Chaeyeon, having completely exhausted her mana, was just heaving ragged breaths. I glanced over at my sleeve while looking at them and saw the cuff was slightly blackened, as if singed by fire.
She's been getting personal tutoring from Terion... so this was a bit unexpected.
Chaeyeon was definitely the strongest one here. I called everyone back together, showed them the end of my sleeve, and said.
"You managed to graze me. A promise is a promise, so I'll grant your favors."
Their tired, exhausted faces all switched to bright, elated expressions at the thought that they'd done it.
"However. I'll grant them after I get back. If anyone hasn't shown improvement by then, the offer is off the table."
Evening was approaching, so I told them to go wash up for dinner and headed up to the rooftop of the assembly hall first. The President had suggested that since I'd be leaving tomorrow, we should all gather with the senior staff for a meal. We ate together often enough, but it was rare for literally every single person to be present, what with everyone's personal business.
I'd already brought fresh fish from the fish farm, along with eggs and meat and such.
— Patterpatterpatter! Swish!
As expected, the first to arrive were the President and the people around him. And after that, they trickled in one by one until we were all assembled.
"By the way, Representative, did you really know how to clean and dress a fish?"
"Well, you have to do a bit of everything if you want to survive."
I'd already packed my bags in advance anyway, so tonight I could just relax and eat my fill. My father-in-law, his face a little flushed with drink, drew everyone's attention and spoke.
"To our Representative—not that I'm worried—but safe travels anyway, and cheers!"
""Cheers!!""