Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Guardians' Invitation
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"The Guardians' invitation allows up to two companions."
"Yay!!"
Alice threw both hands up in excitement upon hearing Jin-ah's words and let out a cheer.
Alice was lucky.
This Guardians invitation could practically be called an event just for her.
In the end, he had no intention of going to the invitation that wasn't meant for him, but he ended up attending because of her.
Still, seeing her beaming with pure joy like that made him think that enduring a short outing for her sake was worth it.
The companions were, of course, Alice and Kim Jin-ah.
No one else seemed particularly eager to go besides Alice.
Jae-eun hated the idea of a stiff, formal event, and Yu-na didn't seem all that interested either.
"So, where exactly does this invitation take us?"
"The location of the Guardians headquarters is a top-secret matter."
"I see."
"They have a lot of bad blood with villains. Naturally, the headquarters location is kept under strict secrecy. They'll probably come pick you up."
As Jin-ah said, a few days later, they sent a plane to Jeju Airport to pick him up.
It was a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
It had a sleek, high-end, cutting-edge vibe to it.
"Holy moly!!! Th-the Guardians emblem!!"
Alice was stomping her feet in excitement at the sight of the plane.
The emblem featured the word "Guardians" orbiting around Earth like a satellite.
They were usually focused on their own country, but he knew they did a lot of good deeds too.
'Though all I know is from Nutube or TV...'
Honestly, they seemed to do more good than he did, so on the surface, they were a decent organization.
They occasionally handled international matters for a reasonable fee, it seemed.
He had no idea how much they charged, but it was probably quite a bit.
He could feel the envious stares directed at them as they boarded the Guardians' vertical takeoff craft.
"Welcome. Mr. Park Un-ho. I am Olivia Fisher, and I will be serving as your supporter for the duration of this trip."
A pretty flight attendant in a neat brown Guardians uniform greeted them politely in fluent Korean.
She looked mixed-race.
"You speak Korean well."
"My mother is Korean."
He wasn't really curious, but exchanging one more word with a beauty was just good manners.
"This feels like a dream. Me, riding this plane!!"
Alice was thrilled, looking around the interior of the plane.
That it was designed for a small number of VIPs was evident from the interior.
"We hope you have a comfortable journey."
-Vroom.
The plane rose smoothly with the sound of the engines.
The ride was incredibly smooth.
"Where is that place located?"
"I'm sorry. It's classified, so I can't tell you."
It was the expected response.
He'd asked just to see.
Since it was a secret, he had no intention of prying further.
"How's life here? Anything tough?"
"Pardon? Oh... no, nothing."
"Stop flirting already..."
Jin-ah shot him a glare and scolded him.
"Ahem..."
It's not a trap or anything, is it... since they said it's secret...
He entertained some needless worries.
He didn't care if it was a trap, but Alice and Jin-ah were a concern.
'I doubt I'd lose to those S-rank Awakeners...'
If all he knew was from the internet and media, he honestly thought he was stronger.
Still, they probably had some hidden cards.
He did too, so they surely weren't any different.
'They won't underestimate me...'
Still, he needed to overwhelm them.
He decided to level up Body Strengthening one more time.
Fortunately, he'd earned some points from dealing with that Black Wolf guy and the Sejong City zombies before.
He currently had 9 skill points saved up.
He needed 7 more to upgrade Body Strengthening.
That meant taking down 70 low-grade Corrupted Beings.
Sejong City had already been cleaned out by Cheonbu Gate, the survivor camp, and himself.
Mob monsters weren't even worth the time to hunt.
In the end, he had to take down mid-grade Corrupted Beings or higher.
Fortunately, he'd recently acquired some useful underlings for that.
But it was regrettable that he couldn't mobilize many since they were busy building the residential area.
"Where's the bathroom?"
"This way."
For a plane bathroom, it was pretty spacious.
It seemed designed solely for VIP guests from the start, with top-notch facilities.
He used the Login skill in the bathroom to enter the zombie world.
The zombie world was blazing under the sun.
It was midsummer.
The people from Cheonbu Gate and the survivor camp were probably suffering in this scorching heat, cleaning up the site they'd chosen for the residential area.
Work, you workers.
That's why he'd taken over the troublesome camp—to make them work hard.
He spotted a woman watering the rooftop garden.
"Ah, Mr. Un-ho."
She seemed a bit startled by his sudden appearance but quickly bowed her head in greeting.
He didn't know her name.
She was one of the women rescued from the raiders' hideout before.
Unable to adapt to Cheonbu Gate, she was living here again.
Naturally, they couldn't feed and house her for free.
She was doing tasks like cleaning the school building.
'Hmm... she looks fine...'
Most women had said daily life at Cheonbu Gate was too tough.
Makes sense, since he was the only man there besides himself.
Sweat beaded on her forehead. He pulled an ice cream from his Inventory and handed it to her.
"Here, it's hot. Eat this and keep going."
"Ah! Y-yes! Thank you!"
Leaving her bowing repeatedly with the ice cream, he headed down the stairs.
Cool air hit him as he entered the lounge-slash-dining area.
Air conditioning.
He'd installed it for the kids.
His enhanced body wasn't affected by external temperatures, but kids were different.
The little ones were enjoying cartoons in the cool breeze, while Han Su-ji and a woman in her thirties were chatting.
She was Joo Ha-ran, Seol-hwa's mother.
She'd visited often to see Seol-hwa and grown close to the kids. Now she chatted casually even with Su-ji.
Since summer hit, she spent more time here.
Obviously because of the AC.
Cheonbu Gate didn't have the luxury for that yet.
Joo Ha-ran would have been a knockout beauty who turned heads in the old days.
Now he could control himself to some extent.
.........Honestly, was it control...
Or because there were plenty of women he could have anytime...
He wasn't sure.
"Oh? Uncle."
"Come on in, Mr. Park."
Han Su-ji and Joo Ha-ran welcomed him upon spotting him.
"Where are the others?"
"Huh? They went out house hunting..."
After he mentioned planning to relocate the residence, Ji-ah and Chae-won seemed to be scouting livable spots.
Seol-hwa was probably at a zombie cleanup site.
He'd given her full authority over the survivor camp management and told the camp officers to treat her the same as him.
She was his woman, after all.
And strong, so she wouldn't be disrespected.
He'd told Baek Seol-hwa she could take it easy, but the diligent girl didn't listen.
Seeing her toil in the blazing sun made him wonder if he'd made a mistake assigning her.
'Should I have just left it to Im-gu?'
"Anyway, Uncle, listen to this. I found out something big. That Seol-hwa girl—it's all just her concept."
Su-ji seemed excited for some reason. She was gossiping behind busy Seol-hwa's back, the nerve.
'She knows who's standing right here, right?'
Still, he couldn't help being curious.
"Concept?"
It wasn't anything special.
The Cheonbu Gate Lord grandpa had doted on Seol-hwa since she was little and watched TV with her.
The issue was that grandpa watched historical dramas.
In the end, influenced by him, Seol-hwa became a historical drama otaku.
Her odd speech patterns came from historical dramas, not wuxia.
'So Seol-hwa was just a historical drama fanatic? Good thing it's not childhood trauma...'
As he chatted idly with them, Suni reported in.
Cheongju hadn't started full-scale hunting yet due to residential area cleanup.
For now, he'd sent Cheon Su-ho and the prisoners to hunt.
Apparently, their manager had made contact.
First harvest at last?
"Sorry, something came up."
He excused himself from Joo Ha-ran.
A quick trip for one skill point.
No way he was passing that up.
"Hehe. Take care, Mr. Park."
With Joo Ha-ran's send-off, he headed to Cheongju.
He soared through the sky and arrived in an instant.
-Thud.
Hero landing.
He tried it to see why heroes loved it so much.
Now he got it.
Why it became the standard.
Distributing the impact properly through arms and legs made for efficient landing.
Style and efficiency in one.
He tried thinking of other poses, but nothing came to mind.
Standing stiff like a gymnast felt weird...
And rolling to cushion the impact? Heroes obsessed with style would never.
As he pondered such nonsense, a tense man stood rigidly before him.
A clean-cut guy in his thirties.
'Who’s this?'
[He's Do Hyun-seong, the human appointed as the prisoners' manager.]