Chapter 51
“…Phew.”
A man with hollow eyes smoked a cigarette. As he absentmindedly exhaled a plume of smoke, the ‘Black Moon’ executive Jo Jinhyeon looked up at the sky.
What the hell kind of mess had those damn brats gotten him into?
Several days had passed since the other executives had berated him for failing to properly carry out a mission to kidnap a single brat during the entrance exam. After gathering his subordinates to make up for his previous mistake, Jo Jinhyeon let a stream of curses spill from his mouth.
“What a load of bullshit. Then they should've given us a better scroll from the start, those damn bastards.”
It would've been much better if he'd simply handled things himself that day. They were the ones who had ordered him to lure them indirectly so he wouldn't leave any traces at Cheonmu, too.
Jo Jinhyeon hated plans made by idiots who knew nothing about fieldwork, and warmed the chilly night air with his cigarette.
-Creeeak.
“Field Commander, shall we start the meeting soon?”
“…Tch. Yeah.”
Jo Jinhyeon threw away the cigarette he had smoked halfway through without a moment's hesitation and entered through the back door of the old commercial building.
As he descended the stairs leading underground, he found that his subordinates were already seated around the table.
“You're here, Jo Jinhyeon.”
“…Yeah. Looks like everyone who was likely to show up has gathered.”
“What happened last time was unfortunate. If we'd acted a little more freely instead of following Jin Surin's plan, we'd have subdued those brats in an instant.”
“Don't put ‘-nim’ after her name in front of me. Just thinking about that fucking bitch makes me want to puke.”
“That's what you get from the delusions of empty-headed women sitting behind desks~. They don't know the hardships of people who work in the field like our boss~.”
“Enough useless chatter. Let's get on with the meeting. You said you'd confirmed Kim Isabel's movements earlier. Is that certain?”
“Yes. According to the information obtained by the scouting team, the target plans to visit ‘Amusement Park Neverland’ around 1:00 p.m. the following day.”
“Is she having some kind of academy acceptance party? What a childish idea, exactly what you'd expect from brats that age.”
They may have gotten lucky and defeated an Owlbear, but children were still children.
Jo Jinhyeon leaned back in his chair, reassuring himself with the thought that they had only failed last time because of bad luck.
“We can't fail this time. Forget the other targets for now; we absolutely have to secure that bitch Isabel.”
“I told you we should just wait for a decent opportunity and kidnap her outside~. Why did you follow that Jin Surin bitch's orders so literally~?”
“…You know there's no point in bringing up what's already over. In any case, nothing will go off course during this operation, so act with our top priority firmly in mind.”
The last operation had been chaotic from the moment they began planning it.
That bitch Jin Surin probably didn't realize how absurd it was to demand that they secure the target during the entrance exam in order to damage Cheonmu Academy's prestige.
Jo Jinhyeon stared at the map on the table while desperately suppressing the urge to slam his fist into her face.
“You said it was already certain that the target would be going to the amusement park. Surely she isn't crazy enough to go there alone.”
“According to Yoon Selene's information, she went out to meet the people who took the entrance exam with her last time. A girl who uses dark magic, the bitch who killed the Owlbear, and one guy from the support department who seems to have little use aside from his physical strength.”
“I hear that archer bitch's accuracy is terrible. We only need to watch out for the magic-using bitch, then.”
“No, the one we need to be most careful of is that Isabel bitch. For all her talk of being a saint, she can use binding magic instantly if she sets her mind to it. She can bind a human target with chains of light within a few seconds, unless it's a massive monster, so be careful.”
“That archer bitch was quite a looker when I saw her last time~. If I subdue her properly, can I play with her~?”
“Once we secure Kim Isabel, it doesn't matter whether we kill or spare the other bitches. …No, now that I think about it, we might as well kill them as an example. Watching a girl who was supposed to enroll as the academy's top-ranked student die pointlessly at the hands of a villain group would tarnish Cheonmu Academy's honor at least a little.”
“Aw, what~? Then I won't get to play with her for long~.”
“They're only secondary targets, so don't focus too much on them. In any case, our top priority is that Isabel bitch. That's all for the meeting. Return to your positions and prepare for the greater cause. Dismissed.”
“Yes, boss~.”
The operation that damn woman had devised, with all its talk of infiltration and manipulating their movements, had rubbed him the wrong way from the start. If they were going to do this, they should just raid the place outright.
Jo Jinhyeon stuck a fresh cigarette between his teeth, resolved to deal Cheonmu Academy a proper blow this time.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
Going on an amusement-park outing with three girls in tow was as enjoyable as I'd expected. Even more so because all three of them were heroines from 『Surviving at Hunter Academy』.
They were all beautiful enough that there was no need to mention their faces or figures, and their personalities were all different, making it fun to sample such a diverse selection.
Cuteness, purity, and liveliness all in one place. With Choi Mari, the cool beauty, and Park Hana, the tsundere, added to the mix, I might live this life without ever knowing loneliness.
“I-Isabel…? How long are you going to keep holding Seonho's hand…?”
“I intend to keep holding it as much as possible today. Because I was surrounded by those men earlier, I can't trust any man other than Mr. Lee Seonho.”
“I-Is that so…? Then do you want to hold mine…?”
“Thank you for the consideration, but simply staying by Mr. Lee Seonho's side is enough for me.”
“……”
Since my progress with each heroine was slightly different, something resembling a minor quarrel had nearly broken out, but I didn't bother intervening.
It was better to keep quiet than awkwardly take one side or the other, and watching the two of them subtly wage a battle of wills over me was rather pleasant.
To begin with, taking one side in a situation like this would only make things troublesome when pursuing the other. Especially when neither of them had clearly done anything wrong.
“Eun-joo, do you want to hold hands too? Here.”
“……Yeah.”
-Squeeze.
Instead of the right arm Kim Isabel had taken, I offered my left, and Cha Eun-joo carefully wrapped herself around it.
Rather than holding hands, she seemed to be clinging to my arm with her whole body, so naturally my arm ended up buried between her breasts.
“Hey, you two aren't actually dating….”
“Should we start with the Viking? Or the roller coaster?”
“…I don't know. Can't we take our time deciding while riding the Ferris wheel first? If we ride something too thrilling from the start, we won't be able to enjoy the less exciting rides later.”
Normally, Han Sora's suggestion would have been the right one when visiting an amusement park, but not today. Getting onto the Ferris wheel right now would be the same as crawling straight into the villains' gaping maw.
I couldn't even guarantee that Han Sora, whose physical abilities were superior to those of an ordinary person, would escape safely if that massive structure collapsed.
The Park siblings from the combat department might not care even if they fell from that height, but the same couldn't be said for me and my girls.
If we absorbed the impact with Kim Isabel's barrier and Cha Eun-joo's dark magic, we might survive, but expending too much strength before the full-scale battle began would do us no good.
“T-the carousel….”
“Hmm?”
“I-I want to ride the carousel first. Is that okay…?”
At this point, could it be that Cha Eun-joo was really reading my mind and acting according to my wishes?
She had made the perfect suggestion at exactly the right time. If both my hands hadn't been occupied, I would've immediately stroked her head or patted her butt.
“Yeah, the carousel sounds good.”
“I think that's a good idea too.”
“Then let's ride the carousel first and take our time looking around. We have plenty of time, anyway.”
Considering the original plot, the attack would occur in an hour or two, so it wasn't as though we had all that much time. Still, I kept that fact to myself and simply joined the line for the carousel.
Some sacrifices would simply have to be accepted. I didn't want to interfere so much that the original plot went off course, nor did I want to miss the opportunity to raise the heroines' favorability.
I wasn't capable of being a good person like the protagonist of the original story. As long as I could protect my own harem, I was satisfied.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
“Guests who are 150 centimeters or shorter must ride in a carriage instead of on a horse. Is that all right?”
“……Pardon?”
An attendant approached our group as we waited for our turn in front of the carousel.
Her words left Cha Eun-joo looking slightly flustered.
“Well, I guess that's fine. Then let's ride in the carriage.”
“The carriage seats four, so all four of you can ride together.”
Whether they were being considerate of Cha Eun-joo or genuinely didn't mind, Han Sora and Kim Isabel nodded in agreement with the attendant.
Under normal circumstances, I would've simply gone along with them and nodded. …But then I'd seen the troubled expression that had crossed Cha Eun-joo's face a moment earlier.
“I… I want to ride a horse….”
“Ah….”
“……”
Han Sora looked slightly flustered when she saw Cha Eun-joo's reaction.
You might wonder what a 150-centimeter height restriction could possibly mean for a carousel, but Neverland's carousel was somewhat intense.
Many of the amusement park's rides had fairly high height restrictions. Since hunters, whose physical abilities were superior to those of ordinary people, often used the park, the rides were inevitably more intense than those in my original world.
‘I completely let my guard down. I forgot that the original story had this setting.’
After all, 『Surviving at Hunter Academy』 didn't include Cha Eun-joo and me in this ‘Amusement Park Attack’ event. Seo Woojin, Han Sora, and Kim Isabel were all over 160 centimeters tall, so there had never been any reason for a problem like this to arise.
For Cha Eun-joo, who might or might not reach 150 centimeters even on tiptoe, it was an unfortunate height requirement in more ways than one.
“Hmm….”
“What should we do…?”
“Ah, no, it's fine. I'll just ride in the carriage. We've waited this long, so it can't be helped….”
I didn't like the idea of ruining our Eun-joo's mood after we'd gone to all this trouble to come out and have fun.
As I looked around for some way to get Cha Eun-joo onto a horse instead of into the carriage, I noticed a small rule on the ride's height-restriction sign: ‘Guests may ride with a guardian.’
“Excuse me, attendant.”
“Yes?”
“If someone has a guardian accompanying them, can a person 150 centimeters or shorter ride a horse?”
“Ah, yes. It's permitted as long as a guardian accompanies them.”
“Then I guess that's settled. Eun-joo, do you want to ride with me?”
“……Huh?”
Originally, we would've each mounted our own horse and moved along at a leisurely pace, but now the situation was different.
Thanks to the height restriction, I could legally ride with Cha Eun-joo in my arms. I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity.
Of course, if I openly announced that I, a man, would ride while holding Cha Eun-joo, it might make the atmosphere strange, so I first made an offer I didn't really mean.
“If you'd rather not ride with me, I could ask Sora or Isabel… Ah, Isabel might have a little trouble carrying Eun-joo.”
“…Hey, you know that's sexual harassment, right?”
“What are you talking about, Han Sora? I said it might be difficult because Isabel isn't much taller than Eun-joo. What kind of weird thought did you just have?”
“……I-Is that so?”
Han Sora awkwardly blushed and averted her gaze. She didn't look it, but apparently she was secretly self-conscious about her breast size.
“Th-then I'll ride with Seonho!”
“I'm her guardian, so I just have to hold her while riding, right?”
“Yes. Please board that way.”
“Good for you, Cha Eun-joo. You get to ride a horse.”
“Y-yeah…. Th-that's fortunate, heehee….”
Though somehow, she seemed happy for a reason other than simply getting to ride a horse.
After mounting a carousel horse with Cha Eun-joo in my arms, I pretended to watch the scenery outside while thoroughly enjoying her embarrassed expression.
-Squeeze.
“Nnh….”
I pretended to hold her tightly so she wouldn't slip, all the while gently rubbing Cha Eun-joo's waist with the hand I had on it and pulling her body toward me so that her butt pressed a little closer between my legs.
“……”
I also quietly savored Kim Isabel's silent gaze as she watched Cha Eun-joo and me from diagonally behind.