Chapter 56
“Then when should I call?”
“Because the estimated arrival time has a wide variance, I can’t give you a definite answer yet. It seems I’ll have to contact you separately.”
“Heeey, I see.”
Ophilia said she’d stay home in the morning and wait for the furniture we ordered to arrive. But since we didn’t know when it would come, the plan was for me, Han Dohee, and Chaea unnie to head to Busan first, then call Ophilia later with the summon skill.
Daengdaeng and Suri were going with me first, and Minium would stay home with Ophilia in case there was any work that required strength. Besides, this trip was a full-on overnight stay.
Driving from Seoul to Busan for a day trip? Honestly, that’s not easy. Just getting there would take about five hours, I think. And since today is December 23, we’d be spending Christmas Eve—not me—in Busan.
ㅡDing-dong
“Oh.”
Around 11 a.m., Han Dohee and Chaea unnie had arrived. The lucky two who got to learn our home address first.
ㅡClack
“Dohee unnie! Chaea unnie!”
“Wow, Eve. You moved to a seriously nice place.”
“Man, this house is nice.”
“Mmhmm. Right?”
“Ophilia, long time no see! Seeing you in a nice house makes you look way better!”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Ah, Ophilia. This is a housewarming gift.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Han Dohee brought what looked like three aroma candles in a nice paper bag. I’d told her I hadn’t slept properly last night, so I guess she brought something that helps you sleep.
“The gift your unnie brought is for Eve!”
“Whoa.”
Chaea unnie had brought this giant brown teddy bear plush, like I was some kid who likes stuff like that.
“Hehe... It’s cute.”
“Right?! I bought it because I thought Eve would like it!”
“Th-thank you....”
It’s not like I particularly like it, I’m just pretending to. The gift-giver is standing right there, after all. Still, it is kind of cute. Soft and huge too. It’s almost as tall as me.
“Yeah, seeing it in a place like this makes it look a lot better. You still don’t have much in the house? Should I buy you at least one piece of furniture?”
“Some of this only arrived yesterday. Today and tomorrow, a ton more is scheduled to arrive.”
“How’s your room, Eve? You said you bought a bed?”
“I have a bed! Want to see it?”
I opened my room door and showed them with Han Dohee and Chaea unnie. The vanity only had various skincare items and random things you use after showering, plus the computer desk and the bed, and that was about it.
But this is enough for me to live just fine. I’d say this is basically a full setup already.
“You really work hard on skincare, Eve? Are you the one using all this?”
“I don’t really know... Ophilia does all of it for me.... Hehe.”
“The leftover rooms are used by the golems?”
“Ah, um... it looks like Ophilia uses one room...”
There are two more rooms, and Ophilia uses one of the others. The last one is my photography studio. Honestly, I have no idea what kind of use it’ll end up getting.
“Hmm, I see? You’ve really become an influencer, haven’t you?”
“I want to take pictures together!”
“Hehe...”
“Chaea said she was happy because your follower count went up thanks to you.”
“Chaea unnie?”
“I think she’s hit around 50,000 now.”
“Gasp.”
“That’s right! Want to see? It suddenly shot up like crazy!”
Back when she only had about 25,000, 50,000 would mean it had doubled. Now that I have way more than that, it’s probably a win for Chaea unnie.
“Well, I guess we’ve seen enough of the house. What do you want to do? Should we head out now?”
“Ah, should we...? Ophilia, can I go out now?”
“Yes, I’ll help you change.”
“Okay. Unnies, please wait a sec.”
“Ooh, take your time.”
* * * * *
“Then, Princess, please stay safe.”
“Got it. Ophilia, please call me once everything that’s supposed to arrive today has arrived!”
“Understood.”
“Ophilia! I’ll take good care of Eve.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
I’m not a baby or anything. I can do just fine on my own. Anyway, Suri and Daengdaeng are coming with me. I am a little uneasy, though... maybe because I napped way too much during the day yesterday, I couldn’t sleep well last night.
We practiced something incredible with Ophilia, you know?
“So you’re saying Daengdaeng can fight?”
“Suri can do it too... that kind of thing.”
The tiny compressed artificial mana stone Ophilia had splurged on. It had been processed into a bracelet, and once the Command Issuance Skill’s rank rose to A+, it became possible to use mana stones to temporarily massively strengthen the golems.
Of course, since it uses both the mana in the mana stone and some of my own mana, it can’t be used indefinitely with just one stone. With the mana-stone bracelets I currently have, I can keep it up for about one hour at a time, four times over.
And since I’m using mana too, I need to leave some time in between and rest.
ㅡBeep!!
“Mm, okay. If there’s ever a fight later, I’ll do it then. Though I don’t know if there’ll be one this time.”
Daengdaeng is wiggling its butt like crazy at the idea that it might get stronger. I only sort of got the hang of it, so I haven’t actually tried it yet.
After that, we went down to the underground parking lot and got into Han Dohee’s Maxcruz, which she babied like crazy, and headed out. After I told Ophilia we’d bought a Rolls-Royce Cullinan as the house car, she kept insisting I never drive it around Busan.
“Driving in Busan is hard. Chaerin unnie is in Busan right now too, and I heard someone from the Nova Busan branch is driving her around instead.”
“Can roads really be that different when they’re the same road...? Aren’t they all just roads...?”
Anyway, we left the apartment complex in Han Dohee’s car. Daengdaeng and I were in the back seat, Suri was beside me, and Chaea unnie was in the passenger seat.
“By the way, Dohee unnie, don’t you go to Gates?”
“Me? I used to go all the time back in the day. Now? Not really. I just take it easy. I’ve got money, after all.”
“Heeey, I see.”
Come to think of it, a B-rank combat class could make at least twice as much as a normal office worker at a big company. From what I heard, she awakened around the same time as Chaea unnie in high school, so maybe that’s how the two of them got close.
Chaea unnie seems to go to Gates often, but when I asked, she said she doesn’t actually go into the Gate. She just hangs around the entrance and gets paid to treat injured people when they come out.
This is the life of a healer, huh. You don’t even need a medical license. Just awaken healing abilities, and that’s it??
“We’re taking the Gyeongbu Expressway first. Do you need to use the bathroom, by any chance?”
“Nope, I’m fine. I already went potty at home.”
“Pfft... Aww, you did~? You went potty?”
“...What.”
On the way we made a quick stop at a convenience store to buy some snacks and drinks, then got back on the road. Since it was 11 a.m. on a weekday, the roads weren’t all that congested, and Han Dohee drove pretty fast, so it was faster than I expected.
“Eve, if you’re sleepy, why don’t you get some sleep?”
“Ah, I’m okay for now.”
“Really? We’re going to have a lot of fun in Busan, so if you get sleepy, go to sleep quickly, okay?”
“Yeees.”
Still, even though I’d gone to bed late last night, I think I slept pretty well, so I was fine.
ㅡZzz....
* * * * *
Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. We arrived here around 1:40 p.m. while traveling from Seoul to Busan on the Gyeongbu Expressway.
“Wow, Gumi seems to have changed a lot.”
“Everyone moved out. It’s a dead city.”
“Ugh... Are we in Busan yet...?”
“Ah, you’re awake? We’re not in Busan yet. We’ve come a little past the halfway point.”
“Mm...”
After driving for a while and stopping briefly, I woke up from my nap, only to find out this was apparently where Han Dohee and Chaea unnie had originally lived. They’d lived here until they became adults, then awakened in high school, made money, and moved to Seoul.
They’d already been driving for about three hours, so they got out to rest for a bit, and because this was their hometown too.
“Eve, want to go see your unnies’ high school?”
“My high school? Yes, please!”
Apparently neither of them had been especially strong at studying, because their high school was a specialized vocational school. Since it was a weekday and not yet time for the students to be dismissed, there were still students on the sports field.
“Whoa, what a trash school. Still alive and kicking, huh.”
“It really was trash!”
“Wow.”
I didn’t study all that much either, so I don’t really have any strong feelings about high school. I had friends, but after graduating and serving in the military, we were the kind of friends who lost contact completely. In fact, we really did lose touch, so there aren’t many people I even remember.
“Come to think of it, how old are you two?”
“Huh, didn’t we tell you?”
“Nope.”
“How old do you think we are?”
“Um...”
To be honest, Chaea unnie seemed a little more mature than Han Dohee. Dohee had that landmine-girl style, so she dressed to look younger, while Chaea unnie dressed more like an adult and was taller, too.
“Twenty-five?”
“Nope, I’m twenty-seven.”
“Whoa.”
Since they said they were classmates from the same school, that meant they were the same age... and if I hadn’t been turned into a ten-year-old, I’d be 27 now too, so it turned out Han Dohee and Chaea unnie were the same age as me.
For some reason, I suddenly felt weird... They were the same age as me.
“What, surprised because we were older than you thought?”
“N-no. It’s just...”
“Well, we’ve seen everything there is to see. Shall we head back to the car?”
“Yeah, let’s.”
We were passing through a somewhat bustling-looking area in some nameless neighborhood when both of them got lost in memories, looking around, and then the car in front of us suddenly stopped, causing Han Dohee’s Maxcruz to slam on the brakes.
“Damn it, what kind of garbage driving is that!”
The furious Han Dohee was about to roll down the window and stick her whole face out to yell at them when—
ㅡBeep-beep, beep-beep....
ㅡToot toot toot toot
“Huh? Damn. Looks like a gate opened up.”
“Is it an open-type Gate?”
“Yeah, looks like it.”
“Gasp..! Did you hear that, Daengdaeng? Suri? It’s an open-type Gate!”
ㅡBeep!
ㅡKiiit..
Daengdaeng looked like it was desperate for a fight, while Suri was just kind of meh.
“What should we do? Should we go out and fight?”
“Hmm... There aren’t many Hunters around here. We’ll go out and fight, but if it’s too much trouble for you, Eve, you can stay here.”
“No! I’m coming too! Daengdaeng, Suri! Let’s go!”
With a click, the door opened. We left the car and stepped onto the sidewalk, with people moving farther away and only a handful of Awakened standing in the road.
“Phew... Calm down. We practiced a lot...!”
I replayed what I’d practiced with Ophilia in my head, then nodded at Daengdaeng.
“Answer the call!”
“Royal Hound. Fenrir—!”