Chapter 59
“H-h, hoeek….”
Yanpei was dressed in a very un-princess-like outfit. And it was the middle of winter, too? If everyone else were dressed lightly, that would be one thing, but while everyone else was working hard not to freeze solid, she was the only one wearing something like that.
“Dohee!”
“Ah, unnie!”
“Eve and Chaea, too... F-first of all, there are too many eyes on us, so... I’ll text you later, so come over then. Ms. Yanpei, let’s get going.”
“Hmph, heheh. Bye-bye, little one~”
“Whoa, it got translated.”
Since she seemed a little cold, I rummaged around and pulled the dog I’d tucked into my pocket out, set it on my head, and Yanpei’s words came through translated. But by the time I was done, Yanpei had already left with Chae-rin unnie.
“Dohee, what did you get?”
“Looks like they booked Signiel Busan.”
“Gasp, that’s a super nice hotel.”
Chae-rin unnie’s text message to Han Dohee contained the reservation number and other details for a hotel room that had already been booked. It looked like they’d set it aside as backup lodging and handed it to us. But why? We already had a hotel reservation too. Of course, it wasn’t that amazing of a hotel.
“Are we going right now, Dohee?”
“We were going to the hotel anyway, right? Let’s just drive and change course a little.”
We took the car we’d parked in the public parking lot and ended up changing our destination to Signiel Busan. Suri had seemed to disappear for a while, but the moment we entered the parking lot, she suddenly appeared.
“Wow, Suri. Where were you?”
ㅡKiiit..
“You! You ate shrimp crackers, didn’t you! What is that on your mouth?”
Suri seemed to have gotten snacks from somewhere and been munching away. Eating on her own just fine, huh! Good, now you may descend.
“Ah, I’m completely exhausted. I was supposed to see Yanpei tomorrow, but now I ended up seeing her today.”
If things had gone according to the original schedule, Yanpei was supposed to leave the country tomorrow, so we were going to enjoy Busan at leisure today and then go see her tomorrow. But Yanpei happened to show up at Jagalchi Market, so thank goodness.
“Ugh, isn’t the traffic way too bad?”
“Yeah, this time of day is a bit rough.”
The distance from Busan Station public parking lot to Signiel Busan was much farther than expected. Between the terrible traffic and the holiday road conditions being bad, it felt like we weren’t making any progress.
Still, we were somehow moving along.
“What kind of road is built like this...?”
We were going up a bridge high above us via some spiral-shaped road. I don’t really know much about how roads are built, so I’m really curious why they made it like this. Still, it would be hard for the driver, but it’s kind of fun to look at.
“Wow... That’s amazing.”
After slowly climbing the Busan Harbor Bridge access road like that, just about when we were about to enter the bridge lanes.
ㅡBbaaaang!!!
“Uh...?”
“What the hell, this crazy bastard..!”
ㅡKWAANG ㅡ !
A car coming from behind, not from the access ramp, had been speeding and in an instant scraped along the left side of the vehicle we were in.
“Eek..!!”
I was sitting in the rear seat behind the passenger seat, but the force of the impact shattered even the car’s right-side window. Han Dohee’s car, staggering from the shock, was now hanging over the Busan Harbor Bridge fence and had come to a stop.
“H-huhk..!”
“Eve! Are you okay?! What about Dohee?!”
“U-uhheuk.. I’m okay..!”
“Damn it..!!”
I was glad I had my seatbelt on. When a huge impact like a car crash happens all at once, the seatbelt tightens and it feels like the air in your lungs gets whooshed out in an instant.
“H-huhk..!”
ㅡBEEP!!
ㅡScreeech..!!
“I-I’m okay..!”
Even though the rear-right window beside me had shattered, I had closed my eyes really fast. And since I was wearing a thick padded coat, there wasn’t really any problem.
“W-waaaah..!!”
What I could see beside me was a sheer cliff with a dizzying drop. If the car had been pushed just a little farther, we would have fallen all the way down. After that huge shock of a car accident washed over me, I couldn’t hold back the sorrow that came flooding in, and tears started pouring out.
“Ddaengdaeng.. Suri..!”
Suri and Ddaengdaeng, who were sitting in the back seat behind the driver’s seat, seemed fine. Suri is made of rare metal, and Ddaengdaeng is light, so aside from tumbling around on the car floor, they seemed okay.
My head was ringing and my heart was pounding. As my breathing grew ragged, Ddaengdaeng shook off the glass shards stuck to its body to comfort me, then darted straight into my arms and hugged me.
ㅡBEEP..!
“Uuuuh….”
And before long, voices came through.
“Hey, it’s caught on it.”
“Turn it more aggressively, I said!”
“What, do you want us to fall too?!”
“Uh...?”
It wasn’t Korean. It was the voices coming from inside the car that had caused the accident, beyond the broken left window—only translated by Ddaengdaeng’s translation function.
“D-ddaengdaeng..! What does that mean..? What language was that translated from?!”
ㅡBEEP!
A response appeared on Ddaengdaeng’s face screen.
[Khmer]
“Khmer...?”
ㅡDing-a-ling, ding-a-ling
Just as I was panicking, the phone in my pocket started ringing. My hands were trembling so badly I couldn’t move them, and while I was unable to answer, Ophelia’s voice came through.
“Princess! Are you all right!”
“Ophelia..! How did you pick up the phone?!”
“I thought this was an emergency, so I remote-controlled the phone! Are you injured anywhere!”
“I-I’m okay..!”
But then another voice followed.
“What else are we supposed to do? Push it with our hands.”
“Ha, then we’d have to leave Korea again.”
The translation of the two men speaking in the original Khmer I’d just heard. Han Dohee, who had barely come back to her senses after the shock, and Chaea unnie, who had been trying to wake Han Dohee up, were both still in the car.
‘Push it with their hands...?! What exactly are they trying to push..?!’
ㅡ쿵!
Two men who looked like they were from the Middle East stepped out of the accident-causing car, whose door had come off as if torn away, and headed toward our car.
“Those damn tom yum bastards..!”
Just as Han Dohee, having barely managed to unbuckle her seatbelt, was about to open the driver’s door.
ㅡClack..!
“W-what the hell, those bastards.”
“Why are they doing that..?!”
The two men grabbed the driver’s door Han Dohee was trying to open so it wouldn’t budge, and suddenly began to gather mana.
“Awakeners..! They’re trying to push the car with their hands..?!”
The expressions on both their faces were too calm. It was as if they were trying to shove the car hanging over the bridge fence with no emotion whatsoever.
That’s when I realized it. They’d deliberately caused the car accident.
“You crazy bastards..!!”
“Why are they doing that?!!”
Even Han Dohee’s B-rank front-line strength couldn’t push it away. At the very least, both of them had to be B-rank, or maybe even on par with A-rank strength.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t even have thought of trying to push a car by hand.
ㅡCreeeak….
Goosebumps rose all over my body and tears started spilling out as the car gradually tilted, making that eerie sound.
“Ophelia..! Please save us ㅡ !!!!”
[A derivative skill of {Powerless Princess : D} is activated.]
ㅡDing!
[Princess in Crisis: All golems are gathered. The golems’ stats are greatly increased for a set period.]
ㅡKWAAAANG!!!
A storm-like gust of wind swept through beyond the shattered window. Startled by the deafening sound, I squeezed my eyes shut and held Ddaengdaeng tightly in my arms.
“O-Ophelia!”
“Ophelia?!”
Behind my tightly shut eyelids, I could hear Chaea unnie and Han Dohee’s startled voices from the front seats.
ㅡKiig, kiigiiig....
“Ophelia..?”
“Princess. Are you unharmed.”
“U-uwaaang..!!”
Han Dohee’s Maxcruz, which was being slowly pulled up onto the bridge by Ophelia’s blue tether without falling, was suddenly met by the foreigners who had tried to shove the car with their hands. The moment Minyum appeared, they switched on their boosters and launched a massive flying kick at incredible speed.
The foreigner who took Minyum’s ultimate jet kick squarely in the side had his spine fold sideways and went rolling on the ground, while the one who wasn’t hit directly and only caught the aftershock was flung away and barely came to a stop.
After that, Ophelia’s tether pulled the car completely onto the bridge, and with a shaa-shaa-shak, she tore the car door off with the tether, rescuing us perfectly.
“U,uuu... Ophelia..!”
“Princess, you’ve worked hard. I’m most relieved that you aren’t badly hurt.”
“Sniff sniff.. I missed you..!”
Minyum was facing off against the foreigners while spewing blue flames from its back. One of them was already completely unconscious and sprawled on the ground, while the other was clutching his side and breathing hard.
“Princess. Please give the order.”
“You nasty bastards..!”
I shouted with all the majesty I could muster at Minyum, sword and shield in hand. I’m not letting you off this time..! How dare you do that to me!
“Minyum..! Beat that bad guy to a pulp and teach him a lesson ㅡ !!”
ㅡClack..!
Minyum lowered its sword and dismissed its shield, then raised its fist with a cool clack.
ㅡWhoosh..!
“This—”
Before the foreigner who had deliberately caused the crash could even react, Minyum leaped forward at incredible speed.
ㅡPsshhhhhh..!!!!!
A brutal solar-plexus strike driven by the thrust from its elbow boosters slammed into the foreigner’s chest.
“Ughh..!”
“Don’t kill him!”
ㅡClack!
At my words, Minyum pulled back its left hand, shot up a thumbs-up, and then, with its strength adjusted just right, started pummeling the foreigner mercilessly.
The foreigner ended up rolling around on the floor together with the one who had already been knocked down by the first jet kick, the two of them lying there side by side.
Bright white snow began to fall over the road, where red blood was pooling.
“Snow in Busan...”
Chaea unnie’s voice was full of astonishment as she watched the scene.
“Damn it. It’s a White Christmas Eve.”
Once the tension finally left her body, Han Dohee collapsed onto the ground, and Ophelia came over and hugged me tightly.
“O-Ophelia...”
“I’ve been very worried, Princess.”
“U-uh... Thank you, Ophelia.”
Not long after, people from Nova Guild’s Busan branch, who had been contacted by the police, came and collected the wrecked car and the foreign Awakened criminals, and I also got a call from Chae-rin unnie.
“...Okay. Are you okay, Dohee?”
“I’m not badly hurt. We’re Awakeners, so we’re tough.”
“Eve. How about Eve?”
“She seems a little shaken, but she’s fine. Eve, do you want to talk to Chae-rin unnie?”
Han Dohee held out the phone, switched to speakerphone, in front of me.
“Eve, are you okay? You must have been so shocked.”
“I-I’m okay! I’m really fine!”
“Yeah, thank goodness. Our Eve is so brave.”
Do I really have to hear that I’m brave at my age....
“Ah, and... I heard those foreign men speaking Khmer! Ddaengdaeng said it was Khmer!”
“Khmer? Hmm... Got it. That’s really useful information, thanks, Eve.”
“Yes! Hehe.”
* * * * *
“Tch. I think I’ve got a bruise on my side.”
“Oh my, then what are we going to do? We’re about to go into the infinity pool.”
Signiel Busan. After arriving at the hotel with the help of another Nova Guild vehicle, Han Dohee, rubbing her side, muttered irritably.
“Infinity pool?”
“Eve, you’re going too, right? It’s the outdoor pool.”
“A pool..? This is the only outfit I have..?”
“It’s fine. Just buy a swimsuit.”
“That’s not the point.”