3rd POV
After the hunting mission ended, everyone returned to the office building.
However, there was one thing different. No one was talking among the hunters, who would normally chat whenever they can, after all, they had been working together for years.
Only Hajin, Rachel and Evandel were conversing, who were the main reason for this atmosphere.All of this was because they had seen the duo's powers. They were silent and distancing themselves from them as to not disturb them. After all, no one among them wanted to witness that power ever again. It sent a shiver down their spine everytime they thought about it.
Park Soohyuk had gone ahead saying that he had to take care of the calculation procedure and the amount of money each one of them will get. Of course, it was an excuse to get out of the awkward situation.
After coming back, they went straight home. When Soohyuk tried to stop them saying if they could wait just a little longer so that they could get their part of the share, Hajin told him that he can take all the share as investments in the agency. Rachel also did the same, although, she said to add the investments as from the English Royal Court, to which Soohyuk could only nod and thank them.
They rode the car back to cube as usual, stopped by a few shops either because Evandel wanted something or just for fun.
They were having fun as usual.
-- Meanwhile -- England -- English Royal Court --
-- Main Head Office --
***A day later...
3rd POV
A middle-aged man was sitting on a chair in an office. The office was quite decorated, but the most notable things were the countless bundle of documents piled up one after another.
He had a shaved beard, long blone hair and light blue eyes and was wearing a black tuxedo.
The man was reviewing the documents with a non-interested look. He was bored, that was evident, but it was his job. All of these documents were negotiation papers and collaborations with other big guilds and famous identities.
Even though he looked like he wanted to just leave everything like as it is and enjoy doing something else, he couldn't. All of these were important, they decided the future of England, his country. He couldn't just give them to his subordinates because, no matter how competent one's subordinates were, they could still make mistakes.
Yes, this was the King of England, Louise Alexander.
[A/N : Images are not mine, this was the closest to what I could find for Rachel's father, however, this is not perfect. Just imagine something like a mix of these two.]
He was doing his job as usual, but suddenly heard a ting voice in his head.
*Ting!*
{Special Quest :
Requirment : Prepare an extra room for a special guest and arrange for him to accompany @#!>* in the collaboration event.
Success Condition : Completing the requirements.
Reward : Heroic Rank Skill, A meeting with ????? and ???????
Time : 1 days
Failure Condition : Dissatisfaction of ?????
Failure Penalty : Lock on all of the host's skills and abilities
}
"... Again?" He sighed in defeat. This was the third time he had gotten a request from this "system." Theese quests were easy, and the rewards were insane, but the penalty was also great.
' "Lock on all skills..." that basically means I will become powerful for a certain period of time...'
However, he couldn't do anything. These quests were generated automatically, and he didn't have any authority to accept of deny them. If he denied them, the penalty would ensue.
King Louise's POV
Everything was going normal just a few days ago. And by normal, I mean bad.
The country's currency was declining, the contractees that were supposed to be recruited were shifting to other guilds. Even some of our guild members left.
Although it was not too bad, since the country was still in good condition, but it was not exaclty the best either. If things had gone at that rate, our country would have gone bankrupt in a few years.
England was surrounded by water, so, during the apocalypse, not many monsters turned to this region. But that also meant that we had less opportunities to experience such senarios. Because of this, the growth-rate of our hunters and heroes was not as good as other countries.
We managed to improve in the recent years and our country had gotten the ranking of 3th most powerful country, along with USA being the 1st and Japan being the 2nd.
However, after Cube was found in Korea, our rank declined. Many other countries also sent their promised younger generation to cube, who returned some years later with an enormous amount of power and fame.
We were able to come to a special agreement with Cube in exchange for money and defense artifacts, the latter being our speciality. But the money was a problem because compared to Korea, our currency had declined. Therefore, giving off the debt was not easy.
There was a shortage of Korean Won in our country because of sudden decrease in the value of dollars, which continued afterwards.
However, just recently, on a normal day during my normal worktime, I had gained something called a "System".
I had discussed it with other close people, but only I and my wife Elizabeth had gained this ability.
Apparently, it gave us certain tasks to fullfil, and in exchange, we got rewards. It was much like those fantacy systems on those comics that kids liked to read nowadays, but it was reality.
However, the reward was great. And because of that, we were able to pay off almost all the debt back. Now, the country was a lot more stable. There was even a special event at Clancy Islet in two days.
Speaking of which, the system gave us two types of quests, one were normal, as its name implies, not anything extraordinary. They were quests like killing a monster, doing daily tasks given by the system or so.
The other were special quests, and there were only 2 of them so far, with the third one currently in front of me.
One thing I had deduced from these was that the "system" was related to two individuals. One was Rachel, my daughter and the country's princess, the other was unknown.
I didn't know if my daughter and this other person had the "system" as well, but I had already contacted my daughter a few days ago, however, till now, there was no response. Maybe she was busy doing something?
However, from noting the time the special quests appeared and events happening in the world, we were able to deduce somethings and had a rough guess on the individual.
"Kim Hajin, the first ranking cadet on cube... " I muttered.
Cube was denying any information about this cadet, it was all a mystery. Surprisingly, even when we offered to increase the production of arifacts sent to them, they still didn't accept, which was absurd, just how much was this person important to them?
Still, we were able to get the basic information, but not any information on his gift or powers. From that, we found out that he was close to Rachel and was seen together with her most of the time.
'... my beloved daughter, I hope you know what you're doing. We don't want you to go through the trauma like before, but it seems that you already have planned something... I just hope you forget about that trauma and return to the lively child you once were...'
POV End
3rd POV
A sound of footsteps approaching the door was heard. Soon, the door opened to reveal a blone haired women with purple eyes.
[A/N : Image is not mine, ignore the tattoos. We were never introduced to Rachel's parents, or at least that's what I have read, and we don't have any pic of her either, so I thought of redesigning her character a bit ;) ]
Shewas wearing a black office shirt and a off-white skirt with black designs, black gloves and an elastic bracelet in her neck. On the outside, she appeared to be in her middle to late twenties.
"Are you still doing that boring paper work?" The women asked with an annoyed face.
"Honey... Someone needs to do it." The man replied.
"Than give the task to some subordinate!" She retorted.
"Impossible. Even if I trust them, I can't let them handle this task that decides the future of the country." He reasoned himself.
"... *sigh* and that's why you're getting old. Look at your face, wrinkles have started to appear even though you're only in your early fourties..." She said.
"Haah! Like you're the one to say that! You had wrinkles on your face as well before you got the sy--" He stopped midway when he sensed the blood lust directed towards him and shut his mouth.
He realized that he had said something no man should ever say to a woman. That's when he knew... He Fucked Up.
"N-n-nothing. I-I said nothing!!" He stuttered and bit his tongue in nervousness.
"Darling~ I think we should have a nice little chat right now~!" She said with a menancing smile, to which the king, unlike his reputation, could only back away to the corner like a sheep.
Yes, this women was the Queen of England, Elizabeth Mary Windsor. She was actually in her early fourties as well. But of course, there were a lot of skills and ways to hide or prevent wrinkles from appearing, and the women obviously had their eyes on it every second to make sure they get the latest and best method to keep their beuty.
She was also one of the two only people that the King had no control over, and in front of whom he backed away like a sheep. Of course, the other was his daughter, although, that never happened nowadays because of Rachel's change in personality due to her trauma. Which was something the King was sad of, because even if he would have one less person to worry about in that regard, as a father, he didn't want his daughter to suffer from something like this.
But it was not like this in the past when Rachel was still a child and before the incident. Back then, she was always full of energy and caused a lot of trouble, something she probably inherited from her mother. But now, she has become alot more like her father. But they don't know that Rachel is slowly changing again and living hapily again as her mother's characteristics are slowly returning to her.
"Oh, right. Did you see the system's quest recently?" The queen asked.
[A/N : I'm confused tbh, I don't know if I should mention them as "Louise" and "Elizabeth", give them nicknames or just stick with "King" and "Queen". I'm afraid someone might feel offended if I mentioned the Queen's name like that, like, she's based on a real-life character with personality and appearance changes, but things like name and post are the same so... Anyways, please tell me what you guys want me to do in this case.]
"Yes..."
"Do you plan to do that?" She asked again.
"It's not like I have a choice either..." He retorted.
True..." She stayed silent.
'Maybe my little angel will find someone she can love in this time of her life like I did... ? I hope that happens, so that child can live the happy life she deserved...' She couldn't stop her motherly side from taking over her mind.
As King and Queen, both of them were cold and domineering in public, but as Husband and Wife, Father and Mother, they were very close. Unlike most poilitical marriages, their relationship was healthy, and it probably would later as well because of their respective personalities, something that was for the best as well.
Suddenly, sound of someone running was heard. The door aburtly opened as an old looking man came inside. He had white hair and beard and was wearing butler clothes.
This man was Randy, the Head Butler of English Royal Court, and Rachel's private butler for her time of stay at the castle of the guild.
The butler's expression showed shock and also a little amount of fear mixed in. However, he also seemed a little angry at something.
"Hmm? What is it Randy? It's rare of you to loose your composure like that." The queen said.
"Ahh, its..."
*
**
***
-- Meanwhile -- At Cube --
The next day after Hajin and Rachel went hunting with SH Agency at the fields, they made their plans for today to go outdoors and enjoy this day to the fullest. After all, they would be going to England tomorrow, and would probably be busy there, so, they would rarely have the time to relax like this.
So why not enjoy the time you have as much as you can? And that's what they did.
They thought of going to the beach, which Hajin agreed to as he had never gone to the beach before aside from missions or practical exams, so he never enjoyed it there.
Evandel was also excited to see the vast ocean, and from watching TV, she also wanted to build those sand castles and swin in the ocean like those kids did in the TV shows. She also wanted to play beach ball with Hajin and Evandel.
"Let's go now." Hajin said.
In the morning at 11 AM, after finishing breakfast and packing their stuff, they went to the beach in their car. The ride was an hour long because the traffic was slow and the beach was a little far.
They could just use the Cube's portal or even their personal power to teleport there, but Evandel said that she wanted to enjoy the ride there. And because she was really happy to go to the beach, they felt that they couldn't deny her request if she made such a cute face.
And now, they were stuck between the traffic, around 1 kilometer before they reached the beach. Of course, they didn't have any problem because the car was completely conditioned and the temperature was controlled too. And even though the window was open, through which Evandel had her head out and seeing the various types of people, children and vehicles all around, the inside of the car was still cool.
After a few more long minutes, they finally reached the beach. They went to the parking lot and parked their car, after which they went to the beach. Of course, their car and their looks attracted quite a bit of attention, and people were taking their photos here and there, but they didn't seem bothered, no, it seemed that they didn't even care.
Their behaviour screamed "We don't give a shit to what you think."
After a few minutes of waiting in the traffic, they finally arrived at the beach.
Of course, there was a huge line at the counter. Everyone was waiting for their turn to get their tickets while those who came in groups were talking to each other.
All the counters were full. However, for some reason, one of the counters was empty. Of course, there was a counter lady there, but her appearance was strange, no one approached that counter, instead, they actually seem to be trying to get far away from it.
'Hmm... Ah, I remember this... one of the major arcs of the story were supposed to be on this beach, and there were rumors spreading that there was a Djjin in the staff...'
'At that time, the others suspected that lady because of her appearance, but turns out that the actual Djjin was the person who put the blame on her, the most famous counter lady on this beach. In the end, that lady was killed, but since the incidents didn't end there, more suspects arose, soon, the Djjin was discovered and killed by Suho, the supposed protagonist.'
"Wait here, I'll get our ticket. You guys can wait at the lobby in the meantime, or maybe get something to eat from those stalls." He said while looking at Rachel and Evandel, to which the noded.
"Okey!" Evandel said.
Hajin approached the counter, to which all the surrounding eyes turned to him. But he just ignored it and went ahead.
People had started gossiping, some had recognized him, so they began talking to each other about if was here to kill the "supposed" disguised Djjin.
However, to their surprise, Hajin just went to counter and asked for the ticket.
"Excuse me, I would like a 3 tickets please." He said to the counter lady.
"Huh? Uh... Ah yes! W-which type of ticket would you like to buy?" She seemed to be in her own world of thoughts, and when Hajin asked her, she was aburtly cut off from her thoughts and into the real world.
There were three types of tickets. Normal, Business and VIP.
Normal were, as the name suggested, for normal citizens. It was the lowest grade ticket, which only provided access to the beach, it didn't include anything like a helper, an empty space or a specific spot. They were 5,000 won per ticket.
The business tickets were for those who wanted to perform something on the beach, like shooting a scene for a movie or something alike. It provided a few workers that would help the buyers in taking in or out their equipment, carry it around and stuff. Each ticket costed 20,000 won.
The VIP ticket, however, included everything. The buyers were designed a specific spot to their liking, anywhere on the beach. If the spot was already filled, than if the people there were normal class, than they would have to empty that spot. It also provided access to special items on shops and stalls, a discount at the stalls and also a personal butler who would take care of your needs. A single ticket of this type costed 50,000 won or more depending on how much the customer could pay.
It was basically "Pay more if you want to actually enjoy your stay here." Also, the VIP tickets had a special option. If the buyer paid more than the actual amount, they would be assigned a code, which represented their level of importance and authority on the beach. For example, if a VIP had already reserved a certain spot and someone else wanted it, than it that someeone else had a higher level of precedence, the previous person would have to empty that area.
The precedence of these people was displayed on a board at one side of the lobby. It was there so the newer VIPs could decide how much they would pay to get what they wanted.
"VIP" He answered.
The lady looked at Hajin for a second and than shifted her eyes to the counter and started typing something on it.
" That would be 150,000 total as baseline. Please see the board if you want to be assigned a higher precendence." She said while pointing towards the board on the left wall near him. Hajin followed the direction and looked at the board and widened his eyes when he saw the top 2 group names.
'Jaechol and the Yoo Jinwoong huh...' He thought.
The highest current precedence beloned to Chae Joochul, or more specifially, Nayun's grandfather, with a paying amount of 30,000,000 won, which was 200 times the normal amount. But they had also reserved a huge part of the beach, so it was normal for the amount to be so high.
'If Chae Joochul himself is here, it probably means that most of his clan and guild members are present as well... Maybe a day off vacation...? But if that's the case, Nayun would probably be here as well...' He thought.
Those tyrants by the name of "nine stars" were the "supposed" strongest people in the world. They were the top pillars of humanity against the Evil Society of Djjins. Of course, them being the strongest was only a public opinion, there were many hidden monsters in this world that were supposed to be revealed at the later arcs of the timeline.
The second highest was someone from the Yoo clan, who had apparently paid 28,000,000 won. Of course, all this money was nothing to them because they actually had billions of wons in their accounts. They were not the "richest", but just being the "strongest" meant that they received a lot of money from public donations, their guild funds/profits and more. With just that, their worth was in the top 100 richest people on the planet. But that as it, they weren't "THE RICHEST" but "one of them." But it probably didn't matter to them because they valued strength more than mere money.
'Seems like they had some sort of duel for who gave the most money. But Yoo Jinwoong probably backed down after some time because they at the time are a subordinate clan. Although that is not known to public and they actually do become equal in standing in the future, but that's for the future, not now.
[Hahaha, don't mind us then.] A similar voice resounded in his head.
'Oh, I haven't heard your voice in my head for a while, and what you mean by don't mind us... ?' He asked in his head.
[Yeah, I have been silently watching you because you seem to be "busy" with your lover.]
'...'
[And by the latter, you have to take the top spot for yourself!] He said.
'... is there a real reason for it? I don't want to get in unnecessary trouble though...'
[Noo! You have to do it! Show them who's more powerful! What's the point in having power when you don't even use it?! Why hide it... I thought you would become different from your previous self, but seems that you're still the same cute and causious idiot you used to be...] He said while faking a tear, or at least that's what Hajin felt he did.
'What do I even get from it except trouble? And stop acting like some mother who watched her kids grow but became sad because they didn't turn out how she wanted! It's disgusting...' He said while grinning at the beginning.
[... Ugh! Fine~ I'll give you an extra skill if you do it! Now go!] He said.
'Oh, You should have done that from the start than' He said innocently.
[Wait... that was your plan, wasn't it?! Well, whatever, I've already created an account with the money and implemented the methods to use it in your brain. You can access it anytime you want by thinking of it.]
'Okay.'
He than looked at the counter lady, who had her attention on him all the time.
"Where do I pay."
"Just swipe your card on this counter, you can give the cash to that cashier, or if the amount exceeds a million, you can deposit it that the ATM there." She explained as she pointed her fingers towards those directions one after another.
"Sure." He replied.
The lady looked at him and thought that he would back down and just pay at the counter, after all, he looked quite young, so it was unlikely that he had a large sum of money with him. And she also didn't notice anything abnromal in him. On the outside, he looked like a normal human.
But to her surprise, Hajin turned around and went to the ATM room. At first she thought that he would just leave after hearing the prices, but when he opened the ATM room's door, she widened her eyes. The same could be said for the people around them.
'Huh? Did he just go to the ATM room?'
'I don't remember seeing anyone like him in the celebrity magazine either.'
'Yeah. Even if he's a cube student, he can't have that much money that he could spent more than a million at just a beach, right... ?'
Gossips and whispers started circulating around about Hajin's real identity. Several people came up with varios theories. Of course, most of these were absurd and non-believable, but some were actually quite possible from a logical point of view.
*Ping*
*Ping*
*Ping*
Continues beeps were heard from somewhere. Everyone looked around to find the source of the noise. It seemed that it was coming from the speakers on the balls and the ceiling.
-- Announcement : The precedence board has been updated
A robotic voice was heard. It was actually the AI computer assigned to the public VIP list. It seems that a newcommer has paid an amount worthy of being in the top 10 list of VIPs.The people turned their faces, but the next instant, everyone froze, their eyes widended as their jaws dropped on the floor.
1 - Kim Hajin -- Precendence Value : 1,000,000,000
2- Chae Joochul -- Precedence Value : 30,000,000
3- Yoo Jinwoong -- Precedence Value : 28,000,000
""""...""""
Everyone was silent. Someone had paid more than 30 times more the amount than the previous top 1.
Hajin returned to Rachel, who was looking at him as if he had caused some trouble again."What? Why are you looking at me like that~?" He asked casually.
"... *sigh* was that one of your powers as well?" She asked. It seems that she had given up on being surprised because of these occurances and thought of Hajin's gift as something omnipotent.
"Yup."
"... *sigh* let's just go. I don't want to be hung up over thinking about your powers all the time." She said.
At the same time, suddenly, the doors burst open as several men and women dressed in formal outfits rushed into the room and surrounded the trio.
"You must be Sir Kim Hajin, please accompany us to the office. You can decide the beach area and any additional service you want there." One of the man stepped forward and said.
"Okay." He noded and took Rachel's hand in his. "Let's go."Rachel noded and went with him, while Evandel was ahead of them running on the way like the child she was, full of energy.
A smile appeared of Hajin and Rachel's faces when they saw that their daughter was having fun.
Of course, none of the men or women dared to stop the fairy from running around. They were probably instructed to accompany them with utmost respect and make sure no trouble approached them. After all, who wouldn't give special treatment to their biggest customer? Everyone wanted to leave a good impression on everyone else.
After a few seconds of walking and receiving a bunch of stares, they finally arrived at the office room.
One guard opened the door as Evandel, who was ahead of everyone, rushed into the room. Hajin and Rachel also walked inside the room but with slow steps.
After they had entered, the guard closed the room as all of them surrounded the office from the outside enterance, ensuring that no one got it.
Meanwhile, the office was also filled with bodyguards inside. Hajin made his way to the sofa and sat on it while Evandel just explored the office, curiously observing the items inside.. Rachel did the same and sat beside him. Hajin looked around and saw that no one was inside the office except the bodyguards.
One of the men approached Hajin and showed him a tablet that had a map of the entire beach on it, with already occupied areas and areas that are currently free.
"Please select the area that you want to reserve." He gave the tablet to Hajin so he could navigate through it freely.
Hajin looked at the map for a few seconds, than turned to Rachel, "Do you want a specific place?" He asked.
"Not in particular, but I'd like it to be away from the general public." She said while looking at the map on the tablet in Hajin's hands.
"Hmm, let's see..." Hajin navigated to the VIP area on the other side from the public area, but all of them were already filled. And he didn't want to make anyone leave their area either.
"Oh?" Hajin found something strange on the map. There was an empty area between two already occupied places. It was not too large, but it was particularly long in length, as if separating the two others.
"What's with this area here?" He asked the guard.
"Ah, these are the places that Mr. Chae Joochul and Mr. Yoo Jinwoong. But there were some fights at the start, so we suggested that they leave some area between them like this. It serves as a neutral area between the two parties so they don't get into fights directly." The guard explained.
'Hmm.... I don't particularly want to be between those two and their little trouble, but this is the only section of the beach on this side that's empty.... wait, I can just do that... !' He thought for a few seconds and got an idea, it was risky, not in a life-threatening way, but there was a possiblity for Yeonha and Nayun to be there as well, and if they encountered one another, they would find about his relationship with Rachel and about Evandel.
'But in any case, it's not like I was trying to hide it particularly either. And I don't think they would go around revealing other's secrets just becase.' He thought and turned to the guard.
"So it's empty for reservation, right?" Hajin asked.
"P-pardon?" The guard shuttered.
"I asked if this place was empty for reservation or not." He repeated himself.
"Ah, n-no, I-I mean, yes! But... there's a problem?"
"Hmm?"
"You see, since this serves as a neutral area, if you occupy it, both of them would try to fight you to get to the other's area, so it won't be peaceful for you to enjoy. And as the Nine Stars, they... would be difficult to handle, so we can't garuntee your safely completely." The guard explained while sweating.
"Don't worry about that, I'm not that weak. And I already have an idea for that." Hajin replied.
"B-but sir..." He tried to stop Hajin, but Hajin had no plans of doing that.
"I already said it's okay. You have received the money right?" He asked as he got up from the seat with Rachel following him too, and Evandel approached him to which he just picked her up.
"Yes... !" He couldn't do anything. But it seemed that he finally noticed something.
'Wait... isn't that... and why does that child look the same in appearance to her...' He thought, but realized that he was in no place to think too deeply, nor did he have any reason to, after all, it has nothing to do with his job.
'Yeah, that's right... I saw nothing!'
Meanwhile, Hajin followed the guards, who led them to their area.
"We have arrived. Please use it as you see fit. The changing room is over there in any case, and the stalls are there." He said while pointing towards a normal sized one-story building and than at the shops some distance away from where they were standing.
The shops were outside their area and in a small neutral area around the corner. One could see various people there buying different stuff like food or children buying toys, but make no mistake, all of these people were either powerful heroes or famous identities. The children there were also somehow related to at least one powerful figure on this beach.
Evandel was about to run off towards the sea but Rachel grabbed her from behind.
"You will come with me, Ev. We have to change clothes first."
"Hee? Whyyy? I can jusht uze mana to cover my clothes sso they won't get dirty." She retorted. It seemed like she wanted to jump into the sea right away and had no interest in changing clothes just for playing. Although, Rachel didn't seem like she would allow that either...
"Ah, right, here." Hajin manifested two small rings in his hand and gave them to Rachel.
"What are these for?" She asked while looking at the rings that Hajin handed to her.
"They can manifest clothes on one's body. These ones are specifically for beach were. You can think of anything you want to wear, and the ring will manifest it on your body if you give transmit some mana into it." He explained.
"Oh, seems like you came here prepared..." Rachel said.
"Yeah, now, go get changed, I'll do something about the other tigers' den on the sides." He said.
"Okay... Just, don't get into unnecessary trouble..." She exclaimed while sighing.
"I can't garuntee that, but I'll try to keep it low."
"Thanks. Ev, let's go." She said as she took Evandel's hand and walked away.
"Okay, now than..." Hajin turned to the side where the Chae party were, and than to the Yoo clan's side, observing both with his thousand miles eye.
"Hmm, seems like the Yoo clan is here for some business and advertisment, but the Chae clan only wants to have fun." He said. 'But that doesn't mean that Yoo clan won't have fun either.'
His eyes fell on Yeonha and Nayun, who were apparently playing beach ball against each other in their respective teams. The score seemed to be very close from what was written on the board near.
"[Imaginary Lock]" He said as mana flowed out of his body and covered the entire area. The guards who were on the sidelines rushed to find the source of the intense mana, and saw Hajin covered with purple energy flowing through his body and outside, protecting the body as a shell of sort.
The mana rose from his body as he signaled his hands towards the boundaries separating the area from the Chae and the Yoo clans. Mana walls rose high in the sky, but just when everyone felt that something big was about to happen, they disappeared.
The guards looked towards Hajin with suspicious looks. They were afraid, this time because of the aura they had just witnessed.
"Don't worry, I just made a sort of invisible wall around this area, so Chae or Yoo clan won't be able to interfere, nothing else."
The guards' eyes widened their eyes as they heard Hajin's words. Were the Chae and Yoo clan, the strongest clans in Korea, and one of the strongest in the entire world, supposed to be seemed as so easy to handle?! What did he mean by that they couldn't interfere?! Was this guy so strong that he didn't care about them?! But than how did he never appeared in public and stayed hidden?? He even loocked so young!
"Anyways, get to your work and set up at the boundaries. I made it so that someone with any ill intention won't be able to enter this area, but just in case some incident occures or if one or both of the leaders of the respective clans appear, call me." He said.
The guards said nothing as the only thing they could do was to follow his orders. After all, no one wanted to feel that intense preasure again. It was terrifying!
Hajin walked towards the ocean as small amount of mana surrounded him. In the next second, his clothes changed into something else. He was now in his beachwere.
Hajin walked towards one of the strandkorb by the vast ocean and layed on it.
"Haah~ So relaxing~" Hajin stretched and rested his body while his eyes were closed. He didn't have to worry about anything like getting sunburns because his skin was always covered by several layers of mana, which acted as an absolute defense against sudden attacks as well as a shield to protect from natural harm like sunburns, excessive heat and cold temperatures and more.
"Indeed." He heard a voice as he felt something cold being touched to his face. He opened his eyes to see that it was Rachel, who was handing him a slushy.
"Oh..." He stared at her for a solid minute as he took the slushy in his hand.
Rachel was wearing a white bikini with red ribbons as she handed him his slushy. She looked very beautiful currently.
"..." Hajin was mesmerized by her beauty as his face also turned a little red. On top of that, Rachel had a slight blush on her face, making her cuteness 100x more.
"..." That was it. He couldn't resist it anymore.
He pulled Rachel on top of him and lightly kissed her on the lips. Rachel looked shocked at first but closed her eyes soon as she accepted the kiss, savouring the feeling of their lips connecting.
After a few seconds, their lips parted ways. Instantly, Rachel's face turned red as she backed off onto the seat besides him.
"W-w-what was that for?!?!" She asked with a red face.
Finally realizing what he had done, Hajin's face also turned red.
"Y-you just looked too cute!! It was just instinctive..." He said while turning his face to the side.
"..." Rachel stared at him in silence for a few seconds and than made a determined expression.
She approached Hajin's face and kissed him this time. Hajin's reaction this time was the same as Rachel's previous reaction. But he also accepted the kiss without any complain. Rather, he also enjoyed it.
"... that was r-revenge!" Rachel declared as she turned her face to the side.
"..."
Hajin gazed at her for a few seconds before he heard another voice, which made both of their faces go pale.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Evandel yelled.
"HUH?!"Both of them aburtly sat up and turned to Evandel as sweat moved down on their faces.
'Shit... I almost forgot Evandel was with us... !' Hajin yelled in his mind.
"Do I look good?!" She asked as she circled her body around as if trying to show off her dress.
Fortunately for them, it seemed that she ignored the previous scene and only wanted to know how she looked.
Both of them sighed in relief because they had avoided an awkward situation, barely. Hajin looked at Evandel and saw that she was also wearing a swim suit, or rather, a full upper-body swimsuit. She looked cute, but also more innocent.
"Cute as always, sweetheart." Hajin stated as he smiled at Evandel.
"Right?! Mommy also said I looked cute!" She exclaimed excitedly.
"Of course, you're the cutest being in the universe!" Hajin boasted proudly, to which Rachel just chuckled.
"Hehe~" Evandel laughed cutely.
"I wanna make a sand castle like the one in the TV!" She said as she ran around excitedly.
"Oh, do you want some help?" Hajin asked.
"NO! I want to make it myself!" She retored.
"Okay than. Will you show it to us when you're finished." He asked with a smiling face.
"Of course! I will make the best sand castle in the world!"
"Haha, I'm sure you would." He said as took a sip from the slushy that Rachel had brought for him.
"Hmm~" Rachel also layed down and enjoyed the beach while slowly drinking her slushy as both of them looked at Evandel playing with the sand.
After finishing her drink, Rachel placed the empty cup on the side table and cuddled closer to Hajin, who gladly accepted her behaviour.
"It's comfortable and relaxing." She said.
"Yeah..." Hajin replied in return.
"Do you enjoy our current life? Our small moments like this?" She asked as she looked at Hajin's face.
"Yeah..."
"Mm~ When I joined cube, I never thought of doing it for something like this. I only wanted to make my country proud. Other than that, I didn't even have a reason to live. I was... I always had nightmares about the trauma I acquired in my childhood..." She said, her tone turned sad at the end, to which Hajin tightened his hug.
"But now, now I have a reason to live, I have someone I love with all my heart, someone that will be there with me for my entire life. We even have such a cute daughter... so thank you, thank you for accepting me the way I am!" She said with a bright smile on her face as small tears of hapiness flowed down her face.
"... No, I should be the one to thank you... My life was so boring before I met you. It was... plain... I didn't have any real goal. Although that doesn't mean I didn't have any goal at all, but all the ones I had were long-term goals. My life would have stayed boring if I didn't met you. So, thank you too." He said as he fully embraced Rachel.
"Hmm~ That means we both had our lives changed as compared to your past... oh, now that I mention it, you never talked much about your past..."
"Hmm? It's... not that I don't want to talk about it... there's just nothing to talk about. My old world was... plain. No magic, no nothing. Only science. One would grow learning in the school and after they graduated, they set off on their journey to find jobs. Life was... normal, compared to this world. Of course, there were rich people in that world too, people of higher status, but they were only higher in status. In terms of power, everyone was equal."
"Of course, there were people who were weak physically or mentally, and those who were strong. But the differance was... humane. Unlike in this world where a single person with enough power can take on a country, there was nothing like that in my old world."
"I was just a normal boy born in a normal family. At the time I was transported to this world, I was a university student. I was also a novel author, and as such, I never had much time to enjoy life. I had no loved one besides me except my parents, but they lived far from my town."
"So you could say I was completely average in my old world. But... everything changed when I came to this world."
"..." Rachel kept quiet as she silently lisened to Hajin's story with curiousity.
"At first, my only goal was to go back to my own world. I thought I belonged to that world, so I should strive to go back. But that idea of thinking was changed because of my meeting with the supreme being, the one who gave me and you these powers."
"I realized soon that if I was to go back to that world, I would go back to my boring and ordinary life. There wasn't even any garuntee that my parents, who were the only ones that I had in that world, would be alive or not."
"But the more I came to know about the existence about the vast existence that is known as "All of Creation", and the more I got to know of the opportunities that I would be able to experience if stayed, my goal wavered. That was when my goal started wavering and my path started changing."
"You can say that the reason I am in this world, the reason I am this powerful, the reason I "can" have this relationship with you, all of this is because of that one being. You can say that in a way, he's our biggest benifactor."
"... does that mean the reason you came to love me was because of him... ?" She asked while looking down.
"No. I loved you even before I came into this world. You see, our worlds were connected in a way, and I already knew who you were, but I didn't know you actually existed. I asked the creator, and he told me that it was because of the "LAW" assigned in the system that no lower being that belongs to a specific dimension and doesn't have dimensional travel abilites cannot know about other worlds' existence. It was to maintain peace, so that beings from one dimension do not thrive to explore other worlds, something that is impossible."
"I think even the reason I came into this world was because the creator allowed it. Or maybe it was the will of the universe? Maybe I was special but never realized it? Maybe it was nothing like that and just pure luck and coincidence? I don't know, but the only thing I do know is... that I was transferred to this world for a reason."
"So, in that regard, I didn't love you because of the creator, but because I knew who you were. I loved you because you were "Rachel" and not someone else. At first, I never thought of being with you because of the difference in "status". People would obviously be jealous and it wasn't good for both of us. That is the evil and disgusting side of the world."
"But now I am capable, capable enough to protect us, to protect our relationship, and... to protect our cute and lovely daughter..." He said while looking at Evandel with a smile on his face. But it was not his smile, it contained several deep emotions, emotions that he and Evandel shared as Father and Daughter, pure and sweet familial love.
"So...." He turned his face to Rachel with a determinted face, which soon changed into a sweet smile as he caressed her face and added,
"Rachel Elizabeth Louise, would you accompany me for the rest of our eternal life?"
"..." Small tears began dropping from Rachel's eyes as her expression turned into a wide smile.
"Of course! I want to stay by your side for the rest of my life... I want us to watch our lovely daugher growing up together. I don't want to live my life in boredom and plainliness either!"
She closed the distance between their faces even more as she said,
"I don't want to loose you... So promise me, promise me that we will stay together for as long as we both live and die together."
"Haha, that's if we can even die at this point, dear. But sure, I promise." He replied as their faces grew closer. In the next moment, their lips collided as they shared a deep kiss, tears of hapiness falling from both of their faces.
They remained in that position for a few minutes, before finally separating, still in each other's embrace as the silently enjoyed the closeness.
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Word Count : 7869