Chapter 54: Miracle And Patriotism Island, Ulleung (3)
I was honestly taken aback by the sudden phone call.
Why was she calling me at this hour?
Wasn’t it almost 10 PM now?
Why was she calling me instead of having a meeting about the devil Doppelg?nger and Goblin that appeared today?
[Where are you now?]
“Excuse me?”
[Can we meet now?]
Her voice was down.
I had a gut feeling about why a woman would want to meet late at night. Still, regretfully, I was physically in a situation where I couldn’t get closer.
“Um… I feel a little strange saying this, but I’m currently outside Sejong Island.”
[Excuse me?]
“I’m on Ulleung Island now.”
[…….]
Baek Seol-hee stopped speaking.
I felt as if I had done something wrong, even though I hadn’t.
Honestly, I did make a mistake.
It was a man’s fault to be in a location where he couldn’t go to a woman when she called with a depressed voice at night.
Especially if she was a woman who was single and living alone(?), not a married woman or a woman with a boyfriend.
I was not sure why she called me, but considering what Yoon Iseon said, it seemed that I was doing my role as a counselor to the heroes quite well.
She must have called me for counseling.
That was why she said she wanted to meet.
“Um, did things go south again in the meeting?”
[Heh…!]
My guess was spot on.
Most of the heroes’ grievances came from armchair discussions and rushed decisions, leading to a heap of civilian casualties. Naturally, the person who suffered the most was the S-rank hero.
“Did someone again pick on Miss Seol-hee, asking why she didn’t capture the Goblin, why she didn’t attack on the spot and let it escape? A man with a bald head and protruding belly?”
[His head isn’t bald. Do you have some kind of intelligence operative planted somewhere? Or do you have the power to hear information over the phone?]
“I can guess just from hearing your voice. You want to meet me now to vent your anger on the so-called ‘higher-ups.’”
As a reader of the original novel, given Baek Seol-hee’s voice, the situation, and the background of this world, I could make educated guesses.
“I’m all ears if you want to talk over the phone. I’m currently at a pension in Ulleung Island.”
[… A pension?]
“Yes.”
[……With who?]
What’s this?
I was sure I was soaking in the hot spring, but I felt a chill run down my spine.
It was cold.
It was like a magical force pierced my heart like a dagger.
I guess this was what it meant to make someone tense just by using your voice.
“I came alone.”
[Liar. Do you know how expensive a pension in Ulleung Island is? And you claim to go there alone. Even in ‘Ulleung Island’?]
She stressed the word ‘Ulleung Island’ as she asked me.
Given the societal position of Ulleung Island, thinking of going there alone brought to mind only two scenarios.
Either lie about going with someone to Ulleung Island for some patriotic act.
Or lie about meeting a woman locally in Ulleung Island for a patriotic act.
It was a statement no different from saying you were going to a club in Gangnam to dance.
“Do you want to video call?”
[Huh?]
“I’m currently soaking in a hot spring, so I can only show you my upper body. I hope you understand. We can video call via my Taeguk Watch now.”
[Ri, right now? …Yes. Let’s do it. Immediately.]
I pulled my hand out of the water and pointed my Taeguk Watch towards me, and soon Baek Seol-hee’s face appeared on the watch’s small screen.
[Oh.]
Baek Seol-hee, wearing a white shirt, blushed in surprise as soon as she saw me.
I took the call with my body submerged up to the collarbone, with no intention of throwing a Goblin viewing party, but she still blushed in surprise.
“Do you believe me now?”
[You’re really at the pension…alone? It looks like a really nice pension.]
“It’s a pension with a hot spring.”
[……Is the water warm?]
“Yes. It’s maintained at over 40 degrees Celsius. Ulleung Island is a volcanic island. The hot spring water is heated by geothermal energy from there.”
[That must be nice….]
She was genuinely envious.
If I wanted to continue the conversation here or persuade Baek Seol-hee, introducing this place would be the optimal choice. But it felt a little awkward when I tried to talk about it.
‘Isn’t this a place to increase mana?’
The most efficient place for mana recovery and maximum mana augmentation in the world.
Not only could I restore my drained magic power overnight, but it was also a place where I could see my magic power increasing in real time.
Although the stack increase was only about 0.1 per hour, it had an amazing efficiency when compared to others, whose numbers increased by 1 in the fourth decimal place.
I couldn’t stay here every day.
It had its own kind of cooldown.
It may be a mechanism through which the laws of nature prevented excessive indulgence here or through which very appropriate and light-novel-like activities could take place in a hot spring.
But…
What if I could capture Baek Seol-hee by revealing this place?
Even if I had to give up this place if I could turn Baek Seol-hee into an ally, wouldn’t it be worth it?
‘It has to be Baek Seol-hee, no question.’
This wasn’t about pettiness.
It was a rational choice based on a strategic perspective.
‘Today’s Baek Seol-hee is shaky. This is the moment to make a move.’
If I could listen to the complaints of Baek Seol-hee, who was greatly harmed by the Goblin’s actions today and couldn’t complain to her higher-ups, and if I could persuade her to join our cause?
“Um, Ms. Seol-hee.”
[Can I come?]
“Excuse me?”
[I mean, can I come there in person? Ulleung Island isn’t too far away.]
“…At this hour?”
[Oh.]
At my question, Baek Seol-hee smiled slightly.
[Are you asking about the time because if the time is right, I can come?]
“Ah, well, that’s true, but wouldn’t it be a little awkward? If people find out that a man and a woman are on Ulleung Island in this situation, it could be quite difficult for Ms. Seol-hee.”
[Don’t worry about that. I can get to Ulleung Island in 10 minutes.]
What a bombshell of an S-class capability.
“10 minutes?”
[Yes. If I move underwater, I can get there in 10 minutes. Without getting wet.]
“So you’re going to use your ability to come here?”
[Of course. How else would I get from here to Ulleung Island in just 10 minutes?]
She had a point.
Even I, using the power of mana, with the aid of the Goblin Bat and my imagination, could commute one way between Sejong Island and Ulleung Island in less than 20 minutes.
[Give me your address. And… give it a generous estimate; I’ll be there in 15 minutes, so please open your window.]
“No, wait a minute. If a scandal erupts…”
Click.
The call was disconnected.
Her unilaterally hanging up the phone was essentially silent pressure to send the address.
What if I didn’t send the address now?
My relationship with Baek Seol-hee would end here.
In essence, it would be the same as me shouting goodbye to Baek Seol-hee myself.
“… Tsk. Ah. Send a message to Baek Seol-hee. Ulleung Special Autonomous Region…”
I sent Baek Seol-hee the address through a text message via the Taegeuk Watch.
Soon the reply was a short one, just [Yes.].
“… Sigh.”
The sudden decision of this woman to meet me was suspicious.
Although it was an open-air bath, and she just needed to land here once she saw me, without the need to open any windows, I was honestly quite flustered.
“Ah. Text. Leave the Taegeuk Watch behind.”
I left a text message just in case.
The location of an S-class ability user was essentially monitored in real-time. It would be caught in the Hero Association’s information network.
But if she just left it behind and came here?
[[Shock] Hero S, overnight in a pension with a man on Ulleung Island.]
[[Breaking News] Has Snow White’s prince appeared? Dwarves weep.]
[[Exclusive] Library librarian hermit, who is he?]
It was obvious that these kind of articles would come out.
“Ugh, this is driving me crazy…”
I checked the text message through the Taegeuk Watch, but it was really confusing. The ‘1’ next to the message I sent after ‘Yes.’ was not disappearing.
What should I do?
Should I call her?
“…No.”
There was absolutely no reason to panic.
No, rather, this was what I had been hoping for.
If a scandal erupted with Baek Seol-hee here, it would become a huge gossip, and the opportunity to approach those around Baek Seol-hee might increase.
Specifically, the protagonist.
Baek Seol-hee was one of the heroines of the original novel, and she was a ‘teacher position’ heroine at that.
The student, Yoon Yiseon.
The teacher, Baek Seol-hee.
Given that they were the popular twin heroines—in the original settings—it was certain that the protagonist would be linked with Baek Seol-hee.
At that time, I needed to meet the protagonist through Baek Seol-hee.
And with Baek Seol-hee, or using Baek Seol-hee, the protagonist…
“Tsk. I’m such a total jerk.”
To achieve my objective by using a woman’s feelings.
Even more so, to use a hero’s fragile and wavering heart to corrupt her in a direction beneficial to the Gyeolsa.
“…But it is the typical brainwashing method of an evil organization’s executive to take advantage of a hero’s mental weakness and turn them into villains.”
This might as well be the ‘Goblin Temptation’ operation that the Goblin repeatedly failed at in the original novel.
‘But can things resolve this smoothly?’
I was worried.
So far, Baek Seol-hee has had scandals with numerous male heroes, celebrities, and people from wealthy families.
Of course, all those scandals were gossip attempts by men to somehow link themselves with Baek Seol-hee, and Baek Seol-hee outright said she had no interest in them.
But what if.
‘If it wasn’t for Baek Seol-hee, this would be a surefire green light!’
What if Baek Seol-hee was interested in me?
‘Damn it. This is driving me crazy.’
Which side were Baek Seol-hee’s feelings on?
Was it to get face-to-face treatment from a mental health counselor to stabilize her shaky mental state as a hero?
Or was it because she was attracted to a man and wanted to visit him at night?
If you thought about it in terms of abilities, the former was correct.
But if you thought about the countless stories of fresh young men and women in their early twenties in the modern era, no matter how you thought about it, this was a green light.
A man’s instinct, a man’s hope, was telling me so.
If this went wrong…
“Wow.”
Off in the distance.
Something like a black silhouette twinkled from the direction of the sea.
Being responsive to mana, I saw it clearly, but for the soldiers on guard in the watchtower, it would just seem like the sea was twinkling in the moonlight.
Bang!
With a powerful shockwave, the waves splashed.
And she appeared before me, who was soaking in the hot spring.
“…I arrived a bit early.”
“…Did you really come?”
“Of course, I really came.”
Baek Seol-hee appeared, wrapped from neck to ankle in a black long padding coat.
“Why… why did you come?”
I just asked what came to mind, regardless of my prepared lines.
“I needed counseling.”
Baek Seol-hee looked at me calmly and answered.
“I thought you would be willing to counsel me, regardless of the content.”
“What’s the content?”
“…Complaining about the Minister?”
“…First of all.”
I decided to resolve one unbearable thing.
“Even if it’s an open-air bath, shoes are a bit…”
“Ah.”
“Take off your shoes, go in there, and leave them at the entrance.”
Even if you were an S-class hero, there were things that you should never do in this country, on this land.
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