Ha-eun and the Queen II

"H-Ha-eun?"

As Ojjin freaked out and looked away—

"Pfft!"

—suppressed laughter exploded out of Ha-eun's mouth.

Ohjin furrowed his brow and looked back at Ha-eun.

Ha-eun, who wore a black off-shoulder bikini and was playfully sticking out her tongue, came into sight.

"Haha..."

A forced chuckle left Ohjin's mouth.

"Kyahahahaha!!! Why? Were you looking forward to seeing me naked?"

Finding something pleasing, she clutched her belly and burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

"Hm~? Why don't you try saying it yourself: 'I wanted to see you naked'."

"..."

Poke, poke—

Ha-eun poked his face with her finger and giggled.

Thick veins started to pop out on Ohjin's forehead.

"...Yeah."

"Hm?"

"With the relationship we're in, there's no need to cover yourself with this piece of cloth, is there?"

He pulled himself close to her body and pushed her near the wall.

"U-Uuh?"

Ha-eun's eyes looked around with a panicked expression.

"—Here, take it off," Ohjin said as he pointed to her bikini.

"A-A-Are you crazy?! What are you talking about!"

Ha-eun's face heated up as she kicked Ohjin's shin.

"…l-later."

"Hm?"

"Sh-Shut up and sit down here!"

Thud, thud!—

Ha-eun shouted out as she tapped on the bathroom chair.

Ohjin looked at her in a dumbfounded manner.

"You're actually going to wash me?"

"Then should I pretend to wash you?"

"I'm not a child, you know?"

"You look like a child to me."

"We're only two years apart… but… well, I guess your front digit is different from mine."

Ohjin was still in his energic twenties, while Ha-eun was in her thir—

"Hm? What did you say just now?"

"Waah. Me baby Ohjin. Wash me."

"Idiot."

Ha-eun smiled and raised the towel.

Ohjin sighed, used the towel that Ha-eun was wearing to cover his nether regions, and sat down on the chair.

Shwaaaa!—

He drenched his body in the warm water that came out of the shower head.

"Your hands… do they still hurt?"

"They don't hurt anymore. It's just that I can't move them."

"Sigh, seriously."

Slap!—

Ha-eun struck down on his back.

A distinct red handprint appeared on his back, which was filled with tough muscles.

"...You always head off somewhere and return injured."

Ha-eun leaned her forehead on Ohjin's back.

"Do… do you know how worried I was when I heard you had collapsed?"

—A voice on the verge of tears.

Ohjin, who had decided to sleep for just five minutes after defeating Cheon Woosung, had ended up staying unconscious for three hours.

The one who had found him collapsed was the Hound, Choi Woojin.

After finishing the feisty battle with the Owls brought by Cheon Woosung, the Hound had chased after his escaping tracks and discovered Ohjin.

Back when he was first discovered, Ohjin's arms were said to be so severely damaged that they were irreparable.

'Well, I did recover by using Water Affinity after that.'

His internal injuries certainly did seem to be severe, judging by the fact his fingers wouldn't budge, even when a couple of days had passed.

"Sorry."

"This isn't the only time."

Ha-eun pouted and reached her hands out to touch Ohjin's back.

There were a bunch of small and large scars engraved onto his muscular back.

Scars from before he became an Awakener—during the days when she was blinded by the Thousand Curse Dragon—were mixed with the uncountable number of scars earned across his life.

"...You really are an idiot."

"I'm not an idiot."

Ohjin smiled slightly and shook his head.

"Without these, I wouldn't have been able to stay together with you."

"..."

Ha-eun's pupils trembled.

"Even though I've gotten injured a lot of times, not once have I regretted it."

If it was for her, he would accept those scars with a smile.

"Ah, y-you, saying those kinds of phrases again."

Ha-eun hid her cheeks that were starting to become beet-red and hit him on the back once again.

That time it was a light slap that was more like a pat.

"There really is no stopping you…"

With a sheepish smile, Ha-eun put body wash on the towel and softly rubbed Ohjin's body with it.

"I'll take care of you until your hands get better, so be obedient, okay?"

"...You aren't going to follow me in every time I wash, are you?"

"Hehe, why? Isn't it nice to look at my beautiful body?"

It was certainly appealing as Ha-eun, who had a body that most models couldn't compare to, wore a risque bikini on top of that. However…

"...I don't think I'll be able to hold it in."

The destructive power was too high.

Although he had been with her for a long time, he didn't have the confidence to hold in his desire as a functional man if she came in every time he needed to wash his body.

"...you don't need to."

"Hm?"

"I-It's nothing."

Scrub, scrub—

Ha-eun rubbed the towel roughly as if she was trying to scrub the dead skin off.

"Come to think of it, where's Vega?"

"She returned to the sanctum because her time ran out."

It explained why there was no ruckus.

"Anyway, I'll tell Riak to help me next time, so don't come in."

"What? Is it because you're embarrassed?"

Ha-eun playfully poked his side.

"What a wimpy man. What is there to hide now when we've already seen everything?"

"..."

Now that he thought of it, his clothes had been forcefully taken off once before by the united force of Vega and Ha-eun.

"Hehe. Don't go asking for help from that self-centered wolf just to get reproached. Obediently leave it to me, alright?"

Ha-run giggled as she turned on the tap and scrubbed all around his body.

Her slender fingers that were felt through the gaps of the towel tickled his body.

'This is really dangerous.'

He couldn't hold onto his rationale much longer.

"I'll do the rest by myself."

"Eh? You're still covered in bubbles. What are you—"

"Hurry."

Ha-eun's eyes headed to the towel that was covering what was between his legs.

"K-Khm!!"

—A reddening face.

"Th-Then I'll head out first!!"

Ha-eun quickly exited the bathroom.

"Sigh."

Ohjin exhaled out a deep breath.

'I have to go through this every day?'

He vaguely recalled the figure of Ha-eun wearing a bikini.

—The sensation of the soft fingers that touched his skin.

—The movements of the towel that carefully cleaned his body.

"...I should hurry up and get out."

Out of all things, he had been confident in his ability to endure, but it seemed that it wasn't always necessarily the case.

* * *

One week had passed since then for his fingers to start moving properly again.

"Fua!"

It had been a long time since he had last woken up at early dawn to train. He went to an Awakener-dedicated training facility and exercised his body for six hours without rest.

"Kya! Now this is living."

After getting imprisoned by Ha-eun and Vega and forcefully taken care of, he realized how precious the freedom of moving his body around was.

'Well, it was nice.'

Rather, it was a problem because it was too nice.

He wondered if it was really okay to have everything taken care of, starting from simple meals, wearing clothes, and even bathing.

'I should pull myself together and get my focus back on training.'

Ohjin needed to get used to the changes in his body and mana from advancing to 6-Star, and also needed time to experiment with his new skills: Charge and Discharge.

'I got a rough grasp on them during today's training.'

Ohjin concentrated mana into his right arm and used a skill.

'Charge.'

Bzzzzzzzzzzt!!!—

Blue lightning fiercely blazed up.

'Discharge.'

Crackleeee!!—

The blue lightning that built up on his right hand shot forward with wild momentum.

"The force isn't that strong when I use it once."

Rather than using Charge once, it was much more efficient to use Lightning Charge or Blue Lightning.

'I need to stack it up a minimum of three times to see proper firepower.'

He could stack Charge a maximum of five times without putting harm on his body. Any further than that made him feel pain in his entire hand and burdened his body.

'There's also a lot of time required to use Charge.'

Three stacks was just the right amount to use during a fight.

"Let's stop the training here for today."

Ohjin took out the phone in his pocket and looked at his notifications. He brought up the messages sent by General Manager Han onto his screen.

[Guy who bought me beef: Has your body gotten better?]

Tap, tap, tap—

He sent a reply.

[Ohjin: Yes, I've completely recovered.]

[Guy who bought me beef: Then could come around to the Association today? The chairman says that he wants to have a word with you.]

'Hm… is it related to the rewards?'

Ohjin quickly typed on the keyboard with eyes full of expectation.

[Ohjin: I'll be there at around 2PM.]

[Guy who bought me beef: Alright! Let's see each other then!]

After arranging a meeting with General Manager Han, he exited the training room to head home.

"The fee for using the private training room for 6 hours and 27 minutes comes out to a total of $678 with a 10% discount applied~"

"Fuck."

"Pardon?"

"No, it's nothing."

Even if Awakener-dedicated training facilities were expensive, it was quite ridiculous for it to cost nearly $700 to use it for six hours.

And that was with a discount applied.

Ohjin shot a glance at the innocent employee and lent out his card.

"Sigh."

For training, there was nothing better than an Awakener-dedicated training facility, but its expensive fees were a flaw.

'The facilities aren't great either.'

To be more precise, the facilities' durability felt relatively lacking, as Ohjin had reached too high of a realm.

'It'd be nice if there was a place where I could train without worry.'

It wasn't easy to find that kind of place in the middle of Seoul.

He could do simple things such as running and gymnastics on the riverside of Han River, but he couldn't do serious training that utilized his stigma.

'Hm… I guess it can't be helped.'

Even if he had spare money, he didn't have enough of it to buy a private training facility that had to be of utmost quality, and one in the middle of Seoul at that.

"Should I look into training facilities with the reward money I'll get?"

Although the number of flicks on Ohjin's left chest was six, he already had skill on par with a peak 8-Star Awakener who was on the verge of becoming a 9-Star.

A minimum of a couple hundred thousand dollars was needed to build a facility that could endure his mana.

'It does seem like a waste, but…'

There was nothing that could be done.

The training facility he and Ha-eun went to often had expensive fees, and they also had to train while controlling their strength every time, as it wasn't made to endure the mana of Awakener above the 7~8-Star rank.

"Tch… Still, I shouldn't try to save money when it's needed for training."

Money was not the goal but a means in the end.

In a situation where he had to build up strength as fast as possible, continuing to train in discomfort in order to save money was an ignorant thing to do.

Bang! Thud, thud!—

During his trip back home, noisy construction noises were heard in the apartment building opposite of their house.

'Are they in the middle of construction?'

He faced around to look at the construction site.

—A mixed-use apartment building with a height of about 30 floors.

People wearing yellow safety helmets were moving busily in front of the apartment that had a gorgeous exterior like some 5-star hotel or corporation's office building.

"Hmm. Looks like it'll be noisy for a while."

Ohjin looked at the construction site for a while and soon turned around and headed into his house.

Click—

"Oh, have you finished training?"

"Yup."

"You should have rested for a couple more days. You went out right away at dawn just as your fingers started moving."

"Hehe. I've had plenty of rest. I'm fully recovered now."

"Hmpf. You're not lying, are you?"

Ha-eun glanced over Ohjin as if she was still anxious.

As he had said, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with Ohjin's body on the surface.

"Oh, right. I'll go to the Association and be right back."

"What are you going there for?"

"The Association chairman has something he wants to tell me."

"Ooh, is he giving you a reward? I heard you made significant contributions this time around."

"I'm not sure, but probably?"

"Hmm."

Ha-eun's eyes shone as she stepped forward and locked arms with Ohjin.

"I want to go as well."

"I can go alone, you know."

"But what if our little Ohjin follows some strange person?"

"Pfft."

Ohjin laughed and headed to the bathroom.

"Then let's go together after I wash up."

"Want me to wash you?"

It was a tempting offer—

"Nah."

—but he couldn't act like a baby any longer.

"...Aw."

Ha-eun looked at Ohjin heading to the bathroom with an expression of shame.

* * *

Ha-eun and Ohjin head to the Association after showering and sharing a simple lunch meal.

They followed General Manager Han, who had come out to receive them, and moved to the chairman's office.

"Oh, have you come?"

"Yes."

Ohjin nodded and looked at Han Taeho with eyes filled with expectation.

"What is it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Hmm. There is a favor that I'd like to ask of you."

"...Um."

Outright disappointment clouded Ohjin's face.

"Hahaha! Don't look so disappointed. I haven't forgotten about your rewards. We will reward you with $5,000,000, the prime minister's commendation award, and a star relic Kim Sihoo is in the middle of developing."

Wow—

An exclamation escaped his mouth on its own.

He didn't have much interest in the prime minister's commendation award, but the huge amount of $5,000,000 and the star relic were most certainly desirable.

"Haha, you know I didn't do all of that while hoping for a reward."

"Ho. Then is it okay if we don't give those?"

'Has this senile old man gone mad?'

"Haha! I'm kidding."

Han Taeho laughed broadly and shrugged his shoulders.

"So, what is that request you have?"

"Ah, a very important guest has come from overseas. She said that she was your fan and had to meet you, so I was thinking it'd be nice if you gave her a tour around Seoul while building friendship."

"My fan?"

'Who is it?'

"Wait here for a second."

Han Taeho walked to the next room over and knocked on the door.

Click—

Behind the door that opened carefully—

"It's been a while, Ohjin."

—the brightly smiling Queen of Leeches walked into the room.