Paradise III

The next morning—

"Yawn."

—Heun got up early in the morning and stretched for the first time in a while.

Since Ohjin and Vega had woken up at early dawn to leave for training, an awkward silence lingered in the small room.

"I should wash up and start to prepare."

For the first time in a really long time, she had business to take care of outside.

Splash!—

"Kyaaak! Fucking cold!!"

She filled the large plastic bowl with water and poured it over her body. Her body was swept by an unbelievable chill because hot water wouldn't come out easily.

'Once I move to another place in the future, I'll be sure to go to a place that at least has functional hot water.'

Her body shivered as she grabbed the towel. Once she dried off all the water off her body, she took out the prosthetic leg located in the drawer under the bed.

"Ugh."

She groaned unintentionally from the feeling of the hard stone pressing down on her knee. The texture didn't feel good to the touch as the prosthetic leg was such a cheap product.

'I need my card and ID…'

She rummaged deep inside the drawer, which was full of luggage she hadn't taken out in a while. It wasn't easy to find what she wanted when she could only use her touch to differentiate things.

Once she rummaged through for a couple more minutes, she was able to find both her card and ID.

'Clothes… there shouldn't be anything that's weird, right?'

Heun clumsily put on a turtleneck and jeans. Though she was able to put them on, she wasn't able to tell the details or confirm the combination of colors.

"Ugh."

She sighed, thinking about the possibility that she was wearing a stupid combination of clothes.

She stopped worrying about it and put on a coat. Finally, she took out her sneakers from the shoe closet and put them on her foot and prosthetic leg.

Click—

Taking the cane left by the closet with her, she headed outside.

"Haa."

The cold air of December crashed against her.

"…let's go."

She stretched the cane forward while mumbling bitter words.

Tap, tap, tap—

Confirming the path with the cane, she continued walking.

As an Awakener deemed 'strong' in the past, it wasn't hard for her to find her way with her developed senses.

"Hehe, this is easy alone!"

It was her first time going this far out alone since Ohjin had always accompanied her when she had matters to take care of outside for the past five years.

She felt slightly nervous at the start, but it was momentary.

Sound, feel, and even the smell that faintly tickled her nose.

With her superhuman senses, she was able to draw the nearby environment in her head and walk naturally to the extent that it would be hard to believe that she was blind.

"Fufu! Do you see this, bastard?"

Showing off to a person who wasn't there, she walked forward in high spirits.

Was it because she was too excited?

Crash—

"Ahh!"

She ran her face directly into the tree trunk sprouting out of the flower beds. Her face directly impacted it since she couldn't tell whether it was there or not with her cane.

"Fu…"

She rubbed her nose and started to walk unnecessarily recklessly.

Ring!—

After facing all kinds of hardship, she arrived at the bank.

Heun, who had followed the employee's guidance, sat down on her seat and took out her card and ID.

"You want to withdraw all the installment savings and deposits you currently possess?"

"Yes."

It had been sitting there for five years.

It was the account that held the money from when she was active as an Awakener for three years after the gates first opened eight years ago.

Something that she hadn't even told Ohjin—her last 'string of hope'.

"Then… uhm, around how much is in it?" Heun asked with a voice filled with nervousness.

Sweat filled the insides of her clenched fist.

"Combining all the interest during the past five years… the total is $321,754 and 82¢."

$320,000.

It wasn't a small amount of money.

It definitely wasn't a small amount of money, but—

"Ah, yes…"

—It was far from being enough to buy the 'Dragon's Cursed Eye'.

Heun's face became cloudy.

She had already known.

How could the money stack up when she didn't have much money saved in the first place?

She had already known, but…

"Miss? Is there perhaps something wrong?"

"Ah… n-no. The amount is correct. Hahaha," Heun laughed awkwardly.

$320,000.

The 'string of hope' she desperately saved.

That string of hope was so thin and transparent it felt like she wouldn't be able to grab it for all eternity.

"…haha."

It was an incredibly small amount of money considering that she had acted as an Awakener for three years.

However, it couldn't be helped.

'You couldn't make much money back around when the gates first opened.'

Back then, you wouldn't fight monsters for money but with the pure objective to survive. The starstones harvested by Awakeners back then weren't sold until two years after the gates opened.

Naturally, she earned quite a lot during that year as a 7-Star Awakener, after all, but…

'Most of it was used for medical expenses.'

At the time, her situation was so severe it wouldn't have been weird if she dropped dead on the spot.

"Should I put it all in your savings account for you?"

"…Yes. Please do so."

Song Heun feebly nodded her head and stood up.

Tap, tap, tap—

She grabbed the cane and headed back home.

'$300,000… $300,000.'

It was far away from being able to buy the Dragon's Cursed Eye, but—

"Hehe. That bastard still stuffs himself with calorie bars every day, right?"

—before they parted…

It was more than enough to create one last memory.

Bang! Kadoom!—

"Hm?"

A loud noise could be heard as she neared the house.

"What's going on?"

As she momentarily tilted her head,

Step, step, step, step!!—

With the sound of footsteps that vibrated the ground, someone tightly grasped her shoulders.

"H-Huh?"

"Haa, haa!"

A sound of rough breathing.

"Where did you go without telling me!!"

Ohjins urgency-filled shout was heard.

"Fufufu! What is it? Have you been looking for me?"

"This isn't the time for laughs—"

"Hey, Ohjin."

Cutting him off, she smiled brightly.

"Do you want to go on a date with me?"

"…What?"

It had been extremely long since they had gone outside like this.

"What got into you all of a sudden?" asked Ohjin while lightly pulling on Heun's arm.

A date.

The development was extremely unexpected.

"Hehe. It's because I felt sorry for how you wear worn-out clothes and go around eating calorie bars every day."

"How would you know if they're worn-out or not?"

"I can tell without looking, you idiot. How many years old are the ones you're wearing right now?"

"That's…"

He didn't know.

It wasn't that he couldn't remember but because he had no method of knowing, as he had secretly taken them from an old clothing bin.

"You have nothing to say, right?"

He pondered over it.

"… I'm still pretty neat."

"Shut up and follow me."

Cutting off his pathetic excuses, Song Heun pulled on his arms.

Just like that, when she continued walking forward step by step.

"…Which direction was the department store again?"

"Oh, boy."

With a smile, he headed towards the department store with her.

"Hello~!"

"Yes~ Miss!"

"Please set him up with five sets of clothes that would look good on him."

"Understood!"

The employee ran off to somewhere with light in their eyes.

"Why request that from the employee? I'll be the one to pick."

"You would just pick the cheapest ones."

'Correct!'

"And why would I need 5 sets? I can just reuse—"

"Ahh~ Can't hear yooooou~"

'Why is she like this?'

"Hm~ Since he's such a great canvas, he'll look good on practically anything! This and this brand's product…"

The excited employee recommended all sorts of clothes to Ohjin.

"Which one does Miss Girlfriend over here like?"

Heun smiled brightly from the word, 'girlfriend'.

Tapping the floor with her cane, she slurred the end of her sentence.

"My eyes aren't all that good, so…"

"Ah, I-I apologize."

"No, it's alright. Please give us all the ones you recommended."

"I want to pick—"

"Ignore whatever this bastard says," Heun cut off Ohjin and smiled.

"The total comes out to $3720~!"

"Here."

"What?!"

With a startled expression, Ohjin held the arms of Heun as she took out her card.

"Are you crazy?"

'What kind of clothes cost over $3000. Even if it's ten pieces, this is crossing the line. Moreover…'

"Just where did you get the—"

"Heh. My deposit ended today. I'm buying it for you since I received a large amount of interest."

"Anyways, I don't need things this expensive," said Ohjin as he frowned.

"Didn't you hear me? I'm the one buying it."

"I'm saying you don't need to buy it for me."

"Damn it, just wear it!"

Heun continued to insist and pushed it towards him.

He refused a couple more times, but he had no choice but to receive the clothes since she threw a tantrum like some three-year-old child.

"Hehehe! Go and change into a set. Also, throw away the ones you're wearing right now!"

"…haa."

Ohjin let out a deep sigh and changed his clothes in the fitting room.

"W-Wow…"

As he exited, a light exclamation flowed out of the employee's mouth. All he did was simply change his clothes, but it was enough to mistake him for an entirely different person.

"Did you change?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go!"

Heun grabbed his arm and dragged him to some other places. She made rounds around the department store and gifted him whatever popped up in her head at the time.

"…Hey," Ohjin asked with a sunken voice.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Hehe. Didn't you go through a lot of hardship throughout these past five years because of me?"

"That's…"

"Today…"

Increasing the grip on his arm, she dropped her head.

"Just for today… let me do whatever I want."

Her voice faintly trembled.

"Haa," Ohjin let out a sigh.

"Don't regret it later."

"Hey, I have a lot of money! Fufu~!"

Heun cackled while excitedly shaking her shoulders.

"Well then~ next up…"

As she was continuing her thought, click— she snapped her fingers.

"Should we go get something to eat?"

"Sure."

He just happened to be hungry since he hadn't eaten anything except the calorie bar he had eaten at dawn.

"Where do you want to go, Burger King or McDonalds?"

"…Why are those your only options?" said Song Heun as she clicked her tongue.

"Fufu! Follow me. Let's try out hanwoo today."

"H-Hanwoo?"

T/N: Hanwoo is Korean beef more or less the equivalent of Wagyu in Japan.

Shiver—

Ohjin's two legs shook violently.

Hanwoo was an outrageous food that would easily surpass $100, even with only two people.

"Eat… hanwoo?"

"That's right. So Hurry up and come here!"

Song Heun pulled on Ohjin, who stood still, dumbfounded, but, naturally, Ohjin had to be the one to lead her there shortly after.

"… We're here."

"Woah, the smell is really amazing."

As soon as they arrived in front of the BBQ restaurant, a smell flowed out that was so mouth-watering it would stupify the mind.

Gulp—

Heun desperately suppressed her flowing saliva and licked her lips.

"Let's—"

"go in" was what she was about to say, but…

'…This smell?'

The fishy smell of the ocean rushed into her nose.

"…What do they sell next door?"

"Hm? Wait a sec… ah, it's a snow crab restaurant."

"Snow crab…?"

Heun's brain started to spin at a fast pace.

The calculation was brief.

"K-Khm!"

Unnecessarily clearing her throat, she pulled on Ohjin.

"I-I'm not in the mood for beef today~"

"You were drooling just moments ago."

"S-Shut up!! I want to eat crab today!!"

"Huh?" Ohjin tilted his head.

"But you don't like seafood."

Although they hadn't eaten seafood many times, she had loathed and hated it every time they did. He couldn't understand why she would want seafood when she didn't even like the shrimp that was liked amongst many people who disliked seafood.

"C-Crabs are different!!"

"But you hate all crustacean foods…"

"Anyways…!"

Song Heun pulled Ohjin to the snow crab restaurant.

"Hello~ we would like to order!"

Heun ordered two steamed snow crabs. Steam flowed out of the piping-hot red shells..

"Urg…"

Song Heun's expression distorted from the ocean smell that poured out of the steamed crab, but it was only momentary.

"Ah~ this is really hard to get the meat out of~ eating crabs is really difficult, as expected."

Heun, who had picked at the crab a couple times, put down her chopsticks while speaking as if she was in a play.

Ohjin temporarily forgot to chime in from what she was very obviously trying to say.

"Hand it over; I'll take out the meat for you."

"Ah, really? Hahaha! There's really no need for you to, but oh well~"

Heun smiled brightly and moved her body a bit closer to him.

"Ahh," she opened her mouth like a baby chick waiting to be fed.

"Here."

"Nom, nom."

He removed the meat from the shell and placed it inside her mouth.

"Hehehe. It's tasty."

A rather stupid laughter flowed out of Heun's mouth.

"Have lots."

"Mhm. Don't just feed me; you should eat as well."

"Yeah, yeah."

Once the long meal came to an end…

"I'll go buy coffee."

"Here's my card—"

"At least let me be the one buying coffee."

He felt guilty for being on the receiving end throughout the entire day.

"Hmm. Alright. I'll allow you to do that much," said Heun as she puffed out her chest.

"Pfft."

He couldn't hold it in and ended up exploding in laughter.

"What? You got a problem?"

"Pffft! No. I'll come back soon. Stay here."

Ohjin turned around and headed towards the counter.

Seated on the cafe's chair, Heun smiled gently.

She slightly opened her eyes to observe the surroundings.

The world was as dark as ever, but…

It wasn't cold.

'Where should we go next~'

Just when she was swinging her legs in deep thought—

"H-Hello, you're Gwon Ohjin… right?"

"Huh? Ah, yes. I am."

"Kyaa! N-No way! The Lightning Wolf! It's the Lightning Wolf!"

"Really? Wow… oh my gosh! I was at Seoul Station on that day!"

"Did you come here alone?"

—Heun heard the excited voices of two women.

"…These fucking bitches?"

Heun's expression roughly distorted.