Mandatory Beach Episode – II

I opened the car door and stepped out onto the parking lot, taking in the fresh ocean breeze. Feeling the cool spray against my face and the warm sun above, I smiled and let out a relaxed sigh. "Good old Hawaii. Always a great place to unwind."

We arrived at the Full Moon, a luxury hotel founded by a Paradise retiree near Waikiki beach. Also the place that we'd be spending the next month playing around.

I was curious about whether or not there were any specific differences between the place and a normal hotel due to that difference... mostly in terms of their training equipment, but that could come later.

Ghio stepped out of the car as well and then smiled. "Enjoying the weather?"

"Of course." I stretched and said, "It's been a bit gloomy back at home, so being able to enjoy peaceful summer weather is great."

Marika stepped out of the car as well and put on a pair of sunglasses. After that, she smiled and said, "Well. Please remember to not enjoy yourself too much, Mister Jihu. Lowering your guard too much will result in quite the unfortunate accidents in such a luxurious setting."

I paused to think about Marika's words. And then I groaned. "Right. That's definitely a good point."

This was Hawaii. Not only was it Hawaii, it was Waikiki beach and a luxury hotel where we would be staying at for the next month. A place of sunshine, relaxation, good food and good vibes... And where couples came to have honeymoons.

Which meant that I had to be on my guard, probably have a guy with me at all times to not get jumped, and also resolve the at least two thirsty girls who were just waiting for an opportunity with me.

Thankfully, I was immune to alcohol. Unfortunately, I had a feeling that a few of those girls were shameless and masters of guilt tripping. Which meant that I had to make sure everyone involved knew what was going on and hash things out before things got full nuclear meltdown when if someone felt betrayed.

To add on to the headache that I was starting to realize I was due, I saw a few cars pulled up in the distance, driven by Hannah, Maldong, and Claire.

At the same time, I got a phone call.

Ghio watched me and then smiled. "I believe it would be in your best interest to pick that up, Jihu."

I glanced at the cars. Specifically, I looked at the one Hannah was driving... and I saw her glaring at me while holding a phone.

I coughed and picked up. "Hi honey-"

"You're a fucking jackass, you know that? What happened to treating your wife well?"

"Ahaha... I wanted to catch up with friends a bit first?"

Silence- No, I heard Hannah quietly count back from ten. After that, she said, "Fine. I'll check in for us and everyone else. But you owe me one. Or did you forget the golden rule already now that you've marked me for yourself?"

"Of course not, Hannah."

"Hmph. Well, take your time to relax then, 'Dear.' You'll have a lot of talking to do soon enough."

With those words that sounded vaguely like a threat, Hannah hung up. And in the distance, I saw the other cars pull up into the parking lot.

Ghio looked at me and said, "Bad news?"

"Just a bit of marital concerns."

Marital concerns involving the fact that I was married but plenty of other beautiful women still loved me and were willing to compromise to stay by my side. Then there were others that were still confused about how they felt.

Then there was me, who liked all of them and didn't want any of them to be hurt and as a result was wrapped up like a cocoon with tons of red strings of fate that blinded me pretty much every time I used my Karmic Eyes and had to purposefully filter them out to see.

...Alright. Maybe it wasn't just a 'bit' of marital concerns then...

I coughed and started walking towards the beach. "Anyway... I'm going to unwind on the beach for a bit. You guys coming with?"

Ghio nodded and walked on my right. "Of course."

Marika followed, walking on Ghio's right side. "That was always the plan to begin with."

"Great." I glanced one more time at the cars pulling into the parking lot.

A certain blonde priestess jumped out of the car and glared at me, but was held back by Sungjin.

...Yeah. Let's get some space and let people cool down first.

That decided, I decisively averted my gaze and focused on the beach, looking around to see if there was anyone familiar.

Ah. There was Hugo and Ian. It looked like they found a pair of hot Asian women to hang out with too.

Time to roast them about-

*clang*

Before I could finish that thought, I heard the clattering of chains. Not only that, but without prompting, a pair of crimson chains emerged in my vision, extending from those two hot Asian women and connecting to me.

And then I realized who those two were.

Right.

It was obvious in hindsight.

Shin was the one piloting the plane. Not only that, but he gave me a sympathetic look when I left.

I thought it had been because of what happened on the plane. But in truth...

"Just one thing after the other." I muttered and shook my head.

"Jihu?" Ghio looked at me, concerned. He looked back at the beach and frowned. "...Is there an enemy?"

Marika frowned as well, subtly moving closer to Ghio.

I let out a deep sigh. "No. Just karma rearing its ugly head."

I was starting to sympathize with Seol wanting to head back to Paradise ASAP. It really was easier bashing monsters in and training than dealing with human relationships...

Also, note to self. Playing the dense protagonist and trying to get a harem by maxing out affection points works in a game, but in reality it's a giant pain in the ass. Especially when all the girls in love with you are both crazy and crazy in love with you.

I shook my head and said, "Let's just get this over with."

xxx

"Bro!" Hugo lowered the tongs he was using to flip a steak on a grill and then waved at me. "You're finally here!"

I waved back after walking over and said, "Yeah. It's been... a bit of a wild plane ride."

Ian sipped on a beer and chuckled. "I can imagine. I heard that everyone else should be arriving as well? And that a certain someone got married?"

A sudden pair of sharp glances pointed at me. Seora and Seohui.

I ignored them for the moment, reaching out to shake Ian's hand. On the outside, I laughed and said, "It's been eventful recently. Lots to catch up on."

On the inside though... Ian you son of a bitch. First Seonhwa and Yuhui, now you gotta throw me under the bus like this? You're lucky that you're not actually trolling...

Ghio walked over with Marika and smiled before speaking in English. "It is good to see you two here as well." He glanced at Hugo cooking and Ian drinking before saying, "It seems that you two are enjoying yourselves?"

Ian broke the handshake with me and stepped out to shake Ghio's hand. "Ghio! Pleasure to see you too! And I take it this is your lovely wife?"

"Yes. Mari?"

While Ian was getting chummy with Ghio and his wife, I glanced over at Seora and Seohui.

As if waiting for just that, Seora set aside the book she was reading and stood up.

She was wearing a bikini. Obviously. She was on the beach, after all. But considering how I had only ever seen her in training clothes, formal clothes, and dressed up, right now...

A lean body, trained and with clear muscle definition. But it wasn't excessive. While she looked like a star athlete with her build, she still had curves in all the right places. And she had grown up a bit from the first time I met her too, giving off a mature aura.

Or maybe that was the brazenly confident black bikini outfit that barely hid anything and put it all on display. Probably that.

After Seora got up, Seohui did the same.

Unlike Seora, Seohui's body wasn't trained. There wasn't any muscle definition visible. Instead, it was pure curves and pristine skin, emphasized by a frilly white bikini that would definitely reveal a few things if it got wet.

"Oppa!" Seora smiled and ran over to hug me. "You're finally here!"

I laughed, doing my best to not make it nervous, and patted her back. "Yeah. Though I didn't expect to see you here, Seora." I looked over at Seohui and said, "Or you, Seohui."

Seohui smiled and walked over, placing her hands over her chest. "My hero isn't the only one who needs a bit of rest after all of that. And since Miss Yeriel was looking for flights to give you a vacation, we decided to help out."

Ah. So this was because of Maria.

Probably because I was ignoring her for a bit.

No, was this what Gula wanted to say to me when she brought up relationships in our chats? Since it would break causality, were these things that I had to deal with by myself or else bad stuff would happen?

But *how?*

It wasn't like I could be in twenty different places at-

Wait.

...Can I?

Before, I would have said it was impossible. But with Conceptual Manipulation and with All As One being strengthened a bit...

"So." Seora looked up at me and said, "When are we getting married?"

"...Eh?"

Seora looked me dead in the eye and said, "I can't marry you at home now because Hannah did first, but I'm an American now, you know? And besides, every successful businessman has one or two overseas wives." She looked back at Seohui and said, "Right, Sis?"

"A-Ah." Seohui blushed and averted her gaze. "...I would be happy being just a toy though?"

"Sis! We talked about this!"

"B-But it's the truth?"

...This was going to be a long vacation, wasn't it?

xxx

Back in Haramark. The lobby of Carpe Diem's headquarters.

There, Vlad Halep and Oana Halep sat down with a certain masked spearman.

Vlad was in rough shape. His muscular body was more scarred than at the Banquet, and his clothes were tattered.

Oana wasn't as bad off. Her long white hair was a bit frazzled, and her robes were frayed at the edges. But other than that, she looked fine. Sipping on a cup of tea, Oana smiled and said, "Thank you for helping us, Mister Vengeful Bunny Man."

Black Seol let out a wry smile beneath his mask and said, "No problem. That guy promised to help you out, so I've gotta do my part to stand-in for him since he's out of commission."

Vlad smiled as well and said, "Jihu has trustworthy companions... I'm grateful."

Black Seol nodded. "He does. Though a few number of them want to be more than just companions... especially the female ones." He grumbled and then stared off into space, checking in on the guy.

Since time was misaligned, everything on Earth looked like it was happening at 1/3 the normal speed.

Black Seol *could* sync it up by focusing and adjusting his subjective sense of time through applying <Future Sentiment>, but it wasn't worth the effort right now.

Instead, he just watched what that guy was doing... and sighed as he saw Jihu tied up like a dumpling with all the red chains wrapped around him.

And that guy kept talking smack about Seol. He still hadn't even properly interacted with Eun Yuri yet or gone to Eva.

Black Seol was joking about the Harem God class, but with the way things were going... it was starting to look like it'd be inevitable with all the karma that guy racked up.

Vlad chuckled and said, "Of course. Great men attract great beauties." He paused and then looked at his sister. "But you should refrain, Oana."

Oana nodded. "I know. Oppa's already stuck in a labyrinth of red strings, so I won't bother him about it. He *is* handsome though... I wouldn't mind having a bit of-"

Before she could finish, Black Seol interrupted. "No."

Oana blinked and said, "Pardon?"

Black Seol shook his head and said, "Jihu is the literal embodiment of tempting fate, so I would appreciate it if you didn't say anything that would make his life worse."

Mostly because that guy would blame him and Black Seol would get more pissed off at the fact that he was going around with every other girl than his Seonhwa who was a thousand times kinder and less obsessive than the one he knew.

Aaand he was pissed again. Dammit.

"A-Ah." Oana nodded. "Understood, Mister Vengeful Black Bunny Man."

"...Just call me Blackie."

"Okay, Blackie."

"...Anyway." Black Seol stood up and grabbed his spear. "You two will be safe here in Haramark. I don't know what crazy bastards are after you two, but I'll pass along the message that you're being protected. This place is that guy's hometurf, so you don't have to worry about anything as long as you're here."

Especially since Black Seol had gone out of his way to clear out the crazies and instigators for a few achievement points.

Only a couple thousand more, Jihu. Just you wait, you bastard...

Vlad nodded. "Thank you again, Mister Blackie."

"Yes!" Oana smiled. "Thank you, Blackie!"

Black Seol's eye twitched.

...Well. It was better than being called 'bunny.'

He shook his head and then started walking out. "I'm busy, so I probably won't see you two for a while. Take care of yourselves."

Now to play the role of Jihu and forge a note to Cinzia to keep an eye on the Halep siblings, investigate the weirdo malice spirit that keeps reappearing in the Forest of Denial, smack around Sung Shihyun a few more times, and then prep the move to Eva because that guy definitely won't be getting around to it for a few months.

Black Seol stuck his spear on his back and muttered, "Cleaning up after that guy's mess again... What am I, his older brother or something? Even my younger self isn't this headache inducing-"

"Huh?"

Black Seol froze and slowly turned around.

Hao stared back at him, frowning. "...Bro? What are you doing in Haramark?" He glanced at Black Seol's spear and said, "And when did you start using a spear?"

Black Seol tilted his head, looking confused. Well, with his mask on, it looked that way. In reality though, he was doing his best to keep it cool and not panic.

How the hell did he get recognized? Didn't Gula say that the mask would keep people from figuring it out?

Hao blinked and then shook his head. "No. Never mind." He pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a lighter before walking off. "Must be working too hard to mistake a scrub like that for Bro. Hah. Why is there so much paperwork to just move to Eva and set up an organization for Bro? Then there's the interview we need to schedule..."

Hao grumbled and walked off, puffing on his cigarette.

Black Seol watched him leave.

Well. It seemed like the mask did work.

Though...

"...Did he call me a freaking scrub?"

Him? The Spear Demon? The guy who single-handedly stopped Haramark from being overrun in the future and wipe out multiple Army Commanders? The one who reached Seamless Sublimity as a unique realm?

"Tch." Black Seol shook his head and started marching out of Haramark. "Just wait until that guy gets back here and uses the Divine Stigmata. We'll see who's the real scrub when he has to rely on his own abilities instead of everything he borrowed."

Maybe he could team up with 'that guy' in there too. It'd be unfair, but that vain bastard needed to be knocked down a few pegs anyway...

xxx

Late at night, in the bar of the Full Moon hotel.

I cracked open an ice cold bottle of beer and downed it, trying to get rid of the headache I had from making the rounds with all the girls and sorting things out.

The bar tender raised an eyebrow and eyed my empty bottle. "...Long day?"

"You have no fucking idea." I tossed a stack of hundreds on the countertop and said, "Pour me a glass too. The strong stuff. Everclear if you've got it."

"...Sure, Man."

Dammit. What I wouldn't give to be able to just black out...

Ah, wait. I'd definitely get pounced on if I did. Then instincts would take over and while I'd have a grand old time, this would get even more convoluted.

Fuck.

Should definitely have listened to Blackie. And should definitely have listened to Cinzia about keeping my 'sword' in check.

Because goddammit, love was a helluva double-edged blade...