Chapter 51: Ch 51: Panic
After convincing the others it would be best for her to meet Rin alone, Reina entered her hospital room and walked toward Rin’s bed.
She pulled back the covers, expecting to find him asleep in bed, but Rin was nowhere to be found. The bed was also cold, indicating he had been gone for a while.
Reina froze in shock before it gave way to concern. She immediately headed out and started asking others if they had seen Rin.
She should have handled this situation a little more carefully. If Reina had been in a better state of mind, she would have realized that she was causing more harm than good by panicking like this.
But Reina did not think of any of that. Her mind was filled with thoughts of finding Rin before it was too late.
’Just where did Rin go? He’s a patient who fainted for no reason. Does he not realize he should let me check him thoroughly first before he even thinks about moving around? Ugh, I am going to lock him in the medical room. No, that is not enough. I am going to bind him to the bed first and then lock the room behind him so he couldn’t leave-’
Reina’s thoughts were spiraling toward dangerous territory. She had never wanted to confine someone as she did Rin.
Her desires would have shocked and scared her before, but realizing her feelings for Rin had changed her. She no longer felt afraid or disgusted by her own interests.
Reina’s panic slowly got worse and others quickly caught on to what was happening as well and decided to help out. Soon, the whole base was looking for Rin.
But the man in question just sank deeper into the bathtub, enjoying his leisure time alone.
__________
’Ah, this feels so good. The warm water is doing wonders for my sore muscles. I don’t even want to get out of the water. Maybe I should stay here for another hour or two.’
[User, prolonged exposure to warm water can cause skin damage. Your body is one of your best assets, please try not to damage it. Please take especially good care of your face.]
Why did it sound like the system cared more about Rin’s aesthetics than about his health? Even his caring comments sounded like he was scolding Rin to take care of his face more.
Unfortunately, the nagging worked and Rin pulled himself out of the water and dried himself off. He chose some comfortable clothes and after resting for another twenty minutes, he decided to head out and work.
Rin’s room had soundproof walls so he did not notice much of what was going on outside. But the noise outside his room was loud.
People were losing their minds about something and Rin immediately grabbed someone to ask what was going on.
"Hey, what is going on here? What is all this noise about?"
Rin wanted to know what was happening. Were they behind the attack? Had the system done something without telling him (System: Please don’t blame the system for things it did not do).
Or...had the MC finally arrived, causing this panic?
But the man running around did not answer Rin immediately. He paused, looked at Rin with a bewildered expression and then grabbed his shoulder and collapsed in relief.
"Y-Young master, you’re alive? A-And you are fine as well? T-Thank God! W-We were all so worried about you."
Rin frowned at the visible relief on the man’s face.
"What could even happen to me? I made it back here with everyone else, right? I doubt anyone here dislikes me enough to try and kill me."
Rin tried to crack the joke but it had the opposite effect of what he wanted. The man he was trying to reassure flinched and his grip on Rin’s shoulder tightened.
"Young master, please don’t even joke about dying. I don’t think our settlement is ready to lose you so soon."
Rin felt taken aback by the man’s serious tone. However, the man pulled his hand back before Rin could respond and he blinked with a shocked expression on his face.
"I...might have crossed a few lines. Please forgive me, young master. I-I should go and inform Reina that we found you and there is no need for that special mission to find you."
The worker ran away before Rin could even understand what was happening. The only thing he was able to get from this conversation was that he had somehow messed up and made others think that he had disappeared.
[User, you suck at comforting someone. Perhaps, it’s time for you to consider the system’s highly anticipated acting classes. With only 10 Million dollars a session, you can learn to make gullible fools-]
"Sorry, but that’s too expensive. I’ll just stick with my current self."
The system sulked at Rin’s rejection but it did not complain any further.
Rin wasn’t in the mood for it either. He needed to find Reina...or better, his butler and ask him to stop wasting manpower.
The second task was finished and there was a lot to prepare before the third task.
Moreover, now that Shelly was back with him, it won’t take long for the original MC to come. He would try to take over this settlement and Rin needed to be careful while defending his position.
"Ugh, work never truly ends even during the apocalypse."
Rin complained and headed toward the main hall. Reina, Shelly, and the head butler were discussing something so they did not notice him. So Rin coughed to let them know about his presence.
They immediately turned to look at him with a relieved expression.
"Rin, you-"
Reina started to speak, but Shelly was faster than her and she wrapped her arms around Rin before anyone could do anything to stop her.
Her eagerness caused Rin to stagger backward and he almost lost his balance. But he managed to regain it at the last second and hold Shelly close.
"Rin, are you alright? Do you know how scared I was all this time? The world changed and I could not get in contact with you. The phone was not working and there was no way to cross over either-"
Shelly spoke so fast it was hard to follow, making it hard for anyone to understand what she was saying. Rin allowed her to vent her worries and frustration while he patted her back to comfort her.
But Shelly seemed to have no intention of pulling back from the hug anytime soon.