Chapter 29: Perfectly Ripe
Hajin leaned his head back against the rim of the bathtub, letting out a long sigh. The hot water rose up to his chest, steam curling around his face as his muscles finally started to unclench for the first time in days.
’This feels amazing,’ he thought, closing his eyes and sinking deeper into the water. ’I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated a bath this much in my entire life.’
He stared up at the ceiling, his mind drifting through everything that had happened lately. The forest, the monster, the throne room, the King and his father.
’My father,’ he thought, his brow furrowing slightly. ’I could feel how pissed he was just by looking at him. He was standing there acting all composed, but the moment our eyes met, I could practically feel the hostility radiating off him.’
He let out another sigh, running a hand through his wet hair. ’Will I be okay? The King gave me his protection, but that only goes so far. If the Flint family decides they want me gone, they have ways to make people disappear that don’t involve directly attacking me.’
The water lapped against his skin as he shifted his weight, the bath bubbling slightly around him. He was so lost in thought that he almost didn’t notice the stream panel flickering at the edge of his vision.
[LunaMoon:] omg he’s actually taking a bath
[LunaMoon:] he looks so skinny though, he should really eat more and work out
[DarkBlade:] yeah bro needs to hit the gym
[StreamWatcher99:] someone feed this boy a sandwich
Hajin’s eyes snapped open, staring at the comments scrolling across his vision, his brain taking a second to process what he was seeing.
’Wait,’ he thought, his heart suddenly beating fast. ’The stream... it’s still on? Shit, did I forget to turn it off when I got in here?’
He scrambled to sit up in the massive tub, the water splashing over the rim and hitting the floor. He didn’t even care about the mess, his hands already reaching for the glowing system panel as he desperately looked for the broadcast switch.
’Turn it off, turn it off right now,’ he thought, his face feeling like it was actually on fire while he stared at the scrolling names of people who had apparently been watching him bathe for the last ten minutes.
"I... uh, sorry about this, everyone," he muttered, his voice sounding thin and panicky even to his own ears. "I completely forgot to check the status when I came in here. I’m turning it off right now, seriously, sorry."
His fingers fumbled with the holographic interface, the settings menu feeling way more complicated than it usually did while he felt the sheer weight of a hundred plus people watching him panic.
[ashley (Mod): it’s alright hajin, really. don’t worry about it.]
He saw the golden-tagged comment appear at the top of the feed and felt a small, genuine wave of relief wash over him.
’Thank god for Ashley,’ he thought, his pulse finally starting to slow down as his finger hovered over the final confirmation button. ’She’s the only one in that entire world who isn’t a total lunatic. At least someone there has some basic decency.’
[ashley (Mod): you fed my eyes plenty tonight anyway. thanks for the view <3]
His finger froze exactly one inch from the panel, his brain stalling for a long second while he stared at the little heart emoji blinking next to her name.
’Fed her eyes?’ he thought, the words echoing in his head until the meaning finally clicked.
He realized then that even the "nice" ones were just as bad as the rest of the degenerates in his chat, so he didn’t even bother saying goodbye before slamming his finger onto the OFF button and watching the panel vanish into thin air.
He sat there in the quiet bathroom for a long time, the only sound being the water dripping from the ceiling into the tub while he stared blankly at the wall.
’I am never trusting a moderator again,’ he thought, sinking back into the water until it reached his chin.
He let the heat of the bath soak into his muscles, the tension in his shoulders finally starting to melt away despite the awkwardness of the last few minutes.
’Still,’ he thought, ’if I look at the bright side, things aren’t actually that bad.’
The weight of the rewards he had just received felt much more real now that the adrenaline was gone.
The hundred gold alone was a fortune compared to what he had been living on in the slums, and he was already looking forward to seeing the expression on Yenna’s face when he eventually walks into the guild to pay off that smashed pillar without even blinking.
’I can live comfortably for months on that alone, and I won’t have to worry about where the next meal is coming from,’ he thought, a small, satisfied smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.
Then there was the royal badge and the gate permit. They were the real keys to his future, granting him access to high-rank zones that were usually locked behind layers of bureaucracy and noble rank.
’With those, I can hunt wherever I want. I can get stronger faster, gain more EXP, and find better loot to upgrade my gear.’
His mind drifted to the recovery bar for the Goddess Fragment. Every monster he killed and every bit of soul energy he gathered brought her closer to being revived, and for some reason, that goal felt a lot more urgent than it did a few days ago.
’But even with all of that, there’s still so much I don’t get,’ he thought, staring at the steam rising toward the high ceiling.
The system warning about Didi’s bloodline, her connection to the entity that shattered the Goddess, and the looming threat of the Flint family were all pieces of a puzzle he couldn’t see the full picture of yet.
’I’ll find the answers eventually, I guess,’ he thought, closing his eyes as the warmth finally pulled him toward sleep. ’For now, I’m just going to enjoy this bath while I can.’
Two cloaked figures stood on a jagged ridge overlooking the capital, their long robes snapping in the cold mountain wind that rolled down toward the city walls.
The lights of the capital glowed like a sea of embers in the distance, but their eyes stayed fixed on the towering spires of the royal palace.
"I still don’t get why we were given such a stupid mission," a female voice muttered, her hood pulled low to hide everything but the pale line of her jaw.
She threw a rock, watching it disappear into the dark below with an annoyed huff. "Observe him? Keep track of the Goddess’s last bloodline? It’s a complete waste of time. If he really is her last thread, we should just kill him now while he’s still weak and be done with it."
The other figure didn’t turn his head, his gaze locked on the specific balcony of the guest quarters where the faint, golden resonance of the Ring path was still lingering in his senses.
"Keep your mouth shut," he said, his voice a low, heavy rasp that seemed to vibrate through the very air. "We are not here to question the strategy. We follow the King’s orders, and his order is to watch, not to strike."
He let out a slow, cold breath that turned to white mist in the night air.
"Wait until he is perfectly ripe," he whispered, "only then will the King be satisfied."