Chapter 26 – Deep Feelings
Lee blinked. Seeing Shin Jonghak's clearly irritated expression... and seeing him act like a bad 90's bully, Lee just snorted and walked past him.
Shin Jonghak glared at Lee and tried to cut him off again.
But in the single step Shin Jonghak took to block Lee off, Lee lightly kicked the back of Shin Jonghak's knee. Just like the stupid high school game where people tried to make others fold like an omelet by bending their knees.
"What the fu-?!"
Shin Jonghak immediately stumbled, clearly not expecting it.
Lee immediately pulled out his phone, took a picture of Shin Jonghak kneeling on the ground and looking utterly flabbergasted. After that, he casually walked away.
There were more important things to do, after all.
Like do a quick rundown of the main shops in Gangwondo Wonju, making a list of things he could buy to stack buffs, and then calculating how much money he could make by killing monsters... and how many it would take to break even once he went out to the Field.
Shin Jonghak growled and stood back up. "I wasn't done with-!"
Lee dangled his phone and said, "Piss me off and I'll send this to your crush. And tell her you have a crush. We're besties now, you know?"
Shin Jonghak froze.
Lee wasn't looking at him anymore, but if he WAS, Shin Jonghak was probably either pale as a ghost or as purple as a plum.
Either way, situation handled.
Because if that guy tried escalating things...
Well.
Bullies in the early 2000s back in America were built different. And he'd broken plenty of bones back in the day.
'Kids these days... so soft. All bark, no bite...'
Lee clicked his tongue and then headed back to his room.
===
Shin Jonghak watched that bastard walk away like nothing happened.
There were witnesses. People who saw him forced to kneel to that bastard who was only Rank 999.
But Shin Jonghak composed himself.
He was pissed beyond measure. He wanted to grab his spear and then run over there to beat the shit out of that arrogant bastard.
But he wasn't stupid.
'That bastard isn't normal.'
It had been a movement that wasn't telegraphed at all. Not only that, perfectly timed to where Shin Jonghak couldn't react without stumbling by dodging either.
Shin Jonghak watched Lee Shin walk up the stairs to the first floor dorms. And as he did, Shin Jonghak murmured, "Just wait until the exams, you bastard."
Lee Shin was right.
If Shin Jonghak did anything right now, with how close that guy was with Nayun, Shin Jonghak would immediately burn any chances he had with her.
Sending Kim Horak or the others after Lee Shin wasn't smart either. With how close Lee Shin was to Lady Rachel, the moment any of those people tried to get to him, she would take it as a personal attack.
While Lady Rachel wasn't as important as Nayun or Yeonha on the global scale, she was still the princess of an entire country. And Shin Jonghak would only be making a fool of himself by trying to antagonize her.
No.
"Tch."
...He just had to go train. Beat that bastard properly.
It should be easy.
Shin Jonghak saw how that guy had fought Kim Suho.
He was smart, but he was slow.
The only reason Kim Suho lost was because he wasn't fast enough.
Shin Jonghak WAS.
So...
"Wash your neck, you bastard." Shin Jonghak murmured as he headed towards the elevator towards his dorm room. "...I'll get you soon enough."
===
A half hour later, Lee was waiting at the Portal center for Rachel and Nayun.
'This place is just like the DMV huh? No, I guess it's more like an airport?'
There were lines, gateway terminal numbers, service agents, and the work. There were also areas where you could prepay for a ticket, or you could pay at the counter... but from the people sending harsh gazes at the ones who did that, Lee figured it was streamlined on purpose.
Or supposed to be, at least.
But true to all government facilities, inefficiency was the default.
So to save time, he didn't bother lining up. Since he'd be going with Rachel and Nayun, the crowd would part like the red sea when they arrived anyway.
"...And speak of the devil."
Lee smiled as a commotion stirred at the entrance. Two beautiful young women wearing Cube's uniform entered and scanned the crowd. Nayun and Rachel, of course.
Both of them locked onto Lee and then started approaching.
Nayun walked over, her training bow slung over her back, as well as a quiver of gleaming steel arrows. "Yo!" She waved and walked over. "Did you wait long?"
Right after Nayun walked over, Rachel followed. Her training rapier was sheathed at her left side, and a duffelbag was slung under her right arm. She smiled at Lee and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting."
Lee waved his hand and said, "No worries. I just got here. Come on." He immediately started walking to the front of the line.
Rachel's blue eyes widened. She followed, but looked concerned. "L-Lee. Should we be doing this...?"
Nayun laughed and crossed her arms, following after Lee. "Bold. Very bold... but smart. We don't have time to wait in line."
Needless to say, there were people who were upset at Lee taking Rachel and Nayun to cut.
But nobody stopped them.
And when Lee reached the front of the line, he passed a stack of 10,000 won to the person there and said, "For your inconvenience. We're in a rush."
The person, a random upperclassman with a sword sheathed at his side... His eyes widened and he quickly straightened in place, waving in front of him. "Of course. After you."
Nayun laughed again and looked at Lee. "Is this how you do it in America? Just pay people to cut?"
Lee pulled out his Cube ID card and said, "I'm surprised you two don't do it. Ah." He nodded to the female Portal worker waiting at the counter and said, "We're heading to Gangwondo Wonju to train. They're with me." He nodded back at Rachel and Nayun. "We'll be using one of our six portal vouchers."
The female Portal worker looked amused and said, "This is a first... but I suppose there's no restrictions on following exact queue order. This way then..." She looked at Lee's card and said, "Cadet Lee Shin. And..." She looked at Nayun and Rachel. "Lady Chae Nayun and Lady Rachel, I presume?"
Nayun nodded. "Yep~! We're going out to have some fun."
Rachel blushed and said, "N-Nayun! Phrasing!"
"What phrasing? It's true, right?" Nayun tilted her head, looking genuinely confused.
"I-I mean, yes, but...!"
Lee laughed and said in English, "Just stop, Rachel. You'll definitely make it worse by trying to explain."
Rachel sighed.
Nayun huffed and said, "Excuse you? Also, I might not be able to speak English fluently, but I understand it, you know?"
"Oh, good. Then Rachel and I will just talk in English and you can respond in Korean then." Lee gave Nayun a thumbs up. "Perfect."
"You...!" Nayun groaned. "Dammit. Played myself..."
Rachel laughed.
After that, Lee stepped through the portal, followed by Rachel and Nayun.
===
"There's a ton of foreigners here, huh?" Lee took a look around the surroundings. "And not just tourists, but active Heroes, Mercenaries, and others."
Nayun hummed and said, "Well, this IS the hub for most of Korea's Field activity. Monsters, drops, and other things flow through here all the time."
Rachel stuck close to Lee's side and frowned. "...It's busy. A lot of people."
Lee paused and said, "Not good with crowds? Here." He moved around so Rachel was walking between him and Nayun, slightly ahead.
Rachel's eyes widened a fraction. But then she let out a relieved smile, relaxing a bit.
Nayun tilted her head. "The Princess of the Kingdom of Britain is afraid of crowds?"
Rachel fidgeted and said, "...An incident happened when I was younger. "
Nayun paused. "Oh. Right. Sorry."
Rachel smiled. "It's okay."
Lee spoke up and said, "Don't worry about it. If anything happens, I'll just cut us out of this mess."
Rachel laughed. "My, how noble of you, dear knight."
Nayun laughed too and said, "Oh, sure. Resort to violence the moment things break loose... you sure are great at convincing two girls they're safe with you."
"Please." Lee rolled his eyes. "You two are both currently stronger than me anyway."
While he didn't know their stats, considering the amount of magic power that both Nayun and Rachel had, and considering they both could use sword ki, meaning they had fine enough control to reinforce their bodies if they wanted to...
"If anything, you're keeping me safe."
"Pft." Nayun chuckled. "NOW he admits it." She nudged Lee's arm and said, "Just say you took us here to be your body guards while you pull some more shenanigans already."
"I mean, you aren't wrong." Lee laughed.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Lee..."
"What?"
Rachel shook her head, though she had warm smile on.
Nayun stretched and said, "We should probably check into the hotel first, right? Let's head there and then map out what to do. Since I have to head back early tomorrow morning for the Travel Club orientation, we should make the most of it."
Lee nodded. "Right. Let's see..." He pulled up a map on his smartwatch, projecting it in the air. "I got us a suite at a place called 'Kienai Omoi.' Apparently it's Japanese styled, so it has some hotsprings, futons, and other amenities to relax."
Nayun looked amused and said, "You know, a girl could misunderstand if you say it like that."
Rachel blushed. "Kienai Omoi...? Is that not Everpresent Feelings in Japanese-" Her face turned even redder at the implications.
Lee laughed. "What~?" He poked Rachel's cheek. "Tell me what you're thinking, Princess~"
"...Let's just go..."