Chapter 28 – Attraction
'The Golden Eagle.'
It was an American restaurant by a retired Hero who studied under the great Gordon Ramsey.
Lee was mildly surprised that guy existed in this world, but he didn't question it.
Life was easier that way when it came to little things like this.
But anyway.
After hunting until the Field started filling up at 5 PM with Hunters and Mercenaries, Lee, Rachel, and Nayun headed back to Kienai Omoi to change.
Sadly, no hotspring soaking, just a quick shower as each of them took turns.
But then it was time for dinner. A full course meal in a private booth at the top of the building.
Lee sat on one side of the booth while Nayun and Rachel sat next to each other across from him.
Nayun sighed and said, "I can't believe I have to head back to Cube tomorrow for a stupid orientation for Traveling Club..."
Lee looked amused said, "You could always not join."
"And miss the free trips to skip classes? Never!"
Rachel giggled and said, "And that is why you are still not number one."
"Ugh." Nayun sipped on a glass of water they had served while waiting for their food. "Don't remind me... But who needs grades anyway, right? When you're a Hero, all that matters is how good you fight and how good you are at handling monsters, isn't it?"
Lee nodded. "For someone in your position, sure. After all, you have people to handle the rest."
"Right?" Nayun nodded. "So who cares! I just have to be the best archer in the world and everything else doesn't matter."
Rachel let out a whimsical sigh. "To be so free..."
Nayun hummed and said, "You could always give up the-"
Rachel immediately cut her off and said, "Do not even joke about that, Nayun. There would be no one else."
Nayun flinched and rubbed the back of her neck. "R-Right. Sorry. Just trying to lighten things up..."
Rachel looked apologetic and said, "...I'm sorry as well. It's just..." She let out a soft sigh and said, "It's difficult."
Seeing the mood was a bit strange, Lee decided to change the subject a bit and said, "Hey, Nayun. Just double checking... but are you sure the Traveling Club orientation is on Saturday? Maybe it's on Sunday?"
Nayun huffed. "Of course it's on Saturday. Didn't Yeonha say so?"
"Well, she did. But Yeonha also likes teasing you, doesn't she?"
Nayun paused. Then she pulled out her calendar on her smartwatch. And when she did, she groaned. "That Yeonha...! It's Sunday! Not Saturday for the orientation!"
Rachel giggled. "Maybe she was getting you back for teasing her about Hajin?"
Lee laughed and said, "It's probably that- Wait." He paused to reflect on the order of events. Then he said, "She agreed with you about the orientation being on Saturday. She didn't say that it was."
Rachel paused. Then she gasped. "She DID."
Nayun's eyes widened. Then she burst out laughing. "Oh my god. Did our detail-oriented and meticulous Yeonha get so distracted by Hajin that she got the dates mixed around?"
Lee smirked and said, "Well... she DID say that she was going to the Academic Club orientation together with Hajin~"
Rachel covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.
Nayun laughed again and smacked her hand on the table. "That Yeonha is DEFINITELY crushing on him!"
Lee shrugged and said, "Hajin does have that 'adopt me' vibe to him."
"HE DOES!" Nayun cackled and said, "He's so pathetic looking with his dopey face... It's just like an abandoned puppy."
Rachel shook her head and said, "That's mean, Nayun. Hajin isn't that bad..."
Nayun smiled and said, "You say that, Rachel, but you aren't using his last name OR honorifics~"
Rachel paused. "That's... Ah. Well... It just seems strange to call him anything but Hajin? Like how it would be weird to call Lee 'Shin Lee.'"
"Well," Lee said. "I would have to stop you there because I'm American and not Korean. It's Lee Shin." He paused. "...Yes, I know it's like two last names. And that's why the order matters."
Nayun paused and said, "Huh. You know, I never thought about that. But you DO have two family names. Doesn't it get confusing?"
"Only in Korea. Works perfectly fine in America."
Ah, the wonders of a country where people didn't care what name you had and weren't picky, leading to wonders like 'Taylor Taylor' or 'John Johnson'...
Lee shook his head and said, "Either way, it's still better than Rachel here who has three first names."
Rachel blinked. "...I beg your pardon?"
Nayun's eyes lit up and she said, "Ooh! That's right! Rachel Elizabeth Louise... None of those are family names! And they're all given names!"
Rachel turned a bright red and said, "Th-That is only because I have yet to take the throne! When I do, I become Rachel Elizabeth Windsor!"
Lee chuckled and said, "Cut her some slack, Nayun. It's tradition. Even Princess Diana had three first names. Her full name was Diana Frances Spencer, you know?"
Nayun gasped. "NO WAY!"
Rachel huffed and lightly kicked Lee's shin. "Stop pointing out weird things! And stop comparing me to Princess Diana! We aren't even related!"
"Well..." Lee shrugged. "Princess Diana met Prince Charles for the first time when she was 16 too. And it took three years for that guy to consider Princess Diana as a proper bride... which is around the same time the main curriculum in Cube would be settled for us. So I think it's a good analog, no?"
Rachel froze, processing Lee's words. Then her face turned a bright red. "B-B-Bride? Three years!?"
Nayun gasped. "Lee! Are you proposing now?!"
Lee laughed. "Nah. Still too soon for that. Rachel and I aren't even dating yet. But it IS a bit funny. The scandal would be just about as big as Princess Diana's was when she married in, I think?"
"Leeeeeeee!"
Was Rachel that overwhelmed? Or did she have enough? Either way, she threw away all decorum and reached over the table, tugging Lee's cheeks. "Stop teasing meeeee!"
Lee laughed and said, "Noooo~ Not the domestic violence~"
"YOU!"
Rachel laughed too and then sat back down, crossing her arms with a huff. "You're too shameless! It's terrible!"
Nayun sipped on her water and said, "No, no. Keep it up. I'm loving this. It's better than K-dramas."
Rachel rolled her eyes and hid behind her own glass of water, sipping on it to regain a bit of composure.
Lee smiled and sipped on his own glass too. Then he said, "Alright, alright. Enough banter... Did your father's people tally up our monsters, Nayun?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Nayun grinned and said, "I won~ Archery superiority wins out!"
Rachel paused. "...Who was second?"
Nayun teased. "Why~? Worried that Lee will have to pay?"
"N-No! I was just... curious." Rachel averted her gaze.
Lee chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Rachel. I'm good for it even if I lost." He gave a thumbs up. "I'm sure that I made at least enough to pay off my loans already. Each Iron Hog is 600K won, and I killed ten. That wasn't even all of it."
If Lee tallied things up properly... it should already be around 30 million won?
Rachel paused. Then she let out a soft chuckle. "...I suppose I was worried for nothing."
Nayun gave Rachel a thumbs up and said, "Worrying about this meathead is just endless stress!"
Lee looked amused and said, "Who are you calling meathead, Miss 'I train in Gravitation Rooms for fun?'"
"You, Mister 'I train in Gravitation Rooms until I'm bleeding from every pore in my body.'"
Lee's ears turned red and he coughed. "That was one time. And I'm fine."
Rachel huffed. "I still haven't scolded you enough for that, Lee. You could have died!"
Nayun nodded. "I'm surprised you're still so energetic. With how much blood you lost... are you like, superhuman?"
"I only lost like, a pint of blood. It just looked like a lot because I was sweating a lot too... Probably."
Rachel's eyes widened. "PROBABLY?!"
Nayun rolled her eyes. "I'm telling the people at the front desk. We are having you barred from the Gravitation Room unless you have adult supervision."
"I'm already a Cube Cadet. Doesn't that count?"
""NO.""
Rachel and Nayun immediately denied Lee at the same time.
Lee held up his hands and said, "Fine, fine... It wasn't like I planned to train there more any time soon."
...Okay, that was kind of a lie.
He DID want to do more training in there...
But he also recognized his limits.
His body felt fine, but it was probably recovering as if he had run an ironman marathon.
Collapsing would be a problem, so Lee would refrain.
...As much as he wanted otherwise.
Rachel gave Lee a skeptical look and said, "If you go train again without telling us, I'll never forgive you. And it'll make me cry."
Nayun let out a dramatic gasp and said, "Oh no! You can't do that to her, Lee! Imagine the headlines! Lady Rachel in tears over a Cube Cadet... the scandal!"
Lee laughed. "Fiiine. I'll do some other sort of training. Like other polearms."
"Oh yeah!" Nayun pointed at Lee's spear and said, "Why'd you bring that instead of your halberd? You aren't going to use that for the exams and stuff too, are you?"
"Hm? Oh, well it's just convenient." Lee pointed to the mechanisms that let it compress and expand. "See? If I brought my halberd, I'd be lugging it everywhere. It's not good for crowded places like here. But I can bring this pretty much everywhere. Also, it just looks like a tube, so people usually don't pay attention."
Rachel frowned and slowly said, "...Should we be concerned that you have an easily concealable weapon...?"
Nayun snorted. "He's American. I'm surprised he doesn't have a gun too."
Lee chuckled. "I'm not Hajin. Sadly, my Gift doesn't work with firearms. Otherwise, I ABSOLUTELY would be using a gun-" He paused. "...Wait. You know what? I never HAVE tried using a rifle with a bayonet."
Rachel shook her head, a smile on her face. "You Americans and your firearms..."
"Hey, we beat you in the Civil War with bayonets."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "You might be American, but you aren't even part of the colonies, you silly man."
Nayun laughed and said, "Don't bother, Rachel. Even if he's technically Korean, his ancestors gave up on him generations ago. Clearly."
Lee laughed. "I'm not even sure if I'm completely Korean, you know? I know my Dad was, but my mom was just a generic Asian American."
"Pft." Nayun shook her head. "The fact that you can call your mother 'generic Asian American...' Your poor ancestors must be rolling in their graves."
At that time, the waiter came by with the starters, some house-smoked salmon with truffle, duck pâté with raisins, brioche mousseline, along with caramelized onion and feta pastry blossoms.
...Or in other words, extremely fancy things that Lee didn't know anything about, but the girls definitely did.
Rachel's eyes lit up as picked up the brioche mousseline and delicately spread the duck pâté on it. After taking a bite, she let out a soft sigh. "...I missed this..."
Nayun looked amused and tried the salmon. "You hate Korean food that much, huh?"
Rachel blushed and said, "I-I do not hate Korean food! It is just... well..." She mumbled. "...It's spicy."
Lee gasped. "No way... Our fair princess, Lady Rachel... taken down by mere spices?"
Nayun burst out laughing.
Rachel huffed and said, "I-It isn't my fault! I have never been good with spice... a-and you all put it in everything!"
"Wait, wait." Nayun wiped away a tear and said, "Are you telling me that you've been suffering from every bit of food with even a chunk of kimchi in it?"
"..." Rachel pouted.
Lee laughed and said, "No wonder you had so many antacids in your bag..."
Rachel huffed. "You two are terrible." She grumbled and sliced some of her salmon, chewing on it.
Nayun shook her head and said, "You poor thing... should I talk with Yeonha to get you some food? She loves Western cuisine." She waved towards the food on the table and said, "She apparently eats fancy stuff like this all the time."
Rachel's eyes lit up. "That would be nice!"
Lee looked amused and said, "Or I could just like, cook for you. I've got the groceries set up to get delivered to my dorm now and I've been planning to meal prep anyway. Making more wouldn't be a problem."
Nayun's eyes widened. Then she said, "You can fight, study, cook, you banter, flirt, tease..." She looked at Rachel and nudged her arm. "Hey, Princess. If you don't snatch him up, I might~"
"NO!" Rachel paused. Then turned a bright red and said, "I-I mean...! That's...!"
Lee chuckled. "Relax, Rachel. Nayun's not my type. She couldn't steal me if she tried."
Nayun crossed her arms and raised her head. "Oho? Is that a challenge, I hear?"
"It's just a fact. Besides, everyone knows if I dated you that Jonghak would be on me faster than a cowboy on a bull-" Lee paused. "...Actually, I take back my words. Phrasing."
Rachel let out a scandalized gasp. "L-LEE?!"
Nayun raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you're not telling us, Lee~?"
"There is, actually. You see, Nayun, Jonghak might actually be into that." Lee pulled out his phone and showed her the picture that he took of Jonghak when he had stumbled, kneeling in front of Lee.
"OH MY GOD!" Nayun burst out laughing, actually doubling over. "No. No way. You did NOT. When was this?!"
"Just a bit after we headed to the dorms before meeting back at the Portal area." Lee texted Nayun the picture and said, "He decided to act tough in front of me. So I decided to check him."
Rachel giggled and said, "You're terrible, Lee!"
"Terribly hilarious, amirite?"
Nayun opened the picture on her smartphone, letting her view it in glorious full resolution. Then she laughed more. "That guy... I'm sending this to Yeonha too."
Rachel took another bite from her salmon and smiled. "He'll never recover... Though." She looked at Lee, slightly concerned. "Are you not worried about him sending people to bother you or at the exams?"
Lee paused in the middle of spreading the duck pâté onto his bread. "Why would I be? I'm better."
Nayun snorted. "You aren't wrong. But WOW. Arrogant, much?"
"Arrogant would be Jonghak. I'm just confident." Lee took a bite of his bread and said, "After all I'm- BLEGH?! What the heck is this?!" Lee swallowed but quickly washed his mouth out with water.
Rachel giggled. "You don't like liver?"
"LIVER?! I thought this was like blended duck meat with other fats!"
Nayun gasped. "Something that Lee DOESN'T know?! I'm amazed!"
Rachel kept giggling and said, "The mighty Lee, taken down by a little duck liver..."
Lee placed his bread slice onto Rachel's plate and said, "Nope. All yours. I'm taking the salmon." After that, he stole a bite.
Rachel gasped. "LEE! That's mine!"
Nayun laughed.
Rachel puffed her cheeks and then stole a chunk of salmon from Nayun's plate.
Nayun's eyes widened and she said, "HEY! That's mine!"
"You laughed at me!"
"Because it was hilarious!"
"It was mean!"
'It's a good thing that I got us a private booth... and that no one else is around.'
The sight of Lady Rachel and the esteemed Chae Nayun messing around like this...
'Well.' Lee smiled. 'It's better for them to be able to relax.'
It was a joke, obviously.
Lee knew what duck pâté was.
But since the mood had been so heavy earlier, he decided to roll with the bit to make them unwind.
'Mission accomplished.'