Chapter 294 286
Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Sung Jinwoo POV.
I… I still hadn't grasped what had happened in the last few minutes. I'd gone from talking to my family to… this. I… what?
Miyamura's interruption and visit wouldn't have been a problem if he'd explained himself or even bothered to speak. Instead, after Dad invited him in, and seeing that we hadn't had breakfast yet, he'd taken over the kitchen.
Like… literally, he had kicked everyone out of the kitchen and locked himself in there.
So we were all sitting silently around the table, just waiting. And by 'all' I meant Taylor and Mai too. Taylor wore a completely resigned expression, tinged with apology, whenever she made eye contact with someone. Mai, on the other hand, seemed genuinely uninterested in the whole situation.
Dad had a puzzled look on his face, Johee was beside me and I could feel her worry, Jinah looked very confused, not knowing where to look, Mom kept glancing anxiously around the kitchen, and me, well, I felt a bit of everything. I couldn't sense any malice or danger from Miyamura, though that didn't really say much since I couldn't sense it at all. But I also couldn't sense anything negative from Taylor or Mai, yet my shadows were ready for any eventuality.
That didn't change the tense atmosphere we were all feeling at that moment.
"So…" Dad cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention. We all sighed in relief and focused on him. "…Miyamura, he… does something like this all the time?" Dad asked in perfect English, which we all understood to varying degrees. Johee and I were quite proficient, Jinah was passable at best, while Mom was the only one who didn't understand more than a few words.
"Yes," Taylor said painfully. "I'm really sorry for your behavior." Taylor apologized, sounding almost exasperated.
"Don't worry, although I'm a little confused as to why he's in the kitchen, it's no problem," Dad said easily. "Although honestly, I really didn't expect to see him, especially after yesterday," Dad said seriously. Taylor grimaced and was about to speak when Miyamura approached with several plates under his arm.
"Don't worry, yesterday was just a minor slip-up," Miyamura said with a smile as he placed the food on the table. We all watched him bustle about as he continued to lay out a generous portion of food, and then he sat down.
"A small slip-up? You tried to kill me." I said dryly finally. Miyamura shrugged.
"And now I'm making you breakfast. Don't live in the past, Sung Jinwoo," Miyamura said playfully. I just gave him a flat, dry look before sighing.
"Why are you here, Miyamura?" I finally asked.
"Wow, so cold? It almost seems like you don't like me here. You'll hurt my feelings," Miyamura said, placing a hand on his chest. "But I think it's obvious. I'm making breakfast," Miyamura said playfully. I just frowned at him.
"However-"
"It's delicious!" Jinah exclaimed loudly, interrupting me. I looked at her and saw the expression of pleasure on her face as she chewed the food. After that, she began to eat quickly and let out a moan as she chewed.
"It could be poisoned." I said curtly to Jinah. She ignored me.
"Oh, wow, this is delicious," Dad said beside me. I could see him eating the food in front of him. I just sighed wearily. I glanced at Miyamura, who was watching me amusedly, before I started eating. I sighed resignedly before looking at the food in front of me. Then I tasted what was in front of me and—
My eyes widened. Delicious. So delicious. How did he manage to create something so delicious in such a short time? I glanced at Miyamura, who had a rather smug look despite eating calmly. Taylor and Mai seemed peaceful and relaxed, while we couldn't help but eat quickly; it was truly delicious.
Finally, Mom and Johee also started eating, and their reactions were exactly the same. We all started eating breakfast quickly.
"Okay, we've finished breakfast, now what?" I finally asked while staring intently into Miyamura's eyes.
"Don't be so rough, son, he just made us the best breakfast I've ever tasted," Dad said, patting his stomach. I sighed as Miyamura just smiled lazily.
"Well, you know, we were in the area, and we don't really know Seoul very well, and I happened to sense your aura, so I came to ask if you could show us around Seoul," Miyamura said cheerfully. I stopped and stared at him incredulously.
"You want me to be your tour guide? Don't you have to prepare for Jeju? " I asked incredulously. "I have better things to do than be your guide," I said with a sigh, massaging my temple.
"Oh yeah? That's not what I heard from the Hunter Association." Miyamura said with a mocking smile. I closed my eyes slightly.
"Yes, I'm suspended, and I was supposed to have a date with Johee," I finally said. Miyamura's eyes widened slightly before he smiled broadly.
"That's even better! You can bring her along, it'll be like a double date! " Miyamura said excitedly.
"A double date?" I asked incredulously. Miyamura was practically bouncing with excitement.
"Yes! A double date! It'll be fun!" he said cheerfully. I looked at him incredulously.
"Actually... it's not a bad idea," Dad hummed. I turned to look at him; he just shrugged. "After what happened yesterday, it's very likely this will become public. There were other hunters and members of the association there, both Japanese and Korean. Someone will talk. Seeing the two of you having fun together is good for public relations. Especially now, before the raid on Jeju. As the son and grandson of national ranks, it will be even more important," Dad said matter-of-factly.
"Oh yes, that too, what he said. Obviously that was my plan," Miyamura said brazenly.
"It wasn't," Mai said dryly. "It wasn't even a consideration. Before you knocked on this door without us knowing, you said, and I quote, 'Let's bother the hunter Sung Jinwoo, it'll be SO much fun.'" Mai said dryly. I stared at him in disbelief. Miyamura didn't even seem embarrassed; his smile only widened.
"I... I think it's a good idea," Johee said beside me. I looked at her in surprise. "It'll only be for today," Johee said calmly. I looked at her before sighing.
"Fine," I said resignedly.
"Wait, are you going on a double date? Can I come?" Jinah asked quickly and excitedly, switching back to Korean.
"No," I said without hesitation. Jinah glared at me before looking at Johee.
"Please?" Jinah pleaded with a pout.
"You have school, Jinah," Dad said, raising an eyebrow. Jinah groaned loudly.
"It's my last year, missing a day won't affect my grades, and I can always say it was a family matter," Jinah said quickly, pleading. Dad just raised an eyebrow amusedly, then shrugged.
"It's your brother's decision," Dad said playfully. Mom just narrowed her eyes, making Dad grimace before he smiled awkwardly in her direction. Jinah ignored them and immediately made a face before looking at me pleadingly. I smiled at her with superiority. I could see Jinah's eye twitch slightly.
"Oppa…" Jinah complained pleadingly.
"Don't be mean," Johee said, chuckling.
"It's a double date, she'll be like the fifth... or sixth wheel in this." I said, shrugging.
"Oh come on, I want to go on a date with the cute guy." Jinah complained pleadingly.
"The cute guy knows Korean," Miyamura interrupted playfully. Jinah froze, her face flushed. "Let her come, I don't mind a cute, single girl joining us," Miyamura said, winking at Jinah, who blushed slightly. My eye twitched, and I glared at Miyamura.
"I don't know what you said in Korean, Izumi, but I know you're flirting with her." Taylor said dryly.
"Of course not," Miyamura said with an innocent smile. I could feel a headache starting to build as I continued listening to Miyamura. This was going to end badly.
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Three hours. We had been shopping for clothes for the past three hours since we arrived at the mall. I didn't even know a person could shop for that long. Every clothing store we saw, Miyamura went into and started picking out clothes.
Luckily, it wasn't clothes for himself, mostly. Oddly enough, he started picking out clothes for Taylor, Mai, and the other girls he was dating. And what's more, he'd also picked out clothes for Johee and Jinah. I was never going to admit it, but he had excellent fashion sense; all the clothes he'd chosen fit both of them perfectly.
Even so, I'd also been forced to try on different kinds of clothes with him, clothes I didn't completely hate. At least Johee liked my new clothes. And the only good thing was that Miyamura had taken care of buying all the clothes so far without any hesitation. It was… pretty generous of him.
"Let us pay this time, Miyamura. You've already paid for almost everything so far," Johee tried to say. At this point, she was almost eager to pay for something. Miyamura simply handed her card to the clerk, who took it somewhat cautiously but proceeded with the payment nonetheless.
"Don't worry, don't worry, there's plenty to spend," Miyamura said cheerfully.
"Um... sir? The card has been declined." The clerk said awkwardly in somewhat broken English. Miyamura blinked before raising a finger in her direction, pulling out his scroll, and calling someone.
"Hello, yes, I'm Miyamura," Miyamura said, speaking in Japanese. I raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it's me, the one who's been buying all that... Yes, I know it's a Hunters Association card... Yes, I understand it's for related expenses... Yes, very well, can you reactivate it now? I have more shopping to do..."
"...Look, I'm here with Sung Jinwoo, the son of Sung Il-Han, Korea's national hunter. We're strengthening international ties and all that, and you know how we men are and all, we strengthen ties by buying clothes and cute things. Now, could you reactivate the card before I make the Koreans look bad?... Ready?! Perfect! Thank you very much! " Miyamura wore a very petulant and mocking smile as he ended the call.
I hadn't understood a thing, except that he'd used my name. But judging by Taylor's pained expression and Mai's amused one, it couldn't have been anything good.
"Try it now," Miyamura told the saleswoman. She seemed very unsure, but she did it anyway, and the card completed the payment without any problem, making the saleswoman sigh with relief.
"Thank you for your purchase," the saleswoman said with a big, fake smile, handing us the bags. Miyamura nodded before dropping them into his shadows. I was genuinely curious about his quirk.
"So, you mentioned my name and my father's," I said as we left the store. Miyamura just smiled amusedly.
"The card is from the Japan Hunters Association; they're paying for our little shopping trip," Miyamura said, winking playfully. I stared at him incredulously.
"Are you... spending the Association's money?" I asked incredulously. So far, it must have been several million won, several thousand dollars if I remembered the conversion correctly. I could only stare at him in disbelief before stopping abruptly. "You just used my name to get funds on the card?" I asked, even more incredulous. Miyamura just smiled broadly.
"Of course," Miyamura said without any shame. "There's nothing better than spending other people's money," he said with a wide smile. "Especially if you don't like them." He added before continuing to walk away. I looked at him, confused, before sighing and shaking my head.
Luckily, after a while, we stopped for something to eat while we talked. Oh well, they talked. Miyamura could talk for hours, and he was mostly talking to Jinah and Johee. Though my eye twitched slightly every time Miyamura tried to flirt with Jinah.
Speaking of her, she was absolutely delighted throughout the entire trip. I was sure she didn't care about the clothes, but the attention she was getting from Miyamura seemed to do the trick. It made me want to punch Miyamura in the face.
Luckily, though, the conversation shifted to more normal topics, like his experiences at UA. Which was really interesting. He'd never attended a school or university for hunters. There were such schools in Korea, but he'd trained with his dad for as long as he could remember. He'd been ready to debut as an S-rank hunter the moment he turned 18, but his dad had insisted he wait a few more years.
So that was the reason why my joining the S Ranks had been made public this year.
"So, I saw an arcade, do you want to hang out there?" Miyamura asked playfully.
"Oh! I want to go!" Jinah said, bouncing playfully. I could see Johee, Taylor, and Mai sighing with relief that the shopping was over.
"Yes, it would be a nice change of scenery," Johee said with a smile. With that, we all finally headed to the video game room. I looked around curiously. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been in one of these.
Jinah practically ran to the first game she saw, followed by the others. I spent the next hour watching them have fun going from game to game, even dragging Johee along.
"So, what do you say, Jinwoo, a competition? We couldn't finish our fight properly." Miyamura said with an amused smile, appearing beside me. I lifted a box.
"I remember you lost." I said dryly. Miyamura shrugged.
"Then I suppose you won't be afraid in another match," he said with a broad smile. I narrowed my eyes in his direction.
"What do you have in mind?" I finally asked. He pointed toward air hockey. I just nodded. "Let's go," I finally said. Miyamura laughed cheerfully. I grabbed the puck and one of the air hockey mallets and got into position.
I didn't even hesitate to slam the piece with all my might towards Miyamura's goal. He smiled broadly, and I saw his mallet become enveloped in haki as he struck the piece with the same force, which also became enveloped in haki.
I exhaled sharply before imbuing my mallet with Haki and striking the disc with force. I had to adjust my grip on the mallet as the force pushed it back before I could return the disc with the same force.
We kept exchanging the puck, hit after hit. The poor air hockey table creaked in protest, yet neither of us tried to stop. To my surprise, Miyamura was the first to manage to get the puck into my goal.
I clicked my tongue before taking out the puck and hitting it hard. After a few minutes, I managed to get it into Miyamura's goal and smiled mockingly at him. For the next half hour, we kept hitting the puck hard and we were still tied. 6 to 6.
We both started using more force; I could feel the table's structure warping as I gripped the edge. In the final exchange, the puck flew out before landing in the center of the table. Miyamura and I stretched out and tried to hit it first.
But we both arrived at the same time, the clash of Haki resonating powerfully as we stared at each other before the disc shattered beneath our strength. We both stared at the broken puck. To my surprise, the crowd that had gathered around us erupted in excitement.
"A tie?" Miyamura asked playfully. I clicked my tongue.
"For now." I grunted in annoyance. And with the competition wide open, we moved from game to game trying to beat each other. In every game, we ended up tying one way or another.
Finally, we'd played most of the games, so we both headed to the Pump It Up machine. We chose one of the harder songs before getting into position. I gripped the handrail behind me before moving my feet in time with the arrows. Miyamura did the same.
The difficulty quickly increased, but neither of us could make a mistake; we had the necessary reaction time to make this a piece of cake. I suppose it will be another tie.
I was about to play the last note when I saw something out of the corner of my eye, right under my foot. As I played the last note, a pool of shadow appeared. My foot sank in just as easily, and I pulled it out immediately. I looked incredulously at Miyamura before glancing back at the screen.
I had failed. That last note had failed. It meant that Miyamura had won with those extra points.
"It's my victory!" Miyamura shouted joyfully as the entire crowd roared loudly. I stared at him in disbelief.
"You cheated!" I couldn't help but exclaim indignantly. Miyamura just looked at me with pity.
"Now, now, I know you're sad about losing, but there's no need to make those accusations," Miyamura said with a disappointed look. I stared at him incredulously.
"You created a shadow on the last note," I blurted out. Miyamura just looked at me.
"Don't be a sore loser, Jinwoo, it's not attractive in a man," Miyamura said, lightly punching my shoulder. I stared at him in disbelief. "And by the way, I'm retiring undefeated, the undisputed winner of our contest!" Miyamura announced cheerfully.
"You can't declare yourself the undefeated winner by cheating!" I snapped indignantly. Miyamura just ignored me. In fact, he only glanced at me sideways and winked, which was worse. My eye twitched slightly.
"Okay, okay, okay." Johee said, trying to comfort me from beside me. I breathed heavily.
"For the love of-" I grumbled in annoyance. Miyamura just kept bragging while my eye twitched violently.
"What do you say to karaoke?" Miyamura asked as we left the mall.
"No thanks." I said curtly. Miyamura laughed.
"Come on, don't be a sore loser. It's a double date, we're here to have fun, it doesn't matter who won or lost," Miyamura said, sounding sympathetic. I glared at him.
"Can we go? Let's leave that boring Oppa here alone," Jinah said quickly.
"No," I said curtly. " If you're so keen to sing, you can do it here," I said, massaging my temple because of the headache. Miyamura stopped before he could hum.
"Hmm, you know what, that's a good idea," Miyamura said with a huge grin. "Cuddlebug! Start recording!" Miyamura said without hesitation, then dropped into his shadows. I could only blink as I stared at the shadows, confused. I really couldn't keep up with him.
"He won't..." I asked uncertainly.
"He'll do it," Taylor said with a tired sigh. Even so, she began recording the entire scene with her Scroll. I could see the shadows moving toward an empty space before a pink smoke grenade exploded and the music began.
(Soda Pop – K-Pop Demon Hunters)
♫Hey, hey
♫Hey, hey
♫Hey
Then Miyamura appeared. Or rather, several clones of him appeared. With different animal features. The one in the center, who was wearing a pink t-shirt and a white plaid shirt over it, along with jeans, had wolf ears. There was one who was shorter than the rest, wearing a pink sweater and rabbit ears. A muscular one in a very tight Hawaiian shirt who looked like a half-mitora. One with wings, which they were using as a cape. And finally, one who was half-snake.
I… what?
♫Don't want you, need you
♫Yeah, I need you to fill me up
♫Masigo masyeo bwado
♫Seonge chaji ana
♫Got a feeling that, oh, yeah (Yeah)
♫You could be everything that
♫That I need (Need), taste so sweet (Sweet)
♫Every sip makes me want more, yeah
Can he sing? Can he really sing?! I stared in disbelief as the group of Miyamura clones began to gather more and more curious onlookers.
♫Lookin like snacks 'cause you got it like that (Woo)
♫Take a big bite, want another bite, yeah
♫Neoui modeun geol nan wonhae, wonhae, wonhae
♫Neo malgon modu pyeonhae, pyeonhae, pyeonhae
♫Whеn you're in my arms
♫I hold you so tight (So tight)
♫Can't let go, no
♫No, not tonight
It even had choreography?! The five of them were really coordinated somehow, as if this hadn't been created overnight, but when on earth did he practice that? Or was Miyamura really improvising all of this? Was it normal for him to do something like this on the spot? I glanced to my side and saw Mai and Taylor enjoying the song as if nothing was amiss. In fact, they were swaying their shoulders from side to side, enjoying the song, without seeming surprised at all.
♫Jigeum dangjang nal bwa
♫Sigan еopjana
♫Neon naekkeoya imi
♫Algo itjana
♫'Cause I need you to need me
♫I'm empty, you feed me
♫So refreshing
♫My little soda pop
…What is that pose?
♫You're all I can think of
♫Every drop I drink up
♫You're my soda pop
♫My little soda pop
♫Cool me down, you're so hot
♫Pour me up, I won't stop
♫You're my soda pop
♫My little soda pop
♫My little soda pop
I saw Miyamura start blowing kisses, and to my surprise, hearts flew from his lips into the crowd. My eyes widened before my hand could move when one was aimed at Johee. I grabbed the heart that… was made of aura? Was something like that possible? Was it really necessary to do something like that for choreography? It was a complete waste. I looked up just in time to see Jinah get hit in the face by a heart. My eye twitched slightly, and I smashed the aura heart in my hand.
♫Uh, make me wanna flip the top
♫Han mogeume you hit the spot
♫Every little drip and drop, fizz and pop, ah
♫Soreum doda it's gettin' hot
♫Yes, I'm sippin' when it's drippin' now
♫It's done? I need a second round
♫And pour a lot and don't you stop
♫'Til my soda pop fizzles out
♫Kkum soge geuryeowatdeon neo
♫Nan jeoldae nochil su eopseo
♫Neol wonhae kkok
♫I waited so long for a taste of soda
♫So, the wait is over, baby
♫Come and fill me up
♫Just can't get enough
♫Oh
♫You're all I can think of
♫Every drop I drink up
♫You're my soda pop
♫My little soda pop (Yeah, yeah)
♫Cool me down, you're so hot
♫Pour me up, I won't stop (Oh, oh)
♫You're my soda pop
♫My little soda pop
♫Ooh, ooh
♫Ooh, ooh
♫You're my soda pop
♫Gotta drink every drop
I could only watch in disbelief as the crowd began to scream loudly when the song finally ended.
"Wow, that was something else." Johee said next to me, and I looked at her incredulously.
"Do you like it?" I asked, almost indignantly. Johee looked at me shyly.
"It's catchy," Johee said, blushing slightly. "Besides, the double entendre in the lyrics is... quite suggestive," Johee added playfully. I stopped myself before I could recall the lyrics. Then I watched in horror as Miyamura continued greeting the women who approached to congratulate him, Jinah being one of them.
I was going to kill him.
Author's Notes : Izumi, Korea. Korea, Izumi. I wasn't going to waste the opportunity. I don't regret anything!
