久久大陆

That night, a small party was thrown in celebration of the hard-fought victory, taking place in the restaurant hall of the five-star hotel that they maintained, with Eunji and Jeong-Hui operating the kitchen.

"...I'm a bit rusty," he warned, bashfully rubbing the back of his head.

"If you're rusty, then what am I…?" Eunji asked quietly.

"Ha-ha, fine, no excuses, no excuses," he laughed a bit, "Seriously, though–how did Sol sleep through all of that…?"

"I was wondering that, too…" Eunji sighed out in unison with him.

After a bit of preparation, the two began their dual-operation of crafting a savory feast for the members of Gangcheori–themselves included.

It took a bit of convincing for him to set foot in the kitchen, actually.

Eunji practically wouldn't let me sit down–she's usually as meek as a fawn, but when it came to this…she was really pushy about having me step back into the kitchen. I'm…not complaining, though…being back in here feels great, he thought.

Using a combination of his assassin-class proficiency and his accumulated experience with culinary processes, he swiftly chopped up an assortment of vegetables, doing it beyond normal human speed.

"Be careful…Fingers…" Eunji commented, getting worried witnessing the speed at which he rapidly moved the knife with.

He smirked, flipping it before continuing, "Don't worry, I totally got this under co–"

Squelch.

"Ah–!"

While showing off, he managed to nick his thumb, causing it to spew out blood as he quickly withdrew it from contaminating the vegetables.

"...I warned you…! Jeez…"

Eunji sighed out, placing her hands around his finger before quickly invoking her magic, "Cast: Recover."

"Heh…My bad–thanks," he chuckled embarrassedly.

While having his finger healed, witnessing the wound close up before the glasses-wearing woman went the extra mile, cleaning the blood from his thumb with a rag, he looked at her, inspecting her face before quickly looking away as she stared back at him.

"What is it…?" She asked meekly.

"Nothing…" He scratched his head, stopping as something came to mind, "...Be honest with me: do you ever feel…I don't know…helpless? Maybe that's not the right word–I guess…useless, maybe?"

The question came from a solemn place in his heart; something that plagued him, yet he didn't know exactly how to voice it.

"What?"

"Sorry, forget I asked," he waved his hands, dissuading the question.

They both went silent for a moment, looking down out of the tangible awkwardness in the air.

Just as he returned to the vegetables–this time, humbled and cautious–he got an answer from the short, hazel-haired woman.

"...I do."

"Huh?" He turned back to look at her.

Eunji adjusted her round glasses, "...A lot of the time, I do feel useless."

"--"

"As a White Mage, all my skills are meant for helping others…but that means I can only watch while they fight. If I was alone, I wouldn't be able to do anything–I have to rely on others…" Eunji said.

He looked at her, patting her head as a soft blush came over her cheeks, which seemed to take the girl by surprise.

"That's not the right way to look at it. I mean, look, I just relied on you to heal my finger," he told her with a smile, raising his thumb.

"That's…" She looked down.

"What I mean is…in battle, we all can fight confidently knowing you're supporting us, Eunji," he assured her.

"--"

Eunji's cheeks were as scarlet as ripe apples, though she did her best to hide it by looking down until raising her gaze again, adjusting her glasses as she stared directly at him with her dazzling amethyst eyes.

"What about you?"

"Hm?"

"...You didn't ask me this for no reason, did you?...You must be feeling some sort of way…I can tell," Eunji pressed him.

"Ah…Well, it's just…" He started, lingering his words as he scratched his cheek.

Though after being pressed herself, it seemed the meek girl wasn't letting him off the hook as she continued to stare at him, coaxing him to spill his feelings.

He sighed out, "...Against that angel, I was totally useless–in every way. I couldn't hurt him, and I couldn't even support the others. I had to just…watch."

Looking down at his own hands, that memory played over and over–the helpless assault he launched against the angel, all of those hits that amounted to absolutely nothing.

"That's not true."

"Huh? What're you saying?" He looked at Eunji in surprise.

"I-I…err, I kind of saw you…" Eunji adjusted her large glasses shyly, holding her hands, rubbing her arms together, which were covered in her baggy sweatshirt.

"Saw me…?"

"When you stood against the angel…alone," Eunji explained.

"Ah."

He blushed himself; to him, he thought there were no eyes beside his own and the angel's spectating that scene. That's why he was able to act so unrestrained, giving it his all no matter how pathetic it might've appeared.

"...Then you know what I'm talking about, don't you? I couldn't do a damn thing to him…" He muttered, clenching his fists out of anger at his own weakness.

"You're wrong."

"How can you say that…? You saw it yourself."

"I saw you trying your hardest, giving it your all, despite the fact you thought you were all alone," Eunji assured him.

To have her so adamantly place her words down while meeting his gaze, he couldn't find it in himself to reject them–having to accept it and think about it right then.

"Jeong-Hui, right then…I thought you were cool," Eunji told him while twiddling with her fingers.

"--" He couldn't respond as he simply blushed at such an admission.

I was…cool? He questioned himself.

For a moment, they just stood there like two, completely socially inept people before he decided to break the ice.

"We should get this prepared! It's a pretty important dinner, isn't it?" He smiled, scooping the diced vegetables up into a pot.

"Mhm," she nodded with a small smile, stirring a pot of stock, "Because of Baek-Hyeon's condition, he couldn't eat most things, besides extremely small portions…so, part of this celebration is his recovery."

"Sounds rough…" He said, adding the chopped vegetables to the stock, "...Still, that "Assimilation" ability of his is really something, isn't it?...Just like that, he's got the power of that crazy strong angel now."

"Yeah, it's a good thing though, isn't it?" Eunji looked at him.

For a moment, he didn't know how to answer that. It was completely unfounded, but he felt uneasy with that person wielding such power.

"Jeong-Hui?"

He snapped back from his thoughts, giving her a smile, "...Yeah. It's good. Having somebody that strong around will be nice!"

After preparing the lofty amount of dishes, the two brought it out to the dining hall–setting it up on the long, illustrious table covered by a clean, white cloth.

"Holy!--Is this what they call a "Feast for Kings"?! I've never seen this much food in my life!" Yeong-Un let out, drooling with his eyes at the sight of the arriving feast.

"...That can't be right; you'd be a peasant, Yeong-Un," Sol cheekily commented.

"Huh?! What was that?!" Yeong-Un barked.

The two's bickering stopped completely as Dae-Seong sat himself down at the forefront of the table, scooting his chair forward in such a way that commanded their playful back-and-forth to halt.

All eyes were on the silver-haired leader of the group, waiting for him to speak as he placed his hands together atop the table.

"This looks fantastic–well done, the both of you," Dae-Seong smiled small as he looked at the two responsible for preparing the dishes.

There was a little of everything: kimchi stew, rice curry, savory beef and rice, stringy, spicy noodles–and even dishes that weren't inherently Korean, such as chicken alfredo, battered fish, and american-style hamburgers.

A lot of the foreign dishes were prepared by Jeong-Hui, who always had a certain curiosity with preparing such dishes.

"Thank you, Sir…" Eunji accepted the compliment shyly.

"Thanks!" He nodded, standing proud.

Compared to his usual self, who could be as meek as Eunji at times, he held himself confidently when it came to culinary practices.

The two responsible for the feast sat themselves down as well, with Eunji and himself sitting across from Yeong-Un and Sol, who could barely behave better than grade schoolers.

Every member of Gangcheori was present, making it a full house as little room was left at the long table.

Even Ho-Jun, who looked more than ready to consume the luscious-seeming food, looking down at his plate, but none of them could eat yet before the words from the leader.

Besides the leader himself, most eyes were on the man of the hour: Baek-Hyeon. It seemed he wasn't the only one completely unfamiliar with the white-haired man, as nobody seemed to be openly approaching him.

Baek-Hyeon sat directly to the left of Dae-Seong, though he stood out-of-place due to his recently-acquired, large stature.

He's huge…He thought.

The mysterious member of Gangcheori, possessing the "Assimilation System", was somebody he had only seen sparsely before his transformation, yet it was still a jarring shift. Baek-Hyeon was previously shorter than himself, and likely less than half of his weight–however, now, the man dwarfed him, and everybody else in height, with muscle mass to give Korain a run for his money.

Besides the change in his stature and physique, what stood at most abnormal to him were the lightly-glowing, golden irises the man possessed.

"Now, I'd like to bring attention to why we're here, sitting in celebration, in the first place," Dae-Seong announced.

Silence filled the dining hall as steam rose from the fresh dishes laid out on the table; there was a unanimous, absolute respect for the leader.

"Today we faced an obstacle that was sent down with the intention of crushing us in completion. From the heavens themselves, they sought to squash Gangcheori. Yet–without losing a single person–we claimed victory. Not only that…We gained strength far beyond our yesterday," Dae-Seong said.

Those words were pointed to the one who drove his blade through the back of the angel, the gray-uniform wearing man who sat with a warm, relaxed smile.

Baek-Hyeon stood up, taking the course of the leader's words now, "It was only because of your efforts that this was possible–since I was little, my body was no stronger than glass, and any sickness could result in a swift death for myself. Yet, even in a world thrown into bloodshed, Gangcheori gave one such as myself a home. For so long, I was unable to help–it ate away at me. "Even in Armageddon, I cannot fight", I thought to myself…but, Dae-Seong found the perfect path. From here on out, I will repay that kindness–I will fight at the vanguard for Gangcheori."

Baek-Hyeon's words were met with applause afterwards, and some cheers–there was nothing more relieving than the man who boasted a level in the fifties assuring them of his alliance.

Still, he couldn't help but feel something was off about the angel-powered man.

"Hell yeah!" Korain pumped his fist into the air.

Though, seeing such reactions from his companions, he set those baseless feelings aside–focusing on what was in front of him: the delicious feast.

After a day of such a ridiculous battle–being flung into the clouds, dropped from the sky, exerting every ounce of strength in his body, a good meal was what he needed, and a good meal is what he got.

"Damn! Look at 'im go!" Yeong-Un laughed.

He didn't focus on anything else but eating, sliding noodles past his lips and shoveling beef into his mouth.

With such a bountiful feast, after its end, he found himself completely immobile, having to be assisted by Eunji and Sol into his room.

"Ugh…" He groaned.

"You ate a lot more than you could handle, didn't you?" Sol laughed wryly.

"...I guess it was good, then?" Eunji asked.

Though even just slightly alluding to food made him want to puke as he slowly shook his head, letting out a drawn out breath, "...Please don't ask me that right now."

The two assisting him laughed before gently setting him down on his own bed. As Eunji took her leave, Sol still lingered in his room for a bit, as if waiting for the girl to leave.

"Sol?" He looked at his friend.

Sol peeked out into the hall as if making sure there weren't any nosy ears or eyes lurking about before turning back to him with a mischievous smile.

"I know you're not feeling it right now, but in two days, Yeong-Un and I are planning on tackling a Sky Dungeon," Sol told him quietly.

"..."Sky Dungeon"? What's that?" He asked, sitting up a bit on his bed.

"Shh!" Sol quickly shushed him as he spoke just a few decibels higher than a whisper.

He was confused by why the hazel-haired, eccentric friend of his was being so odd about this, but he played along, nodding silently.

Sol answered, "They're a new thing that have recently popped up. I scouted out a level twenty-five one–that should be perfect for us; not too hard, but good enough to provide nice loot, right? Whaddya say?"

"...I'm up for it, but are you? Last time you completely chickened out against that alligator," he asked, scratching his head.

Sol almost seemed offended, but more so laughed quietly at his question, "I don't blame you for thinking that. The "Sol of yesterday" was indeed a coward, but you're talking to the "Sol of tomorrow", Jeong-Hui!"

"...Okay," he narrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, if you're up for it, then let's meet up first thing in the morning, the day after tomorrow!" Sol brought his hand out.

He was almost too exhausted to do it, but he obliged, giving his friend a high-five before watching Sol leave the room with a joyful stride.

That guy…He's totally going to piss himself in that dungeon, he sighed to himself.

–

What I didn't realize then, was the fact that the "Sky Dungeon" was another beast entirely–something beyond our wildest imaginations.