After successfully sneaking in once, Hong Yeon-hwa came to my room every night and slept using the Kim Ho Pillow.
But if you keep doing something long enough, you’re bound to get caught.
Late at night, close to dawn, someone knocked on the guest room door.
Knock, knock, knock.
“!?”
Hong Yeon-hwa jolted awake in shock.
She stared at the door with wide, startled eyes.
And, as usual, her bad feeling turned out to be right.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Hong Yeon-hwa.”
Hong Ye-hwa’s voice came from the other side of the door.
The fact that her voice was a tone lower than usual probably meant she was absolutely furious.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Hong Yeon-hwa, come out.”
I looked at Hong Yeon-hwa who had started trembling and asked,
“Should I go out instead?”
Technically, I was an accomplice too.
And Hong Ye-hwa usually had at least some control over her anger when dealing with me.
She probably wouldn’t open with a Lava Back-Smack right away.
But after thinking for a moment, Hong Yeon-hwa shook her head.
“…No, I’ll go.”
It seemed she had decided that this was something she would have to face eventually, so she might as well confront it now.
She took several deep breaths and steeled her resolve.
Then she opened the guest room door and asked,
“How did you know I was here?”
“Because you weren’t in your room. Is there anywhere else you’d go?”
At those words, Hong Yeon-hwa frowned as though she had just realized something.
“Unnie, you broke my door again, didn’t you?”
“Is that really what matters right now?”
“Then what does matter?”
“Hey, Hong Yeon-hwa. Stop changing the subject.”
Whoosh.
Heat began rising from Hong Ye-hwa’s hand.
Hong Yeon-hwa immediately shrank back for a moment but then gathered her courage and stood her ground again.
It looked like a scruffy little puppy growling at a large dog.
“You keep treating me like I did something wrong, but I didn’t.”
“You didn’t? After this? After doing this?”
“All we did was sleep next to each other. What exactly happened?”
“You seriously don’t find anything strange about that?”
“You’re the one making it strange. It’s not like we were doing anything else.”
“…….”
For a moment, Hong Ye-hwa looked speechless.
It seemed she thought her younger sister’s argument actually had some merit.
If they weren’t “doing anything else”, then there was nothing inherently wrong with simply lying down and sleeping together.
Just like there’s nothing wrong with six- or seven-year-old kids sharing a bed.
After thinking for a little longer, Hong Ye-hwa directed a question at me.
“Really? All you did was sleep next to each other? Nothing else?”
“Yes. That’s all.”
“……”
“I’ll make sure nothing inappropriate happens while we’re staying here. I hope you can trust us.”
Hong Yeon-hwa quickly nodded in agreement.
Hong Ye-hwa looked back and forth between the two of us several times before letting out a long sigh.
“…Fine. You’re not children, and it wouldn’t be right for me to interfere in every little thing. I’ll trust you.”
“Thank you.”
Then Hong Ye-hwa turned to her younger sister.
“Hong Yeon-hwa.”
“What?”
“I’m only like this because I worry about you. I don’t want you getting involved in something bad.”
“…I know. I do.”
“Sorry for waking you up. Get some rest.”
Soon, Hong Ye-hwa left.
I turned to Hong Yeon-hwa and praised her.
“You did well. That couldn’t have been easy.”
“No… I should’ve done this a long time ago…”
“Let’s be confident from now on.”
“I’ll try…!”
Hong Yeon-hwa renewed her determination.
Watching her, I suddenly felt playful and casually asked,
“So, do you really have no intention of ‘doing anything else’?”
“……!?”
“We said we weren’t doing anything, but you never know what might happen between a man and a woman. If the mood takes us, we could suddenly cross the line.”
“Cross… the line?”
“I’m just saying it’s possible. Of course, not if you don’t want to.”
At that, Hong Yeon-hwa’s face gradually turned even redder.
Staring fixedly at the floor, she answered in a tiny voice,
“I… wouldn’t… mind…?”
“What exactly wouldn’t you mind? Please be specific.”
“Stop teasing meee…”
“Your reactions are entertaining.”
I grinned, then made my expression serious.
“At least this time, it’s better to hold back. We only just managed to convince her.”
“Mhmm…”
Hong Yeon-hwa nodded seriously as well.
If they broke her sister’s trust here, repairing that relationship would be extremely difficult.
Still, she seemed a little disappointed, so I decided to leave a small opening.
I leaned close and whispered into her ear.
“Still, I’ll remember what you just said.”
“Yes…”
Hong Yeon-hwa’s face immediately turned bright red again.
***
While we continued spending time at the Ruby Magic Tower, Hong Yeon-hwa’s Hardship Quest kept progressing steadily as well.
It didn’t look like it would be finished anytime soon though, since the added challenge had increased the difficulty.
Looks like I can let Hardship’s cooldown run at a relaxed pace.
It’s not like I have anyone else to use it on right now.
For me, that meant I could redirect [Time Share] elsewhere.
Invitation.
I wasn’t planning to use it on Hong Yeon-hwa again.
She still hadn’t fully processed the enlightenment she gained from the first use.
The people I had in mind were—
Father-in-law and Mother-in-law No. 3.
If I used it on Hong Yeom-baek, his chances of breaking through the wall and reaching S-Rank would likely increase.
And Mother Hong would probably find it much easier to reach EX-Rank in the long run as well.
Either way, it would make achieving world peace a little easier.
Besides, I’ve received far too much from them already.
An S-Rank magic scroll, copies of an S-Rank skill and an S-Rank trait, and even Rank Up items.
Officially, it had been called an investment, but in practice it was practically a gift.
In that case, it was only right for me to show some sincerity in return.
So I asked Hong Yeon-hwa to arrange a meeting with Father-in-law and Mother-in-law No. 3.
Then I began explaining.
“There’s something I haven’t mentioned until now. As a Monarch, I possess a unique skill.”
Both of them immediately showed interest.
Hong Yeom-baek grinned and asked,
“With someone like you, it wouldn’t be surprising if you had one or two of those. What does it do?”
“It allows me to arrange a battle against a powerful opponent.”
“When you say powerful opponent, am I thinking of the correct kind?”
“Yes. An S-Rank.”
Mother Hong followed up with another question.
“And who exactly is this powerful opponent?”
“That’s difficult for me to explain in detail.”
“A match against an unidentified S-Rank…”
“I can at least promise that it won’t be harmful.”
After all, even Grandfather Moyong had come out perfectly fine.
Hong Yeon-hwa joined the conversation and added,
“I learned… a lot from it too.”
After all, she had been able to witness the flame magic of the former former former (???) Ruby Magic Tower Master with her own eyes.
The Hong couple had also seen her repeatedly organizing and reflecting on those insights.
They exchanged glances and discussed it between themselves.
“I don’t think he has any ulterior motive.”
“I agree. If he did, he wouldn’t have waited this long.”
“Since Yeon-hwa received it too, let’s trust him and give it a try.”
“Alright.”
Hong Yeom-baek asked one final question.
“How long does it take? As you know, we’re not in a position to be away for very long.”
“It varies from person to person, but so far it has only taken an instant. The flow of time is different inside.”
“Excellent! Then go ahead and use it.”
With their approval secured, I gripped the Crow staff in my hand.
[Activated ‘Octopus Limbs’.]
[Activated ‘Invitation’.]
[Activated ‘Invitation’.]
[Cooldown: 39 days 24:59:58]
The cooldown of [Invitation] is seven days when used on someone with whom a Bond has been formed.
For everyone else, it is ten days.
On top of that, using [Octopus Limbs] twice in succession applies a penalty that quadruples the cooldown.
That was why the result came out to forty days.
Of course, I had expected this from the beginning.
I’ll just reduce it.
[Activated ‘Time Share’.]
[Sharing Ratio: 20%]
[Cooldown Reduction: 15%]
[Cooldown: 25 days 24:59:58]
Now that it was below a month, I would be able to use it again not long after the semester started.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, several more lines appeared beneath the notification.
[‘Deja Vu’ has activated.]
[‘Time Share’ has activated.]
[Cooldown: 16 days 21:35:58]
Something with less than a five percent chance activates here?
I found myself repeating something Lucky always said.
…very lucky.
Meanwhile, the Hong couple were watching the empty air with interest.
They had each received an Invitation, after all.
“So we just accept it, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then we’ll be off.”
The two closed their eyes almost simultaneously.
Before enough time had passed to drink a single glass of water, they opened them again.
Unlike Grandfather Moyong, they weren’t coughing up blood, but both wore expressions of astonishment.
“…A truly powerful opponent. Your words were correct.”
“To think there could be such a gap between people who are both S-Rank.”
“But that also means it’s possible to advance that far.”
Mother Hong added.
Apparently, they had been defeated by the subordinates within my Inner World.
I looked at them and asked,
“What happened?”
“When I accepted the Invitation, I found myself in an unfamiliar place. After carefully surveying my surroundings, we entered what looked like a huge arena together. And then—”
As Hong Yeom-baek continued his story, an unexpected word caught my attention.
Together?
For a moment, I thought I had misheard, but as I listened on, that didn’t seem to be the case.
“The Ruby Tower Master… It seems the opponent Yeon-hwa encountered appeared again.”
Hong Hyeon-ah.
“Just facing her was enough to tell. Even if we fought together, victory was far from certain. So, despite my embarrassment, we challenged her two against one. In the end, however, we still lost.”
She really is strong.
After all, I had raised her well enough to rank among the very best of the thousand.
A quiet sense of pride welled up inside me.
I ended up using the two of them as a test without meaning to.
Even I still didn’t fully understand my Inner World, so many of my conclusions were based on speculation.
One of those theories was that it might function like an instance dungeon, creating a new space each time.
That was why I had assumed that if I used Invitations consecutively, Hong Yeom-baek would enter Inner World 1 while Mother Hong would enter Inner World 2.
But the fact that the two of them had awakened in the same place meant—
There’s a good chance it actually exists.
And there was another fact just as important.
If two people could enter, then three, four, or even more could as well.
Which meant that if I cast a wide enough net,
A team battle might be possible later on.
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