Chapter 54: Miracle And Patriotism Island, Ulleung (3)

Chapter 54: Miracle And Patriotism Island, Ulleung (3)

I was honestly taken aback by the sudden phone call.

Why was she calling me at this hour?

Wasn’t it almost 10 PM now?

Why was she calling me instead of having a meeting about the devil Doppelgänger and Goblin that appeared today?

[Where are you now?]

“Excuse me?”

[Can we meet now?]

Her voice was down.

I had a gut feeling about why a woman would want to meet late at night. Still, regretfully, I was physically in a situation where I couldn’t get closer.

“Um... I feel a little strange saying this, but I’m currently outside Sejong Island.”

[Excuse me?]

“I’m on Ulleung Island now.”

[.......]The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

Baek Seol-hee stopped speaking.

I felt as if I had done something wrong, even though I hadn’t.

Honestly, I did make a mistake.

It was a man’s fault to be in a location where he couldn’t go to a woman when she called with a depressed voice at night.

Especially if she was a woman who was single and living alone(?), not a married woman or a woman with a boyfriend.

I was not sure why she called me, but considering what Yoon Iseon said, it seemed that I was doing my role as a counselor to the heroes quite well.

She must have called me for counseling.

That was why she said she wanted to meet.

“Um, did things go south again in the meeting?”

[Heh...!]

My guess was spot on.

Most of the heroes’ grievances came from armchair discussions and rushed decisions, leading to a heap of civilian casualties. Naturally, the person who suffered the most was the S-rank hero.

“Did someone again pick on Miss Seol-hee, asking why she didn’t capture the Goblin, why she didn’t attack on the spot and let it escape? A man with a bald head and protruding belly?”

[His head isn’t bald. Do you have some kind of intelligence operative planted somewhere? Or do you have the power to hear information over the phone?]

“I can guess just from hearing your voice. You want to meet me now to vent your anger on the so-called ‘higher-ups.’”

As a reader of the original novel, given Baek Seol-hee’s voice, the situation, and the background of this world, I could make educated guesses.

“I’m all ears if you want to talk over the phone. I’m currently at a pension in Ulleung Island.”

[... A pension?]

“Yes.”

[......With who?]

What’s this?

I was sure I was soaking in the hot spring, but I felt a chill run down my spine.

It was cold.

It was like a magical force pierced my heart like a dagger.

I guess this was what it meant to make someone tense just by using your voice.

“I came alone.”

[Liar. Do you know how expensive a pension in Ulleung Island is? And you claim to go there alone. Even in ‘Ulleung Island’?]

She stressed the word ‘Ulleung Island’ as she asked me.

Given the societal position of Ulleung Island, thinking of going there alone brought to mind only two scenarios.

Either lie about going with someone to Ulleung Island for some patriotic act.

Or lie about meeting a woman locally in Ulleung Island for a patriotic act.

It was a statement no different from saying you were going to a club in Gangnam to dance.

“Do you want to video call?”

[Huh?]

“I’m currently soaking in a hot spring, so I can only show you my upper body. I hope you understand. We can video call via my Taeguk Watch now.”

[Ri, right now? ...Yes. Let’s do it. Immediately.]

I pulled my hand out of the water and pointed my Taeguk Watch towards me, and soon Baek Seol-hee’s face appeared on the watch’s small screen.

[Oh.]

Baek Seol-hee, wearing a white shirt, blushed in surprise as soon as she saw me.

I took the call with my body submerged up to the collarbone, with no intention of throwing a Goblin viewing party, but she still blushed in surprise.

“Do you believe me now?”

[You’re really at the pension...alone? It looks like a really nice pension.]

“It’s a pension with a hot spring.”

[......Is the water warm?]

“Yes. It’s maintained at over 40 degrees Celsius. Ulleung Island is a volcanic island. The hot spring water is heated by geothermal energy from there.”

I checked the text message through the Taegeuk Watch, but it was really confusing. The ‘1’ next to the message I sent after ‘Yes.’ was not disappearing.

What should I do?

Should I call her?

“...No.”

There was absolutely no reason to panic.

No, rather, this was what I had been hoping for.

If a scandal erupted with Baek Seol-hee here, it would become a huge gossip, and the opportunity to approach those around Baek Seol-hee might increase.

Specifically, the protagonist.

Baek Seol-hee was one of the heroines of the original novel, and she was a ‘teacher position’ heroine at that.

The student, Yoon Yiseon.

The teacher, Baek Seol-hee.

Given that they were the popular twin heroines—in the original settings—it was certain that the protagonist would be linked with Baek Seol-hee.

At that time, I needed to meet the protagonist through Baek Seol-hee.

And with Baek Seol-hee, or using Baek Seol-hee, the protagonist...

“Tsk. I’m such a total jerk.”

To achieve my objective by using a woman’s feelings.

Even more so, to use a hero’s fragile and wavering heart to corrupt her in a direction beneficial to the Gyeolsa.

“...But it is the typical brainwashing method of an evil organization’s executive to take advantage of a hero’s mental weakness and turn them into villains.”

This might as well be the ‘Goblin Temptation’ operation that the Goblin repeatedly failed at in the original novel.

‘But can things resolve this smoothly?’

I was worried.

So far, Baek Seol-hee has had scandals with numerous male heroes, celebrities, and people from wealthy families.

Of course, all those scandals were gossip attempts by men to somehow link themselves with Baek Seol-hee, and Baek Seol-hee outright said she had no interest in them.

But what if.

‘If it wasn’t for Baek Seol-hee, this would be a surefire green light!’

What if Baek Seol-hee was interested in me?

‘Damn it. This is driving me crazy.’

Which side were Baek Seol-hee’s feelings on?

Was it to get face-to-face treatment from a mental health counselor to stabilize her shaky mental state as a hero?

Or was it because she was attracted to a man and wanted to visit him at night?

If you thought about it in terms of abilities, the former was correct.

But if you thought about the countless stories of fresh young men and women in their early twenties in the modern era, no matter how you thought about it, this was a green light.

A man’s instinct, a man’s hope, was telling me so.

If this went wrong...

“Wow.”

Off in the distance.

Something like a black silhouette twinkled from the direction of the sea.

Being responsive to mana, I saw it clearly, but for the soldiers on guard in the watchtower, it would just seem like the sea was twinkling in the moonlight.

Bang!

With a powerful shockwave, the waves splashed.

And she appeared before me, who was soaking in the hot spring.

“...I arrived a bit early.”

“...Did you really come?”

“Of course, I really came.”

Baek Seol-hee appeared, wrapped from neck to ankle in a black long padding coat.

“Why... why did you come?”

I just asked what came to mind, regardless of my prepared lines.

“I needed counseling.”

Baek Seol-hee looked at me calmly and answered.

“I thought you would be willing to counsel me, regardless of the content.”

“What’s the content?”

“...Complaining about the Minister?”

“...First of all.”

I decided to resolve one unbearable thing.

“Even if it’s an open-air bath, shoes are a bit...”

“Ah.”

“Take off your shoes, go in there, and leave them at the entrance.”

Even if you were an S-class hero, there were things that you should never do in this country, on this land.