Chapter 92 – Unwinding before Mission Start

Lee casually looked around the streets as Hajin led them towards that Michelin star restaurant, Goût Céleste.

There had been a brief encounter with the Traveling Club's leader, Oh Hanhyun, a somewhat reliable looking Korean cadet, but other than that, it was straight to just... well, traveling.

'So this is what Europe looks like in this world? And I suppose this is what Rachel wants Britain to become...'

Paris was the center of France. While Lee wasn't too up to date on France's culture, he vaguely knew about it.

But it DEFINITELY seemed like Hajin had known even less. That, or he was definitely a France supporter.

Everywhere Lee looked, he saw buildings with state-of-the-art technology, magical displays, and Paris's Hero Academy cadets.

Because that was a thing.

'Huh. Maybe I underestimated Cube's prestige...'

Lee had thought he had a handle of how amazing Cube was. But seeing how everything looked and knowing that there were people from here who still chose to go to Cube...

'Definitely world class.'

Still...

Lee looked at Hajin and said, "So France is the leader of the European Union, huh? That's funny. I would have thought it would be Italy or Germany."

Hajin blinked. "Huh? Why would you think that? Obviously it's France. That's where all the culture is."

"...The Vatican is a thing though? With the Outcall, don't you think they would've taken over?"

"..."

Lee watched Hajin's face distort, as if suddenly realizing a critical gap in the setting.

But Lee let it slide and said, "Anyway... Paris is pretty cool, huh? Very high tech."

It reminded Lee a lot of Lumiose City from Pokemon.

...Which, on second thought, might be where Hajin got the inspiration since Pokemon X and Y definitely were released at the time the guy started writing...

Hajin looked relieved at the change in conversation topic and nodded. "Yeah. It's basically the pinnacle of Europe's technical developments, so of course it'd be high tech."

Lee hummed as he followed behind Hajin. "So it's America, France, Korea... Australia's a wartorn monster haven, Africa's the same, so is South America... I guess there's only three world powers, huh? Everyone else is kind of there."

Hajin nodded. "That's right. Though it's mostly because the major powers are where most of the Towers and Dungeons end up forming."

"Mm... I see."

It made sense. With danger came opportunity, after all.

Hajin continued leading the way, walking up to a fancy looking restaurant with chrome doors, staff in black suits and form-fitting gowns... Definitely the sort of place that only the world's upper echelon would normally be able to enter.

As they did, the front of house worker at the entrance looked down on Hajin and started speaking in French.

Hajin, of course, immediately stiffened up.

So Lee stepped forward and spoke in English. "You'll have to forgive my friend. He's never been outside of Korea. We should have a reservation though for two, under Kim Hajin."

The moment that Lee's words echoed, the worker's expression shifted into a pleasant surprise. "Ah, oui monsieur. Allow me to look." With that, he stepped back to check at the nearby computer.

Hajin looked at Lee and said in Korean, "...You really don't care what people think about you, do you?"

"Why should I?" Lee shrugged. "I'm me. And being me is enough for Rachel to not only love me, but choose me as her husband." He poked Hajin's forehead. "You should be more confident too. You're Yeonha's husband. You're making her look bad by not showing your worth."

Hajin paused. Then he straightened a bit. "...You're right. I'll work on that."

"Mm, it's fine for now. But remember that everything you do from now on reflects on Yeonha. Especially since there's definitely the baby on the way."

"...Yeah. I will." Hajin let out a grateful smile.

At that time, the worker walked back over with a smile. "Monsieurs. Follow me."

Lee waited a bit for Hajin.

Hajin noticed and then straightened his back, letting himself settle into his body and releasing his nerves... at least a little more than before. Then he nodded and took the lead.

It seemed like there was hope for him yet...

===

Calm classical music, played by a live orchestra. Sleek white marble and elegant floral engravings. Silver furnishings that looked like reflected moonlight...

Lee thought it was definitely beautiful. But...

"You know, Hajin. This really isn't a place you should be taking guy friends to..."

Hajin's ears turned red and he said, "Shut up. I know, okay?"

Lee chuckled.

Since they had gone on the trip as part of the Traveling Club, Lee and Hajin weren't quite dressed up to match the standard of the clientele around them.

Most of the people in the restaurant were handsome men and beauties who were clear socialites of the upper echelon. Black tuxedos that probably cost a whole semester of Cube's tuition, sleek dresses paired with jewelry that flared with mana...

Everywhere around, people looked and felt like pure money.

Because of that, Hajin stuck out like a sore thumb in his standard Cube Cadet uniform.

Lee should have stood out too, since he was also wearing his Cube Cadet uniform in solidarity with Hajin.

But unlike Hajin, Lee was calm and relaxed. As a result...

"Look at those two."

"Cube Cadets?"

"They must be promising talents to be here..."

"The one in front seems a bit nervous, but that one behind him... doesn't he look like a king among men?"

Lee paused a bit at that last comment and looked over.

The speaker was a random European beauty with dark brown hair and olive green eyes.

At least, it should have been a 'random European beauty.'

But although it didn't look like her, Lee could tell who it was: Jain.

Lee chuckled and gave a casual wave towards her. "And you look like a beauty queen yourself, Madam. Take it easy." With that brief acknowledgement, he followed after Hajin.

Hajin noticed and said, "Should you really be flirting with beautiful women out in public, Lee?"

"She's a coworker."

"A co-worker? What do you mean a-" Hajin glanced back and his eyes widened.

Lee pushed Hajin ahead to follow the wait staff leading the way and said, "Keep on moving, buddy."

"R-Right. Yeah, moving..."

The waiter sat Lee and Hajin down at a private booth in the back. Then, after setting the menus down in front of them, he pulled out a notepad and said, "Welcome to Goût Céleste. Would you like help with the menu?"

Hajin hesitated a bit. But then he focused and looked at the menu, his eyes flickering with blue light.

If Lee had to guess, he probably FINALLY figured out that his Observation Gift let him read things regardless of the language.

Then Hajin nodded and said, "I'll try the chef's menu. My wife wanted me to get a feel for how this restaurant is when we go on our honeymoon, so that sounds good."

The waiter raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "Ah, I see. Scouting out the locations for the madame. Quite wise. Shall I bring out the wine then for a tasting?"

"No, she's pregnant, so she can't have wine anyway..."

That time, the waiter didn't just raise an eyebrow. Both his eyes grew wide. "Pregnant? My. Congratulations. You are living quite the interesting life, I see, Monsieur."

Hajin froze, suddenly realizing what he casually admitted.

Lee closed his eyes, resisting the urge to laugh.

===

After the waiter went off to get the orders started, which ended up being the chef's menu for both Lee and Hajin, the two got down to business.

Lee sipped on the sparkling water that he had ordered and said, "So other than honeymoon business, why did you want to come along this trip anyway?"

Hajin sipped his water and flinched when he realized it was sparkling. "What the heck?"

Lee looked amused. "You didn't know the default water in Europe is sparkling? You gotta ask for still water, you know?"

"...Well, I guess it's good that I'm figuring this out now." Hajin gave the water a side-eye and sipped on it. "Ugh. Weird..."

Lee shrugged. "Should travel more, my guy."

"...How is an American more traveled than me? Aren't you guys supposed to like, not travel?"

"When you're an orphan in this world, you make things do."

Lee, of course, wasn't an orphan back on his Earth. But the Lee Shin he had swapped out with definitely was, so the guy had to run around to make things work a lot.

"Right." Hajin sighed. "But anyway, I'm here for a few reasons. The first is... well, there's something here I want to pick up too. Like how you did at the... 'location' with your friends."

"You're terrible at infosec."

"...What's infosec?"

"Information Security. You know, protecting sensitive business intelligence..." Lee paused. "...Don't tell me you're the sort of person who finds out what stocks are good to buy and dumps all his money into them?"

Hajin coughed. "Ahaha... I would... never do that. Even if I hypothetically knew which stock would skyrocket. That would be dumb..."

"...I am so happy for you that you married Yeonha. Because even if she jumps to conclusions about relationships, she at least has a proper level head about real world stuff..."

Hajin sighed. "Fair..."

Lee sipped his sparkling water and said, "So you need to pick something up. What else?"

"Mm... there's some thing I need to check. There's someone here who could cause trouble later on if they team up with Djinns. And the Djinns are making a move too."

Lee slowly blinked. Then he looked amused and said, "You really do like going out of your way to find trouble, huh?"

Hajin's ears turned a bright red and said, "That's not true! I just... Well. There are certain things that could spiral if no one's around to handle them. And since Suho's not here, someone has to be."

Lee smiled.

Hajin noticed and said, "What's with that face?"

"Nothing. Just thinking that you're finally acting like a main character."

Hajin paused. Then a strange expression crossed his face before he said, "Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"Both."

Hajin snorted.

Lee stretched and said, "But anyway... how's the 'project' you worked on. Are your stats going up properly?"

Hajin nodded and glanced at the side, no doubt looking at his stats. "It seems like it. But it's not working exactly like we planned. My stats aren't immediately hitting the cap. Instead it's kind of like... a saturation meter? Unless I'm under direct light, it slowly dips back down. And when I am, it slowly ramps up."

"Hm? ...Oh, I guess that makes more sense." Lee hummed. "It would be nice if it was a conceptual physique where you just automatically got stronger in response to the solar and lunar phase. But I guess it got translated to photon saturation instead. More logical, I suppose."

Hajin sighed. "It would have been nice if it was a free upgrade..."

"Hey. At least this way you feel some effort, right? If you want that free 20% increase of your max stat each day, you have to be training out in the sun and moonlight."

Hajin nodded. "That's true- Wait. 20%?"

"Yeah. It's 10% permanent gain of the max stats you have through the increase, right? So if you double your stats, that makes your stats 200%. So then 10% of that is 20%. It's a flat 20% increase if you manage to hit it each day. Should compound too."

Hajin stared at his hands in awe. "...Doesn't that mean I'll be Superman by the end of the semester?"

Lee chuckled. "Maybe. But this is reality, you know? It might suddenly change. After all, my physique did."

Hajin perked up and said, "You have a special physique?"

"Hm? Oh, maybe I never mentioned it to you. But yeah. Magic doesn't work against me, and I can't store mana. But in exchange, my physical stats are pretty ridiculous."

Hajin gave Lee a blank stare and slowly said, "You have an anti-mana physique? ...Wait." He eyed the Dark Saber hilt on Lee's waist. "...But how did you use mana? And Sword Ki?"

"I said I can't store mana, not that I can't use it."

Hajin stared at Lee.

Lee smiled.

Hajin slowly said, "I am beginning to understand the difference in being knowledgable and being intelligent. I don't get it. But you're clearly making it work."

Lee laughed. "Don't worry about it. Just focus on using your cheat properly."

At that time, the main course came in.

Lee noticed and said, "Come on. Let's finish eating and then we can sort through your plans for later."