Sunday night, somewhere in the middle of Seoul, in one of the best hotels of the place, Cristopher sat naked, covered only with a towel tied to his waist. He was finishing a text to send on his smartwatch, when suddenly a delicate hand with slightly long red-painted nails caressed his chest, just before two arms hugged him from behind, with a beautiful red-haired girl supporting her chin on her shoulder and looking up at his eyes.

“Why are you so serious all of a sudden?” Angelica spoke to him with a small pout.

“Mm? I’m just sending a text. I didn’t know I had to be excited because of it?” While he just smirked.

“*snort* That’s not what I meant. These two nights you haven’t been the same, you know?”

“Pfft… You say it as if you’ve been knowing for decades.”

“No, I don’t.” She smiled softly. “But I at least can detect whenever you have a drastic change in you. And this one, it’s quite drastic.”

“Oh, come on. I’ve just been tired from the final exam.”

“Haha. And here I thought you would be a better liar for some weird reason.” She chuckled.

“And I didn’t have any idea that you were an empath.” While he just smirked.

“Mm…” She put her delicate finger on her lips with a thinking gesture, before smiling and sitting back, leaning on her hands, giving him a wink. “Maybe? Who knows? *chuckles*”

“Oh, really?” With an even deeper smile, Cristopher turned around, to take a full view of her naked body, not even covered by the soft bed sheets.

Her long and straight red hair fell over her shoulders, though failing to cover her two mounds that stood proudly on her chest, two perfect C-cups that adorned her otherwise small frame, making it look fuller. While her lean stomach with the slightest bit of fat, making her look only curvy, with her wider hips and her thighs that, while not formed by constant trained, had the perfect thickness.

“Mm? Then? What I’m feeling right now?” He asked with a lifted eyebrow.

“Hahahahaha.” Making her burst into laughter. “No one needs to be an empath to actually know what you’re feeling right now.” She smiled while looking down at the tent on the towel.

“Touché.” He smiled back.

“Come then.” She said with a soft, tempting voice while making an inviting gesture with her index finger, and a seductive smile.

Not wanting to be called twice, he just dropped the towel and jumped on the bed with her.

***

With the start of the summer break, all cadets started moving in and out of Cube more frequently, most of them were going aboard, while others were staying, but chose to pass their day out of Cube.

A few of them decided to make use of Cube’s training facilities, while others, mostly above the 300th rank, accepted the chance that all the guilds in Korea and some outside of it gave, being able to see actual heroes in duty in something called the Guild Experience Program.

During this time, a Guild, mostly those from Korea, could contact two or three cadets to invite them to their guilds and let them see firsthand how guilds operated and what heroes did daily.

Kim Hajin was actually invited by Essence of the Strait, thanks to Yoo Yeonha, something that he was quite surprised about.

Now, it was Monday, quite early in the morning, and inside Kim Hajin’s room, two cadets and one child were silently sitting.

“So, can you do it?” After quite some time in silence, Kim Hajin asked Cristopher.

“…” Thinking deeply, Cristopher just looked at Hajin’s face, before a little trembling from Evandel stole his eyes.

She was currently sitting there in silence, trying to be calm, but her hands betrayed her, trembling slightly.

“*sigh…* Fine. It’s not a problem.” He finally said, before letting a small chuckle escape his mouth.

At his words, Evandel’s eyes slightly trembled, opening a little more than before, a really small change really hard to detect, except for Cristopher, who just kept quiet about it.

“Thanks… I’ll be back afternoon, so don’t be worried. You just have to take care of her here.” Kim Hajin smiled, before standing up and picking a side-bag, walking towards the door. “Well, goodbye! Take care, and please don’t do anything rash. That’s with you two.” He said before walking out, leaving only Evandel and Cristopher inside the room.

“…”

“…”

Both of them were inside a weird silence, even if this wasn’t their first meeting, there has been something inside Cristopher’s head these few days that made him unable to act normally in front of Evandel.

The silence prolonged for a while before a weak voice resonated in the room.

“Do you perhaps hate me…?” Evandel, with her head hanging low, asked a surprised Cristopher, who couldn’t help but flinch at her words.

“I don’t.” He denied it instantly.

“But…” She turned to look up at him. Her eyes were slightly red. “I’ve felt it. I feel how you act around me… I-It’s… It’s like you’re avoiding me, even when you smile at me or joke around.” She said, her voice growing weaker by the second, before turning her head down again.

“…” Cristopher didn’t answer her. After all, it was true. He was been trying to avoid her as much as possible, even if he’s been visiting Hajin and Evandel every day, it was just to check that her power suddenly didn’t go in a burst or that she couldn’t control it.

“I…” Her eyes got even redder. “Did I do something wrong…?” The girl slightly trembled.

“*sigh…*” A deep sigh escaped Cristopher’s mouth, making Evandel turn up to look at him, worried that her words angered him, but she only found a forced smile, which strangled her heart more, thinking that she was being a nuisance to her father.

“I-I’m sorry-” She immediately tried to apologize but stopped. She didn’t even notice him move, but in an instant, Cristopher was already standing in front of her, with his hand patting her head.

“Don’t.” He spoke, before rubbing her head soothingly. “You don't ever apologize for something you didn’t do nor caused.”

Her eyes shook and a small gasp escaped her mouth.

“Look… I’ve been quite an idiot, okay? I kind of underestimated your ability to sense and feel. A stupid move from my part.” He crouched down, looking at her directly in the eyes. “You’re not at fault. And to answer you, yes. I’ve been evading you.”

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“But why, did I-” She hurriedly spoke, but his hand stopped her.

“Listen to me.” He chuckled while he kept rubbing her head. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I guess that I’ve been somewhat overburdened.” He said with an apologetic smile, a true one this time.

“…” Evandel didn’t speak, she just looked at him with patient eyes.

“Thinking about it, it’s quite stupid, really.” He chuckled again. “I’ve taken care of kids before, heck, right now I’m training a small army of kids… It’s just, that it’s not the same when you take care of another kid instead of your own daughter.”

“I-I’ll be good! I won’t-”

“Relax. I know. You haven’t done anything to tell me otherwise.” He smiled at her. “The problem lies within me. I don’t feel like I would be a good father, Evandel.”

“Then…” She looked down. “Are you going to leave me?”

“…” He didn’t answer but instead raised her head softly, holding her chin. “Listen here. I might not be a good father. But nobody’s abandoning you. I’ll stay, and I’ll try. That at least, I can promise you.”

“…” She looked at him, with her eyes slightly shining. “For real…?”

“…” He just nodded. “I mean. It would absurd, for me to run from this when there’s not a fight I’ve run away from.”

“*chuckle*”

“So? What do you say? Want to go out of here and have a fun day?”

“Huh? But uncle said that I couldn’t leave this room…” Evandel looked surprised.

“Pfft. Relax, who’s your father? I’ll make sure no one bothers us. But, for that, we first have to get out of Cube. So, can you transform into an animal?”

“Un!” She said, and immediately transformed into a small chubby husky that looked a lot like a plush. “Like this!?”

“Pfft. Perfect. Let’s go. You’ll be able to transform once we’re outside of Cube. And try not to talk, or people would be suspicious.”

“Un!” With a nod, she got quiet.

“Oh, right! Let’s first go to look for little Shina, I can’t leave her alone after all.” With that said, both of them went to look for Shina and immediately went out of Cube, gaining the looks of a few of the workers of the portal of Cube.

***

Meanwhile, in Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul, Kim Hajin waited in front of the street, as this was the place where he had to wait to be picked to go to Essence of the Strait Guild’s headquarters.

“Wow, this is unexpected.” A sudden voice woke him up of his thinking.

“Mm? What is?”

“I thought you would reject the offer.” Yoo Yeonha answered with a smile.

In truth, he did think about rejecting it at first. But his curiosity got the best of him, and interested in how the heroes of this world actually worked, he finally decided to accept the proposal.

“We’re still waiting on one more person, but it seems that we’ll have to wait quite a while. Should we go ahead first?” Yoo Yeonha asked him, before suddenly lifting an eyebrow. “Is something the matter?”

“Mm? Not really, why?”

“Well, you look as if you’re worried about something.”

“Huh? Well, I’m not. So, shall we go?”

“If you say so.” She shrugged, before smiling. “Let’s go then!”

At Yeonha’s words, a long and luxurious limousine stopped right in front of them, before the driver got out and opened the door to them as it was done in the movies.

“Get in.” Yeonha said with a smile.

They then departed towards Essence of the Strait headquarters.

***

Back on Cube, in one of the forests close to the training ground. A high-pitched scream could be heard from time to time, along with the sound of a dull impact.

“AHHHHH!”

*THUD*

“Argh!”

After falling on her back once again, Olivia was gasping for air, out of the pain of her fall.

“Damn it!” With a shout, she stood up once again, rubbing her back in pain. “You freaking tree!” She shouted while kicking the tree out of desperation.

*sigh…*

After a little while, she finally calmed down. Since Friday, when Cristopher actually taught her how to climb the tree thanks to the control of magic power. She’s been training slowly but surely.

Right now, her plan wasn’t actually picking the sword, as she already did long ago. The thing is, that she now was trying to run up the tree, not just walking.

“Damn this tree…” At first, it seemed something easy to do, after all, if she could walk, why would run be any difficult? She also thought like that. But was soon proved to be wrong.

While walking, you had ample time to alternate between moving your feet and sticking to the tree. But running, especially running fast, shorted that time to less than a second.

Meaning, Olivia had to stick to the tree with one foot, to then stick his other foot while also unsticking his previous foot, almost at the same time, multiple times. Making just a little mistake cost her balance, or even make her fall.

“*sigh…* Come on. I’m almost doing it!” Right now, while she was able to slowly run-up, or even walk fast up the tree, she still couldn’t run at even half her real speed on a vertical surface. And she was making it her goal to run as fast as she could in this tree. “You’ll see! I’ll freaking master this thing!”

Actually, her control over Magic Power was now vastly better than before, making her improve quite well in the use of her knives, and making it easier for her to actually control five knives freely at the same time, and even mix in a few more knives with basic controls.

“Okay. Let’s do this!” With an encouraging shout, she started rushing towards the tree, running.

The first step, second step, third step...

After a single moment, she was already up to half the tree, her body leaned forwards to better control her position and not falling back. And right when she was about to reach the top of the tree, she missed.

Her magic power didn’t stick her on the tree on time, and her left foot slipped, making her fall down quickly. Thankfully, this time she could react on time and hit the trunk of the tree with her hand, and just as she did with her foot, she stuck her hand to the tree with Magic Power, letting her avoid falling.

“Argh! I almost had it!” She shouted after getting down the tree. “Once more!”

With an excited yell, she once again started running up the tree. Meanwhile, the shouts and screams inside the forest continued for a long time.

***

“Wow! Where are we, daddy!?” Evandel shouted with emotion while looking at the freezing mountains.

“Some mountain around Norway, don’t know its name, though.” Cristopher asked with a shrug.

Right now, Evandel, Cristopher, and Shina were walking through a forest in Norway, a little further away from Oslo, and right in front of them, a tall mountainous region started, still covered in woods, but not as many as the forest they just passed through.

“Are we going up!?” Evandel asked with shining eyes, covered in trekking pants, boots, a thick jacket, and a small pink mountain hat with a cat draw on it.

“Yes, we are!” Cristopher, barely covered by a leather jacket, white t-shirt, and some black denim-pants while also wearing boots, answered. Pointing at the tip of the mountain. “There’s a dungeon up there and we are going to conquer it!” He shouted.

“Rawr!” Shina roared too.

“Yay!” She shouted with her arms high, before stopping for a moment. “What’s a dungeon daddy?”

“It’s a place full of monsters waiting for us to hunt them! And there’s also a treasure at the end of it.” He shrugged at the last part.

“Wow!” Evandel widened her eyes with anticipation. “A treasure!?” She shouted.

“Yes. So, let’s go!” He nodded with a smile and started walking.

“Yay!” Evandel also shouted, excitedly walking behind him, with Shina following them both.

***

“!” At the same time, back in Seoul, inside Essence of the Strait’s headquarters. Kim Hajin strongly flinched.

“Mm? What happens? Is there something wrong?” Yeonha asked, walking alongside him inside the vast lobby that met the entrance door to the Guild’s place, a magnificent building made of top-notch magic engineering.

“No… It’s just that I suddenly had a bad premonition or something.” Hajin answered while pondering for a bit.

“Mm? In here? Is there something that makes you feel wrong around?” She answered with a worried face, worried that her small joke would be discovered.

“No…” He answered after a little while, shaking his head. “It somehow isn’t about me… I know it’s weird, but don’t pay it any attention.” He finally shrugged.

“Okay…” Yeonha slightly nodded, letting out a small sigh, reassuring herself that her joke was still undiscovered.

“So, what are we going to do?” He asked Yeonha.

“Well, first with have to wait for the other cadet. But while we are at it, why don’t you tour the place?” She smiled, before leading him further in. “Offices for Heroes are on the second floor and up, but there isn’t much to see on the first four floors. The real thing begins on the fifth floor. The first floor has the lobby you see here, a lounge, a training room, and a sparring room. Ah, there’s a sports field too.”

“Wow… That’s quite a lot, isn’t it?” Kim Hajin asked with a bemused face while looking at the entire place that even has a grass lawn with the size of a soccer field, asking in his head how this wasn’t ‘much to see’ according to Yoo Yeonha.

“Mm? You think so? Well, let’s first go up” She just shrugged. “We have to meet with the hero in charge of the program.” She said while standing in front of the elevator, waiting for it to come down.

“Oh, right.” Hajin answered with a nod, still looking around the place.

“By the way.” Yoo Yeonha suddenly spoke. “The person we’re waiting for isn’t Chae Nayun.” She smiled, starting her small joke plan.

“Huh? Um, okay…” Not knowing why would she suddenly say that Hajin merely nodded at her.