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Today, as expected from someone bad with directions, I got lost again.

Getting lost on a 200-ton ship, I guess I shouldn’t even dream of a cruise trip.

It might take an hour or two just to find my room on the cruise.

“What did you order?”

“The French-style course meal.”

…What?

While I was away, my sister made an outrageous order.

“Sis… if you order a course meal….”

“Don’t worry, I ordered enough for ten people at once.”

“That’s great! Course meals are the best.”

Indeed, the best meals are course meals.

“What about drinks?”

“You’re going to have cola anyway.”

“The biggest cola!”

“They said they’ll bring it, just wait a bit.”

“Okay!”

People say I refuel when they see me drinking cola.

Since I sometimes describe my body’s energy in terms of fuel efficiency, it seems like an appropriate metaphor.

Not long after, the pre-meal bread came out.

The butter to spread on the bread was mixed with ham, creating a checkered pattern.

‘Why is it so pretty?’

The crispy bread with salty butter was so delicious that I kept inhaling it as soon as it was served.

Next came the appetizer.

Fried perilla leaves.

The perilla leaves were topped with fragrant herbs and caviar.

It was incredibly crispy.

There was a mayonnaise-based sauce on top.

I have no idea what kind of sauce it was.

Usually, they explain the dish when they serve it, but it was omitted at Jeong Ha-yul’s request.

It was written on the menu, but I skimmed it and couldn’t remember what kind of sauce it was.

I don’t remember going to restaurants often with Jeong Ha-yul, but she knew exactly what I wanted.

Food should be devoured as soon as it arrives, and I really hate having my time taken away by explanations.

The fried perilla leaves were only about the size of a macaron, but ten of them were just enough to satisfy my hunger.

“…Wow, I think I’d be full just eating that.”

“Gyeoul has bad fuel efficiency.”

“…Huh? Fuel efficiency?”

Whether Deputy Ha Jun-seok was flustered or not, I finished my meal.

Next was asparagus bavarois and a soup-like dish with foamed onion cream.

I have no idea what bavarois is or why they used onion cream.

I just ate it.

It didn’t taste good.

Soon after, a Jeju shrimp tart with some sauce and a heap of caviar came out.

I couldn’t figure out why the tart was only half-sized.

…It felt like giving only half a choco pie.

Course meals just don’t suit me.

Still, it was tasty.

After that came a top-grade Hanwoo steak with truffle beef sauce.

Come to think of it, I don’t remember specifying the doneness, but the meat came out.

When I glanced at Jeong Ha-yul, she said she ordered it medium rare.

It was very satisfying.

While inhaling the steak, I didn’t even notice what came after.

It was probably dessert.

It was probably tasty.

After finishing the meal, I went back to the room.

“I brought all the appraised items, but what do you want, sis?”

“It’s okay, I don’t really need anything and probably won’t have any use for it, so let’s either give it to someone else as a gift or put it up at the auction house.”

We were talking about items for the upcoming mission, but she seemed to think we were giving gifts now.

Not wanting to make things awkward, I naturally went along with it.

“…Are you sure? Something like an unbreakable sword would suit you perfectly.”

“It’s fine, I think relying on a sword would make me weaker rather than stronger.”

She definitely said “impact” earlier.

I heard it.

It was just as I thought before.

The reason Jeong Ha-yul doesn’t use weapons might be because of the impact.

‘She’s definitely addicted to punching!’

If she says she doesn’t need a gift, there’s no need to force it on her.

I just left it in the room.

Of course, I infused it with my magic power just in case.

‘This way, even if someone steals it, I can find it.’

It’s not that I don’t trust the people on this ship.

I just don’t trust human greed.

Isn’t that the same thing?

Let’s just move on.

By the way, I was curious about the heroes we might face in America.

“Are there many strong heroes in America?”

“Hmm, there were about three heroes similar to you, sis?”

“…Similar to me?”

“Well, they used to be. Now that you’ve opened all your circuits, you’d probably win easily… but if they’ve also opened all their circuits, who knows.”

Crazy, the balance is already broken.

If they were similar to Jeong Ha-yul before opening their circuits, it means they were also on the verge of transcendence.

Considering that Jeong Ha-yul didn’t transcend but delayed it, it’s highly likely that the heroes in America have already transcended.

One queen in England.

One demon king in Korea.

One cult leader in the Satan Church.

I don’t know much about other countries, but there’s probably one or none at all.

Even the lords of the demon realm can be considered one per country if you split them up.

But suddenly three in America?

It’s not something that’s possible just because the land is vast and the population is large.

If that were possible, India or China would have already conquered the world.

No, not just the world, they might have even started a conquest war in the demon realm.

Anyway, what were our country’s government and association thinking, sending Jeong Ha-yul alone?

If all three attack Jeong Ha-yul at the same time?

Even if it’s her, wouldn’t it be hard to even escape?

Jeong Ha-yul isn’t specialized in speed….

I think I made the right choice to come along.

I have to protect my sister.

“I can roughly guess what you’re worried about… but don’t worry.”

“…?”

“Two of them can’t leave their own territories.”

“What do you mean by that?”

I wonder what they teach at the academy if not practical things like this.

If I ever become an instructor, I’ll have some useful stories to tell….

‘No! Snap out of it!’

I’m just a freeloader with the title of instructor, not a real instructor.

I almost seriously started planning a lecture.

If I let my guard down, I might end up teaching a class.

Jeong Ha-yul, unaware of the dizzying thoughts in my head, continued.

“You know America suffers more from monster attacks than our country, right?”

“Yeah. I heard they have periodic waves.”

“Massive waves that even bring forth extinction-level monsters happen frequently. If they leave their posts, the damage would be severe.”

“…Behemoth-level monsters appear? Monsters have become hero suppressors?”

This was great news for us, who are playing as spy villains.

If the heroes who deal with extinction-level monsters leave the frontlines, there would be massive damage.

It’s better to minimize damage than to destroy half of America trying to capture Jeong Ha-yul.

So, in the end, there’s only one hero in America we need to worry about.

“But doesn’t that person guard the frontlines?”

“That person guards the White House.”

It seems even that one hero can’t move from such an important position.

“What, so there’s practically no one to stop us?”

“But wouldn’t a prophet leave their guard duty for a bit?”

“Then we just need to behead the president….”

“What are you talking about….”

“…Just kidding.”

I got too immersed in playing the villain for a moment.

“The deputy from the association would have freaked out if he were here.”

“That guy was a bit weird, he kept sweating over everything.”

“Just pretend you don’t know. He seemed like he was in pain.”

If he’s sick, why was he assigned to this mission?

I should go talk to the association head after the mission.

While we were chatting about this and that.

Zzzzt—

I felt something brush past my head.

Zzzzt, zzzzt, zzzzt.

“What’s wrong?”

“Didn’t you feel it? Something tingling went through my head.”

“Not at all.”

“No, there’s something. Let’s go outside.”

“Okay.”

I took Jeong Ha-yul outside, but there was nothing unusual.

“Maybe it was just a headache?”

“It didn’t feel like that….”

That tingling sensation definitely wasn’t a headache.

As I shook my head and was about to go back to the room.

Whoooosh—

A massive wave hit the ship directly.

The ship swayed, and water splashed onto the deck. At that moment, I saw something.

“Sis… did you see that?”

“Yeah, you mean the eyes?”

So, those were eyes.

They were a bit bigger than a medicine ball….

If the eyes are that big, how big must the body be?

Maybe we just witnessed an extinction-level monster.

Just in case, I spread my magic power to sense it, and I could feel it still swimming beneath the ship.

“It’s still there.”

“Yeah, it’s probably trying to hunt this ship.”

Ocean monsters, less known than land monsters.

They’ve become rare lately, but as soon as we left Korea, we ran into one.

“W-w-w-what’s going on!”

Deputy Ha Jun-seok, startled and stammering, came running out, but we just ignored him.

Considering the ranks, there are two transcendents here.

One extinction-level monster is nothing.

Either Jeong Ha-yul catches it and I protect the ship.

Or I catch it and Jeong Ha-yul protects the ship.

In the end, nothing will happen.

While I was wondering what ocean monster meat tastes like.

A better idea came to mind.

“Sis, let’s catch it.”

“Huh? Weren’t we going to catch it anyway?”

“No, not kill it. Capture it alive.”

“…Huh?”

Even Jeong Ha-yul seemed taken aback by the idea of capturing it alive.

Deputy Ha Jun-seok looked like his soul had left his body.

“If we catch it and make it pull the ship, we’ll arrive quickly.”

“…But what about the departure infrastructure? Is it okay to arrive early?”

“Y-y-y-yes, it’s f-f-fine. The s-s-sea has many v-v-variables due to ocean m-m-monsters….”

He stammered so much it was hard to understand, but… it’s fine, right?

A carriage is pulled by horses, so it’s a carriage.

Then what do you call a monster that pulls a ship?

Hmm….

I’ll just call it my underling.

 

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