The wardrobe had three options: mask, clothes, and shoes.
Common leather shoes immediately stood out, but the K-Boots made no sense to him.
“Wow…” Seol-Hwi exclaimed in admiration. They fit perfectly and wrapped comfortably around his feet when he took a few test steps. He reached down and touched the ankle, finding that the boots appeared to be made of normal leather, albeit hard like a horse hoof.
“Shall I wear this tomorrow?”
He then went back to the first choice, the mask.
“Oh…” He turned to admire himself in the mirror and his expression brightened. Rather than an animal mask, this one was one in indigo, black, and yellow. With these dark, subdued colors, it would be easy to blend into the night and into vegetation.
“But this…” Seol-Hwi looked at the wall Bigun had smashed through. It was flustering, but he didn’t need to move to a different residence.
“Ahh.” Seol-Hwi lay down on the bed. “I’ll worry about it later.”
As usual, the save option popped up at the end of the month. Seol-Hwi overwrote his second slot, just in case.
And then he shut his eyes. It was winter; his bed was very cozy.
Seol-Hwi woke up confused. As soon as he opened his eyes, time froze. A while later, something absurd happened: Seokdu, the carpenter who accompanied him on the mission, was in his room with a hammer.
“Hyung! The wall had a hole in it when I got here, so I fixed it.”
Seol-Hwi turned to the repaired wall. It was like new.
“Ah, seriously…” It was strange, but he got used to it the more he thought about it—even the capricious flow of time.
Speaking of which, another window popped up.
[Early in the morning, the members of the command unit hear that Seol-Hwi defeated Bigun.]
Who leaked the rumor?
Seol-Hwi then found himself presented with each member’s reaction.
“The captain took down Bigun?”
“In hindsight, it seemed like he had his own tricks.”
Yong Jin seemed to be talking to someone:
“Are the rumors reliable?”
“Maybe the person we wanted is really…”
Jeok Seong was sitting on a branch when he heard the news. He seemed surprised. Follow current novᴇls on Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
“I thought he was unusual. As expected.”
“We won’t have any trouble from now on, right?”
“We should take good care of him.”
Yorim paused in the middle of washing his face in the river to talk.
“I’m not angry, just… a bit embarrassed.”
Seol-Hwi sat in the training room near the window. Unlike the others, her reaction wasn’t good. That was no surprise—she had less favorability with him than the others.
After a moment, his surroundings turned white and then Seol-Hwi was back in his room.
[Members’ favorability has increased.]
1st Member, Yorim: 60/100(↑45) (Friendly)
2nd Member, Jeok Seong: 60/100(↑45) (Friendly)
3rd Member, Yong Jin: 75/100(↑50) (Friendly)
4th Member, Seo Ryeong: 6/100 (↑100) (Curious)
“Oh…!” Seol-Hwi’s eyes shone. With just one battle, his favorability level had increased, and the status too. This was a promising way to quickly increase his favorability.
Seol-Hwi took another look at his outfit in the mirror.
“Clothes…” The military look was unusual, but cool. “Should I get started?”
He approached the door.
The choices here hadn’t changed, but Seol-Hwi was troubled by the decision.
Hmm… He was planning on taking warrior training, but he’d changed his mind. After winning against Bigun, his favorability with his subordinates had risen. It made him wonder how they would react to him right now.
▶ Teach as Vice-Captain (Available)
▷ Perform the Captain’s duties (Unavailable)
Right. First off, favorability has to be at maximum. Seol-Hwi resolved to get his unit’s favorability as high as it would get.
[Where would you like to go?]
What? That’s it? Seol-Hwi was a little shocked by the lack of choice. Well, it might not pop up every time.
Class didn’t start right away. When the white light faded away, time was frozen and the members were looking at him.
“Oh? Your clothes are a little… Where did you get them?”
“The more I look at it, the better it gets. It’ll be especially good for moving at night, right?”
“I don’t suppose you… have any spares?”
“I want to ask you why you’re dressed like that.”
“To be honest, I don’t like it.”
“I’m going to stay away from you.”
“Everyone has their own tastes. I respect that.”
“What do I think? Well… if you like it, what else matters?”
“Well, anyways, it has nothing to do with me so it doesn’t bother me.”
“You’re wearing that? Um, are they comfortable?”
“It looks a bit weird. Just my opinion, though.”
“Don’t keep asking me. I hate answering you.”
Yong Jin was welcoming, Jeok Seong didn’t like it, Yorim was respectful, and Seo Ryeong didn’t want to talk to him. At least he had their attention.
[Members’ favorability has increased.]
1st Member, Yorim: 70/100(↑10) (Friendly)
2nd Member, Jeok Seong: 60/100(-) (Friendly)
3rd Member, Yong Jin: 80/100(↑5) (Very Friendly)
4th Member, Seo Ryeong: 11/100 (↑5) (Curious)
Oh. He was surprised that their affinities would change.
His teachings proceeded.
[Day 1: Teach the Hidden Truth Squad’s Iconic Demonic Martial Arts ]
[Day 2: Teach the Hidden Truth Squad’s Iconic Demonic Martial Arts ]
Nothing special happened. They went through the material quickly
[Day 31: Teach the Hidden Truth Squad’s Iconic Demonic Martial Arts ]
The monthly schedule was done.
[Members’ level of understanding has increased.]
It had been three months since. Usually, Seol-Hwi would be pretty bored at the end of the month, but it was different this time. The skills he gained made time move fast, and the memories slipped into his head in bits and pieces.
However, his three months of work did not give him the results he wanted.
[Members’ favorability has increased.]
1st Member, Yorim: 80/100(-) (Very Friendly)
2nd Member, Jeok Seong: 80/100(-) (Very Friendly)
3rd Member, Yong Jin: 80/100(-) (Very Friendly)
4th Member, Seo Ryeong: 31/100 (↑5) (Curious)
No one went past 80. He wondered if he should try changing his clothes again, but he didn’t want to risk losing favorability instead. As a result, three members’ favorability sat at 80, while Seo Ryeong’s was low. It probably had something to do with the previous incidents.
Well, it wasn’t important—if he kept teaching, it would rise one day. Problem was…
If he went with the same as before:
▶ Teach as Vice-Captain (Unavailable)
▷ Perform the Captain’s duties (Unavailable)
He couldn’t do it. If he tried:
And he was back where he started.
What do I do now? Troublingly, he had hit a wall in terms of increasing affinity.
Wait! Seol-Hwi picked the fourth option. Maybe this is the solution. Missions and warrior training had nothing to do with the command unit, so if there was an answer it would be here. And, now that he thought about it, there was an option for the command unit last time.
▷ Fourth Disciple’s House
▷ Black Tortoise Garden
As expected! He chose the third option without hesitation.