The Novel's Extra - Side Story 43 – Dream in a Dream (43)

“Haaa…” Rachel sighed in relief after lying in bed for fifteen minutes.

She couldn’t sleep for a variety of reasons. The biggest one keeping her up was the conversation going on in the [English Royal Court Group Chat].

[Marcus: Wow! It’s freaking huge in here!]

[Kayle: Awesome!]

[Fermin: The bathroom is bigger than my house;;]

The other guild members seemed to be in the building as well.

Rachel left a note before tiptoeing out of the room.

An absurdly spacious corridor greeted her along with various furniture and doors. It seemed like the penthouse used up the entire floor with so much space.

Rachel walked along the corridor and heard someone’s footsteps coming towards her. She straightened her posture and cleared her throat.

Fermin peeked out from the corner and greeted Rachel with a sleazy smile, “Vice Leader.”

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about Fermin’s demeanor, so Rachel decided to carefully ask, “Uhm… Fermin… I… No, did something happen yesterday… by any chance?”

“Hmm? Yesterday?” Fermin tilted her head in confusion before flashing another sleazy smile. Her smile turned evil as she tapped on her smartwatch.

Tap… Tap… Tap…

“I knew you would say that, so I recorded everything. Vice Leader promised to give us all a vacation that day,” Fermin said as she projected a hologram that showed what happened last night.

“…”

Rachel stared dumbfoundedly at the video.

— Thank you for everything you’ve done for us… We only managed thanks to you Hajing…

She saw a very drunk version of herself stubbornly clinging onto Kim Hajin. She had her arms wrapped around his and kept rubbing her face on his shoulder. Fermin jokingly touched Kim Hajin’s shoulder and Rachel glared at her before smacking her hand away.

— How dare you!

“N… No!” Rachel cried out as she turned off the video.

It was more accurate to say that she channeled out her mana and destroyed the hologram. Her face turned ghastly pale like she had seen a ghost.

Fermin mischievously smiled and began teasing Rachel, “Why? I thought you were extremely cute last night. I’m sure the CEO found you cute as well. As for the other guild members… I think they were probably too drunk to even remember anything.”

“Ah… That’s a relief…”

“Oh right, you kept clinging onto him until we got here. So… did something happen between you two?” Fermin asked while feigning ignorance.

It seemed the guild members now treated Kim Hajin as their CEO too.

Rachel decided to act thick-skinned and said, “No… Nothing happened… and that person in the video isn’t me…”

“Then who is it?”

“Who knows? There are a lot of blonde women in England, you know?”

“…”

“Please delete the video.”

“Well, I just want you to know that I’m not against it. In fact, this might be a good thing.”

“What is?” Rachel glared at her.

Fermin snickered before snapping her fingers. “Oh right! Have you noticed most of the furniture here is from Jinzel?”

“Yeah…”

Anyone remotely interested in furniture would know the premium Jinzel brand. One couldn’t simply buy this brand even if they had the money. However, the fact that this brand littered the entire penthouse was a testament to Hajin’s enormous wealth.

“These are really good! I took a nap on one of them and felt like a newborn child! I think he has lots of beds from this brand. Do you think he’ll give us one if we ask?”

“Don’t, we’re already troubling him enough,” Rachel crossed her arms over her chest to look as strict as possible.

***

Summer neared as the English Royal Court planned to raid a dungeon. They aimed to fully conquer and subjugate one of the ten dungeons that appeared in England.

However, their vice leader Rachel announced that she wouldn’t participate. She made this decision so the guild members could gain real experience without her help. Each hero had to break through their own limits for the guild to grow stronger as well.

Of course, Rachel didn’t want any of them getting hurt. She ordered their data department to establish a special task force and thoroughly analyze every dungeon’s mana density and monsters.

However, she soon realized just how much she had neglected the guild’s administrative sectors. The data department performed quite poorly. No, that would be an understatement. Most of their skilled personnel had left and their equipment had been sold off during their harsh financial times.

Rachel pushed herself to the limits and investigated seven of the ten dungeons herself. Marcus, Fermin, and the other guild members fortunately finished investigating the remaining three.

“Haaa…”

However, investigating a dungeon wasn’t an easy task. She couldn’t even finish one dungeon after twelve hours without rest.

Snore… Snore…

Evandel’s snoring could be heard in Rachel’s office. The little girl had fallen asleep while waiting for Rachel to finish working.

Rachel felt bad as she watched the sleeping child, but a knock on the door interrupted her.

Knock… Knock!

“Yes, come in,” Rachel responded in a tired voice.

Kim Hajin entered and she straightened her posture without realizing it.

“Are you working overtime again?” he asked while placing an energy drink on her desk.

“My workload just somehow keeps increasing…” Rachel tried to sound nonchalant and hide her nervousness. She hoped that she sounded normal.

Kim Hajin sat on the sofa and stroked Evandel’s head. He looked at the mountain of documents on Rachel’s desk.

“What kind of work is it?” he asked.

“Ah, I’m calculating the dungeons to see if we can raid one…”

Kim Hajin stood and walked over beside her. He took the document from her and asked, “Do you have a pen and paper?”

“Eh? Ah, yes. Here you go…” Rachel replied somewhat flustered.

She became self-conscious about how close they were. Their lips could practically touch if either of them moved an inch closer. She tried her best to suppress her pounding heart and passed him the pen and paper.

“Give me a second,” Kim Hajin said as he scribbled something down.

Rachel initially wondered what he was doing and looked on with curiosity. Her curiosity slowly became replaced with shock.

Kim Hajin quickly drew up the dungeon.

Ironically, Rachel had been working on this for almost half a day. She had to check every piece of information available, consult with experts, and post questions on online forums to barely make sense of the task.

However, this man inches away from her managed to complete it in less than ten minutes.

“What do you think? It should be pretty accurate,” Kim Hajin said as he passed her the finished product.

He not only calculated the mana density and monsters in the dungeon, but even drew the dungeon’s layout.

Rachel dumbfoundedly stared at it before nodding, “I don’t know but… I’m sure everything is right since you’re a genius.”

“Where are the rest?”

“H-Huh?”

“You said there were other dungeons. Give them to me. I’ll do all of them for you.”

Kim Hajin stole all of Rachel’s work with his trustworthy skills. He worked on them for a while and presented her with the finished product. It took him less than an hour to finish all her work.

“Here you go.”

Rachel received two notebooks from him. He had calculated all seven dungeons and compressed their information into two notebooks. Honestly, she felt that this was impossible and wondered if she was dreaming.

“Ah… Thank… Thank you very much…” Rachel spoke while still seemingly dazed.

“Hmm? No problem,” Kim Hajin replied with a smile.

Rachel opened the notebook when Kim Hajin suddenly said, “Oh right, wait a minute.”

He took something out of his bag that looked like blue leather armor.

“Here.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s a gift.”

She stared at him and blinked a few times before checking the blue leather armor. She could instantly tell that it had been crafted with mana and possessed incredible abilities.

“Wow…” she gasped in awe without realizing it.

To be frank, Rachel could feel her materialistic side coming back these days. It may have been because she began using social media again or that the guild’s finances had greatly improved.

Whatever the reason, she started to notice and felt bothered whenever she saw other European heroes bragging about their new equipment.

A gift at this moment simply…

Rachel stared at Kim Hajin without a word. For some reason, he looked extremely handsome today. His jawline and hair made him look like a handsome doll.

“What do you think?” he asked with a smile.

Rachel found him extremely charming and attractive. All her fatigue from working until late at night caused her to… impulsively wrap her arms around him and tightly hug him.

***

“There are ten files in total. The dungeon’s interior as well as other information are compiled in them. We just got them vetted from the association last week. They declared the files to be flawless.”

Rachel presented Kim Hajin’s files to everyone at the English Royal Court’s executive meeting. It shocked all the guild executives.

“Then… I guess we don’t have to hesitate any longer. We should start training our members based on the information provided!”

“Yes, please distribute these files to all of our senior members.”

[In-Depth Analysis of Ten Dungeons – by Kim Hajin]

The meeting concluded with Kim Hajin’s files being distributed to all their senior guild members.

Rachel left the meeting room as her secretary walked up to her.

“It’ll soon be time for the press conference.”

“Yes, let’s make our way there now. Please tell them to get ready,” Rachel replied as she fixed her clothes and headed towards the main hall.

The guild members leisurely chatted during their lunch. All of them greeted Rachel whenever she passed by.

Rachel walked with her chest out and her head held high. The leather armor that Kim Hajin gifted her brightly shone as she strutted through the corridor.

***

The English Royal Court granted vacations to the guild members who participated in the general assembly. The guild members faced a new dilemma about where to go for their holiday. Their pockets became quite full thanks to the rewards from the general assembly.

A certain generous individual soon resolved their dilemma. That individual suggested they visit South Korea and he would even let them use his private beach and villa during their stay.

“Wow, this is my first time seeing someone with a vacation house in Gangwondo.”

Gangwondo’s mountainous terrain featured the most famous dungeon in the world, but the world’s most famous vacation spot could also be found east of it. The East Sea’s pristine water made it one of the few remaining clean seas in the world. The world-renowned mountain guild, Blessing of the Mountain, also patrolled the mountains overlooking the sea. That made the area around the East Sea much safer and more tranquil. Many considered it an even better place to live than Seoul.

Of course, the price of land reflected all of that. Owning a vacation house there was equivalent to owning an entire commercial building in London.

However, Kim Hajin owned tens of thousands of acres and his private beach resided in an even more expensive area.

“I know right? Wow, they say this sea is safe to swim in and there aren’t any monsters.”

“Yeah, it’s clear of monsters.”

Marcus, Dale, Karen, and the others who participated in the general assembly looked towards the East Sea’s horizon in awe.

The white, sandy beach and the beautiful landscape meticulously crafted with magictech captivated them. It felt as if the open sea was enticing them to jump in.

However, they had to unpack their luggage first before enjoying a swim. The nearly dozen guild members became encumbered with the sheer amount of luggage they brought.

“Everyone, follow me,” Rachel led the way with her blue leather armor brightly shining under the sun.

The guild members snickered at Rachel, who insisted on wearing her leather armor instead of casual wear. This wasn’t the first time she did this. She wore that leather armor everywhere. It was a given that she wore it while subjugating monsters, but she even wore it during meetings, press conferences, and meals.

“This is the place,” Rachel said while standing in front of a door.

She sounded like the owner, but the guild members didn’t mind as they stared in awe at the lush green garden that spread out towards the horizon.

“Wow…”

“What the hell…”

“Really… does he even live in the same world as us?”

How was this even possible in the first place? The penthouse they slept in last time already shocked them enough, but this garden looked even larger than most parks. Also, who kept the grass so neatly trimmed and all the flowers looking so healthy?

As they all admired the lush garden…

“Welcome,” Kim Hajin opened the door and greeted them with Evandel and numerous staff.

The guild members became dumbfounded when they saw the cute, little girl with blonde hair.

“Shall we eat first?” Kim Hajin asked them.

***

The English Royal Court members ran to the beach after eating. All of them dressed to play in the water.

Rachel, Evandel, and Kim Hajin didn’t join and built sandcastles on the beach instead.

“…”

Rachel stole a glance at Kim Hajin. He didn’t seem too fond of the water for some reason.

“Hey, Rachel,” Evandel called out to her while poking her blue leather armor.

“Hmm?” Rachel looked down at her.

Evandel innocently looked at her before asking, “Don’t you want to go back, Rachel?”

“…?” Rachel blinked a few times.

A strange sensation spread all over her at Evandel’s words, but it instantly disappeared.

“Huh? What did you say?” Rachel asked just to make sure.

What did Evandel mean by wanting to go back? Did she perhaps mean to go into the water?

Evandel shook her head and brightly smiled, “No, it’s nothing.”

“…”

It simply felt too strange. Rachel placed a hand on her chest and could feel her heart wildly beating. She tightly hugged Evandel out of frustration.

Rachel smiled and asked her, “Do you want to play in the water with me?”

“Hmm… I’m okay as long as I’m with Rachel,” Evandel replied.

However, Evandel looked a bit sad for some reason and Rachel couldn’t understand why.

Rachel looked towards the sea and the horizon. The sparkling surface and the gentle waves felt so peaceful, but she couldn’t shake off the strange feeling that made her heart pound.