Hansik was massaging Father’s shoulders.

Even without being told, he does stuff like that.

Seeing him like that, I get why Father told me to leave Hansik behind.

“Ahem, ahh, that’s refreshing. The pressure’s perfect, not painful at all. That’s it, there too.”

But is it just my imagination that Hansik seems to like Dad more than me, when I’m the one always making him do annoying work?

“How many days are you going to be in Busan?”

Tch, for some reason I got stubborn too.

“A week.”

I was actually planning three nights and four days but I blurted out a whole week to be safe.

“What?! A week? Ngh, a week feels too long.”

“If there’s anything you want to eat, tell me in advance. I’ll prep it. Also, don’t eat jjajangmyeon (chewy noodles in sauce) for lunch like today, eat something good for you. Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) or something like that.”

“Ngh, there’s a 4,500 won jjajangmyeon place near the site.”

“Dad, you’ll get diabetes at that rate. They say jjajangmyeon is a direct blood sugar spike. You need to take care of your health. Eat something tasty that’s also good for you. Like samgyetang, a stamina food.”

“Ahem, I want to but my allowance is only 50.”

Oh crap.

“Dad, then use a card for food. Here. This one’s mine, you have to use a credit card for your credit score to go up anyway. If you’re alone and it’s annoying, order delivery too.”

“Heh heh, never thought I’d live to receive my son’s card. But Dusik, are you working a part-time job these days? If you’re going to work part-time, just come to the site with me, your daily pay will be 20,000 easily…”

“No, it’s not that…”

Should I tell Father about the Delivery Lord plan?

But somehow, with the Father I have now, I feel like he’d get angry and tell me not to make Hansik do hard work.

I mean, if you think about it, it hasn’t even been that long since he first saw Hansik.

And yet that guy is even giving Father a foot massage.

Let’s think positively.

Proxy filial piety.

He’s doing great.

“If you have money you can’t just go spending it. You need to save even a single won so later when you marry, you’ll have face at your in-laws and all that.”

“Marry? I don’t have any intention.”

The moment I said that, Father practically jumped.

“No, you’re thirty now, you have to marry. What are you talking about, are you doing that, what was it, non-marriage? Try going past fifty. You’ll be completely screwed. A man needs his wife stuck right next to him…”

My energy tanked instantly.

Even so, Father said everything he wanted with a gloomy face.

“You can’t understand the happiness of getting married and having kids until you do it. Raising them is hard, sure, but just watching them grow fills you up and when they even do filial piety like you, you have no idea how good that feels. So if there’s a decent woman, don’t weigh this and that, just bam! push her over.”

“What? These days if you screw that up you go to jail, Dad. Also, these days non-marriage is the trend.”

“Puhat, non-marriage? What’s so good about eating well and living well alone? Later you’ll have nothing left. You know that construction guy Mr. Hwang. The one who looked like a playboy who came to your mom’s funeral.”

Huh?

I didn’t know his surname was Hwang but I remembered the look.

He seemed around Father’s age but he’d dressed up a lot, with this glossy vibe.

“That guy, back when he was young, he trusted just his handsome face and didn’t hold onto any woman and look at him now. He does construction work every day, buys nice clothes, goes hiking club stuff on weekends and still gets nothing. He even ended up cheating and getting sued.”

“Okay, okay, stop nagging.”

“It’s not nagging, it’s turning into bone and flesh, you punk. Dusik, I’m telling you, don’t just stay holed up at home, go to Busan, flirt with one decent woman and date. The weather’s good, go outside, date.”

“Yeah.”

But you’re not one to talk, Dad.

You’ve basically been a hikikomori for six years and haven’t gone out either.

Whatever.

I swallowed it.

And Dad.

You’re forgetting the most important thing.

It’s not that I don’t date, it’s that I can’t.

“And even if you do get married later, leave Hansik behind.”

“Dad!”

“Ahh, that’s refreshing… Hansik, scratch my back too.”

* * *

I sorted through all the packages that arrived via rocket delivery and put Hansik into the rider suit.

The carbon protectors were firmly attached all over like armor, so it didn’t look like anything would flap in the wind.

Arms raised.

“Why? You like it too?”

Nod.

Maybe he liked the gift because Hansik stood in front of the mirror and checked himself from every angle.

He looked like Ghost Rider.

A skeleton wearing that outfit just fits.

“I know it suits you but you still have to wear a helmet. If you go around looking like that in public, people will say I used a skill to scare people and I’ll get fined.”

Droop.

“Here, put this on. It’s a Bluetooth helmet so I can call you too. Though you can’t talk, so you’ll only be able to listen.”

Droop.

“Still, this is huge progress. You used to go around naked, showing off your white bones and now you’ve gone from a primitive skeleton to a civilized skeleton. Do you know how much this outfit costs? Even if I sold everything in my closet I couldn’t buy it. It’s insanely expensive. They say it’s all carbon, it is made in China but you’re lacking in strength so I picked something as light as possible. And ta-da.”

This time it was the electric scooter.

I opened the heavy box.

“This is your commute kickboard.”

Arms raised.

“This is the battery, you charge it on time and carry it in your bag.”

Nod.

Yeah, you’re butler, of course you’ll handle it.

Hansik started reading the electric kickboard manual carefully.

“Then I’m going out to buy groceries, so unwrap and pack the pickaxe and shovel separately and keep them ready. Keep absorbing that AI at home. Oh and clean the bathroom too. I’ll take out recycling on my way out. Also, can I borrow the electric kickboard?”

For a moment, Hansik started to shake his head, then nodded.

So he kind of drew a circle with his head…

When I shot him a look, he waved his hands like no, it’s a misunderstanding.

“Let’s do better.”

Nod.

“Oh and the place we’re going is Busan Oryukdo Gate. I told you before, right? Entering the Oryukdo Gate isn’t the problem, it’s getting to Khalid. They say there are no monsters around Khalid but monsters might show up on the way there, so come up with countermeasures. Am I asking too much?”

Nod.

* * *

The next day,

“Dad, this is a new smartphone. Use it. I already opened a line with your number. I saw your screen was cracked and your phone was old.”

“Isn’t this expensive?”

“It’s expensive but you should use good stuff too. Also, it’s a couple’s phone with mine.”

Father didn’t even turn it on, just looked it over from every angle.

“…Thanks. But you’re leaving today?”

“Yes.”

“Already? It’s the weekend, the roads will be packed.”

“I’m taking the KTX.”

“Is that so…”

I explained one by one that I’d filled the fridge completely with a whole pot of curry, jangjorim and all kinds of side dishes.

“Alright. Have a safe trip.”

“Yeah. Eat properly.”

“Okay.”

Father looked regretful to the end but it can’t be helped.

I can’t leave Hansik behind.

The whole reason I’m going to Busan is to make Hansik work.

[Seoul Station]

“Wow, so many people.”

[Busan Station]

The world really has gotten better.

Two hours and thirty minutes to Busan Station by KTX.

[56 The MOTEL]

I unpacked in the motel room I’d booked cheaply through an app for 200,000 won for a week.

I drew the curtains,

“Summon.”

The space opened.

And, Hansik appeared in full rider gear with a helmet on, holding a pickaxe in one hand and a shovel in the other.

His arms were trembling, probably because they were heavy.

“Hah, this won’t do. I really do need to raise my Strength a bit. Status Window.”

I dumped all three distributable points into Strength.

The result,

+——+——Stats——+——+

Strength: 6

Agility: 4

Constitution: 3

Intelligence: 17

Wisdom: 25

Luck: 3

#Distributable Points : 0

+——+——+——+——+——

As soon as Strength went from 3 to 6, Hansik’s trembling arms stopped.

Seeing Hansik raise his arms in triumph makes it feel worth it.

Hansik inherits 25% of my stats, so his current Strength stat is 1.5.

He now had the same level of strength as when the butler trait was active at home.

“Wait, stay perfectly still.”

I attached the body cam onto Hansik’s body with velcro.

So the angle wouldn’t shift even if he shook.

Then I connected it to the laptop and checked that it was playing in real time.

Next, “Ah. Ah.”

Mic test.

When I spoke, my voice came out from Hansik’s helmet.

“Good. This should let you communicate with other people in an emergency too. Now, take the phone as well. Don’t lose it, got it? At Oryukdo Gate, you’re only picking barnacles, you don’t need to help anyone or anything. If you understand, nod.”

Nod.

“Good. Then, let’s go.”

Hansik clenched both fists to show his resolve, gave me a light high-five, then proudly opened the motel door and left.

I opened my laptop and watched Hansik’s body cam.

He started the kickboard and took off.

He followed traffic rules too.

Smooth.

From the motel to Oryukdo Gate, it’s fifteen minutes on foot and five minutes by electric kickboard.

A lot of people stared at the shovel and pickaxe sticking out of the bag, but usually people dressed weirdly are Hunters, so no one picked a fight.

As long as you act natural, we’ll be fine.

When he arrived at Oryukdo, the wind noise slapped the speaker.

“Whoa, what’s with the supercars? Insane, Rolls-Royce…”

In the parking lot in front of the gate, all kinds of famous supercars were parked, soaking in the sea breeze.

You could see the purchasing power of Hunters, a high-income profession.

Hansik carefully parked the kickboard in the corner so he wouldn’t scratch a supercar and headed for the destination as ordered.

The entrance to Oryukdo Gate is actually on Oryukdo Island itself.

A floating bridge connected the parking lot to it, bobbing on the water.

Sway, sway.

Hansik stretched his arms out to both sides and walked forward carefully.

The gate was B-rank.

It was a high-grade gate but as everyone knows, the boss monster Khalid is harmless, so it’s popular with many Hunters as a grinding spot.

“Oh, the stickman concept is solid.”

A man who’d been fishing on the floating bridge slid down his sunglasses and took interest in Hansik.

What he was sitting on was a shield.

He was a Hunter.

It was hard to tell if it was a compliment but Hansik raised his arms in triumph and the man raised his arms in triumph too, smiling in a good mood.

“Nice cheerful personality.”

Saying that, the man walked up to Hansik.

Then he slipped his hand into the inner pocket of his leather jacket.

Watching through Hansik’s body cam on my laptop, I tensed slightly.

What he pulled out was a big badge.

“I’m Detective Kim Taesu from Busan Nam-gu Awakened Crime Investigation Division. I’m kind of known around here as ‘Tae-su hyung’. You’ve heard of me, right?”

Looking closer, it was a Hunter Police ID.

Under his dark dragonfly sunglasses, I could feel the way his gaze swept Hansik up and down.

But why is he speaking casually right away?

More importantly, it looks like he has business.

“It’s nothing huge but you’ve heard of Bae Hyeongsin, right? That A-rank Awakened criminal was last seen in Busan. So I need you to take off your helmet. Please cooperate.”