Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Rin's First Use of the Vine Binding Skill

We took four-cut photo booth pictures in various poses.

I looked at the printed photos.

The sight of them naturally brought a smile to my face.

"They turned out great."

There was the shot of Ria and Rin kissing my cheeks from both sides, of course.

Then the pose where Ria and I each used one arm to form a couple heart.

With Rin in the center making an adorable little hand heart.

Plus all the other pose shots as well.

Ria smiled while looking at the photos too.

"Rin looks great. You look great too, Seon-u. Taking photos is fun."

"Fun!"

Rin was thrilled.

Before long, we bought drinks and popcorn and entered the theater showing Pocket Ping.

We took off our sunglasses and watched the movie.

When the footage began playing on the enormous screen, Rin's eyes sparkled.

"Wooow...... Amazing."

The animated movie started.

Rin could not take her eyes off the screen.

Among the Pocket Ping characters, there was a grass-type Pocket Ping with abilities similar to Rin's.

The ability to make vines sprout from the ground and bind targets.

Rin watched that with great fascination.

'Someday, Rin will be able to do that too.'

The movie ended.

As we walked out hand in hand after the movie, I asked Rin.

"Rin, was it fun?"

"Yeah, it was fuuun."

"Next time a new theatrical release comes out, I will bring you again."

"Okay."

Seeing Rin so happy naturally lifted my spirits too.

Ria also wore a deeply contented expression.

Before long, we browsed around the shopping mall.

We spent time exploring like that.

Then we headed to a fine dining restaurant with a private room.

We parked in the outdoor lot, entered the restaurant, and were guided to the private room we had reserved.

Only then did we take off the stuffy sunglasses, masks, and hats.

'Though I could not bring myself to have Rin remove her beret.'

No matter how private the room was, the front-of-house staff still came and went for food service, so I could not have her take off the beret.

Soon, the private room door opened.

The person who entered was not a staff member, but the person we had been waiting for.

It was my mother.

Ria stood up first and greeted her.

"Mother, you are here? It has been a while since we last met."

"Yes. My dear daughter-in-law, it has been a while. You are still as lovely as ever."

Ria had been calling my mother frequently.

She also exchanged messages with her often.

Because of that, she had grown very close to my mother.

As a result, my mother had naturally come to call Ria "my daughter-in-law."

They even embraced each other.

'I think the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship is closer than the mother-son one.'

I was still somewhat awkward with my mother.

"Mother, welcome."

"Well, Seon-u, your face looks bright. You must be having a happy newlywed life."

"Of course. We are living happily."

Before long, my mother noticed Rin hiding behind me.

Ria and I had been completely open with my mother, keeping nothing hidden.

So she already knew about Rin.

I spoke to Rin.

"Rin, come out and say hello. This is your grandmother."

"Gwandma......?"

"That is right, your grandmother."

At that, Rin timidly stepped out from behind me and gave a deep bow at the waist.

"Hello, Gwandma. My name is Rin."

Upon hearing the word grandmother, my mother looked at Rin and simply blinked.

Then she set her bag down on the floor and picked Rin up.

"Hello, Rin. I am your grandmother."

"Gwandma."

I met Ria's eyes, and we smiled at each other.

In truth, when we first informed my mother about Rin's existence over the phone, she had difficulty accepting it.

Telling her that a non-human being was like a daughter to us — in a way, it was a natural reaction.

However, after Ria explained how she had come to meet Rin, shared stories of their time together, and sent photos of Rin through messages, at some point my mother had opened her heart.

My mother released Rin from her arms.

"She really is warm to the touch, no different from a human. And she speaks so well too."

"Hehe......!"

Rin was bashful.

My mother gently stroked Rin's cheek with the back of her hand.

"On top of that, she is adorable and lovable."

I added my own praise for Rin.

"That is not all. She is the kindest, gentlest child in the world. I have never, not once, seen a child as gentle as Rin."

"Really? The complete opposite of you, then. When you were little, you were a little troublemaker and stubborn as a mule. You broke expensive ceramics and TV screens, and whenever we went to the store, you would throw tantrums until I bought you toys or snacks."

"......Ahem! Mother. Ria is right here."

My dark history......

I was indeed a troublemaker as a child.

I calmed down once puberty hit, though.

"Haha! How about it? Every child is like that when they are young."

Ria smiled at my mother and said,

"That is right. All children are like that. But Mother, you remember Seon-u's childhood so vividly."

"Of course I do. I may be a lacking mother, but how could I forget? I remember every moment clearly — from the day Seon-u was born to every step of his growing up."

My heart swelled.

I spoke to my mother.

"You have changed a lot, Mother. In the past, you would never have said something so heartfelt."

"It is all thanks to my daughter-in-law. Even toward a lacking mother like me, she dutifully calls me Mother and checks in on me, tells me about the happy times she has with you, Seon-u. And at the end of every call, she always says, 'Mother, thank you always, I love you.' Seeing a daughter-in-law who puts in that kind of care made me realize I had been living wrong. All I had to do was express my feelings, but instead I was stubborn and wasted all those years."

"Mother......"

I was just as guilty of failing to do that.

Then my mother looked at Ria and said,

"How you managed to find such a kind and wonderful wife — Seon-u, you are truly blessed."

"I think so too. Ria is more than I deserve."

"No, you are the one who is more than I deserve, Seon-u."

She called me Seon-u because we were in front of my mother.

That was refreshing in its own way, and pleasant to hear.

"Thanks to you, I was able to meet Rin too."

"Heh......"

We then sat down and had our meal.

Perhaps because it was a fairly renowned fine dining restaurant, the dishes were decent.

Of course, there were also some puzzling dishes that made me wonder what exactly the chef was going for.

My mother was the first to point that out.

"The flavor is not very intuitive."

Ria agreed.

"I feel the same way, Mother. It is quite puzzling."

"Dear, Seon-u is also a fine dining chef. How is Seon-u's food?"

In response to my mother's question, Ria answered with a smile.

"Seon-u's food is intuitive rather than puzzling. Rather than eating something and thinking, 'How am I supposed to interpret this flavor?' — you just eat it and immediately understand, 'This is why it is delicious.' That kind of intuitive taste."

"Is that so? Well, the trending New York restaurants these days are all about intuitive flavors. It seems like those kinds of restaurants are more likely to earn Michelin stars."

She was exactly right.

These days, intuitive flavors were the trend even in the fine dining industry.

Puzzling dishes that even fellow chefs and food critics struggled to understand did not sell well anymore.

I said to my mother,

"Next time, I will make you a fine dining course meal."

"All right, I will look forward to it."

Among the courses that came out, one dish used a floral garnish on the plate.

Rin noticed it and picked up the dried pale pink rosebud decoration from my plate.

Rin cupped the dried rosebud gently in her hands as if praying and closed her eyes.

Then she concentrated the earth's Mana into her hands.

She softly opened her cupped hands.

The withered rosebud began to regain its vitality and bloomed into a full flower.

"Oh my goodness......"

My mother watched the sight in astonishment.

A fully bloomed pink rose.

Rin held out the flower she had brought to bloom toward my mother.

"Gwandma."

"Rin, are you giving this to Grandmother?"

"Yes."

"Oh, my goodness."

My mother accepted the flower from Rin and looked deeply pleased.

"Rin, that is a remarkable talent you have."

"Hehe."

"I will cherish it."

My mother tucked the flower into her right breast pocket of her jacket, like a carnation.

"The more I look at Rin, the cuter she gets."

"Right? She is an angel, truly."

"Haha! Indeed. A little baby angel."

After the meal, we chatted over dessert.

My mother said that she had applied for a transfer from the U.S. headquarters to the Korean branch.

This time, it was not a short-term assignment — she intended to be permanently stationed at the Korean branch.

"Once you are stationed in Korea, we will see you often."

"But you two must be busy......"

"No, we only do lunch service, so we are not that busy."

At my words, my mother's face lit up.

"Really?"

"Yes. And we are also thinking of moving to the metropolitan area soon. Then it will be even easier to see each other."

"I see. If you could do that, I would be grateful."

When the conversation ended, we stood up from our seats.

I tried to pay, but my mother snatched the card from me in alarm.

"You said you are moving soon. Save your money. I will pay."

I have plenty of money, though......

Then again, my mother had quite a lot saved up herself.

Having worked her entire life and saved diligently, on top of succeeding in every investment she made, she apparently had accumulated considerable wealth.

I had heard through Ria that she had planned to support me under the guise of an investment if I ever opened a fine dining restaurant.

We left the restaurant and headed to the outdoor parking lot.

My mother walked holding Rin's hand.

'I am glad she has taken a liking to Rin.'

As we entered the parking lot, it was in an uproar.

"I parked first, so what is the problem?"

"I was in the middle of backing into the spot when you suddenly pulled in headfirst and cut me off."

"Whoever parks first gets it!"

"Gets it, my foot. And why have you been using informal speech this whole time?"

A common parking dispute.

The kind of trouble that frequently occurred in places with tight parking spaces.

In any case, cutting in headfirst while someone was in the middle of reverse-parking was a lowlife move.

"Mother, let us go."

"All right."

I figured the fight would end once we pulled our car out and freed up a space.

But the argument escalated, and then —

"I am an Awakened! One flick of my finger and you will be a cripp**! What are you going to do about it? Want me to turn you into one today?!"

The man who had pulled in headfirst — a muscular man with a neck tattoo — claimed to be an Awakened, threw off his shirt, and began threatening the other man. The man in the checkered shirt, who had been trying to reverse-park, flinched and retreated to the passenger side of his own car.

Even though he backed away physically, he still had something to say.

"Being Awakened is not some special privilege. Do you not know that an Awakened who assaults a civilian gets enhanced penalties? And Awakened, my foot — anyone can see those are balloon muscles. You are just a roider pumped full of drugs."

That remark hit a nerve with the tattooed muscular man.

"Who are you calling a roider?! Driving around in that junk heap!"

As we were passing by to get to our car —

The muscular man lowered his stance, gripped the underside of the compact sedan, and began lifting it as if doing a deadlift.

'Wait — is he insane?!'

He was not just lifting it. He flipped the car over violently, as if flipping a tire.

He really was an Awakened.

At this rate, the man in the checkered shirt was going to be crushed under the overturned car.

I moved to knock the car away.

But Ria was faster than me.

Shooting forward like an afterimage, Ria stepped in front of the man in the checkered shirt, wrapped her hand blade in Aura, and slashed upward at the airborne car from below.

CLANG!

The car was cleanly sliced in half, the two pieces falling on either side of Ria and the man in the checkered shirt.

CRASH!

Thanks to Ria, the man in the checkered shirt was unharmed.

The man who had nearly died slumped to the ground, trembling.

The tattooed muscular man said in a flustered tone,

"......I got too worked up and used too much force. Ahem!"

I spoke to my startled mother.

"Mother, please call the police first."

"Oh, all right."

I walked up to the tattooed muscular man and said,

"You nearly killed someone just now."

"Hmph! It was not intentional. Anyway, nobody got hurt, so it is fine."

"You committed attempted murder and property destruction. That is hardly fine."

"Who are you to butt in? Are you a cop or something?"

"I am a Hunter affiliated with the Rift Management Bureau."

I pulled out my Hunter ID from my jacket and held it up.

A Rift Management Bureau-affiliated Hunter ID.

To Awakened criminals, a Rift Management Bureau-affiliated Hunter was a more fearsome existence than the police.

Of course, I was only affiliated in name. As a member of the crisis response team, I had no authority whatsoever during peacetime.

This was merely to buy time until the police arrived.

"Damn it......!"

Upon seeing the ID, the man tried to run.

'He is going to run and leave his car behind......?'

It must be an unregistered vehicle.

That was when it happened.

-RUSTLE!

As the tattooed muscular man tried to vault over the flower bed at the corner of the parking lot, vines grew from the flower bed and bound him in an instant.

'That is......?'

I looked back, and there was Rin — her hand outstretched toward the tattooed muscular man, emerald Mana rippling from her palm.

Those binding vines were Rin's doing.

"Rin!"

"Rin!"

Ria and I called out Rin's name simultaneously, overjoyed.

It was Rin's very first time using a Dryad's vine ability.

My mother, also surprised, asked Rin,

"That binding — did you do that, Rin?"

"Yes, Gwandma."