#408
The Return of the 17 Daughters-in-Law (Illustration Included)
With the arrival of Satou Rena, I was forced to spend a long time explaining my harem to my parents once again.
Along with what I had been through all this time.
“I see.”
“Seventeen daughters-in-law… I still can’t believe it, but if our son says so, then it must be true. Everyone, I’m glad to meet you.”
Now my mother, having completely regained her color, waved her hand while greeting the heroines.
“I, I’m really happy to meet you! Mother! Father!”
“So, you are the main wife… the oldest one, right?”
“Yes! Hehe. So you recognize me, the foolish one’s exclusive maid, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte, the eldest daughter of the noble Bonaparte family of France! Ohohohohohohohohoho!”
Olivia covered her mouth with her hand and burst into a lady-like laugh.
She was beaming with confidence.
“Exclusive… maid?”
“Princess of France…?”
The expressions of my father and mother turned strange upon hearing Olivia’s words.
“Wait! Your Highness! No way you can just jump right in like that! Hello! Father! Mother! The galaxy’s number one beautiful girl! The eternal slave of the master, Eri-ring, has arrived! Here I am!”
V sign.
Eri puffed up her cheeks, wearing a pet collar, and appeared.
With her right hand making a V sign and her left lovingly caressing the pet collar, she said.
“N-no, slave?”
“The galaxy’s number one beautiful girl…?”
My father’s face hardened.
Mother turned to look at us.
Her expression said, what on earth are you doing?
“Uh, Mom. It’s not what you think…”
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
I wasn’t this flustered even when dealing with Messiah.
I mean, in front of my parents, what’s with calling him Master?
“Washboard. How do you want me to introduce you like that? Get out of here. Nice to meet you, Mother. Father. I am Shinozaki Rin, who will be the virtuous wife of your son and is destined to inherit the Kim family name. I will serve you with all my heart.”
Swish.
This time, Rin gracefully bowed in a traditional Korean style before my parents.
Inheriting the name Kim?
Virtuous wife?
“……”
“……”
After Eri, Rin also spoke up, and both my parents fell silent.
This silence was definitely not a positive sign.
Watching Rin finish her bow, she got up and smiled brightly.
This didn’t seem like the right atmosphere at all.
“Hawawawawa! I too! I too will introduce myself! I am Evangelin Stewart, a princess of the British Stuart royal family and will one day become Kim Deok-Sung’s spouse!”
“……My true name is Beatrice. I am the saint of the red lotus. This is my first time greeting my partner’s parents. I look forward to your guidance.”
As Rin stepped back, Evangelin and Beatrice approached with quick steps.
The eyes of my parents shook as if there had been an earthquake upon receiving their greetings.
They looked like they were in cultural shock.
I felt so embarrassed.
My face was burning up.
“Nishishishi. Hello, Deok-Sung oppa’s parents☆ I’m Kurosawa Haru, the ultra-cute gyaru little sister, the legal JD bride! Nice to meet you!”
“Little sister, legal JD bride Kurosawa Haru! Nice to meet you!”
Wink.
Haru winked back.
Seeing this, Seira stepped forward.
“Hmm. Haru, no matter how young you are, you mustn’t act so disrespectfully. I shall be the example.”
The appearance of the white-haired, red-eyed, gothic lolita beauty, who looked about 15 years old, made both of the parents’ faces twitch.
From appearance alone, it seemed like Haru looked older than Seira, which made it worse.
“Deok-Sung, even so, those kids······.”
Dad pointed at Seira and Wilhelmina, saying.
Startled.
Wilhelmina flinched at Dad’s gaze.
Swoosh.
She hid behind Seira.
Seeing this, Seira elegantly spread her fan and spoke.
“Father, Mother, I am not young. Wilhelmina is not either.”
“Not young? You definitely look like a student. How old could you possibly be······.”
Mom looked perplexed at Seira’s statement.
As she looked, Seira quietly whispered into both of her parents’ ears.
“Mother, Father, my age is······.”
At Seira’s whisper, both parents’ faces instantly changed to something strange.
“······Hoo.”
Dad sighed.
“Everyone, please step outside for just a moment. We have something to discuss with Deok-Sung.”
And an obviously awkward smile appeared on Mom’s face.
She always had that expression before getting scolded.
It felt ominous.
No way.
I can’t let the heroines go out like this.
Just as I thought to stop them.
“Oh, understood! Mother! Father! Come on, everyone, we need to hurry outside!”
Unkindly, with Olivia’s words, the heroines quickly exited the hospital room.
Bang.
The door shut.
What remained was Mom, her smile erased from her face.
“Deok-Sung······.”
The moment my name came out of her mouth.
I closed my eyes tightly.
*
Outside the hospital room.
Sounds of Kim Deok-Sung being scolded drifted slightly outside.
Hearing that, Rena muttered softly.
“Even the savior Kim Deok-Sung, who defeated the enemy of humanity, Messiah, can’t win against his mother and father.”
“That’s right, Rena. The only one who can defeat the bad junior is definitely Mother and Father.”
Kasumi nodded at Rena’s words.
Just then, when the seventeen heroines were waiting with solemn faces.
Bang.
The hospital room door opened.
“You can come in now.”
Dad smiled brightly as he spoke to them.
With trembling steps, the heroines entered the hospital room, where Kim Deok-Sung was sitting in a caretaking chair, oddly calm and polite.
In the tense atmosphere, it was Olivia who first broke the silence.
“Uh, what happened? You, all of you?”
“Well, we’ve heard Deok-Sung’s side, and though we have quite a few daughters-in-law, they all seem nice enough, and one of them even healed my illness, so we’ve decided to accept you all.”
The answer came from Kim Deok-Sung’s mother, Lee Kyung-Hee.
At her words, relief washed over the heroines’ faces.
“But I don’t know if Deok-Sung mentioned this, but our family’s situation is quite rough right now, so we can’t take all of you in. So······.”
Lee Kyung-Hee spoke awkwardly with a sheepish expression.
Her illness had been gnawing at the family for more than ten years now.
With the expensive cost of medication, they had reached the limits of loans from first and second financial institutions, and even resorted to borrowing from loan sharks.
Relatives, friends, and acquaintances had long since cut ties with Kim Deok-Sung’s family.
Stage IV stomach cancer, life-prolonging treatments stripped away much from Kim Deok-Sung’s home.
For her, life up to now was like an endless swamp.
If her son hadn’t returned, she would have met an unhappy end, gradually withering away.
But even with her son back now, Lee Kyung-Hee’s worries were far from over.
She knew her son was a returnee.
She also knew that returnees were strong players and made a lot of money.
He was a player and was aware that he made a lot of money.
But that was only a future prospect.
Considering the astronomical debt that weighed on his family, the reality was that Kim Deok-Sung couldn’t even afford to feed seventeen daughters-in-law properly.
The old, run-down villa they lived in had no space for all seventeen daughters-in-law to fit comfortably.
In fact, the creditors who discovered that the son was a Returnee might swoop down on him like hyenas trying to rip him off.
Even in the age of players, the capitalist system of modern society remained intact.
The illness was cured, but the walls of reality were still high and perilous.
At that time, when a shadow hovered over the faces of Kim Deok-Sung’s parents, Lee Kyung-Hee and Kim Jeong-Hoon.
“Don’t worry about that, Mother and Father.”
In her suit, Han Seo-Jin appeared with the click-clack of her high heels.
Beep.
When she pressed a button on a device she pulled from her pocket, a blue flash engulfed the hospital room.
“Ugh…”
“Were you Han Seo-Jin? What is that sound? What was that flash earlier?”
“The parents of Messiah Kim Deok-Sung are esteemed guests of our Humanity Alliance. Naturally, a mansion built for you both has been prepared in Seoul on Earth-2. We are currently in the process of dimension warping directly from this hospital room to the mansion on Earth-2. The flash was due to the effects of the dimension warp.”
As Han Seo-Jin spoke, a look of bewilderment spread across the faces of the two.
Earth-2?
Dimension warp? Humanity Alliance?
No matter how much the world had changed after the Great Cataclysm, the words coming from Han Seo-Jin’s mouth were far too foreign and strange for them to accept.
“So, you’re saying we’ve gone somewhere with our hospital room?”
“That’s right. Not just anywhere, but to a parallel world of the Earth where you both lived, known as Earth-2.”
With a click, Han Seo-Jin pressed the button again, and the walls of the hospital room fell away like a movie set.
Beyond it, a clear sky and a grand hanok mansion came into view over a lush garden.
The hanok mansion, reminiscent of the residence of Heungseon Daewongun, along with the traditional Korean-style garden, filled Kim Deok-Sung’s parents with astonishment.
They had heard in passing that Returnees had achieved quite a bit in another world.
But they had never heard of anyone returning to that other world.
Let alone that their son had gone to a parallel world of Earth, and that he would be treated as a Messiah there was beyond their wildest dreams.
“This place will be the residence of the future savior of humanity, the leader of the Humanity Alliance, Kim Deok-Sung, and his esteemed parents. From now on, all living expenses, including food and clothing, will be fully supported by the Humanity Alliance, so please don’t worry. It may be a bit humble since we built it in haste, but we ask for your understanding.”
“““““Thank you for your kindness!”””””
As Han Seo-Jin finished speaking, the mansion staff, dressed in modified hanboks, stood in two lines and bowed to the couple.
“The dressing room is stocked with famous brand clothing from the Humanity Alliance, and there’s a wide array of cars in the garage for your use, so feel free to take your pick. If you need anything else, just let the staff know.”
“We will serve you wholeheartedly! Esteemed elders!”
With Han Seo-Jin’s words, the head of the staff gave a 90-degree bow to Kim Deok-Sung’s parents.
At the same moment, a holographic video materialized before them.
The video showcased high-end clothing, a dressing room filled with suits, and a garage larger than a typical apartment’s underground parking lot, featuring a variety of vehicles from SUVs to pickup trucks to luxury sedans.
Just as Kim Deok-Sung’s parents were becoming flustered by the sudden turn of events…
“And all those who caused financial and real damage to you both on Earth-1 have been apprehended and are currently being escorted to Earth-2.”
As Han Seo-Jin turned on the TV mounted on the ceiling of the hospital room, the news began to play.
[Next news: The esteemed leader of the Humanity Alliance, Messiah Kim Deok-Sung’s parents, have finally returned to the embrace of the Humanity Alliance. The malicious criminals who dared to ruin the family of the esteemed leader have also been apprehended and are being transported to Earth-2, currently undergoing interrogation by the Humanity Alliance’s prosecutor’s office.]
The evil criminals who shattered your family have been caught and are currently being transported to Earth-2, where they are undergoing interrogation by the Human Alliance Prosecutor’s Office.]
[W-where is this? E-Earth-2? What does that even mean… ]
[W-we just charged a little higher than the legal interest rate. Otherwise, who would lend money to credit-deficient individuals? Illegal collection? Come on, if you follow the law, you won’t collect any money at all. Everyone knows that, so what… ]
[This is an abuse of power! I’m a member of the National Assembly of South Korea! What right do you have to treat me…!]
[Hey! Do you know who I am?! I’m the son of the Taeseong Guild Leader! I can be treated like this…!]
[Waaaaah!]
[How dare you destroy the family of none other than Mr. Kim Deok-Sung!]
[Die! Die!]
On TV, the individuals who had used debt as an excuse to ruin Kim Deok-Sung’s family were giving interviews confessing their crimes.
Following that, the citizens of the Human Alliance were throwing rotten eggs and tomatoes at those being escorted away, bound like fish.
“Oh no, not those people…!”
“W-what in the world is going on…?”
Seeing this, Kim Deok-Sung’s father, Kim Jeong-Hoon, and his mother, Lee Kyung-Hee, were taken aback.
Thanks to the unpixelated faces, they could see clearly.
On the TV screen were the illegal loan sharks and gangsters who had tormented them until now, being taken away to face justice.
But they were not the only ones.
Villains, gangsters, loan sharks, and even the corrupt players from Earth-1 who had been connected through various shady dealings were being rounded up and dragged to the prosecutor’s office.
What they had longed for but never dared to imagine due to their powerless reality was now coming true.
Yet the two couldn’t fully grasp the reality.
Things were happening too suddenly and at an overwhelming speed.
Just then, when Kim Deok-Sung’s parents were standing there, dumbfounded,
“Next is the list of relatives and acquaintances who have caused you both tangible and intangible harm. Objectively speaking, they aren’t much better than others, but as they are blood relatives and acquaintances, we decided to leave the judgment to you.”
Han Seo-Jin pulled out a stack of papers from her arms and presented it to the two.
It was a death list.
With a shocked expression, his father received the death list from Han Seo-Jin and passed the stack over.
Flap flap.
The names of inferior relatives and acquaintances were written out in full.
They didn’t want to see it anymore.
“You seem capable, so please handle it as you see fit.”
“I shall carry out your orders, Father.”
Receiving the death list back from her father, Han Seo-Jin bowed politely before pulling out her phone and dialing a number.
“Orders came down to handle it as you see fit. Execute the operation according to the plan.”
[Understood. Everything is for the great Human Alliance and the Messiah Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.]
“For the great Human Alliance and the Messiah.”
Click.
After hanging up, a gentle smile appeared on Han Seo-Jin’s face.
“Oh, and Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. Father, Mother. It’s finally completed.”
Han Seo-Jin smiled faintly and tapped on her phone.
Zing.
A hologram emerged from her phone.
It was an aerial view of a massive city.
“What is this?”
Upon seeing the city’s layout, Kim Deok-Sung responded to Han Seo-Jin.
He realized that it wasn’t an ordinary-sized city just from the perspective.
“It’s the proud capital of the Human Alliance, set to be established on the land of what used to be North Korea in your hometown, Earth-1.”
Han Seo-Jin explained with eyes filled with peculiar excitement.
“Kim Deok-Sung Special City.”
The moment he heard that name.
Clang!
Kim Deok-Sung’s mother dropped the vase she was holding.
The word “shock” was written all over his father’s face.
What on earth has our son been doing in this other world?
