“You know, your family is still back there,” Seo-ah remarked as she and Nick got into the car, Darleen having excused herself to go handle inheritance stuff for him. He was confident that Roland wouldn’t try anything else, given how public the duel was and how graciously he’d accepted Nick’s terms, which were basically that he go to the front lines and fight. Nick was also confident that Darleen would set paperwork and other minutiae in order to prevent any further contestation.
It was, in Nick’s mind, a clean wrap of events, and as far as he was concerned, it was the end of a chapter in his life. He didn’t want to have to deal with anything related to the Gallows company for a while. At the moment, the only benefit the Gallows conglomerate provided was its ability to fund mercenaries. He didn’t need it for anything else.
Nick, having mentally having sorted his thoughts one final time in regards to the Gallows conglomerate, looked over to Seo-ah. “You say that my family is back there, but I’m not really sure that’s the case. I’m pretty sure that I’m on my way to see my family right now,” he said, putting his hands in his pocket as he began to use a skill he’d picked up from Topaz during his first life: the ability to text without looking at his phone.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Seo-ah said with a half smile, her emotions unclear, as Nick sent three texts: one each to the driver, Ms. Wilson, and the Walters.
It didn’t take Seo-ah longer than a minute to realize something was up as she stared out the window while holding Nick’s hand. “We’ve already been down this street before . . .” she said, catching on to the fact the driver was stalling the ride, giving Nick a chance to set a few things up for the rest of their afternoon.
“Huh?” Nick pretended not to know what was going on as he stared out the window at the recovering city, surprised at how much debris and destruction had been cleared already. It had only been a few days, and yet so much had already been done. The people of the city had really banded together to help one another. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but maybe it’s just a wrong turn along the way . . .” Nick faked a frown as he looked back at Seo-ah. “You okay with a few more minutes’ delay?”
“You do realize this is going to be the last day we have here for a long time, and we already spent two hours of it at a funeral, right?” Seo-ah shot back. “I thought you, Mr. Timekeeper, the schedule master and clock setter, would be more concerned with how it’s spent than I am.”
“As long as we’re spending it together, then— Hey!” Nick couldn’t even finish his sentence before Seo-ah had used her Pilfer skill to playfully steal the device as he tried to hide it away in his pocket.
“I just wanted to see what had so much of your focus and attention,” Seo-ah said with a laugh as she snuggled up to him. However, when she looked at the phone, she also became a little confused. She was about to investigate further, but Nick had already used Pilfer, which he’d stolen from her with his skill: ‘correcting bad form’, to take it back before she could read too far into the messages.
“You were messaging my mom?” Seo-ah blinked. “And what . . . What is ‘Operation Family Dinner’? Nick, if you want a family dinner, we can just go to my parents’ house. I’ll even cook the meal myself if you want. You don’t need to go planning it with my mom, all sneaky like . . .”
“Ah . . . I see,” Nick replied as he nodded his head, pretending to understand the complex politics of arranging a dinner with Seo-ah’s family. “In that case, what are we having for dinner, cutie?”
Seo-ah smiled at the little term of endearment. “Well . . . if you put it that way, I guess I could work with mom to make something nice,” she said, blushing like Nick hadn’t called her a cutie a hundred times before.
“Really? What are you going to make?”
“I don’t know, what would you like?” Seo-ah asked as she looked at her hands, counting something on her fingers for a moment as if already planning how to create a big meal for him before she even knew what he wanted.
“Hmmm, how about a pineapple and anchovy pizza using ranch and hot sauce instead of marinara?” Nick jokingly suggested, coming up with the worst thing he could imagine.
Seo-ah frowned. “Nick, I don’t care how many days you spent in the sewers trying to survive during the Apocalypse. There is literally no excuse on Earth to eat a pizza with those toppings. Be real. What do you want to eat? This might be our last non-calorie-regulated meal in a long time.”
“Okay. Okay, you’re right.” Nick sighed, trying not to smile and reveal that he was messing with her as he came up with his next awful suggestion. “How about a good, simple, peanut butter, mayo, mustard, and tomato sandwich then?”
“If the next thing out of your mouth isn’t a real suggestion, then you’re never going to see me in the special outfit I had Topaz buy me while we were at the funeral,” Seo-ah threatened, causing Nick’s impish mood to immediately shift.
“Tteokbokki and bulgogi,” he quickly answered, listing off the first two Korean foods he could think of.
“That’s better,” Seo-ah replied smugly. “Now you’ll get to see me in that new winter coat I bought.”
“Winter coat? What?” Nick protested, his mouth hanging agape for a moment as he felt a little cheated. However, given the lead up, he knew he didn’t have a right to protest. All he could do was sigh.
“Well, a winter coat and a special outfit to go under it. You know, to help us stay warm at night.” She winked at Nick. “After all, it’s pretty cold in that other world.”
“Great, I probably need to get a new one myself then. Maybe we can shop after we eat,” Nick said as he leaned back into the leather seat.
“But if you want to do anything foodwise, you need to get me home quick instead of having this driver circle while you whip up whatever you’ve been planning,” she told him.
“Alright, alright, I’m on it,” Nick said, lowering the partition between him and the driver as he asked the man, “Can you swing by the guild base first so we can pick up a few things for dinner?”
“You got it, boss,” the driver replied before Nick raised the window separating them.
“I wonder where Will is? It’s weird when someone else is driving us,” Seo-ah remarked while snuggling into Nick as the car stopped looping and started heading toward the base.
When the long car finished going up the mountain, Nick was surprised to see how his people had worked. The broken glass and debris from the Endless Night event was gone, and new windows had been put in. He couldn’t actually see inside the building though as there were white sheets behind each of the glass panes, blocking the view.
“Did you hire someone, or . . .”
“Some of the guild members did it,” Nick explained. “Kaylee told me earlier that a few of them wanted to volunteer in the city but also wanted to make sure our own base felt right first. They live in the dorms nearby and work out here every day, so I guess it makes sense that they wanted a good place to come home to, so to speak.”
Nick got out of the car, holding the door open for her behind him.
“It was Oliver, wasn’t it?” Seo-ah asked as she stretched after the long car ride before the two of them walked toward the door.
“Yeah, how’d you know?” he asked, surprised she had figured it out. After all, the guild had far more than just a few people, yet she’d pinpointed exactly who had led the charge to restore the guild’s headquarters.
“He’s just that type of guy. I’m honestly really glad we met him. Can you imagine how tough the Red Death would have been without him? If he hadn’t been there, you might have gotten a scar to ruin that perfect face of yours,” she said, lifting a hand up and touching his cheek, drawing her finger across it like there was some imaginary wound there.
“Why would you assume I’d be the one to get injured?” Nick asked, looking taken aback. “I’ll have you know that I live through everything and stay more or less intact.”
“That’s . . . true. All of humanity died, and you still found a way to survive,” she admitted with a chuckle, shaking her head. “I suppose I picked the most durable man on the planet, Apocalypse and time tested.”
“Who says you picked me? I’m pretty sure I’m the one who asked you out,” he told her, remembering the moment he’d first taken her hand. She had asked him to pretend to be his boyfriend to cover for her with her parents, and he’d blurted out that he didn’t want to pretend—that despite the looming end, he wanted to be with her, come what may.
It was the first moment he’d felt in love in a long time, and it had given him the peace of heart and mind to make it through some of the toughest moments he would ever experience. Just looking into her eyes, he knew that he was about to make the right decision as he reached up and held the hand that was still lightly touching his face, where she had drawn the imaginary scar moments ago.
“You’re really something,” he told her as he led her to the door. “Let’s go get changed so— What are you doing?”
She had stopped him.
“Oh, I just need to do something real quick. Gimme a second,” she told him as she held up both hands, signalling he had to stay where he was. She then walked over to the door, knocked on it twice, and then put her ear against it.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Are you afraid there will be monsters inside?”
“No, worse. Cultists,” she told him. “No one is supposed to be here, so I’m listening to check if someone is in there. I thought I heard movement earlier.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Nick quickly assured her. “I heard from the others at the guild there may be a janitor or something.”
“Nick, this is important. What if someone tries to assassinate us?! Again! How many times has it been? We need to be careful,” she told him.
“Seo-ah, your parents are, uhh, they’re probably waiting. I can go in first if it makes you feel any better.”
“And let you take the risk instead of me? I’ll have you know, I’m the combat class here, Mr. Trainer. Your work makes me stronger, not the other way around. Let me go in first. It’s what you trained me to do,” she told him, looking very seriously at him as she knocked once more and then opened the door.
Nick had no idea why she’d knocked if she suspected an ambush, but he was happy she at least opened the door rather than trying anything drastic to flush any assassins out.
Then, the moment she opened the door, something yanked her roughly out of view, and the door slammed behind her before he could even reach her.
As Nick rushed forward to open the door and chase after her, a large shield of aura erupted between him and the door. Its massive, hexagonal structure was sturdier than any shield he’d seen before, even Mr. Walters’ signature orange one.
Nick yelled out for the driver to help as he equipped the Weight of Dedication, stabbing into the door with all of his might, only for the shield to shudder before restoring itself.
“Call for help!” Nick yelled as his second blow landed, his heart beating out of his chest.
“What’s going on?!” the driver shouted as he slid over the hood of the car like a 70s cop on a detective show and ran to help Nick. “What happened?! This is your base! Who would try something here?!”
“I don’t know, but we have to get in! Call Mr. Walters! He should have been here, dammit! HOW DID NO ONE WARN ME?!” Nick could feel his breath grow short as he kept striking the shield over and over again, only for the entire barrier to disappear a moment later.
“Wait! We should wait for backup!” the driver yelled, but it was too late. Nick had already dashed forward, opening the door as fast as he could—to reveal a perfectly calm, well organized party inside. Seo-ah was standing there, perfectly fine, wearing one of the most gorgeous dresses he’d ever seen. She had somehow changed out of her funeral attire and into a stunningly beautiful ruby-red dress, her long hair braided and a pretty jade necklace and earrings completing her attire. Her red lipstick even matched her dress, a minor aesthetic detail that Nick wouldn’t have ever thought she’d bother with.
Seo-ah looked so perfect that she was the only thing Nick could look at. He was vaguely aware of the folks at the party, including his parents along with Seo-ah’s family and the Walters; Allen, Reggie, Topaz, and the rest of his closest guildmates; the former Abyssal Knights minus Stacy, who was standing over with Seo-ah’s brother; and several others from the guild all sitting around, holding glasses filled to the brim with champagne, but Seo-ah was too dazzling for him to spare any of them a single glance.
But . . . what . . . Nick’s heart, which had been on the verge of exploding a moment ago when he thought something had happened to her, now felt like it had stopped completely as he watched her walking over to him.
“Why are you looking so surprised, Mr. Gallows?” Seo-ah gave him the gentlest of smiles as she came closer. “Wasn’t this your plan all along? Operation Family Dinner?”
“But . . .” The word escaped Nick’s mind, stuttering out before the speech-engine failed and he was left just staring at her. After a few seconds, he finally managed to recover the ability to form full sentences. “I don’t think I’ll ever not be stunned by how beautiful you are.”
“Smooth,” Christina snickered, only to receive a look from Reggie. At this point, Nick was able to fully take in everything around them. There were half a dozen large tables, each adorned with a beautiful flower arrangement surrounded by a ring of crystal champagne glasses and appetizers for the guests. There were also three magical crystal chandeliers in the high-ceilinged room with at least a hundred bright-white candles lighting up the entire space. To finish off the decorations, there were beautiful blue and red banners hung across the walls, each with a picture of a moment Seo-ah and Nick had shared with each other or their family and friends.
As Nick was taking it all in, Seo-ah got down on one knee in front of him, pulled out a small box, and opened it. Nick picked up the ring inside as Seo-ah smiled at him.
“Wait . . . this ring . . .” Nick blinked in confusion. For a moment, he thought she had prepared a ring for him, as was the trend among some women who got tired of waiting for their boyfriends to propose, but as he studied the ring, he realized it was the engagement ring he’d bought for her. He’d had Mr. Walters and Seo-ah’s mother help him pick it out, purchasing a magical one that not only boosted the user’s stats by five points each, but also created a bond between the him wearer and the wearergiver so that both always knew where the other was within five hundred feet—not something entirely worth the high cost for folks with less dangerous lives, but he’d gone out of his way to pay for that enchantment specifically.
“Ah, right. It’s your ring, isn’t it?” Seo-ah snickered a little, thoroughly enjoying herself as she stood up while Nick inspected the piece of jewelry. “I guess I’m guilty of pilfering it from you earlier. I’ll tell you what: I’ll let you give me the ring as planned . . . in exchange for your last name. I kind of like it, so I’ll think I’ll pilfer that too. Sound like a good trade?”
Nick let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding as the last of the adrenaline left him, but his sigh quickly gave way to an irrepressible grin at this turn of events. He eagerly took the ring in his hand, got on one knee, and proposed like he had originally planned. “Seo-ah, will you marry me?”
“I don’t know,” she said, putting the ring on her finger and holding it up to the light, clearly not planning on actually rejecting him. “When do you wanna do it? I have today free, but I’ll be kind of busy for a while afterward.”
Nick gulped as he realized the gravity of what she’d just said. He imagined she’d take months planning the perfect wedding. He wanted to give her the grandest ballroom, the best band, the most elaborate scenery—everything—but there was no way he could get that planned out and ready by the end of today. Not to mention, he had to save the world before he could let himself be the happiest man in it. “Today? You don’t want to . . . you know . . . do it after we—”
“Nope. Don’t you even think of putting anything off until after the war. There could be no after, Nick. If you raise a single death flag, go about saying ‘just wait until after this big life threatening battle,’ then the answer is no. If you want to get married, we have just about everyone we care about right here. Let’s do it now, burn those death flags before they reach the sky, and make sure I don’t end up as number three in the list of Gallows fiancées that never became wives,” Seo-ah insisted, holding the ring like she was holding a hostage as she demanded immediate marriage.
“Well . . . we’d need a priest . . .” Nick replied, trying to think of what they’d actually need for a wedding.
“Here!” Mr. Walters raised his hand. “I got ordained as an actual preacher a long time ago. It was a fun way for me to help out in the community on Sundays before I had children.”
“No! I want to be the priest!” Adele insisted, a deep pout on her face.
This caused “Father Walters” to turn his head and mutter, “That’s fine.”
“And we’d need to file paperwork,” Nick noted, getting wrapped up in the necessary logistics, wondering if it would be too late in the day by the time they reached the court office to actually apply for a marriage license.
“Already done,” Seo-ah said, producing the documents, completely filled out except for a single space for Nick to put his name.
“I might not have the sway of the Gallows conglomerate, but I’ve worked long enough with government officials that I was able to get the whole thing done so we can file it as soon as you sign it,” Seo-ah’s father explained, his chest puffing out at his ability to work the system.
“And we already gave them all the details on your behalf. We still had your birth certificate and everything at the manor,” Nick’s dad said, smiling as he held the hand of Nick’s mom.
“I even checked to make sure she had no close male friends with access to poison,” his mother joked.
“And I even got your outfit for you. And the rings. Since you bought the engagement ring, I took care of the wedding bands,” Seo-ah said, pointing to Allen who was holding a blue suit.
“Blue?” Nick blinked.
“The groom has to wear blue; the bride has to wear red. It's a Korean tradition. I’m taking your name, so you can take my traditions. That’s fair, right?”
Nick nodded enthusiastically as he realized everything was truly ready and that this was really happening. “Alright then . . . I’ll be right back . . .” Nick replied before giving her a kiss, signing the document, and then speed-walking over to Allen like he didn’t have a single second to spare.
I planned on throwing her a surprise engagement party, but she one-upped me with a whole freaking surprise wedding, he thought to himself as he used the inventory system to rapidly switch outfits without having to even step into the bathroom, likely the same method that Seo-ah had used to put on her dress.
After he finished getting into his blue suit for the wedding, he walked over and stood in front of Adele. Turning to Seo-ah, he extended his hand. “Well then, shall we make it official?”
“Oh my God! This is so great! The first couple I’ll ever marry is going to be my two favorite people!” Adele practically squeed as she switched out her outfit too, changing from the party dress she was wearing into priestly robes in a flash.
The next few minutes felt like they were frozen in time. Nick watched Seo-ah be led down the makeshift aisle in their guild lobby by her father. He listened to Adele quote off the top of her head the entire required scripture plus a few select verses about love and matrimony. Then, they finally reached the point where Nick had to say the two magic words he never would have thought he’d get the chance to say just a year ago: “I do.”
The rest of the night was a blur of fun, games, and lots of dancing and food as they all celebrated like it would be their last night on earth. There was the grim realization at one point, as Nick watched Spencer and Clarissa dancing in the middle of the room while he took a breather, the two using magic to levitate crystals around them for extra show, that for some in this room, it very well might be as others, like Allen, Maria, and Lou just spent most of the evening making small talk. The frozen world on the other side might be their final resting place. But before he could dwell on that for more than a moment, Seo-ah had stuffed a pork dumpling into his face and dragged him back onto the dance floor.
———
“Good morning, cute wifey,” he told Seo-ah as he brushed her hair away from her face, her drool piling up on his chest hairs from where she’d passed out after the previous night’s activities before immediately proceeding to snore like a log. Not wanting to wake up, she just snuggled deeper into him, but as her face made contact with her own drool she winced, pulling back and finally waking.
“Morning, cute husband,” she replied as she finally gave up on sleeping any more and started to rub her eyes. “What time is it? How long was I out?”
“It’s six a.m.”
“No. I’m going back to bed,” she objected.
“I’ll make you breakfast, extra bacon, cup of tea,” Nick offered as he reached over to the night stand and handed her a glass of water.
“Mmm . . . bacon. Okay. I can be bribed, but I want a nap again before we go through the portal,” Seo-ah demanded.
“Seo-ah,” Nick said as he got up, his eyes flickering from the small golden band on his finger back to the beautiful woman lying on his bed.
“Yeah?” she responded, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
“Thanks for loving me,” he told her.
“I’m always going to,” she replied, her smile more beautiful than the sunrise outside. Then she looked him up and down and added with a laugh, “Oh, I see we’re going to have a busy morning.”
