New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

She spent the next hour or so discussing their plans with Richard. Most of these were contingencies for specific situations.

There was no solid plan for the foreseeable future since they didn't know when they would start travelling. They were still waiting on news from Katherine.

Richard smiled at this bit of information.

"Well, then, I guess I'm the bearer of good news. The plane is ready. A client of ours was looking to get rid of a stealth-repurposed XB-1 SST. It's being flown in from the States as we speak.

"You are lucky we are so connected. In the mid-thirties, this plane was supposed to be repurposed as a presidential plane before they took a contract with a different company. Since then, it's been in storage in Florida.

"We would have never found out about it if it wasn't for a particular friend we have at the Pentagon, who oversees unused military hardware. He managed to get us a sale at quite the bargain. But I digress.

"The plane is on its way and should be accredited to fly internationally within the week. We have you a pilot, co-pilot, and supply crew that'll follow you everywhere. How does that sound?" Richard boasted.

But Kary was too tired to care.

"Great. Can I get back to explaining my plans now? I still have a few to go over, since you want to know everything…"

Richard's smile dropped, his boasting falling on deaf ears.

"Fine," he grumbled.

Kary finished her explanation, going over another half dozen plans, making sure Richard was aware of all their pre-planned moves. She also made sure to tell him that she had already promised to tell Katherine about any other plan she came up with.

Once she was done, she didn't even wait for him to tell her his thoughts, and simply went back inside, heading to bed again.

Richard watched her leave, confused.

"Is she always this blunt?" he asked.

"Nah. You got her fresh out of bed, tired as hell, and pissed at being woken up, I assume. She's usually a lot nicer to guests. But, don't worry about it. She means no disrespect," Alex defended her.

Richard looked at the open patio door again before shrugging.

"In any case, I take it she has a good grasp on the possible situations you'll face, given all her contingencies. So I won't bother you about this any longer. I wanted to be sure I wasn't letting my daughter leave with dolts who don't plan anything.

"People who go with the flow are the worst allies to have when shit hits the fan. Most of them panic and die," Richard said, glancing at Alex.

Alexander looked at him, unimpressed at his half-baked hidden stab.

"Cmon. You can do better than that, you old foggy," Alex told him, smirking.

Richard raised him a middle finger before standing to his feet.

"I've taken up enough of your time. I'll take my leave now. But keep something in mind, Alexander. Even if my wife accepted that you take my daughter into dangerous situations, which I don't know how you got her to accept, by the way, doesn't mean I do.

"If you ever come back without her, or if she comes back with even a single fingernail missing, you'll have hell to pay. I may not be the best of fathers, but I am her father. And I will make sure the ones who put her in harm's way pay the price. Understood?"

Alex smiled at him.

"You know, for someone I punched in the face for being a massive douchewad, you sure sound like an upstanding dad, suddenly. Your wife already gave me the same threat, Richard. I'll make sure I keep her as safe as I can. You have my word."

Richard nodded, not saying another word as he walked his ass back toward the elevator.

"Call us when the plane is ready, Richard!" Alex shouted from the balcony.

Richard waved his hand at him as he climbed into the elevator, and Alex turned his head back to the cityscape.

"At least we'll be able to move around pretty quickly," he mumbled as he took the last sip of his now cold coffee.

He shivered in disgust as the cold coffee slid down his throat.

"Urgh… Cold coffee is the worst."

He walked back inside, setting his cup in the sink and rinsing it, before he walked up to his room, where Kary was already fast asleep again.

He smiled as he brushed some hair off her cheek.

"You could have stayed in bed. I was handling him," he murmured, knowing she could hear him, even half asleep like this.

She grumbled as she turned in bed, and he chuckled.

Climbing into bed as well, Alex snuggled up to her back and fell asleep once more. Their rest was uninterrupted for the remainder of the day.

***

Meanwhile, halfway across the globe, in South Korea, even though it was already the middle of the night, someone was having trouble finding sleep.

Standing in the middle of her family home's backyard on a cool autumn night, Jin-Sil, also known by most of her friends as Athena, was shooting her bow at a target hundreds of feet away.

And although this target was static, the sheer distance from it, and lack of lighting in the darkness of the night, would have made any archer worth his salt reconsider this nightly training session.

But Jin-Sil wasn't just any archer.

Ever since she started playing New Eden, she had noticed her eyesight getting better. She could see farther and clearer than most people, and even in the dimmest of settings, she still saw her target perfectly fine.

Even a hundred yards away, her round sandbag, which hung from a solid oak branch, looked like it was mere meters away from her, and as bright as in a sunset lighting. Every shot she took flew into the distance, whistling in the wind before thudding dully into the sandbag.

She pulled her bowstring, time after time, ignoring the numbing sensation growing in her fingers from the repetitive movement, and shot arrow after arrow. She had been standing there for over an hour, and the sandbag was already looking like the most awkward porcupine in existence.

"Jin-Sil. You'll catch a cold like this. Please come back inside…" a faint voice echoed behind her.

The young woman lowered her bow, not even turning to look at her mother.

"Is father going to apologize for his words?" she asked, her tone cold.

There was a moment of silence, and Jin-Sil knew what the answer was, even without a word being exchanged.

"Then I will keep practising until my fingers bleed. I don't want to see him if he can't step over his pride and apologize."

"Jin-Sil… Your father is a very traditionalist man… You have to understand him… Even I was surprised when you said you had started dating someone. You are still so young…"

Jin-Sil turned to face her mother.

"Mother, I am eighteen, soon to be nineteen. How is that too young to date someone? Did you and father not meet at the age of sixteen? How can you judge me on this?" she asked, her voice quivering in anger.

"That's not the problem, daughter…"

"It's because he is Chinese? How backward of you two. I thought the only thing that mattered between two people was love. How can you hear he is Chinese and suddenly be so against me finding someone I fell in love with?!" she almost shouted.

"My daughter… You can't just drop this on us and expect us to understand… This is a lot to take in…" her mother said, her eyes sad.

"If you think that is a lot, wait till you hear this, then. Since I am no longer welcome in my own home, as father said, I will leave. I made enough money from New Eden; I no longer need to tolerate his poor treatment of me.

"Come next week, I will have packed my bags, and will move out of the house. Is that what you both want? Since I brought shame to your name? That is fine. I'll take on another surname. I won't bring any more shame to yours!" Jin-Sil growled, her eyes filling up with tears.

"My daughter… Please… Why don't you go to sleep on this? I'm sure you will reconsider in the morning. You might even realize you don't like this boy as much as you think you do…" her mother pleaded.

But that was the drop that made the levy break.

"How dare you assume you know how I feel?! You and Father haven't cared one bit about me ever since I dropped out of archery competitions! All you ever cared about was how I reflected on you. Since I am such a disappointment, wouldn't you be glad that I left?!"

Her voice wavered through her knotted throat, and Jin-Sil held back her tears. She was angry beyond what words could describe.

"I'm done with his poor treatment. If you don't love me, then I have no reason to stay. Goodnight, Mother."

Leaving the courtyard, Jin-Sil didn't hear the sobbing as her mother collapsed.