AN: Sorry for the abrupt change, I'm doing a semi rewrite as I want do a better job at this.
I hope you like this version more. I'll keep it this way from now on.
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After taking matters into her own hands, Norma became much more independent from her husband. While at it, she ended up meeting Park Kyung-Hye, a coincidence of fate that they both gave birth at that time and even worse that they lived next door to each other.
That time, Kyung-Hye had tried to tell Norma to eat the food she needed to stay strong, and now they would raise their children alongside. Nitrian and Jinah.
The days passed quicker than they would have hoped, there was little time, and both faced similar situations, though Kyung-Hye had a son, Jinwoo, her husband, a firefighter was not anymore present than Norma's a scientist.
Soon they made a routine of helping each other and learning together how to better handle these little monsters of their creation.
In an apparment that had the basics necessary for a decent if not a good life, the two families now intertwined had their daily time together, though the Dads remained absent.
Not that it could be helped, work was work.
"Norma! You sure it good?" Kyung-Hye asked looking at a pot of what looked like a half-burning steer of cheese, her english a bit weak as she barely started with Normaʼs help.
She was a woman with a long black hair and a slender figure with a youthful but age-accurate look, she dressed in simple but nicely fitting clothes, and carried a soft smile and air about her.
"Hmmm… Yeah… Sure, you're doing great! Better than my last attempt at least! Hehehe! Norma forced a smile then broke into real chuckle realizing she sounded just like that last time.
"Hehehehe, so it bad…" Joined her accepting the situation and laughing as well.
"Hey! You told me it was good." Norma narrowed her eyes.
"You the same!" Kyung-Hye followed and they looked at one another in such a manner.
This stare-off lasted all of 30 seconds before they were back to laughing together, it was just much easier to get through every day together.
"Then let's not lie to each other, and you need to help me with my Korean, I sound like a broken record." Norma proposed leaning in as she talked.
"Yes! Me too! We do it both!" Kyung-Hye nodded with a determined smile.
Thus their back and forth continued as they helped each other however they could, it was what they had right now, and they had no intention of letting it go.
At the same time, in the living room connected to this kitchen area, a black-haired little boy was looking over two babies, like it was his duty of knighthood to do so, he was as serious as a boy his age could muster to be.
"Hmm… They are so small… I was small too?" He asked himself in Korean, looking at Nitrian and Jinha, one next to each other.
Curious he gave each baby a finger trying to lightly tease them, and they both gripped his fingers holding on with surprising strength making him smile wide at it.
"Mom! Mom! They are holding my fingers! Look! Look!" Jinwoo called to get attention with a wide smile filled with pure joy, his voice loud in Korean.
This caused Norma to turn around quickly to check since he couldn't understand much of what he was saying.
"Relax, he happy babies like him." Kyung-Hye informed her, then turned to Jinwoo before switching to Korean. "I can see you, it's amazing! You're getting along great with them. So do a good job and watch over them. Ok?"
Whole Norma sighs in relief and turns back to the pots, Jinwoo nods his head multiple times a wide smile on his face, truly proud of himself for this.
"You two heard mom? I'll take care of you two from now on." Jinwoo made a promise to himself and those two.
From then on, many days as such came and went, it was not perfect, and neither was it the worst, but they always managed to make it work like some extended big family.
In time, Norma's Korean became passable and Kyung-Hye's english as well. Allowing them to communicate and connect further.
Before anyone knew every day would be spent in one house or the other, and nobody would question it or even bother to warn each other, it was just expected of them to show up at each other's place.
The fact they were neighbors only furthered this, since any little excuse to see the other and talk could be used, from a real situation to running out of salt the third time the same week, it all blended away as they just be a me conformable with the unspoken family tie.
Even the fathers got pulled into it eventually.
To the point they had interactions and spent time with everyone else.
"So, you're the Bae Min-Jae, Miss Selner married?" Sung Il-Hwan, Jinwoo's father, said to him with a wide smile.
He was a well-built man not too much, but well enough it was clear to those looking even under his clothes even if he was on the leaner side with his dark hair.
There was a smokey scent to him, and a bit of what seemed to be charcoal as well, but nothing too bad or aggravating.
On the other hand, Bae Min-Jae had a much slimmer physique, he had pink hair, and purple eyes, mirroring his child. His disposition was a bit shaky almost paranoid.
There was a bit of a send of sterilized alcohol about him and clear bags under his eyes, almost like he forgot to sleep for days.
"That's me. Mister Sung, it's an equal pleasure to meet you. I imagine being a fire fighter is much more... Blood pumping." Had Min-Jae, Nitrian's dad, responded with a slight smile.
"You say that, but if Miss Selner wasn't exaggerating you deal with volatile explosion in a lab, honestly that sounds way too dangerous." Il-Hwan commented shaking his head.
"Funny coming from someone who jumps into the fire for others. I believe I'm in way less danger, plus, I'm not working with average chemical reaction… I haven't for a while, it's basically a whole new field at this point. Hahaha!" Min-Jae chuckles thinking about it.
Then Il-Hwan leans in and whispers. "I heard our wives talking about some secret protect mana thing, what is that? Is that real?"
"Hahaha! Even if it were, I would have to kill you, if I told ya. Hahaha!" Min-Jae laughs it off.
"Is that so? Hahaha!" Il-Hwan joins him, before saying. "Then tell me more over a few beers. Depending on the answer we'll negotiate the kill thing."
From there they continued talking through the night, and it only served to solidify the closeness of the families, as they had become one.
Years went by, and this relationship only grew stronger, to the point even Min-Jae, and Il-Hwan seemed to talk regularly becoming friends and getting to the point of spending more time with their families, they both seemed to be a bit of a positive influence on one another.
This time passage brought with it other changes, as the kids grew, 4 years after the birth of Nitrian the families were one, and the kids played every day.
"I'm the villain, and you'll be the hero! And I kidnapped the princess, you can't save her, hero! You'll lose to my evil plan!" Nitrian yelled at him as he held Jinah as the captive.
"No fair! I don't want to be saved! I wanna be a hero too!" Jinah complained.
"Ok, you can be the hero next time, and Jinwoo will be the princess!" Nitrian immediately suggested.
"Really?! Cool!" Jinah nodded taking a liking to the idea.
"Huh?! Me?… Fine, I guess it doesn't hurt." Jinwoo could only force a smile as these two decided it all without even asking him. "Villain! I'll stop you and your evil plan, whatever you are doing." He then started playing his part.
"Hahaha! I put balding potion in the water supply to everyone in the city will be bald!" Nitrian declared with an evil laugh, as if he had detailed the most maniacal scheme.
"Pffff… Hahahaha!" Jinha could not contain it and began laughing.
"Balding?… Seriously?… OK then, What about the people you know in this city?! Are you going to let them bald too?" Jinwoo responded.
"I… Hmmm… Huh… I'll save them, and still bald everyone else! Hahahaha!" Nitrian responded.
"No, you can only do one or the other, you don't have time for both." Jinwoo shook his head, playing with him.
"I… I… I'll do both anyway! I'll find a way no matter what!" Nitrian refused to back down.
"Too greedy! That's why you lose villain! You have to choose or you lose, like now!" Jinwoo to this chance to strike and take down the oh-so-evil balding villain.
Now on the ground while Jinwoo was saving Jinah, Nitrian said. "I'll find a way, just you wait hero!"
After that, the game continued, and both Jinwoo, and Nitrian got to play princess at some point.
At the same time the moms were talking to each other.
"I don't know what's wrong, I've been having weird dreams more frequently these days, it's like I'm looking at some distorted version of the world, it's very weird. I see how kids fighting… killing each other… It's wild…" Norma explained with a sigh as she drank tea with her best friend.
"Really? That's still happening? It's been 6 years… I'm sorry you have to see horrible things like that. It's a pity the treatments I recommended didn't work, but in the end, in here for you, so you can count on me." Kyung-Hye responded, holding her hand tightly with soft eyes.
"Thank you, I don't know what I would do without you, all these years, whenever it felt like I had nowhere to turn to, you were always there, always, I can never thank you enough." Norma smiled and gripped her hand back with a wide smile, tears forming in her eyes.
"Don't get me started, I've never felt more at home than when we talk, it truly special what we managed to build all due to a chance meeting at the hospital." Kyung-Hye had tears in her eyes as well, and pulled her into a hug.
They cried together and hugged tight to let it all out.
Life was reaching a certain level od stability for all of them, their husbands were not as absent, and things were good between them, their kids got along great, this was a perfect extended family.
Later at night one day, Nitrian found himself having a cold sweat, and growing warmer by the second until he felt like he was being burnt alive.
"Urtfgghh!" He groaned in pain though he forced himself to contain it by instinct.
It was as if something deep within him told him to contain it as best as he could, so he did.
Until then flames grow so bright their burned through him, like the morning star in the sky, he was ignited to new life, reborn from ashes anew.
(It's me! I remember! Those damn patrons! I didn't know I would forget! Missions, the waifu catalog… Hmmm… Actually… Where is the system that the patron promised? It's hard to tell at this point. Oh well, If it never comes, I have a great build already.) Nitrian remembered everything, and got up from bed immediately.
Now that his mind was sharp to what was going on, he was not wasting any more time. He moved to his pocket dimension immediately.
There he was met with a great mansion decorated to met his style with an almost gothic style, using purples, gold, and black.
Rooms and corridors filled the 1,200 sq m of floor space mansion.
"So, this is my domain… The windows, they lead nowhere, its kinda like a video game without a programmed outside." He commented as he explored the place.
It had almost everything, from wi-fi, to TVs, fridges, bathrooms, and most things that could be expected from a modern home all at his disposal.
"This place is amazing! I wish I could stay here longer, but not only will things get complicated if Mom notices I'm missing, but due to the current limits, I can only stay here for 12 hours a day." Nitrian sighs a bit disappointed.
The shaking such thoughts to the side, he then starting thinking about what to do next.
"I want to become powerful enough to take over the company, but it will be ages before I get there, so for now let's focus on the solo leveling verse.
"I have a family here now. So, aside from completing the missions given by the patron and overcoming their challenges, what do I want?" He asked himself liking his domain around him.
There was some walking around as he stopped to think about it all, and what he wanted for himself before he stopped and sighed.
"In the end, I'm a greedy guy, I want to be the strongest! And I want to master to master every power, skill, and ability this verse has to offer, jack of all trades master of all, I'll do that. I'll be the new Absolute being by the end, a real one this time.
" Yeah, it will take a lot of work, but I can do it, and I want to live my life too, I want to live honest to myself. I want this power and ability so I can truly live my way with all my loved ones safe, so I can afford to not worry. That's my goal. If the company and such entities exist, the only way to not be at their mercy is to outgrow them." Nitrian smiled widely as he thought about himself, his past life, and his new life so far, and the conclusion came easy.
The patrons pulled him into it against his will, and ended his last life short, if he didn't want anything like that to happen to his lived ones, if he wanted to be able to protect what matters, and live according to his own will, not as a puppet or a pawn in some higher comic game, then he would have to rise so high nothing could ever reach him.
"I'll be the best, for those I love, for those who will be under me or related to me, and for myself. I will fight to the bitter end." He nods to himself fully happy to have an understanding of what he wants, and why, all that was left now, was to move forward and make his own path to the top.