Returner Fantasy

"We know that you two were dating..." Kris said, grinning with a mixture of annoyance and teasing, pausing mid-sentence for Marc to continue what he was about to say.

"...we mean, more than dating," Marc added, comprehending what Kris was silently asking him to say, while wearing the same expression as Kris.

—"But we will get annoyed if you keep flirting in front of us!"—

"We're not flirting!—stupid bastards!"

"I am, though," Jeff said, earning himself an elbow jab to the gut, courtesy of Nubia, who was glaring daggers at Kris and Marc sitting across from her by the campfire stand.

Jeff, like he said, was flirting—embracing Nubia from behind with his arms around her waist as he sat on his chair.

Nubia, meanwhile, was sitting on his lap not to flirt, but to restrain Jeff and make sure Veena wouldn't be able to cling to him—a punishment to Veena and Jeff as well, since they both refused to tell her how Veena's meeting with Jess went.

The four of them, engaged in conversation—along with Veena, Kris and Marc's girlfriends, and more members of the Central Highschool Graduates organization—were currently on the rooftop of Nubia's apartment building, celebrating the post-party of Veena's 18th birthday.

It was a rather simple celebration where they just had all the food they wanted ordered and delivered to the apartment: all kinds of drinks and snacks, pizza, burgers, fries, fried chicken, pasta, sushi, and anything else they could think of and wanted; as well as betting on which food would arrive first from different restaurants—all on Nubia's treat.

The only thing off the menu, especially for the celebrant, Veena, was Jeff. She wasn't even allowed to approach him, since every time Veena tried, Nubia would glare at her.

"Ekk~!"

The girlish shriek that caught everyone's attention didn't come from Veena, who halted her approach the instant Nubia noticed her. The lips it escaped from were none other than Nubia herself, with Jeff suddenly kissing and sucking her nape while, at the same time, pressing his massive erection against her soft rear.

"We can handle the rest," Kris said, taking a sip of his non-alcoholic beer while looking at Nubia's flustered, blushing face.

"Just go get a room already, perverts," Marc added, directing his remark at Nubia, but more toward Jeff.

"We will, later. But for now—"

"Knock it off already!"

Another elbow jab landed on his gut as punishment for continuing to tease her with both his words and erection. Regardless—since Nubia wasn't strong enough to hurt him—Jeff tightened his embrace and continued with what he was about to say.

"How did your meeting with your father go, Nubia-senpai?" he asked, assuming that the meeting Nubia attended before Veena's 18th birthday was about the current status of the competition for the next CEO of the PoruMerc Fashion Company.

"Why do you want to talk about it? That isn't your concern," Nubia replied, refusing to answer Jeff—not because the details were classified to outsiders, but because she didn't want to trouble anyone. Not her friends, and especially not Jeff, with her problems.

She was kind enough to never abandon those important to her, but stubborn enough not to share her burdens with anyone. That was how Jeff had always seen Nubia.

"You're really a good person..." he whispered into her ear, making Nubia even more flustered, both from his heartfelt words and the stimulation of his voice and breath against her left ear.

"Aren't we your investors as well? Of course that's our concern," Jeff said, getting to the point before Nubia could hit him again.

"Besides, we're working for you and your division," Kris added, supporting Jeff's remark.

"Right, we invested that money in you after all," Marc said, reminding everyone about the money that came from Trud's illegal transactions.

"You mean laundered that money for you three, right?"

Regaining her dominance in the conversation upon reminding them that they owed her for leaving her out when they confronted Trud to get rid of him for Jess' sake, Nubia at least shared the bare minimum about the current status of the competition between her father—the Executive VP for PoruMerc's women's division—and her aunt, the Executive VP for the men's division.

"To put it simply, Daniel managed to secure a pretty big foreign investor that put the men's division in the lead when it comes to sales and earnings," she said, mentioning her ex-boyfriend—or more accurately, her ex-fiancé—the stepson of her aunt.

"Eh?—That bastard is still alive?" Jeff exclaimed, faking and exaggerating his reaction—not to joke around, but to mask his rage and hatred upon hearing the name of Nubia's ex-boyfriend.

"We thought you had him killed when he asked to break off your engagement," Kris added, comprehending Jeff's intention, followed by an even more ridiculous remark from Marc.

"Wasn't he one of the bodies you ordered us to bury—Ouch!"

"Don't talk like you three are actually planning what you're saying," Nubia said, throwing an empty beer can to cut off Marc's remark.

Returning to the original topic, Nubia clarified that her father hadn't lost yet against her aunt. Their division didn't have any new prospective investors, but they were negotiating with business partners to increase their earnings. Besides, the project with the upcoming idol group hadn't been included yet in the first quarter report.

Nubia ended the conversation there, only to start a new one that actually concerned them all.

"So what do you plan to do with them?" she asked, directing her question to her three gofers—but mostly to the most idiotic one, who happened to be her new boyfriend.

"Want me to guess what you're thinking, Nubia-senpai?" Jeff whispered behind her ear, comprehending her thoughts as he saw her ears turn bright red.

"You two could get a room first."

"We could talk about this some other time."

"Knock it off, perverts! And answer my question already, stupid Jeff!" Nubia shouted, completely embarrassed by Jeff's teasing.

Despite their bickering, Jeff was seriously thinking about what Nubia said. Even Kris and Marc knew they couldn't set the topic aside. After all, they could only hold Dexter's men—along with Natan's group—in the basement of the apartment building for a few more days before their relatives started suspecting they were missing.

They had been locked up since the confrontation last week and could probably be kept there until the end of the week—but that was it.

Natan and his group were cooperating, informing their families that they were fine so as not to cause commotion. But Dexter's men refused, waiting for their relatives and friends to search for them, believing they would surely be able to trace where they were being held. They even believed Dexter himself would come looking for them once he got out of the hospital.

Then there was Dexter—the root of the problem. He would surely come after Jeff, Veena, and all of their friends just to get back at Jeff for breaking his nose and to take Veena for himself.

And to add more to Jeff's concerns:

---

[RETURNER FANTASY SYSTEM]

[Quest 26 -FGH Archive]

[Reward - Returner Fantasy System Update]

[Objective - Access and obtain the FGH Archive]

[Countdown - 72 hours]

---

Things were a bit different now for Jeff.

With his failure to complete Quest 24, he lost the existing effects and rewards of Returner Curse, Returner Luck, and Returner Eternal Curse.

Aside from no longer being able to curse his enemies or protect himself, losing the effect of Vengeful Karma also meant he lost control over Trud and Veena's stepfather—leaving Jeff and those important to him without protection from their vengeance.

Either they changed their ways and forgot their hatred—which was impossible—or Jeff made it so they would never be able to enact their revenge.

Those were the choices Jeff had to decide on before his confrontation with Dexter.

Regardless, Jeff had to think of a way to make Dexter give up the access code for the FGH Archive in the university's database.

—"You're not going to do something stupid again, are you?"—

Nubia, Kris, and Marc said in unison, noticing Jeff's silence.

"I know... I won't act on my own again," Jeff said, then proceeded to discuss the plan he had been thinking about—one that not only involved dealing with Dexter and his men, but might also help Nubia and her father's situation.

---

"That might actually work," Kris said, giving thought to the consequences the first part of Jeff's plan might cause.

"That's disgusting, you pervert!"

The flustered remark didn't come from Nubia this time, but from Marc upon hearing the second part of the plan—the part that involved him and Kris, but somehow not Jeff.

"At this point, you're basically robbing a bank," Nubia said in response to the third part, one she wasn't sure she could approve of.

At that moment, a question came to Jeff.

Would I really rob a bank if Nubia-senpai asked me to?

Setting aside the dangerous thoughts barely hanging by a thin thread before snapping, Jeff spoke about the last part of his plan—

"The part where we would stain our hands with even more blood."