Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: How to Steal the Protagonist's Woman
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"...Huh?"
The moment Han Bom opened her eyes, she looked around.
Bright sunlight streamed in, and a cozy warmth lingered in the living room.
It was the house she used to live in.
Even after her parents passed away, she had been able to stay there without moving, thanks to the care of Min Ha-yeon's parents.
Sitting on the living room sofa, Han Bom felt an inexplicable sense of peace. She closed her eyes and let out a soft smile.
"This is nice...."
It was the moment she smiled contentedly and placed her hand on her stomach.
"...?"
She instinctively felt that the shape of her belly was different.
Han Bom had never had a single ounce of belly fat in her entire life.
She had the kind of constitution where no matter how much she overate, she never gained weight.
The sensation beneath her palm was an alien feeling she had never experienced before.
Wondering what it was, she looked down at her stomach.
"Uh... this is...."
It wasn't just a matter of having gained some weight.
Anyone who looked at her would have known her condition instantly.
"Pregnant? Uh... me?"
Memories began to scramble and tangle in her head like clumps of jelly.
But she felt no discomfort.
Instead, she felt only a sweetness, as if from that very jelly.
Not even realizing it was a dream, Han Bom began to laugh suddenly as she stroked her belly.
"Hehe...."
The feeling was so familiar.
Rather, she simply felt a wondrous sensation, knowing there was something inside her.
As she laughed and stroked her stomach, someone entered the living room.
"Aren't you laughing a bit too much by yourself?"
"...?"
Han Bom struggled and groaned, barely managing to turn around with her large belly. Standing there was a man who seemed to have absolutely no connection to this place.
"...Ahjussi?"
"Is it going to be 'Ahjussi' for the rest of my life?"
"Ahaha.... It's a habit, just a habit...."
Seong Su-ho sat down beside Han Bom and stroked her belly.
At his action, Han Bom smiled and spoke.
"What do you think? Does it feel like a son or a daughter?"
"I'm fine with either."
"Ah... you really know how to kill the mood."
"Haha... sorry."
However, there was no sign of irritation on Han Bom's face.
She simply laughed hollowly and leaned against Seong Su-ho's shoulder.
"I want to stay like this forever...."
"Then just stay, right?"
At Seong Su-ho's confident answer, Han Bom hugged his arm tightly and spoke in a quiet, gentle voice.
"Never leave me... okay?"
But the moment Seong Su-ho opened his mouth, the surroundings turned to pitch black, and Han Bom woke up from the dream she never wanted to leave, finally facing reality.
..
..
As soon as Han Bom woke up, she gasped in horror upon seeing Seong Su-ho's leg.
"A-Ahjussi... t-there's blood on your leg...."
"About that...."
Seong Su-ho explained the entire situation.
Han Bom's sudden erratic behavior, the sudden appearance of the Red Summoners....
He told her that a fight had broken out afterward, and he had barely managed to settle the situation.
After hearing Seong Su-ho's words, tears welled up in Han Bom's eyes as she began to defend herself.
"W-Why did I... I-I don't know! I... really... I don't know.... I really have no memory of that!"
"I know. Looking at it, it seems those guys were colluding with one of our party members."
"...Colluding?"
"I didn't hear who it was, but they spoke as if they had made contact. And targeting us was intentional. Han Bom-ssi becoming like that was probably something the collaborator planned."
"That's impossible...."
Seong Su-ho grabbed the right arm of Han Bom, who was muttering with a look of despair.
Han Bom looked surprised when Seong Su-ho suddenly grabbed her arm, but she did not resist.
"A-Ahjussi?"
"Han Bom-ssi...."
"Y-Yes!"
Blushing, Han Bom could not look him straight in the eye and lowered her head.
Watching Han Bom hesitate, he whispered softly.
"There's a problem right now...."
"...? What problem?"
"Haa... haa... the wound isn't healing."
"What? W-What.... Uh...."
Seong Su-ho pulled an item out of his Inventory.
It was a dagger stained with blood.
Han Bom's face began to turn pale as she saw the dagger Seong Su-ho held up.
Even though it was night and only the moonlight shone, her pallor was evident to Seong Su-ho.
"A-Ahjussi... the thing you said I stabbed you with... could it be...."
"This is it.... Everything else is healing, but... haa... haa... no matter what I do, this won't heal."
Han Bom instantly covered her mouth with her palm and began to tremble violently.
At the same time, the words Han Yeo-reum had said earlier came back to her.
(The weapon itself is weak, but the description says that once it stabs, the bleeding doesn't stop, so the target eventually dies. ...If things get really dangerous, don't hesitate to use it.)
At the time, Han Bom had received the item without much interest and put it in her Inventory.
Since it was a single-use item and she couldn't engage in close-quarters combat, it wasn't particularly useful to her.
And yet, she had used it.
On none other than Seong Su-ho....
Han Bom placed her hand on Seong Su-ho's blood-soaked thigh and chanted a spell.
"H-Heal! H-Heal it quickly! The b-blood!"
Despite Han Bom's cries, the wound—barely the length of a finger—showed no sign of closing.
Though the amount was small, the blood continued to flow.
"Haa... haa... Han Bom-ssi... where did you get that item?"
"T-That... w-well.. ah... oh, how! The b-blood!"
"Calm down!"
"Hic...."
Startled by Seong Su-ho's shout, Han Bom curled her body and began to tremble.
Seong Su-ho stroked Han Bom's shoulder and spoke calmly.
"I'm sorry for shouting. But right now, the important thing is knowing what that item was."
"Hic... yes...."
After wiping away her tears, Han Bom confessed everything.
She explained that the blinding projectile and the dagger were given to her by Han Yeo-reum.
Han Bom repeated exactly what Han Yeo-reum had told her.
After hearing the whole story, Seong Su-ho muttered in a drained voice.
"...That's just too perfect."
"N-No! Even so... oppa wouldn't...."
"Earlier, those guys said that everything went according to plan once they saw I was blinded and my leg was wounded."
"That's impossible...."
Han Bom looked agonized, unable to comprehend it, but her attention quickly snapped back to the blood flowing from his leg.
"L-Let's just treat it first!"
"...If it's as I suspect, it's a curse, and making a curse-removal potion is far beyond my current mana."
According to Seong Su-ho, creating a curse-removal potion was impossible with his current mana reserves.
He explained that even if his mana were full, there was a high probability it still wouldn't work.
Hearing this, Han Bom's face went completely white as she asked back.
"Then... wait. That can't be right, can it?"
"...I don't think I can treat this."
"No way! Ahjussi, you're good at everything! Hurry up and treat it!"
Han Bom grabbed Seong Su-ho's collar and shook him, pleading desperately.
Seong Su-ho let out a deep breath, grabbed Han Bom's arm, and transferred points to her.
Han Bom's pupils shook in shock as she saw 1 million points marked on the back of her hand.
"This... why?"
"Han Bom-ssi, do you happen to have a skill like Status Effect Removal?"
"Yes.... Ah! I'll level that up!"
"First, try raising it to level 10."
Han Bom believed that Seong Su-ho had proposed a solution.
Following his words, she happily raised her Status Effect Removal skill to level 10 and tried using it.
But....
"I-It's not working.... Oh, what do I do...."
"And raise the rest of your recovery skills to level 10 as well."
"What? B-But recovery skills are meaningless right now! Hurry and fix the curse!"
"Just do it."
"...Yes."
Seeing the resolute Seong Su-ho, Han Bom felt convinced.
'He has something. He's someone who's good at everything, so there must be a way to treat this.'
Filled with anticipation, Han Bom spent all the points to raise her skills and reported back to Seong Su-ho.
"I raised them! Now, what do I do?"
"...."
Han Bom asked urgently while pressing down on the blood leaking from Seong Su-ho's thigh.
"Tell me quickly! This is no time to be idling...."
"Han Bom-ssi, I have a favor to ask."
"A favor? Now is not the time for that! Quickly...."
With a relaxed expression, Seong Su-ho placed his hand over Han Bom's and smiled.
"With skill levels like that, you won't be ignored anywhere you go."
"...What are you talking about?"
"Please take good care of Ha-yeon."
"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!!!"
With a harsh scream, Han Bom grabbed Seong Su-ho's collar and shook him.
Seong Su-ho placed a hand on the shoulder of the girl screaming at him and patted her.
"The bleeding is already severe. I'm glad you woke up before I died."
"No... because of me... because of me, Ahjussi is... sob...."
"Honestly, it's more surprising that I've survived this long. I don't want to show you the sight of me dying. Go, quickly...."
"No... I said no!!"
Han Bom lunged at Seong Su-ho, hugging him and weeping like a waterfall.
She had never imagined that the result of receiving help, and help, and more help from Seong Su-ho would lead to such a miserable end.
Han Bom had never felt anything resembling affection for a man in her entire life.
But when she had shared that cozy conversation with him in her dream, she had unconsciously expressed her affection for him.
She had found a 'man' she wanted to be with for the rest of her life.
"Don't go... please, I'm begging you.... I'll be good... sob...."
"...It's quite strange."
"Sob... what is?"
Even as she poured out endless tears, Han Bom listened intently to his words.
"I disliked you at first, Han Bom-ssi."
"Hic... because my personality is a nightmare?"
"Haha... no. Because you're Han Yeo-reum's family."
"...."
Even while breathing with difficulty, Seong Su-ho calmed Han Bom down and spoke in a gentle voice.
He explained that when he first arrived in Yggdrasil, he had a significant conflict with Han Yeo-reum.
In truth, it was less of a conflict and more that he had been unilaterally treated like a pushover.
He said that during that time, Min Ha-yeon had caught his eye.
"You asked me yesterday, right? About Ha-yeon... the rape...."
"...Were you pretending to be asleep?"
"Yes, honestly, I didn't know how to bring it up."
Seong Su-ho explained that he had been irritated by Han Yeo-reum's constant contempt, and ironically, that had played a part in improving his relationship with Min Ha-yeon.
He then explained that their relationship deepened after they accidentally entered a boss fight together.
However, Seong Su-ho didn't tell her everything truthfully.
He left out the rape play and the regression.
"Even if Ha-yeon had feelings for me, the reason I did those things was ultimately because of my desire for revenge."
"...Do you still hate that guy?"
The 'guy' Han Bom referred to was Han Yeo-reum.
"Yes... I'll probably never like him in my life. And I expect the same goes for him."
"...."
Before she knew it, Han Bom was clinging to Seong Su-ho, looking around peacefully.
Mistaking the people sleeping for corpses, she didn't seem to mind the sight.
She was only depressed by the fact that Seong Su-ho had disliked her because of her family.
But he stroked Han Bom's hair and spoke.
"But in the end, I found that liking someone has nothing to do with anger."
"Ahjussi...."
"...My biggest regret is that I didn't get close to you sooner because of my personal feelings."
"Sob... don't go...."
Han Bom cried for a while, then wiped her tears and spoke.
"Ahjussi... you said you disliked me, right?"
"...That was in the past."
"Then, back then... did you want to do that to me too?"
What Han Bom was referring to was rape.
Suddenly, Han Bom was spitting out her inner thoughts to Seong Su-ho without hesitation.
However, it was Seong Su-ho who became flustered by her bluntness, answering shortly.
"...I'll pass on commenting on that."
Han Bom could be certain from the phrase 'no comment.' She let out a small giggle at his response and muttered to herself.
"He probably wouldn't have wanted to do it with a flat-chested girl like me anyway...."
"Han Bom-ssi."
"...Yes?"
"You are the most beautiful woman I've seen in my entire life. Honestly, you're even prettier than Ha-yeon."
"...."
Seong Su-ho stroked Han Bom's hair and spoke.
"So, if you find someone you like, just go for it. If you like them, there's no man who would ever reject you."
"...What about you, Ahjussi?"
"...It's already too late for me. Now go. If another Red Summoner appears now... ghk...."
"Mmph...."
Han Bom cut him off, lunged at him, and began to kiss him.
After savoring Seong Su-ho's fluids to her heart's content, Han Bom spoke through her tears.
"I want... proof that you liked me."