You Can't Be Too Perverted Just Because It's a Game!
You can't act too perverted just because it's a game!
“Hmm, not bad.”
A moderately high altitude. A downtown area at a moderate distance. The place had seen minimal human management even before my arrival. Above all, its ecosystem remained relatively preserved, and the changes in reality had left the concentration of energy in a decent state. There even seemed to be lava underground.
“Kim Yuseong. What do you think of this location?”
“Pardon? Um...”
Only then did Kim Yuseong turn her gaze from me toward the forest. As an elf, I figured she might sense something the rest of us couldn’t.
“It looks rather ordinary. It reminds me of the spots where kids sneak off to smoke or drink in secret.”
“...Hasn’t the past month been incredibly chaotic and hectic for you?”
“I was surprised too. Seeing that, I realized even delinquency requires a certain level of diligence.”
It was hard to decide whether her behavior showed admirable diligence or simple foolishness. Her sense of initiative sat somewhere in that ambiguous space.
“Well, let’s set that aside. Shall we talk about your regalia?”
“...”
Kim Yuseong fell silent once more. This time her cheeks flushed faintly as she stole a quick glance at me.
“You’ll… keep it a secret, won’t you?”
“...I don’t have a hobby of spreading other people’s secrets.”
Of course, it depended on the secret. Murder, for instance, would be a different story, but something like regalia was easy enough to keep quiet. Actually, it wasn’t even a secret—just a fact.
A brief flash of light burst from Kim Yuseong’s body. When it faded, she stood in a bikini and a wet oversized shirt.
“Better than I expected… Wait a second.”
Something felt off. It differed from the swimsuit skins designed to satisfy male players during the annual summer events. The lower piece matched the light green of Kim Yuseong’s hair, but the upper part showed nothing except the wet shirt clinging to her skin. That was because there was no upper bikini at all. Fortunately the most critical areas remained unexposed thanks to the fabric’s clinginess, but… I’ll leave it at that.
“The game’s rating was high, but… as far as I remember, that skin wasn’t this extreme.”
“I dyed the upper section to match my skin tone. When… this transitioned into reality, it seems the system simply implemented it that way.”
“I see…”
The feeling inside me shifted from mild interest and dry detachment to something closer to pity.
“What about its performance?”
“Defense applies properly even to bare skin, so it truly functions as… regalia. Yes.”
Kim Yuseong’s shoulders slumped pitifully. Watching the very act that had once fulfilled her sexual fantasies return as karmic retribution felt, in a way, like a milder version of my own situation.
An idea occurred to me. Might as well test it.
“Then let’s try this. The shirt becomes see-through when wet because it’s thin, right? So we’ll make the bikini out of the shirt itself.”
“O-oh!”
Hope literally bloomed across Kim Yuseong’s face.
She immediately stripped off the shirt, kneading and folding it experimentally. In the process she ended up topless. Naturally, her lovely, bright twin peaks greeted the world.
“This girl really has no sense of caution.”
The sight felt less lewd than it did like a child who had gotten carried away with pretend play and taken off her top. I sighed, helped her back into the shirt, then gathered the fabric in both hands and tied it into a large ribbon while she wore it. The doubled layers made the shirt thick enough that it wouldn’t turn see-through even when wet.
“Once the regalia is released… but did you do this without removing your clothes first?”
I asked urgently. Regalia manifested as garments formed from energy. If she activated it while already dressed—
“Is that not allowed?”
“Try releasing it once.”
“...Huh?”
When the regalia vanished and the scene unfolded, Kim Yuseong’s eyes went dead. My workload had just increased.
I roughly gauged her size by eye, then climbed onto the motorcycle.
“Wait here. I’ll head down to the city, buy some clothes, and come right back. Check whether the regalia you prepared earlier remains the same. If it does, test how many times it can be sustained.”
“Please don’t leave me alone!”
Kim Yuseong clung to me far more desperately than before, her face on the verge of tears. Understandable—being abandoned half-naked in the forest would frighten anyone. But still!
“I can’t take a half-naked pervert who isn’t even wearing both pieces of a bikini into town!”
“Nooooooo!”
I had spoken too loudly. She looked ready to cry.
“Here, take this. Slice up anything that approaches except me.”
“...Huh?”
As a temporary measure, I handed her my sword. Before she could respond, I kicked the motorcycle to life and rode toward the city.
After that brief incident, we finished scouting the third candidate site. Still a little early, we stopped at a decent restaurant for lunch and chatted lightly over the meal.
“So you genuinely didn’t know that wearing the regalia would leave you naked?”
“Yes. I was naked when I tried it at home, and I never used it again after that.”
“That means it’s quite safe. No wonder that gastropod had such a tight grip on the surrounding area.”
That was precisely why it had been dangerous, why the region had remained peaceful, and why that inner dan was absolutely essential for Jeju Island.
“More importantly, which spot looks best to you?”
“Um… they all seem quite similar. So similar that I hesitate to choose. Personally, the best location would be…”
“Baengnokdam, right? But it’s somewhat removed from the original request.”
This part would require discussion. Still, it felt like something I could handle.
“After this job is finished, I’ll give serious thought to your situation. However, the conversation can only proceed on the premise that you have the mayor’s permission. Understood?”
“Yes!”
“Unless the three candidate sites possess fatal flaws, you must proceed exactly as planned.”
“Mayor, I am raising this point after considering military conditions as well, not merely commercial perspectives.”
Honestly, I felt like lamenting how I had ended up voicing my opinions in a meeting that included the mayor, high-ranking Jeju officials, and military officers for the sake of this distant island. Late regret washed over me. I could have simply ignored it and continued with the job, but then my dreams would likely be unpleasant.
“Do you have evidence to support that statement?”
Brigadier General Lee Young-il, commander of the 9th Marine Brigade, posed the question.
“Currently, if we take the Imugi as the baseline, its power is comparable to a nuclear bomb or an aircraft carrier. The Scaly-foot Gastropod is slightly lower in rank, yet still capable of rampaging across an entire city… and that entity disappeared as of yesterday.”
“...So you’re saying we’ve become a weak nation without nuclear weapons?”
The remark was aggressive. He hadn’t named it outright, but the reference to North Korea was clear, and he was essentially asking whether our level had fallen to theirs.
“...To use an analogy, our infantry may be American, but we are fighting while leaving our tanks behind. The enemy, by contrast, operates not only tanks but fighter jets as well.”
“In the end, it sounds like you’re pointing to a lack of proficiency among the Awakened.”
“Yes. No matter how excellent the firearm, it is meaningless if the user cannot shoot. Therefore, rather than the original plan of pulling troops from the unstable mainland, it would be more efficient to amplify the gastropod’s energy with the inner dan. This would prevent monsters from entering the island at will while we safely train Jeju’s Awakened in the meantime. Naturally, we secure a water source simultaneously, and Baengnokdam is the most effective candidate site for that purpose.”
“...On the contrary, what is the likelihood that other monsters will be drawn here?”
“If the signal is amplified without countermeasures, the probability exists. However, by installing signal limiters around Jeju Island…”
“But at present, we are severely short on manpower…!”
“Mayor, recruiting from the general civilian population at this time is…”
“Brigade Commander, perhaps the surplus troops excluding essential personnel…”
At some point the conference room descended into uproar. The mayor requested silence multiple times, but the chaos lasted longer than a mere moment. If Jeju was already like this, I couldn’t imagine how tumultuous Seoul must be.
A storm. After the small storm passed, it sought to bear fruit. In the end, the atmosphere leaned toward designating Baengnokdam as the new water source, exactly as I had hoped.
“...A wise decision. That location would allow us to achieve the desired results without unnecessary labor after the artificial initiation. In emergencies, it would also provide an ideal environment for crafting divine weapons… or magical items.”
“Yet we still face issues of budget, time, and equipment.”
“Those can be resolved by employing the Awakened. Especially those with powers over water and earth. Wouldn’t it be wasteful to leave superhumans who can transform a river into a reservoir with a single gesture and hurl house-sized boulders like cannon shells idle?”
“...Didn’t you say the Awakened are not yet prepared for combat?”
“I said they are terrible at fighting, but I never said they lack strength. Provide them with a satisfactory daily wage and there should be few complaints.”
The aides attending the meeting were racking their brains. It seemed they had only ever viewed the Awakened through the narrow lens of ‘weapons.’
“There is only one item required to begin the work. A rust-resistant metal circular plate three meters in diameter and roughly three centimeters thick. With only that, we can commence immediately.”
“Whew…”
The sun had already set. I savored the excessively sweet coffee from the vending machine, thinking it was about time to return to Dohwa. But when I saw the mayor walking toward me, I had no choice but to pause.
“First, thank you. Today was, at the very least, meaningful.”
“It seems meetings like this happen often. When I came to speak with you, they mentioned an imminent meeting and suggested I present then. I was a little surprised.”
“Hahaha, my apologies. I was short on time as well. I thought it would conclude simply, but it grew into something larger than expected. Still, if it’s a matter of this scale, I welcome it.”
He spoke smoothly. All while clearly intending to use me as a front to reexamine and expand the plan.
Ah, that’s right. I needed to ask about Kim Yuseong. I would confirm it myself before she could say anything strange.
“Speaking of which, a friend named Kim Yuseong says she wants to follow me and defeat monsters.”
“Outside of Jeju Island?”
“Yes. So it would be best if you, Mayor, could give your words on the matter.”
He would refuse. At a time when even a single Awakened was precious, there was no chance he would let a talent like Kim Yuseong leave…
“I approve.”
Why?