The Peninsula Cleansed
The search — an interlude. What should you do if someone catches a cold? The method is very simple. Take cold medicine and rest well. Then, how do you avoid catching a cold in the first place? Eating good food? Boosting your immunity? Exercising? Sure, those work too. But there's something even more important than all of that. Hygiene. Keeping your body, mind, and surroundings clean.
Following that example, when the Martial God's heavenly mandate descended upon the Korean Peninsula, once buried under the filth of the Corruption Worshippers—
The Martial God's proposed one-month deadline was surpassed. The Korean Peninsula was cleansed even faster. Of course, various incidents occurred during the process, but thanks to the many useful abilities in this world, accidental mishaps and witch hunts were quickly resolved.
Just as the filth spread across the peninsula was being cleared away and the aftermath neatly wrapped up—
"Lee Yoo-jin, Arthur, Noah. You all worked hard."
The tumultuous internship had come to an end.
"Thank you."
I bowed my head in gratitude as Kali patted my shoulder and told me I'd done well. Following that, when she patted Arthur and Noah on the shoulders—
""…Thank you.""
Both of them bowed their heads weakly, their faces looking unusually haggard. Seeing them like that, I felt a pang of sympathy and let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
'If I didn't have Terra and infinite stamina, I'd probably look just like them.'
Thinking that, I glanced behind Kali. The moment the people buried under mountains of paperwork felt my gaze—
"Uuuu… You guys are the only ones escaping this hell…"
"Take me too, take me too…!"
"…Yoo-jin, are you abandoning us? Is that it?"
They pleaded with me, their eyes nearly devoid of light, begging to be saved. I apologized silently in my heart and turned my head away. In response, the voices of the punitive force members calling out our names grew even more desperate.
"…How noisy."
Kali frowned slightly and used telekinesis. With a creak, the wide-open door began to move.
"Yoo-jin! Yoo-jin…!"
"Kwaaaah! Arthur! Kwaaaah! Noah!"
"Captain, please! Don't close the door……"
Thud. The door shut. The noise vanished.
"Finally quiet."
Kali nodded in satisfaction and lightly touched one of the rings on her finger. Then she reached into a newly formed pocket dimension and pulled out the two daggers she had given me on the transport ship last time.
"Arthur, Noah. Catch."
Kali handed one to each of them.
"Captain, this is…?"
When Noah, who had received a dagger, looked at her as if asking why she was giving it to him, Kali smiled faintly.
"It's a gift to commemorate the end of your internship."
"…I heard that to obtain this dagger, one had to become an official member. Is it really okay to just give it as a gift?"
At Arthur's question, Kali tilted her head.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"…Pardon?"
Arthur stared at Kali with a blank expression, as if he couldn't understand. Seeing that, Kali chuckled.
"I'm the captain of this unit. Who would dare say anything? Besides, I didn't just give it to you for no reason."
Kali's eyes met mine and Arthur's. Then she looked back at Arthur and continued.
"Even though you're only interns and not official members, to me, the vice-captain, and the other members, you're already part of the unit."
That's why she gave them the emblems, she added, patting Arthur on the shoulder.
"……"
Arthur stared silently into Kali's eyes. Then, with a "I'll gratefully accept it," he bowed his head and stored the dagger in his pocket dimension item. Noah followed suit, offering his thanks and storing his away as well.
"…I suppose I should get back to work now."
Kali frowned and clicked her tongue. From the look of it, even Kali, known as the Destroyer, found the paperwork hell overwhelming. Well, even superhumans don't have infinite mental stamina. And since the paperwork kept piling up instead of decreasing, exhaustion was inevitable.
I looked at Kali with sympathetic eyes and pulled an elixir juice from my inventory.
"…Captain, hang in there."
"…Thanks."
Kali accepted the juice with an awkward smile. Then she quickly tucked it into her pocket dimension before anyone could see. Watching her, I felt a surge of emotion so strong that tears nearly welled up.
'…How tough must it be for her to act like that?'
Kali was the type who would share even a single bean with her subordinates, yet paperwork could break even someone like her. I silently sent my respects to Gray and the other members who were probably still buried in documents right now.
"Then everyone, head back safely."
Kali bid us farewell and turned to open the door she had closed earlier. The moment she did, Gray's voice rang out from inside as if he'd been waiting.
"Yoo-jin! Head back safe! And I'll see you during duel season!"
Leaving Gray's words behind—
"Stay healthy, everyone! Don't get hurt!"
"Lee Yoo-jin, Arthur, Noah! Let's meet again next time!"
"Hey, Yoo-jin! I'll definitely come during duel season! See you then!"
All the members waved with pens still in hand, sending their goodbyes. Arthur, Noah, and I bowed our heads in return, wishing them good health. Just before turning away, I teleported elixir juices onto everyone's desks.
"Aaaagh! Yoo-jin, save me— no, thanks!"
"Sa— I love you! I mean, save me!"
"Kids! Take me with you too, take— Mmph! Mmph!"
Explosive sounds of gratitude echoed from behind. They didn't stop until the moment we boarded the transport ship.
&
After arriving at the 9th Punitive Force's base, I stepped off the transport ship and asked the two of them—
"I'm thinking of wandering around outside. What are you two going to do?"
The internship was over, but there was still about a day left of vacation. So for today, I planned to properly enjoy some rest. Of course, that just meant eating delicious food or looking for useful equipment, but to me it was no different from a massive break. After all, I hadn't properly rested even once until now.
"I'm going to get some sleep."
When Noah answered in a drowsy voice, Arthur, who had been walking beside me, looked at me apologetically.
"Yoo-jin, sorry. I'd like to go out with you too, but… I'm too tired right now…"
"Ah, no. You don't have to apologize. Of course you should sleep if you're tired."
"…Thanks."
Arthur expressed her gratitude and leaned slightly against me. But unlike usual, this contact was due to exhaustion, so I didn't push her away. Instead, I held her arm to support her weary steps as we boarded the elevator. Once we reached the base, I gave both of them spirit pills to help them sleep comfortably. Thanks to the elixir's effects, the two of them, now refreshed, thanked me and headed to their respective rooms.
Click. The sound of their doors closing echoed. Then, click—another door sound.
I turned my gaze toward the source. Winri, looking like she'd just woken up with her hair sticking out in all directions, peeked her head out.
"…Yoo-jin, you're back?"
"Hey, sis. Long time no see."
"Yeah… long time… haaam……"
Winri yawned loudly mid-sentence. Then, rubbing her eyes with her small hands, she said—
"Yoo-jin, sorry… I'm… gonna go back to sleep. I fell asleep while making items just now…"
"Ah, it's fine. Sleep well, sis."
"Yeah… bye-bye."
Winri waved her hand and went back inside. Click. The door closed. A quiet stillness settled in.
&
Stepping outside the base—more precisely, outside the Association—I wandered the streets just as I'd told Arthur and Noah. Whenever I caught the scent of delicious food, I went inside and ate. Originally I wasn't much of a big eater, but after my rank increased, my stomach capacity seemed to have grown along with it. No matter how much I ate, there was no end to it.
Anyway, what I did today was nothing special. I ate meals and desserts. If I found decent clothes, I bought them. Useful items… I couldn't find any. So I deliberately searched for places that looked like rundown equipment shops, and in the process, I encountered a villain for the first time.
But strangely, the moment the villain saw me, what he did was—
Thud.
"…This can't be. Even after thousands of simulations, there's no way to win?"
He dropped to his knees. With a face full of despair, no less. My first encounter with a villain, and it ended without a fight. Beyond being anticlimactic, a sense of emptiness washed over me. Still, no fight was a good thing. And since I was in the middle of resting right now, maybe it was fortunate there was no battle after all.
Thinking that, I bound the villain who kept muttering "There's only instant death" and handed him over to the Association. Then I resumed searching for equipment shops.
[All items are low-grade.]
But contrary to what I'd hoped, there were only genuinely old pieces of equipment. No special items at all. Ah, so there really aren't any old swords imbued with ego in this world. Well, there weren't any in the game either, so of course there wouldn't be any in reality. Still, I couldn't help feeling disappointed. Finding ego items in regular equipment shops was a player's romance, after all.
I let out a sigh filled with emptiness and regret before heading back to the base.
&
&
&
And so time passed.
"From now on, the duel season will begin."
The final main quest of the first semester had arrived.
