Chapter 47
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Cave Hot Spring (1)
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Yoon Harin, who had been holding her breath tensely off to the side all this time, suddenly widened her eyes round. She alternated her gaze between me and the two fighting, her face filled with awe, before letting out an exclamation of admiration.
"Wow... You're amazing, sunbae-nim...!"
"Huh?"
"To handle a clone at that level so freely... It's truly astonishing! Kim Doyoon is really strong too, but sunbae-nim's clone feels on another dimension!"
Hm. Is it really on another dimension...
Well, for someone at the level of a typical trainee hunter, witnessing that kind of exchange up close was a rare experience.
Maybe not later on, but right now, it was enough to make her eyes bulge.
"That guy's impressive too. It's rare for someone his age to wield sword aura like that already. Once he enrolls in the academy and starts proper training... well, in a few months—no, maybe even a few weeks—he'll probably surpass this doll I made by a wide margin."
I shrugged at Yoon Harin's praise and responded, deliberately hyping up Kim Doyoon a bit more.
After all, in terms of potential, the guy was the world's strongest in the story.
A flash of pride crossed Yoon Harin's face at my compliment.
"The academy, huh..."
With some of the tension from Kim Doyoon's performance eased, Yoon Harin naturally shifted the topic to the academy. True to her model student character, she seemed very curious about academy life.
"Sunbae-nim, if it's not too rude, could I ask a bit more about the academy?"
"Of course. Ask whatever you want."
As if she'd been waiting, she started firing off questions.
Just like a model student picking out predicted exam questions before a test.
"I mainly use fire-element magic. At the academy, are there any professors or sects you'd recommend? I'd like to know in advance before enrolling."
Flame Sect, huh. She really was the quintessential model student character.
She was already thinking about joining a sect.
"Hm, for the Flame Sect, it's obviously Professor Drhart."
"Professor Drhart?"
"Yeah. Fifth Seat of the Flame Sect, Drhart.
He's got a reputation for being strict and having a piss-poor personality, but when it comes to teaching fire magic, he's the academy's top authority.
There are stronger folks out there, but no one matches him for contracting with fire spirits or advanced magic applications. Learn properly from him, and your skills will skyrocket."
In the game too, Professor Drhart was infamous for his rigid, inflexible nature, but it was a route that guaranteed solid growth.
'The questline was pretty important. Even gave skillbooks.'
I gave her advice based on my memories.
"P-Piss-poor personality..."
For some reason, it felt like I'd scared her unnecessarily in advance.
"Ahem, anyway, if you're thinking pure skill, getting into Professor Drhart's lab is the best bet. Start buttering him up from year one to make a good impression early."
Yoon Harin looked a bit flustered at my frank advice but seemed to be diligently taking mental notes.
Model student indeed.
At that moment, the sound of Kim Doyoon stopping his sword aura in exhaustion and panting heavily reached us. Surrounded by slimes with no room to dodge, he was swinging his sword wildly just to buy time. It looked like the end was near.
Having overused his sword aura, Kim Doyoon was heaving his shoulders as he gasped for breath. He was on the verge of being completely enveloped by the slimes, but he didn't give up. Squeezing out his last bit of mana, he focused it back into his sword. The blade trembled, emitting a more intense blue glow than before.
"Raaagh—!"
The moment he shouted, going for broke, Lena moved as well.
Over ten sharp tentacles sprouted from Lena's slime body like snakes. They whipped through the air toward Kim Doyoon all at once. The eerie sound of them slicing the air filled the cave as the blue tentacles surged forward.
Shwick! Shwick! Shwick shwick!
"Grk!"
Kim Doyoon swung his sword with all his might. The final power condensed in the blade exploded outward, barely deflecting a few of the incoming tentacles.
The intense shockwave spread in all directions, slamming into the cave walls. Several sharp stalactites hanging from the ceiling crashed down with a rumble! Dust billowed thickly into the air.
"Kyaa!"
Yoon Harin let out a short scream amid the smoke.
A do-or-die moment.
From within the dust, a blue sword gleam flickered, followed by the sounds of dozens of slime tentacles clashing violently.
And the result was as expected.
Crack—!
"Ah...!"
The sword Kim Doyoon had poured his power into couldn't withstand the final impact and snapped pathetically. Half the blade flew off, clattering weakly to the ground.
"......"
Everything stopped moving.
Kim Doyoon stood there in a daze, holding the broken sword. Lena's tentacles halted right in front of his nose. As the dust slowly settled, the victor was clear.
Kim Doyoon stared down at his shattered sword for a moment, then gave a wry smile and scratched his head awkwardly.
"I lost."
He bowed to Lena, then walked back toward me, speaking as he came. His face mixed regret with admiration.
"Wow... You're seriously amazing, sunbae-nim. To replicate Hunter Lena's abilities perfectly and at that skill level..."
"Haha, don't overhype me. It's just a copy of real abilities in the end. If you're gonna praise, praise Hunter Miyazaki Lena."
"Hehe, we can praise both! It was a huge experience for me anyway!"
"Glad it helped."
Looking at Kim Doyoon sweating buckets and panting roughly, a thought suddenly struck me. Might as well build more goodwill while we're at it.
"Phew, look at all that sweat. If you're up for it, why not hit the hot spring before we go?"
"Hot spring?"
"Yeah. Lucky find—a decent open-air one right behind the campsite. Perfect for unwinding."
"Whoa, really?"
He excitedly grabbed Yoon Harin's arm beside him.
"Harin-ah! Let's bathe together! That sounds awesome!"
"Hey, Kim Doyoon...!"
Yoon Harin flushed and looked flustered at the sudden grab, but seeing his innocent face, she chuckled and shook her head.
"Haa... You're impossible. Fine, I've sweated a ton anyway."
Hearing their casual banter, I flinched for a second. Bathe together?
No way—guys and girls, and underage juniors at that, just saying it so casually?
'Is this world just that fast-paced by default?'
Or was I being too uptight? For a moment, I wondered if I hadn't fully adapted to the game's freewheeling worldview yet. Amid those confusing thoughts, Kim Doyoon grinned brightly at me.
"Haha, sunbae-nim should join too! It'd feel bad hogging it ourselves!"
"Me too?"
I was caught off guard. Together? All three of us? For real?
The unexpected invitation flustered me a bit, but refusing would seem weird. I didn't want to look like the only one out of sync with this world's 'normalcy.' Maybe this was just a common way to bond.
"Uh... sure. Why not."
"You guys go ahead then. Yerin and I will pack up gear and catch up!"
So this really was the way of this world.
Not full mixed bathing, but apparently a culture where men and women could soak relatively freely in the same space. I nodded inwardly, convinced.
'Actually, it hasn't been that long since I possessed this body. Mostly stuck in Paradise or the academy, so my grasp of Tartaros basics is fuzzy outside game knowledge.'
Honestly, I hadn't expected Paradise's sex-positive vibes to carry over unchanged outside it.
This world might be way more open than I thought.
"Gotta adapt... yeah, adapt..."
I tried to act nonchalant and headed out from the campsite first. Lena quietly followed behind.
As Da-eun noona had said, steam rose gently from between rocks behind the site.
A small but atmospheric natural open-air hot spring. There were rocks nearby to provide some cover.
I casually stripped off my clothes. The slightly cool cave air brushed my bare skin. Grabbing a towel last, I barely covered the essentials and slowly sank into the steaming water.
Splash—
"Kuh..."
The hot water melted away the fatigue from my whole body.
Lena slipped into the bath in her swimsuit as well.
I closed my eyes to enjoy the soak for a bit when footsteps approached from the side, along with Kim Doyoon and Yoon Harin's voices.
"Whoa, there's actually a hot spring!"
"Nice vibe. Steam's rising good."
'They're here.'
I turned my body, trying to look as natural as possible.
"Oh, you made it? Water's great, come on in..."
I froze mid-invitation, words dying in my throat. My whole body went rigid.
They were still dressed.
In the training clothes they'd worn just moments ago.
I was the only one who'd come in with just a towel barely covering me.
"Whoa."
My mind went blank for a second.
Kim Doyoon and Yoon Harin blinked wide-eyed at my near-nude state—or towel-clad, really—but quickly averted their gazes as if it were nothing and approached the water's edge.
"Man, the water's nice and warm, sunbae-nim!"
Kim Doyoon grinned innocently and dipped in from the feet up, while Yoon Harin cleared her throat awkwardly and cautiously entered the bath. Her eyes deliberately avoided meeting mine, looking elsewhere.
I felt my face burning.
Well, stripping in a rift crawling with monsters was pretty risky, after all.
"......"
"......"
As I awkwardly fidgeted alone in the silence, trying to cover myself more with the towel, Yoon Harin spoke up first to break the ice. Her gaze lingered briefly on my chest muscles before hastily dropping to the water's surface. Her cheeks were slightly flushed.
"Um... sunbae-nim must have it nice with such a reliable clone."
"Huh?"
"You can leave the perimeter watch to it and relax in the hot spring even inside a rift like this... We can't even undress without feeling anxious..."
She was trying to be considerate, framing my nudity in a reasonable light.
"Y-Yeah, that's true."
"Right? I wanna strip down too, sunbae-nim."
But Kim Doyoon seemed to take her words at face value, muttering while eyeing his own clothes with clear regret.
Then, as if resolving something, he turned to Yoon Harin.
"Hey, Harin-ah. Thinking about it, sunbae-nim's cool with it, so maybe we can strip too? Bathing in clothes feels kinda off, honestly!"
"What? Hey, are you crazy? Here of all places...!"
Yoon Harin yelped in shock to stop him, but Kim Doyoon was already acting. He started yanking off his top. Boyish lean muscles came into view.
"Hey, seriously!"
"Hey now! Even sunbae-nim—no, hyungnim Kang Ihyeon went all-in like this. Can't let some clothes hold us back, right?"
He ditched his last pants too, down to his underwear now.
'This punk...'
He looked refreshingly unburdened.
Like he was using me as an excuse to indulge in something rebellious he'd normally never do—a face full of liberation.
"Ehehe, way cooler like this!"
Kim Doyoon grinned in satisfaction and plunged back into the bath with a splash. Hot water sprayed everywhere.
Yoon Harin sighed deeply but didn't try to stop him anymore. She'd given up, probably.
'If it were anyone else, she might've thought they were being considerate of me, but this is Kim Doyoon.'
The straight-laced protagonist with a pure, honest personality.
He was surely being genuine.
Thanks to that, I felt much more at ease.
At least I wasn't the lone pervert.
"Fuuu... So relaxing..."
We soaked wordlessly in the steaming water for a while, easing our fatigue. Steam kept rising steadily, and in the cave's quiet, only the occasional trickle of water sounded.
The initial awkwardness and embarrassment seemed to melt away in the heat. Kim Doyoon goofed around diving under, while Yoon Harin quietly closed her eyes, unwinding.
I wanted to stay like this forever. The problem was... it was time to get out.
'Ah... gotta head out soon...'
Standing up felt daunting. Because of my 'equipment' that hadn't fully subsided yet. Towel or no, I couldn't guarantee its state the moment I rose.
Especially problematic: my hazy vision from the steam was clearing up, getting sharper.
Yoon Harin, sitting right across from me, came into crystal focus.
Her cheeks glowed red from the heat, and her wet clothes clung tightly to her body.
I hadn't noticed in her academy uniform, but... surprisingly well-developed. The ample outline of her breasts showed clearly even through the soaked fabric.
A signal stirred below again.
"Fuu... shouldn't we head out soon? Too long and it'll drain you."
"Yeah... I think I'm good to go... What about you, Harin?"
"I'll stay a bit longer."
Yoon Harin said with a satisfied expression, savoring the steam.
"Feels like all the tension's melting away. I wanna stay another hour at least."
Ah, right.
Damn, I'd forgotten. She was a fire mage. Of course she'd love the heat.
'Another hour?!'
In this state? If Kim Doyoon left with me, it'd be less embarrassing, but leaving her alone when she wanted to stay wasn't an option. Meanwhile, my lower half was swelling even more defiantly.
'Need drastic measures.'
If the direct approach wouldn't work, time for another method. Sorry to the protagonist, but no choice. Better to 'raise' him first!
'If it goes well, I'll hook you up with cheap Paradise coupons later!'