First Battle and a Meal
The moment Sunghyun fainted and slipped into sleep, Hayato was gazing up at the night sky.
Beside him, Sasaki looked at the same sky and spoke.
“There are two moons.”
“Yeah.”
“They say you’re the Hero.”
“That’s how it turned out.”
Sasaki furrowed her brows, looking a little sulky.
“We’re ordinary high school students. We definitely were until this morning. Then all of a sudden people start talking about Heroes and whatever else, and honestly… I still don’t really get it.”
That was only the beginning. Sasaki seemed to have a great deal more to say; she gently took hold of Hayato’s wrist.
Had the feelings she already carried simply grown larger in this other world?
Swept up in the moment, she never noticed and kept going.
“Earlier the court mage explained mana to all of us. But by the time today ended, not a single one of us had managed to awaken to it.”
Her eyes turned sad as she continued.
“Can we really do this? Can we actually defeat the Demon King? We can’t even use the most basic mana yet.”
Well…
Hayato met her gaze straight on.
“Until now I never felt like I was actually alive. Everything was boring—maybe that’s why. I always just laughed it off, kept everything moderate, even when it was bullying aimed at me.”
His eyes lit up as he laid himself bare.
“But the second I arrived here I felt this strange hunger. The moment they told me I was the Hero, I cheered inside. Finally—finally the heart-pounding thing I’d always wanted had shown up.”
He lifted the hand resting on his wrist and pressed it against his own chest.
“Under this pressure, I finally feel desperately, truly alive.”
Hayato smiled, bright and open.
And in that instant, a faint golden mana settled into the light of his eyes.
“…!”
The moment Sunghyun entered the forest he was running again.
This place is completely wrong!
He had thought he was stronger now, yet this forest obeyed no common sense at all.
First came a snake whose body stretched well past twenty meters. The danger his senses screamed at him was worse than any tiger. So he figured the snake had to be the strongest thing around.
He was wrong.
A gorilla appeared out of nowhere. His senses judged it even more dangerous. Still, escape still looked possible.
When the gorilla approached, the snake flicked its tongue and launched itself. Some venomous substance dripped from its fangs; wherever the drops hit the ground, smoke rose.
None of it touched the gorilla. The ape simply tilted its head aside, seized the snake’s tail, and swung the entire monster like a whip.
Watching that, Sunghyun naturally thought, Ah, so the gorilla is the real top dog now!
The gorilla was still savoring its victory when a monstrous cry tore across the sky.
Kraaaarrrraaaah!
“Fuck, what the hell is that now?”
Something covered in crimson scales came flying, fire already gathering at its jaws. The red speck grew larger by the second.
As it drew near, every instinct in his body screamed absolute alarm.
Run.
When he had looked at the snake or the gorilla the feeling had never been this intense. Fight and he would lose for certain, but he could still get away.
This thing was different.
Meet it and he would die. No question.
Sunghyun held his breath and slipped away at once.
Somewhere behind him something that sounded like a gorilla’s death scream rolled through the trees. He glanced back the way he had come.
This place is insane…
Having gone a full day without food, hunger finally hit him hard.
“Anything edible around here?”
He carefully spotted a tree heavy with fruit.
“Oh? Fruit?”
Something felt off. His senses were warning him not to get closer.
“Ah, whatever. Food first.”
It was careless—completely unlike him.
He climbed the tree and reached for a piece of fruit. The trunk began to vibrate.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—
The tree itself was moving.
The shaking knocked one fruit free into his hand as he dropped back to the ground.
He stared in disbelief.
“What the hell is this?!”
A giant with a tree growing out of its head was slowly rising to its feet.
Sunghyun didn’t even look back. He ran.
“…!”
He poured mana through his body in a frantic rush, desperate to put distance between himself and the giant.
Boom— Boom—
The giant chased him for a short while, then stopped once the gap grew wide enough. Sunghyun stopped too, gasping for air.
“Holy shit! What the fuuuuuck! You bastards, I’ll see you later!”
He flipped the forest the middle finger and kept walking.
This time he decided to trust his instincts completely.
“So that’s why my gut was screaming when I went for the fruit… Damn, I should’ve known.”
He swallowed the single fruit he had managed to snatch. His senses stayed quiet; the fruit itself was fine.
From now on I use the gut feeling for everything.
Back on Earth it only flared for major deals. Here it rang almost constantly—and with surprising accuracy.
“Alright… which way has things I can actually handle?”
He began letting his instincts guide him.
“That way? No. How about over there? Ugh, just looking at it gives me chills. That direction… hmm, a little iffy, but it feels okay.”
He let himself be pulled toward the least dangerous path.
“My gut’s never been wrong so far, so I’ll trust it for now. Not like I know where the hell I am anyway.”
Being alone made him talk to himself; he chuckled under his breath.
After a while the undergrowth thinned and he stepped into a stretch of pure, ordinary-looking forest.
“Oh, this place feels good. Wait—rabbit spotted.”
A rabbit was hopping right in front of him. He approached. His senses stayed silent.
“Dinner’s served.”
He reached out, mana gathering in his hand.
Duck.
The warning hit at the exact same instant the rabbit’s teeth lengthened into razor blades and it launched itself at him.
Having already decided to trust his instincts, Sunghyun threw his body backward hard.
Kiiyuuut!
The rabbit shot past him and let out a frustrated cry.
“Ha! So even the rabbits aren’t normal around here?”
Still—
“Something your size I can handle. My gut isn’t screaming that loud about you.”
Whether the rabbit understood or not, it scowled. It bared those blade-like teeth again and lunged.
His senses even told him exactly where to strike.
The same guiding lines he had seen in the final moments while being chased by the tiger.
They showed him the path.
He simply let his body settle into whatever stance instinct demanded.
Balance.
Left foot as the center. Right foot defining his range.
He pivoted on the left foot and stepped out with the right. Eyes locked on the rabbit’s body, right hand forward, left hand back.
As his right hand closed the distance he twisted his wrist just a fraction.
The mana seated in his dantian flooded outward through every channel while he steadied his breath.
Hooo…
The instant the rabbit’s sword-like teeth met his hand, Sunghyun snapped his wrist with vicious force.
Thup.
He seized the teeth and yanked downward. The rabbit thrashed wildly, but he was never going to let go.
He formed a knife-hand and drove it into the rabbit’s neck.
KRAK!
The moment his hand met flesh he spun the mana inside him with savage speed. The rotation amplified the strike until it simply destroyed the rabbit’s neck.
The body went limp, still hanging from the teeth clenched in his fist.
Sunghyun lifted the corpse and yanked the fangs free.
Pssshhhhaaaak!
A shocking amount of blood sprayed out, drenching him from head to toe.
“Haa… now I’ve got to wash again. Still—finally got meat. Bonus weapon too.”
He grinned, grabbed the rabbit by the ears, and used the mana-charged fang to sever the head cleanly.
Seok—
Most of the blood had already poured out through the mouth, so the neck barely bled.
Calmly he began butchering. He split the belly, removed the organs, then separated skin and fur, wrapping the meat in the pelt.
Finished, he cocked an ear and listened for running water.
“Let’s see… oh, there it is.”
He headed toward the sound of a stream, rabbit hide tied around his waist, raw meat in his left hand and the fang in his right—looking every bit the perfect primitive hunter.
A thought struck him and he scowled.
“Ah shit. How do I make fire? Hmm… wait, that’ll work.”
He activated a skill.
Dimensional Shop [EX]
Ziiiiiing—
His entire field of vision filled with an interface. He clicked his tongue.
“Ugh, shrink it down already.”
The window obediently shrank and settled into the lower-right corner of his sight.
“Let’s see… new coins in the dimensional account… twenty points? Kinda stingy…”
He glanced at the rabbit meat still in his left hand.
“Anyway, that doesn’t matter right now. Shop, shop.”
He hummed while scrolling through the list.
“Oh, found it. Fire.”
Confirm purchase?
“Yes~. Fire’s essential, so even if it hurts I’ve gotta buy it.”
Just like that his coin balance returned to zero.
He reached the stream, rinsed the rabbit meat clean, and started humming from pure anticipation of a hot meal.
“Hmm-hmm~.”
He gathered scattered stones into a rough cylindrical hearth, filled it with dry branches, and produced a serviceable fire pit.
Then he drew up mana and activated the new skill.
Fire [F]
Fwoosh—
A tiny flame blossomed on his fingertip. The more mana he poured in, the larger the fire grew, until it reached the size of a soccer ball and the growth slowed.
“Hmm? This is actually usable in a real fight.”
He muttered the idle thought while setting the hearth ablaze.
Whoooosh—
The sizable flame licked the branches and they caught at once, burning bright.
He skewered the rabbit meat on a stick and propped it carefully above the fire so it wouldn’t fall.
Watching the meat turn golden brown, he actually drooled.
“First meal in another world, huh… I’ve only ever seen this scene in comics. Living it feels weird.”
He slowly rotated the skewer until the meat took on a delicious brown color, then lifted it and tore off a leg.
“Thanks for the meal.”
He bit in. His eyes lit up and he began devouring it with pure greed.
“What the hell? I figured no seasoning would make it bland and gamey, but this? This tastes better than most fried chicken.”
He had just finished both legs when his senses flared again.
“Unfortunately, the sky doesn’t seem inclined to give me any rest.”
Even without the gut feeling he already knew the enemy was close.
Grrrrr—
A wolf whose fur shone pure white bared its fangs and locked eyes on him.
“Came for the cooking smell, huh? Hmm, not a bad post-meal workout.”
Sunghyun looked down on the wolf with open arrogance. The beast stretched its neck and howled.
Awooooooo—
The same cry answered from deeper in the forest.
Awooooooo—
“Huh? Something feels off…”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud—
It wasn’t one or two. Dozens of footfalls thundered from the direction of the howls.
Cold sweat beaded on Sunghyun’s forehead.
“I’m fucked.”