Chapter 203: Eternal Spire[R-18] (28)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 203: Eternal Spire[R-18] (28)
After ordering the maids to wash the mother and daughter, I also took a quick shower. Then, I lay down on the bed and picked up my smartphone.
‘It’s about time I returned to reality.’
More time had passed in the world of Lewd Yokai After School than I’d expected. There were still women I hadn’t touched, but there was no need to rush.
‘I can just come back later and enjoy myself then.’
I launched the Libido App.
In an instant, the space shifted, and I was back in reality.
“Hngh…”
Returning to reality after possessing such great power, my body went limp with a sense of weakness.
‘This feeling of detachment is intense…’
I lay in bed for a while, acclimating to the sensations of reality. Once I was somewhat used to it, I picked up my smartphone again.
I launched the Libido App, quickly skimmed the notifications, and opened my status window.
-Tiring!
The notifications had piled up. I gave them a cursory glance and went straight to my status window.
[Status Window]
Name: Jin Seo-yun
Level: 39
Strength: 50 (+2)
Stamina: 51
Agility: 50 (+2)
Virility: 50 (+1)
Internal Energy: 59
[Points: 64,740]
‘I’ve accumulated a good amount of points.’
My level had also risen to 39.
‘Should I try the gacha for the first time in a while…?’
Seeing all the points I had piled up suddenly made me want to try my luck. But I barely managed to resist the temptation.
The important thing right now was to save up 100,000 points. I couldn’t afford to waste them unnecessarily.
‘If I try it and only get trash, I’ll just get pissed… I might end up using all my points.’
I clicked my tongue and checked my Owned Creations.
‘Should I go to the Eternal Spire? I can gather some points there.’
Without hesitation, I clicked on Eternal Spire.
*
Yoon Jae-ho bit his lip.
‘Damn it… I thought the strategy I knew from before my regression would be enough…’
The fact that he was a regressor had actually worked against him.
The arrogance of knowing the future.
That was what had led to this situation.
‘I was so sure I knew the future, so where did it all go wrong…?’
He gritted his teeth and turned his head.
Park So-young was on Kim Min-su’s back.
Her face was pale.
And—
“Don’t… sob…”
Her voice was a small murmur, as if she were dreaming.
“So-young! Snap out of it!”
Kim Min-su called out to her desperately, but her hazy eyes just stared into the empty air. What she was seeing wasn’t reality, but something else entirely.
Yoon Jae-ho clenched his fists in anger.
The curse-type monster they had encountered in the dungeon earlier.
The image of its attack hitting Park So-young directly was seared into his mind.
“Damn it… I got too ahead of myself. Acting so overconfident was…”
Kim Min-su’s voice was firm.
“This isn’t the time for self-blame. First, we need to get back to the village and get So-young treated.”
Randolph loosed an arrow and shouted.
“What are we going to do if the leader is panicking! We need to get her to the temple, fast!”
Yoon Jae-ho collected himself and nodded.
“I’m sorry. We’ll move to the village at full speed.”
He gritted his teeth, reflecting on his mistake.
‘No more mistakes. Whatever it takes… I will save Park So-young.’
They escaped the dungeon.
*
Park So-young slowly opened her eyes.
The soft touch of the blankets. The faint scent of wood. The warm sunlight streaming through the window.
It was a familiar space.
‘…The second-floor inn?’
She was sure she had been fighting in a dungeon, but her memory of what happened was hazy.
‘Was it a dream…?’
Just then, the door opened and a man walked in.
“So-young, you’re awake?”
A familiar voice.
She turned her head to look at the man.
“Ah, Min-su…”
Kim Min-su was looking at her with a worried expression.
His face was set, as if he were about to say something serious.
“Listen, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“…What is it?”
She felt a sense of déjà vu, as if she had experienced this exact situation somewhere before.
“Jae-ho’s gone.”
“Jae-ho… is gone?”
She felt like she had been with him just a short while ago, but she couldn’t recall his face.
Her memories were hazy and distorted.
‘Wait, didn’t we go into a dungeon…?’
She desperately tried to retrace her memories. But her memories of the dungeon faded like sand slipping through her fingers.
“Ugh…”
A sharp headache pulsed through her skull.
“So-young!”
Kim Min-su rushed to her side. But the headache vanished as quickly as it had come.
As if it had never happened.
Her chaotic emotions settled. And then, without any suspicion, she asked Kim Min-su again.
“What do you mean, Jae-ho’s gone?”
Kim Min-su sighed and walked over to the window.
“He left yesterday and hasn’t come back. I checked his room this morning, but he wasn’t there…. He’s not the type to disappear without a word.”
“It’s probably nothing. You know how Jae-ho is. Or maybe he went out somewhere with Isia.”
“No. Isia is sleeping in her room right now. And this is the first time he’s ever disappeared without a word.”
Park So-young smiled nonchalantly and spoke as if it were no big deal.
“Don’t worry, Min-su. Maybe he just went out early this morning to look for more information about the dungeon?”
Kim Min-su nodded, but he still looked anxious.
“Maybe, but… I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Let’s wait until the afternoon. If he’s not back by then, we can go look for him.”
But days passed, and Yoon Jae-ho did not return.
Even Isia suddenly left the party and joined Jin Seo-yun’s.
Park So-young and Kim Min-su were unsettled by Isia’s sudden departure, but they continued to search the village high and low for Yoon Jae-ho, asking everyone they could.
Eventually, they met someone who had seen him.
“That guy? Yeah, I saw him coming out of that inn over there.”
“When was that?”
“Was it five days ago? I think so.”
Park So-young and Kim Min-su exchanged a look.
Where they stood, a sign reading ‘Blue Dream’ hanging on an old building swayed in the wind.
“Why would he go to a place like that?”
Kim Min-su’s expression hardened as he headed for the inn.
“Let’s go in and ask.”
When they entered the inn, an old man was sitting and reading a magazine.
“Excuse me, but could we ask about a man who stayed here five days ago? He was tall, with black hair, and probably wearing a gray cloak.”
The man looked up, annoyed.
“A lot of people look like that. But five days ago…”
The man rubbed his fingers together, gesturing for something. Kim Min-su tossed the man a silver coin.
“Ah, that guest. I remember him. He rented a room for a day with a really serious look on his face. Then he left in a hurry a few hours later.”
“Did he meet anyone, by any chance?” Kim Min-su asked.
The man shook his head.
“I wouldn’t know about that.”
Park So-young stepped forward with a serious expression.
“Our companion has suddenly disappeared. We’re really worried. Any information would be helpful.”
The man stared at her for a long moment, then held out his hand again.
For a moment, Park So-young flared up and was about to say something, but Kim Min-su stopped her and tossed the man more silver coins.
The man took the silver, grinned, and leaned back in his chair, muttering.
“Actually… something was a little strange about the room that man stayed in that day.”
Kim Min-su and Park So-young’s gazes sharpened.
“Strange how?”
“After the guest left, I went in to clean the room in the morning, you see? But…”
The man lowered his voice.
“There was a nasty smell in that room. A fishy smell, you could say… No, it wasn’t just an ordinary smell.”
Park So-young’s eyebrows twitched.
“It wasn’t something like the smell of blood?”
The man shook his head.
“Not that… It was a smell that’s hard to describe. Other than that, there was nothing else strange.”
Kim Min-su spoke up.
“Do you happen to know which room it was?”
The man held out his hand.
Kim Min-su clicked his tongue briefly and handed over another silver coin.
“Second floor, room 207.”
At his words, Park So-young and Kim Min-su immediately headed for the stairs.
They went up one floor and down the hall, where they saw room 207.
When they opened the door and stepped inside, the room was already neatly cleaned.
Kim Min-su sighed.
“It’s been days… there won’t be any traces left.”
“Haa… where did Jae-ho disappear to…”
After some thought, Park So-young spoke.
“Should we ask that guy, Jin Seo-yun, for help?”
Kim Min-su crossed his arms, lost in thought.
“…Let’s do that. He’s been throwing money around town lately… He might be able to get information easily with that. And since Isia joined his party, we could ask her to put in a word for us.”
Park So-young and Kim Min-su left the inn. After confirming the two had left, the innkeeper pulled a small leather pouch from a drawer.
The innkeeper fiddled with the pouch, a satisfied smile on his face.
“Hehe, business has been good these past few days…”
He carefully opened the pouch and checked the gold coins. They glittered, reflecting the light.
As he placed the pouch back deep inside the drawer, he recalled the man who had given him the gold coins a few days ago. The man with the sharp eyes, and the tantalizing woman he carried on his back, came to mind.
“If I run my mouth, I’ll probably end up dead without anyone knowing, huh…?”
*
Park So-young went to Jin Seo-yun and asked for his help in finding Yoon Jae-ho.
He accepted her request readily, without much thought. But as time passed, Yoon Jae-ho’s whereabouts remained a mystery.
In the end, with no clues found, the search ended in failure.
Upon hearing the news, Park So-young let out a deep sigh.
“Haa… I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore.”
Kim Min-su scratched his head in frustration.
“So-young, what do we do now?”
“I don’t know…”
Park So-young sank to the ground, her face exhausted.
“The two of us can’t go hunting, and if we join another party like last time, I’m afraid we’ll just get into trouble again… Haa…”
Her voice was laced with a deep sense of helplessness. In the time they had spent searching for Yoon Jae-ho, they had neglected everything else, and their situation had worsened.
“Min-su… how much money do we have left?”
Kim Min-su quietly rummaged through his pockets. The few remaining coins clinked at his fingertips. He looked at Park So-young and spoke heavily.
“…Just four silver coins.”
Park So-young’s face hardened.
“Really… that’s all?”
Kim Min-su nodded.
“We used the rest of our money a few days ago to pay for the inn and food. What’s left won’t even last us two days.”
Park So-young bit her lip and clenched her fists.
Forget hunting, they were now in a situation where they had to find a new party just to survive. But even that wasn’t easy.
‘If we end up in the wrong party like last time…. we might not be able to get out again.’
The last party they had joined had been friendly at first, but they ended up betraying them and trying to assault her. The nightmarish memory flashed through her mind.
“…Are we going to starve to death at this rate?” Park So-young muttered weakly.
Kim Min-su looked at her and let out a deep sigh.
“I don’t know. Finding a trustworthy party isn’t as easy as it sounds. And all the people who approach us are just weirdos.”
The two looked at each other in silence. With each passing moment, their situation grew more desperate.
Just then.
-Knock, knock!
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Isia! Can I come in?”
“Come in!”
Isia opened the door and entered. She looked completely different. She was wearing equipment that looked expensive at a glance, and a pricey crystal necklace glittered at her throat. The simple girl who had run dungeons with them a month ago was nowhere to be seen.
“Have you two been well?”
Isia’s voice carried a light air of confidence.
Park So-young couldn’t hide the surprise in her eyes at Isia’s splendid gear.
“Isia… you’ve changed a lot.” Park So-young said cautiously.
“Hehe. It’s all thanks to Seo-yun. He got me some good equipment.”
Kim Min-su asked Isia, his face full of envy.
“I’m so jealous…. But what brings you here?”
Isia observed the two for a moment before smiling gently.
“Actually, I came to invite you two to our party.”
“Us?” Park So-young asked, her expression surprised.
“Yes. I heard you’ve been having a tough time lately. Seo-yun said he’d welcome you both, too.”
Park So-young and Kim Min-su looked at each other.
“What do you think, Min-su?”
“Of course we should join. We’ll regret it if we miss an opportunity like this.”
“You think so, too?”
“That’s a relief. And if you join the party, you’ll be able to get equipment support, just like me.”
“Really?” Park So-young asked, her expression incredulous.
“Yes. As you know, Seo-yun has a lot of money.”
“Great! Let’s go right now!”
Park So-young and Kim Min-su quickly packed their things. To the two of them, exhausted by their financial struggles, Isia’s offer was like rain in a drought.