The Red-Cheeked Ji-su Event

After the red-cheeked Ji-su event concluded, the shop fully activated, bringing massive changes to people’s daily lives. Gold could be earned by killing monsters or even other humans, and with enough of it, anything could be bought from the shop. From basic necessities like food and clothing to powerful weapons and armor. But that wasn’t the only change.

Diverse monsters besides goblins began appearing, and some of them started forming groups and settling in specific locations. Humans had no choice but to band together as well. Surviving on individual strength had only been possible back when goblins were the only threat roaming around. As a result, guilds and clans began sprouting up like mushrooms after rain. The guilds and clans that formed constantly fought against monsters and rival humans, keeping each other in check.

BOOOOM!

With a massive explosion, a huge gray orc was sent flying to the side.

“Grrrrrrrrk!!!”

Even though its entire body was charred black, the orc rose again and charged forward.

“It’s coming! We have to stop it!”

At Si-eun’s shout after launching her fireball, Ji-yun stepped forward with her large shield.

“Haaaaaaaah!!!”

At Ji-yun’s battle cry, the orc suddenly seemed entranced and changed direction, rushing straight toward her.

BOOOOM!

The iron axe the orc wielded slammed into Ji-yun’s shield, but she only slid back slightly without taking any real damage.

Then Ji-su burst out from behind Ji-yun, sword in hand. She streaked past ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the orc at incredible speed, and a moment after she passed, the orc’s head separated from its body and fell to the ground.

THUD!

The headless body collapsed with a heavy crash. Si-eun, Ji-yun, and Ji-su caught their breath lightly.

Yeah, the three of them really do make a great combination.

I had been watching their fight from a short distance behind and now slowly approached them.

“You’re all doing great. How many is that now?”

“The eighth one, Oppa.”

“Good. We’re almost done cleaning up this area too. Just a little more effort.”

The three of them nodded at my words and immediately ran toward another orc.

I pulled a bottle of water from the ring of the subspace, took a sip, and looked out over the wide battlefield.

This was an orc settlement that had formed near Su-a’s guild. There had been two orc settlements relatively close by. We had already wiped out the smaller one a few days ago. Today was the day we finished off the remaining larger settlement.

To drive them out, Su-a’s guild and I had launched a joint extermination operation. Having a monster settlement so close to the guild was far too dangerous. And not just any weak goblin nest—an orc settlement. While their numbers were far fewer than goblins, each individual orc was vastly stronger than even a goblin warrior.

Their average stats are probably almost the same as mine.

That meant even my weak self would struggle in a one-on-one fight. And then there was the boss of this settlement—the orc leader that Su-a was currently fighting. It had a massive frame at least two heads taller than regular orcs and possessed tremendous strength.

But who was Su-a? She was the Hero. She wasn’t yet at the level where she could casually slaughter everything like the overpowered protagonists in novels, but she was still the Hero. Far stronger than ordinary users.

Wearing the black coat I had given her, Su-a swung her sword wrapped in white light, relentlessly pressuring the orc leader.

In truth, if I sent in Juniel—who was currently massacring orcs on the other side—the orc leader would be dealt with very easily. Juniel had already possessed ridiculous stats ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the beginning, but after diligently shaking her hips with me lately, I had been able to raise her stats even further.

Still, what mattered right now was the Hero’s growth. Juniel could raise her stats just by me shaking my hips, but the Hero couldn’t. So I had to help her grow by hunting in the field like this.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The orc leader, wielding a massive axe in each hand, was being helplessly pushed back by Su-a’s attacks. Then came a chilling slicing sound—shluck—as a thin red line appeared across the orc leader’s neck. A moment later, its head fell cleanly to the ground.

“Oh, she won.”

Alright. Now the real fight begins.

When their leader died, goblins would panic, lose control, and get slaughtered. But orcs were different. They never lost their will to fight just because their leader died. Instead, they burned with vengeful fury and went even more berserk.

Last time, not knowing this fact, Su-a’s guild members had nearly suffered heavy losses when the orcs suddenly went mad. Sure enough, as soon as the orc leader died, the remaining orcs began rampaging.

Fortunately, we had already thinned out the number of regular orcs quite a bit before killing the leader, so the situation wasn’t as dangerous as last time when we had been caught off guard.

My thralls and Su-a’s guild members steadily reduced the remaining orc numbers. And then—

Oh, I finally leveled up again. This was the first time since I gained two levels at once from killing the goblin lord. The skill points I got back then hadn’t been enough to raise my main skill, Rise, to the next level. The points required had grown far too large compared to what I received.

I had considered investing in other skills, but I had a feeling that leveling Rise this time would unlock a good derived skill, so I held off. And now it happened here.

Since these monsters were on a completely different level from goblins, they must give a lot more experience. I glanced over the nearly cleaned-up battlefield and opened my status window.

“Status window.”

Wow, level 30. And I finally had 21 skill points saved up. Raising Rise to level 13 required a whopping 15 points. The higher my level got, the more points were needed, so it really wasn’t easy to gather them.

I immediately leveled up the Rise skill.

Yes! Just as I expected, a derived skill appeared. But… Mimicry? What kind of skill is this?

I tilted my head and was about to read the detailed description when—

“Min-gu!”

Su-a came running toward me with a bright expression. I closed the status window and greeted her.

“You worked hard, Su-a. Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. Thanks to the coat you gave me, I didn’t get hurt at all. And during the battle earlier, a broken enemy axe flew toward me…”

Su-a lifted the ring on her finger.

“Thanks to this ‘Ring of Protection,’ I didn’t take any damage.”

Heh, items really are worth their price. No matter how strong someone is, stray attacks can still be dangerous. But with that coat and ring, such risks could be sufficiently blocked.

I smiled and said to Su-a, “That’s a relief. The ‘Ring of Protection’ has already been used once today, so it won’t activate again. Please be careful.”

“Yes, Min-gu. Thank you again.”

Su-a bowed slightly, a faint blush on her face. But when I looked closer, she seemed quite exhausted. Her skin looked dry, and the dark circles under her eyes were obvious. Had she not been sleeping well lately?

“You look really tired. Are you okay?”

“Ah… well…”

Su-a covered her face in embarrassment.

“Ever since the guild registration function appeared in the shop, there have been so many things to worry about. I’ve been a bit tired because of it all.”

So the guild registration function had caused her a lot of stress. I wondered what exactly was going on. I looked at her with concern.

“You shouldn’t push yourself until your body breaks down. If you get sick, it’ll be a big problem… If you need any help, please tell me anything.”

At my worried words, Su-a nodded.

“Yes. Thank you… I…”

Our conversation was interrupted as my thralls returned from the battle.

“Oppa! We’re back.”

Si-eun, still wearing her sunglasses and hat, along with Ji-yun and Ji-su, approached me. Juniel, who had released her armor, walked over with her usual indifferent expression.

Su-a greeted my thralls and then left. It seemed like she had more to say… but if it was important, she would tell me later.

It was time to head back. I smiled and welcomed everyone.

“Good work, everyone. No injuries?”

“None at all. What about you, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Oppa? If only you could have summoned your skeletons, there wouldn’t have been anything to worry about… I still don’t understand why you’re so scared of those cute skeletons…”

Si-eun pouted as she spoke. Just as she said, I hadn’t summoned my Legion of the Dead in this battle. Or rather, I couldn’t. For some strange reason, my undead legion caused fear in anyone who saw them. Even monsters would freeze in terror and back away, but the problem was that it affected allies too. In a small-scale battle like this, it would have caused too much trouble for our own side, so I didn’t summon them from the start.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I can protect myself even without the skeletons. If things get really dangerous, I can just run into the Cradle of Rest.”

I smiled and gently stroked Si-eun’s head. Ji-yun stepped forward.

“Are we heading back now?”

“Yeah. It’s been a while since I moved my body, so I feel stiff. Let’s go rest.”

The sun was already beginning to set. Winter had truly arrived, and the days had grown much shorter. After finishing the cleanup of the battlefield, we began walking back.

By the time we reached the school that served as the guild’s base, the surroundings had already grown completely dark. Su-a and her guild members greeted me before heading inside the school. I returned their greetings and led my group to the small stationery store across the street.

A few days ago, we had left Su-a’s guild and settled here. Su-a had begged us to stay with them, but it was honestly uncomfortable. I wasn’t the type who enjoyed living crowded together with lots of people. Plus, Si-eun kept worrying about running into that Jeong Min-woo guy, so staying there any longer had become difficult.

That’s why we left Su-a’s guild and set up in this small stationery store across from the school. Even if we lived separately, we couldn’t go too far. We had to be close in case anything happened to Su-a. Also, for the sake of my grand plans, I needed to maintain a good relationship with her. So we stayed in this slightly distant location while still operating together with Su-a’s guild.

Dong-seok, standing guard at the entrance of the stationery store, welcomed us. With his vacant eyes, he had been ordered to stand watch so no suspicious people could enter. He really was quite useful. Easy to command, too.

I lightly patted the shoulder of the blankly staring Dong-seok and went inside. When I turned on the lanterns placed throughout the dark stationery store, the interior brightened. In the space created by clearing the display shelves, a large tent stood prominently.

In truth, we lived inside the Cradle of Rest, so the tent wasn’t necessary. But Su-a and her guild members sometimes visited. If there wasn’t a tent set up, they might get suspicious about how we were living here. So it was camouflage.

Next to the tent was a shower tent and a large basin full of water. I spoke to Si-eun.

“Si-eun, could you heat up some water?”

“Yes, Oppa.”

At my request, Si-eun reached into the basin and pulled something out. It was a blue orb the size of a large stone. She held it and concentrated for a moment, and the orb gradually changed from blue to red. When she dropped the red orb back into the basin, it began to boil with a loud hiss.

It was an item we had bought from the shop for 50 gold. We couldn’t wash with cold water in the winter. Since it could produce warm water anytime by charging it with mana, we used it constantly. The shop’s items really were worth every penny.

I entered the shower tent and took a warm shower. There was no heating, so the air was cold, but I could endure that much. The inside of the Cradle of Rest was warm anyway. After a refreshing shower, I entered the Cradle of Rest and lay down on the mattress.

It was time to properly examine the derived skill Mimicry I had just obtained. I opened the status window and clicked on the Mimicry skill.

…What the hell does that mean? The explanation is so half-assed.

Thanks to Form Restoration, my thralls already looked exactly like they did when alive, so humans couldn’t tell them apart anyway. Why would there be a derived skill like this? I couldn’t understand it.

For now, I decided to activate the Mimicry skill. I wondered if anything would change.

While I lay there idly wiggling my toes, Ji-su entered wearing an oversized short-sleeve t-shirt and sweatpants, drying her wet hair with a towel.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

She muttered quietly as she came in. Her face was flushed red, clearly showing she had just finished showering.

Hmm, she looks pretty. The sight of a beauty fresh out of the shower really is pleasing to the eyes…

…Huh?

I shot upright and grabbed Ji-su’s wrist.

“Kyaa… M-Master?”

Ji-su looked at me with startled eyes. Her eyes were wide with surprise, and her face grew even redder. That’s right. Ji-su’s face was flushed with a blush I had never seen on any of my thralls before.