Falling (1)
Falling (1)
The college entrance exam was over.
The school that had been choking the kids until then became the last playground of youth.
On graduation day.
An idol trainee who never even showed their face before came to school, saying it was the last time.
And the delinquent who kept talking about getting held back showed up out of nowhere, making the whole class rowdy.
But I ignored them and slumped over my desk. I had no energy left to laugh and chat after training all night.
Luckily or unluckily, none of them paid any attention to me at all.
I'd never had a girlfriend, let alone a proper friend, throughout high school. At this rate, what's the point of going to college? Even if I did, I'd just live as a total loner anyway...
'Maybe I should just take over the dojo.'
The thought popped into my head, but I immediately banged my head on the desk—thud thud—to chase away the stray idea.
Whose fault is it that I'm living like this? Taking over the dojo would just mean falling for Dad's gaslighting.
'...I want a girlfriend.'
But I had no intention of making any special effort for it. Like a pet dog waiting for its owner to hand-feed it, I just hoped it'd be spoon-fed to me.
I didn't even believe it would happen, or wish for it that badly...
It was a small wish.
Thud!
I slammed my head into the ground and slowly got up, clutching my nose as a sharp pain shot through it.
Waking someone up like this—whoever it was, I wouldn't feel better unless I punched them.
"...What?"
But when I opened my eyes, I panicked looking around.
'Where is this?'
It wasn't school.
Sticky mud and dirt on my hands.
The thick stench of blood stinging my nose.
This was a battlefield.
Realizing that, I tensed up and scanned my surroundings warily. At least I wasn't the only one dropped here.
"What the hell! Where are we!?"
"Aaah, my ankle..."
The kids who had been leaning on desks laughing and chatting were now sprawled on their asses or twisting their ankles from the fall.
Only one person. Oh Deok-gu, who had been watching anime with earphones in, seemed to grasp the situation and yelled.
"Status Window! Ability Window! Status!"
But unlike his confident attitude, nothing happened.
He looked just as flustered as anyone, shouting in confusion.
"Wh-what? Why isn't anything coming up!?"
"You crazy otaku bastard, you joking right now?"
A delinquent watching him got pissed and smacked Deok-gu on the back of the head.
I get it. I wanted to smack him too.
'Screaming your head off in a place you don't even know.'
Maybe hearing Deok-gu's voice, splashing footsteps came from all around. Not loud, but countless in number.
I looked around for a weapon. But there wasn't even a decent rock on the ground, and everyone here was empty-handed.
This was dangerous. If I had a wooden stick, I could've run from anyone... but bare-handed, it was iffy.
"Keeek."
Finally, the owner of the footsteps revealed itself. Short stature, filthy swamp-green skin. A monster baring yellow teeth, giggling as it approached with a dagger.
"G-Goblin!"
Deok-gu yelled again, apparently figuring out what it was. I shouted back at him.
"Weak point!"
"Huh, what?"
"You know these things, right? What's the weak point!"
"Uh, there isn't one..."
"What?"
"Th-they're just small like they look... If being as weak as a kid counts as a weak point, then yeah..."
'Crazy.'
Being as weak as a kid is the weak point?
Bullshit. Whether it's a kid or an adult holding the knife, a knife's a knife.
One hit could be fatal, and dozens would definitely kill you.
And now fight dozens of bare-handed kids with knives? No weapons?
'You think that's possible?'
I'd asked Dad once. How do you beat someone with a knife bare-handed?
[Grab a weapon yourself... or run.]
That was the answer. No matter how much I trained, I couldn't perfectly subdue a knifed opponent.
And that was for one. Now, over dozens of monsters surrounded us. Judging by the approaching footsteps, more were coming.
"Let's bolt."
"Uh, which way?"
"Anywhere without these monsters."
The kids heard me and slowly moved toward a spot without Goblins. Turning your back and running was stupid.
Beasts never let a foe showing their back get away. Even if it was a monster we'd never seen before.
"Slowly, don't provoke them, move."
Hearing that, the kids all backed away slowly. Little by little.
But the escape didn't last long. It was too dark here, and we didn't know the way.
Finally, with my back to the wall, I realized we were fucked.
'Fight somehow?'
As I thought that, one exhausted delinquent glared with bulging eyes.
"...Fuck, we scared of these tiny-dicked shits?"
A delinquent whose name I couldn't even remember stepped forward saying that.
The other delinquents looked worried, but maybe it was ego maxed out in front of the girls, or some anger management issue.
He advanced toward the knife-wielding Goblins.
"Die!"
"Kieeek!"
He kicked a Goblin hard. Shockingly, the kicked Goblin screamed and flew far away.
"Acting tough when you're nothing."
"Kiruk!"
As he smirked confidently, the surrounding Goblins charged at once.
I thought he'd block a few kicks and punches like before, but the moment he got slashed by a Goblin's sword, his resistance ended.
"Argh!"
It wasn't that sharp, rusted in spots—an old dagger, but it was a blade.
Modern people who can't even handle a paper cut froze the instant he was sliced.
Stopping in the middle of being surrounded by multiple Goblins had a huge cost. Over dozens of daggers stabbed and slashed him from all sides.
The stabbed spot must've been bad; he died without even a death rattle.
'Stupid...'
If we'd all rushed together, he might've survived. Using his puffer jacket as a shield to snatch one dagger, we could've counterattacked.
But he charged alone and died, leaving us one piece of info: this shit ain't a game.
"No way... this is a lie, right...?"
"Please spare me, please..."
The kids fell into terror.
The monsters smelled the fear.
"Kiruk."
Clear mockery. A hunter taunting soon-to-be prey.
They approached slowly. Monsters closed in from all sides. No way out now except a miracle.
'Even if I die, fight?'
As I agonized, the near-held-back delinquent, Kang Han-young, clenched his fist and stepped forward.
"Y-you monster bastards..."
I expected the same as before. He'd smash a few Goblins in rage but die just like the last guy.
"Die!"
But the moment Han-young's fist swung through the air, a spectacular fountain of blood erupted, and the Goblin was obliterated in an instant.
A miracle happened.
"What the...?"
Han-young, who one-shot the Goblin, looked down at his arm. It had burst open from the inside like a bomb went off, revealing a gruesome sight.
"Doesn't it hurt?"
He nodded at my question. Good and bad at the same time. Not feeling pain meant his body had taken damage bad enough for shock death.
In some unknown cave, with injuries modern medicine couldn't easily fix, survival odds were basically zero.
But before that, Deok-gu yelled.
"Cheat! It's a Cheat Ability!"
"...What?"
"Cheat! In situations like this, getting insane power is standard trope, total cliché!"
Shouting that, Deok-gu groaned to himself for a while, then burst out laughing like he'd figured it out.
"Wahahaha! Yes! Of course I have one too, me too..."
But soon, he straightened up and stopped laughing. As the kids stared, sensing something off, he sighed deeply and said.
"Yeah... well, an info-based Cheat Ability is still a Cheat Ability."
Deok-gu struck a pose pointing his finger to the sky and yelled.
"Everyone, follow me!"
Then he bolted at full speed. The kids, flustered but following the lone leader, trailed after him.
People get swept up in the mood, so I followed too. Shockingly, Deok-gu found the way out.
All that cheat talk was real.
We gaped at the stinging sunlight and the bustling city below it.
'Where the hell is this now?'
Staring at buildings straight out of medieval Europe, we started murmuring.
This was no longer the world we knew.
Escaping the pitch-black underground cave, we reached the central fountain in the city and sat on the benches by it to talk.
"So... what's your Ability...?"
Han-young, dripping blood and exhausted, asked Deok-gu. Deok-gu paused a long time before speaking.
"Kkora-Wiki."
"What?"
"Otherworld version of a wiki."
Fitting for him. Useless trivia for daily life, but exactly what we desperately needed dropped in a place like this.
I asked Deok-gu how he realized his Ability. He spilled the secret easily, proud as hell that he'd figured it out himself.
"Heh heh, once I realized I had an Ability, it just popped into my head?"
Hearing that, I muttered to myself that I had an Ability, just like he said.
It wasn't easy for someone with zero powers until yesterday to suddenly believe it, so it took time to grasp mine.
Seeing this, Deok-gu wasn't normal either...
'Let's see, my Ability is...'
The Ability that came to mind made me freeze. What kind of bullshit Ability is this?
"Hey, over there! Me!"
Then, the glasses-wearing Class President shouted loud, raising her hand.
"Me! I can heal people!"
"Really!?"
Han-young lit up with joy. His injury was visibly severe and worsening.
The Class President approached slowly. Even seeing the gruesome arm up close, she casually placed her hand on it.
"There—should be good now."
As she said that and pulled her hand away, Han-young's gushing arm restored to perfect condition.
Han-young flexed his hand in slight shock. It had been completely mangled, impossible for modern medicine to fix without scars—and now it was pristine.
"Fucking awesome..."
Just like Han-young got Super Strength as his Cheat Ability, all the kids got killer powers.
Confirming Han-young's arm fixed, Deok-gu drew everyone's attention.
"Everyone checked their Abilities?"
"Yeah."
"Now let's decide what we do next."
"...Why you deciding?"
One delinquent grumbled at Deok-gu. He wasn't the lively type back at school—just the bread-fetching errand boy—so it was a natural reaction.
But Deok-gu was unfazed.
"Then you guys figure it out yourselves."
"What?"
"You know where we are? How to eat and survive? Anything? I do. That's my Ability."
"...This punk's getting cocky as fuck."
The delinquent grumbled but didn't argue, waiting quietly since Deok-gu wasn't wrong.
Now in the alpha position, Deok-gu's confidence swelled.
"First, what do we need to do?"
"Earn money."
"Yeah, exactly."
Deok-gu nodded at my words and explained how.
"This world has Monsters. Like the Goblins we met. We hunt them and make money."
"So..."
"Yeah. We're going Monster hunting. Not everyone, just those with combat Abilities... Dojin. What's yours?"
Deok-gu called on me. A bit flustered, but I couldn't refuse in this situation.
I lied about my Ability.
"...Good with swords, apparently."
"Ooh, then you're definitely coming."
"...Yeah."
I couldn't tell the truth.
Because... the Ability I awakened was.
<Ruler of Women's Hearts>
The one who rules all women.
View opponent's sexual preferences, erogenous zones, heat level, etc.
Evolves to match target's tastes.
※Only activates on contact with opponent's reproductive organs.
This bullshit.