Thanksgiving Festival (4)
Thanksgiving Festival (4)
Seeing the badge Han-young held out, I paused for a moment and looked it over. But unless he was dying to feel some cheap sense of superiority, there was no reason for him to lie to us.
That badge was probably real. These three had climbed up in just over a month since bailing on our party.
"What? How...?"
"How? We're the ones who wanna ask. What the hell have you guys been up to that you're still stuck like this?"
"Well..."
I explained to Han-young how we'd been getting by, how we'd been managing.
We all chipped in to make money, and once we realized we could smoothly hit the 3rd floor using Seoyun's ability, we pushed up.
Now we were running the dungeon a few times a week to earn cash, while the other kids just lounged around enjoying the perks...
Hearing that, Han-young clutched his stomach laughing, mocking us.
"What are you guys, suckers? Idiots? Why the fuck are you looking after those assholes?"
"'Cause... they're our friends."
"Friends? Bullshit. Looks like you're clinging to some lame sense of morality—ditch 'em now. Otherwise, those fuckers'll leech off you forever, dragging you down."
He wasn't wrong. But I couldn't just say right here that we'd dump them on the spot. If it were that easy to cut loose, we'd have done it ages ago.
Han-young saw us mulling it over and sighed.
"Sigh, was gonna invite you to our party, but no dice. With that mindset, you'll just hold everyone back no matter what."
"...We'll handle it ourselves."
"Yeah, yeah, do your thing... As your old classmate, here's one last tip."
He brought up RPG games from our original world as an example.
"Ever played games? Like MapleStory or Dungeon Fighter."
"Nope."
"You, Seoyun?"
Seoyun shook her head too, and Han-young groaned like how the hell is that possible.
"Well, yeah, you two were always social rejects. Whatever. You've at least played mobile RPGs, right?"
"Something like that..."
"Say you pull a super OP character. What do you do with it?"
"Dunno? Upgrade it?"
"You keep sending it into dungeons until it can't clear anymore."
"Huh... why?"
"'Cause grinding higher floors a few times beats looping the 1st floor hundreds of times, duh."
"Didn't feel much different on the 2nd floor—sometimes even less..."
"I'm not talking 2nd floor. Higher than that."
Of course, in games you spin it till it's totally unviable, but IRL you can't, so your limit's the floors you can one-shot with your abilities.
Han-young said with our powers, 10th floor'd be no sweat.
"Got it? What you've been doing is like using a cattle butcher knife to catch mice."
"Thanks for the advice."
"Don't thank me, asshole."
Han-young grinned.
"Level up quick. Next time I see you slacking, I'm just gonna hand out your asses."
"...Got it."
With that, Han-young and his crew vanished into the distance. I mulled over his words and locked eyes with Seoyun.
She seemed lost in thought too, and asked when our eyes met.
"...What're we gonna do?"
"For now—let's think about it later."
"What?"
Seoyun glared like I wasn't serious. I shrugged.
"Today's date day, right? Gotta ruin it pondering that crap?"
"...Fair point."
Hearing that, Seoyun grabbed my hand and moved forward. Han-young's words mattered, but we'd set this festival as a group holiday to just enjoy.
Worrying about work on a holiday's insane. Play when you play, work when you work. Separating personal and business—that's the secret to success all those CEOs preach, right?
The festival's final day.
After chatting with Seoyun overnight, we decided to keep Han-young's advice under wraps for now, and headed to the square with the other kids.
"Pink sparks are flying, flying. Right?"
Deokgu said that, eyeing me and Seoyun. Fair enough—from his view, the guy who'd been banging Ilone like crazy just days ago was suddenly sprinkling pink vibes with Seoyun.
Must've been envy eating him alive, mouth itching to say something.
"Just date someone yourself."
"If I could, fuck..."
Deokgu clutched his face, beating himself up. Looked like he knew it was hopeless. Half-accepted he'd be single forever, yet couldn't let go...
"It's the Otherworld. Someone might like your face."
"...Thanks, at least for saying it."
"Oh, here he goes."
Cutting off Deokgu, I checked out the Holy Knights and Saintess pushing through the crowd. Couldn't see great through the mob, but her aura screamed babe.
Bow.
Veiled, but folks who got even a glimpse up close dropped like flies.
The fallen shoved back the crowd, widening the space around the Saintess even more.
With the front row making such a fuss, people's curiosity spiked—they stared holes through her, praying a breeze might lift the veil.
No such luck—the Saintess never showed her face.
I sized up the Saintess's beauty as I watched.
'Saintess or whore...?'
Like she was dead set on hiding skin: baggy white nun's habit, white gloves, white veil.
At a glance, she looked like a white cylinder.
But every sneaky shift revealed her killer curves, wrecking the whole silhouette.
From then on, she just looked like a stripper trapped naked under that loose nun outfit, teasing her body.
'Driving me nuts... Haven't banged enough chicks lately?'
Must be a side effect of my ability. Had to be—otherwise, no way...
Then my head stung and throbbed. Sudden headache—I rubbed my temples, eyes shut for a sec.
When I opened them, an angel was flying right in front of me.
"God. Oh my God."
"Oh, Lord..."
The Saintess was praying. Moments later, in answer, an angel descended, smiling brightly and scattering blessings.
Sparkling feathers fell like pure white snowflakes. People twisted to grab them, but soon realized no need.
The sky was packed with blessings. Moving for more might snag you less, honestly.
As that white blessing blanketed everyone's view, I eyed the angel's fluttering robes.
'...Would my ability work on an angel?'
If angels had a vagina, probably—lost in that dumb thought, and poof, angel gone.
Those who caught blessings direct started sobbing, faces to the ground. Instinctive worship.
Prayer done, the Saintess rose. Crowds bowed, praising her holy powers.
'Huh.'
Felt like our eyes met for a split second.
'Nah.'
With this many people, she probably didn't even see my face.
Festival's last day. Praying for the nation was a dispatched cleric's duty—and right.
But the Saintess didn't even like that.
"Such a hassle... Lottie, can't you wear this and go for me?"
"Would that work, Saintess-nim?"
"But we look alike, right? Slap on a wig, no one'd know?"
"...Sigh."
"Hey! You sighed! At me, the Saintess! The Saintess!"
Long duties, sacrifices, and overprotection from her innate blessing—she was burning out.
Tried escaping the rut with childish tantrums, but her attendants were all clerics.
They'd smile and clean if a demented geezer shit on the wall—her whining wouldn't change jack.
"Aaah... So annoying... Who even invented these events?"
Finally shaking off her laziness, the Saintess headed to the square, Charlotte in full plate armor trailing her.
Saintess's procession. No threats got near. Empty streets, dozens of Holy Knights and guards cleared a wide space by the platform.
The Saintess climbed with heavy steps. Her needlessly long nun habit dragged, ensuring no skin slipped.
Gloves and stockings clung sticky to hide her skin, breeding discomfort—
Despite it all, she stood tall on the platform, unflinching. Then prayed so soft no one heard.
"...Lord, bless these people. Pity the lambs, save more of your servants."
Loved by the gods enough for Virgo's Blessing, they answered pronto.
Beautiful angel descends from heaven. Wings flapping, countless feathers scatter.
'Gonna go bald.'
Silly thought as I watched the crowd. With all eyes on the angel, this was her only shot to scan people freely.
'Ah.'
Scanning, the Saintess locked eyes with one man. No coincidence—gods-ordained fate.
'That guy.'
Used to divine beings, she'd spotted a common trait: unlike lowly humans, looking at them warped space, crumbling your viewpoint.
Divine aura at work, plus her innate medium powers—loved by gods, indeed...
Through her spiritual sight, a faint distortion rippled around that man.
She'd only seen it on gods—thought maybe her body was failing, dizzy spell.
Nope.
—A star shall fall.
Stars had always meant vast, holy things. If her quarry was that holy and huge, matching divine phenomena made sense.
'Found him.'
Saintess zeroed in on Dojin. Hunter's gaze on prey.
"What the..."
Level-up.
Word you'd use in games, but here it was common for dungeon-crawling adventurers.
Literally, you rise in stature.
I got why people picked "level-up"—ecstasy nothing else captures. Physical stats soar, abilities evolve.
"No wonder Han-young said that."
Dozens of orc corpses behind us, we savored the level-up bliss.