Awakening (1)
Awakening (1)
"Hoo-eup!"
I swing down the prepared Wooden Sword. Consuming all the muscles in my upper body to create the fastest strike possible.
Huwung!
The Wooden Sword slices through the air and comes down, then I lift it back up and swing it down again.
I repeat this dozens of times.
"Huuu......."
Breathing was important too. I exhale once with every swing. If the sword keeps swinging without pause, the breathing stays steady too.
Tak!
As soon as I finish my morning training, I lean the Wooden Sword against the wall and catch my breath. I could feel my stamina had dropped compared to back in the modern world.
'Well, yeah, even the food's totally different.......'
Memories of the modern world flickered by. If I could go back, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but surprisingly, I didn't miss it that much.
The other kids would think I'm crazy if they heard, but unexpectedly, this Otherworld didn't feel half bad.
─Kkokkiooook!
A rooster crows. The morning sun is starting to rise.
It's been a whole month since we dropped into this Otherworld.
A month passed, and a lot happened. The biggest change was Han-young and his crew leaving the party.
"Hey, Deokgu. Watch out on the night roads?"
Once they got their paychecks, they strutted around proudly and declared they were off with that money. Naturally, Han-young was the one behind it.
"You wanna come too?"
He even suggested it to me, but I turned him down. Like I'd be crazy enough to party up with a bunch of shady dudes.
"Too bad...... Hey, Deokgu. Cough up some cash."
"Why me?"
"Why? 'Cause I went down into the Dungeon with you every day and hunted, that's how you survived this long. Time to pay that debt."
"What the......."
"I'll take just a quarter."
"Cut the bullshit?"
The second Deokgu looked scared, I stepped in to mediate. It was true he'd gone down into the Dungeon with us, but his presence or absence wouldn't have made much difference.
"Seoyun took down most of 'em anyway, and even on your best day, you got like ten...... You know that money barely covers a night's stay, right?"
"Tch, fine. Then how about the value of me saving your life back then? Pony up for that."
I shot Deokgu a look.
"Give it to him."
"What? No way......!"
"Deokgu."
"......Let's never see each other again."
Deokgu resisted at first, but soon gave up and pulled out the money. About a tenth of everything he'd saved so far.
"Yeah, see ya."
Han-young snatched the cash and bailed from the party with his thug buddies. Whether by chance or not, it was true he'd saved our lives at one point.
But Deokgu didn't like that fact one bit and started venting his rage in frustration.
"Why'd you give it to him?"
"What?"
"The money! If it weren't for me, they wouldn't have even made it out of the Dungeon, and they wouldn't have figured out how to scrape by!"
"You really think that?"
I stared at him. He was calculating gains and losses like some psychopath.
"Deokgu. Chase short-term gains like that, and you'll get burned bad."
"......Yeah, fine. Guess the weak me has to suck it up again? Like back in reality?"
"That's not what I...... Whatever, forget it."
I had no intention of clearing up his misunderstanding. Just thinking about recruiting someone new for the Dungeon gave me a headache.
'Three people should be fine.......'
But what if, just suppose.
Say me or Seoyun gets hurt during a hunt.
Then Eunha would have to carry one of us and run. The other would have to keep watch so no Monster ambushes us.
Eunha, who looks like she couldn't even support someone, let alone carry them? No way that'd work.
'Yeah, we need one more.'
Gotta minimize the risks. When I brought it up, Deokgu seemed to sink into thought, pondering.
"......What about the Class President?"
"You know the Class President is our only healer? If they get hurt, we're screwed."
The Class President has the ability to restore inorganic and organic matter to its original state. They even used it to heal Han-young once.
But the flaw in that ability became obvious quick: they can't heal themselves.
If the Class President gets injured or dies, we lose our only healer. Then we'd have to shell out for ridiculously expensive Priests or Potions.
We're barely scraping by day-to-day; we don't have that kind of cash.
"But we can't drag the others along either. The ones left are......."
At the same time, it was awkward to bring anyone besides the Class President.
After Han-young and his thugs left, our group was down to eight: me, Deokgu, Seoyun, Eunha. The Class President, Han Ga-hee. And the two girls who followed Ga-hee around.
Ga-hee was already working up top singing, and her two followers had abilities totally useless in combat.
"You go, Deokgu?"
"Me?"
"You're no help in fights, but you've got nothing to do up top anyway?"
"......Sorry, but I've got something I really gotta do up there."
"Yeah?"
Now that we'd adapted a bit to the Otherworld, I was curious what "essential" task someone with a useless ability had, but I kept my mouth shut.
'Cowardly punk.'
He was right, though. He hadn't changed a bit; still a total coward.
We headed to the Dungeon again today.
Couldn't slack off just 'cause we were one short, so in the end, three of us went down.
Passing through the Dungeon's darkness—which now felt familiar, even comfortable—I unfolded the map.
'Might be time to head to the 2nd floor.'
Past the 1st floor with Goblins, the 2nd floor has these giant turtles called King Turtles.
Yeah, turtles.
'With Seoyun here, hunting won't be an issue.'
Classic cold-blooded critters. A turtle sensitive to temperature changes? Piece of cake for Seoyun with her Ice Manipulation Ability.
Even if it's got some Otherworld buff adapting it to temps, no biggie.
Better a big, slow turtle than small, nimble Goblins any day.
"Wanna try the 2nd floor today?"
"......2nd floor?"
"Yeah. Turtles show up...... A bit more money too."
"Whatever."
With Seoyun and Eunha's okay, I led them to the 2nd floor.
The paths up to the 5th floor were common knowledge, sold in markets, so Deokgu's ability let us figure it out easy.
'Turn right here.......'
Through the dim Dungeon paths, I spotted the stairs and signaled the girls.
We climb slowly. The stairs, made of who-knows-what, gnaw at my mind with every step.
Finally reaching the 2nd floor, we spot a King Turtle waiting right at the entrance.
Chik, our eyes meet.
Hwiric, I draw my sword instantly.
The King Turtle shoots thorns from its shell.
My body moves on instinct, batting away the thorns while slamming my blade down on its head.
Kwaduk!
"......That startled me."
Looking at the King Turtle dead with its neck sliced, I mutter that. Eunha, hearing me, bursts into a small laugh and retorts.
"Didn't look startled at all......."
"I was."
Who'd expect a Monster camping the entrance? A turtle doing ranged attacks, no less?
'Why's it hanging out here?'
As I pondered that, a whooshing sound cut through the air from somewhere.
Hwiik!
Jjeojeok-
"Watch out."
"......Thanks."
I grip my sword and stare at the ice barrier that appeared before me. Right in the center of the glass-clear shield, a big thorn was embedded.
Kinda blunt, but plenty sharp enough to skewer a person. Especially at the speed it flew by just now.
"No, what kinda turtle does ranged attacks......."
Not like Pokémon or something—thorns stuck in its shell, and it shoots 'em? Makes no sense.
But possible or not, reality didn't care, as the King Turtle slowly extended its legs toward us.
Guoooo—
Seeing that, we let out dry laughs.
"......Slow."
"Yeah. Super slow."
Slow enough that the thorn-shooting made sense. Without that, it'd never survive.
Seoyun extends her hand toward the turtle crawling like a baby.
The King Turtle twitches a bit, then stiffens up and flops sideways.
Couldn't even hide in its tough shell. Sudden body temp drop sent it into rapid hibernation.
"How's that?"
"Mm...... Looks good."
She says that and spreads her hands wide. Thin ice threads spray from her palms.
"Get ready to grab the Magic Stone."
The moment she said it, the Dungeon's temperature plunged below freezing.
King Turtles pay one Dae-dong-hwa per head. Roughly ten thousand won each.
Body value up 20% from Goblins, but actual earnings were less.
'Low numbers.......'
Goblins swarm by the dozens. Wipe 'em out, and you bag dozens of Magic Stones at once.
King Turtles? Nah. Grab one, a few more nearby maybe, but max one at a time.
'Go higher? Or back to Goblins?'
For money, better loop back for Goblins. But why'd we come to the 2nd floor?
'Cause we're short on hunters. So.......'
'Not a decision for me alone.'
I head straight to find Deokgu. Coward, useless ability or not.
He still knew the most out of all of us.
"Hey, Deokgu......."
"Y-Yeah! What!?"
"......Interrupting?"
I walk into the room, and there's Deokgu with his pants down, back turned, scrambling to get dressed.
A bit later, and I'd have gone blind.
"We're back."
"R-Really? Good work."
"You said you had stuff to do. Yeah, only you could handle that."
I get the pent-up urges. Telling a high school boy to hold it for a month is torture.
But since we're in a world like this, I wanna tell him to embrace a woman instead of handling it solo.
"We're not broke. Brothels are legal here. Why not hit one up?"
"......With a whore, kinda......."
"Why? Virgin or not, no one cares."
"......Then, wanna go together?"
"Huh?"
Deokgu turns the tables on me.
"If you come with, I'll go."
"Hmm......."
Yeah, scary solo. Prostitution's a crime back home, and with all your party being girls, who wants the "brothel guy" label?
Trying to bribe a fellow dude like me to lighten the load......
'Why not.'
I say I'll go, partly to test my own abilities.
Truth is, I just wanna check it out.
Aren't you curious? What kinda creature is an Otherworld whore?