Finally Out, But Getting Locked Up Again Isn't Fun (1)
I collapsed onto the soft grass the moment I escaped the underground prison, utterly exhausted. But the sensation I felt now was anything but soft. It was rock-hard and painfully uncomfortable.
“Ughhh…”
A deafening noise slammed into my ears right after. “Mom… just five more minutes…” I grumbled, tossing and turning, but the sharp sound struck again.
“Get up right now!!!!!”
A deep, booming voice followed, yanking me back to reality.
“…Where am I?”
I barely managed to regain my senses and looked around. The place I’d woken up in looked like some kind of cave. “A cave…?” The only light came from a torch flickering far in the distance, and between me and the man who’d woken me stood thick wooden bars.
“This is… no way…”
The bearded man tossed a wooden bowl through the bars with casual indifference before sitting down on a nearby chair. I scrambled over, grabbed the bars, and shouted at the top of my lungs.
After the commotion I caused died down, I found myself sitting among the other inmates, running a hand over my now-bald head where Momotani used to sit, sharing a bowl of slop that looked like it had been thrown together from whatever scraps were available.
Let me introduce the members of this prison cell:
A lunatic who kept giggling nonstop while muttering, “Hehe, come here, little moth…”
A small kid squatting silently in the corner.
An old man who spent all day lying down, groaning, “Aigoo… my whole body aches…”
And a mysterious man wrapped head to toe in bandages who sighed, “Sigh… this is hard to eat.”
Finally… me.
I touched my strangely empty head and rummaged through my belongings, but everything had been taken—Momotani, the hilt of Zeratul’s sword, all of it. ‘First, I need to figure out where the hell I am…’
This place looked like a hideout made by taking over some random cave. The shoddy wooden bars and everything else screamed that this was no ordinary prison. ‘If this is a government prison, then this world’s government is pretty low-tier.’
I approached the person among the inmates who seemed most likely to talk.
“Um…”
“…”
The man wearing a robe pulled low over his face and wrapped completely in bandages lightly ignored me.
“Hey…”
“…”
“Excuse me?”
“…”
“Hello?”
“…”
“What, can’t you talk?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Whoa, that scared me… Why are you suddenly screaming like that!”
The mysterious man who hadn’t reacted no matter what I did finally responded when I yelled.
“Because you weren’t reacting at all.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I just don’t feel like talking?”
“But I want to talk to you.”
“…So you’re crazy too.”
Damn it. My already nearly nonexistent communication skills were completely useless here.
“So… where exactly are we?”
“…Can’t you tell just by looking? It’s a bandits’ prison.”
“Hmm… but why are you speaking so casually to me?”
“…? What do you want me to do about it? If you don’t like it, just talk casually back.”
This guy… had less manners than I expected. But I had my ways.
“Alright! I’m Lee Siwoo!”
I answered cheerfully and reached out, grabbing the mysterious man’s hand and shaking it vigorously.
“Hey! What are you doing!”
The man flinched in surprise and quickly pulled his hand away.
“Huh? I’m shaking hands! Now we’re friends!”
One of the secret techniques my father taught me! When someone seems to dislike you, act overly friendly instead!
I sat down right next to him like we were old buddies and draped an arm around his shoulder.
“What’s your name?”
I asked with the most harmless expression and tone I could muster toward the overly wary man.
“…Sigh. Rev. Call me Rev.”
“Great! Nice to meet you, Rev!”
This time I didn’t grab his hand, just held my palm out, but Rev ignored it and immediately lay down on the spot.
“…Sleep well!”
“…”
With no reply coming back, I also lay down, watching the sun slowly set.
Kim Chulsoo rose from a luxurious bed.
“IA, what’s my status today?”
Battery remaining: 75%. Synchronization complete. Optimization complete. On-site analysis unavailable. Good morning, Master.
“Yeah, good morning.”
He tapped the hologram floating near his line of sight, drank the warm water that had been prepared in advance, and looked out the window. Beyond it stretched the fantastical morning scenery of another world.
“Haa… So I really have come to another world…”
“Excuse me, Hero. May I come in?”
The person who opened the door and entered, interrupting Kim Chulsoo’s thoughts, was the Saintess who had summoned him yesterday. A woman of stunning beauty with brilliant golden hair, matching blue eyes, and a figure that could tempt anyone into sin—this generation’s Saintess stepped inside.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah. What about you, Ilusia?”
“I am always filled with the Goddess’s grace, of course.”
As if to prove her words weren’t just talk, a radiant light gently enveloped the Saintess’s body.
“Is that holy power? That’s pretty amazing…”
Analysis unavailable. Unknown energy source detected. Temporary designation ‘Holy Power’ registered.
The voice flowed out automatically beside Kim Chulsoo. The Saintess, seemingly intrigued by the sound, approached him.
“I find you even more fascinating, Hero. Ai? Aie? You have a very interesting spirit with you.”
“It’s not a spirit…? …Or is it? Maybe they’re similar here?”
“Does everyone from your homeland carry such spirits?”
The Saintess asked while looking at the hologram of IA that Kim Chulsoo had floated out of consideration for her.
“Not everyone, but this one’s special. I customized her myself.”
“Hmm… I don’t really understand, but that’s amazing! As expected of the real Hero, completely different from that Impurity!”
Impurity. The one who had been accidentally summoned due to a summoning error right before Kim Chulsoo. The guy who would probably become one of his three great adversaries.
“He’s probably already dead, right? Falling from that height…”
The mission Kim Chulsoo had learned upon arriving in this world—to defeat the three great adversaries and save this world.
“I’m not sure. The adversaries of one’s self tend to be quite unusual cases…”
The world’s adversary, the Demon King. The continent’s adversary, Calamity. And the most troublesome of all—adversaries of the self.
“We still haven’t confirmed the new Demon King or Calamity, have we?”
“No. As you know, your case is quite special…”
Ten years after the ninth Hero returned home, a sudden oracle from the Goddess had descended. The Hero summoning cycle, which had been every hundred years, had been abruptly broken. The fact that a new Hero had been summoned was known to only a very small number of people in this world.
“The new Demon King hasn’t appeared yet… and there’s no sign of Calamity’s movements… Haha, does that mean I don’t have anything to do?”
Kim Chulsoo laughed self-deprecatingly.
“That’s not true!”
The one who reacted sensitively to his attitude was none other than the Saintess.
“You were most certainly summoned rightfully, Hero!”
The Saintess’s role was to be the Hero’s first companion and supporter. And this generation’s Saintess seemed to be performing that duty better than anyone.
“Ilusia…!”
The Saintess ran straight into Kim Chulsoo’s arms. She stroked his back and head, comforting him. It was clearly the kind of behavior one would only show to a child or another woman, but the Saintess didn’t seem to care at all.
“You are the true Hero! I, the one who summoned you, guarantee it!”
“I was just joking… so calm down, Ilusia…”
Only then did the Saintess realize she was still in his embrace. She jumped back in surprise, her face turning bright red.
“I-I’m sorry.”
She covered her flushed face and quickly retreated. Kim Chulsoo acted as if nothing had happened, answering in a way that showed he understood.
“It’s fine. Actually, I feel more energized now that you comforted me.”
“Hero…”
In her heart, the Saintess was certain. The position of Saintess she had fought through fierce competition to obtain, the sudden oracle of summoning, the journey with a Hero she had never expected in her fate—everything was worth it because a winning lottery ticket had appeared right in front of her.
She acted shy and bashful like a timid maiden, glancing at Kim Chulsoo as he approached, secretly calculating the perfect moment to turn her head.
“Ilusia.”
“Hero.”
When their distance had closed enough, she executed the movement she had calculated in advance, bringing their faces close together.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
Both of them panicked at the same time and quickly turned their heads away.
Yes. This much was enough for today.
The Saintess judged that approaching slowly would prevent any resistance and allow her to make him hers for certain. Thinking about her future plans, she made some appropriate excuses and left Kim Chulsoo’s room.
“Hoo… Still, for a Hero, he has a really nice body…”
Since Kim Chulsoo had only been wearing the bathrobe provided by the imperial castle, the Saintess had gotten a full view of his upper body.
“Do people from another world all have bodies like that?”
As she walked down the corridor of the imperial castle, the Saintess tried to recall the name of his homeland that he had mentioned.
“What was it again… Neo… Joseon? Was that it? What a strange name…”
She set aside such trivial matters about Kim Chulsoo’s homeworld and began pondering once more how she could make him fall for her completely.
Two days after being locked up in the bandits’ prison, I woke up from an intense hunger.
“…I’m starving.”
Since falling into this other world, I hadn’t had a single proper meal. In the underground prison I’d only eaten a few snacks at Zeratul’s hideout, and here they just threw in a sloppy bowl of porridge that seemed to be made by boiling whatever they could find.
“Wake up! Food’s here!”
A bandit who seemed to be the jailer approached, making a racket as he carelessly tossed in the bowls.
I dragged my starving body over to the bowl.
“Old man! Over here… no, I’ll come to you. Hey! Kid, come over here!”
“Hehehe, fooood… rice…”
“Rev! Bring that kid over here!”
We gathered the prison members together and sat huddled up, sharing the slop.
“Hehe, rice… tasty. Oh… butterfly…”
“…”
“Aigoo… when you get old, you should just die…”
While feeding the kid, I noticed Rev wasn’t eating by himself.
“Hey! Don’t follow the butterfly! Rev, you eat too.”
“I’m… fine.”
“Come on, what are you saying? You need to eat to have strength.”
I caught the lunatic who kept trying to run off and forcibly dragged Rev, who was sitting far away, over to the group.
“It’s fine. There’s barely enough for one person anyway. Where would I eat from?”
“Eat even a little. The difference between eating even a little and not eating at all is huge.”
“Sigh… I can’t get through to you…”
While we were dividing up our meager breakfast, a loud noise suddenly came from outside.
“Hm? What’s that?”
I handed the spoon I’d been using to feed the kid over to Rev and walked up to the bars.
“Mister, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know either… Damn it, what the hell is happening…”
The bandit jailer grumbled angrily and ran deeper inside.
“What is it…? What’s happening…?”
I muttered to myself and returned to where the members were gathered, but…
“Huh? You guys already finished everything?”
“Of course. It wasn’t even enough for one person to begin with. There was no way anything would be left.”
“Ugh, I’m screwed…”
The members had already returned to their respective spots—some squatting, some staring into empty space—each doing their own thing.
“Sigh… I wonder what’s going to happen now…”
I sat down next to Rev, trying to hide my anxiety.
“…Hey.”
“Hm? You calling me?”
“Yeah. You’re the only one here who seems even remotely useful.”
“What are you talking about…?”
Rev suddenly adopted a serious tone and began speaking.
“…I have an escape plan.”
“Escape?”
What came out of Rev’s mouth next was shocking.
“You… I thought you weren’t even thinking about that at all…?”
While here, Rev had never once looked at the bars, nor had he seemed to be observing the prison to come up with an escape plan.
“That jailer keeps watching us. Of course I had to hide my plan.”
“You… you’re a really good actor…”
“Hmph. This much is only natural.”
Rev… you’ve got quite the chuunibyou tendencies, huh…
“So… the fact that you’re telling me this means…”
“Yeah. I need a bit of help.”
Rev began explaining the escape plan to me.
“First, we break the bars and…”
“Break the bars? How?”
“These pathetic bars will shatter with one punch from me.”
“…For real?”
When I kept doubting him, Rev finally lifted the bandages wrapped around his arm just a little.
“See?”
He immediately wrapped the bandages back up, hiding his skin again.
“…See what?”
I could only blink in confusion.
“…I’m a demon.”
“O-oh… is that so? …How am I supposed to react to that?”
When I asked back instead at Rev’s demon confession, he looked flustered.
“You… did you come from the edge of the Southern Continent? Or are you even crazier than I thought? Damn it…”
“What’s the edge of the Southern Continent?”
Rev continued his explanation with a look of disbelief.
“Haa… Fine, let’s move on from that…”
“What were you saying? Don’t tell me you were insul—”
“First, I’ll break the bars and head to the storage room.”
Rev cut me off and continued explaining the escape plan.
“Storage room? Where is that?”
“Ah… you were unconscious when you were brought in… Never mind. I’ll go to the storage room.”
“Well… okay.”
That’s right. Momotani and Zeratul’s sword with only its hilt left must be stored somewhere too…
“I’ll cause a small explosion using the gunpowder in the storage room. When the commotion starts, you head to the boss’s room.”
“The boss’s room…?”
“Yes. What we’re aiming for isn’t the main entrance but a secret passage. These bandit groups are full of guys with zero loyalty, so they always make sure to prepare an escape route for themselves.”
“So… while you cause a distraction, I look for the secret passage?”
“Exactly. You got it.”
But I felt a slight doubt about this plan.
“But why with me…? It seems like you could do it alone.”
“…………”
Rev thought for quite a long time before opening his mouth.
“Well… we don’t know what dangers there might be… and to shorten the time…”
The reason he gave was obviously an excuse he had hastily come up with. Even Rev himself didn’t seem convinced by it, but since he was suggesting we escape together, there was no reason for me to refuse.
“…Alright. Then when do we do it?”
“Right now. This is our chance while the jailer is gone.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Rev stood up and walked toward the bars.
“W-wait! What about the other people here?”
I looked back at the people I had spent a whole day with in the cell.
“…? That’s not our problem.”
But Rev’s response was crystal clear.
“What are you saying! If we’re getting out, we should all—”
“Haa. Hey. You seem to be misunderstanding something.”
When I glared at Rev, he glared right back at me.
“Those guys aren’t mentally sound, and their bodies are as weak as they can get. There’s no reason to take care of such weaklings.”
“If you’re going to say that, then I’m a weakling too! You kept saying it yourself! That I was crazy! That something was wrong with my head!”
I grabbed Rev by the collar as I spoke.
“…The fact that you can communicate this well already proves you’re normal, and grabbing my collar like this proves your strength is normal too.”
Rev casually brushed my hand away and countered.
‘What kind of strength is this…’
The power with which Rev brushed my hand aside was on a completely different level. Being a demon really did seem to mean they were a race with strength on an entirely different dimension from humans.
I clenched my fist and spoke to Rev’s back as he prepared to smash the bars.
“I’m taking them with me.”
“…You idiot. Just don’t get in the way of the plan. If you become a hindrance, I’ll leave you behind.”
“You just worry about doing your part well. You have the most important role.”
Soon after, Rev threw his fist forward, shattering the bars into pieces. He immediately dashed outside and looked back at me.
“See you later.”
I grabbed the dashing Rev and said,
“Wait!”
“Hm? I see, you changed your mind after all. Well—”
When I stopped him, Rev crossed his arms as if it were obvious.
“Uhh… where is the boss’s room?”
“…”
“No… you never told me…”
“…”