If You Raise It, You Gotta Eat It (2)
After a quick and thorough shower in the new room.
"Is it okay to come out naked?"
"You're naked too."
I placed my clothes near the armor Shin Yu-hee had taken off, spreading them out as wide as possible.
"What are you doing?"
"If you just leave them on the floor, they'll start to smell bad."
Using the furnishings in the room, I rigged up a makeshift drying rack to let the moisture evaporate properly, adjusting it so the gear would dry as fast as possible.
"Clothes can dry haphazardly, no big deal, but gear with leather like this? You can't just let it air-dry. Anyway..."
After tending to the equipment, I turned toward Shin Yu-hee, who was huddled under the blankets on the bed.
"You gonna stay like that forever? Hogging the blankets all to yourself?"
"...If you're cold, just get in."
Get in. I could sense her resolve in those words—Shin Yu-hee's own way.
"Not one to turn down an offer like that."
I headed straight for the bed. She awkwardly shifted to make room, and I lay down right beside her.
A naked man and woman in the same bed. The guy lying down, the girl sitting awkwardly but pulling the blanket over me a bit.
Definitely more impressive than Shemiri, no contest.
Just a glimpse of her sideboob and the curve of her body nearly made my dick rock-hard. It was already a bit bigger than usual, but it felt like it could tent the blanket any second.
"...Sunbae."
Shin Yu-hee shifted, then lay flat beside me.
"If that guy Finn hadn't run away, what would you have done?"
"Kept doing business, probably. Plenty of people willing to shell out Exchange Vouchers to have someone killed—Finn or no Finn."
"...What if you got targeted? Like, one of his connections comes for revenge."
"Who? Dexter?"
"Heckster, I think."
"Names way too similar for no reason. From the same region?"
The ex-knight Dex was Finn's proxy for the hit. He called him his sworn younger brother, so killing Dex might make this sworn little bro come after revenge. Sworn brotherhood varies, but some folks have mobilized 700,000 troops over a dead sworn brother's death.
"Don't worry about targets. It won't show in the survival log, but for at least a few days, newbies like us won't get hit."
"Why?"
"It's a kind of 'newbie protection period.' Stops people from getting sniped right away before they can even adapt."
"Because everyone coming into the arena is stragglers or deserters?"
"Exactly. You've seen it—people whose mental game's broken are easier to deal with than you'd think."
"......."
Shin Yu-hee squeezed her eyes shut. The topic came up naturally in conversation, but her mind was a little frayed right now.
"Sunbae."
"Yeah."
"Can I borrow your shoulder?"
"Anytime."
I stretched my arm out, and after a moment of hesitation, she buried her face in my chest.
"...When I got to college, I wanted to do so much."
Couldn't say so what? right now.
"Like what?"
"Just... everything. Y'know how adults always say that? 'Once you're in college, do whatever you want. Study hard till then.'"
"That's why you dyed your hair blonde?"
I reached out and toyed lightly with her hair. Even with the gentlest touch, she flinched a little, but she didn't complain about me stroking her head.
"...Yeah. Actually, I lost a bet with friends and had to dye it."
"Friends, huh. Any of them here...?"
"No. Just me. The others went somewhere else. We planned to meet up after orientation when classes started..."
Her hand crept up toward my chest.
"Wanted to date, get a part-time job, try all sorts of stuff... but I died before I could."
"Yeah."
"What about you, sunbae? What'd you wanna do?"
"Tons. Thought about everything while I was in the army."
"Like what?"
"Bang every girl I saw."
"......."
Her gaze looking up at me stung.
"What? Isn't that what college is for? Nobody goes there just to study."
"Sure, but... once you date one girl?"
"Would've kept dating her. If I was still a college kid."
I met her eyes.
"But we're not college kids anymore. Not on modern Earth or in Korea. We got dumped in an isekai full of goblins and vampires—a fantasy world."
"So you're really gonna bang every girl you see?"
"If you've got the power, having multiple women doesn't seem like a problem. After the tutorial, when we cross over, I'm aiming for nobility."
"Nobility?"
"Yeah. Nobility."
I turned slightly toward her and gently took her hand.
"Oh, lady. What troubles you so?"
"Whoa..."
I gave the back of her hand a quick knightly kiss, but she shuddered and made a face.
"Why so?"
"It doesn't suit you at all. Don't say stuff like that."
"Stuff like what?"
Mwah. Another kiss on the back of her hand, and though she grimaced, she didn't pull away.
"...Once you're nobility, then what?"
"Live like nobility. Same as hoping to graduate college, land a good job, start a family, live happily. I'll do the same over there."
"Pretty ordinary."
"Ordinary dreams are the grandest ones."
The ones you crave most but never achieve.
That's why I rewound everything, with the Goddess's decree, all her blessings stripped, and the Demon King revived as constraints.
"To make that dream real, I'll do whatever selfish shit it takes."
Even knowing it'd revive the Demon King who killed countless and all his minions, just to reclaim my simple happiness.
"Whether it's selling my body or killing people to lie warm under these blankets on a comfy bed—whatever it takes."
"......."
"What about you?"
"Selling my body... not sure. Sunbae."
She turned fully toward me, pressing her body close.
"Does this count as selling myself?"
"Want the objective take?"
"...Lay it on me. How is it?"
"We don't see it that way, but the jealous bitches envying you? They'll call it that."
I turned and slid my hand to the small of her back.
"'Dunno how Shin Yu-hee snagged Yoo Si-woo, but she's leeching off him for a sword and armor, even snagged a win.'"
"...Like those five sunbaes?"
"Obviously. They looked at you like some whore. Almost flipped the table right there."
"......I dunno."
She clung to me.
"Feels like I'm seducing you with my body, and I haven't done much, but thanks to you, I'm sleeping in a nice place, eating for free."
"That a bad thing?"
"Huh?"
"I don't think so. Not because it's extreme here—this ain't Earth or Korea anymore. No stigma to living off your body with sex."
"......."
Info on that world is limited, but human rights are basically nil.
"Nobles mean slaves. Insult the king? Straight to the chop. Brothels out in the open on streets. Teaming up with a capable guy for an easy life—what's wrong with that?"
"...Is that how it is?"
"Think of it that way. Hell, I'm the same."
"You too?"
"Yeah."
"Gay?"
"The fuck?"
"...Heehee."
She laughed softly and hugged me tighter. She was loosening up enough for jokes, so I kept patting her back.
"If I could, I'd love being a house husband to a capable woman."
"House husband."
She squirmed a bit. My rock-hard dick, jutting straight out, brushed her belly, but she pretended not to notice and stayed still.
"Not my story, but guys I knew wanted that—driving the wife's car, playing at home on her card, getting fucked when she got home from work."
"You want that?"
"Can't say no."
Just unusual.
"But the world we're heading to? Probably not. Tutorial's this brutal—what comes after as heroes? Can't just lounge as a house husband."
"Probably... not."
At minimum, I'd have to guard the house. Or have enough strength to slaughter any psycho eyeing my woman. Make it so nobody dares touch mine. Then no one calls her a whore.
"......."
"Like I said, some'll trash-talk. But jealous, remember?"
"Yeah, you're right."
She nudged my shoulder.
"I had so much I wanted to do once I grew up."
She pushed me flat on my back and slowly rose.
"Never thought I'd die, then kill goblins, then people..."
Under the lantern on the ceiling, light filtering softly, she straddled my stomach under the blanket, looking down at me.
"You never know when or where you'll die, so before that, I wanna try everything. Date hot guys—a lot."
"Same here. Wanna do everything with pretty girls."
"You... hah. Never mind, sunbae."
She gripped my shoulders with both hands and leaned in.
"Can you promise?"
"Promise what?"
"Won't ask you to take responsibility—just raise me so no one kills me or fucks me over."
She pulled my hand to her chest, guiding it carefully.
"...Except you."
"Why would I kill you?"
"If I get killed, it'd be least unfair if it's by you?"
She leaned down further.
"Unless I screw up bad enough first... then."
She trailed off, embarrassed, mumbling.
"...If you take my first and then kill me, I'd curse you fair and square, right?"
"Obviously. Same goes the other way."
I held her from below, pulling her back into an embrace.
"Unless you fuck up bad enough for me to kill you, I can keep you around and fuck you forever. Right?"
"......."
"Ah, killed the mood?"
"The second you mentioned mood..."
"Good. No betraying me."
"...Obviously."
"No betrayal, and I'll keep you by my side forever—make choosing me first the best decision of your life."
I hugged her tight and slowly brought my lips to hers.
"I'll teach you everything, step by step. How to protect your body... how to use it. And..."
Sex too.