Aftercare (2)
After sweet-talking and soothing Estiel, who seemed worried about possibly losing her position as my guardian angel to some archangel, she straightened up completely.
"Reserve hero Yoo Si-woo. Congratulations on clearing the tutorial stage."
With her emotions perfectly composed, Estiel addressed me in an utterly official tone. The secret space we'd opened using Goddess Points had vanished.
Something feels off, like traces were left behind.
Maybe it wasn't paranoia when she mentioned the archangel. Unlike before, I'd had a faint trace of mana in my body this time, so I could sense that someone had been here.
Michael.
The Archangel of Flames who incinerates all demons. I could feel the lingering presence of that annoying twintailed little brat.
An archangel who loved to show off no matter what. She was serious about fighting demons, but at the same time, she craved achievements to earn the Goddess's favor. Aiming for the top spot right beside the Goddess among the archangels, it wasn't strange for her to try intercepting a reserve hero showing exceptional talent from the tutorial stage onward, like poaching a draft pick.
To use a baseball analogy, it was like a last-place Korean team about to make their selection when a major league powerhouse swoops in with a contract offer.
Still better than Gabriel, I guess.
Michael was worrisome in many ways, but compared to that shady, insidious, damp archangel, her straightforward brutality was far preferable. At least Michael was dead serious about killing demons.
"Reserve hero Yoo Si-woo. Are you listening?"
"...Nah, got lost in thought for a sec. Felt something, you know."
"......"
Estiel fell silent. She looked like she had a lot to say about me sensing the leftover heat—the divine power's afterglow—but she shook her head and opened a door leading somewhere.
"Congratulations on your first clear. And since you've cleared it, I'll now explain everything step by step, just like I did for the others."
"Got it. I'm all ears."
"That's unexpected. Some others jumped down my throat the moment they saw me."
"Who? One of the ones who fell into Chekhov's Arena?"
"Yes."
"Park Chang-su, maybe? Did that asshole give you shit?"
Before Estiel could continue her explanation, I asked the one thing I was most curious about from the tutorial stage.
"He flunked out after dying twice in a row, so it's no surprise he lashed out at an angel. When he asked if you'd received a penalty and I said I couldn't disclose that, he spewed some vulgar abuse."
"And after that?"
"I told him we could impose direct penalties for harming an angel, and he shut up."
Estiel gave a faint smile and raised her fist. If Park Chang-su had charged again, she'd probably have smashed him from afar with one punch.
"He's in the stage for those on two losses now... ahem, for those who've died twice. If he doesn't pass there, his fate will be one of two: permanent sealing or voluntary erasure."
"The endgame for total tutorial dropouts, huh?"
"Yes. In arena terms... it's like failing to get three wins before three losses. To reiterate, the tutorial runs like a best-of-five series. Clear three stages before three deaths, and you move on."
"Three stages."
Goblin Forest, fail. Chekhov's Arena, clear.
"What the fuck."
I raised my voice just enough so anyone possibly watching from behind Estiel—or checking the records—could hear.
"So I have to clear two more like Chekhov's Arena?"
"No. Chekhov's Arena was an extreme difficulty measure. If Goblin Forest was E-rank, that was A-rank."
"...Isn't that an excessive difficulty jump?"
Estiel furrowed her brow, her gaze saying Didn't you set that stage? I shrugged and waved it off curtly.
"Whatever. We're already through it. Thanks to that, we know what the isekai world we're getting summoned to looks like and the mindset needed to survive. While the others suck it up from the rear, we've been through the front-line boot camp."
"Understood. Thank you. Now... you're probably curious about the others, right?"
"Yeah. Where are the ones who already left the arena, and what're they doing?"
"They've 'joined' the tutorial stage being run by those who cleared Goblin Forest. You could call it mid-stage insertion."
"Hm..."
A tutorial stage with 88 people progressing. If timelines matched, they'd been dropped in one by one about five days after it started.
"Last time they lumped us all into the arena at once, now mid-insertion?"
"You fell behind briefly, but in the end, you'll all become heroes fighting the Demon King's army together."
"They won't look kindly on us. We'll be the losers who got killed by goblins, crawling back from the loser's bracket."
"For that, I apologize."
Estiel replied like a thorough bureaucrat angel. She'd probably given the same—or colder—answers to the others.
"The stage you'll be inserted into is the [Orc Settlement]. C-rank difficulty. For someone who cleared Chekhov's Arena with solid skill, mid-insertion should be more than manageable."
"Hold up."
Setting aside the WWE theatrics, there was something ridiculous.
"Time flows the same for them and us, right? The Goblin Forest clearers."
"Yes."
"We cleared Chekhov's Arena in about a week, but they're still stuck on an easier stage?"
"That's correct."
"Why the hell?"
"...Isn't it obvious?"
Estiel reached out toward me.
"Because there's no one like you there."
"......"
"In your terms, a 'carry machine'? To give you special info since you've earned Goddess Points, the [Orc Settlement] progress is about 55%."
"Pathetically slow."
"For reference, it advanced 19% in the last two days. Before that, it was around 36%."
"...Don't tell me that's thanks to the loser's bracket survivors from the arena."
"Coincidentally, yes."
"Jesus Christ."
My vision darkened for a moment.
Even in the first playthrough, it wasn't this bad.
In the first playthrough, it took about a week at most—ah.
Come to think of it, I was in that first Orc Settlement. Not the selfish horndog Yoo Si-woo, but the pushover who saved everyone just because they begged "please save me," even without getting laid.
"...Takes that long, huh?"
"You're the anomaly. Average clear time for Orc Settlement—let alone Chekhov's Arena—is about 14 days. Ahem."
Estiel coughed, leaking info. I quietly raised both hands and stepped forward.
"...Guess that means I'm mid-inserting into Orc Settlement now."
"Yes. Are you prepared?"
"Straight in?"
"Yes. You'll only take the combat experience from Chekhov's Arena, but that's plenty to handle the enemies."
"Yeah."
Even Dex—the Tehalt I killed first—could rip apart five orcs solo.
"One thing I gotta ask."
"Answers are limited."
"Park Chang-su. Where is he now?"
"......Who knows."
Estiel trailed off. She didn't like him either, but as a tutorial manager angel, she couldn't overly discriminate against specific reserve heroes. Favoritism was fine—for ones earning Goddess Points. But discrimination was off-limits.
"If you die in Orc Settlement or fail to promote to hero in the next stage, you'll enter the final stage we've prepared."
"Final stage."
Park Chang-su, already on two deaths (three including reality), had no lives left. Goblin Forest fail, Chekhov's Arena fail. No more wins, and it was three strikes—you're out as a reserve hero.
"Fine. Send me to Orc Settlement now."
"Understood. But first."
Estiel beckoned, and I approached.
"...You're not thinking anything dangerous, are you?"
Very cautiously, in a voice only I could hear.
"Can you even ask that?"
"This much is fine."
"Alright, then. Straight talk, just for you."
I mouthed softly to Estiel.
"I can fall to rock bottom without regret, and I'm not the type to leave loose ends."
"...You don't mean?"
"Yeah."
Payback, for sure.
"I can crash the stage Park Chang-su's on from the two-loss zone, right?"
I'm a real bastard.