Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: The Bursting Hospital Room
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"...Where the hell is this?"
I remembered hopping through the portal back home and crashing out from exhaustion.
But when I came to, I was lying all alone in an empty void of space.
"Is this my Mental Realm?"
Taking a closer look, yeah, it seemed like it was. The training grounds I used all the time were there, along with that damn straw dummy that always beat the crap out of me.
From the break room to the training chamber for channeling Ferocious Tiger energy—it was my perfect Mental Realm.
Yes. This is your Mental Realm.
"Shit, you scared me!"
The moment I started wondering why the hell I'd ended up here, a voice echoed out of nowhere from thin air.
It was the same guidance voice I heard whenever I adjusted the difficulty in my Mental Realm. For it to speak first like this...
I jumped, startled since this had never happened before, and frantically scanned my surroundings.
Sorry for startling you. But I don't get many chances to speak unless it's an opportunity like this... and time is short.
An opportunity like this? What the hell was it trying to say?
Dozens of questions popped into my head, but in scenes like this, it was always best to shut up and listen.
Through your privilege, you obtained the Encyclopedia and the Mental Realm.
And by leveraging that privilege in today's exploits, you've earned full qualification.
'Qualification? You mean the qualification I'm thinking of?'
I was trying to keep my thoughts internal to let it finish speaking, but apparently even that got through. The guidance voice started answering my question.
Yes. As a protagonist candidate, you will face many trials ahead.
This applies to the other candidates in this novel as well.
"There are other candidates besides me?"
Yes, that's correct.
"Then why did I regress?"
I cannot tell you that yet.
I've conveyed all necessary information, so please check the reward from capturing Little Giant Pemb.
Until next time, I hope we meet under better circumstances.
With that, the guidance voice really just said its piece and vanished.
'What the actual fuck is going on.'
It rushed in with the key info that I'm a protagonist candidate in this Mental Realm and bounced, so it must've been seriously short on time.
Anyway, that conversation cleared up a couple things for sure.
'Right now, this novel has no protagonist. And there are plenty of other guys who could become one.'
Those two facts were perfect answers to the worries I had.
No need to hunt for a protagonist anymore. If I just played my cards right, I could craft a clean storyline where everything falls into place for me.
"Pemb's reward..."
The rewards for taking down a little giant instead of an adult one usually came in two flavors.
Most common: something granting the power of a giant.
Super rare: something granting a giant's vitality.
And here, it was like getting payback for my shitty luck in the first round—I scored the latter.
"Ha."
Giantsoul :: As you grow, the Giantsoul grows with you, granting the power to wield a giant's vitality.
Simple description, but the effect was anything but. The more I nurtured the Giantsoul, the more I could wield power beyond species limits.
With this, strain on my body would drop dramatically, and my instantaneous output would skyrocket.
In other words, both the ceiling and floor of my physical capabilities shot way up.
"No joke."
"Yeah, calling yourself the Ferocious Tiger's heir with that level of skill is no joke either."
With the guidance voice gone, who the hell was responding to my mutter? I whipped my head around.
"...?"
And there was some guy approaching me.
Where the straw dummy should have been stood a figure in black martial robes, wearing a tiger mask.
The mention of Ferocious Tiger heir, that subtly obnoxious gait—it was screaming 'I'm the original Ferocious Tiger' loud and clear.
"Struggling that much against just one little giant. Not even a war giant."
Even without chanting the divine name, that's unacceptable. Back in my day, I could turn roadside pebbles into cannonballs just by gripping them.
'What the— this guy's a massive boomer.'
Pulling the 'back in my day' card here of all places.
'Did the original Ferocious Tiger show up because I qualified as a protagonist candidate?'
As I pieced together a plausible theory, the original Ferocious Tiger was already right in my face.
"You think too much. A hunter should immediately subdue any sudden threat..."
Your path is still far too long.
Crack!
The original Ferocious Tiger swung a punch at flash speed, shattering my jaw.
"This is Earthshaker."
With those words, I blacked out and collapsed. Only one thought crossed my mind.
'Ah, so now it's not the dummy beating me up—it's a real person.'
Getting my ass handed to me every visit was starting to feel personal.
Whoosh—!
And just like that, I snapped awake.
"Huh?"
When I opened my eyes after blacking out in the Mental Realm, I saw what looked like a high-end medical bay.
And...
"...You're awake?"
Airi, her eyes a little red-rimmed.
"We're not here for some petty power struggle. We're here to fully care for the Mountain Lords' heir."
How much time had passed since Kim Geon-ho was declared comatose?
Not long, I thought, when the Mountain Lords' medical team suddenly showed up and whisked him away.
There was friction with the Academy side, but once the Mountain Lords officially announced him as heir, things wrapped up fast.
"Marren, you head back to the family for further checks too."
"...Got it."
Marren clearly didn't want to leave Kim Geon-ho, but with the situation so serious, she had no choice but to return home.
Tatacum got the clan summons too and headed straight back to the Academy for contact.
Honestly, from here on, even as teammates, there wasn't much they could do. It was inevitable.
"I'll... stay and nurse him."
But Airi, whose family had fallen and offered no support, was the exception.
She insisted on staying by Kim Geon-ho's side, emphasizing her role as team leader.
The Mountain Lords' medical team saw no issue with it, so Airi got to be the first to witness him waking up.
"...You're awake?"
She turned away to hide that she'd been crying, rubbing her eyes. But Kim Geon-ho wasn't one to miss it.
"What, you were crying because you were worried about me?"
"Who wouldn't worry about you, you idiot?"
The medics said absolute rest was key, but with him mouthing off like that, she couldn't just sit there.
She didn't mean to, but sharp words contrary to her true feelings slipped out unconsciously.
"They moved me from the Academy to a Mountain Lords hospital? This is a private room... and you were nursing me?"
Damn, he grasps situations fast.
Airi had no clue where to even start explaining, but his quick assessment left her speechless.
"...Why'd you do it?"
"Do what?"
So Airi skipped the long intro and cut straight to it.
"Why'd you save us?"
"Shouldn't 'thank you' come first?"
"...Thanks. But I'm just so curious. Especially since you keep saving me..."
She trailed off, lacking the courage to finish.
"I've told you over and over: 'Because I wanted to do it with you.'"
"..."
Kim Geon-ho treated Airi with the same steady attitude, unbothered by her shyness.
'Why the hell...'
From the moment they met to now, he had to know getting tangled up with her brought nothing good.
This one-sided favor was the first she'd felt since her family's fall, leaving her clueless on how to respond.
'Still, I want to repay him.'
She might not know how, but she had a rough idea of what he liked, so she mustered her courage.
"...Then I'll do it. I'll do something for you."
"What?"
Kim Geon-ho rarely got rattled by this stuff, but this time he was genuinely shocked.
'Her saying something like that?'
Before that—did she even know what I wanted to ask for?
Apparently his pointed look got through, because Airi flushed red, waving her hands.
"N-not, not anything super lewd! J-just something small... really minor...!"
"Ah, in that case, how about a handjob?"
"H-handjob...? What's that?"
"A handjob is, well..."
That 'really minor thing' was plenty for Kim Geon-ho, so he slowly explained what a handjob was.
Kim Geon-ho's sex ed class had begun.
'See? Kindness always gets repaid with good stuff.'
In a private Mountain Lords hospital room where no one was due to enter, a fit guy and girl were holed up.
The girl had proactively offered to do anything he wanted, even if just something small.
Obviously, no red-blooded man would turn that down.
"G-grab this... with my hand?"
"Better than using your mouth, right?"
"O-of course!"
Grab!
Airi, clueless about guy-girl stuff her whole life, seized his dick like it was a joystick.
Thinking of my cock cradled in her small, pale hand made it twitch involuntarily.
Maybe because I'd gained the Giantsoul, but my dick pulsed with even fiercer vitality now, boasting overwhelming breeding power.
"Eek! It-it's twitching... Throbbing? Like a heartbeat...!"
"It's muscle, that's why. No weird talk—just stroke it up and down slowly like you said you would."
That's handjob basics.
'Once she gets some practice, I'll teach her to stroke with one hand while rubbing the head with her palm.'
Gently kneading the balls is an option too, but where to start...
Who'd have thought I'd fulfill the fantasy of hospital sex like this.
"Heh, heh heh heh..."
Schlick schlick!
"Feels amazing, huh?"
"Hell yeah."
"I saw my ex cheating, so I kinda hate it."
I responded on autopilot to the voice, but it wasn't coming from Airi.
"...To think the rumors of my fiancé's womanizing were true."
The door swung open, radiant golden hair spilling in like morning sunlight.
My fiancée, Heila Radmos, had arrived.
Right in the middle of my handjob from Airi.
"Fuck, we're so screwed."
My unfiltered take on the situation blurted out.
Just qualified as protagonist candidate and bam—spectacle like this.
"If it's not too much trouble, mind giving my balls a massage?"
Hey, I'm a wastrel son. And a patient. Should be fine, right?
But that happy little circuit in my brain fried spectacularly.
Because...
"Die, you bastard."
The moment Heila finished speaking...
Boom!
The hospital room exploded.