Getting Praised for Having Sex (2)

What a despicable bastard.

The son of a bitch who'd shown up intending to devour me was insufferably full of himself. Whether I went easy on him was beside the point. From the very beginning, Kim Do-jung had planned to refine me into an elixir and swallow me whole if my power had been high enough. I'd settle that score for certain later. But I had no intention of losing to him now, either.

"Well then. And just how do you intend to astonish me with that power of yours?"

Kim Do-jung asked it with the arrogance of a man who already knew the answer.

"I'll cure the Archmage's chronic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠illness."

"Illness? Hahahaha! An illness — in this body? The Rank 2 Hero? Are you playing games with me, boy? I could drink the deadliest poison this instant and not fall ill."

"Heh. Why don't I examine you first."

I already knew from his status window that he had arthritis. He wouldn't want that weakness exposed, that much was obvious. Every Villain on the planet — hell, the Heroes too — would empty their treasuries for a crack at a vulnerability like his.

I took Kim Do-jung's wrist and pretended to read his pulse.

Diagnose arthritis from a pulse? Please. I hadn't become a healer because I had any medical knowledge. I'd become a healer because I was a medical Authority. The distinction didn't matter in the slightest.

"Hmm."

A red circle bloomed over Kim Do-jung's right knee. Every other joint looked fine, which made the deep crimson mark sitting on that one spot all the more unnatural. At the center of the circle, something like a black scar stared back at me.

So that was it. If the Rank 2 Hero was suffering from arthritis, it sure as hell wasn't because of his age. And conversely — to walk around with a wound that monstrous and only have to put up with arthritis? The strong really were built different.

"I'm seeing an injury caused by poison. You've got a chronic inflammation, don't you? And it looks like an extraordinary toxin."

"D-don't tell me you can actually see it?"

"Yes. Perfectly clearly."

His pupils trembled.

"Not a single healing Authority on this earth has ever even found that wound, let alone treated it. Fellow from back home or not — you really are something else."

"Hahaha. Is that so?"

"But that alone isn't enough."

"Excuse me?"

"Treat it."

"Hmm. Feels like I'd be getting the short end of that deal."

"That heart is worth over ten billion."

"And this is an inflammation that only I can treat."

Kim Do-jung ground his teeth. The more he came apart, the better I felt.

"Well, fine. Seeing as we're from the same hometown, I'll throw it in as a courtesy. But I'm in a tight spot here too, you know."

"How so?"

"As I mentioned a moment ago, activating my power even once consumes a great deal of energy. Specifically, my life force."

"What? Life force? Ah. That would explain it. A healing art that burns one's own lifespan. Extraordinary. Hahaha — I apologize for calling you trash. I understand now why you hesitated so much."

Even now he was running my words through Sage's Eye to check whether I was telling the truth. A more two-faced bastard I had never met. Once he'd confirmed I wasn't lying, he let out a pained sigh.

"Nngh… as things stand, my power is still too weak to heal it completely."

"Yes, I supposed as much. You've only been in this world a few days."

"So I'll ease the arthritis. Anything beyond that is well above what I can touch."

"Ahem. Quite so. Between you and me — this is a wound the emperor of the Antarians, who dwell in the Arctic, left on me. A great many of the world's Heroes died that day."

He said it like the scar was something to be proud of.

"Wow! That's incredible. They must have been an unbelievably powerful opponent, to leave a mark on the Archmage's own body."

"Keh keh keh. Indeed. Cost the creature an arm, though."

He beamed at the flattery.

"Alright then — I'll begin the treatment. If you could prepare the Troll Lord's Heart."

"Hmph! Curing Antarian venom won't be that simple. You'd best prepare that tongue of yours!"

I set my hand on his knee.

Use S-Points. Heal the arthritis.

I currently had 250 Points. Even stripping away only part of the inflammation would be enough to make Kim Do-jung happy. The Points I did have were the ones I'd earned in the bathroom just now, knocking out several achievements during that threesome.

Right. Kim Do-jung was a top-tier Hero. Once you got that strong, the body itself became so dense that medical procedures were all but impossible. A scalpel wouldn't even break the skin, and the magic resistance ran so high that Authorities and spells barely took hold.

"As I said before we made the wager — please follow my instructions. First, you need to accept as much of my power into your body as you can."

"Very well."

"Your resistance is too strong. My power can't get any traction."

"Heh heh. I'll do what I can. Just focus on the treatment, I beg you."

Kim Do-jung wanted out from under that wretched arthritis just as badly as I wanted to win. Watching this prideful old fossil actually ask me for something was pretty entertaining.

Hmm. What if I came at the problem from a different angle?

Used outright, an Absolute's power burned through S-Points at a staggering rate — more than you could ever reasonably grind out through sex. But with a few clever loopholes, you could slash the cost dramatically.

Change Kim Do-jung's arthritis into a growth type.

"Ohh!"

The arthritis would have eased, just a little.

Go ahead and enjoy it.

I ran my hand over Kim Do-jung's knee.

Alter it so that it spreads through his entire body over twenty years. But have it begin correspondingly weak.

It really was one hell of a poison. I'd stuffed in an absurd timeframe of twenty years and it still cost that much.

Now I was getting greedy. This was the same bastard who'd tried to eat me and dismissed me as a trash-tier healer, and I wanted to spend as few S-Points on him as humanly possible. On top of that, I'd been handed a chance to take my revenge with my own two hands. No way I was letting an opportunity like that slip by.

Add a condition: completely harmless to ordinary people. However, add an option making it extremely lethal only to the elderly — especially the super-aged who have lived two hundred years or more.

Pile on the useless restrictions, one by one.

It reacts effectively to mana. In exchange, it is 'absolutely' harmless to anyone who cannot use magic.

Heh heh heh heh. Slapping the word absolutely onto the unfavorable side of the deal made the S-Point cost plummet. If a doctor ever got a look at the inflammation once it had spread through Kim Do-jung's whole body, they'd probably faint on the spot.

The Archmage has contracted a disease that's lethal only to the elderly and to mages, and milder than a common cold to everyone else. Was that how they'd put it? Heh heh heh.

If this hadn't been a disease that spread over decades, the venom would have been so lethally concentrated that the S-Point cost would have been astronomical.

And last of all — as a little token of revenge — I'll throw in a truly vicious option.

Hmm. The cost had actually gone up. It was a gray area, but apparently that was because I'd upgraded the disease instead of downgrading it. Still, seventy-five Points was nothing if it meant screwing Kim Do-jung over. Hell, a few rounds ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of sex out on the street and I'd earn more than that.

"Execute."

"Ohh! What a beautiful effect!"

Effect, my ass. This was just my actual aura color, you idiot.

The "treatment" was complete.

"Ohh! It's really gone! It doesn't hurt at all!"

He stood up and worked his knee joint, practically glowing with delight.

"Hahaha, not at all. I've only halted its progress for a little while. This is unquestionably an extraordinary poison. Even for me, slowing it down this much was the best I could do."

"It was that serious? I didn't think it was quite…"

Kim Do-jung's eyes flared. Suspicion filled them to the brim. He turned Sage's Eye on his wound, then on me, then back again.

"Hmm. It has indeed been eased."

Heh heh heh. In two hundred years, it would never once have crossed his mind that Sage's Eye — which had told him nothing but the truth for his entire life — would one day stab him in the back. And if something did go wrong with the wound later, all I had to do was say I had no idea. He'd run my words through Sage's Eye to judge whether I was telling the truth anyway. I'd just make up some excuse or other and tell him he was the one who'd let the disease grow. This was a man who had trusted Sage's Eye absolutely for over two hundred years. If I fooled the Eye, I fooled him completely.

Just you wait ten years. The pain in that knee will creep back, the inflammation will spread through the entire leg, and you won't be able to sleep at night.

I'd have loved for him to amputate the leg around then, but a Hero that proud was unlikely to go for it. Which meant the inflammation might well spread through his whole body. And more importantly — in about ten years, I'd be strong enough to take my revenge on this bastard myself.

"Thank you! Truly, thank you! I'll send the Troll Lord's Heart at once!"

Heh heh heh. What an idiot.

"I'm sorry to ask, but could I borrow a little money? I arrived here completely broke."

"Of course! I'll have it transferred to your account when I send the Troll Lord's Heart. And I won't be stingy about it. I am Kim Do-jung! You needn't even pay it back."

I'd landed myself a real sucker. Then again, a high-level who'd forgotten what pain even felt like had been grinding through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chronic inflammation every single day. The sheer tedium of that must have been unbearable.

That was when my women came back. The Doctor and Han Jo-hyun sat down beside me, their faces still flushed.

"Want ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to go for a second round?"

"There's a decent beer hall just up ahead."

The rest of the group lit up at the Doctor and Jo-hyun's suggestion.

"Ahem. I have urgent business, so I'll take my leave first."

Now that the arthritis was gone, Kim Do-jung looked like a man who no longer had any reason to be here. Then again, he'd only come in the first place as a courtesy to someone from his hometown.

"It was an honor to share your company."

"Heh heh heh. The honor is mine. Truly, thank you! You are my savior!"

Alright, now I feel a tiny bit bad.

He took my hand in both of his, warm and earnest.

"I'll send the Troll Lord's Heart before long."

"Thank you."

"You won the wager, that's all. Hahaha. Don't feel burdened in the slightest. I'll send you a proper sum of money as well. A man needs money!"

Anyone watching would have taken him for a kind, generous old grandfather. This from a man who'd come here to eat me. He had to be one of the worst Heroes alive.

"Do you have any idea what just happened?"

"It was incredible! So Seonghun, he…"

The Doctor's assistants and Kang Han-na launched into a recap of everything that had just gone down, filling in the Doctor and Han Jo-hyun.

"Wow, Seonghun's got some serious guts. I never could have done something like that."

"Seonghun, I think you were born a martial artist, at least when it comes to your heart. It's a strong one."

I glanced at Han Jo-hyun's chest.

"If anyone was born with a chest, it's you, Jo-hyun."

The tension of having stared death in the face finally melted away. Tonight, I was going to fuck like there was no tomorrow.