Home, Sweet Home
Finally, I returned to the base flowing with milk and honey.
After spending nearly four days in that gloomy, foul-smelling, rotting mansion, my mind had taken a serious beating. The sight of the clear sky lifted my spirits instantly.
Looking up at the pristine heavens, I honestly couldn’t say that billions of humans dying was such a bad thing. Especially since the neighbors who used to spew out fine dust like madmen had been wiped out in droves, the air felt incredibly fresh and nature seemed to be recovering.
The sky is so clear.
“Wooaaah!! Girls!! I’m back!!!”
I let go of the gem merchant’s hand and bellowed for my women. Spending several days with that bastard Nick and Bai Yu had left me mentally drained, so I wanted to see a woman as soon as possible.
Of course, I’d managed to screw them over royally at the end, which eased some of the frustration in my chest… but I still desperately wanted to smell my women. I was sick of dealing with men.
“Oh!! Hyung-nim!! You’re back!!”
Of course, that bastard Ha Jin-seong came running out first. That clueless loyalist. I didn’t want to talk to any man right now.
“Yeah. Hey. Go do your work.”
“Ah, yes. Of course.”
Ha Jin-seong quickly scurried off to resume his tasks after my flat, curt greeting. He knew better than to linger when I looked irritable; disappearing quietly was the wiser choice.
After rolling under my command for so long, he had learned plenty about me.
“Huh? Oppa!!!”
At that moment, Hwa-young leapt down from the second floor straight into my arms. Now this was the welcome I wanted.
“Hwa-young!!”
“Waa!!”
I spun her around in a tight embrace. She peppered my cheeks with kisses.
“Uh… sniff sniff…”
Then she suddenly buried her nose in my clothes and frowned.
“Mmm… Oppa, you need a shower first.”
“Ah, yeah.”
I’d fought multiple people while roaming the mansion, so blood, sweat, and all sorts of bodily fluids from the two-legged creatures were caked on me. I’d felt disgusting too, but there had been no proper way to wash my body or clothes in that mansion. Naturally, I reeked.
I hadn’t even changed clothes properly. The stench of blood soaked into the fabric was no joke either.
“Where are the others?”
“Ah, they should be out soon. They were training with Palus.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. By the way, Oppa… this person is… the gem merchant…?”
I introduced the gem merchant to Hwa-young.
“Her name’s Eila. She’ll be living with us from now on.”
Before returning home, I’d learned her name. Eila Allegra.
“Ooh…”
Hwa-young wore an ambiguous expression. Probably because I’d brought yet another woman home. If I added the gem merchant to the harem, she’d have one more rival to compete with, so she couldn’t exactly be thrilled.
“Jun!! You’re back!!”
“Master!!”
Mer and Noona Hee-sun came running over, waving their arms. Ye-won poked her head out from the rooftop with Helgen and greeted me, while the rest of the group who had been suffering through Palus’s hellish training quickly gathered as well.
I chatted with them briefly to catch up. We decided to share the full story over dinner, then I immediately took Eila to see Hellerus.
The science lab Hellerus had claimed reeked of chemicals and oil. When I opened the classroom door, I found Hwang Soo-min stirring a giant cauldron with a ladle and Jung Ji-yeon tightening some unknown machine with a screwdriver.
Alcid Yoon Ha-jun sat at the entrance, furiously scribbling in a notebook. He was so focused he didn’t even notice I’d entered. Feeling mischievous, I smacked the back of his head.
“Gah!! Ah, you’re here?”
“Yeah, I’m back.”
Only then did everyone in the workshop pause their work and acknowledge me.
“When did you get back? I had no idea.”
“Heh. Not long ago. Your arm doesn’t hurt?”
“Nah, I’m fine.”
Hwang Soo-min kept stirring the cauldron even while talking to me. Apparently it couldn’t be stopped.
“Ji-yeon, what are you making?”
“Ah… repairing a turret.”
“Yeah? Keep at it.”
“Yes…”
“Where’s the old man?”
“Ah, he went to dig up the mana herbs he planted in the backyard. Did you miss each other?”
“Really?”
Maybe I should come back later…
Just then, Hellerus spotted me from the hallway and waved.
“Ooh… You’re back.”
“Yeah, just got here. Brought Eila too.”
“Ooh!! Come on in!”
“Good to see you, old man.”
“Welcome, Miss Eila.”
Eila and Hellerus shook hands. Of course, Hellerus first wiped the dirt off his hands onto his clothes. After greeting Eila, I showed Hellerus the items I’d brought from the mansion.
“Hey, look at this. I brought something interesting…”
“Oh… I wonder what you’ve brought this time…”
Hellerus’s face lit up with anticipation. I pulled the Soul Extractor from my bag and handed it over.
“This is…”
“Soul Extractor. Apparently you can extract souls with it. And inject them again too. What do you think?”
“Huuuuh!!!! H-how did you get something this precious!!??”
“I nearly died getting it.”
“Th-this is… what on earth…”
Hellerus handled the Soul Extractor as carefully as if it were a lover. I handed the barely-conscious old man the documents and research notes I’d swiped from the mansion lord’s room as well.
“Uh… I’ve never seen this script before…”
“I can read it. Let’s see…”
The gem merchant roughly translated the contents of the documents for Hellerus. His expression went from surprise to outright shock.
“S-someone actually figured it out like this… With a little refinement… Hoo…”
“Pretty big, right?”
“It’s huge!! If I were just a little younger… I’d be dancing with you right now. What a shame.”
“Heh heh.”
Hellerus’s eyes gleamed with madness. His hands twitched, itching to start creating something immediately.
“Well, good luck with it.”
“Of course!! Ah, I made a potion from the Black Horned Dragon’s brain… The results weren’t as spectacular as I’d hoped, but it’s still usable. Take it with you.”
“Sounds good.”
I received a bottle of black potion from Hellerus.
◈ Effect: Mana +100 upon consumption
◈ Note: No side effects due to master craftsmanship
“Oh…! An elixir with no side effects… This is valuable.”
“Heh heh… I wanted to boost the effect further, but it’s a pity.”
“Thanks, Hellerus. I’ll drink it well.”
After praising Hellerus, I left the workshop. Eila said the workshop was too noisy and settled into the art room next door. She wanted to unpack and set up her space alone, so I left her there.
Afterward, I took a shower for the first time in ages. I poured half a bottle of shampoo onto my matted hair and worked up a mountain of foam. It felt amazing to finally be clean. Changing into fresh, fluffy clothes made me feel like I’d been reborn. Being able to change clothes after so long was incredibly satisfying.
“Haa… Refreshing.”
“Oppa!”
“Eun-ji. I heard you trained hard. Palus said your skills improved really fast.”
She had mentioned it briefly when we greeted earlier.
“Hehe… I put in some effort.”
I patted Eun-ji’s head. She didn’t need to change classes, so while she wasn’t Palus’s official disciple, she had been sparring with A-ram during training and steadily building her strength.
Originally on the path to becoming an assassin, after her class changed and she obtained the Goblin King’s sword, she now needed to practice using a greatsword as well, so she’d thrown herself into training.
“Good, good. Well done.”
As I walked down the hallway praising Eun-ji, A-ram called out to me.
“Jun! Dinner’s ready!”
“Oh! Got it!”
Time had flown by. In the mansion we’d basically lived off instant ramen three meals a day. Cooking was too bothersome and sharing with others was even worse, so I’d just chewed the hard noodles with water.
Bai Yu, who hadn’t even had that in the beginning, had stared hungrily at my ramen whenever I ate. He’d stayed that way until he started looting the dead players’ bags. After losing his memories and becoming Mei Ling, I’d felt guilty about lying that he was my comrade, so I shared food with him, but even then, uncooked noodles had been the staple…
Anyway, I shed tears of joy while eating warm rice for the first time in ages and told the girls everything that had happened in the mansion. Then Sora, who had been eating diligently, asked me,
“So now… that Pantheon? Did it fall apart?”
“Hmm… It probably didn’t collapse completely, but they’ll definitely take a big hit.”
“Ooh. That’s good news.”
“By the way, Sora… your Korean’s improved a lot.”
“Hahaha. I studied really hard.”
Sora answered with a proud laugh. She must have practiced Korean conversation intensely while I was gone.
“I taught her one-on-one.”
Mer nodded with satisfaction. During the few days I was away, Nanase had apparently received intensive tutoring under Mer’s constant nagging for twenty-four hours straight.
Perhaps because Mer used to be an angel, she was incredibly versatile—especially since she knew every human language, this kind of crash course had been possible.
“A-ram, nothing happened while I was gone?”
“Mm… I trained sometimes too. Nothing special.”
“Ha-rin?”
“I took Hellerus around the back mountain a few times. He said it was tough because he’s old.”
“Yeah, he is old. Ye-won?”
“I took care of Helgen. She’s been eating way too much mana lately… so it was mostly feeding and resting, feeding and resting.”
“Aww. Must’ve been hard. Good job.”
A-ram, Ha-rin, and Ye-won seemed to have spent a peaceful time without any incidents. Noona Hee-sun and Ju-ha had apparently worked hard tending the fields. Ju-ha, despite being a combat class, showed more interest in farming than fighting.
“Eun-ha, what about you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. What did you do?”
“Uh… I, well, with Lee Hoon? That ahjussi, we hunted ghosts… together.”
Eun-ha, who had been trying to correct her North Korean dialect herself, answered in a strangely mixed accent.
“Ghost hunting with Lee Hoon?”
“Yes. Our tastes are similar.”
Possession Warrior Lee Hoon needed to eat ghosts to grow stronger, and Curse Doll Eun-ha also needed to consume ghosts or monsters to create solitude or use skills. In a way, they matched well.
Because of that, Lee Hoon and Eun-ha had apparently gone ghost hunting together every night. Since ghosts couldn’t approach the school where the divine statue was, they must have hunted outside.
‘Hoo… Lee Hoon, that bastard… I need to have a serious talk with him soon…’
With that thought, I scraped up the last of my rice. The salt-grilled tail of the Sacrifice Dragon tasted pretty good. Afterward, I went up to the school rooftop alone to digest while watching the sunset.
“Haa…”
The school grounds spread out below. Seeing the slaves working hard and the trees heavy with fruit made my body tremble with pride.
‘I’ve gained so much…’
After desperately working my ass off in the beginning, I could now produce food on my own, use as much water as I wanted, and even generate limited electricity with the generator. This place had become practically paradise in the apocalypse.
With hundreds of slaves working for me, it was truly paradise. All I had to do was maintain it well. Since I could go to the black market, I’d keep raking in profits… If I just kept the snowball rolling, neither Nick nor anyone else could touch me. Honestly, Nick had been disappointing. 777 didn’t feel so scary anymore.
‘I should start growing mushrooms soon…’
First, I needed to enter the black market tomorrow, so I had to properly inform everyone. This time, even if I resolved the matter, I wouldn’t be able to return for at least a week. If the timing was bad, it might take over two weeks.
‘The underground of the black market…’
I had to retrieve Cheshire’s soul from the demon.
Whether I could get it back safely… I wasn’t sure.