The Day of Saeteo
Returning home, I checked my points. The points I’d gained from Han Gaeul totaled a whopping 347. Compared to the 232 points I’d gotten from Park Nayoung, that was a surprisingly high number. Her favorability must have been higher than expected, letting me rake in quite a haul.
“I thought her favorability would still be low since we’d only just met, but it seems it was quite high after all.”
The point calculation was based on [a woman’s value] multiplied by [favorability]. Because it was multiplicative rather than additive, if either factor was low, the total points dropped sharply. That meant Han Gaeul’s favorability had skyrocketed in a very short time.
“Maybe it’s because you saved her from that crisis and let her get back at the people who were tormenting her?”
“Could be.”
Perhaps, to Han Gaeul, I was like the prince from a fairy tale who had rescued her from danger.
“Ah, that’s a bit much…”
“Why?”
“Your face isn’t exactly that of a prince, is it?”
“……”
I wanted to argue, but nothing came to mind. Anyway, another reason I’d earned so many points from her was that she was a famous creator with over 100,000 subscribers. The whole community had been buzzing about the incident, which likely boosted her value even further.
In contrast, Park Nayoung was currently an unemployed jobless bum. If her job had been “female college student (?)” at the time, her value might have been much higher, but since her first experience happened right after graduating and failing to land a job, her value had been heavily discounted.
“I wonder if there’s retroactive application for this later.”
This was the lowest point in Park Nayoung’s life in terms of value. Once we opened the café and it succeeded, her value would rise far beyond what it was now.
If the difference is extreme, retroactive application is possible to some extent. However, a significant portion will be deducted, so I recommend obtaining the highest possible points during the first experience.
“Really?”
That meant it would be hard to earn many points unless her value increased considerably. Still, I was satisfied knowing I could get at least a little and checked my total points for the gacha pulls. Adding the new points to what I had left over, I now had enough for four draws.
Before pulling, I took a proper bath to calm both body and mind. After a few deep breaths, I closed my eyes and offered a prayer.
“O almighty Goddess Cerer, protect me with your eternal light. O almighty Goddess Cerer, protect me with your eternal light. O almighty Goddess Cerer, protect me with your eternal light…”
“Have you gone mad, human?”
Seria, who had been watching, spoke with a tone of utter exasperation. All connections to Goddess Cerer had already been severed. No matter how much I prayed, she wouldn’t answer. I knew that, but I finished the prayer anyway—it was just a small comfort for my heart—then started the four pulls.
“Let’s go!!!”
Skill [Precise Hand Technique] acquired.
Item [Derkian’s 16th Mana Stone Necklace] acquired.
Item [Elixir of Growth] acquired.
Item [Elixir of Growth] acquired.
It wasn’t a complete bust, but it wasn’t a jackpot either. With four pulls available, my expectations had been high, yet the results were disappointing.
“You get disappointed because you had expectations in the first place. If you expect nothing from the start, you won’t be disappointed.”
She wasn’t wrong, but somehow the words still annoyed me. Shaking off the disappointment, I examined the results.
First, the skill [Precise Hand Technique]. It was an advanced skill taught to royal artisans. It allowed precise, free control of the hands and corrected tremors, which I had once used for swordsmanship rather than art. But now that I had no need for a sword, it didn’t have much use. If someone with artistic talent had obtained it, it would have instantly bloomed their abilities, but for me—who had zero artistic talent—it was nothing more than a pearl before swine. The only practical application I could think of was writing neatly and quickly on university essay exams.
“Not a bust, but still disappointing for an advanced skill.”
Next was the item [Derkian’s 16th Mana Stone Necklace]. One of nineteen necklaces the royal artisan Derkian had made at my request. Though crafted from mana stones, it only had basic functions: preventing breakage and keeping the wearer warm. It was pretty, but that was all. I still remembered the look Derkian had given me—like I was insane—when I asked him to turn precious mana stones meant for magical tools into nothing more than a pretty necklace. Even so, as a work by the royal artisan, it was a masterpiece so beautiful that even I, who knew nothing about jewelry, could appreciate it.
I hadn’t given it an official name yet. I had planned to bestow names upon them after defeating the Demon King and gifting them to the women as tokens imbued with my power, but now they were just gathering dust in storage before that could happen. It was an excellent piece of art, but since it was made from mana stones that didn’t exist on Earth, selling it would be awkward. I decided to gift it to someone later and stuffed it into my coat pocket.
“The last two are Elixirs of Growth, huh. At least these are useful.”
The [Elixir of Growth] was a potion that, when applied to a desired body part, would increase its size by about one centimeter. Back when I was a hero, I had wanted to use it to grow taller, but I never did because suddenly changing my physique would have felt off during sword training. Instead, I had saved them for any potential children I might have in the future.
“Legs would be best, right?”
I briefly considered applying it to my middle leg instead, but that part was already well beyond average for an East Asian. Deciding to fix what was lacking first, I applied the potion to both legs. Thankfully, it treated them as a set, instantly adding about two centimeters to my height.
“Oh, not bad.”
My height, previously 175 cm, was now 177 cm. It was only two centimeters, but the improved proportions made a noticeable difference. Wanting to check out my new body, I stood in front of the mirror and took some photos. On impulse, I stripped off my shirt, flexed, and snapped a few body-profile-style shots. My sculpted six-pack and other muscles showed off impressively in the pictures.
“Don’t I look like a model now?”
“If you covered your face, maybe.”
“You little— Why are you picking a fight?”
I wanted to throw the smartphone across the room, but the installment plan wasn’t paid off yet, so I held back. I started taking photos again, but after hearing Seria’s comment, none of them satisfied me. My body and face were so mismatched that anyone would think they were photoshopped. Plus, I had zero experience with selfies, so the focus was off and the angles were weird.
“Shall I take them for you?”
“You? How?”
The moment Seria finished speaking, my smartphone floated into the air. It had flown around on its own like a flying sword back in my hero days, so there was no reason a lighter smartphone couldn’t do the same.
“Flying sword, my ass—flying phone. You’re not gonna start shooting electromagnetic waves or something later, are you?”
“If Lord Jin’s Sex Power increases, it might become possible.”
Following Seria’s instructions, I struck poses while she took the photos. They came out far better than my own attempts. She even installed some photo-editing app I’d never seen before and applied light edits. The results were stunning—higher quality than most professional body-profile shots.
“Except for the face, of course.”
“Shut it. When did you even install that editing app? At this point, it’s not my phone anymore—it’s yours.”
I was about to snap at her for the constant face attacks, but the photos were good enough that I let it slide. With the gacha done and plenty of photos taken, I decided to open my status window for the first time in a while.
Name: Kim Hyunjin
Sex Power: 637/637
Items: [Derkian’s 16th Mana Stone Necklace], [Elixir of Growth ×2]
Skills: [Healing], [Clean], [Power Infusion], [Precise Hand Technique]
Points: 27P
It was a modest improvement compared to when I had started from zero as a hero. The amount of Sex Power was still tiny compared to back then. But with this much, unless a natural disaster like an earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption occurred, nothing could really threaten me.
Looking at my slowly growing status window brought back memories of my growth during my hero days. Just then, Seria asked me a question.
“Lord Jin. Just in case, may I ask if you still have lingering attachments to the other world?”
“Hmm…”
Even the burning desire for revenge I’d felt back then had calmed down a little. Of course, it was only calming—not extinguished. Not just the Saintess, but all the women I had adventured with and whispered love to. The moment their usefulness ended, they had discarded me like a used tissue. Because of that, I still couldn’t trust their so-called spiritual love. That was why I wanted to ask them: Was I really that unappealing? Of course, my top priority was still to do all sorts of things until the Saintess begged for her life, but if that wasn’t possible, I at least wanted an answer as to why they had done it.
“Lord Jin…”
“Well, if I keep collecting points, I’ll meet them someday.”
For now, I decided to focus on gathering points.