Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: [Abyssal Miner] Misunderstandings Are Free
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“Um…… Mr. Lee Jun. Do you, by any chance…… know about…… dimensional travel?”
Dimensional traveler.
The words I’d told Erika in reality.
That I was a traveler hopping between dimensions, and this was just one of the countless worlds I visited.
A fantastical cover story I’d spun instead of the harsh truth that this was a comic book world.
‘She remembers it right.’
Just look at what happened back at the restaurant earlier.
She’d gone in to eat, ordered food, and then suddenly felt sick?
It couldn’t have been right when the food arrived.
If she was really feeling that bad, she wouldn’t have sat there lost in thought—she’d have gone home to rest.
Erika had been with me until…… well, just moments ago in her time.
We’d taken down the twin-headed Minotaur together and then stuffed ourselves silly back home with chicken, tteokbokki, and spaghetti.
Accounting for the time since I entered [Abyssal Miner], only a short while had passed since she returned from the forge to the restaurant.
Her stomach couldn’t possibly be empty.
Of course, I still needed to confirm.
The assumption that she hadn’t eaten and thus had food in her belly was just my speculation.
‘She might just have the memory of eating.’
When her duplicate was summoned to reality and the time ended, only that memory transferred back to her body.
The confusion from the memories mixing with the recollection of eating could have killed her appetite.
Her stomach might actually be empty for real.
What I could confirm right now was that the person summoned by my Character Summon was Erika herself—or at least shared her memories.
Erika, who’d brought it up herself, was now glancing at me nervously.
It made sense, in a way.
From her perspective, it had all happened in an instant, and afterward, she must have doubted whether it was real or not.
“You remembered. The things I told you.”
“Ah, I knew it! So all of that was real. It felt so vivid, but after I came back, I thought…… it couldn’t possibly be true. I wondered if it was a dream.”
“Yeah, sorry I didn’t explain ahead of time. I figured suddenly talking about dimensional travel and stuff like that…… you wouldn’t believe me.”
“No! Don’t apologize. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. More than that, Mr. Lee Jun…… you came back sooner than I expected?”
“I came back quickly?”
“Yes. It hasn’t been long since we parted in your home dimension. You said you’d come right back, but I didn’t think it’d be this soon. Did you finish all your business? You said you were busy……”
From my perspective, I’d taken a full day to rest and handled my errands before coming.
But for her, it had been mere moments.
“Yeah. I took care of the urgent stuff.”
“I see. And you’re so capable too. As expected of you, Mr. Lee Jun.”
As Erika nodded, a mischievous impulse struck me.
This situation was ripe for some fun.
“Actually, that was a lie. I didn’t finish everything.”
“Huh? Then why……?”
“I just missed you, Erika. So I came.”
“……Huh?”
“I was planning to wait longer, but after sending you off, I kept thinking about you. I worried you might be scared. So I just came. I wanted to see your face, Erika.”
“M-my…… f-face…… you wanted to see……?”
“Yeah. Is that not okay?”
“N-no! It’s not that it’s not okay…… but…… didn’t you say that day…… that no one else came to mind but me……?”
“I did.”
“D-did you…… miss me that much? Enough to come right away?”
“Of course. After we parted like that at the end, how could I not?”
I meant that moment right before we separated in my room, when Erika had hugged me tightly.
She must have remembered too—her face flushed red.
“I…… I missed you too, Mr. Lee Jun. Even after I came back, I kept thinking about you……”
As Erika trailed off, a system message appeared over her.
A single sentence bumped her favorability up by 2.
Sweet as honey.
“Anyway, great to see you again, Erika. I missed you.”
“Yes…… I’m happy to see you too, Mr. Lee Jun.”
The mood turned fluffy and warm.
Sunset in the evening sky, a quiet bench, a man and woman blushing at each other.
Now was the time to ask what had been nagging at me.
That question lingering in my mind.
Why had Erika’s favorability cap lifted?
What happened in the short time between parting with her and logging out?
“By the way, Erika. I have something I’m curious about. Last time, on the rooftop…… what were you about to say before we got interrupted?”
“……Huh? Oh, that……”
Erika averted her gaze.
She fidgeted with her fingers, hesitating.
Was it hard to talk about?
“Tell me. I can’t hold back my curiosity anymore.”
“Actually…… that day, I went to District 5 to see Lisa.”
“Lisa? Why?”
“After we went together, got this sword from the abandoned mine, and parted ways. I thanked you, Mr. Lee Jun, but you said Lisa told you about the place, right? So I went to thank her too. And maybe help if she needed anything.”
“Ah……”
I’d used Lisa as an excuse back then—that she’d told me about the place and the sword.
Just some bullshit I made up so Erika wouldn’t suspect I was setting her up to get the sword.
I could guess the rest without her saying.
“I bought her some tasty snacks and thanked her. Told her I got a great sword thanks to her. But she said she didn’t even know such a sword existed. She asked her grandpa Hans, and even he didn’t know. He knew there was a rusty sword in the tunnel, but…… he’d never heard any legends about it being a famous blade waiting for its owner.”
“So she figured it all out.”
“Yes, she did. That you lied, Mr. Lee Jun.”
“Ah, that……”
I tried to come up with an excuse, but Erika kept going.
“You knew everything, didn’t you? That the sword was there, how amazing it was. But you used Lisa as an excuse to give it to me. So I wouldn’t feel burdened. Pretending like it was just a lucky find.”
“No……”
“When I heard that, I realized…… you could have claimed the sword yourself, but you brought me there on purpose to let me have it. You found it first, after all. But you didn’t pull it out—you gave me the chance. Saying maybe I was its destined owner.”
“That’s not it. I tried pulling it too, but it wouldn’t budge.”
“Liar……”
It wasn’t a lie.
I’d helped her get Hakenakirimaru, sure, but only because I couldn’t use it.
The owner was predetermined from the start.
I’d gotten rejected, felt awkward about it, so I tipped her off.
“Someone as strong and amazing as you couldn’t possibly fail to pull a single rusty sword. It came right out when I touched it.”
“No, that……”
“You knew the first one to pull it becomes the owner, right? So you didn’t even touch it on purpose.”
I’m telling you, you were the original owner—I just got the shaft.
Thanks to that one lie I’d spat out, Erika dismissed everything I said as more lies.
“That’s when I realized. How much you care for me.”
“……”
“So after leaving Lisa’s…… I kept thinking about it. Even at the restaurant, that’s all I could think of. The food came, but I couldn’t eat. Why did you do that? Why are you always so good to me? I’m just some girl you happened to meet in a mine. You saved my life, made up crazy excuses, gave me this weapon…… so……”
She bowed her head, her voice barely a whisper.
“I wondered…… if maybe…… you…… like me…… or something.”
Her face as she said it bloomed like a camellia flower……
Like the face of a girl in love…… I couldn’t help but look away.
“Once that thought hit me…… my head was full of you…… I couldn’t do anything. My heart was pounding so hard, my face burning……”
So that’s why her favorability cap lifted while I was gone.
I knew Erika was kind, but I never imagined she’d go thank Lisa in person……
A casual lie snowballing like this?
She’d written a whole romance novel in her head.
But no need to correct her, right?
Why dispel such a sweet misunderstanding?
Let her live in that delusion forever.
Such a pretty girl thinks she likes me.
Just sleep with her and call it a day.
That’s what I would’ve thought not long ago.
“S-so…… that’s why…… um……”
Why was that?
Looking at Erika, my chest ached.
“If it’s okay with you, Mr. Lee Jun…… would you…… would you……”
She couldn’t finish, just mouthing the words.
Breathing ragged, eyes misty.
And then…… and then……
“Would you…… go out with me……?”
Once the words were out, she squeezed her eyes shut.
Her small shoulders trembling in fear of rejection.
Looking at Erika’s face was too much.
Too much didn’t mean I disliked it.
Quite the opposite.
Such a pretty girl asking me out—it was a first.
But……
The weight of those pure feelings was too much for me to bear.
It was a pang of conscience, knowing her admiration and love were built on my lies.
I’m not the great guy she thinks I am.
Honestly, that’s a softened version.
Selfish, driven by desire, not above lying when needed.
Like when I deceived the king in [Empty Lies] to bed the queen, or secretly made and ate the [Divine Pill: Fengyang Pill] ingredients in [New Dan] without telling my master.
I had no qualms exploiting others for gain.
Erika was too different from me.
She was too…… pure.
Gazing at her made me want to cry; she was so transparent, and if my lies and deceptions touched that innocent heart…… it’d stain black in an instant.
Could I accept her trust and affection, knowing it stemmed from my misunderstanding?
Wasn’t this a scam?
‘No.’
I shook my head.
Time to change my thinking.
Just because it started with a lie doesn’t mean the end has to be.
Whether misunderstanding or delusion, my feelings for Erika were real.
I genuinely thought she was pretty, wanted to protect her, be with her.
Then the answer was simple.
Turn this misunderstanding, this delusion, this lie……
Into truth.
Become the wonderful, devoted man she believed in.
Act that way from now on, and it becomes reality.
What about the other girls?
I’m building a harem.
Fine for girls in other worlds, but once I get close to Luna, will it stay hidden?
Would Erika accept me even knowing I’m a cheating scumbag?
‘Manage it without getting caught.’
And look at the results.
No matter the start, I did help Erika, and she grew because of it.
Sure, it got messy because of me, but without me, she might’ve died wielding junk weapons her whole life.
‘So I deserve it.’
With that self-justification, my heart lightened.
Thicken your skin, Lee Jun.
A real man needs a thick face to win the beauties.
Heroes come with three wives and four concubines as standard.
And those heroic tales? Media hype. Read the myths and epics—they’re full of scumbags.
Some epic passed down millennia? The war boycott was over stolen war prizes, aka women.
Just pathetic assholes.
No different from me, straight up.
Only after layering on that armor could I respond.
“Mr. Lee Jun……?”
Lost in thought too long with no answer, Erika looked up with teary, anxious eyes.
Pupils filled with fear of rejection.
“I-it’s…… I must’ve been mistaken, right? I was the only one thinking weird things…… Sorry. Forget it. I overstepped……”
Click.
I grabbed her wrist as she tried to stand hastily.
She was about to run.
“I like you too, Erika. From the first time I saw you, I’ve liked you all along. Way more than you think.”
This wasn’t a lie.
How much did I simp for Erika while reading this trash comic?
She was my top fave, on par with Luna.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Plip, plop.
Tears fell from Erika’s eyes.
How could someone like me—average looks, shitty personality—make her like me this much?
This world shaped by my trait, knowing the original info, deceptive…… Would she still like the real me?
Pushing those doubts down……
Whoosh.
I pulled Erika into a hug.