Catastrophe
On the fourth day after arriving in another world.
Shaaa—
RUMBLE!
He had been wandering through the forest in the pouring rain when he reached a small village.
There, by chance, he met an old man with white hair.
With a hunched back and deep wrinkles carved into his face, the old man introduced himself as the village chief and then bowed over and over as he held out a pouch stuffed with silver coins.
"Please, hero. Master of the Blue Magic Tower, save our village from the Demon King Selenia!"
"Demon King Selenia?"
"Yes. Ever since she came here, the rain hasn't stopped. Please, defeat the Demon King and bring peace back to our village!"
Juhyuk hesitated.
But only for a moment.
He immediately grabbed the pouch of silver coins and smiled brightly.
"Leave it to me."
Looking back now, it had been a completely insane answer.
He couldn't even kill a lowly kobold without almost starving to death, and he was promising to take down a Demon King?
But at the time, I had made a huge mistake.
At last, my imagination had become reality.
I had entered the game world I had dreamed of for so long!
This development was nothing more than the tutorial of a common RPG.
The quest itself was the kind only a hero could attempt.
Then...
If I went to meet the Demon King like this,
she would definitely mock me as a brat, and then some growth route like regression, possession, or reincarnation would open up.
That's the cliché, after all.
Juhyuk sprang to his feet.
"Where's the Demon King?"
He moved without hesitation.
He hurried to meet the Demon King, and the village chief wasted no time leading him there.
KRUUUUMBLE!
Beneath a sky packed with black clouds, they arrived at a blue tower thrusting high into the air. The village chief, wearing a terrified expression, said, "Hero, the master of the Blue Magic Tower, Selenia, is said to be the cruelest of all the Demon Kings. Even if you lose the battle, be careful not to get caught by her."
"Got it. By the way, don't you have a sword or shield or something prepared for me?"
Normally, a tutorial handed out gear for battle.
It was standard to let a player try out different weapons so they could get used to combat.
"No, we don't."
So this game was a little different.
"Understood."
He figured they would probably give him items right before the fight with the Demon King.
Thinking that, Juhyuk headed straight for the tower.
He crossed a long bridge in the midst of a maddening downpour and rolling thunder, then reached the first gate.
"Stop."
A werewolf—twice the size of a grown man.
A monster commonly called a werewolf or lycan.
The first gatekeeper, Blood Lycan.
Kang Juhyuk didn't stop when told to. Instead, he walked closer and glared at the lycan.
You're a grunt and you think you can block my path?
"Move. I came to see Selenia."
The lycan froze for a moment, then stared at him and fell into thought.
What is this guy?
By his looks, he was clearly human.
And yet he didn't seem afraid even after seeing an upper-ranked monster like me.
Besides...
I don't know who he is, since I've never seen his face before, but...
he was controlling his presence so perfectly it was as if he didn't exist at all.
Even with him right in front of me, I couldn't sense him in the slightest.
Of course, all of that was the lycan's misunderstanding.
Kang Juhyuk, who had only just arrived in this other world, had stats that barely touched 1.
He hadn't even grown his awakened abilities yet.
The reason the lycan couldn't feel his energy was simply that it was truly that weak.
Incredible.
The lycan kept admiring him.
If he can conceal his energy this well, he could have killed me in secret and walked right past.
And yet he had deliberately revealed himself to ask for a conversation.
I don't know who he is, but he must be a fairly high-ranking figure on the human side.
Not only had he come to the tower alone,
but he also seemed to want to talk rather than fight, so he didn't appear to be an enemy.
What do I do?
After thinking for a long while, the lycan carefully asked one question.
"May I ask who you are?"
"I have no name worth giving to the likes of you. I'm busy, so open the gate already."
"I'm sorry, but only those who are permitted may enter the castle."
"...Open it while I'm still being nice. Make me say it a second time and I'll have no choice but to kill you and move on."
Kang Juhyuk wore an irritated expression.
This NPC's got a hell of a long tongue.
Seeing that, the lycan clenched his lips and took a step aside, clearing the way.
There.
This was the first gate leading to the tower lord anyway.
If something was wrong with him, someone else would stop him.
The lycan bowed his head and backed away, and Juhyuk passed by with a haughty expression.
"Good work."
After the first gate, the road to the Demon King was absurdly easy.
Inside the tower, at the mid-levels, he met the second gatekeeper: a gigantic lizard.
The second gatekeeper, Void Basilisk.
The instant it saw Juhyuk, it opened the way on its own.
"Welcome."
Of course, Kang Juhyuk had no idea why.
He didn't understand why the creature was bowing and scraping like it was facing a superior.
Yeah, that's how it should be.
A trash mob shouldn't block the protagonist's path.
Gulp.
The basilisk swallowed dryly as it watched Juhyuk sweep past it.
Who is he?
He'd passed the first gate in silence, so he clearly wasn't an enemy.
Was he a guest of Her Majesty?
The basilisk stared after Juhyuk for a while, then shrugged and turned its gaze elsewhere.
No way.
I heard that a fifth Demon King had been born in the Red Magic Tower.
Could that be the new master of the Red Magic Tower?!
After passing the second gate, Kang Juhyuk reached the third.
There he met a minotaur in steel armor as massive as a giant.
The third gatekeeper, Iron Minotaur.
It had a presence completely different from the lycan and basilisk he'd passed on the way here. Just facing it made Juhyuk's legs tremble.
Pretty intense.
Seeing a monster from the game up close felt completely different. He could feel a terror as if it might swallow him whole at any second.
Still.
Juhyuk strode forward boldly and simply walked between the minotaur's legs.
"Selenia's up there, right?"
The minotaur was dumbfounded by his behavior, but it didn't bother to stop him with force.
The reason was the same as for the monsters guarding the two gates before it.
If he had simply walked through the first and second gates, there had to be a reason.
And anyone who could casually use the tower master's name like that...
wasn't someone I should stand in front of.
The minotaur judged that much and let Kang Juhyuk pass.
"She's at the summit."
"Oh, good work."
And so Juhyuk cleared the third gate in a straight line.
At the summit of the Blue Magic Tower, he came face-to-face with the Demon King.
"You're the hero?"
At the top of the Blue Magic Tower.
The room of the fourth Demon King, Selenia.
"Yeah, I'm the hero."
Selenia, a young woman with white hair and a sultry body, wore a bewildered expression.
How did he get up here?
There had been no report from below.
And why is the so-called hero this weak?
She could barely sense any mana from him at all.
Juhyuk strode over and leaned his face in until it was right before the tip of Selenia's nose.
She's pretty.
Really pretty.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
He'd never even seen anyone like her in real life.
This is the Demon King?
For Kang Juhyuk, who had never once had a girlfriend, her looks were so dazzling that it was hard even to speak to her. Just meeting her eyes made his lips tremble.
"Are you really the Demon King Selenia?"
Selenia stared at Juhyuk for a long moment with curious eyes, then gave a short nod and answered.
"Yes. I am Selenia, mistress of this tower."
He'd thought a Demon King would be some hulking, grotesque monster.
"You look human."
"I am human."
"Really?"
"Really."
"A human became a Demon King?"
"That is correct."
"That's possible?"
"It is."
So brief, these questions and answers.
What do I do? All RPG heroes follow a knightly code.
Then, as the protagonist, I can't hit a woman for the sake of honor and trust.
Even with all the knowledge of a modern person, once I'd crossed into another world, that was an unspoken rule I couldn't defy.
"I'll let you live, especially."
"...You'll let me live?"
How dare he say that to the owner of the Blue Tower?
"Sorry, but I don't hit weak women."
Weak?
That was a first.
"So I think I'll pass on this tutorial."
Tutorial?
"If the story goes off track, I'll just have to find another route to grow."
What on earth was he talking about?
Demon King Selenia couldn't understand.
"Wait. Didn't you say you were a hero?"
"Yeah."
"Then tell me how you came here."
"Ah, that. The village chief around here said the Demon King was using magic to keep the rain from stopping."
That's right.
She had been punished for not pledging loyalty to him.
"I came to defeat you so the rain would stop, but I had no idea you were such a beautiful woman. If I'd known, I would've rejected the quest from the start."
Selenia looked utterly baffled.
"You called me... beautiful?"
Was that really something a hero should say to a Demon King?
As she stood there, speechless, Juhyuk waved a hand.
"It's just a game anyway. I guess skipping the tutorial is fine. Anyway, here. Take this. I picked it up on the way."
Juhyuk rummaged through his pocket.
Then he stepped closer and slipped a plastic ring onto Selenia's finger.
"?!?"
Before Kang Juhyuk had crossed into this other world,
it had been a cheap accessory from a gacha shop random draw.
"Looks good on you."
She stared at the ring on her hand, stunned.
"W-what do you think you're doing!"
"There, there. It's nothing special, so there's no reason to refuse it."
"No, that's not the point."
"Forget about it."
"You brat!"
"So you're the type who gets mad when she's in a good mood."
If anyone else had done this, she'd have severed their head long ago. But she was completely at a loss for words in the face of Kang Juhyuk's impossible behavior.
Is this a dream?
He was forcing a marriage on the Blue Magic Tower's master!
Juhyuk gave an awkward smile.
"Anyway, I'm done here, so I'm leaving."
Selenia reached out and blocked his way.
"Wait."
"Adieu."
"Adieu?"
"See you again sometime."
"I told you to wait!"
Juhyuk smiled brightly, tapped Selenia on the cheek, then sprinted off with all his might and leapt out the tower window.
Whoosh!
"You little--!!!"
Selenia hurried to the window and looked outside, but by the time she arrived, Kang Juhyuk had already vanished from sight.
...What was that?
She stared at the ring on her finger for a long while, then let out a hollow laugh and twitching the corners of her mouth murmured, "I... said I was beautiful?"
* * *
After Kang Juhyuk drained his glass of makgeolli,
"Kraah!"
his face flushed as he grinned stupidly and went on.
"Kraah! I really thought I was going to die back then. I jumped out the window thinking I'd respawn at a checkpoint or get reborn as a new character or something. Instead I just shattered both my leg bones and spent a month getting treated."
Minho tilted his head.
"Uncle, didn't you say you almost died to a succubus? The Selenia you just mentioned is a Demon King."
"Right, but later I found out Selenia wasn't just a Demon King. She was a succubus."
"Really?"
"Yeah! While I was in that other world, she kept trying to seduce me. You have no idea how hard it was to run away."
That was strange.
There was no way a normal woman would look at his uncle like that.
Could he be mistaken?
Minho thought that, but he didn't ask directly.
It wasn't like he could verify the facts anyway.
Ding-dong.
Someone rang the doorbell.
Just as Juhyuk had been about to head to the bathroom, he stood up and said, "Looks like we've got a visitor."
"A visitor?"
"Yeah. I figured it would be around now, but it's a little earlier than I expected."
"Who is it?"
"A villain."
"A villain?"
With a smile at the corner of his mouth, Juhyuk picked up the makgeolli bottle and headed for the front door.
"Yeah. I'll beat them up and be right back."