Chapter 185: It’s Creeping Up
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 185: It’s Creeping Up
"Yes, but I’m not sure when that will be. We’re in the middle of joint training right now, so everything is a bit uncertain."
"Ah..."
"...? Didn't you hear me? I said my fiancé might be coming."
A brief silence followed.
Melanie didn't seem to like my lukewarm response, so she repeated herself. Realizing what she wanted from me, I immediately sprang into action.
"What?! A fiancé? That’s impossible!"
I gave her an exaggerated reaction, shouting in mock disbelief.
Satisfied, Melanie nodded and continued.
"Well, he’s self-proclaimed, of course. But he keeps going around telling everyone that, and it’s been a massive headache for me."
"But why did this come up all of a sudden?"
"Well, here’s what happened..."
Moros Child.
If Kaivan Corporation was the one manufacturing weapons, Moros Child was the entity providing the raw materials for them. It was a global conglomerate with deep roots not just in raw materials, but in various resource industries.
Apparently, the heir to that company had been obsessively pursuing Melanie for a long time.
"But once I entered Victory, there wasn't much he could do. Victory blocks all outside interference like that."
This was news to me. I didn't realize that entering Victory meant you could ignore most forms of external pressure.
‘That’s broken.’
Beyond just being a top 1% academy, this place was as safe as a nuclear bunker.
"So I’d put it out of my mind, but then I heard the bastard is preparing to transfer to Victory Academy. I’m telling you now just in case."
No matter what he says later, don't misunderstand and just trust me, okay?
I nodded at her concluding words. It wasn't an emergency, but it was the kind of information that was better to hear sooner rather than later.
"Well... there’s actually more to the story, but I think I can tell you that later. I don't want to get in the way of your training too much."
Melanie stood up, twirling her drill hair around her finger.
"It’s not a distraction, so feel free to come talk to me whenever."
"Just don't ignore me. You’re only reliable at times like this... You’re such a dummy, seriously."
Blehh.
She winked and stuck her tongue out at me before heading out of the training room.
I sat there for a moment, enjoying the ticklish sensation in my chest, and sank into thought.
‘A fiancé, huh.’
First Jang Du-cheol, and now this sudden fiancé character.
The shift in existing characters and the abrupt appearance of new ones—this was by no means a good sign.
‘It’s not that I’m worried about having more rivals.’
If they were going to appear, there should have been some sign of them before. Why the sudden chaos?
‘No... wait. Maybe this is how things were actually supposed to go.’
What if Chubby Ahn had pulled some strings to prevent any rivals from appearing while he was pushing Kim Min-su?
It was a plausible theory.
Setting the heroines up as "virgin bitches" so that a virgin loser could easily conquer them, or having women fall for him even when he did things that should be repulsive—those were the kinds of nonsensical elements that didn't even make sense within the logic of a novel.
‘Now that I’m taking the Protagonist Share, the side effects are starting to show.’
Examples of that were Jang Du-cheol finally trying to reveal his hidden feelings and Melanie’s fiancé.
In Jang Du-cheol’s case, I could manage him to some extent since we were in the same academy. But Melanie’s fiancé was a complete wild card.
‘I don’t want to be dragged around by this.’
Just when it seemed like I was finally about to break free from the disgusting duo of Kim Min-su and Chubby Ahn, this had to happen.
[My Lord, from this girl's perspective, that wench... no... that bitch... no, that's not it... Ah! It seems the virgin likes you too, so why not just take her right now? Once you thrust into her, she won't be able to say a word. She'll be too busy fretting while lowering her cervix to prepare for pregnancy immediately—]
I cut Chun-hyang off, ignoring her words with surgical precision. If I engaged her, there was no telling what kind of obscenities she’d spout next.
Click.
‘Quiet.’
Even though I shut her down, it wasn't as if I hadn't considered what she said. After all, that was pretty much how I’d conquered Su-jin and Yu-min.
The problem was that my mindset now was completely different from back then.
In the past, I was focused solely on clearing quests as quickly as possible. Now, it was more important to clear them in the most "ideal" way. It had been a long time since I’d stopped viewing the people around me as mere combinations of text, so this shift was only natural.
"...If it keeps going like this, is a rival going to appear for every heroine?"
Even if I excluded Su-jin since she wasn't one of Kim Min-su’s heroines... Yu-min and the Saintess were destined to be his. That meant there were potentially two more men yet to appear.
‘Surely not.’
Actually, that possibility was very low. The Saintess and the Hero were a set deal, and Yu-min was established as having been in a relationship with him from the very beginning. In other words, any potential rivals would likely be for future heroines or someone like Melanie.
‘Alright, let’s end the practice here.’
My body wasn't going to move right while my head was this cluttered. It was better to stop training and lie down to manage my condition.
[My Lord... are you giving up already when your personal training isn't even finished? I felt there were some deficiencies when we worked together last time. Perhaps... through the union of Yin and Yang, we could build a deeper bond... and if you were to stimulate this girl's heart by poking her center with your thick, hard, massive cock—]
I ignored the nonsense.
*
Meanwhile, the Indomitable Hero, Kim Min-su.
"Why... why do I have to lose?"
He was huddled under his covers, barely holding back his tears. He bit his lip to stifle the sobbing sounds as he scrolled through his phone.
"...My face is here, it's there, it's everywhere."
[Indomitable Hero? More like the Hero of Humiliation.]
[A cuckoo appearing in the middle of a campfire? What is its true identity?]
[An entrance straight out of a hero movie! Baek Tae-yang and the Saintess! And then...]
[The 'Floor Min-su' emote is out, following in the footsteps of 'Screaming Min-su'! Please show it lots of love!]
[The shadows cast by the roaring flames that day weren't just human, but a cuckoo as well?]
Provocative headlines written by malicious reporters popped up for three seconds before disappearing in two.
"...At least they're deleting them. I guess I should be grateful for that."
Kim Min-su didn't know it, but it wasn't the reporters deleting the articles—it was Noble.
When 'Screaming Min-su' went viral, Kaivan had moved to prevent the company's reputation from being tarnished. But this time, there was no one to step up like that, so Noble had no choice but to intervene. They had spent years marketing him as a Hero, after all; they had to stop his fall from grace.
"Just... how much more do I have to do to win her heart?"
He’d worked on his looks, changed the way he spoke, and tried to show her his cool side as much as possible. But every single time, Baek Tae-yang appeared and got in his way.
What kind of grudge did that bastard have against him?
Slide.
"There's no point in worrying about this alone."
Times like these called for a reliable ally. And that ally was...
[Nothing is going right. I have practical training tomorrow... ] - [Doctor Curiosity] Sweet Cadet
-This is Sweet Cadet's 10,100th post-
Hello.
Things have been really hard lately.
You told me everything would work out if I did Min-su Land... but the biggest reson it didn't work is because of that.
Now there are memes of me lying on the ground all over the internet.
They say a new emote came out... following Screaming Min-su... and it's being used as a reaction image...
I'm supposed to show everyone my cool side after I graduate from Victory Academy.
I'm so worried that my image is being ruined like this already.
Today was a personal training day, so I managed to avoid people for the most part, but...
Once practical training starts again tomorrow and I have to face people, sigh...
I'm so worried they won't see me as a Hero anymore.
Normally, everyone should be my fan, but because of that one bastard, look at the state I'm in.
I need a definitive winning move.
And... even if something changes in the Gate... I don't think it'll be positive.
Getting the Troll as a summon was great and all, but... how do I put this...
Sometimes the summon...? The monster...? It feels like it's trying to burst out, and it's so hard to hold it back.
I'd appreciate another solution if possible. I'll be waiting and trusting you.
Oh, and... pleese tell me how to get stronger too.
[Answers: 0] [Likes: 0] [Dislikes: 1] [Comments: 1]
ㄴㅇㅇ:: (Image of Min-su lying on the floor with a cuckoo popping out) Is this you? LOLOLOLOL
The person Kim Min-su trusted most and had been receiving help from for a long time.
His greatest ally.
The Pure Love Diary Writer—in other words, Chubby Ahn.