Chapter 53: Individual Circumstances

“So you’re saying that screeching like a slaughtered pig is your upgraded voice?”

The pixie who had been quietly fiddling with a map just hit the off-tune singer with a blunt truth.

Seriously, that’s not something you say out loud.

Naturally, the Siren got mad and grabbed the pixie.

“How dare this brat talk to me like that!”

“I’m not a brat!”

I really wish they’d stop fighting so much.

“So, is everyone ready to move on?”

“Actually, I’m going to sit this one out.”

The mermaid raised her hand.

“Why, Mermaid Princess?”

“My dad said if I don’t get home soon, he’s going to make spicy fish stew for dinner.”

“Don’t be picky. Spicy fish stew is delicious.”

The taste of fish stew after a plate of sashimi is refreshing and so good.

My aunt used to make it—spicy, hot, and salty.

A little different from what I was used to on the continent of Yucran, but still great.

The mermaid pouted as if something had really upset her.

“Hey, I’m a mermaid.”

“And I’m a saintess.”

“I’m basically a relative of fish.”

“And I’m basically a fragment of the goddess.”

Are we reintroducing ourselves?

The mermaid-human sighed deeply.

“Forget it. Anyway, I can’t skip dinner, okay?”

Isn’t she a bit old to be saying that?

“My voice is completely worn out.”

The off-tune singer decided to sit out too.

So, the mermaid and the Siren both dropped out.

One’s too old and picky, and the other is tired from singing.

Jeon Tae-yeon sent people to collect the magic stones, while the drone was left behind.

It seems like there’s always someone who drops out at the end of each level.

Still, it’s a relief we have the crowd-control and map-hack roles covered.

“What’s with your greedy look?”

The succubus was glaring at me.

What’s wrong with my eyes?

I was just thinking about how useful they are.

“At least we’ve got the essentials.”

“Essentials?”

“Crowd-control and map-hack. I mean, Succubus and Map Girl.”

Combat team: Saintess and Cheonma

Crowd control: Succubus

Map-hack: Pixie

This setup is perfect with just us four.

Not that the others are useless, but mermaids are overkill for this party.

Four is the ideal number.

“Did you just call us hacks?”

“Want some holy water?”

I pulled out some holy water to threaten her.

“Ugh, you despicable fallen saintess.”

“Can a fallen saintess love holy water this much?”

“Well, that’s true.”

The succubus and the pixie are the easiest to handle.

The succubus can be controlled with holy water, and pixie, with her tiny size, loves candy.

“Stop calling me Map Girl and giving me candy; it’s the worst.”

Worst, huh?

But she always accepts it anyway.

“Remember, don’t follow strangers just because they offer you candy, okay?”

When I gave her a final warning, tears welled up in her eyes.

“Don’t tease her too much.”

“Cheonma, it’s just too fun. Should I post about it on the forums?”

“On the forums? Why?”

The succubus, still lying on the floor, asked, clearly tired.

What kind of question is that?

“Why do you post nonsense on the forums?”

“Nonsense, huh?”

“I’m about to post some nonsense myself.”

I pulled out my phone and accessed the forum.

Somehow, the internet worked fine here.

—

[Author: HeadSmasherSaint]

[Title: Today’s Tower of Destruction Raid]

[Succubus and Dwarf.jpg]

And, out of the 10 billion debt owed to the Innocent Elf, I’ve repaid 4 billion.

[Comments]

Revolutionary Leader: The succubus is lying down, and the dwarf’s eating candy? What’s with them?

└HeadSmasherSaint: The succubus lost to the dwarf. As a reward, I gave him candy.

└Revolutionary Leader: LOL, what are you guys even doing?

└SolinTheMan: LOL

MaxSizeCentaur: This isn’t even a hiking club… I’m impotent, and that guy’s a stamina king.

└Head-Cracking Saintess: He’s amazing.

└MaxSizeCentaur: Can you help me out too?

MermaidPrincess: I know why. The saintess must’ve been bullying them.

24thCenturyVisitor: Oh, this sounds fun—it’s definitely not a scam.

└HeadSmasherSaint: You’re welcome to join us.

└24thCenturyVisitor: No, I’ve got a different party right now. We’re clearing a dungeon.

└HeadSmasherSaint: Oh, see you later then.

SirenIsABaby: Crazy girl.

HarpyLife20Years: Hey, are you with the Heavenly King Guild by any chance?

└HeadSmasherSaint: Yes.

└HarpyLife20Years: My mom asked me to deliver chicken to the Tower of Destruction. There’s a portal, so I can head there right away.

└HeadSmasherSaint: LOL.

NoWeaponFor100Years: Got anything good?

└HeadSmasherSaint: Just an elixir today. Though I did get a magic stone from the boss monster.

30YearsOfChivalry: For an elf you’ve barely known for a few days, you’re paying back 2 billion. Saintess, please let me stay by your side and protect you. I will take care of any evildoers!

└HeadSmasherSaint: LOL.

└HarpyLife20Years: LOL, look at his ulterior motives.

InnocentElf: Um, Saintess, wouldn’t selling the elixir help you repay the debt faster?

└HarpyLife20Years: Wow, so shameless LOL.

└TrueBattleMage: What a brazen scoundrel LOL.

└RevolutionaryLeader: You’ve got no right to criticize your wife LOL.

└HeadSmasherSaint: How dare a slave speak up?

└PureElfHere: I’m sorry, Master.

—

“Hey, isn’t that elf ridiculously shameless?”

The succubus grumbled. Yeah, shameless for sure.

Honestly though, at this rate, making money won’t be hard.

If we clear up to the 7th floor, we’ll make at least 1 billion.

“It’s fine, really. It’s probably because he’s still got some habits left over from his time living as an elf in the great forest. That kind of stupidity can’t be explained otherwise.”

“Yeah, the elves in my world were… hmm.”

“What about them?”

I wonder what elves were like in the succubus’s world.

“Oh, come to think of it, they were a race that killed women and assaulted men.”

“What kind of world did you come from?”

Is there really a world that messed up?

“Despite how I look, I was part of the Demon King’s army. Hey, why are you pulling out a mace?”

“I’ve personally taken out more than ten thousand soldiers of the Demon King’s army.”

One strike and I’d send our succubus straight to the underworld…

Just kidding.

I put the mace back.

“Hey! Our Demon King is different! Our Demon King is a wise ruler! He never attacked humans!”

Oh wow.

Impressive.

Well, I guess if elves are like that in her world, anything’s possible.

“Fine, I’ll believe you for now.”

“You weren’t planning on swinging that mace, were you?”

“I hate quick-witted people like you.”

I gave her a mysterious smile, and the succubus began keeping her distance.

Why?

If that’s how it’s going to be, then at least act as a damage dealer.

***

A figure was lurking near the saintess’s apartment.

This person was a sinner linked to the saintess’s past life.

Park Yoo-jung.

She was the younger sister of Park Si-woo, who was the past incarnation of Karina.

In the past, Yoo-jung had been disowned by her brother due to her immature actions, and it wasn’t until after he disappeared that she realized the gravity of her mistakes.

Behind his back, she had badmouthed her brother, who had worked tirelessly to support her financially and academically.

She even thought that he was so pathetic that he couldn’t even keep a girlfriend.

At some point, her perception of her brother started to change.

He just seemed… pitiful.

Now, filled with regret, she wanted to apologize to him if she ever met him again, hoping he would embrace her like he used to and forgive her.

-Don’t worry, Yoo-jung. I’ll always take good care of you.

-Really?

-Yeah, but you have to listen to what your brother says, okay?

She thought that if she offered a heartfelt apology, he would once again hug her and pat her head.

When she first found out that her brother had returned as the saintess, she was surprised but hopeful.

She thought that if he had become a saintess, he would be even more compassionate and forgive her

But it was different.

It was as if she was dealing with some cult saintess, being asked to join her religion, while the saintess herself insisted that she wasn’t Park Si-woo but someone else entirely from a previous life.

Still, Yoo-jung thought it didn’t matter, as long as she could be forgiven.

However, the saintess attempted to kill her without hesitation.

-How could you kill your own sister? Even if I’ve wronged you…

-I told you already, I’m not Park Si-woo. What if the Frost Queen’s children were pigs or chickens—would you say the same thing?

Hearing Karina’s conversation with another person, Yoo-jung was devastated.

Karina had completely erased any trace of Park Si-woo.

Now, only Karina remained, a new existence altogether.

Still, even if Karina tried to kill her, Yoo-jung wanted to meet her one more time.

After all, they were in a respawn field.

“Will she not show up today?”

Yoo-jung visited the saintess’s apartment every day.

However, even though I know she’s inside, she won’t show her face or speak to me.

She doesn’t reject me; she just ignores me.

I even asked her to just kill me, but she ignored that too.

When I checked the Returnees Gallery, it seemed like she was talking just fine with the people there.

And today, she’s not even around at all.

Still holding on to hope, I checked in front of the apartment several times, thinking maybe I’d catch her coming in.

If I do, maybe I can apologize then.

Even if it’s just words.

Even if she throws her mace at me again, I’ll accept it.

But no matter how long I waited, Karina didn’t return.

‘Should I wait in the car?’

In the end, I got into the guild car, deciding to give it some more time.

‘Come to think of it, has anything new been posted on the gallery?’

The Returnees Gallery is only accessible to verified returnees, so I can’t go there directly.

Maybe there’s something related to her on the Hunters Gallery.

I wanted to know more about the saintess, even just a little bit.

Maybe, by some slim chance, I could find out where she was.

“Oh?”

A highly upvoted post had made it to the featured section.

—

[Author: SaintessParkIsBigSis]

[Title: The Saintess is Super Cute]

[Video]

Can you see this?

The saintess really has an awe-inspiring chest…

She orders her succubus subordinate to gather a bunch of orcs together and then smashes them with her mace in one hit LOL.

She even cracks the boss’s skull right away.

She finishes it off by sprinkling holy water for a confirmed kill.

[Comments]

(1xx.3xx): Definitely impressive, especially that… um… chest.

└SaintessParkIsBigSis: It’s filmed up close, and if you’ve never seen this in person, you’ve wasted your life LOL.

(2xx.1xx): How did you even record this? I thought the Heavenly Kings were blocking everything.

└SaintessParkIsBigSis: Oh, I’m with the Heavenly Kings, so it wasn’t hard to get this close. Jealous?

L(2xx.1xx): Aren’t you worried the saintess will smash your head in? Isn’t her name “HeadSmashingSaint” on the Returnees Gallery?

OverlordFanclub: LOL. Must be one of those Heavenly King Guild jerks hogging the saintess with money, huh?

L(2xx.2xx): Overlord jerks should just die already. Seriously, ugh.

└SaintessParkIsBigSis: Did an Overlord loser just talk back?

└OverlordFanclub: LOL. People with no money are worthless. If you’re mad, why don’t you make some? I know your address: [X District, XX Building, Unit XX], right? Maybe I’ll send you a pity gift.

Loo(2xx.1xx): LOL. Wow, personal info already leaked.
└SaintessParkIsBigSis: Where’d the OverlordFanclub go? I’m sending you a message~

—

Someone who seemed to be a fan of my brother had uploaded the video.

It was footage of him slaughtering orcs along with others.

There were occasional close-ups of his bouncing chest, but more importantly, this was proof that my brother was currently in the Tower of Destruction.

“Wow.”

Watching carefully, the saintess in the video was undeniably beautiful.

I was mesmerized.

She really did look like a goddess.

And suddenly, I thought to myself, ‘Could it really not be him?’

I don’t get the sense that it’s my brother.

Has he truly been reincarnated, leaving behind everything about Park Si-woo?

The personality, the atmosphere, even the gender—it’s all different.

“Still, no. I need to apologize to that saintess, at least.”

I don’t care if it gets me killed.

Even if she’s completely forgotten her past as Park Si-woo and only considers herself Karina now…

I just want to have a one-on-one conversation, to say what I need to say, even if I can’t atone for my sins.

At least I can get it off my chest.

Even if this Karina isn’t my brother, it doesn’t matter.

As long as she carries the title of being his reincarnation, that’s enough for me.

No matter what she looks like, Karina will always be my brother to me.