Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 13: Fame (1).

Crackling. The sound of freezing air echoed around. Eunha and I instinctively covered our ears at the unsettling noise.

“Hooh… It’s done. Should I bring it over?”

“No, just take a rest.”

“Alright, then… I’ll rest for a bit.”

Seoyoon, having overused her ability, sat down on the ground, gasping for breath.

Even without considering the side effects of her ability, just using it consumed a significant amount of stamina, making it inevitable.

If there were no such limitations, wouldn’t Seoyoon, risking madness from arousal, cause a cosmic Big Freeze and bring about the end of the universe?

We didn’t know who granted us these powers, but Deokgu opined that even a godlike being wouldn’t make such a thing possible.

Eunha and I were wandering around the third floor, looking for the mana stones of goblin warriors, when we found a goblin still alive.

It had dropped its weapon and was shivering in the cold, but as soon as it spotted us, it sent a wave of intense hostility our way.

“Hey, Dojin.”

“I know. It wants to fight, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“I’ll watch from behind. Don’t get hurt.”

With those words, Eunha took a dagger and stepped forward. The goblin, seeing someone similar in size, snickered to itself.

Is it because its nervous system is damaged by the cold? I wondered, as I watch the standoff between Eunha and the goblin.

The goblin, seemingly unable to even clench its fist due to the cold, just raised its hand and placed it under its chin.

Bare hands against a dagger. Normally, bare hands wouldn’t win, but dungeon monsters were born hunters.

A small monster that identified the opponent’s weaknesses and would exploit them. It was a formidable entity that was quite difficult for Eunha, who only learned for a few days, to defeat.

Therefore, Eunha always exerted her full power. This was a concept separate from what ordinary people referred to as full power.

“Uwaaah!”

Eunha’s full power was true full power. A strike that released the limiters on her muscles.

Of course, ordinary people couldn’t use it, and even after using it, they would suffer from severe muscle pain or disabilities…

‘But it doesn’t matter to us. We can just get treated by the Class President.’

Recently, the Class President had become so adept at managing their abilities that they could even heal in minute increments of time.

So, even if the muscles were to tear, it meant she could recover to 1 second before the muscles tore, inducing maximum muscle growth.

Eunha, using that method, had grown to a level that seemed impossible for a human.

It was just one strike, but she had destructive power that reminded one of Hanyoung’s might.

Thud!

The dagger pierced through the goblin’s forearm and went straight into its heart. The result, too much for a young girl to have achieved, came at a high cost.

“Haa, haa…”

Eunha’s arms swelled significantly. Without even needing to check, it was clear. Fractures and muscle tears in both arms—at least a 12-week recovery.

“Today was a failure.”

“…Yeah.”

“Let’s do better next time?”

Seeing this, I judged Eunha’s attempt as a failure. The reason being that she used excessive force to take down a single goblin.

‘Though, it’s also because the power she can exert from the start is too limited…’

For example, even if Eunha exerted three times her strength, she would still be weaker than a gym rat lifting 500 pounds.

This happened because the power she initially possessed was small. Her limiter release was not a power that allowed her to overwhelm her opponent, but merely to become equal.

But what if she became critically injured after just one attack? There needed to be control so that she wouldn’t collapse from exhaustion after using her power for at least 5 minutes.

“It wasn’t that bad this time… want to ride?”

“No, my arm’s broken.”

“True. Then, should I carry you?”

“It’s fine.”

Eunha refused to be carried by me and walked on her own. Seoyoon frowned at us and at Eunha’s broken arm when we returned.

“Again?”

“There just happened to be one.”

“Haa… aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”

“This way, I can grow faster.”

“I don’t know; do whatever you want. Did you pick up all the mana stones?”

Seoyoon sighed deeply every time she saw Eunha coming back injured like this. But there was no helping it. I was a firm believer in hard training, and I was truly seeing its benefits.

“Yeah, we got them. You want to do more?”

“With her arms like that? We need to head back and get her treated.”

“Hmm… there’s no need for that.”

“Shut up. We’re going back.”

Due to Seoyoon’s strong will, we returned to the city. I looked back and gazed at the entrance of the dungeon.

‘As expected… it’s a strange place.’

We descended into the dungeon, then climbed up the stairs to the third floor inside.

If that were the case, the dungeon should physically rise upward. However, the dungeon was actually structured to dig deeper underground.

No one questioned the phenomena that completely ignored the laws of physics. Ignoring it was more accurate since even questioning it wouldn’t provide answers.

“What are you doing? Not going?”

“Oh, I’ll be right there.”

After that, Seoyoon took Eunha back to the lodging first. It was natural since they couldn’t wait at the guild with her swollen arms.

I headed to the guild alone, feeling lonely. The familiar guild staff greeted me.

“Hello, Dojin. Alone today as well?”

“Yes, well…”

“Being an adventurer is tough. Getting injured like that every time…”

“Then will you introduce me to another job so I can quit?”

“Oh my, still, your party is one of the top 10% among adventurers, you know? Wouldn’t it be a bit wasteful to give up?”

“Is that so?”

I said it like that, but I knew well that she wouldn’t really introduce me to another job.

The mana stones from the dungeon were sold worldwide. That meant the guilds that took commission in the middle made a significant amount of money.

They wouldn’t let a promising first producer go elsewhere.

‘Even if I retire due to injury… they would force me to return by putting me in debt, wouldn’t they?’

The establishment was always like that. Only caring about their own benefits.

“Ah, thank you for waiting. The mana stones for today have all been exchanged.”

She said this as she handed over dozens of silver coins.

Yes, just like her. The reason I couldn’t give up being an adventurer was here.

“Hey, you came?”

“Yeah.”

I handed the receipt to Deokgu when I returned to the lodging. It was proof of a deposit made into the account.

Since we went down to the third floor, our group was practically liberated from labor.

The price of the mana stones dropped by goblin warriors on the third floor was one and a half bronze coins each. Ten of them would be one and a half silver coins.

Seoyoon caught dozens of goblins in a day, earning more money in just one day than the kids did working all month.

In this situation, the kids had no motivation to work. Shouting for Seoyoon Coin to soar, they were satisfied with the communist-style distribution of wealth and immediately quit working.

Seoyoon had no major complaints. For someone as proud as her, having a good excuse for being close to me was necessary, and the side effects of her ability provided the perfect justification.

“Ugh! Do you like living well off someone else’s money?”

“Someone else’s money? Why is that your money? That’s your fee. You whore.”

“Idiot♡ A fee is something a man pays a woman for…”

“Then you’re a rag less than a whore, paying money and offering your body.”

“Hah!”

That was why I did my best to torment Seoyoon so she wouldn’t have any complaints.

Seoyoon, with her masochistic tendencies, couldn’t withstand this kind of torment and easily succumbed, and after dealing with her, I trained with Eunha until late at night.

In this way, when we established a five-day workweek, running dungeons five times a week and resting twice…

‘Oh, this is bad.’

I realized that we had adapted to this world.

As we lived on, I started to feel that this world wasn’t so bad.

“…Are you going shopping today?”

“Yeah. We’re all going together with the girls.”

Watching Seoyoon getting dressed in the room, I asked, “Then what about me?” She glared at me with a strange look.

“If you want to go, go with Deokgu. Why are you trying to join a girls’ gathering?”

“Oh… right. Well, got it.”

Though I said that, I had no intention of going somewhere alone with Deokgu. Why should I spend my weekend wandering the city with a guy?

Deokgu seemed to have the same thought, saying he had no plans to leave the lodging today.

Judging by his look, he probably visited the red-light district last night. Well, now he could afford a prostitute’s fee without care.

“Then I’ll head to the training ground. If something happens, go there.”

“Sure.”

Leaving those words behind, I headed to the training ground alone. Compared to modern gym facilities, it was quite shabby, but it was undoubtedly the best training ground of this era.

While running to the training ground for some aerobic exercise, I heard a scream from an alleyway.

Startled, I turned my head and met eyes with a group abducting a woman.

‘…Ah, damn.’

I felt screwed. Slowly, I raised my hands and stepped back.

“I didn’t see anything. Really. Damn.”

I immediately raised my thumb and pinky finger, but whether this gesture felt insulting to them or they simply didn’t want to leave a witness, they exchanged hand signals and then charged at me. In their hands were dark-colored daggers, and behind their masked eyes was a palpable intent to kill.

“I said I didn’t see anything. Really.”

I frowned and reached for my waist. Fortunately, since I was on my way to the training ground, I was carrying a training sword.

I immediately drew the sword. Though it wasn’t sharpened, it was made of the same steel as a real blade.

In other words, a wrong hit could still kill.

I lined up the three kidnappers who charged me. The narrow alley prevented more than two from attacking at once.

I used the terrain to my advantage, twisting my body slightly to create an angle for my swing, then slashing the moment the kidnappers approached.

Slash! The sword, swung with unimaginable speed, struck the kidnapper’s head.

Just from the sound, I could tell he was knocked out. As he fell, I stepped back and thrust my sword at the next attacker.

“Ugh!”

The kidnapper lunged forward, but no matter how hard he tried with a dagger, he couldn’t break through the long sword’s range.

He should have either thrown the dagger, or used shurikens cowardly.

I watched as two fell and immediately approached the last one. The kidnapper, perhaps not expecting me to come forward, stumbled and stopped in his tracks.

Time flowed more slowly for those who were in motion. In other words, my one second was longer than his one second.

A swordsman’s one second was enough to take down a person. After taking down the last one, I glared at the last kidnapper.

“Do you want some too?”

“…”

He charged without a word and fell without a scene. It wasn’t worth describing.

Having cleared out the kidnappers, I approached the woman who was being abducted.

“Are you okay?”

“You.”

The woman’s gaze deepened. She scolded me angrily.

“Who are you? Ah, it’s ruined! Everything’s ruined!”

“…Pardon?”

“Because of you, the investigation is ruined! How are you going to take responsibility?!”