Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 88: Boss Raid (4)

In a world of pure white, Dojin opened his eyes. Yet, he couldn’t move his body. He thought he had opened his eyes, but he hadn’t even done that.

There was no physical body. Only a world where the soul existed.

Dojin felt a gigantic gaze looking down on him from that place. Suddenly, something began to surround him from all sides.

─**Just this once.

Crackle, a massive face made of lightning, looked down at him. With that, he lost consciousness.

“Huh?”

“Dojin! Are you awake?”

When Dojin came to, the first thing he saw was the faces of the women. Aram, Seoyoon, Eunha, Raize, Orion. A handful of women were standing by his side, tending to him.

He carefully sat up. His physical condition was better than ever. However, he felt no emotion about that fact.

“What happened?”

“We won.”

Seoyoon, quickly understanding the subjectless question, pointed to the fallen Wolf King in the distance. It lay dead with a large lightning spear impaled in its chest.

Having previously experienced that the ruler of a level leaves behind a corpse, Dojin knew he needed another method to confirm his death.

With a flick, he lightly extended his hand, and the distant corpse was pulled towards him. Fully standing, Dojin approached the corpse to check its state.

‘…Completely shattered.’

The lightning spear embedded near the heart still maintained its power, continuously discharging energy into the corpse. It was reminiscent of a monster movie where the protagonist defeats a beast, almost making him chuckle.

“Anyone injured?”

“No one… except you, Dojin.”

“Really? So, Aram healed my wounds?”

“No, they just healed on their own…”

“That’s a relief.”

Dojin looked at them with a blank expression. Even at Hanyoung’s group crouching in the distance.

They weren’t exactly helpful, but they risked their lives to come and help him. He could at least give them one final gift.

“Let’s go back.”

With that, he opened a gate leading to the first floor. Like before, it wasn’t a complete passageway connected to the 30th floor.

He decided not to create such pathways anymore. At least not until he figured out how to revert a space pulled into three dimensions back to four dimensions…

This was a one-way path. One that would transport everyone standing here to the first floor. Of course, this was possible because Dojin was also the ruler below the 10th floor.

The gate swallowed the group in an instant. And then, they arrived on the first floor of the dungeon.

“How did you survive?”

Upon returning to the mansion, Dojin first met privately with Raize. He knew very well that she would come to see him.

Since she was the reason he could defeat the Wolf King, she must be puzzled and troubled by the fact that he wasn’t dead.

“Do you dislike that I survived?”

“…That’s not what I meant.”

Raize began to speculate that if he survived using a special technique, it might be possible to do it again, and if he could freely wield divine power, it might also be possible to interpret him through magic.

“Oh, that’s not possible.”

“…Why?”

“Your god said they’d let it slide just this once.”

“…Dojin, did you meet with the god?”

“Well, I’m not sure. It’s a bit… different from what I imagined a god to be.”

The god he knew was an omnipotent singular entity, and the being he met in the white space was more suited to the words ‘absolute’ or ‘transcendent.’

If it were the god Dojin knew, such intervention would never have happened. That god despised such imbalance in the universe.

“Anyway, let’s say I met one. So what? Is it a problem?”

“You really met one…? Oh no, this is serious! Quick, hurry!”

“Huh? Why?! What’s going on?”

When Raize started to panic, Dojin joined in, asking her in a flustered manner. Raize grabbed Dojin’s head and began to shake it gently.

“We need to get what’s in your head out quickly!”

“Why? Do you die if you meet a god or something?”

“It’s the memory data of meeting a god! It’s a unique and extremely rare piece of data! We need to copy the memory quickly…”

“…Good grief.”

Dojin flicked Raize’s forehead at her absurd suggestion and exhaled deeply as if he was startled.

What? Copy the memory? It’s valuable data?

“You’re a true magician, aren’t you?”

“Ugh… what are you doing?! If there’s evidence of direct contact with a god, imagine how much magic could advance─”

“If such data existed, the Holy Kingdom wouldn’t just leave it alone, right?”

“…Phew, that’s true. I got carried away.”

Raize, who was excited to the point of a personality change, paused to think logically and realized Dojin had a point, regaining her composure.

“…Even if we can’t copy the memory, we can at least peek at it, right?”

“Peek? How?”

“Who do you think I am? I’m a genius magician. I know a few ways to read memories.”

“Then watch it now.”

“Not now. I need some preparation. I’ll come back later.”

Raize said that and left the room quickly, needing to finish the preparation before the memory faded. She warned him as she left.

“Try not to do anything too stimulating so the memory doesn’t fade.”

“Stimulating?”

“Like sex.”

Raize casually spoke bluntly and then completely disappeared. After she vanished, as if predetermined, Seoyoon entered alone.

As soon as she entered the room, Seoyoon sniffed the air and checked Dojin’s scent from his neck down to his lower body.

“…What are you doing?”

“Checking if you had sex with her earlier.”

“…No, I’m still a patient.”

“You’re not suffering from erectile dysfunction, are you?”

Well, it’s said that sick people have even more sexual desire, so her words made sense. Dojin noticed her hands trembling as she spoke.

Seeing that, Dojin pulled her into a hug.

“Why are you trembling?”

“I’m not.”

“Really? Is it just my imagination?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, really?”

As he lightly pushed her away, Seoyoon came back into his arms, shaking her head.

“Maybe it’s not your imagination.”

“…Really. If you act like this from the start, where will it lead?”

“…”

Seoyoon quietly looked at Dojin. He also looked at her sitting on his lap. Since the others were waiting, having sex here was impossible.

Even if it were possible, he would have refrained because of what Raize said.

So, from the beginning, there was only one thing the two of them could do.

Smooch.

Their lips met lightly. Then, like someone starved for affection, Seoyoon continued to kiss Dojin, only to suddenly stop and start trembling slightly.

“…Can’t we just give up?”

“What?”

“Can’t we just give up everything and live here?”

Her eyes were slightly wet. Dojin couldn’t even begin to imagine the courage and sorrow it took for her to say those words.

“Is it because of this incident?”

“Do you think it’s just this one?”

“…Uh, is there something else?”

“A lot. A whole lot.”

Indeed, Dojin realized that he’d faced life-threatening crises more than just once or twice.

Yet he was excessively numb to such dangers. Why was that? It was obvious. He was a boy forged by the sword. Even though he now felt the warmth of daily life, he was too hardened to become soft.

He doesn’t know the fear of the sword.

He simply wields it.

And a sword that stops being wielded becomes mere decoration. It holds no value.

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Can’t we just live normally? I’ll try my best. I’ll use whatever abilities or knowledge I have to make it as similar to Earth as possible.”

If it were Seoyoon, it might be possible. She, who was at the top of her class, might not be able to bring it up to the 21st century, but she could elevate the technology to the 20th century.

But her life wouldn’t be there. She would have to dedicate her entire being to creating such a world, and there would be no happiness in a world she built by sacrificing herself.

Dojin didn’t want her to become that.

“I’ll be careful.”

“You said that before.”

“…Sorry.”

“Don’t think you can just brush it off with an apology.”

“I still want to do it.”

“Your arrogance is going to be the death of me.”

There were no words left to say. Dojin instinctively resorted to the behavior he had learned throughout his life. That is, the outdated patriarchal act.

“Don’t interfere with what a man is doing.”

“…Are you serious?”

The air turned icy. Dojin realized belatedly that he had made a mistake, but after a moment of thought, he also realized it was easier to ask for forgiveness than to persuade her.

“To some extent.”

“…You bastard.”

Seoyoon stormed out of the room. Her retreating figure left a lingering pain in his chest.

Afterward, Aram, Eunha, and Orion came to offer comfort. There wasn’t much to say to them. They exchanged the usual words, and finally, Gahee stopped by for a brief chat.

Dojin was finally alone.

‘I’m in trouble…’

It was only when he was alone that he realized how much he had changed. Dojin had become a sword, a sword that didn’t even stir with emotion.

Immovable.

It does not move.

Neither your body.

Nor your heart.

King.

Yet you will advance.

That is your will.

It will never break.

The price of giving up humanity was immense.

Dojin realized today that he hadn’t smiled even once.

Late at night, someone knocked on Dojin’s door. Having heard the footsteps from afar, he knew they belonged to Raize and realized it was the appointed time, so he slowly opened the door.

“You’re here?”

“Mm… You didn’t do anything weird while I was gone, did you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then drink this first.”

She handed Dojin a potion. Without hesitation, Dojin drank the potion she offered him.

Seeing him drink the potion, Raize set down the basket she was holding, locked the door, and began drawing a magic circle in the room.

Tap tap, the dust powder seeped into the floor, and she sprinkled ground mana stone on top to maintain the effect.

The magic circle began to glow faintly. Once she was ready, she climbed onto the bed with Dojin.

Suddenly, Dojin realized she hadn’t told him how she would read his memory.

“So, how are you going to read my memory?”

“It’s simple. By reading dreams.”

“…Dreams?”

“Yes, since ancient times, people believed memories were stored in dreams, and there are even demons that invade dreams to steal memories.”

Even modern science regarded dreams as remnants formed during the process of organizing memories. Her words weren’t entirely incorrect.

However, even modern science found reading dreams impossible, yet magic often showed peculiarities that far surpassed science in certain areas.

Lying on the bed, Dojin quietly positioned his head to meet Raize’s as she lay her head on his arm.

After their heads touched, curiosity prompted him to ask.

“By the way, what’s the name of that demon?”

“Succubus.”

“…What?”

Raize answered nonchalantly. However, that name etched itself firmly into Dojin’s mind.

The magic circle activated. Both of them simultaneously fell into sleep.

When Raize opened her eyes, she confirmed she was in Dojin’s dream. Then she looked down to check her attire.

“…Wh-What is this?”

She was made to wear an outrageously shameless high-leg swimsuit—something she couldn’t imagine ever putting on herself.