Ch.24Chapter 24. Rookie Hero Garam Lee

Adventurer.

In this era of constant danger and incidents, they are essential figures, yet even they are seen by the leadership merely as substitutes for heroes or as supplementary means.

Such perception is prevalent even among heroes who receive support from them, and newly summoned heroes visit the Adventurer’s Guild to fulfill the customs born from this perception.

‘Um… is this really okay?’

‘What’s wrong with it? We’re heroes after all.’

‘You saw it too when you first arrived in this world~ Even nobles and royalty bow down to us.’

‘Y-yes, but…’

‘You must have struggled a lot in your original world. Don’t you think it would be a waste not to enjoy this stroke of luck?’

‘Let’s acknowledge what’s true. We are more special than anyone else.’

‘I-I’m special…’

But perhaps because she was still an adolescent girl without even an ID card in her original world?

Garam Lee, who had been summoned to this world just a few months ago, still couldn’t shake off her uneasiness despite visiting the guild after hearing the advice of her predecessors.

No matter how much the powers of this world revered her, she couldn’t quite grasp the idea that she had the right to manipulate the public simply because it was customary.

‘Th-this is a bar where adults hang out…’

Curiosity in a place she’d entered for the first time, and the hostile glares from people around her.

She felt slightly intimidated, but those she expected to pick a fight with her simply turned their attention away quietly and focused on drinking once they realized her identity.

A moment that revealed how these people, who handled rough and dirty work, treated beings known as heroes.

As her anxiety gradually subsided in such an atmosphere, Garam Lee felt her lips unconsciously curling upward.

‘Heh, hehe. Really… can I do anything I want?’

Her lingering doubts gradually faded, and the confident voices of the predecessors who had arrived in this world before her echoed repeatedly in her mind.

The words that she was the protagonist, that those around her were mere NPCs, and that enemies were nothing more than experience points.

-Ding-a-ling~♬

As expectation and lingering anxiety coexisted, the sound of a lute reached her ears.

Drawn by the voice accompanying it, her gaze turned to encounter a woman continuing her performance at the center of the tavern.

A bard whose performance was as pure and beautiful as her appearance.

She felt herself unconsciously enchanted by it, but such interest soon reminded her of the advice from senior heroes, making it not entirely welcome.

‘First, when you go to a guild or tavern, it’s good to grab the most noticeable person there and beat them half to death.’

‘B-beat them half to death…?’

‘Yes, the more attention they get, the better the effect when you mess them up~’

‘The reason can be any nitpicking, it doesn’t matter. As long as you don’t kill them, the nobles who sponsor us will shield you anyway.’

A hero stands above adventurers.

A performance to imprint this fact was absolutely necessary, so she would have to put down that woman who first caught her eye.

It was not a matter of choice but a mission she had to fulfill…

‘What if I make a mistake?’

‘A mistake? You mean a hero getting beaten by adventurers?’

‘Haha, that probably won’t happen, but in the one-in-a-million chance it does, you’ll lose your hero status. See those people lined up outside the window? If you get summoned but fail to properly certify as a hero, you might as well consider yourself a slave.’

Despite being born with the fate of a protagonist, there was a risk of becoming a slave.

That absolutely must not happen. Feeling urgent, Garam Lee quickly gathered strength in her hand.

-Crash!

The moment the chair, pushed by her force, fell roughly in the middle of the tavern.

She wondered if she had used too much force, but deciding to push forward anyway, Garam Lee raised her voice with tension.

“Wh-who’s making all this noise here!?”

As the turmoil in her heart subsided, and everyone at the scene began to focus on her.

Their gazes were filled with bewilderment and fear as they recognized her, yet none of them dared to open their mouths.

Just as the senior heroes had said, as soon as they realized she was a hero, everyone became intimidated and kept quiet.

“Excuse me…”

But perhaps this atmosphere wasn’t understood by that bard?

As if still not grasping the situation, she slowly moved her delicate gaze toward where Garam stood, with a blank expression.

“Was that just now… directed at me?”

The bard asked back with pure intent, as if she truly didn’t understand.

Her demeanor seemed so dignified that Garam hesitated momentarily, but eventually shook off her bewilderment and shouted back.

“A-are you asking because you don’t know? Who else here is bothering me besides you?”

“Pardon? Bothering…”

“This isn’t your private place, is it? Yet you’re boldly singing such a lousy song—isn’t it strange that I’m not disgusted?”

The moment such offensive words left her mouth, which made her wonder if this was really okay.

To hide her uneasiness, she folded her arms and put on airs, while the bard tilted her head in confusion and looked toward the manager at the counter.

“This is strange. The manager clearly said he would treat me to a meal if I sang…”

“Ah, miss. Y-you might not understand since you just arrived in this empire, but for now, it’s best to go along with them.”

“Why? I clearly got permission from the manager before performing…”

The bard turned her delicate eyes back to Garam, seemingly unable to read the malice directed at her.

“Did I perhaps commit some rudeness that made the little miss over there uncomfortable?”

Garam Lee flinched and frowned at that innocent question.

‘L-little? Is she talking about me?’

Certainly, she was very small in stature.

Unlike other heroes, she wasn’t even an adult yet, and her growth was slower than other boys and girls her age.

Nevertheless, in her previous world, she would have endured such remarks.

“Ha, haha. What did you just say? Little, me?”

But now, instead of showing patience, she was preparing to let her emotions explode.

Unlike her past self, the current her no longer needed to endure anything.

Before coming here, she had been told she could do whatever she wanted, so why should she tolerate words that made her feel humiliated?

“How dare a mere musician who just plays guitar disrespect me, a hero!?”

Just as the power gathered in her fist was about to activate externally—

-BOOM!!!!

A loud noise reverberated, causing her body to shrink back instinctively as her gaze turned sideways.

As if teaching her that someone was overshadowing her presence, everyone’s attention fixed on that spot.

The one who had drawn attention by thrusting the end of his spear shaft into the ground was a man who had barged in wearing smoothly polished armor.

“…You.”

As this man crossed through the silent scene.

He fixed his fierce eyes on her and said:

“What are you trying to do to my woman right now?”

While spitting out a fierce threat from his mouth.

“Huh, what?”

Yes, it was a threat.

As her body instinctively backed away at this unexpected action, the crowd’s attention that had been on her began to focus on him.

“Gasp! That guy!?”

“Wh-what? What’s going on?”

“Hyoseong Woo… that’s Hyoseong Woo!”

It was a name Garam Lee didn’t know.

After all, she had only been summoned to this world a few months ago, and during those months, she had focused on training with noble sponsorship and socializing with other heroes.

This meant she had no capacity to judge whether the rumors circulating among adventurers were true or false.

“Hyoseong Woo? Who’s that?”

“You haven’t heard!? They say all the heroes in parties he joined ended up dead!”

“No way, the Hero Killer?”

“To think the Hero Killer would appear before a hero…”

Flinch, flinch.

Her body reflexively reacted to the voices, and the cold sweat on her face began to increase.

For someone confident in being a hero, to have someone with the title of killer appear before her.

How could she not be afraid?

“Hey, kid.”

But his attention was focused solely on her, not on the noisy crowd.

Soon he spoke to her, who was standing in a daze, with a harsh voice.

“You look like you haven’t been summoned here long, so it would be better for you to back off while I’m still asking nicely.”

The man blocked the bard, gripping his spear shaft and preparing to confront her.

“I’ve seen countless people like you who relied only on their abilities and died arrogantly.”

No one present would consider the voice that leaked out to be mere bluster.

Even Garam Lee, momentarily overwhelmed by the atmosphere.

‘Th-this. Things seem to be taking a dangerous turn…’

Though she didn’t know the details, his reputation alone was that of someone who killed heroes.

Moreover, the attention of those around was concentrated on him, not her.

Anyone who knew the basis of those rumors would be intimidated at least once, even as a hero, by the protagonist of such rumors.

‘If you don’t want to end up as a slave, it’s better to properly turn things around~’

But the confusion was only momentary.

For a young girl, what resonated more was not baseless rumors but the explicit malice displayed before her.

Timid and passive.

If she, who had only shown such anxiety-ridden behavior, didn’t produce proper results, she would surely be disrespected and ridiculed in this world too.

“Damn it! I don’t care if you’re a Hero Killer or whatever!”

Pushing away her immediate anxiety with such fear, Garam Lee shouted.

As if responding to her will, all the furniture in the tavern began to rise, creating a chaotic whirlwind.

“Ahhh! Get away!”

“Th-this is insane…!”

-Crash, bang!

The tavern turned into a mess. Amidst it, a strong sense of bewilderment echoed.

Feeling this on her skin, Garam Lee began to deepen the smile drawn on her lips.

‘That’s right! Nothing to fear! With power like this, who could stand against me?’

Her awakened power was object control.

A power that could be called manipulation of phenomena, fundamentally different from the telekinesis that mana exerts in this world.

Using this power, she could target anything her eyes fell upon, and lift and twist anything within reach.

Exceptionally, in the case of “beings with will,” direct telekinetic control was impossible, but it was possible to interfere with the tools they used if they let their guard down.

“Why are you just standing there blankly!? I haven’t even started yet—don’t tell me you’re regretting it now!?”

“You came out thinking you were something special because others praised you, but I don’t believe in rumors like that at all! If you really are a Hero Killer, then come at me properly!”

Whoosh!

The spear caught in her telekinesis rose into the air amidst the chaos.

Garam Lee, who flicked her finger to pull the spear toward her, manipulated her power to aim its tip back at him.

To intimidate him by reversing his own weapon against its owner.

“It’s too late to regret! You’ll pay dearly for underestimating me… Huh?”

But why?

Despite clearly manipulating her power, the direction of the spear wasn’t changing.

Rather, it was pointing its tip straight at her, and in that state, it began to fly toward her with increasing momentum.

‘W-wait… why is that spear coming at me…’

Garam Lee was bewildered by this inexplicable phenomenon.

She couldn’t find the answer to this question even as the spear pulled by her power approached right in front of her nose.

Her ability of object control was “perfect control over objects without will.”

Therefore, she was convinced that “weapons without will” would definitely fall within her control range.

-CRASH!!!!

The spear that finally flew in and struck beside her head, breaking such preconceptions.

Garam Lee’s face, realizing the ferocity felt from it, began to turn pale in an instant.

“Eh, eh?”

The penetrating power that not only hit the solid wall but even partially embedded the shaft.

This was possible not only because of the sharpness of the spear but because the spear itself exerted its own power.

If such an attack had directly flown at her head…

-Step, step.

As if to inform her that such imagination was gradually becoming reality.

Soon the owner of the spear approached her, who had fallen to the floor, and firmly grasped the shaft embedded in the side.

“…You.”

Until he pulled out the spear and retrieved it, he showed not even a hint of hesitation.

Despite facing a hero who was feared by all.

“If you go any further, you’ll really die.”

As if to teach her that he could back up his current statement at any time.

While his consistently cold gaze remained firmly fixed on her.