Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 52: The Most Beautiful One In This Universe (3).

Inside the guild. In the reception room reserved for senior adventurers, I confirmed that all four members had gathered and greeted them lightly.

“I am Kim Dojin. The leader of the party… My role is the vanguard. My specialty is swordsmanship. That’s all.”

Then, I looked at Eunha. Feeling my gaze, she slowly opened her mouth.

“I am Sim Eunha… My specialty is martial arts, also in the vanguard….”

“…Raize, mage.”

“Hmm, is it my turn?”

The elf, with the most overwhelming presence among us, slowly rose and bowed her head.

“I am Orion from the Great Forest. My specialties are tracking, exploration, trap disarming, and setting, etc. I am good at most things scouts do.”

She smiled brightly, a freshness akin to nature itself. It was as if her existence alone proved the common belief that elves were a race devoted to protecting nature. Her clothing was so ridiculously nature-friendly that it seemed to blend seamlessly with the environment…

I looked at the color of her hair flowing down her neck. A color that seemed unlikely to come from nature. A brown close to silver. What do you call that? Kotori Beige?

I remember the internet buzzing with that name. After introducing ourselves, we exchanged conversations related to combat.

Although it was just Orion and me who conversed.

“Your ears are long.”

“Yes. Since they’re long, my hearing is good too. Want to see?”

As Orion spoke, she flapped her ears. I observed them twitch on their own before asking,

“If your hearing is good, to what extent?”

“Well… In a room like this, about 200 meters. Even inside a dungeon, I can hear up to 15 meters.”

“…That’s impressive.”

The dungeon was a place where darkness breathed. While sound was a stronger medium than light, it, too, could not travel far.

Hearing sounds tens of meters away in such a dungeon was no joke; one might even hear the sound of an ant crawling.

“What’s the highest level you’ve reached?”

“When I was with another team, we got up to the 23rd floor. It was tough because the enemy was a lizardman that arrows couldn’t pierce… “

“…Alright, then how about we sync up on the 20th floor today?”

At my words, Orion nodded with a smile. While I was talking with her, it seemed to resonate with Eunha and Raize, who also nodded immediately.

On the 20th floor of the dungeon, Orion carefully observed the man named Dojin. It was no wonder, given the peculiar composition of this party.

‘Three women and one man… A harem party?’

Sometimes, such cases occurred where a man would choose party members who were of no help in dungeon exploration just to show off his prowess.

If that were the case, she was ready to turn and flee quickly. Her gaze never left Dojin.

Twitch.

At that moment, the elf’s keen hearing caught footsteps from beyond the darkness. Even though the monsters intentionally minimized their footsteps to the point of an ant crawling, they couldn’t escape the elf’s hearing.

“Direction at 3 o’clock. 13 meters. Two of them. Shall I shoot?”

“Shoot.”

“Yes.”

Orion smiled brightly and followed Dojin’s command. She didn’t mind the shortened speech. After all, in a dungeon where every second counted, keeping words concise was just common sense.

Whoosh!

The two arrows Orion shot flew simultaneously, piercing through the darkness toward the monsters beyond. But she didn’t delude herself into thinking that would be enough to bring them down.

The blackout curtain that even blocked light and sound waves could not possibly fail to block physical arrows. The arrows she shot with full force likely lost most of their thrust in mid-flight.

In other words, this was closer to a provocation. Sure enough, the monsters hit by the arrows were charging toward the party in anger.

Two lizardmen wielding sharp tridents. It seemed the arrows had hit their mark, as scales on their philtrum were broken and blood was flowing.

However, it wasn’t a critical injury that would affect the battle.

‘Now, how…?’

As Orion pondered this and looked at Dojin, he swiftly ran forward and swung his sword. It was a more reckless action than expected.

But the outcome of that action was as straightforward as it was reckless. The two lizardmen, sliced by the sword, were simultaneously cleaved in half.

Watching the two lizardmen disappear into dust, cleaved from the waist, Orion was left speechless.

“What on earth is this…?”

“…So people like this really exist.”

Regardless of her amazement, Dojin proudly gave her a thumbs-up. Her detection ability was more impressive than expected.

“This way, there’s no need to shoot arrows. Raize, how long does it take to prepare your magic?”

“…For opponents like these, a little. About ten seconds.”

“Ten seconds, that’s perfect.”

After calculating the lizardmen’s stride speed and Orion’s detection range, Dojin issued orders to them.

“Then, Orion, inform us as soon as you spot the monsters… Raize, start chanting your magic as soon as you spot them. And shoot immediately when they approach.”

“No, um, Dojin…? I have a question…”

“What is it?”

“You can cut down monsters in one strike. So why bother making us use magic? Is there really a need for it?”

Hearing Orion’s question, Dojin looked at her with a face that seemed to ask if such a silly question existed. Then, he provided an answer to her query.

“Because I can’t solve everything by myself forever.”

“…What do you mean?”

“If I kill all the monsters alone, I’ll end up taking all the experience points too. Ah, should I explain it differently?”

“So, you want your team members to level up?”

“Bingo.”

She couldn’t understand. Leveling up was a miracle everyone desired, something everyone was eager to achieve.

This man regarded it merely as a means to an end, a tool to achieve his goals…

“Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard your purpose. Why did you form the party?”

Upon hearing this, Dojin briefly exchanged glances with Raize and Eunha. The three seemed to communicate something with their eyes before nodding and speaking.

“I wish to see the end of this dungeon.”

“The end of the dungeon…?”

“Yes. A nonsensical goal that may or may not exist.”

Dojin’s dream was a goal that humans should not dare to dream. A colossal goal that even elves, who live eternally, could not easily achieve.

“An interesting goal.”

At the same time, it was a goal compelling enough to draw her in. A goal that could captivate an elf like Orion to be enamored with a human like Dojin…

She brought her hands to her chest, wrapping them around it. It was a traditional elven gesture, meaning she wished to share the same purpose.

“May I join you in that goal?”

“Of course.”

Naturally, Dojin had no reason to refuse.

“Here, this is today’s earnings from the hunt, split four ways. Take it.”

“This much…? It was just a temporary party to try working together, wasn’t it?”

Orion was astonished as she looked at the pouch Dojin handed over. They did hunt quite a few monsters today.

She found monsters from dozens of meters away, and the monsters she found were killed instantly by Raize’s magic upon approach.

Even after Raize’s magic ran out, Dojin swung his sword personally and slaughtered the monsters.

However, she never imagined that a mere half-day’s earnings would amount to gold coins. Moreover, wasn’t this money a quarter of the gold coins the party earned?

‘With this amount…’

Even an elf indifferent to money couldn’t help but have their eyes widen at the sight of this much gold. With this amount, it wouldn’t be wasteful to spend dozens of expensive arrows each hunt.

“Well, would it make sense for a party aiming to reach the end of a dungeon to struggle just because of money? Consider this much a given.”

“Oh, right…”

Orion looked at Dojin again after hearing those words. Indeed, a capable male naturally excites females.

“Hey, leader. We’ve earned this much today, and it’s the first day the party was formed. How about a light drink?”

She raised the pouch as she spoke, indicating she would treat. A drinking session with an elf. Dojin wanted to agree, but his body was already half not his own.

“Sorry. I have a prior engagement. Let’s do it together next time.”

“…Ah, yes. I suppose so, for a man like you, leader.”

“Haha, then next time, right here again.”

“Yes, see you next time.”

Dojin said that as he parted ways with Orion. He then escorted Raize to the Magic Tower and walked along the main street with Eunha alone.

On the way to the mansion, Eunha was as quiet as a mouse. So much so that Dojin had to occasionally turn his head to check if she was still following him properly.

In front of the mansion, Eunha spoke to Dojin.

“I didn’t do anything today.”

“Uh?”

“I didn’t catch any monsters, nor did I protect anyone. I’m useless.”

Hearing Eunha’s words, Dojin felt slightly annoyed but responded kindly.

“What are you talking about? If you weren’t there, I couldn’t have moved forward. Knowing you were behind me allowed me to move ahead without any worries.”

“…Really?”

“Of course, really.”

After finishing those words, Dojin went straight into the mansion. After a moment, Eunha hesitated at the front door before following him inside.

After finishing my bath in the bathroom and returning to my room, I lay down on the bed to relieve my fatigue while organizing what I had to do next.

‘Issue #2 of the newspaper comes out the day after tomorrow… That means tomorrow, I’ll go to the dungeon with Seoyoon to gather mana stones… and the day after, I should visit Ilone in the hospital…’

There was a lot to do. Too much. Besides the things that immediately came to mind, there was a mountain of tasks to solve.

That fact felt a bit exhausting. On Earth, there was no need for this. I just had to follow orders from others, and the day would pass.

But now? To live the day after tomorrow, I had to run today. I had to decide for myself where to run and how far.

I had to worry about tripping while running and worry about getting back up after falling… but in reality, I couldn’t do that because I was too busy worrying about running right now.

‘Isn’t it ironic that I feel more alive now?’

A day on Earth didn’t feel real. Whether I lived it fully or not, I was just a tool for someone, like a cog in the world’s machine.

Now, I was very fulfilled. What moved me was my will, and what I turned was the world’s yoke.

‘I need to sleep…’

These random thoughts kept surfacing, preventing me from sleeping. I had no choice but to lightly meditate and prepare for bed.

Knock, knock.

“…Who is it?”

─It’s me.

“Come in.”

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice came from outside. Gahee opened the door and came in. Twisting her wavy hair, she tried hard not to make eye contact with me.

“What is it?”

“…I have a favor to ask you.”

“A favor? What is it?”

I thought she would ask me to buy clothes or jewelry she wanted. But the favor she hesitantly uttered was not of that nature.

“I want to be an idol.”

“…An idol? Why an idol?”

“You guys made a newspaper. So, if you can do that, you can also help me become an idol, right?”

Gahee said that and asked us to find a way for her to become an idol. It was an absurd request, but her eyes showed determination.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“…Deokgu said you’re our leader. He told me to get your permission.”

“Leader, huh.”

I understood Deokgu’s intention. Knowing that things weren’t good between her and me, he probably wanted to resolve it this way.

Conflicts that arise between two people do not easily resolve unless one side first concedes.

That’s why Deokgu made it easy for Gahee to bow her head by making me her superior.

“Alright, fine. You want to be an idol?”

“…Yeah.”

“Then write a business plan by the end of this week.”

“…What?”

“Where you’ll perform, who you’ll show it to, and how many audience members you can gather.”

What is an idol?

A goddess who sings?

Wrong.

An idol is an illusion created by the media.

A ghost chasing money.

“What are you doing? Hurry and investigate.”

Hearing that, Gahee frowned and left the room.

Heading to her room, Eunha noticed Gahee storming out of Dojin’s room.

She was walking toward her room, angrily ranting as if furious about something, but to Eunha, she looked like a woman leaving a room after serving a client.

‘Three already…’

Eunha cautiously glanced at Dojin’s door. She was perceptive. Very perceptive. She had lived a life where you’d get hit if you weren’t quick-witted.

And with her intuition, she figured Dojin had already laid hands on almost half of the women in their group.

Not to mention the local women in this world…

‘The reason he hasn’t touched me is because I’m insignificant…’

It was a regretful thought. Had he openly revealed his desires, Eunha would have easily offered her body to gain stability.

The fear of not knowing when she’d be abandoned was more terrifying than anything else to her.

‘What should I do…?’

Her eyes gradually lost their light.

Half-dead, her frozen pollock eyes glared at Dojin’s door before returning to their own room.