Chapter 52: After-Party

Upon looking closely, this goddess is really shameless.

Isn’t she the one who created this urgent situation by turning me into this body?

Because of this, monsters and thieves alike are constantly after me.

We couldn’t even have a proper conversation.

Anyway, it’s all the goddess’s fault.

To reiterate, she’s really a terrible goddess.

-Why do I have to be cursed by my own follower? I could just leave, but here I am, sticking around anyway. And whenever I say this, she just stays quiet. It’s kind of cute.

“Come on, shouldn’t you at least listen when someone is talking?”

The succubus seems taken aback by the head-splitting move.

“This person’s like someone refusing to attack during a golden moment of a magical girl transformation. What nonsense.”

Usually, there’s a lot of openings when someone’s talking.

That’s why even the Demon King had so many weak spots, because the Hero always talked too much.

-You’d forgive me, even though I cursed countless humans under my command, through my Four Heavenly Kings?

-It may be hard to let go of that resentment, but such things happen often between humans too.

-Hero, you are a foo……..

-Crack!

During the conversation, I smashed the Demon King’s head in, and it really did some damage.

His head was caved in.

“Isn’t that way cooler?”

“We need to think efficiently. Waiting around isn’t productive. I don’t want to waste my life span on waiting for transformations. I wouldn’t even invest 10 seconds in a piece of trash like that.”

What’s the point of someone awakening or transforming if they’re just going to get their head smashed anyway?

“Hey, I worked hard to get here, so why’d you defeat the boss so quickly?”

Ah, it seems the succubus is upset about working hard alone.

Maybe I should’ve killed the boss even faster, just to spite her.

“Who cares? Isn’t it better if it’s easy?”

“I wanted you to struggle too!”

“Wow, you’re so selfish.”

If it bothers you, then maybe you should learn to fight off orcs while seducing them.

“Am I not the one who risked my life to gather all these monsters?”

“Ah, well, that’s true. Hehe.”

Contrary to expectations, the orc boss’s head was pretty solid.

Koo-goo-goo-goong!

With a loud crash, the massive orc slowly got back on its feet.

Its head was slightly caved in, and it glared at me.

Tough, huh?

“How dare you! You struck me, the Orc Army Captain, Marjorie!”

I guess he’s upset that I hit him while he was talking.

“Hey, this one’s still alive!”

“Looks like I didn’t hit deep enough.”

Smack!

This time, I flew up like a butterfly and swung my mace like a bee.

Crack!

“Kaaaah!”

With a final scream, the giant orc collapsed.

One of his eyes even popped out.

He’s dead, right?

Just to be sure, I decided to finish him off with holy water.

“Let’s make sure to confirm the kill this time.”

I pulled out some holy water from my waist and poured it onto the orc’s cracked head.

He called himself ‘Marjorie,’ so let’s make sure to step on him softly as he goes.

Sssss… Chi-iiii!

To ensure he didn’t rise again, I dumped a few bottles of holy water, starting from his broken head.

The orc’s skull began to dissolve with a sizzling sound.

Despite his melting head, the massive orc tried to rise again.

Tough guy.

Is he a cockroach?

Crack!

I swung my mace at his solar plexus, and finally, he stopped moving.

The succubus, horrified, pointed at the sizzling orc head.

“What is that?”

“Holy water.”

It’s perfect sulfuric holy water, completely purifying evil.

“Wow, the effect is amazing. What would happen if you poured that on me?”

What do you think would happen? You’d melt right away. After all, it’s sulfuric acid.

“You’d vanish in an instant.”

“Hey, get that thing away from me!”

“Hehe, succubus, if you don’t behave, I might just…”

I teased her by pretending to throw the holy water, and the succubus ran off.

[“So, what are you going to do about it?”]

Jeon Tae-yeon has no sense, despite being an outcast.

“You’re really enjoying yourself here, huh. So, can I trust you?”

[“Yes. We can even manipulate the market if we want. We’ll aim for at least 400 million.”]

Over 400 million?

That means it’s originally worth more than 500 million, right?

Either way, there’s no one but the Heavenly Kings who could help me sell this.

If I contact the regulatory authority, I’ll probably get caught up in annoying legalities.

I could enslave Ishiyeon or her younger sister to help, but that’s also a hassle.

“Then I’ll settle for exactly half. I trust you.”

[“Yes.”]

Even half of 400 million is still 200 million.

Paying off 2 billion out of 10 billion wouldn’t be too bad.

I could probably just direct it all right now.

Then let’s ask the group members first.

“Hey, everyone. Can we hand over all this money?”

I said that while glancing at them in order: Cheonma, the two fish, the monster-luring hamster, and the little girl.

First, Cheonma seemed to silently imply that they were leaving it to me.

Does the Cheonma not need money?

Then, the rest…

“I don’t think that’s right. We should divide it based on our efforts.”

“Yeah, if we’re talking about 4 billion, how much do we each get? I want to buy some jewels.”

“My dream is to buy a huge mansion and live surrounded by handsome actors.”

Right, I expected that from the succubus and the fish.

So…

“You all came along unexpectedly, so you don’t get a say in this!”

I’ll go my own way.

“What the heck?”

“Hey, what about me? I made maps for us, didn’t I?”

“When adults are talking, it’s rude to interrupt.”

I said to the little girl.

“No way. You—mmm!”

I shoved a lollipop into her mouth.

“Sure, 4 billion is almost half of 10 billion, but still… you know, people have feelings.”

The succubus grumbled, looking displeased.

Yeah, she has a point.

“That’s true, isn’t it?”

We’ll keep climbing the Tower of Destruction together, so we’ll earn more money as we go.

There’s no need to hand it all over now.

So…

“Let’s just give it all away.”

[“Thank you, valued customer.”]

“You’re not listening to a word I’m saying, are you?”

Well, that’s that, and this is this.

The 10 billion number feels more unsettling.

One way to handle it is to cut down on that as much as possible.

I just want to deal with the most annoying thing first.

“If, by any chance, this isn’t what it seems, let’s go smash some heads, okay?”

I’ll seriously bash their heads in.

[“Don’t worry, I assure you.”]

With that, we sorted out the small magic stones.

“Now all that’s left is the boss, right?”

Looting the orc boss’s corpse yielded various items.

A pile of small magic stones, one large magic stone, and an elixir.

I suppose I can keep the boss drops for myself.

“What’s that?”

“It’s the key to the 6th floor and an elixir.”

I don’t really need the elixir.

No sacred relics came out either.

“Oh, wait. Can I have the elixir?”

“Drinking an elixir won’t make you grow taller, you know.”

The little girl pouted.

She must’ve really believed it would make her taller.

I popped another candy into her mouth.

“So, is that it for today?”

“Is there anything else to do?”

If I go back home, I’ll just end up lazing around.

Somehow, I have a feeling something strange will happen if I go home today.

It’s not a bad idea to keep climbing as we are.

Since we paid off 4 billion, I’m curious about what awaits us on the 6th floor.

“Wait, before we move on, I’ve been curious about something. Hey, Cheonma, I’ve been wondering for a while now. Can I ask?”

The succubus glanced at the Cheonma with interest.

She came all this way just to see his lightsaber, didn’t she?

If we send her away now after all that trouble, it might hurt morale.

Let’s give her some downtime.

“Sure, if you want to have an after-party, go ahead.”

I don’t mind.

We should have a break at least once.

It’s up to the Cheonma to respond.

“What is it?”

“You act all serious and don’t even use old-fashioned terms or anything. All you’ve got is that lightsaber technique. What happened to your so-called Cheonma Arts or whatever?”

For someone who only knows how to charm men, she sure is curious about a lot of things.

“Succubus.”

“Oh.”

“I’m a cat beastman Cheonma from Joseon.”

The Cheonma from Joseon, the land admired by China, envied by America, and jealously eyed by Japan! Neko-Cheonma!

“Wait, what? Your backstory is hilarious. If you’re a Cheonma from Joseon, why are you a cat beastman? Was Joseon a beastman nation?”

“Well, the noble lords of Joseon weren’t, but in the 21st century, Koreans love speed. Especially in the martial world. And to clarify, Joseon was actually a multi-species nation.”

Oh, a Joseon with cat beastmen?

That sounds kind of fun.

Why do I have to live in this boring, traditional hero world?

“Wow, you really lived in a fantasy world.”

I wonder what Joseon would be like with cat beastmen as its citizens.

“Instead of wasting time pretending to use technical jargon, I save my breath and swing my sword. That’s my way.”

She really is similar to me.

I like this Cheonma!

“It’s dumb, but kind of cool. So, are you telling me that only using a lightsaber is better than practicing other martial arts?”

“That’s right.”

“This feels so different from the Cheonma I know.”

“What are you even saying, monster-luring character? Everything changes with time and people. Why should the Cheonma be any different?”

The Cheonma had nothing more to say.

Since she’s already turned into an Sci-fi Cheonma with her laser sword, it’s settled.

The Cheonma just nodded without a change in her expression.

Now, what about those two fish?

Come to think of it, the mermaid and the siren are sticking to their characters pretty well.

“It seems like the two of you are maintaining your character concepts? Though having legs is a bit off.”

“Well, we can still get by with our tails.”

The mermaid and siren exchanged glances, then suddenly a mist rose from their legs.

Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t just mist— their legs were transforming back into tails.

Their clothes even changed into scales that covered their tails.

In no time, they had both become magnificent fish again.

“There’s no penalty for using human legs? Like in the fairy tales, where you lose your voice or something?”

In the original story, didn’t the mermaid lose her voice in exchange for getting human legs?

You can’t always equate fairy tales with reality, but it’s common to think that way.

The mermaid tilted her head, pondering something.

“Well, it’s not like there’s no penalty.”

Surprisingly, there was some truth to the fairy tale in reality.

“What is it?”

As I marveled silently, the mermaid opened her mouth.

“In my case, my abilities weaken. My bubble range is originally wider, but it gets cut by half. The duration of effects like sleep or confusion also gets halved.”

So, obtaining human legs in exchange for reduced abilities… It’s something you often see in games too.

Hearing the mermaid’s explanation, I started wondering about the siren.

“What about you, Siren?”

“My singing gets better.”

“Pfft!”

Wait, what?

Ignoring the mermaid, who was openly laughing beside me, I asked the siren.

“Shouldn’t it get worse, though?”

“To be precise, it changes to sound pleasant to human ears. Because of that, the effects of my song, like causing harm, are weaker.”

So, her song weakens because it sounds good to humans?

I recalled the song she sang during our battle with the orc earlier.

♪ I am the… ♪

Yeah, that song definitely wasn’t it, I thought, shaking my head.

“You’re proud of your singing, aren’t you?”

“Hey, I’m telling you, I sang that really well!”

Hold on, if that was her “good voice”…

Does she have no shame?