Chapter 63: Secret

Kim Yu-won, Yoo Seung-ah, Cheon Ha-yeon, Estelle, Liera, Han Shin-woo, and Jin Baek-ryong.

While he wouldn’t mention who, all but one were top-ranking students, and they left the school grounds together.

‘He’s growing surprisingly fast.’

He’d taught Jin Baek-ryong some hero-grade swordsmanship on Thursday, and Shin-woo’s proficiency in the hero-grade footwork he’d taught him before had improved significantly.

If his swordsmanship proficiency also increased at a similar rate, he might even be able to aim for a spot in Class A in the next midterm exam.

He’d said he was too scared to participate in ranking matches.

Cheon Ha-yeon had fully absorbed the elixir he’d given her and recovered her physical condition to the high B-rank level.

It wasn’t much for an elixir worth billions, but this was a different story.

His body had been completely reset, so he could absorb any elixir as if it were his first, but Ha-yeon’s body hadn’t been reset, it had been damaged, so she was different from him.

Having consumed elixirs worth billions like they were daily meals since childhood in the Demonic Heavenly Sect, they didn’t have much effect on her.

It was surprising that she’d regained this much power with just one.

‘I should get her more elixirs.’

Of course, since Ha-yeon had taken one this time, he planned to give the next one to Liera.

Elixirs had no effect on Estelle, so she was looking for other ways to get stronger.

‘There’s a relatively easy way for that too.’

Considering she was an otherworlder, a Beatrice Academy freshman, and an incredibly beautiful woman, there were plenty of ways to increase her recognition.

He planned to enjoy the day with everyone and try it tomorrow.

Since it was their first week, they were probably tired from adapting.

“I’ll go back first and review what you taught me, Master.”

“Alright. Work hard.”

He’d given Jin Baek-ryong a fragment of enlightenment on Thursday, and it seemed he was eager to make it his own. He returned first, seen off by everyone.

“I haven’t been able to broadcast inside the academy, so I’ve been off for five days. I think I’ll have to do a full-day storytelling broadcast, so I’ll have to skip today too.”

“If it’s for work, we can’t help it. Take care, Shin-woo.”

The group smiled and saw Shin-woo off. But now, it was just him, his wives, and Seung-ah. The group’s gender ratio had instantly changed from 3:4 to 1:4.

Women to his left, women to his front, women to his back.

It made him feel a bit overwhelmed. And the problem was that all four of them had strong feelings for him.

They naturally initiated physical contact with him, which inevitably drew the attention of people around them.

“Wow… That guy has four women with him.”

“And they’re all beautiful… Is this real life?”

“We should have created a world where everyone is equal…”

Even though they were using recognition-lowering techniques and had slightly altered their faces, they were still drawing this much attention.

Disguise techniques, unless mastered, only changed a few features.

They could make someone look like a different person, but it was hard to make a beautiful person look ugly. Conversely, it was hard to make an ugly person look beautiful.

‘It’s better to just use a human-skin mask.’

Training in Disguise was extremely painful.

As they walked, they soon arrived at his house.

Since there weren’t many places that could accommodate this many people at once, they’d decided to stop by his house first.

“Hoo… It’s only been five days, but it’s so dusty. I’ll clean up a bit, so can you all wait?”

“Okay.”

“Alright.”

“Got it.”

Normally, he would ask for help, but Ha-yeon, as the Heavenly Demon’s daughter and the next Heavenly Demon, had never cleaned in her life, and neither had Estelle, the Saintess.

Seung-ah was also from a wealthy family and had a maid, so she probably hadn’t done it either.

Liera, though a commoner, was from a fairly wealthy family, rich enough to hire a retired knight as a tutor.

Of course, she had a maid.

The only one left was Kim Yu-won, the natural-born dirt-spoon who had never entrusted cleaning to anyone during his five lives as an orphan.

He boasted a level of skill that could get him on a show like “Master of Living” as a cleaning expert.

“Should I help?”

“It’s okay. I don’t want you to accidentally break anything.”

Seung-ah, unfamiliar with such things, offered to help, but he refused flatly.

Especially since there were things in his room that he absolutely had to hide, he couldn’t entrust it to anyone else.

He went into his room first, finished cleaning every nook and cranny, and then hid his secret items very deep, in a place where no one could find them unless they were specifically looking.

It was the same now, but before reuniting with his wives, he’d bought quite a few things to… take care of himself.

Some might ask who would buy such things when they could just use their phones or computers, but he’d spent more time in martial arts or fantasy worlds than in the modern world.

Naturally, those worlds only had books, and having gotten used to them, he preferred to use books when… taking care of himself. Old habits die hard, as they say.

Anyway, after carefully hiding them, he came out of his room and told them.

“My room is clean now, so you can go in.”

Hearing that, the group took off their shoes and went into his room.

He successfully cleaned the living room, the rooms they had used, and the kitchen in 20 minutes and then opened the door to his room.

“Cleaning’s done. You can come out now…”

The moment he entered his room, he saw the four of them looking at the books he had carefully hidden.

‘Why are those… there…?’

“I’m sure I hid them with multiple layers of security, how…?”

How could they have gotten their hands on them, bypassing such tight security?

“Everything else in this room is open, but if only one place is thoroughly hidden, isn’t it obvious that something is there? Seung-ah opened it with her Taoist arts.”

He looked at Seung-ah with a betrayed expression, and she avoided his gaze.

Security meant nothing to Seung-ah, who could use all sorts of Taoist arts taught by the Great Sage.

“Oppa, do you like this kind of thing?”

Estelle showed him a page. It depicted a female character in a cow-print bikini doing something… suggestive.

“So this is what you like, honey…”

His heart sank as he watched Liera absorb the contents, as if savoring every detail. Was this what a golden goblin felt like after having its pockets emptied?

No, at least the goblin’s pockets wouldn’t contain such secret items, so it was his win, no matter how he looked at it. But what was the point of winning like this?

“Hoo… Let’s all eat. I’ll order delivery.”

Since they ate carefully prepared, healthy food at school every day, he thought it was appropriate to indulge in some greasy food on the weekend.

After carefully putting away the books they’d laid down, they ordered what each of them wanted and ate.

After a satisfying meal, their next destination was a board game cafe.

Ha-yeon had never played a group game before and wanted to try, and everyone had agreed.

Weeeeooooo-

As they were heading to the board game cafe, sirens blared throughout the streets.

–A medium-sized Gate is expected to open near Gangnam Station in one hour. Citizens, please evacuate quickly.

It was the sound of the Monster Management Bureau working quickly for once.

“But what should we do? We were planning to go to a board game cafe around here, but it seems impossible now… Should we go somewhere further away?”

Since a Gate was about to open, the shop owners would all evacuate. He could already see people coming out of buildings and heading to other areas.

After many safety incidents involving people messing around near Gates, few people bothered to watch anymore, and everyone evacuated properly.

Especially for medium-sized or larger Gates, alarms would sound about an hour before they opened, giving people ample time to evacuate.

‘Of course… there are still people who mess around like that even in this situation…’

“Everyone! Today, for the first time in a while, I, Kang Jun-hyeok, have come to the expected Gate 발생 지역!”

Although Gates occurred frequently in this world, the evacuation system was so well-established that many among the younger generation had never actually seen a monster.

So, live broadcasts showing monsters in real-time were quite popular, and when alarms sounded, some people would risk danger and come directly to the scene instead of evacuating.

He ignored that and focused on his group.

“I’ve seen them as illusions, but I’m curious what real monsters are like. I also want to test the power I gained from absorbing the elixir.”

“I’ve seen monsters countless times, but this is my first time seeing them in this world. Should we try catching one before we go?”

“I’m curious too.”

Monsters were commonplace in Estelle’s world, but the other two had never seen real monsters.

“This is also my first time seeing them after training, so I want to try catching one.”

He’d saved Seung-ah when she was attacked by monsters as a child, but this would be her first time facing monsters with the power to hunt them.

“Alright. Since we’re academy students and the first ones to arrive, we get priority clearing rights. Shall we go in together?”

A medium-sized Gate would require five A-rank Hunters, but he was already stronger than S-rank, Seung-ah was at the top A-rank level, and his wives, though not in peak condition, could still unleash power beyond that.

Clearing it would be entirely possible. As he undid his disguise to greet the Hunter Association members who would soon arrive to control the area, the person who had been broadcasting earlier approached them.

“Excuse me… Are you Kim Yu-won, the top entrant of Beatrice Academy?”

‘How did he recognize me within a second of me undoing my disguise?’

It was unbelievable.