Chapter 96: Gate Escape

The reason I’m trying to escape from the hero is quite simple.

There’s the hero who’s been committing marriage fraud, the elf growing drugs and starting a drug war in the underworld, and the wizard who, under the guise of food research, was conducting experiments related to suppressing birth rates through dark magic.

Even though it was all for money, the hero’s party would definitely be furious, and I’d get caught in the middle and nagged to death.

It’s just annoying.

On top of that, I really don’t want to meet that elf again for some reason.

Anyway, I quickly glanced over at the returnees.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah, something heavy hit me on the head for a second, and then everything went blank. I must’ve passed out.”

Cheonma rubbed the back of her head.

“Ouch, it seems like you were just fine, Saintess? Looks like you put up a bit of a fight, though.”

Battle mage commented like that.

Meanwhile, the pride of Korea was poking the unconscious hero on the ground with a bone fragment I gave her.

As expected from a succubus, her eyes were practically sparkling at the sight of a man.

But that’s a no-go.

If she tries to make a move, Erin, the drug-dealing elf, and the dark sorcerer from the Khitan tribe will come charging in, crying blood.

Ignoring the harem is a dangerous move.

“So, who is this guy?”

The pride of Korea gave the unconscious hero an intrigued smile.

“He’s the hero.”

“Oh, he’s handsome! Did he show up like a prince to save you?”

Well, she’s not wrong.

Yeah, if you think about it, he did appear like a prince.

But I’m not sure how to explain it.

It was such an unexpected reunion.

“Yeah, we’re old comrades. We happened to meet again by chance. Things were about to get annoying, so I knocked him out with a skull-cracker.”

“What the hell happened while we were out?”

“Let’s just leave him here. He’s got the blessing of the Holy Sword, so he’ll wake up on his own soon enough.”

I need to get out of here before he wakes up.

“Okay, let’s hurry up and run! If he wakes up, things will get dangerous.”

“Wait, hold on. That guy’s packing some serious… assets. If he wakes up, maybe I could—”

Even in this situation, the succubus is staring at the hero’s crotch.

As expected from a succubus, she’s losing her mind.

Why on earth would the pride of Korea fall for a hero of Yukran?

I slapped her across the cheek.

Smack!

“Get a hold of yourself and act like the pride of Korea!”

“What the hell does that even mean, acting like the pride of Korea?!”

“As the pride of Korea, you shouldn’t be so quick to sell your body. Where’s your dignity?”

If you’re truly the pride of Korea, you should know how to carry yourself with honor.

The fact that you’re drooling over a man who’s passed out is pathetic.

“I’m a succubus, you idiot!”

“I’m saving your life! That guy’s part of a harem party, and if you take his virginity, they’ll swarm you and tear you to shreds!”

“Right. I’m the pride of Korea. I’m not some ditzy prostitute who’ll sleep with any man.”

There, now she’s talking sense.

“Pixie, transform, and let’s get out of here.”

“Can’t I just have the ring? I feel like I’m always borrowing it.”

“Are you admitting you’re a woman, then?”

“Ugh, fine.”

We left the boss room.

In the distance, we could see the guild hunters working hard to improve themselves, some of them glancing over at us, shouting something, but we ignored them and kept running.

“South Seoul Gate. Just hearing the name makes me sick of it.”

“Agreed.”

I nodded at the adult Pixie’s comment.

Yeah, it’s exhausting.

How did I end up doing this kind of work?

If it weren’t for those damn hunters and the rise of the half-returnee groups, I wouldn’t be in this mess.

Although, thanks to all of that, I found out about the existence of the Demon King and wrecked the South Gate, meeting the hero was an unfortunate twist.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Yes, that sounds like a good plan.”

Meeting the hero right now would be really troublesome.

He’s probably awake by now, so we need to hurry and run.

When we returned to the Kanora Church Guild building, what greeted us was a mix of a game-playing angel, an instigator watching streams, and other random folks.

These people are really living the good life.

Even the slime had turned itself into a gooey mess and was sleeping.

On one side, the rocking horse stared at me intently, swaying eagerly.

In the midst of all this, Neifir put down her gamepad and looked me up and down.

“What kind of flashy fun did you guys have?”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“And what happened to the Saintess? Did she get beaten up somewhere?”

“Beaten up?”

That’s too rude.

“I was thoroughly beaten by the Demon King.”

Come to think of it, if I hadn’t panicked back then, I could have landed at least one hit.

Especially if I had known it was a clone.

“Was there no secret setup of the Demon King’s Saintess?”

“Is that something you should say to me?”

I kicked the rocking horse hard, making it wobble.

Where did this guy even get such ideas from?

Can’t tell the difference between reality and comics, clearly.

The rocking horse trembled violently, making a snorting noise.

Should I just kill this thing?

“I seriously find this rocking horse creepy.”

“Hey, Pride of Korea. You’re a succubus, why are you being picky about such things?”

Neifir teased the succubus while controlling his gamepad.

It seemed like the title “Pride of Korea” was becoming a big deal for the succubus.

Wow, could this be the new wave of Korean culture?

K-Succubus! Pride of Korea.

“Come on, that ‘Pride of Korea’ stuff again?”

“What’s wrong with Pride of Korea?”

It’s the rise of a new cultural wave.

As I’ve learned, most fantasy returnees are from Korea.

There are others from different countries, but most of them are human returnees.

This means the succubus could become a new Korean Wave icon.

I can proudly claim that the succubus originated in Korea.

“Yeah, the top search result on the internet is Kanora, second is the Saintess, and third is the Pride of Korea.”

The leader of the instigators showed me the laptop screen.

It was the search ranking on the portal site “Naynyun.”

First was Kanora, second was the Saintess, third was the Pride of Korea, and fourth was K-Succubus.

Wow, the succubus is skyrocketing in popularity here?

“Looks like you’re making it big.”

“Making it big? Does this look like success to you?”

I patted the succubus’s shoulder and gave her a look of envy.

At the same time, I gestured to the returnee party to cheer her on.

“Oh, right! This is huge, you know?”

“After the Great Upheaval, the Korean Wave kind of fell off, but now you could be the new icon!”

It is a kind of success.

The succubus is now representing a nation.

This is definitely part of the Korean Wave.

“Yeah, I guess you could call this making it big.”

I comforted the succubus.

“Anyway, I made up my mind today.”

“What?”

“I’m making this place my home.”

And just like that, the fallen angel decided to make the guild her new home.

This guy, no, this fallen angel, was planning to settle down here, gamepad in hand.

“Why?”

“Going back is a hassle, and there are plenty of rooms here. Oh, and Lee Si-yeon is waiting for you.”

How did this guy even become an angel?

Wait, Lee Si-yeon?

“Lee Si-yeon? The Frost Queen?”

Does this mean the Lee Si-yeon I know is waiting for me?

Wow, she really became someone willing to do anything for me.

Does this mean she’s really no longer involved with Kim Hyeong-jin?

“Yeah, she was standing around waiting, so I gave her a room inside to wait in.”

“Well done.”

“Oh, but there was a crazy guy spying on the guild.”

“Oh?”

“I kicked him out, so you should be happy.”

“As expected of you, Guild Master. Ohhh!”

I gave a half-hearted seal clap.

Anyway, that guy was really crazy.

How dare he act like that here?

I headed to the room where the Frost Queen was waiting.

“Oh, Si-yeon, you’re here. How long have you been waiting?”

“Not long, about an hour?”

An hour?

That’s really not long.

Back in my world, whenever I went to a dungeon, Erin and Maria took at least two hours to get ready, preparing all sorts of things.

Even though the hero in the center of the harem couldn’t say a word to them, they said women naturally take longer to get ready.

It was annoying.

Meanwhile, here was someone who didn’t bother getting all dressed up.

How could she not feel bitter?

Those crazy women needed to be weaker.

But since they were strong, they could end fights with just a couple of skills, leaving them plenty of time to dress up.

Anyway, I stared at Lee Si-yeon for a moment.

Now that I looked closely, it seemed like she had done some grooming.

She acted like it was nothing, but I could tell she had put in effort.

Even though our guild is pretty relaxed, that was still something.

“You really didn’t wait long. So, what do you plan to do? Will you become a hunter at the Kanora Guild?”

“Is that okay?”

“Yes, I don’t mind. Besides, it’s originally the guild you founded.”

Since it’s your guild, staying shouldn’t be an issue.

“But I intended it for you.”

“I really don’t mind. As long as we achieve results.”

“Results? Destroying the hunter ecosystem?”

That’s right.

It’ll be easier with Lee Si-yeon.

Anyway, the Frost Queen, Lee Si-yeon, is undeniably powerful, so I should make use of her if she’s willing to help.

“Yes. Si-yeon, your task will be to clear out all the profitable dungeons under Kanora’s name.”

I did feel a little bad, but I needed her to act as a scapegoat for a bit.

A hunter stepping forward to destroy the hunter society—it will show that even hunters can become followers of Kanora Church!

We need to demonstrate that the hunter society can be torn apart.

“Won’t the guild get criticized for that?”

The guild will probably be criticized, but ultimately, Lee Si-yeon might bear the brunt of it.

In any case, it doesn’t bother me.

If she takes the heat, and we lead the charge in dismantling the hunter society, a significant number of people will support us.

Just look at the current internet rankings for proof.

Do you think the search results are just based on my looks and the succubus?

Not at all.

If that were the case, the rankings would be full of pretty civilians or celebrities.

“Yes, we’ll get criticism. But there are far more regular people than hunters, right?”

“Oh, that’s true.”

Exactly.

Once Lee Si-yeon joins Kanora Church, it will be like gaining a thousand troops.

And if I use our old connection to convince Park Yoo-jung to spread Kanora Church to the White Guild, that wouldn’t be bad either.

We’ll make the whole world turn blue with Kanora.

“To the hunters who can’t enter the dungeons that Si-yeon clears out, they’ll probably be pleased to see the top hunters brought down, and they might even start liking Kanora Church.”

“Mmm, that makes sense.”

“So there’s no issue.”

“All right, I’ll give it a try.”

Yes, yes.

You just have to follow my lead, that’s all.

I smiled with satisfaction.

“Welcome to Kanora Church as an official member.”

“Please take care of me from now on.”

“Sure.”

And just like that, Lee Si-yeon became my ally.

Although we’ve completely severed our old relationship, I’m now using that same connection to turn Lee Si-yeon into a pawn and a shield for Kanora Church.

Perfect!

Amidst this, Goddess’s voice called out.

—Miss disciple, we have something important to discuss today.

What is it?

—It seems like it’s time for your stat upgrade.