Episode 112. Survival Exam (5)

Jjaekjjaek-

I opened my eyes to the sound of birds chirping outside.

Just as I tried to sit up, I looked down at the weight on my stomach and saw Lumi lying on top of me.

“Ah, right….”

Only then did I also feel the sensation of my pussy clamping my dick.

“Ughh….”

Lumi also seemed to come to her senses as I woke up and stirred from sleep.

“Haaam… Hoyeon-ssi… Good morning. Heung….”

“Lumi, let’s do it one more time before we get up.”

I firmly grabbed Lumi’s butt as she tried to get up.

“Ah, yesss….”

Lumi, her face blushing, snuggled back against me.

I’ve imagined having sex right after waking up, before my morning wood subsided, many times, and I can’t believe it’s happening now.

As soon as I got her consent, I thrust my hips.

“Ah, hhhnnn….”

*

After finishing sex, I realized my body’s mana was depleted.

It was because I maintained the rune barrier all night.

Seeing the barrier was unstable, it seemed to have flickered on and off all night… but thankfully, there were no major issues.

From now on, I need to properly sort things out before sleeping.

Lumi was wriggling her body on the blanket with her hips raised.

Did we go too hard this morning?

I released the barrier, came out, and surveyed the surroundings. Nothing had changed since last night.

I went to the stream and splashed water on my face, which cleared my head a bit.

Lumi soon came to her senses and emerged from the tent. She walked like a corpse, splashed water on her face, and stretched.

“Good morning.”

“Yess… Good morning.”

After exchanging late morning greetings, I also stretched to loosen up my body.

★ Heroine Status Screen

[Lumi]

• [Affection: 92] (+0.3)

• [Lust: 46]

• [Appetite: 78]

• [Fatigue: 55]

Current Status: I’m hungry… but I can’t bring myself to suggest eating first… When will Hoyeon-ssi eat?

Maybe it’s because I slept well yesterday? My fatigue level has gone down a lot.

Still, seeing my appetite increased, it seems the calories burned from sex with me were more than those from the eggs and chocolate bars.

“Lumi, I’m hungry, shall we have breakfast?”

“Yes. Sounds good….”

Since I was quite hungry too, we decided to have breakfast together.

Since eating something too greasy on an empty stomach wouldn’t be good, I took out beef porridge and braised beef, and finished a light breakfast.

“Hoyeon-ssi… Thank you so much….”

“It’s nothing. Anyway, I bought plenty to take care of you guys, so it’s fine. Where should we go now?”

“I’m going to look for Lucy. I want to be with Lucy.”

“Then let’s go together. I’ll tag along too.”

“No. This time, just the two of us want to try it.”

I was planning to go together since I didn’t have anything particular to do, but I got an unexpected answer.

What is this? Am I being rejected?

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. Lucy and I talked before we started. We decided the two of us would meet up and try syncing up.”

“Ah….”

It seems they’re finally starting to sync up.

Indeed, if I help them too much, the opportunity for growth disappears.

Sometimes, let’s leave it for them to solve on their own.

“Then just take some food.”

“It’s okay. We’ll try it ourselves.”

“Don’t be noisy. Take it if I’m just giving it to you.”

I ignored Lumi’s words and took out food from my subspace.

I put light, high-calorie foods into plastic bags and forced them into Lumi’s hands.

“Ah, it’s okay….”

“I told you it’s fine since I bought it for you guys.”

“… I’ll eat well.”

Lumi must know how difficult it is to get food on this island, having survived a day.

Of course, supplies will run out starting today, but I’m replenishing the strength you’ll lose fighting to get them.

That food is enough for a few days at most, so your gratitude towards me will surely increase after that.

“Good luck. I’ll share my location, so if you ever need to run away again, run to me.”

“Pfft… Okay.”

Lumi said goodbye to me and walked into the forest with light footsteps.

Lumi, who used to be such a loser, has grown so much; it makes my heart swell.

I’m a little worried, but I can’t always help her. She needs to grow by making mistakes sometimes.

Once Lumi’s figure disappeared completely, I packed up the tent.

I need to meditate in a quiet place to replenish my mana.

Fortunately, I found a small cave in the rocky mountain behind us yesterday.

I’ll do it there.

Buseureok- Teobeokteobeok.

But as soon as I finished packing the tent, I felt a strange presence behind me and turned my head.

“Alice?”

Alice, who looked quite unwell, was staggering over towards me.

★ Heroine Status Screen

[Alice]

• [Affection: 30]

• [Lust: 57]

• [Appetite: 85]

• [Fatigue: 90]

Current Status: I need magic stones. I feel like I’m starving to death….

With fatigue at 90 and appetite at 85… she must be having a really hard time.

Her lust rising to 57… is it because she wants to reproduce before dying?

“Alice, what’s wrong? Should I share some food?”

First, her condition is terrible, so I think she needs to eat something.

“Magic stones… Share just a little.”

“What?”

Without even greeting me, the first thing she said was that.

Why are you looking for magic stones from me? You have spare magic stones, don’t you?

“I have food, but no magic stones. Besides, why would you bring magic stones when you’re taking an exam?”

“I know everything. You brought magic stones too.”

“No, I told you I didn’t bring any?”

I don’t know why she thinks I have magic stones.

Even if I bought all sorts of useless things, what was the point of buying magic stones too?

“Sigh… I know everything. I know you have a mana disorder, that you’re having physical relations with Lumi, Teacher Baek Ahyoung, and Professor Im Sol, and that you’re secretly living with women. But I won’t spread rumors. Instead, help me a little in this exam.”

‘What?’

I don’t know what bullshit she’s talking about with the mana disorder, but she knows about my relationships with women.

‘No, how on earth did she find out?’

I was as careful as possible…?

If even my relationship with Professor Im Sol was discovered, it means Professor Im Sol’s lab must have been breached…

‘A really high-ranking executive must be involved.’

Professor Im Sol is treated like a deity in the magic world, but she’s only in her mid-to-late twenties.

Compared to the truly strongest individuals with decades of experience, she’s still lacking at this early stage of the story.

No way, I didn’t expect such a high-ranking executive to be involved… I should have been more careful.

“… Let’s eat first and talk. Your condition is terrible.”

I took out some smoked pork belly.

Although eating greasy food on an empty stomach isn’t good, there’s no need to be considerate to a kid who came to blackmail me.

“Here, eat slowly.”

“….”

Alice started picking up the meat I gave her with chopsticks and eating it one by one.

What happened to her?

Alice isn’t normally this kind of character.

She’s a prime example of a proud character, but when you coax her, she easily falls and becomes weak.

I actually saw that side of her recently when her affection rapidly increased and she became gentle.

So why has she changed like this?

Because I have many women? Because I’m trash?

‘That’s not it.’

Alice is surprisingly tolerant of harems.

She grew up watching her mother forgive her father, a notorious piece of trash who constantly cheated on his wife, simply because he had ability.

The original game only has a pure love route, but Alice has this line.

[It’s natural for bees to swarm around a capable man. I can permit it all. But don’t forget that I am the queen bee.]

In other words, she’ll forgive if one has ability, and I have diligently proven my abilities so far.

This should be a surefire success, so it doesn’t make sense that she lacks ability.

So what’s lacking?

‘Affection.’

It’s because she doesn’t like me.

Once she likes me, she’ll permit the other women too.

‘First, I need to raise her decreased affection.’

And I need to prove a clear hierarchy.

If I’m the flower, Alice is the bee.

It should be a relationship where Alice comes to me, not one where I go looking for her.

It’s probably best to be open about my relationships with women from the start. At least one heroine should be like this.

As Alice was finishing the meat, I spoke to her.

“I bought this meat because it was on sale at the supermarket, is it tasty?”

“… Yeah.”

“That’s a relief. After all, everything tastes good when you’re hungry.”

“… You’re really strange. I came here to blackmail you. Why are you acting friendly?”

Alice put down her chopsticks and looked at me strangely.

“Kuhuh.”

I deliberately scoffed loudly. Seeing that, Alice’s expression stiffened slightly.

“Alice. You’re going to spread rumors? Go ahead if you want. This isn’t your home country; it’s Korea.”

“….”

“Teacher Baek Ahyoung and Professor Im Sol are both meeting me willingly. There are complex under-the-table contracts you don’t know about. Besides, even if this becomes public, will the media take your side or mine? You’ll return to France after graduating the academy, but I’ll remain in Korea, won’t I?”

It’s only natural.

Alice, who will become a national power of another country as soon as she graduates, and Lee Hoyeon, who will become a hunter representing Korea after graduation.

There’s no need to think about whose side Korea would take.

It doesn’t matter at all who is telling the truth.

Because people will believe the articles poured out by the media.

Of course, if the real Alice were to blow this up, it would become very troublesome from my perspective.

It would be quite a big obstacle in conquering the heroines. Besides, Alice is also a heroine, so I can’t afford to lose a major enemy.

But the important thing is that Alice doesn’t know that fact.

If there were no conditions requiring me to seduce a specific woman, the damage I would suffer would be almost none.

If all else fails, I could just meet other women. I had that kind of ability.

A smart girl like Alice would understand what I’m saying.

“Do you… think that makes sense?”

“Alice. You’re the one who investigated me, so why are you getting angry? I just want to help you as your friend. You know best that my words make sense.”

“… You’re not after my body?”

“Sorry, but if I were after your body, I would have acted right now. You don’t have any mana in your body right now.”

Alice fell silent at my words.

Oops, that sounded a bit threatening.

“Just because I see a woman doesn’t mean I’ll jump her. And sorry, but I didn’t bring magic stones. Honestly, I don’t know what misunderstanding this mana disorder is.”

I can’t bluff with facts I know nothing about.

If my bluff is called, things might get complicated unnecessarily.

“… Okay. I’ll tell you. I have a congenital mana disorder. Naturally, I know a lot about mana disorders.”

I didn’t expect her to confess this herself… she must be quite desperate.

“But you… you’re buying top-grade magic stones that are completely useless for a cadet, receiving regular treatment from Teacher Baek Ahyoung, and have less mana compared to your magic skills. If this isn’t a mana disorder, how would you explain it?”

“….”

Alice, talking to me accusingly, looked truly desperate.

It seemed she thought I wouldn’t help her with the exam unless she found a weakness in me.

★ Heroine Status Screen

[Alice]

• [Affection: 31]

• [Lust: 55]

• [Appetite: 43]

• [Fatigue: 87]

Current Status: This is definitely a lie…! I will definitely find out the truth.

‘This is enough to bluff…?’

Right now, Alice doesn’t seem to be thinking straight due to her high fatigue. For the meticulous and thorough Alice, revealing all that information is a big mistake.

I’ve roughly figured out the situation.

Unlike the original work, Alice misunderstood that I had a mana disorder, causing her affection to rapidly increase and making her gentle towards me.

Then, after finding out about my relationships with women, her affection dropped again.

So, how can I raise her affection again?

Naturally, I need to talk about the mana disorder.

I maintained my expression and continued speaking.

“Sigh… Yeah. That’s right. I had a mana disorder.”

“You had a mana disorder…?”

Alice didn’t miss the words I said casually.

“Yeah. I recently got treated.”

As soon as I spoke, I absorbed mana from the air.

In an instant, the mana that started filling my body flowed quickly along my mana circuits.

“Wh-what? How is this possible…?”

Filling mana from the air without magic stones is absolutely impossible for someone with a mana disorder.

“As you can see, I cured my mana disorder. And… I know the cure too.”

Alice’s eyes widened at my words.