Chapter 111

“Phew…”

The man who had frowned at the unexpectedly hot water temperature soon let out an exclamation at the warmth spreading throughout his body.

It felt like all the fatigue accumulated from traveling through the frigid zone and fighting goblins was melting away.

The man who had been smiling at the pleasant drowsiness and weakness soon let out a small sigh.

While his physical fatigue had been relieved, his mental fatigue remained unchanged.

Kidnapping, mysterious figures, unrealistic abilities, gods’ playthings, murder, wolves, escape.

It was natural for an ordinary person to feel tired after experiencing all these shocking events packed into just half a day.

‘An ordinary person, huh.’

The man recalled his actions throughout the day and gave a bitter smile.

As soon as he entered the village, he gathered information, learned how to handle weapons at the training ground, and went out to hunt monsters.

No matter how he thought about it, these weren’t things an ordinary person would do.

If he were truly ordinary, he would probably still be wandering around the village unable to accept reality like those visible through the window.

In truth, the man hadn’t perfectly accepted this reality either.

He had simply recalled the contents of novels he usually read and taken the most appropriate actions for the current situation, but mentally he was still in a state of confusion.

“Haah…”

Another sigh escaped.

The man shook his head vigorously to clear away the idle thoughts and quickly finished his shower.

Tomorrow would be an even busier day than today.

Rather than wasting time on useless worries, getting some extra sleep to relieve fatigue would be the more efficient choice.

Thinking this, the man came out of the shower and froze the moment he saw the sight in his room.

“You kept me waiting.”

A mysterious figure with their entire body wrapped in a black robe and hat.

It was the very person who had kidnapped him and brought him here.

‘No, it’s a different person.’

The person he saw during the day wore a mask, but this person had their face wrapped in black cloth.

Looking closely, their voice, build, and the appearance of their robe and hat were all different.

Nevertheless, the man remained tense.

Though not the same person, given the similar attire, there was every possibility they were associates.

“What’s your name?”

“…Ha Seo-jun.”

“Good, I found the right person.”

“Who are you?”

“Kruger. No need to be tense. I’m not here to kill you, but to help you.”

Ha Seo-jun, who had swallowed dryly at the mention of killing, reflexively asked at the following words.

“You kidnap people living peacefully, kill them, throw them as wolf food, and now suddenly you talk about helping?”

“Complaining to me won’t help. That one is in charge of bringing people to this world, and I’m in charge of helping those with potential. We’re simply being faithful to our roles.”

To think all they had to say was that they were being faithful to their roles.

Ha Seo-jun unconsciously clenched his fist but calmed his anger upon seeing the thorny vines writhing at Kruger’s fingertips.

Though he couldn’t know what abilities they had, being the masked man’s associate meant they surely had power at least comparable to his.

Charging in here would only result in a dog’s death, so Ha Seo-jun chose a more constructive option instead.

“What exactly do you mean by helping those with potential?”

“The great ones prefer one powerful toy over several mediocre ones. So before entering the main stage, they assigned me the task of secretly helping those with potential to become powerful toys. Making sure potential doesn’t remain mere potential.”

A privilege given only to a select few chosen ones.

A situation he had seen countless times in novels.

Ha Seo-jun maintained his poker face and spoke in a calm voice.

“Exactly what form of help are you providing? Do you give items or money?”

“Due to some who oppose giving special privileges to a select few in the name of fairness, such direct help is difficult. Instead, I provide indirect help.”

“Indirect help?”

“A blessing. You will grow faster than others and be able to obtain more items.”

Though not becoming strong immediately, the fact that he would ultimately become strong remained unchanged.

Ha Seo-jun, who had been pretending to think seriously while buying time, judged he had stalled long enough and slowly nodded.

“…Though I don’t like getting the disease and then the medicine, I have no choice. I’ll accept the help.”

“The blessing has been bestowed. You must not tell anyone that you received a blessing. If you break this rule, your blessing will disappear.”

Leaving those words, Kruger was about to leave the room when they stopped and turned back as if remembering something while grabbing the doorknob.

“I almost forgot, but direct help isn’t completely impossible. For a certain price, I can give you the opportunity to enhance three items.”

“Is it possible right now? I have a spear I got as loot…”

“It’s possible, but not recommended. Enhanced items increase by one grade. Normal grade becomes Magic grade, Magic grade becomes Rare grade – do you really want to enhance now?”

Ha Seo-jun shook his head before Kruger could finish speaking.

The spear he got from killing goblins was merely Magic grade.

Thinking of efficiency, it would be better to enhance higher grade items.

“I’ll return in ten days.”

After Kruger left and the door closed, Ha Seo-jun threw himself on the bed and let out his held breath.

Though he covered his mouth to prevent sound from escaping, undisguisable joy was evident on his face.

‘To think such an opportunity would come to me too!’

A feeling like becoming a character from the novels he usually read.

Worries about his life on Earth and his family and acquaintances were no longer felt.

Instead, that place was filled with excitement and anticipation for the new life about to begin in this other world.

“If this were a novel, I would definitely be the protagonist.”

* * *

‘…He’s probably thinking the same thing.’

Yuseong burst into laughter looking at the firmly closed door.

Though he tried to hide it in his own way, the faintly raised corner of his mouth couldn’t be concealed.

This was the easiest person to deal with among all the humans he had faced so far.

-How could you think of something like this?

Kim Hyun-jun asked in a disgusted voice.

When he suddenly bought a black robe and hat from the store and wrapped bandages around his face, he wondered what he was up to, but he never imagined he would go around scamming people while impersonating an administrator.

‘My personality is a bit unique, so whenever I read novels or watch movies, I always think about how to mess with the protagonist and how to completely ruin situations. Naturally, ideas like this occur to me.’

-And you weren’t scared?

‘What’s there to be scared of? I don’t know about later, but for today at least, I’m ranked number one.’

-No, that’s not what I meant…

‘Then what?’

-…Never mind.

Kim Hyun-jun, realizing there was a huge difference between his and Yuseong’s way of thinking, gave up trying to understand Yuseong and asked a different question.

-But is this really okay? If it becomes a problem later…

‘That administrator guy didn’t say not to scam people, right? And if this were really going to be a problem, they would have come to stop me the moment I first tried to scam someone.’

Though answering calmly, Yuseong was actually nervous inside as well.

While such situations typically allowed everything not explicitly forbidden, he couldn’t be certain there wouldn’t be problems later when scamming not just one or two people but targeting everyone who seemed somewhat capable.

However, the water was already spilled.

Since he couldn’t undo the scams he had already committed, he had no choice but to see it through to the end, for better or worse.

“The next target was that archer who caught the burning lion? He looked quite old, so it probably won’t be as easy as just now.”

Of course, not being easy didn’t mean impossible.

Since he was already scamming people, if they seemed reluctant, he could just make empty promises about giving them chances to return to Earth or granting wishes.

The important thing was implanting the thought that they had received a blessing.

Though in reality they had grown strong through purely their own power and talent, they would always think of him, believing they could become this strong thanks to receiving the blessing.

‘And ten days later, they’ll hand over their most valuable and precious items along with a large sum of money without any suspicion.’

Though he wanted to strip them of all their items, going that far would create a contradiction with the statement about having difficulty providing direct help.

Regrettable, but three items seemed most appropriate.

Shaking off his lingering attachments, Yuseong unlocked the door by inserting Thorny Vine through the gap and opened it.

Facing the middle-aged man staring at him with blank eyes, Yuseong delivered the lines that had completely become second nature.

“Don’t be tense. I’m not here to kill you, but to help you.”

* * *

Day 2.

Visible differences had emerged between people.

Those who had only struck dummies at the training ground carried just wooden weapons, those who had hunted wolves had iron weapons and simple armor, and those who had hunted monsters wore proper armor and carried weapons emanating unusual energy.

‘This much difference in just one day. The gap will widen even more as time passes.’

Though it might seem like just a one-step difference, in reality it wasn’t so simple.

To close a gap once it opened required double the effort and time, and it wasn’t as if those ahead were just sitting around.

Without some dramatic catalyst, it would be nearly impossible for those who fell behind to catch up to those ahead.

Instead of going hunting, Yuseong walked around the village carefully observing people with wooden weapons.

‘As expected, they’re here.’

The people he had marked yesterday remained in the village without exception.

They weren’t trying to go outside, nor were they making plans for the future.

They just sat there staring blankly into space.

Taking advantage of a moment when people were scarce, Yuseong naturally approached one boy.

“What are you doing here?”

“Can’t you see? I’m just sitting here.”

A gruff but very weak voice.

Having eaten nothing for nearly a day, he couldn’t possibly have any strength left.

“No, I mean why aren’t you going hunting and just staying here? You look very tired, but don’t you need to hunt to earn money to buy food?”

“…”

The boy’s complexion turned pale and his body began trembling.

It was as expected.

Someone who had lived in a peaceful world couldn’t easily fight beasts and monsters.

Moreover, after seeing two people die and being chased by wolves.

It wasn’t strange for some people to completely give up on struggling.

Yuseong spoke in the gentlest voice he could manage:

“Hey, let’s do one thing together.”