HH Chapter 7
by Geli CakeRyzen felt even more conflicted. He couldn’t pry into why the child was so overly anxious. Chahyun, as if he was about to be abandoned, grabbed Ryzen’s hand tightly and shook his head.
“I’ll wake up early and clean the stairs more diligently. I’ll only eat half as much as I do now.”
His pitch black eyes were wet with tears. Ryzen swallowed a sigh with a troubled expression.
The child was excessively cautious of them. Perhaps, having grown up being abused, he found it difficult to form relationships with others.
‘Eat less than now? He already eats like a bird.’
It was a sight to behold, how troubled the boy looked when they gave him a full plate of food. He said he usually ate only that much.
Damn it, no wonder! That’s why the kid is so frail.
Ryzen gritted his teeth, forgetting that the mercenaries were all usually excessively bulked up.
“You’re really not sending me away, right?”
Even if the boy wanted to go, Ryzen couldn’t force a trembling child like him to leave. Ryzen patted Chahyun’s shoulder and replied,
“I’m not kicking you out.”
“Really?”
“Yes. So please stop cleaning. You can just stay still.”
“Okay, okay. I really won’t do anything. I’ll even stay out of Ryzen’s sight from now on!”
“No, that’s not what I… Haa.”
It was the Captain who had accepted the child. He had no intention of kicking him out; he had only said that because he thought Chahyun could grow up in a better environment than he was now.
Guilt bloomed in Ryzen’s chest as he engaged in a long conversation with Chahyun to clear up the accumulating misunderstandings.
‘What have I done, bringing up this topic to a child whose emotional wounds haven’t even healed?’
It wasn’t up to Ryzen to decide where the child should go; it should be Chahyun’s decision himself. Ryzen, reflecting belatedly on his actions, decided to sternly warn his comrades when he returned.
He would rip their mouths apart if they mentioned the Magic Tower.
─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───
The mercenaries in the group were good people!
Thanks to them, I was able to adapt to this place much faster.
They treated me, a freeloader, like their own son. I know this because they literally told me I was like a son to them.
‘I almost misunderstood.’
I kept refusing, but they kept putting food from their plates onto mine and patting my back like my cousin’s friends, so I initially thought I was being bullied here too.
Ryzen also seemed to want to kick me out at first, but he’s been quiet lately.
‘Who knew he was the vice-captain?’
I planned to become close with the powerful figures in this mercenary group and settle down here permanently.
For the first few months, I only helped with cleaning. I thought someone like me would only be a burden in combat.
But this world truly wouldn’t leave me alone.
[New quest generated!]
[Sub Quest: Defeat the Monster!
As a mercenary, you can’t avoid combat forever.
How about trying to help subjugate a B-rank monster?
*To Do: Assist in monster subjugation (0/1)
*Reward: 5 Quest Points, 500 Solra]
Due to the sudden quest, I was inevitably called to the battlefield. Of course, the Captain didn’t include me in the battle… but the situation naturally led to my involvement.
I was running an errand to deliver a weapon someone had forgotten when I belatedly joined the group.
And there, I died once, my stomach pierced by a monster’s claw.
‘Wow. So this is what an out-of-body experience feels like.’
Amazing. Even though this is a 15+ game world, reality is reality, it seems. I watched in awe, from a third-person perspective, as blood gushed from the hole in my stomach.
[You have died.]
[But <Domination of the World> will not let you die so easily…!]
I could hear the mercenaries gathering around my corpse, holding onto my stomach and making an urgent noise.
[The effect of the ‘Health can be bought with money’ option is activated!]
[The original storyline revives the transmigrator’s life.]
[100 Solra will be deducted from your funds as the revival cost.]
[You have been revived!]
I occasionally received some allowance and save it up, but I didn’t have that much money yet.
The difference became a debt… and I was revived anyway. Seeing that my clothes, which were also pierced, were still intact, it seemed like my body was restored to the state right before I died.
The men who had gathered around me stared blankly for a moment, then grabbed me and said,
“H-How? Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Let me see your stomach.”
“…….”
They rubbed their eyes after seeing that I was perfectly fine, murmuring,
“Did I see things? I, I thought you were dead….”
“I guess our group must have been collectively hallucinating.”
“Anyway, that’s a relief. I almost got beaten to death by the Captain.”
They said they had seen me die.
However, it seems high-ranking monsters possess strong mana that can sometimes induce hallucinations. That’s why no one seemed to find this incident particularly strange.
Huh, dying isn’t that scary!’
Was it because I’ve already died once? Or was it because my body doesn’t hurt at all? Even though I had died and come back to life, I wasn’t scared, just fascinated.
[Quest complete! You have acquired 5 Quest Points and 500 Solra as a reward.]
As a result, I completed the quest.
I had accidentally hit the monster in the eye with a rock I picked up. I inadvertently helped with the subjugation operation, and the quest completion window opped up.
The debt was deducted from the 500 Solra quest reward, and the remaining amount was reflected in my funds.
‘Ugh, the smell.’
The mercenaries, covered in monster blood, smelled like rotting meat. I discreetly turned my head and covered my nose, thinking to myself,
‘I never want to come to a place like this again.’
But as always, things don’t go my way. Especially here.
It was only natural, in a way, considering that there’s a set character setting and I have to follow it.
To make matters worse, a new sub quest appeared on our way back to headquarters, forcing me to formally learn magic… and from that day on, I started teaching myself magic.
The magic I know is the kind where you swing a wand and chant a spell like “abracadabra,” and something shoots out from the tip of the wand.
‘This… is magic?’
But the magic book I got my hands on was no different from a math workbook. From basic arithmetic operations to solving equations with unknown variables.
“Hmm…….”
I looked at the contents of the book, then closed it and checked the cover again. I definitely borrowed <Even a Beginner Can Do It! Basic Magic Book Volume 1>, but the the content was completely different.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was that magic in this world is similar to coding.
- You have a standardized, pre-determined magic circle arrangement.
- Consider the value you want to output.
- Insert the numerical sequence.
- And ta-da, the magic is now complete!
“…….”
Moreover, the magic circles in this world, once you understand the rules, surprisingly felt like puzzles with entertainment elements, like Sudoku or logic puzzles. That’s why I was mistaken about the magic circle I encountered at the temple at first.
Anyway, unable to believe this absurd nonsense, I tried writing the equations on the floor with chalk, and I almost burned down the entire headquarters building!
“You troublemaker, who plays with fire indoors?”
“I’m sorry!”
Suddenly branded an arsonist, I was severely scolded. The Captain and Ryzen took turns flicking my forehead. If this were a cartoon, the lump on my head would have reached the ceiling. Of course, it actually didn’t hurt at all.
Fortunately, the fire was quickly extinguished, and the damage was limited to a burnt door. The door was quickly replaced with a new one, but I had to sleep in a bed that smelled of smoke. But it was my fault, so I humbly accepted it.
I learned magic very easily. Even though it was basic magic, there were many people in the mercenary group who couldn’t even use that beginner-level magic, so they praised me as if I was incredibly talented.
Heh heh. It’s nothing, really.
I felt embarrassed, but I also enjoyed the feeling of pride.
“Go out and play. Aren’t you bored?”
Ryzen asked me this every time I read books about magic. And every time, I nodded and replied I wasn’t bored at all.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t even want to look at magic.”
“Well, that’s you.”
“You little…”
He smacked me on the back of the head.
Ouch.
I pretended to be hurt and flopped down, but it didn’t really hurt that much. This was the best way to avoid getting hit more.
“I’m really doing it because I enjoy it. I used to solve math problems when I was stressed.”
“……You don’t have to do that anymore. The situation is different now.”
Ryzen looked at me with pity and suggested I find a new hobby, but I was genuinely fine with it.
Why doesn’t he believe me? It’s like a puzzle game; it’s fun when you do it….
“You have plenty of other things to play with now… Look at this. Go out and kick a ball or something!”
“No, I don’t want to. I’ll just get sweaty…”
I’m really okay!
I dodged Ryzen’s attempts to get me to do something else and continued to enjoy my hobby.
If it were subjects like Korean or English, I wouldn’t have even glanced at them, but thankfully I like math. I enjoyed the process of finding the answers to problems that already have set solutions.
And considering the ‘Avoid Death Flags’ quest from the original storyline and my eventual return to reality, this was actually a good thing.