Chapter 25
Two weeks have passed.
Jeong Yushin's daily routine was one of endless training.
He got up at dawn, loosened up, and racked his brains while squeezing out mana to wield his Engraving skill proficiently.
He studied reading and writing at the temple from morning until noon.
From noon until night, he was put through hell at the Swordsmanship Guild.
His body, enhanced by leveling up, was quickly adapting to the harsh training.
It was as if the floor of his physical abilities had been raised dramatically.
It was more accurate to think of his body as having been given anabolic steroids and growth hormone at doses dozens of times the proper amount.
The excess fat had already melted away while he worked at the monster dismantling facility.
He built muscle at the Swordsmanship Guild.
Inwardly, he clicked his tongue in amazement at the explosive growth of his strength and stamina from one day to the next.
And he was having fun.
‘So there really was a reason people got addicted to working out.’
After finishing his dawn training, he perched on a table at the inn and admired his forearm. It was packed with firm muscle, and thick veins stood out across it.
“Is this my forearm?”
It resembled the forearm of a muscular blond playboy from an NTR story.
With this arm, he could grab Mion by the neck from behind and grope her tits...
Just as he was about to fall into a strange fantasy, he slapped himself across the face.
Slap!
“Get a grip. This is no time for that.”
He muttered to himself while rubbing his stinging cheek.
Creak.
The inn door opened, and a beastkin entered. Every gaze in the inn immediately focused on that beastkin.
Even the low murmur of conversation ceased, and a strange silence spread throughout the inn.
Jeong Yushin also came to his senses, turned his head, and looked at the beastkin.
Karin.
The legitimate daughter of the Beastkin Alliance's representative, and the benefactor who had saved his life.
Karin and Jeong Yushin's eyes met.
“Hello.”
He merely dipped his head in greeting. He had suffered the humiliation of banging his head on the ground and begging for his life, but in any case, he owed her his life.
Karin's red tail swayed gently.
She wore a white shirt that clearly revealed her black lace bra, while her tight-fitting brown leather pants unabashedly displayed her sturdy thighs and plump buttocks.
Two daggers were crossed behind her waist, with only their hilts sticking out sharply.
Karin approached and plopped down in the chair opposite Jeong Yushin.
“Darmong. Give me some food.”
“Yes, Lady Karin.”
Perhaps because she was an important person in the Beastkin Alliance, even Darmong treated her with respect.
Darmong bowed politely, went into the kitchen, brought out some food, and placed it on the table.
It was a dish of large-cut sausages stir-fried with potatoes and cabbage. Toasted rye bread and a cream resembling kaymak were served with it as well.
“Let’s eat first and talk.”
“Yes.”
The two focused on their meal for a while. Karin must have been hungry, because she dispatched the food with remarkable efficiency. Not to be outdone, Jeong Yushin quickly moved his fork and spoon as well.
“Whew. That hit the spot. It’s hot. Is it summer already?”
Karin said while fanning herself with her hand.
The front of her shirt was damp with sweat, revealing even the embroidery on her black lace bra.
“I heard the slave hunters sent an assassin?”
The question came out of nowhere.
“Yes. But is this something we can discuss in a crowded place?”
“I’m saying it so they can hear.”
Karin looked around.
Those who met Karin’s eyes flinched and either lowered their heads or got up from their seats and hurriedly left the inn.
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault that the slave hunters attacked you.”
Karin apologized.
“Why is it your responsibility, Lady Karin?”
“I’ve beaten the crap out of a lot of them. I guess they got really angry. Judging by the fact that they attacked you to send me a message.”
“What message?”
“The message that we’re watching you. Since they couldn’t touch me, they went after you, the person I saved.”
“Why go to the trouble of ambushing me? There were plenty of other people.”
“You’re a Barbaroi with no connections or backing.”
Jeong Yushin's expression crumpled. It was true, so he couldn't refute it. He couldn't mention Simeus's name either. Luke would come to kill him at once.
“I understand. I’m glad I received your apology and learned what was behind the attack. Then I’ll be going.”
“We’re not finished talking.”
Jeong Yushin sat back down.
“What is it?”
“Come work under me.”
Jeong Yushin and Karin's eyes met.
When Karin straightened her back, her enormous tits thrust forward. Jeong Yushin's mouth fell slightly open.
“Serve me.”
“···What exactly do you want me to serve you in?”
“Various things. I’ll pay you, too. Fifty silver coins a month.”
It must have been a shocking offer, because loud gasps rose from various parts of the inn.
‘Not a bad offer. I’m almost out of money anyway.’
“There are two conditions. Don’t enter the labyrinth. Stay by my side.”
At Karin's conditions, Jeong Yushin fell silent and stared at the empty bowls on the table.
After a while.
Jeong Yushin raised his head.
Karin's body stiffened.
He was no longer the man who had banged his head on the ground in front of her and begged her to spare him.
She found it difficult to adjust to how completely different he looked from that time.
Especially his eyes.
The strong will in Jeong Yushin's eyes branded itself onto Karin's heart like a fiery seal.
“Impossible.”
His voice, lowered as far as it could go, bored into her ears. Karin's fine hairs rose all over her body.
“Why? Wasn’t it a good offer? You don’t need to go into that dangerous labyrinth and suffer.”
“I need an Engraving.”
“What kind of Engraving?”
The more they exchanged questions and answers, the more Karin felt herself being sucked into a quagmire.
“That is difficult to explain.”
A firm refusal.
A vein bulged faintly on Karin's forehead.
“Really? If you don’t want to tell me, don’t. It’s probably some trivial Engraving anyway. And why are you speaking informally?”
“I apologize.”
Jeong Yushin immediately shrank back.
Seeing him like that only made Karin even more irritated.
“Fine. Get out.”
“Yes.”
Jeong Yushin immediately stood up and left the inn.
Karin bit her lip tightly. Feeling the eyes around her, she looked around the inn and snarled.
“What are you looking at? Is this a show? If you’re done stuffing yourselves, get out!”
The people hurriedly rose from their seats and fled the inn like a swarm of fruit flies scattering.
“Randolph!”
Karin shouted furiously. A massive wolf beastkin entered from outside the inn and prostrated himself.
“Yes.”
“Send the kids to watch him.”
“Whom do you mean?”
“The black-haired Barbaroi who just left.”
Randolph recalled something from several months ago.
The man whose hair he had grabbed before slamming his head into the ground.
The man had seemed weak and unremarkable, but his master seemed interested in him now.
‘My master isn’t used to being refused.’
Randolph tasted bitterness as he bowed his head even lower and spoke.
“Do we really need to watch him?”
“I saved him. He’s my achievement. No matter how much those slave-hunting bastards fly or crawl, they won’t dare sully my work. I don’t care how they search for him, just make sure the slave hunters don’t kill him.”
“Yes.”
Randolph left the inn, leaving Karin sitting alone in a chair.
“Darmong.”
“Yes, Lady Karin.”
“Where did that Barbaroi go?”
“He went to the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess.”
“Why?”
“To learn reading and writing.”
Karin snorted.
“Is that man really trustworthy?”
“He hasn’t caused any trouble.”
“You haven’t heard anything? About what kind of Engraving that Barbaroi is looking for?”
“I don’t know. He’s never mentioned it.”
“What on earth does that Barbaroi want?”
“He appears to be short on money.”
“Really? All right. I’ll come again later. Tell that Barbaroi when he comes.”
Karin placed a pouch of silver coins on the counter and left.
Darmong sighed.
As a member of the Beastkin Alliance, he could not refuse Karin's questions or demands. Even so, he had done his best to take Ska's side.
“Oh, my head.”
Darmong's lament echoed through the empty inn.
* *
Late at night, Darmong sat at the counter with his arms crossed.
“He should be back by now.”
Clatter!
“I’m back.”
The inn door opened, and Jeong Yushin entered.
After being put through such grueling training at the Swordsmanship Guild, his entire body was covered in dust and drenched in sweat.
“You’re back? A letter came.”
“For me?”
“Yes.”
Jeong Yushin strode over, tore open the letter's seal, and examined its contents.
“Hmm.”
Jeong Yushin wore a grave expression.
“Did something happen?”
“No.”
Jeong Yushin answered Darmong's question with a sigh in his voice.
“Then?”
“I can’t read it. It’s too difficult. Read it for me.”
Jeong Yushin held out the letter.
Darmong took it and calmly read through it.
“It says they’re disbanding the party. Del is retiring. Einhofer got a job at a forge, and Carlton was appointed as a clerk in the magic division of the Lionel Kingdom’s Second Academy. The main reason is that they can no longer maintain the party because of Dito’s betrayal.”
Jeong Yushin went limp, drained of strength.
‘I see. They’re giving up and going off to find their own lives.’
The sight of Carlton looking up at the stars at dawn that day stabbed him in the chest.
He swallowed his bitter emotions. He couldn’t give up. He had nowhere to return to.
He straightened his back and corrected his posture.
He had no time to be consumed by emotion. There was a mountain of matters more urgent than that.
‘I need to make money.’
Two weeks had passed. It was about time to pay the rent, and he needed to get himself some equipment. He had to find a party and buy supplies for exploring the labyrinth.
‘Damn money.’
A sigh escaped him, and his posture collapsed.
This was a fantasy world where a gigantic bear walked on two legs and spoke, but the fear of money felt just as real as it had in his original world.
‘I guess life is pretty much the same everywhere.’
Darmong stroked his chin as he watched the gloomy Jeong Yushin.
“Ska, I have a job for you. Want to try it?”
“What is it?”
A bitter smile naturally crossed Darmong's face as he watched Jeong Yushin's eyes light up.
‘I’m sorry.’
Darmong said it inwardly, unable to bring himself to say it aloud.
“Lady Karin wants to hire you.”
Jeong Yushin frowned.
“Isn’t that settled? I said I wouldn’t do it.”
“This is something else. She says she’ll stop by tomorrow evening, so why not talk with her for a while?”
“Even so...”
THUD!
Darmong placed a leather pouch on the counter. Judging by the jingling sound, it was unquestionably full of coins.
Jeong Yushin's eyes wavered.
“Fifty silver coins. She said it was an advance payment.”
“Ghh! All right. I’ll at least hear her out.”
Jeong Yushin clenched his teeth in frustration, but his eyes remained fixed on the pouch of silver coins.
Darmong took one silver coin from the pouch and flicked it to Jeong Yushin.
“You’re meeting her tomorrow evening, so wash up at the bathhouse and come back.”
“Understood. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“All right.”
* *
The next day, after finishing his daily routine, he stopped by the public bathhouse in the southern district.
Jeong Yushin looked particularly wretched after being put through the wringer at the Swordsmanship Guild.
The bathhouse owner hardened his expression and said,
“Don’t stick it in just because you see a hole.”
“I’m not that kind of person.”
“Don’t just shove it into the hole of someone bending over and then say, ‘I couldn’t help it because that person exposed their hole and seduced me.’ Someone bending over is simply someone bending over.”
These damn Barbaroi...
He was sick to death of these lunatics.
“I’m not that kind of person. I like women.”
“I hope you don’t change your mind. Business has been slow lately, so I’m letting you in. Be careful.”
The bathhouse owner didn't pay the slightest attention to Jeong Yushin's words.
‘Where the hell do these Barbaroi bastards go around doing this kind of thing?’
His hostility toward the Barbaroi, whom he had never even seen, grew steadily.
After passing the counter, he took off his clothes in the changing room and entered the bathhouse, where steam hung thick in the air.
People were milling about naked everywhere.
A heavily tattooed man swaggered along, then collided with Jeong Yushin.
“What the hell? Which bastard?!”
The man looked Jeong Yushin up and down before fixing his gaze on one particular spot.
“I’m sorry.”
“Crazy. He’s still just a kid, but he’s got something monstrous...”
As if unable to believe his eyes, the man looked up at Jeong Yushin's face, then lowered his gaze again to stare at his lower body.
“What kind of Engraving is that? Is it a horse-cock Engraving?”
The man asked.
‘This bastard.’
Jeong Yushin's expression twisted.
“It’s not an Engraving. It’s embarrassing, so stop looking.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
The man scratched his head awkwardly before hurrying off somewhere.
Since he had spoken to Jeong Yushin in the bathhouse, he seemed like a fresh-faced newcomer who had not yet heard the Barbaroi's notorious reputation.
Standing still and looking around, Jeong Yushin saw that everyone behaved similarly.
They scooped water from a huge wooden tub with a dipper, washed their bodies, and entered the baths.
Once inside, they relaxed or passed the time chatting quietly with others before leaving the bathhouse.
Looking more closely, he saw that there were people scrubbing backs and a sauna as well.
‘There aren’t any furry beastkin here.’
He was secretly relieved as he approached the large wooden tub.
People were scooping water from the tub and pouring it over their heads and bodies.
Jeong Yushin did the same as everyone around him.
He scooped water from the wooden tub and poured it over his body.
He shuddered at the sensation of warm water flowing down his body.
After wiping himself down with nothing but a damp towel every day, he was deeply moved to finally take a proper bath.
“Ah. Sex.”
The people around him gasped and backed away.
Some covered their buttocks and eyed him warily.
He ignored them. This was sex.
After washing away the sweat and dust, he entered the bath.
As he sank into the hot water and closed his eyes, he heard people talking quietly.
“Did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“About what happened in the labyrinth.”
“You mean the large number of novice explorers who went missing? I already know about that.”
“That’s not all. The return of the intermediate-rank explorers who went in this time is also being delayed.”
“Isn’t that common? It doesn’t sound like particularly surprising news.”
“A few days ago, all the guildmasters of the explorer branches in the city were summoned. That isn’t something they do unless it’s serious.”
.....
“The Labyrinth City Knights are moving strangely too. Listen to me. It’s not a good idea to enter the labyrinth right now.”
“Damn it. It’s hard enough making a living. Do I have to leave the city to earn money? Tsk.”
“There’s nothing wrong with leaving for a while and coming back.”
“Easy for you to say. My whole family is here...”
The men continued chatting about various trivial matters, but none of it reached Jeong Yushin's ears.
‘Something is happening.’
Something was going on in the labyrinth.
Jeong Yushin folded his arms and stared at the ceiling.
Information inaccessible to novice explorers was being exchanged among people in high places.
That fact made Jeong Yushin feel an intense hunger.