Chapter 11
“Let’s take a break, let’s take a break! Time-out! Tiiime-out!”
“How long have we been walking for you to call a time-out?”
Suyeon had gotten tired of walking and was clutching her knees, panting.
Seonghyeon stopped, looking at her with an expression that said, ‘There she goes again.’
“Hey, I’m tired... Wanna try living in my body?”
“Why would I do that? Am I crazy?”
“Hah, whatever, let’s take a break...”
“If we walk a little farther, we’ll reach the closest hunting ground on the second floor. We might run into monsters as soon as we get there, so taking a break isn’t a bad idea.”
As soon as Seonghyeon gave permission, Suyeon spread out the mat tied around her waist and plopped down on it.
She put her mouth to the canteen at her side, gulped down water, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Seonghyeon glanced at the canteen and realized it wasn’t the new one he’d bought her, but the one he used himself. He didn’t bother telling Suyeon.
“Whew... I feel alive.”
“Tired?”
“Fucking exhausted.”
“You can say that? If it comes out, you’ll be a man again, huh?”
“Ah, shit... Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“Hah...”
Suyeon reacted to her childhood friend’s joke as if it were ridiculous, then opened the canteen and filled her cheeks with water.
The moment Seonghyeon realized what she was planning, he immediately dodged.
Unfortunately, Seonghyeon didn’t get hit by the water cannon Suyeon had loaded into her puffed-out cheeks.
Suyeon frowned when she saw how quickly Seonghyeon moved.
She probably couldn’t beat Seonghyeon in a physical fight.
After pulling the prank, Suyeon’s stomach growled.
“It’s already lunchtime. Let’s eat.”
“Someone’s stomach clock is pretty punctual.”
“We didn’t eat breakfast either.”
“True.”
Seonghyeon had skipped breakfast to save money.
Suyeon had ended up skipping it too, so the two of them had been hungry since they first set out.
Suyeon took the little sandwich she’d bought when they set out from her bag. Seonghyeon also plopped down and took out his sandwich.
“But why is mine for kids?”
“Got a problem with that? Can you even eat this? How many ham sandwiches can you eat? No, how many sandwiches?”
“...No. I’ll just eat this.”
Remembering the inn breakfast incident, Suyeon ate the children’s sandwich without complaint.
She hadn’t forgotten that her stomach had gotten smaller.
Anyway, it was true that she’d gone so long without putting food in her mouth that she’d forgotten how much she could eat.
How long had it been since she’d had a proper meal on time?
If Suyeon had obediently listened to the humans when she was captured, she might have lived a comfortable life.
Her meals had been pretty excellent for the first few days.
A pretty female slave... Since women like that were sold for, well, those kinds of purposes, they were probably given good meals to keep them looking pretty.
Suyeon shook off the unpleasant thoughts, ate, and looked around.
The ruined stone walls and pillars, and the light filtering through holes in the ceiling.
Just look at this place—it truly felt like a fantasy world, like she was traveling through one.
The entrance had been no different from an underground tunnel, but this second floor made her feel as if she’d come to another world.
“It’s big.”
“What is?”
“The Labyrinth.”
“Oh, the ceiling’s pretty high, right?”
“I don’t think the stairs came down this far...”
“It’s like a pocket dimension.”
“A pocket dimension?”
“The physical laws you knew don’t apply in the Labyrinth.”
“Hmm... That’s complicated. Like coordinates getting messed up or something?”
“Well, if you put it in magical terms, that’s the kind of world it is.”
“I was talking scientifically.”
“Science doesn’t work at all here. Even the most basic law of conservation of mass doesn’t apply.”
True enough.
Suyeon had been told several times that she was too caught up in the common sense of her old world.
In this world, common sense wasn’t common sense.
If the law of conservation of mass applied, magic wouldn’t exist either.
The law of conservation of mass... As Suyeon thought of those words, she felt like something was about to come to mind.
“...Huh?”
“What?”
“Wait a second.”
Suyeon took out the Fireball book.
But... she couldn’t read a book written in Human.
Unfortunately, the miracle of an image suddenly springing to mind through magic didn’t happen.
“Can’t read...”
“Can’t read?”
“It.”
“...”
“...”
Seonghyeon hadn’t expected a miracle, either.
But the next moment, Suyeon spread out her hand as if possessed.
Then flames roared up from the center of her palm.
“Huh? What? Ah? Huh? Ah? Eh? Why isn’t it hot?”
“Oh...?”
“W-what is this?”
“Fire magic? Congratulations.”
“Wait, doesn’t this use a spell slot?”
“Mage-type classes can use everyday spells without using spell slots. This is probably one of those.”
“Whoa...”
Suyeon realized she could use magic and let out a cheer.
The emotion poured straight out of her, and the face that had been stiff just moments ago broke into a bright smile.
Seonghyeon almost absentmindedly reached out to pat Suyeon on the head.
He stopped after reminding himself once again that the one inside her was his childhood buddy—a guy.
A girl wearing his friend’s expression was dangerous in more ways than one.
“Whoa! Whoooooa!”
“Why are you yelling like an orangutan?”
“Are there orangutans in this world too?”
“Then if I say [!@##%!#@], would you know what I mean?”
“No?”
“See? You don’t know.”
“Anyway... I can use magic too! I’m a mage, a mage!”
“You’re a Sorcerer. A natural-born magic user.”
“Whoa!”
“Want to stop crying? Keep that up and you’ll have a fan meeting with the monsters.”
“Oooooh↘”
When Seonghyeon calmly said, ‘Your behavior is an area-of-effect taunt,’ Suyeon’s volume dropped quite a bit.
Even so, the wonder of it—and the fact that she could use magic—was impossible to contain.
The world of swords and magic! Wasn’t she now wielding magic right at the beginning of her adventure?
Even if she couldn’t do swordsmanship, another of men’s great fantasies, she could use magic, which was also a man’s great fantasy.
For the first time, Suyeon thought that being born into this body...
For the first time... wasn’t particularly nice.
Because her chest, invisible to others, hurt whenever she ran.
Because even her barely budding breasts felt like they’d tear whenever her body bounced up and down.
Every time she felt that, Suyeon realized what kind of body she’d become.
Even so, her pride would never let her wear a bra to hold her breasts in place.
Not that she even knew... how to buy something like that.
“Ah...”
“What is it this time? Are you bipolar? Your status window still says PTSD.”
“No.”
“Got some strength left?”
“Yeah. I feel a little better.”
“Then I won’t cast Heal.”
“W-wait a second.”
“If you use Heal too often, your Stamina won’t grow. You have to get muscle soreness before you build muscle and improve your stamina, you know?”
“Hey, I’m about to die here. Can’t you see my Stamina’s gone down?”
Seonghyeon checked Suyeon’s status window and saw that her Stamina was 5/7.
It had recovered from 7/12 to 10/12 while they ate lunch, so she didn’t really need a healing spell.
“Your status says you can walk just fine.”
“Come ooon...”
“You’re pretending to be weak again.”
“No, I’m seriously fucking exhausted!”
“Then let’s be exhausted until that comes out.”
“No, stop twisting my words! I can use magic too, you know?”
Suyeon formed flames in her palm and swung her hand in front of Seonghyeon threateningly.
But Seonghyeon grabbed the flame in her hand with his fist and snuffed it out.
“...Huh?”
“It’s warm.”
“Ah.”
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah...”
Suyeon once again realized how weak she was and followed Seonghyeon.
Seonghyeon moved forward without hesitation while matching Suyeon’s stride.
It helped that they were avoiding places where vines had grown to block the way or where the jungle came up to their waists.
It wasn’t as if they were in such a hurry that they had to go through places like that.
“But... you know.”
“What’s there? You don’t have anything.”
“No, why have you been making nothing but dirty jokes this whole time? Are you sure you’re a Paladin?”
“I’m a Cleric.”
“Isn’t that a priest?”
“Hmm... I guess it’s similar to a Paladin?”
“Anyway, you’re supposed to be so holy, but you keep making vulgar jokes?”
“The class isn’t really like that. Besides, I don’t believe in a religion. Believe in me.”
“Wow... You’re a cultist.”
“You don’t have to believe in anything unless you’re a Warlock or Priest. And I have no plans to multiclass into either of those.”
“Multiclass?”
“Yeah, you can have more than one class.”
“That’s amazing...”
“That’s the kind of world this is.”
Seonghyeon unfolded the map and checked once more where they were.
He found that they’d roughly reached an area that could be called a hunting ground.
But even after looking around, there wasn’t a single person nearby.
“That’s strange.”
“Why?”
“There’s no one here, even though it’s a hunting ground.”
“Maybe nobody’s here because it’s raining or something? It’s been humid for a while.”
“If it rains, you just put on a raincoat. You wouldn’t go out of your way to avoid a hunting ground.”
“Then... could it be dangerous?”
“Maybe there’s no game, or perhaps it’s been closed. But I haven’t had this map for very long...”
Seonghyeon looked at the map for where the hunting ground keeper might be.
If the hunting ground had been closed for some reason and its keeper had left, there should be traces where they’d been.
A faint sense of unease washed over him, but Seonghyeon reminded himself once more that this was only the second floor, still part of the surface levels.
Even if a monster wave broke out—something he’d never seen in his life as an adventurer—this was still a place a level-eight Cleric could chew through as easily as candy.