Chapter 130
‘Phew… that was close.’
I safely unsummoned the avatar, then let out a deep sigh of relief.
Of course, since it was only a clone, even if it had been attacked or destroyed, my true body would have been completely unharmed.
…Still, it hurts. And it's scary.
‘But why did the Heavenly Demon suddenly want to fight?’
We had only met one-on-one, eaten beef, had snacks from street vendors, and even gone to an arcade, yet for some reason, she had ended by saying something terrifying about wanting to fight me for all eternity.
Was spending time alone with a woman always this dangerous?
As expected, the world outside my domain is dangerous.
Self-preservation and safety first!
I nodded and reaffirmed my excellent principles once more.
In any case.
The meeting itself seemed to have gone well.
Since I had returned without fighting, I had definitely secured the wish ticket the Heavenly Demon had promised.
And the most important result of today's outing.
[Lord's Great Deeds]
[Current Completion: 85%]
‘W-whaaaaaa!’
The last time I checked, it had been 77%, so it had shot up by a whopping 8 percent all at once!
The system had judged that I had made an enormous impression on the Heavenly Demon.
Apparently, the Deathscythe performance at the end had impressed the Heavenly Demon more deeply than I expected.
“The Saint trembles, and the Heavenly Demon jumps at the sight of Jinjo~.”
I raised my chin and struck an arrogant pose.
Come to think of it, maybe the reason the Heavenly Demon had wanted to fight me at the end was that I had looked too strong and cool.
According to what I had read on the Tree Wiki, the Heavenly Demon had an extremely strong competitive drive and believed that she had to stand above the heavens.
Just like my room-bound philosophy, she had her own firm convictions.
What was that called in Chinese characters again? Pa-something, something….
Pajeon? Pacheon? Anyway, it was something like that.
***
“Perfect! Everything is going smoothly ★”
The American ranker, the Great Mage Chris.
He was currently sitting in a luxury hotel lounge in Korea, grinning as he stared at the Climber community window.
When he had come to Korea, the Heavenly Demon's sudden post had stolen all the spotlight from him, but this time was different.
To reclaim the public's attention, Chris had prepared an enormous event.
While he was in Korea, he had signed a strategic alliance with ‘Oseong,’ South Korea's number-one guild.
It was a massive event that was bound to shake up the international hunter world.
Just a few hours earlier, he had even held a grand press conference and basked in a storm of camera flashes.
And to keep that excitement going, he had posted on the Climber community himself.
[Title: Wassup, Korea! The Start of a New Alliance!]
[Author: Godchris]
Starting today, I have officially entered into a cooperative relationship with South Korea's Oseong Guild!
A new era is about to begin for the hunter industries of both our countries. (Smiling emoji wearing sunglasses) (V-sign emoji)
You can all look forward to it!
The post received a fairly intense burst of attention immediately after it went up.
- Wow, this is insane ㄷㄷㄷ
- So that's why he suddenly went to Korea—he went to sign an alliance, huh? Crazy.
- Oh, then Oseong's ranking among the world's guilds is going to rise even higher, isn't it?
Countless comments poured in, the number of recommendations climbed rapidly, and the post even made it onto the trending list.
Chris took a sip of champagne and smiled in satisfaction.
‘Yes, this is more like it.’
But the moment he hit refresh.
A new post suddenly appeared, racing upward above his own post with an enormous number of views.
The author was the Heavenly Demon again.
“……Huh?”
Chris clicked the Heavenly Demon's post, bewildered and as if entranced.
“W-whaaat?! You really met Jinjo?!”
Chris's eyes widened so much they looked ready to pop out as he read the post.
The community's reaction exploded on a scale incomparable to the response to Chris's post moments earlier.
The alliance between an American ranker and South Korea's number-one guild was casually buried far beneath it.
“I-I haven't even had my message read yet……!”
How could the Heavenly Demon have met Jinjo and even gone on a date with her in a single day?
Chris was driven into despair by the fact that the big event he had prepared had once again been buried without a trace.
“Urgh……!!”
“Mommy. That foreign man is crying~!”
“Oh my. I guess something difficult happened to him. Don't stare.”
***
‘Now that I've finished everything I needed to do, shall I browse the community?’
I logged into the community while rolling around on my bed and immediately spotted the Heavenly Demon's post at the very top of the trending list.
[Title: Jinjo.]
[Author: Heavenly Demon]
‘Hmm. Is this a review of our fan-meeting date or something?’
I read down through the post with a lighthearted feeling.
‘A moment of spring night worth a thousand pieces of gold?’
There were some difficult Chinese characters, so I immediately searched them in the search bar.
A poem by the Chinese literary figure Su Dongpo.
A moment on a spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold…….
Hmm.
I suppose it meant that the time she spent with me today had been very valuable and enjoyable. That's a good sign!
After interpreting it in my own way, I slowly scrolled down through the comments.
But the people's reactions were a little strange.
‘Why do they keep bringing up polar bears?’
There were tons of comments along the lines of, “My meeting with the Heavenly Demon was so hot that it would destroy the Earth,” and, “The Arctic is going to melt completely.”
But something about these people's tone seemed suspicious.
I furrowed my brow and cautiously read through the comments.
Then one person's comment caught my eye.
- I'm Chinese, so let me explain the poem's true meaning. It's a phrase commonly used as a metaphor for the tenderness or passion of a night spent together by a man and woman, yeah.
ㄴ Ahhh.
ㄴ The GOAT, plain and simple.
ㄴ Let's go, polar bear extinctionnnn!
‘Whaaaat?!’
So that's why the comments kept talking about global warming and glaciers melting…!
I belatedly understood the meaning, and my face flushed bright red.
‘What kind of crazy nonsense is that!!!’
The Apostle of Light had also left a comment on the post.
- Light's Apostle) P-please, everyone, refrain from making such blasphemous remarks! How could a woman and a woman possibly be the subjects of such a metaphor……!!
‘Go, Apostle of Light! You tell them, Saint!’
I cheered enthusiastically for the Apostle of Light in my heart.
But the reactions from the other named users were just as outrageous.
- NyangnyangPunch) ///ㅇㅅㅇ///..
- Solo Warrior) Oh, did you actually meet Jinjo-nim in person? I'm jealous.
- CorpseLover) Was Jinjo's body warm, by any chance~?
And then a reply arrived that drove the point home.
ㄴ Heavenly Demon) Extremely warm.
The Heavenly Demon herself had shown up.
ㄴ CorpseLover) Ooh, an undead vampire, yet warm? How fascinating~!
ㄴ But how does Heavenly Demon-nim know Jinjo-nim's body temperature…?
ㄴ Gasp.
ㄴ Oh my.
ㄴ Whoa, Jinjo-nim runs warm…
ㄴ Warm and toasty Jinjo-nim ㄷㄷ
ㄴ She's so damn adorable, I can't handle it.
‘What do you mean, warm? I only grabbed her wrist for a moment at the arcade!’
It was maddening.
I had tried so hard to maintain my dignity, but in the end, public opinion was solidifying around the image of a warm and cute Jinjo.
Uuugh!
Just as I was getting worked up while looking through the community, my smartphone gave a short buzz.
When I checked my messaging app, it was my gaming friend, ‘IceCoffee.’
[IceCoffee: You said you had plans today.]
[IceCoffee: Did your appointment go well?]
Ah, right. Yesterday, I had refused to play duo because I said I had an important appointment.
[Jinyu: Yeah, we ate and went to an arcade lol]
I replied that I had just had a light meal and gone out to have some fun.
But the question that came back was strangely perceptive.
[IceCoffee: …With a woman?]
‘Gasp.’
How did she know?
No, more importantly, why did I feel like I was being interrogated?
The strange pressure made me a little flustered.
I rapidly tapped at the keyboard to clear up the misunderstanding.
[Jinyu: She is a woman, but]
[Jinyu: We're not like that. She's just someone I met this time, and I happened to buy her a meal lol]
After I actively explained myself, an “is typing” indicator appeared and disappeared several times before a reply finally arrived.
[IceCoffee: I see.]
[IceCoffee: Then, want to duo now? I have time.]
I happened to need somewhere to vent the stress that had built up while I watched the community's strange reactions.
[Jinyu: Let's go. Logging on right now.]
I launched the game and formed a party.
As usual, we started playing while communicating only through chat instead of connecting to voice chat.
But IceCoffee's gameplay was unusually intense today.
[IceCoffee has slain an enemy!]
[Double Kill!]
[Triple Kill!]
[Quadra Kill!]
“H-huh?”
I stared blankly at the monitor, mouse clutched in my hand.
She was normally good at games thanks to her S-rank reflexes, but today her play was especially aggressive and merciless.
One after another, enemies were brutally cut down the moment they appeared on screen.
[Penta Kill!!]
[IceCoffee is on a rampage!]
‘……?’
I tilted my head as I watched IceCoffee's character carry the team fight alone, then leisurely recall to base.
Why was she playing so viciously today?
She wasn't even typing in chat; she was playing an incredibly try-hard game.
……Had something happened in her work as a hunter to make her angry?
I thought about it for a moment, but how could I, of all people, know anything about an S-rank hunter's work?
“Hmm. Still, getting carried is nice!”
[The enemy team has agreed to surrender with 5 votes for and 0 votes against!]
The opposing team had surrendered right on cue.
I quickly tapped out a message with my small hands.
[Jinyu (Blood Mage) 0/3/1: Team diff lol (All)]