#186
Earthlings of Another World (3)
“Let me introduce myself once again. My name is Isea. Nice to meet you.”
Inside the hospital room where only the two of them remained.
With the same cold expression as always, she offered him a greeting once more.
“Ah, I’m Hesperon···.”
“Wait a moment. Could you tell me your real name instead of that alias for now?”
“My real··· name?”
“Honestly, it’s a bit silly to make a fuss about that in another world. Still, since this is my first time exchanging greetings with a fellow countryman, I wanted to do it ‘properly.’ Well, you can think of it as a sort of formality.”
When she said it so openly, Hesperon quickly understood her intention and nodded in agreement.
“So you were the Earthling that Riley had mentioned after all. Honestly, I’d been wondering ever since I heard the name.”
“Hmm, so you’re Korean too?”
“Ah! I’m Ha Seunghun. I lived in Seoul before coming here, and it’s been just under two months. Hahaha!”
For reference, this name wasn’t just a fabricated alias.
It was one of the truly legitimate identities that existed even in the government’s database records, obtained through Heterosis, who had become a major player in Seoul’s underworld.
When one had strength and power, taking care of such minor details was not at all difficult.
“It’s already been over eight years since I came here. So much has happened during that time··· Ah, let me thank you once again. Honestly, the hardest time was after Riley was kidnapped.”
“Not at all, I received a lot of help too. If it weren’t for Riley, I might have been trapped inside without knowing anything my whole life!”
Having exchanged introductions once more, they gradually opened up and began conversing actively.
At first, Isea had seemed to keep a bit of distance, but by the end, such behavior was nowhere to be seen.
Be that as it may, she was someone who had fallen into another world at a young age and endured for a full eight years.
However much she had alleviated her loneliness by being with Princess Riley, the longing for the hometown she had suddenly left behind was unavoidable.
In such a situation, coming across a fellow countryman from Earth—moreover, someone from Korea—was naturally a joyous occasion.
Not to mention, she had received great help and already held a basic fondness for him; what more need be said?
“So, Mr. Heron, you’re twenty now?”
And the conversation, which had flowed through this and that topic, naturally drifted toward matters of age.
Truthfully, since investigating Hesperon’s background was one of her goals, that had been her intention from the start; however, the problem was the question he asked next.
“That’s right. Come to think of it, Ms. Isea, how old are you? Well, you do look quite young for your age, but if Riley calls you unnie, you must be at least twenty··· Huh? But if you came here eight years ago···.”
As he tilted his head and blinked, Isea hesitated for a moment.
For an instant, she too was suddenly confused about how old she should say she was.
Since she had crossed over here at the age of eighteen, eight years later, she was undoubtedly twenty-six now.
Clearly, she was older than him.
But if she returned to Earth, she would become an eighteen-year-old about to turn nineteen.
And if she ever met him back on Earth later, could she really still claim to be the older one then?
“Tw···.”
“Tw?”
“Twenty-six.”
But after briefly furrowing her brow in thought, she quickly realized it held little meaning and continued proudly.
After all, it wasn’t as if she could introduce herself as ‘18 years old (9th year)’!
Besides, age was originally a unit for measuring the time one had lived; thinking about what came later could wait until later.
She was going to become his teacher from now on, and she didn’t want to complicate things over something like this for no reason.
“Ahaha! This is interesting! No wonder you looked so excessively youthful—it’s because you’re a high schooler in your ninth year!”
Having inferred her age at the time of transfer from that answer, Hesperon just laughed excitedly without any tact.
···Perhaps because he had grown comfortable talking with her, it was an extremely informal laugh.
“Ahem, Mr. Heron?”
In the end, Isea lightly cleared her throat and shot him a look.
He did seem to intend to respect her age, maintaining polite speech even while roaring with laughter, but she couldn’t help feeling displeased by it nonetheless.
“Aah—I apologize. It’s just fascinating, that’s all. Honestly, when Riley called you a cute and lovely unnie, I just brushed it off, but it’s exactly as she said!”
“Heron···?”
However, it seemed the inner sense of familiarity he felt was greater than she’d thought.
Even though she’d called his name twice and given him a hint, he just kept giggling as if telling a pleasant joke.
“But honestly, going by looks, you seem more like a middle schooler than a high schooler···.”
“···Shut up!”
Isea added a thick line to the investigation notes she had recorded in her head regarding Hesperon.
This man had absolutely no tact.
***
As always, in a corner of the gloomy Undead Castle.
“He escaped? A newcomer··· from here? And he took the Princess with him?”
Andrew Weaver, another Earthling of Auterica, muttered blankly.
Today, as always, he had been living buried in work when he heard the news a little late; the content he encountered was nothing short of shocking.
“How?”
He thought he knew what method had been used.
After all, there was no other way besides a unique skill.
However, the fact that a newcomer who had been summoned for barely two months had done it was simply incomprehensible.
“···Was he a greater guy than I thought?”
Matters had gotten tangled up in various ways, so he hadn’t had a chance to meet him separately since he’d first been captured, but he had never even imagined that he was capable to that extent.
Seeing that not even his ‘Trajectory Observation,’ which he had used out of curiosity, had caught anything clearly, it seemed he had pulled some kind of trick in the meantime.
‘Furthermore, for some reason, the undead army doesn’t even show any sign of trying to track them.’
Was it because they thought it didn’t matter since the Crown Prince was still here?
Perhaps the Undead King considered this matter merely as part of his amusement.
“Hah—that guy’s luck is something else. At first, I even felt sorry for him.”
Having succeeded in escaping, the Princess was no longer a simple prisoner.
She had become a golden connection—none other than the Empire’s most promising candidate for Emperor.
Moreover, setting aside the merit of simply helping her escape, wasn’t overcoming hardship together a classic premise for some kind of feeling to sprout between a man and a woman?
It was something to envy in many ways.
‘Tch, and here I am, stuck rubbing shoulders with crazed bastards and undead.’
But Andrew merely clicked his tongue lightly and shook his head.
If this were in the past, he might have writhed with jealousy.
Because it was no different from the fact that while he withered away day by day from grueling work, those who had been flirting in comfort had finally fallen for each other and run away.
But he no longer needed to envy them.
The day he had waited and waited for was finally arriving!
『Karma Shop』
『Return (1,000,000) (Available)』
『Unique Skill Enhancement (700,000)』
『Status Enhancement – View Details』
『Held Karma – 1,000,028』
“Heu··· heheheh—!”
The number of incidents he had intervened in as a member of the Oath Against the Heavens was by no means small.
The most representative and large-scale event among them was contributing to opening the Gate of the Abyss and spreading ‘Madness’ across the continent.
At the time, fewer points had come in than expected, so he had only managed the fourth enhancement of his unique skill, but as time passed and the damage caused by it gradually accumulated, the karma flowing to him began to increase.
On top of that, settlements had been made steadily, if modestly, from the matters he had been involved in for several years, and recently he had even been exploited by Olivia through harsh labor···.
‘Nine years··· it was long.’
It was only natural that the results had finally appeared.
Having giggled in place for quite a while, he looked around his surroundings with a much lighter heart.
Now that he thought an escape route had been prepared, allowing him to flee at any moment, even the scenery of the Undead Castle, which normally felt suffocating, could be appreciated as if he were touring a haunted house.
After that, he leisurely wandered the castle interior, conducting his own farewell ceremony.
From Residential Area 1, teeming with lunatics, to the towering spire.
He peered into every accessible place, leaving traces of himself here and there.
-Andrew Weaver was here.
“Whew, I think that’s about everything.”
He looked at the crooked English scribbled in a corner of the wall and smiled in satisfaction.
It had been a place so terrible it was sickening, but now that he thought he would never see it again···.
[Andrew···? Work hours have passed, yet what are you still doing here···? You ought to know full well that there is no free time until your quota is filled···.]
Just then, Olivia appeared before his sentimentally immersed eyes like a ghost, silently materializing.
“Huk!”
Gulp.
Startled by her sudden appearance, Andrew instinctively lowered his gaze.
He was now a man with nothing left to fear, but coming face to face with her, who was no different from a reaper, he couldn’t help but shrink back involuntarily.
‘No, this is the end anyway, isn’t it? No matter what I do, she can’t do anything to me now!’
Above all, he didn’t want to show such a groveling appearance until the very end when he was about to leave.
How much resentment had built up against her all this time!
Pouring out everything that had built up now and leaving this world with a light heart would be the perfect finale.
Having made that resolution, he straightened his back proudly, raised his head, and looked her straight in the eye···.
···only to meet her hazy pupils staring quietly at him and immediately lowered his gaze again.
‘Come to think of it, this monster can tear me apart on the spot if I even show a hint of trying something. Is acting rashly in front of her really wise?’
At first, he had planned to hurl insults and mockery to his heart’s content right to her face before bolting, but if he did that, he felt he would be dismembered before he could even escape.
He had diligently proven his usefulness all this time, so she wouldn’t kill him; he would be able to run away later, but···.
‘···I want to return in one piece.’
However, it was too humiliating to back down like this without saying anything after all.
This was the last chance that would never come again; if he let it slip by, he would have to live with a lump in his heart for the rest of his life.
‘Yeah, I’ll just say a few brief words and run. To a degree ambiguous enough that she can’t strike immediately. That should be fine.’
He took a deep breath and wet his lips.
And having firmly prepared to flee immediately, he raised his head again to look at Olivia.
[Andrew···? Do you not hear me···? Shall I indeed tear off those useless ears and shoot my thoughts directly into your brain···?]
At those words, he nearly cringed again without realizing it, but Andrew gritted his teeth, held his ground, and shouted proudly.
“I—!”
[···I?]
“It’s been disgusting being with you all this time, let’s never see each other again! Working with Big Sis Siana was so much better; aside from work, you’re not even fit to lick her toes! Ah, and every time I hear you draw out your words talking down to me, it pisses me off!”
His voice cracked briefly from being too nervous, but he eventually succeeded in pouring out everything he had wanted to say.
Having gotten scared in advance and lowered the intensity quite a bit in his own way to maintain boundaries, but even so, that unexpected defiance was enough to fluster Olivia.
Moreover, he had even dragged in Siana, with whom Olivia did not get along at all···.
*Crackle—!*
In an instant, the temperature dropped to below freezing, and energy began to surge from all directions.
[Have you gone mad from the black magic power···?]
And at the moment Olivia, with an unusual expression, was about to say something coldly.
“Hahahaha! Then I’m off! Try and find me if you can!”
Andrew, who had somehow gotten swept up in the mood and grown downright triumphant, laughed heartily and threw out his final farewell.
And immediately after that—
His figure vanished from the Immortal Castle without a trace.
[Ah…?]
Left alone, having lost the target upon whom she was to vent her fury, Olivia could only stand there blankly for a long while.
Afterward, once she came to her senses, she immediately released the ghosts and began searching for Andrew, but…
Naturally, no trace of him—who had already crossed dimensions and moved to Earth—could be found anywhere.
***
Los Angeles, United States.
“Ha! Hahahaha! Ah— that feels good! It’s a bit of a shame, but hey, this much isn’t bad at all! Wahaha!”
Appearing in the basement of the house where he had first been transported, Andrew had no time to be moved by the fact that he had returned to Earth; he was too busy laughing in delight.
He simply couldn’t hold back his laughter, as the image of Olivia—who had always looked down on him with an oppressive air—trembling with rage was vivid before his eyes.
On top of that, the thought of her wandering around searching for him for ages before ultimately giving up was just as satisfying.
She knew he was from another world, so she would eventually accept reality, but she wouldn’t be able to stop the search easily, not with even the slightest possibility remaining.
“Haha… ha… ha?”
But his laughter, which had seemed as if it would continue forever, did not last all that long.
Because there was one tiny thing weighing on his mind.
“Hmm… Why is this like this? Is this how a restriction normally works?”
It was the restriction planted in him by the Immortal King—it was still active and remained inside his head.
No, for some reason, it even felt like the connection was stronger now than when he had been in Auterica.
‘Nah, no way.’
He gave an awkward laugh and quietly wiped away the cold sweat that had begun to trickle down.
Apparently, this was just how such restrictions were supposed to be.
It did feel a little unsettling, but since there was no one to give him orders, it wasn’t really a problem—
[Ho— so you’ve crossed over to Earth, Andrew Weaver?]
At that moment.
A voice he had thought he would never hear again shook his mind.
“Ah?”
His heart sank with a thud, and he froze stiff, the awkward smile still plastered on his face.
Fear slowly began to fill his expression.
“Uh, huh? Wait… wait, wait, wait…! This isn’t right! This, uh, this isn’t what we agreed—!”
[Andrew Weaver.]
“Ah—.”
At that single sentence, imbued with the absolute will of his “master,” his words caught in his throat.
It was the undeniable manifestation of the restriction.
[Kekeke— I happened to be in need of manpower, so this works out nicely. Welcome to Earth.]
And so, Andrew Weaver finally succeeded in escaping from hell.
But there was no peace awaiting him at his destination.