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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Three Women
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"I'm Kim Yu-rim."
"I'm Joo Ah-hyun!"
Since they'd politely introduced themselves from over there, I responded in kind.
"Kang Min-jun."
As the saying goes, a warm welcome deserves a warm farewell.
"Ah, Mr. Kang Min-jun. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."
"Since we've crossed paths like this, how about partying up with us?"
Of course, polite words and actual behavior are two different things.
There's often a gap between courtesy shown with words and self-interest pursued through actions. Survival in the selection process depends on how well you bridge that gap.
"Sorry, I've got other things to take care of."
Ah... The women looked disappointed.
Kim Yu-rim, who appeared to be the oldest among them in her late twenties, nodded as if she understood right away.
"You're looking for the remains, right?"
"Ah, yeah, sure."
Not exactly, but I had nothing else to say, so I nodded.
"We've been searching since day seven ourselves and haven't found a thing. That woman over there with the hood? Han So-hee? She got here before us, but she's been wandering for eleven days already."
Ha, eleven days? Did she rest just one day in the Rest Area before coming straight here?
While I was surprised by the topic Kim Yu-rim brought up, Joo Ah-hyun clutched her head and let out a sigh.
"Ugh... Has it really been that long already...? Unnie Yu-rim, at this point, maybe there are no remains? Or someone else already took them all."
"Who knows..."
Despair crept onto the faces of Kim Yu-rim and Joo Ah-hyun. Joo Ah-hyun hung her head and crouched down, sniffling.
"Sniff. I hate this. I want out of this dark, horrible place. To think we might have to stay here forever..."
There's no such thing as forever. Fail to move on in time, and you'll vanish along with the trial zone.
Either way, it's a grim future, but if they learned that truth... they might just start losing their minds.
'They're already showing some signs.'
Kim Yu-rim, who had been talking to me, would occasionally stare blankly into space before snapping out of it.
And beside her, Joo Ah-hyun kept muttering to herself right in front of me.
"Can we even get out? I miss Mom. My boyfriend too... This sucks. Everything sucks. Sniff."
'These two lasted seven days, and the chaebol heiress is on day eleven? That's impressive.'
Honestly, it's surprising. Holding out in this gloomy, dark place for that long? Most people wouldn't have the mental fortitude.
"Ms. Yu-rim, what did you do back on Earth?"
"Pardon? Oh, my job? I was in the military until recently. Discharged as a lieutenant."
"...Military, huh. But your speech... Don't they use desu/masu in the army?"
I'd never served, but I'd heard it from media and people. Kim Yu-rim laughed as she replied.
"That's been phased out ages ago. Sure, some still use it, but these days, everyone just talks casually."
She mentioned her somewhat weathered face was from army life. I was a bit surprised she was only a year older than Joo Ah-hyun, who looked mid-twenties.
"What about you, then?"
"I'm a badminton player. Not national team level, though."
Kim Yu-rim: ex-military.
Joo Ah-hyun: athlete.
'Makes sense they'd last in this hellhole.'
If they'd been ordinary civilians, they'd have broken down at the slightest hardship, despaired at the world, blamed everyone else, and met their end that way.
That's how most of the ones I've seen went.
At least their early physical hardships had kept a tight grip on their lifelines.
"What about you, Min-jun?"
"Just an ordinary student."
"Ah, college student?"
Nod.
Once introductions wrapped up, our eyes naturally turned to the last one.
"..."
Early twenties, looking just a year or two older than me—the chaebol heiress.
Han So-hee turned her head away silently. Ha, Joo Ah-hyun frowned, clearly displeased by the attitude.
"Don't mind her. She's been standoffish and barely talks since we met."
Figures. In a place like this, getting outed as who she is could lead to all sorts of trouble.
If her companions were men, she'd be raped the moment her identity slipped.
Hell, even without men, she would've been.
After all, how could anyone resist the impulse with a noble young lady from a top family right there, when death could come any second?
'Stress builds up too—they'd harass her somehow right away.'
I've seen people from prominent Earth backgrounds hunted down, limbs severed, and dragged as sex slaves.
For them, it was a conquest high, a pleasure.
A perfect outlet for the stress from fear of death.
'Fear and desire are a razor's edge apart. Humans can never separate the two.'
Most incidents in the selection process stem from those emotions.
Eventually, Kim Yu-rim turned her head back since no answer came. No—halfway toward me, she froze.
"Right. You planning to use these specters? If not, mind if we take them before they reset?"
The specter corpses strewn on the floor. I shrugged and replied.
"Go ahead."
"Wow, thanks!"
No sooner had I answered than Kim Yu-rim and Joo Ah-hyun bolted toward the corpses.
I had no use for them anyway, but wondering what they'd do with them, I caught sight of their haggard faces.
'Ah, got it.'
Sunken cheeks from hunger. Greedy eyes on the corpses. Throats bobbing wildly.
Gulp, gulp.
Kim Yu-rim and Joo Ah-hyun started devouring the specter corpses with their hands.
To them, it was prime food that quenched both hunger and thirst.
'That's how they survived so long—makes sense now.'
The two women's hands and mouths worked furiously. Chomping raw monster flesh looked grotesque at first glance.
Pure madness. And now, someone else was about to join the beastly feast.
Flinch.
Catching my blatant stare, Han So-hee hesitated and glanced at me.
Her eyes swirled with emotions.
Heir to Korea's top corporation.
Cheongsung Group's crown princess, destined from birth to lead the fourth industrial revolution.
Her hand trembled around what she held, agonizing over the choice.
Torn between hunger and dignity, as she finally tried to set it down, I turned sharply and stepped aside toward the railing.
"Eek."
Soon, hesitant movements followed, then the cautious sounds of her sating her hunger from behind.
'Abandoned her group, huh.'
Betrayals and abandonments are commonplace in trials. Still, a bit curious.
-You've got no talent for lying, my friend.
That uncle from before didn't seem the type to ditch his charge, at least not to me.
'Nothing much to do until Yiseo-ra returns. Might as well watch.'
Watching the two women squat over monster corpses, gorging like ghouls, and the chaebol princess pitifully easing her hunger.
I decided to stick around and observe this all-female party for a bit.
"The key is freshness. Specters start stiffening and stinking after five minutes."
Former soldier Kim Yu-rim explained. I already knew, but pretended not to as I tried some beside her.
'Feels like chewing jelly with the sweetness drained out.'
It melted smoothly in my mouth, but left a sharp tang at the end. A slight daze in my head that faded.
Meaning minor mental drain from the foul energy.
"You really got nothing to eat?"
Kim Yu-rim eyed my backpack eagerly. I tapped the canteen hanging off it.
"Yep, just water, as you see. Never imagined a trial zone would lack food."
"Fair enough. We thought the same."
Suspicion lingered on my bag briefly, but since I was eating specter too, it dissipated quickly.
"Seriously though, no interest in teaming up? Survivors should stick together."
"Haha, we'll see."
I averted my eyes from the subtly persistent ex-soldier and looked at the other two.
Joo Ah-hyun was too busy stuffing her face, while Han So-hee, seeing me chow down like them, timidly increased her own nibbles.
Flinch.
She still froze and bowed her head whenever our eyes met, though.
'Embarrassed, huh. Still got some pride left.'
In any case, I tagged along with this trio, observing.
They roamed the chapel hunting for [Bardo's Remains], but hadn't found a single one yet.
Not surprising—the middle layer had none to begin with.
"Why skip that stage area?"
"Oh, too dangerous. Tons of specters lurking in the fog. Seventeen party members died scouting it, even with over twenty people."
No way three could retry what barely a full party survived.
So the trio wandered the middle layer endlessly, hunting specters to eat when hungry, oblivious to the depths.
I watched their hunting method.
"I'll take left!"
"I'll do center!"
"..."
Specters usually grouped up, so they only engaged packs of two or three.
The three scattered, each drawing a specter's aggro.
Dangerous if focused, but one-on-one, they could kill before mana fully drained.
'Pretty smart. Weapons from skeletons upstairs, huh.'
Holy and dark attributes have unique properties.
Holy deals bonus only to dark monsters but makes every attack a critical hit.
Dark damages everything, even fellow dark monsters.
The downside? Low percentages.
"Got it!"
「Kieee...!」
Every swing from the women drew agonized screams from specters. Their movements were unsteady, but damage landed steadily.
'Daggers, huh. Good instincts. Covers their weaknesses as women well.'
All women start with low strength stats.
Without bonus points there, even wielding a weapon is tough, let alone smashing skeletons.
Daggers were an excellent pick.
'One-on-one with a skeleton? Arms and legs gone in seconds, then head lopped off while staggering.'
But against specters, no such worry.
No physical power, so no defense to think about—just stick close, swing wildly, and pile on damage fast.
Of course, flaws were clear.
"Damn, eleven more popped up over there! Run!"
Specters phased through walls, so mid-fight, new groups often crashed in unexpectedly.
"To the entrance!"
But big swarms had strategies too. They couldn't leave the chapel doors.
That's why they were fleeing to the exit when I first met them.
I drew my sword.
"Let's just kill them."
"Ah."
The women halted, realizing my presence late while fleeing.
"I'll pull aggro. Each grab one and handle it."
"You sure?"
"Should be fine."
I wanted to know.
How long I could last against these specters now. It'd decide if I went deeper.
「Aaah...!」
"Here we go."
I charged the pack, slashing one mid-breakthrough.
Then lured the remaining ten away from the women, slipping opposite.
"I'll take left again!"
"Center for me!"
"..."
The trio targeted their marks and attacked three specters.
The three chasing me turned toward the damage sources.
「Kyaat...!」
I led the rest far back.
'Ten's manageable.'
My mana pool's bigger than expected.
Well, I'm bound to Shin Seo-yeon now. Same S-Rank as the Saintess, but her sky-high intelligence—bonus stats all-in—gave me absurd mana, dwarfing most mages.
'Plus magic resistance.'
Tundra accessory effect? Enemy spells barely scratched, curses no real hindrance.
'Good grasp now.'
After tanking quietly for a minute, I flashed my sword and wiped them out.
The women, sweating buckets after barely downing one and rushing to help, froze. Mouths agape at my display.
"H-how'd you kill them so fast?"
"Unnie, I'm more shocked how you tanked that. How are you unscathed after all those attacks?"
Impressed by my casual 10-mob fight—while they struggled one each—Kim Yu-rim and Joo Ah-hyun rushed over with questions.
"Speed's from my weapon and strength. All-in on strength."
"Ah."
Understanding nods. Then Joo Ah-hyun pressed.
"But then stamina and intelligence must be low—how'd you last? Doesn't make sense. Felt like a full minute."
Kim Yu-rim joined, puzzled.
"What's the trick? You barely seemed affected by curses."
"Not really a trick..."
"So?"
Sensing their greedy interest and goodwill, I pondered briefly before explaining.
"This, actually."
I held up the ring on my finger.
"What's that?"
Three pairs of eyes converged.
"Tundra accessory. Boosts magic resistance. Reduces damage and curse effects—fog curse too."
"!!"
Eyes widened.
Shocked faces.
Understandable. Some fight for their lives shitting bricks from curses, others cruise with items nullifying it.
"Whoa..."
"Insane."
Awe from the women. But one face was complicated.
Han So-hee, matching me with a Tundra Fang in one ear.
"Does it work well?"
"Feels like 10% less damage and curses per piece."
"Whoa!"
Kim Yu-rim and Joo Ah-hyun sparkled.
"Got spares?"
"Plenty. But..."
I trailed off; they nodded, guessing.
"What's the price?"
What to ask? They had nothing—weapons one each, even dumping soulstones as encumbrances.
One thing only: surviving over seven days in the nastiest first trial, Lair of Evil Spirits.
'That's plenty.'
As connections. Not full party—casual acquaintances for friendly hellos if we meet.
So my offer was simple. I patted my crotch.
"One per handjob."
Nothing bonds like pussy in the selection process.
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