From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 37: The Battle of Champions Pt. 2

"Stop trying to run away!" shouted Lee Jun-Kyeong

"What do you mean?! How can you not run away from this?!"

Jeong In-Chang had become the enemy of the ogres and had taken all the aggro Lee Jun-Kyeong had brought over. In fact, even the twin-headed ogre, the boss of the gate, was currently going after him. Dozens of ogres chased Jeong In-Chang, leaving dust clouds in their wake.

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at the scene from a distance and cried out, “I’m telling you to stop trying to run away from them!”

“What do you mean?! I’m telling you I can’t… Fu…”

“For?”

“That wasn’t it! I just wanted for you to be subjected to this as well!”

It felt like Jeong In-Chang was about to swear; however, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t care and shouted once again, “You can do it! You’re more than capable!”

Jeong In-Chang shrieked, “Is this why you told me to fill up my inventory with potions?!”

Before entering the gate, Lee Jun-Kyeong had invested an unimaginable amount of money in potions. Jeong In-Chang had actually asked if he was going to open a potion dispensary.

This had been the reason.

“That’s correct!” Lee Jun-Kyeong beamed happily.

Jeong In-Chang hollered in disbelief, “Wait, you’re telling me I’m right? Are you telling me just to get beat up?”

“Both!”

Eventually…

“Fu…dge.”

Jeong In-Chang stopped running and looked at the incoming ogres that had dust clouds billowing behind them.

“Oorah!!”

“Argh!”

He felt queasy just looking at them screaming. He knew that he was more than capable of matching up to the monsters, but the danger of having to face so many of them at once was relatively high. Furthermore, it would only have been possible if he was allowed to dodge, but Lee Jun-Kyeong was telling him to collide with them head-on…

‘Does he want me to die?’

Jeong In-Chang stared at Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was only yelling from a distance. Even just a little while ago, he had been thinking that he had wanted to keep going forward with the man. But now, Lee Jun-Kyeong was looking like as much of a bastard as the Association President.

“Damn it.”

Before long, the ogres began to close in. In a defeated manner, Jeong In-Chang put one foot forward and raised his greatsword. He crouched, holding a stance as if he was pushing his greatsword forward.

Finally…

“Oorahh!”

At the same time as their thunderous cries…

Clang!

…the orcs began their pounding.

“Keuk…. Keughk! Keuk.”

As if he was trying to show all of the different moans he could make, Jeong In-Chang was groaning in various ways.

“Didn’t… you say that I could do it?!” he gasped.

It was obvious, he was blocking the ogre’s attacks. Although the pain and the damage were accumulating, their attacks weren’t causing any serious injuries.

Thud.

Jeong In-Chang continuously changed his position between the raining clubs, moving towards safer positions where he could shed some of the damage. Somewhere along the line, his disgruntled expression disappeared. As if he had been possessed by something, he focused directly on the ogres’ attacks with serene eyes.

Clash! Clash! Clash!

The clubs of the ogres continuously hit his greatsword, almost as if following a rhythm.

“It’s like a jajinmori jangdan.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong heard the sound and commented flippantly. Jeong In-Chang was a more capable Hunter than he gave himself credit for. Lee Jun-Kyeong was able to see his own stats objectively, but the majority of Hunters were only able to guess at their stats. Jeong In-Chang didn’t know his exact stats just yet. The moment he found out how much power he held, things would change.

‘This is just the beginning.’

Right then, the notification messages came rushing in.

[<The Sky of the Apocalypse bursts into laughter at the beautiful Melody.]

[<The Prince on a White Horse> smiles slightly while reading the mood.]

Apparently, these messages had also been transmitted to Jeong In-Chang.

“Don’t laugh!”

Jeong In-Chang shouted as if the Sponsors’ reactions were breaking his concentration. Lee Jun-Kyeong was also laughing alongside them, but he quickly controlled himself and called out a name.

“Hyeon-Mu.”

A skull popped out from Lee Jun-Kyeong’s bracelet and quickly expanded in size. It was soon the size of a fist and floated around in front of Lee Jun-Kyeong.

–Did you call? Master.

Its voice sounded damp, as if there was something dark and dull about it.

“Only help Mr. Jeong if there is an emergency. Oh, by the way…”

–Please tell me.

“Do you have a hand?”

It would have to give Jeong In-Chang a potion when he needed it…

–Wouldn’t it be okay if I gave it to him using my mouth?

“Mmm…”

Come to think of it, he had never asked this question.

"Are you a girl? Or a man?"

***

Hyeon-Mu was a familiar that came from the Skull that Contains Souls. His familiar had been born after eating the souls of Choi Yong-Su and Choi Yeong-Seong, so he kind of assumed its gender.

‘I thought Hyeon-Mu would have been a man for sure.’

To think it would say that it didn’t even know.

.

‘Didn’t they say that there are items that could be used depending on the gender of the familiar?’

While knowing the gender could be helpful in the future, it wouldn’t be a big deal if he didn’t know Hyeon-Mu’s.

Also, on that side…

‘Jeong In-Chang would be more comfortable this way, anyway.’

He stopped himself.

‘Or would he?’

Regardless…

"Oorah!!!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was roaming around the gate. Many of the ogres at the gate were attacking Jeong In-Chang, but not all of the ogres were there.

‘It’s a good experience.’

He had only sent a manageable amount of ogres to Jeong In-Chang. The remaining were now his prey. Lee Jun-Kyeong kicked off the ground and bolted forward. An ogre that caught sight of Lee Jun-Kyeong quickly shouted and tried to swing its club, but Lee Jun-Kyeong was faster.

He gracefully spun in the hair, and Muspel’s Spear, which contained a dragon’s bloodstone, pierced through the ogre’s skill.

“Ooor…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong plucked out Muspel’s Spear from the fallen ogre as if he was pulling out chopsticks that he had stuck into tofu.

Suddenly, he received a notification.

[Your level has risen.]

“This is an unexpected harvest…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong had constantly been hunting, but his level increases had slowed to a crawl. He was finally approaching 40.

‘It’s hard.’

As expected, there were no easy abilities in this world. The special ability, player, was a deceptive ability that gave the power to level up and grow, but it was at the cost of an almost impossible effort.

There really were no easy roads in the world.

[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> smirked as if to ask what were you expecting.]

Tak tak tak.

Lee Jun-Kyeong continued to run through the gate while ignoring his Sponsor’s mocking remarks. He was looking for something.

‘It’s supposed to be here, but I’ll be screwed if it’s not..’

He had chosen the ogre village for a specific reason. In fact, training Jeong In-Chang’s endurance and defense wasn’t his main goal. Instead, Lee Jun-Kyeong was searching for something.

‘Ogre mage… where are you?’

There was a hidden piece that had a certain probability of appearing in an ogre village. He was looking for an ogre mage because he was going to fight Heracles in the future. He had finally remembered that the Book of the Demon King had mentioned the giant’s weakness.

[That punk is an invincible monster.]

The Demon King wasn’t one to give good reviews for other Hunters. Heracles was one of the few that he recognized. It was in the first sentence of Heracles’ summary.

And…

[But, that punk could never rise to the summit because he had a big weakness.]

Lee Jun-Kyeong had remembered this point only after scrounging through his memories over and over again. He had come to the ogre village for that exact purpose.

‘The mage… The mage…’

He needed to find an ogre mage that only appeared in ogre villages. As the gate could be raided whether or not you destroyed all of the monsters, very few people knew the identity of the ogre mage. If he wanted to face Heracles, he had to find it.

“Damn it.”

However, as expected of a B-Grade Gate, the ogre village was expansive, so Lee Jun-Kyeong struggled to find the way.

Of course…

“Oorahh!”

“Ooha…”

…he was hunting the ogres as well.

Eventually, an alarm went off, marking the passing of midnight. Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t even think about resting—no, he couldn’t rest. In order to survive, in order to complete the test, he didn’t stop.

‘Is he doing well?’

Lee Jun-Kyeong had constantly thought about Jeong In-Chang while he ran through the gate. The night had already come, which meant that Jeong In-Chang had been fighting the ogres for over ten hours.

***

"Damn it! Damn it!" Jeong In-Chang shouted and cursed.

Clang! Clash! Claaang!

By this point, he was inundated by the sound of the ogres’ clubs which had now turned into a street percussion rhythm. He couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Although he had set an alarm on his watch, the sound of the clubs was deafening, so there was no way for him to hear the alarm.

"Damn it! Damn it!" Jeong In-Chang hollered while blocking the clubs that were constantly barraging him.

As the weapons fell, Jeong In-Chang was twisting his body moment by moment and letting the clubs flow past him without even being conscious of it. Compared to the beginning, he was suffering much less damage.

Nevertheless, he vomited some blood.

“Cough!”

His intestines had been damaged. While the direct attacks of the enemies were being blocked using the greatsword, the shock behind the blows was transmitted internally, blocking up his organs.

“No! No!”

Jeong In-Chang screamed desperately, unable to even wipe the blood from his mouth after vomiting. He wasn’t crying out because the ogres’ fierce blows scared him.

- This sort of situation is very serious.

As if it thought the greatsword was an umbrella, a single skull flew haughtily underneath it and floated in the air. This skull was the cause of Jeong In-Chang’s distress.

“No! I'm fine! It's really okay!" Jeong In-Chang shouted desperately.

- Tsk. Tsk. I can’t understand what you’re saying because of the sound of the clubs. You have been hurt. Please wait a moment.

The skull named Hyeon-Mu was talking to him. It was an unusual creature, and Jeong In-Chang had seen it several times before while hunting with Lee Jun-Kyeong. One of the skull’s eyes glowed blue, and it began to glow even brighter with an eye-piercing color. Red potions appeared out of nowhere and floated around the skull.

Oddly enough, the skill of the skull was so great that it consistently stayed under the greatsword of Jeong In-Chang, using him and the sword as if they were an umbrella.

- It’s ready.

The skull’s eye began to glow even more.

“No!!”

Jeong In-Chang screamed, but alas…

- You must have suffered so much. To think it was bad enough that you preemptively opened your mouth to ask for a potion. Please wait. I’ll give it to you soon.

The cork of the potion bottle opened by itself, and the red liquid began to move. It soon filled the skull’s mouth. The red liquid sloshed about, and Hyeon-Mu, full of the potion, slowly flew toward Jeong In-Chang.

Then…

Gag.

Jeong In-Chang felt his organs recover as he consumed the potion that had been delivered mouth-to-mouth, but he couldn’t hold back his tears.

‘It was my first time…’

Jeong In-Chang had never had a girlfriend. It wasn’t enough that he had lost his lips to the skull, but to think he had to be kissed like this constantly.

- Tsk. You have to focus.

His mind was rattled by the skull’s kiss, so he hesitated for a moment, which opened a gap where an ogre’s club flew in.

However…

Whoosh!

The ogre’s club couldn’t reach him. The skull had released a blue stream of water from somewhere and deflected the ogre’s blow.

- I’ll stop here and return if things get worse again.

The skull flew away again,

‘I won’t get hurt. I won’t get hurt no matter what.’

Jeong In-Chang made that vow over and over again.

At that point…

[<Sky of the Apocalypse> bursts into laughter at you.]

[<The Prince on a White Horse> smiled and flinched in surprise.]

[<The Prince on a White Horse> sponsors you 'Physical Resistance.']

He could hear the voice of the Sponsors laughing and mocking him.

He wailed, "Damn it…"

***

A whole day had passed since Lee Jun-Kyeong started looking for the ogre mage. Thanks to his speed, he had gone around most of the gate, and there were only a few areas left to explore. He paused and took a breath.

“Whew…”

No matter how much people lauded the ability of Hunters, it was still difficult for him to keep running with all his might for more than a day.

Lee Jun-Kyeong drank a potion instead of water as he breathed heavily. Little by little, his stamina recovered.

“By the way…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong spoke to himself while holding the potion bottle.

“Doesn’t Hyeon-Mu have the power to control water?”

Hyeon-Mu hadn’t had much of a chance to grow yet. Despite that, Lee Jun-Kyeong was still satisfied with its abilities. After all, it was a powerful familiar.So, the question arose.

“The potions could probably be treated as water since they are liquid… Couldn’t it just give it to Mr. Jeong using its abilities?”

1. Jeong In-Chang was about to curse, so Lee Jun-Kyeong was making fun of him.

2. Another funny way of cursing in Korean. Funnily enough, it sounds very similar to ABC’s, so Korean parents will go Ai Shi… D, E, F, and so on in front of their children.

3. This refers to a specific Korean rhythm of hitting a traditional drum. If you watch period K-dramas, you’ve definitely heard it.

4. A hidden piece is a secret treasure/skill/etc. that isn’t publicized in a game and can only be accidentally discovered or found if you know where to look. They are often stronger than what can be obtained normally and are generally limited or unique. For example, if you’ve read some of the other Korean novels, Gourmet Gaming has many of these.