“Geez, I’m so busy, why are they calling me now?”
Today, Rachel’s face was deeply wrinkled with frustration.
It was because she’d been summoned by her superior.
“I need to get my bonus for achieving top performance this month too!”
These days, it’s not easy to send people as heroes because they’re so listless.
Nevertheless, Rachel had achieved the top position in hero transfer performance for several months, and she was still struggling to maintain that position.
Lost in thoughts about her performance, she’d arrived at her destination.
A corridor lined with white marble.
She opened the door with her best attempt at a bright smile.
She was greeted by a stern-looking man.
He was Rachel’s superior, named Frizzell.
“Rachel. The man called Choi Hyun-seok. Do you remember him?”
Frizzell suddenly brought up Choi Hyun-seok’s name.
Rachel was momentarily flustered but quickly regained her composure.
“Of course. He was an important hero candidate with SSS-grade potential.”
The only man from Earth with SSS-grade potential.
She couldn’t have forgotten him, especially since she received a special bonus for sending him as a hero.
“You said that you completed Choi Hyun-seok’s transfer without any issues.”
Why would her superior Frizzell bring this up?
Though she couldn’t understand why, an ominous feeling began creeping up.
“Where did you transfer Choi Hyun-seok to?”
“I sent him to the capital of the Domis Kingdom, like the other heroes. Even though he had SSS-grade potential, giving special treatment from the start would violate regulations.”
“I see… So you sent him to the capital of the Domis Kingdom?”
Frizzell seemed to grind his teeth, trying to contain his anger.
“Since when did the capital of the Domis Kingdom become a Demon King’s army fortress?”
“Did the Domis Kingdom fall without my knowledge?”
Rachel couldn’t understand what her superior was talking about at all.
“Choi Hyun-seok is a very, very important hero candidate. That’s why I checked separately whether he was transferred properly. Even though it violated regulations, it was that important.”
Frizzell approached and thrust his face close to hers.
“And I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
“Why on earth is Choi Hyun-seok imprisoned in a Demon King’s army fortress!?”
“Demon King’s army fortress…?”
“That’s not all. There are 93 other hero candidates imprisoned there.”
“I checked the records, Rachel. They were all heroes you sent. All within the past three months.”
Frizzell’s eyes flashed angrily.
“To boost your performance, you recklessly sent people without even checking their hero qualifications. Without any special benefits even. And if that wasn’t enough…!”
Frizzell’s voice grew increasingly louder as he spoke.
“You dumped all the heroes in a Demon King’s army fortress!? Even Choi Hyun-seok with SSS-grade potential!? Have you lost your mind!?”
“That, that can’t be…”
“I just checked your transfer equipment. The transfer coordinates were written incorrectly.”
At that moment, for some reason,
A certain scene flashed through Rachel’s mind.
‘Mmm, macarons really are the best.’
On that day when she was enjoying coffee and macarons as usual.
She had spilled coffee on the typewriter.
And wiped the typewriter with a cloth.
Rachel’s expression became like that of someone who had lost their soul.
Frizzell grinned as he placed his hand on Rachel’s shoulder.
“Are you starting to understand the situation now?”
“Rachel. I trust you’re prepared?”
Demon King’s Army 3rd Corps, 2nd Slave Unit.
Thousands of human slaves were being mobilized here to expand the fortress.
“We are… The great… Demon King’s army…”
Choi Hyun-seok sang the 3rd Corps’ anthem while swinging his pickaxe.
“Let’s kill humans. Let’s eat humans…”
How long had he been swinging the pickaxe with vacant eyes?
“Work is done for today. Everyone get inside!”
Jak, the goblin leading Choi Hyun-seok’s slave group, shouted.
“I said get inside! You useless humans!”
Jak kicked the slaves’ backsides repeatedly.
The ugly monster goblin with green skin was small in stature.
Any decent adult male could easily overpower him.
However, people didn’t dare to challenge Jak.
It was because of his cruel nature.
Jak, who recklessly swung his meter-long sword, was practically synonymous with terror for the slaves here.
“Human! What are you dawdling for!?”
The spark flew to Choi Hyun-seok.
Jak approached and slapped the back of his head with his palm.
“Huh!? What are you waiting for! You slug!”
Jak was too short to reach the back of 198cm-tall Choi Hyun-seok’s head.
So he had to hop up and down to hit it, which made him even more angry.
‘This goblin bastard…!’
For a moment, fire flashed in Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes, but he desperately controlled himself.
Choi Hyun-seok forced a smile and bowed his head.
“Hurry up and go! Stupid human!”
Choi Hyun-seok hurried back to his cell.
‘You’re really not going to die peacefully…’
He would have his revenge someday.
He would hit that annoying goblin’s head 500 times until he begged for death.
How long had he been sharpening his blade of revenge?
Before he knew it, all the slaves had returned.
Jak locked the prison door and left.
“Phew… Finally, it’s quiet.”
Choi Hyun-seok sighed.
Now the prison was actually more comfortable.
At least here there were no Demon Army soldiers forcing them to work or harassing them.
‘Now, let’s check today’s progress.’
These days, Choi Hyun-seok was obsessed with something.
More precisely, it could be called his only hope.
That was the status window!
The status window was similar to interfaces used in games.
He learned about it from the people here.
“It’s a special ability that only heroes possess!”
The status window that his knowledgeable fellow slave Park Tae-soo told him about had a very familiar user interface.
▫Name: Choi Hyun-seok
▫Title: Hero Candidate
▫Ability: Pickaxe Usage(D)
“Oh, my stamina increased by 1.”
A bit of life returned to Choi Hyun-seok’s dead fish eyes.
He had heard that abilities would increase with hard work.
But after a week with no response, he had half given up, and finally an ability score increased.
“Has your ability score increased already?”
The neighboring slave Park Tae-soo called out.
He must have heard Choi Hyun-seok’s muttering.
“Yes. My stamina went up by 1.”
“That’s amazing. As expected of a world champion, eh? Haha!”
“What good is being a world champion when I’m a slave?”
Choi Hyun-seok smiled bitterly.
“No, you’ll definitely be able to escape this place and become a real hero.”
Park Tae-soo was sincere.
How surprised he had been when he first learned Choi Hyun-seok’s identity.
To think that famous world champion fighter was right here.
Plus, his ability scores were extraordinary.
The average ability scores of heroes who come here are 10-15.
Even at their highest, they were only in the late teens, but Choi Hyun-seok started with ability scores reaching 30.
“I’ve only heard this, but they say starting ability scores affect growth potential.”
That’s what a hero who was captured and died here recently had said.
If that’s true, then Choi Hyun-seok has the potential to become a hero surpassing all others.
That thought became even more certain watching Choi Hyun-seok’s growth rate.
“Did you say your Pickaxe Usage is rank D?”
“You really are different!”
Pickaxe Usage ability was something every hero slave here possessed – it was extremely common.
However, considering Choi Hyun-seok had only been at the fortress for a week, it was incredible.
Usually, this would be when the Pickaxe Usage ability would just start appearing.
Not only had Choi Hyun-seok already developed the ability, but he had advanced it two levels.
‘He’s not a fake hero like us, but has the makings of a real hero!’
Some might say he’s making too much of just Pickaxe Usage, but Park Tae-soo sincerely believed it.
Someday, Choi Hyun-seok would escape this hell and become a true hero.
‘I better stay on his good side!’
There are two ways to survive in the wild.
Either be exceptional yourself.
Or know the right connections to make.
Park Tae-soo’s instincts, honed by 30 years of corporate life, told him.
That Choi Hyun-seok was the highest grade lifeline.
Despite the late hour, Choi Hyun-seok couldn’t get to sleep.
He could feel the cold stone floor against his back.
There was a bed roughly made of straw in the cell, but it smelled so bad he couldn’t even look at it.
‘How long will it take to get out of here by raising abilities …’
These days, these ability scores were Choi Hyun-seok’s only hope.
‘Maybe I’ll get stronger when I reach an average of 100?’
Currently, his average ability score excluding magic power was around 30.
So he needed to raise each by 70, meaning a total increase of 210.
‘One point per week means 210 would take about 1,470 days. 4 years…’
It was really a pointless calculation.
There was no guarantee abilities would keep increasing weekly from now on.
Choi Hyun-seok knew this.
He was just doing this because it seemed like the only way to endure this hell.
‘This is all because of Rachel. That bewitching woman?’
Just thinking about Rachel made his teeth grind, even in his sleep.
‘How could someone with such a pretty face do something !?’
How could she do this?
He had even been willing to convert to Christianity because of Rachel.
But to pull such a shameless act!
‘You’re a hero! When you wake up, the village chief will come running barefoot saying ‘Hero~!’ and serve you food…’
What actually appeared was a muscle monster with a bull’s head breathing fire from its horns.
‘After completing the mission, what’s this? The village chief’s late-born daughter is a pure beauty in her 20s!?’
There were only short goblins that induced disgust just by looking at them.
Ah, swinging swords crusted with blood was optional.
Choi Hyun-seok ground his teeth.
‘I absolutely can’t die ! I’ll survive somehow.’
Hero? He didn’t care about that anymore.
He wasn’t interested.
Choi Hyun-seok’s goal was to survive.
The ugly goblin guard Jak.
The bull-headed captain Reidrun.
And finally Rachel, the devil wearing an angel’s mask.
‘Until I get stronger… Until then, I’ll stay low.’
He had to get stronger somehow.
He heard that in this other world, one could gain superhuman powers through something called magic power.
Though it was only 10 now, there must be some way to increase it.
This wasn’t his only hope.
‘What is this hero point? It seems really important…’
Choi Hyun-seok focused on the ‘Hero Point’ item at the bottom of his status window.
Unfortunately, no one knew about this.
Everyone just made vague guesses.
“I heard you can buy legendary weapons if you collect those points!”
“They say you can return to Earth!”
“They say it gives you enough power to destroy rocks with one punch.”
There wasn’t anything particularly helpful.
What would these fake heroes know anyway?
They were just slaves who fell into the fortress as soon as they started.
They just happened to arrive a little earlier than Choi Hyun-seok and picked up some rumors.
“Hero points. I feel like I need to know what this is…”
As Choi Hyun-seok was furrowing his brow in thought,
A familiar voice came from behind.
Hearing the voice, Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes widened.
‘This voice, it can’t be…’
His head turned slowly.
Choi Hyun-seok knew who the voice belonged to.
How could he forget this voice?
Though their meeting was brief, he would probably never forget it for the rest of his life.
“It’s been a while, Hero.”
Rachel greeted him with a shy smile.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you would like to support me or read advanced chapters, you can do so by unlocking chapters.
https://ko-fi.com/ippostranslations