Raising A Hero – Chapter 78

Ch 78: Tutorial.

“Ah, shit.”

The Anchovy Man swore as soon as he opened his eyes. It was a morning as terrible as the second day of boot camp, to put it mildly. He wished it was all a dream.

The Female Teacher also had a grim expression as soon as she woke up. Because she confirmed that it wasn’t a real dream.

They got up with a disheveled appearance and immediately felt a severe thirst. They needed water.

“Let’s find water first.”

The three walked through the twilight dawn forest. Fog was thick, so visibility was short. A creepy feeling lingered in the air.

Ji-hyuk walked ahead, and the other two followed him. This time, even the Anchovy Man seemed to be intimidated by something.

Before long, dawn broke, and the fog cleared up a lot. They discovered a pond flowing far away. The Anchovy Man found it and ran towards it excitedly. Ji-hyuk stopped him.

“Wait a moment, you guys.”

“Yes?”

“It’s dangerous.”

“What is?”

The Anchovy Man didn’t seem to understand at all. But Ji-hyuk asked if this delicious pond would really be ownerless.

“…Yes?”

“Are we the only ones here?”

Ahㅡ.

Only then did he seem to realize something. Of course, the Housewife Teacher suggested that they try to reach a reasonable agreement, as she was a teacher who taught children. Ji-hyuk gave a little smile. If that would work, he wouldn’t have stopped the Anchovy Man in the first place.

“It won’t work.”

“Try it first, okay? …I’m so thirsty.”

Ji-hyuk didn’t try to dissuade them any further. No matter how much he explained, they wouldn’t know unless they experienced it.

They headed towards the pond. But then, suddenly, a large Lizardman blocked their path.

“Ah….”

They didn’t know it from a distance, but seeing it up close, the pressure was enormous. Even though he was just holding a wooden club, the Anchovy Man and the Housewife Teacher felt the fear of death.

“Get away.”

The Lizardman growled menacingly. The Teacher was too scared to even say a word and backed away. She was thirsty, but not yet ready to face death.

The three backed away from the pond. Only then did they understand what Ji-hyuk had said. …Reasonable agreement? It was a ridiculous story. This place was where human common sense didn’t work.

“Let’s look for somewhere else, you guys.”

The Anchovy Man and the Female Teacher found it hard to bear the thirst that was burning their throats. They keenly felt the importance of water here.

They went deeper. But the ponds that could be used for drinking water already had owners. Having no choice, they had to go deeper and deeper.

Then, they encountered a hostile presence for the first time. It was two Orcs. They seemed to be looking for food.

…Should’ve made wooden skewers.

This was purely bad luck. Still, Ji-hyuk could easily handle about two Orcs.

Of course, the Anchovy Man and the Female Teacher didn’t seem to have grasped the seriousness of the situation yet. They just thought they could simply step aside.

If Ji-hyuk did nothing and just left them alone, the two of them would be crushed and their heads would be smashed by the Orcs’ clubs, becoming breakfast ingredients. But, he didn’t intend to leave them to die here, as he still needed them.

He casually picked up a stone on the ground. While he was doing that, the Anchovy Man and the Female Teacher were turning to go around the Orcs.

Then, suddenly, the Orcs rushed towards them without warning.

Ahㅡㅡ!!

The two men and women were so surprised that they froze in place like statues.

Ji-hyuk threw the stone. The stone flew and hit one Orc’s eyeball exactly. Kkeuikㅡ. With the sound of a neck being wrung, one of them collapsed. The gaze of the other one, who was still conscious, quickly turned to him.

He picked up another stone from the ground. The Orc charged at him fiercely.

A large wooden club swung with the intention of smashing his head. Ji-hyuk leaned his upper body back and narrowly dodged it, and kicked the Orc’s groin, which was briefly exposed.

ㅡㅡㅡ!!!

It’s common for all species to be terribly hurt when hit in the testicles.

The moment he reflexively grabbed his testicles and bent his upper body, Ji-hyuk’s stone strongly hit his temple.

Of course, he didn’t die in one shot. He struck the staggering guy’s head again with the stone. Once, twice, three times, four times. Eventually, the Orc fell. He climbed on top of the Orc and continued to strike it with the stone. The Orc’s skull was crushed along with the stone.

Hooa, Hooaㅡ.

Ji-hyuk’s fierce eyeballs moved towards the remaining Orc. The Orc, who was holding its burst eyeball with one hand, turned around and ran away. He was a quick-thinking guy.

The Anchovy Man and the Female Teacher were trembling as they sat on the ground with shocked expressions. They couldn’t say anything and remained still.

Ji-hyuk wiped the blood that had splashed on his face and gave a smirk. He thought that he had become a crazy bastard who felt alive only when he saw blood.

Not all, but most Heroes had a crooked side like Ji-hyuk. In that respect, Ji-hyuk was reasonably crazy. No, being crazy like this was rather encouraged. Because you can quickly improve your performance that way.

However, the two men and women who weren’t yet crazy couldn’t move, their spirits drained. It was a relief that the Orc wasn’t human. The mottled skin color and the large, grotesque canine teeth sticking out of their lips didn’t look human at all.

“We would’ve died if we hadn’t killed them.”

Ji-hyuk made such an excuse nonchalantly. They nodded with difficulty, agreeing with him. At least the Anchovy Man was quick to come to his senses, but the Female Teacher was still trembling, unable to escape the shock.

In that respect, the Anchovy Man was much more helpful than the Female Teacher. Frankly, the Housewife was only needed for the sentry role. If not, he would have discarded her without regret. There was no need to bring along another mouth to feed.

They, who had yet to shed the earthly habits, might not have been able to discard things like human rights, but Ji-hyuk wasn’t. Not only had he shed the earthly habits, but he had become a complete otherworlder, in his very bones. The law of running or killing to avoid death had already permeated deep into his body. So, he had no hesitation at all when smashing the Orc’s head.

…We also need food.

Ji-hyuk, on the contrary, felt that encountering these guys was not bad luck but good fortune. In this situation where they had to relieve their hunger, the Orc’s flesh could become valuable food. Ji-hyuk, who had experienced even worse situations countless times, took this for granted. It wouldn’t cause any problems if he ate a bit of a guy who wasn’t even a comrade.

Of course, there’s no need to tear off every part, and the thigh seemed sufficient. It won’t be long anyway, just need to endure for a week.

“Excuse me, uh, Lee Seong-han-ssi?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Would you like to cut this together?”

“…Pardon?”

“Just cut the fleshy part.”

…Ah.

The Skinny Guy knew what Ji-hyuk was talking about. He was saying he would grill and eat this guy’s flesh. Ugh. The Female Teacher, having understood that, retched. But Ji-hyuk didn’t bother to call her out on it. They had only just shed the grime of Earth for a day. It was unreasonable to expect anything.

“Do we really have to… eat that?”

“Well, if you’re not going to eat it, fine. Kim Se-hee-ssi, you don’t want any either?”

“…Yes, I’m okay.”

Ji-hyuk didn’t force the two who said they wouldn’t eat. He broke a rock and sharpened it, then cut off the flesh from the Orc’s thigh. It was quite the labor that required patience.

One chunk was enough since he was going to eat alone. He had no intention of giving any even if they asked. Trying to get something to eat without any effort was a thief’s mentality. …Of course, it didn’t seem like they would ask anyway.

“Let’s go now.”

Ji-hyuk took the thick chunk of flesh and started walking again. The two men’s complexions changed completely. They looked like they realized they had run into a real madman. Well, that wasn’t exactly wrong.

They finally found a pond without an owner. Ji-hyuk checked first to see if it was flowing water. If it was stagnant, it was best to avoid drinking it.

Fortunately, the water was trickling. The Skinny Guy and the Female Teacher guzzled it like crazy. Ji-hyuk also swallowed water to fill his stomach, then washed the meat clean.

They had put out the immediate fire. The two men also leaned against the tree trunks and recovered their exhausted bodies. In the meantime, Ji-hyuk quickly started a fire and began grilling the meat.

It smelled quite gamey. But Ji-hyuk didn’t care and devoured it. After all, taste was something you looked for in a first-class restaurant, not here. Survival was the priority here.

Although they had drunk water, the two’s faces were gaunt. It was only natural that they would be hungry since they had gone without food for a full day and a half.

But they didn’t seem to regret not being able to eat Orc flesh yet. They weren’t hungry enough yet. If they starved for a few more days, they would end up eating even worse things later on.

Having drunk water and filled his stomach, Ji-hyuk now thought about what to do next. It was obvious, really.

Catch a Monster and get a Token.

The Token was purely luck. Of course, Ji-hyuk didn’t know what the odds were either. It wasn’t a very low probability, but the problem was that it wasn’t easy to survive here and catch Monsters at the same time. Moreover, the probability of an Earthling without any talent surviving was even lower. That’s why Earthlings were so rare on the Continent.

So, Earthlings needed a survival strategy. Either pick off only weak Monsters, or steal from others.

In fact, the latter was also unlikely. Frankly, it was because it was Ji-hyuk that he was able to catch the Orc so easily just now, but if it had been someone else, their head would have exploded in one hit.

If so, there was no other way but to pick off only weak Monsters. However, other races were all thinking about that much. So, Monsters that were small and weak quickly became extinct. Even if they were lucky enough to find one, there was no guarantee that a Token would come out, and even if it did, the problem was who would get to keep it. In the end, the rest would fight fiercely over that one Token.

It was literally like hell for Earthlings. As the Testicle Fairy said, the weak ones were unnecessary, so they should just die quickly.

Ji-hyuk had also died twice here. So, he definitely became more ruthless.

“…What do we do now?”

The Skinny Guy asked that while watching Ji-hyuk’s face. The guy who had been so triumphant like a Main Character until yesterday was now completely subdued. He must have realized that he, who thought he was the Main Character, was actually not even a Supporting Character.

Ji-hyuk said nonchalantly.

“We have to catch Monsters.”

“…Can we catch them?”

He was very frightened. It didn’t seem like the Female Teacher would be of any help either. But Ji-hyuk didn’t care. He never thought they would be helpful from the start.

“If we can’t catch them, we’ll die.”

Ah.

The two’s faces darkened. The Female Teacher suddenly buried her head between her legs and started crying.

“I want to go home. I want to go home… Hwaaa.”

The Skinny Guy also seemed to have realized that this otherworld transfer wasn’t as enjoyable as he had imagined. Stories about becoming a Munchkin and creating a harem were the kind of things that only came out in novels. …The reality was being a common Orc’s prey.

Ji-hyuk was annoyed by the Married Teacher’s crying. So, he snapped a sharp word.

“Crying won’t solve anything.”

She tried to hold back her tears. She seemed to think that she shouldn’t annoy Ji-hyuk in particular.

She knew it instinctively. That she had to rely on him to survive here.

“Is there anything, anything to eat?”

The very hungry Female Teacher looked for something to eat. She seemed to need to eat something to fill her stomach in order to move. But there were only lush green plants around. Unfortunately, they weren’t botanists who could tell which plants were edible and which weren’t.

So, they searched the forest to see if there was anything to eat. But there wasn’t even one berry, let alone meat. They had no choice but to return to the pond and fill their stomachs with water.

The sun was already beginning to set. Ji-hyuk said that they had to decide on a night watch starting today.

“If you don’t want to be eaten by someone else, you have to stay sharp.”

The two surprised people’s faces darkened. Because they sensed that Ji-hyuk’s words weren’t nonsense.

“I’ll take the middle shift, so you two decide the front and back.”

Still, the Skinny Guy said that he would take the last watch, thinking of taking care of the Female Teacher. So, the Female Teacher stood the first night watch.

Ji-hyuk lay flat on the ground and tried to sleep. Darkness came quickly.

Sniffle.

The Female Teacher was crying silently.