A colossal galleon, like something from a medieval fantasy, floated on the sea.
Its torn sails and half-broken hull gave it the eerie look of a ghost ship.
"What a huge-ass ship. Could fit a thousand sows, yo."
"You're not… planning to bring in a thousand slave sows, are you?"
"Huh? I meant actual sows, not slave sows!"
"…"
Academia has various types of dungeons.
Some are classic fantasy dungeons accessed through gates,
While others, like this ghost ship, exist as physical spaces in the real world.
The important thing was that the legendary sword was hidden somewhere on this ship.
At that moment, a small motorboat approached us.
"Harin! Over here!!"
It was Kang Juhyeok.
To reach the ghost ship floating in the middle of the sea, we needed a boat, and Kang Juhyeok had gone and rented one.
I didn't tell him to.
He legit did it on his own…
"Hey, Kang Juhyeok."
"Yeah, Taeyang…"
"Don't talk to my chick so casually."
"Sorry…"
"And use honorifics from now on. We're on different levels."
"U-Understood…"
"Hey! You actually did it? It was a joke, man! Hahaha!!"
"Haha…"
He gave an awkward smile.
If you're wondering if the protagonist was always this pathetic…
Absolutely.
A protagonist who picks the route where Kim Taeyang steals all his heroines has to choose pathetic options.
Though, he seems even more pathetic than I remember…
Come to think of it, this guy didn't do anything when Chloe was taken.
In the game, there's at least an event where he confronts Kim Taeyang.
Well, there's no rule saying it has to follow the game exactly.
I'm the one who broke the original story with constellation NTR, after all.
This level of distortion is something I've gotta accept.
"You drive. We'll chill in the back."
"…Got it."
With Seol Harin, Pomi, and Kkubburi, I sat in the back, enjoying the cool sea breeze on a marine drive.
Pomi and Kkubburi weren't in their humanized forms.
Maintaining humanization for too long was physically taxing.
We soon arrived at the ghost ship.
With our superhuman bodies, climbing aboard the massive galleon was no issue.
As expected of a dungeon, a thick demonic aura enveloped us upon boarding.
Despite it being daytime, the world seemed cloaked in darkness.
A chilling shiver.
Creaking wooden floors.
The stench of rotting corpses filled the air.
"Creepy as hell."
"You're scared of something?"
"Hey! I'm just saying it's the vibe! You think I'd be scared of anything?!"
So scary…!!!!!
Freaking terrifying!!!!!!
No way it's not scary!!!!!!!
Regardless, Kang Juhyeok calmly pulled out a piece of paper and read it.
It was a brief map of the ghost ship and our mission details.
"First… we need to enter the ship's interior. There'll be about 50 low-level monsters, mostly goblins or similar."
"Lame… Lead the way."
"Okay…"
Kang Juhyeok took the lead, and we followed him into the ship's interior.
And at that moment—
WHOOOOOSH!!!!
A powerful demonic aura surged, shaking the ship.
"W-What's that?!"
"Woof! Grrrr…!!"
"Kkubburi…?"
Even the constellations were startled by the tremor.
It was a dungeon phenomenon.
A Dungeon Quake, which occurs when a dungeon's rank increases.
Training dungeons are supposed to be pre-cleared and safe…
But this place, where the protagonist Kang Juhyeok enters, the Ghost Pirate Ship, is an exception.
"Hey! It's just a normal Dungeon Quake! Don't freak out over this when you're my slaves!!"
"But… a Dungeon Quake means the rank's gone up, right? How can that happen in a cleared dungeon?"
There's a painfully obvious answer.
Adult game plots are always sloppy…!!
Then, Seol Harin shouted, spotting something in the darkness.
"Watch out! Skeletons!!"
Clatter… clatter… clatter…
CLATTERCLATTERCLATTERCLATTER!!!!
Dozens of skeletons appeared in the corridor.
Undead pirates, armed with swords and axes.
"There's too many!"
"Hey! How many times do I have to tell you not to panic?!"
Living bones!!!
Creepy as hell!!!!!
If it was the old me, I'd have fallen backward and crawled away until my back hit something, but Kim Taeyang has a heart of steel.
Scary or not, I wasn't nervous at all!
Besides, the skeleton ambush is part of the original story.
This is the event to obtain the "Broken Sword."
This is about the time, right?
If I stomp the floor hard…
CRASHHHH!!!
The floor caved in, and I plummeted with the skeletons.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash…!
My body smashed through endless floors.
The skeletons charging at me fell alongside.
"Noooo───!!"
Seol Harin's scream faded into the distance.
Quite a heartfelt scream…
You'd think I was falling to my death.
***
Kim Taeyang.
He sacrificed himself.
To protect Seol Harin and Kang Juhyeok from countless skeletons, he threw himself into the abyss.
…At least, that's how it looked to Seol Harin.
"Master…"
Her trembling lips quivered.
Tears fell into the gaping hole he'd plunged through.
"Harin! Let's go! We need to get out of here!!"
Seol Harin fiercely swatted Kang Juhyeok's hand away.
"Why'd you grab me?"
"What?"
"Why'd you grab me?! If you hadn't held me back, I could've fallen with him!!"
Pomi and Kkubburi fell with Kim Taeyang.
Seol Harin, as his possession, believed she should've fallen with him too.
But just as she tried to leap into the pit, Kang Juhyeok had stopped her.
"I-I was trying to save you…"
"Save me? Who are you to save me?!"
Grab!
Seol Harin seized Kang Juhyeok by the collar and slammed him against the wall.
"H-Harin…?"
"If Master dies, are you going to take responsibility?"
"!"
Her words stabbed his heart like a dagger.
The pain wasn't from just one thing.
"Master…?"
"I'm talking about Taeyang!"
"You're openly calling him Master now…? Wait, more importantly… you're saying it's my fault if he dies?"
"I could've protected him if I'd fallen with him!"
"…"
Was saving her life less important than Kim Taeyang being in danger?
At that point, Kang Juhyeok couldn't hold back anymore.
"What did I do so wrong? I saved you!! Harin, you're brainwashed by that guy and out of your mind!!! Think about the food or drinks he gave you! There's gotta be some weird drug—"
SLAP──────!
A palm struck like lightning.
His head whipped to the side, spit flying.
A cold warning followed.
"Don't talk about Master like that. You know nothing."
"…"
Kim Taeyang wouldn't stoop to something as cheap as drugging.
As far as Seol Harin knew,
He was the most upright and thoughtful man.
"Apologize."
"…"
"Apologize for insulting Master."
Kang Juhyeok trembled, unable to speak easily, tears streaming down his face.
Seol Harin, his childhood friend.
He'd always harbored feelings for her but never took the step forward,
Instead pushing her away.
He knew deep down.
Seol Harin had feelings for him too.
She'd let slip her heart through murmurs now and then.
Yet Kang Juhyeok pushed her away because…
'He thought she was a fish already caught…'
Fish pond management…!
Kang Juhyeok was surprisingly popular…!
Because he's the protagonist of an adult game…!!!
"…Fine. I'm sorry."
"Watch your mouth from now on."
Kang Juhyeok reluctantly apologized, not wanting to worsen their relationship further.
With his apology, Seol Harin calmed slightly.
Not because of the apology itself, but because time cooled her head.
"I need to find Master."
"How? You know dungeons are like mazes…"
Finding a path in a dungeon wasn't simple.
The internal structure constantly shifts.
"I'll walk until I find him."
"What if we get in danger?"
"If you're that scared, leave on your own. I'm not asking you to come."
"…"
Seol Harin strode forward alone.
Without her constellation, she might be weaker than Kang Juhyeok now.
Then, Plancel, the ghost knight who'd been listening, spoke.
"That chick's got some serious attitude."
"…She wasn't always like that."
"She was always like that. Good riddance. Let's cut ties completely."
Kang Juhyeok's constellations stayed quiet because they liked this situation.
They fiercely opposed his romances and sex,
So the further he drifted from women, the more at ease they felt.
"Still, I can't leave her alone."
"Hmph. Do whatever… I'll lend you my stigma if monsters show up. But if it gets really dangerous, I'm not giving you any power, so you'd better run."
"…Okay."
Nodding, Kang Juhyeok followed Seol Harin.
But his thoughts were different.
'I'll show her how much I've grown. I'll win back Harin's heart…!'
No fisherman lingers over a fish he never caught.
But a fish that got away haunts you even in your sleep.
Kang Juhyeok was determined to win back Seol Harin's heart.
Meanwhile, Seol Harin didn't give a damn about Kang Juhyeok.
'Master isn't dead… He's not the type to die so easily…'
She kept trying to reassure herself.
But her heart wouldn't settle.
'I have to find him fast. He fell with those skeletons. He's probably fighting them off right now…!'
How hard it must be for Master.
How lonely he must feel, battling alone…!
She could almost see him fighting the skeletons.
His massive body wasn't invincible.
If stabbed by a sword or struck by an axe, he'd fall like anyone else.
Just imagining it made her nose sting.
Seol Harin fiercely wiped away the tears welling up.
'Hold on just a bit…! I'll save you, I swear…!!'
Her steps quickened endlessly.
***
"Woo~☆ World-class super-slender skeleton beauty spotted!!! Hey! How big are those pelvic bones?! If you were alive, you could've popped out quadruplets for sure!!"
Before me stood a skeleton wearing a captain's hat.
Clearly the leader of the pirate skeletons.
Her frame was unmistakably female…!
[Beach Full-Set Effect Activated.]
[Hunting Power +500%!]
[Charm +85 to first-time female encounters!]
She's my hunting prey!!
"What a super-cute bag of bones! You here with your boyfriend?"
Clatter?
"Huh? Your boyfriend's just ribs now? Lucky~ Let's hang out then!! We'll go on a date with his ribcage!!"
Clatter…♡
Whoa! Captain Sans!
Hunting success!!
The captain gestured to her crew.
The skeletons that were charging to kill me backed off, suddenly respectful.
"Hey, your leadership's off the charts! Impressive~"
Clatter~
"You're the best skeleton I've ever seen. If you weren't bones, I'd have eaten you up till you were half-dead, but you're already dead, so I can't! Argh! Apologize for being dead!!"
Clatter♡ Clatter…♡
The captain clung to me, fawning.
Seems she's quite taken with my buff physique.
I could've beaten them all with Pomi and Kkubburi's stigmas.
But killing these bones wouldn't gain me anything.
It'd just waste energy.
Plus, Kim Taeyang's a mana lightweight, so I need to conserve power.
So I tried hunting on a whim, and it worked!
Super lucky~
"Hey, I'm getting curious about something private. Show me just once."
Clatter…?
"I'm just gonna look, why're you being so stiff? I swear I won't touch."
Clatter…
"Heh heh heh. I like easy girls like you. Let's go! Time to open that secret treasure chest!!"
These guys are the monsters guarding the broken holy sword.
If I can get to the chest, it's a speedrun.
The captain hesitated briefly, then shook her head.
Seems she wasn't keen on showing her loot to a guy she just met.
But.
Too late.
Taking advantage of her lowered guard from my hunting,
I slapped the "Victor's Collar" around her neck…!
[Victor's Collar]
-A collar awarded only to the winner of a sled dog race.
-Increases obedience by 85 when worn.
-Grants +10 to all stats for the wearer.
"Hey!!! Your guard's too low!!! Getting caught by trash like me and losing even your bra?! Argh!!! Lead me to your treasure hoard!!!! I'll ransack it all!!!!!"
Clatter…?
The now-tamed skeleton captain began guiding me.
Don't worry, Captain Sans.
I'll just sneakily steal the holy sword…!!