Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad
Chapter 163

At the same time.

Choi Hyun-seok, Abelson, and Bobo were gathered in their hideout cave.

“What are you doing right now…?”

“Please wait a moment.”

Choi Hyun-seok suddenly started digging the ground.

There was soft soil in one corner of the cave, and he dug there frantically as if possessed by a dog.

“Phew… Found it.”

After digging for a while, Choi Hyun-seok finally straightened his back.

What he pulled out was a yellow fruit she’d never seen before.

Choi Hyun-seok brought the fruit carefully as if handling a sacred object.

“Ms. Abelson. Do you know what this is?”

“No.”

Abelson replied while maintaining the most indifferent expression possible.

If she let her guard down even slightly, her contemptuous expression would show through.

‘He hasn’t gone crazy from fighting the monsters, has he…?’

Choi Hyun-seok is the hero who will save the world.

It would be a huge problem for her if such a hero lost his mind.

“Hehehe… This! This is absolutely amazing!”

Just as Choi Hyun-seok was stroking the fruit with a bizarre smile.

Rachel, who was beside him, lunged toward the fruit.

“Argh! Give it to me!”

“Are you crazy! Don’t you dare drool on it!”

Choi Hyun-seok swung his hand like lightning and slammed Rachel away.

Rachel crashed into the cave wall with a thud.

Even as she collapsed to the ground, her eyes remained fixed on the fruit.

“He-hero… Just one bite…”

“I’ll wait for you.”

“I’ll do anything you say…”

“Then hold your breath. Hold it for about an hour and I’ll give you some.”

“Yes…”

Rachel grabbed her nose with her hands.

Abelson blankly watched the two of them.

‘They’re crazy. They’re both definitely crazy.’

It seemed that Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel had gone mad together.

Then Choi Hyun-seok cleared his throat and approached.

“Ahem, speaking of this fruit, I should tell you about something from the past.”

“What?”

“It was exactly one week after we came here.”

Choi Hyun-seok started telling a story that no one particularly wanted to hear.

“Ah, can’t even cook meat… There’s absolutely nothing to eat.”

Choi Hyun-seok, who fought desperately with monsters every day while clutching his hungry stomach.

He accidentally discovered a yellow mass hanging at the top of a tree.

“Rachel. What do you think that is?”

“Well, maybe it’s fruit?”

“Go get it.”

“Okay.”

Rachel flew up boldly but struggled to carry the fruit that was as big as her body.

“Ugh… So heavy… Aack!?”

Rachel, who had been fluttering her wings while trembling, accidentally dropped the fruit.

Thud!

The fruit that fell to the ground unfortunately hit a rock and its skin cracked.

At that moment, the sweetest fragrance began to spread.

“What is this…?”

“Hero… There’s an incredibly sweet smell…”

Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel approached the fruit as if enchanted.

And when they came to their senses…

The fruit had all disappeared into their stomachs.

“Of all the fruits I’ve eaten in my life. No! Of all the food I’ve ever eaten! This was by far the best taste!”

Choi Hyun-seok said with wide eyes.

“That’s right! It was an absolutely insane taste!”

Rachel chimed in, also with wide eyes.

Abelson nodded with a sour expression.

“Ah, yes… So this is that fruit?”

“Yes! But, there’s one more sad story about this fruit.”

“What is it…?”

Abelson wasn’t really curious but asked out of courtesy.

“It was about ten days after I first discovered the fruit.”

And so Choi Hyun-seok’s story began again.

“Hehe… Rachel! Found it! I found it!”

After first eating the yellow fruit.

Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel searched through the entire forest every day to find the fruit.

As a result, they were able to find the fruit again after ten days.

“Hehehe! Hero, let’s save this one! Last time we ate it all at once and couldn’t properly taste it!”

“Right. Let’s eat a little bit each day!”

Although it was slightly smaller than before, that didn’t matter to them.

They both smiled purely with joy at finding the fruit.

Just as Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel’s eyes were sparkling at the thought of eating the fruit.

“Hey. You’ve got something good there?”

Park Hyun-a suddenly appeared.

“This must be hard to find since monsters are after it too, where did you find it?”

She casually approached and snatched the fruit.

Crunch!

She bit into the fruit in one go and made a happy expression.

“Mmm~ This is the taste.”

Park Hyun-a, who devoured the fruit in an instant, smiled with satisfaction.

And then…

“Hey. Let me know when you get more.”

She waved and left.

The fruit peels were scattered miserably on the ground.

Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel trembled with rage.

“Damn… Damn it! Do you know how hard I worked to find that!”

“Hero, should we kill her? No! Let’s just kill her! Let’s cut open her stomach and take out the fruit! It might not be fully digested yet!”

Unfortunately, Park Hyun-a’s ears were everywhere.

“What did you just say? You want to cut open my stomach?”

“Ahah! It, it was just a joke… Hehe…”

This was a world of survival of the fittest.

The monster’s land, Inessimot.

If you weren’t strong, you couldn’t even protect fruit.

“Just thinking about that day still makes my teeth chatter…!”

“Mine too!”

After finishing the story, Choi Hyun-seok clenched his fists and trembled.

Rachel also joined in, swinging her fists in the air beside him.

“That woman! Next time we meet, we won’t let her get away with it!”

“Ah, yes… That must have been hard…”

Despite her words of comfort, Abelson’s face clearly showed her contempt.

Along with that, there was also a hint of disgust in her gaze.

‘They’re beyond saving.’

Perhaps it was too late to turn back now.

They seemed to have gone completely mad.

“And just yesterday!!!”

Suddenly Choi Hyun-seok shouted.

“I accidentally found this again! And I immediately came back to the hideout, dug a hole, and hid it!”

He stroked the fruit with a loving expression as he explained yesterday’s situation with gestures.

Rachel also came close to the fruit and rubbed her face against it.

“Phew, even thinking about it now, it was so fortunate. If this had been taken too… Rachel might have died!”

“Ah, yes… That’s fortunate…”

Abelson let out a deep sigh.

“Haa… So, is that the end of the fruit story?”

“No. There’s still more.”

“More…?”

Although Abelson openly showed her boredom, Choi Hyun-seok pushed on with his story at his own pace.

“Do you know what I saw when I got this yesterday?”

“I don’t particularly want to know…”

“There were ten fruits! Ten fruits just like this one!”

“Wow… Amazing…”

“Right! But, I couldn’t bring more. There was a terrifying monster guarding them…”

Choi Hyun-seok watched Abelson’s reaction as he spoke.

Abelson narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t tell me… You’re suggesting we go get those fruits…”

“That’s exactly it!”

Choi Hyun-seok jumped up.

“While Park Hyun-a isn’t here! It has to be now! We need to get those fruits and hide them here right away!”

“Mr. Choi Hyun-seok. Please calm down first. Risking your life for mere fruit is foolish.”

“Kwang!”

Bobo also nodded his snout and barked energetically, as if agreeing with Abelson.

“Mere fruit?! No!”

Choi Hyun-seok sat back down and carefully held out the fruit.

“If you taste this, you and Bobo will change your minds.”

“Even so…”

Abelson was skeptical.

Even if they hadn’t eaten proper food for a long time, could people really become this broken?

‘How good could a fruit possibly taste.’

Still, she couldn’t help but feel curious.

She wondered just how delicious it could be to make them act like this.

“Carefully, not a single drop…”

Choi Hyun-seok carefully cut the fruit with his magic.

At that moment.

Whoosh~

A sweet fragrance spread throughout the cave.

Abelson and Bobo stared at the fruit with wide eyes.

“Oh no! Wait, I’ll divide it fairly.”

Choi Hyun-seok divided the fruit into exactly four pieces, and gave one piece each to Bobo and Abelson.

Then he took a big bite from one of the remaining two pieces before handing it to Rachel.

Rachel glared at the half-eaten piece she received.

“Why am I the only one getting a smaller piece!”

“You’re smaller in size. It would be unfair to divide it equally!”

“Don’t talk nonsense! I want an equal share too!”

“Now, now, don’t whine.”

“I want an equal share too! I want an equal share too! I want an equal share too!”

“If you keep this up, I’ll take away what’s left.”

“Sniff…”

Rachel lowered her head with tears in her eyes.

She had the most wronged expression, but after taking one bite of the fruit, she smiled brightly.

“Hehehe… It’s so delicious!”

The resentment of receiving the smallest piece was instantly forgotten – it was truly the finest delicacy in the world!

Choi Hyun-seok also took a bite of his fruit and made a happy expression.

“Aah~ This is it…”

“Hero, with this fruit, I don’t need to eat macarons ever again.”

“Don’t compare those things.”

“Right? I made a mistake. Heheh!”

Abelson swallowed as she watched the two seriously chattering such nonsense.

‘Well, let me try too…’

Abelson slowly opened her mouth.

And then she took a bite of the fruit’s flesh, which was yellow mixed with crimson.

“This…!”

She felt as if lightning had struck her brain.

Rumble!

No, lightning was really striking!

Abelson shuddered at the tingling sensation inside her brain.

“Huh…?”

When she came to her senses, the fruit had already disappeared.

“…”

Abelson and Bobo looked at each other.

They nodded at each other and stood up.

“Let’s depart immediately.”

The yellow fruit collection expedition was formed at that moment.

***

“Here’s the plan.”

Choi Hyun-seok explained the strategy while moving toward where the fruit was.

“While Bobo and I distract the monster, Ms. Abelson and Rachel will pick the fruit and escape.”

“Can’t we just hunt the monster? With three of us, we should be able to catch most monsters.”

Abelson’s suggestion seemed reasonable.

After all, everyone in the party had grown strong enough to play their roles in Inessimot’s food chain pyramid.

However, Choi Hyun-seok firmly shook his head.

“That’s absolutely impossible.”

“Why?”

“It’s my intuition.”

“Intuition…?”

“The demonic energy I felt from the monster easily surpassed Bobo’s. Even with the three of us together, a head-on fight would be difficult.”

“Hmm… I understand.”

This was coming from Choi Hyun-seok, who was the only one who had directly seen the monster.

Moreover, since he had an uncanny sense for detecting strong beings, it was even more convincing.

“First, let me describe its appearance.”

Choi Hyun-seok picked up a branch and drew in the dirt.

“Overall, it looks like a fat orc. Although much larger in size.”

“If it’s an orc, wouldn’t it be a demon race rather than a monster?”

“Hmm, but there’s no way demon races would live here, right? Besides, it was too big to be an orc. It’s also strange that it’s fat without muscles. Orcs are usually very muscular.”

“Ah…”

“Anyway, other than looking like an extremely fat orc, there’s nothing special about its appearance. As for its abilities…”

Choi Hyun-seok stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment.

Soon, as if he had finished organizing his thoughts, he nodded.

“I don’t know its abilities.”

“What…?”

“I’ve seen it fight, but it didn’t seem to have any special abilities.”

“…”

“It just beats things to death with a club.”

Choi Hyun-seok said with a serious expression.

“It might sound like a joke, but I’m being serious right now. You should have seen how it swings that club…”

“That’s right! One hit and you’ll be flattened like dried fish!”

Rachel chimed in from the side.

“If it happens to chase after you, Ms. Abelson, don’t try to fight it – just run.”

“Yes…”

“I mean it. At that point, throw away the fruit or whatever and run without looking back.”

“I understand.”

Even as they continued moving, Choi Hyun-seok kept making them promise.

“You must! Must run away! Must!”

Just as Abelson’s irritation was reaching its peak from the constant warnings.

“Shh! It’s ahead.”

Choi Hyun-seok stopped and lowered his posture.

“Do you see that forked tree over there?”

“Yes.”

“If you walk a little further in that tree’s direction, you’ll see the fruit.”

“Got it.”

“Bobo and I will move first, Ms. Abelson and Rachel should move while staying hidden.”

Abelson and Rachel nodded with tense expressions.

It was the moment their fruit stealing operation was about to begin.

***

Orc Kadrak.

He was formerly the Vice Commander of the 3rd Corps of the Demon King’s Army.

The reason Vice Commander Kadrak settled in Inessimot was because of his superior, Hemis.

“Kadrak. What did I say I hate the most?”

“I-idiots, ma’am.”

“Yes~ idiots. And look, there’s an idiot right here! Ohohoho!”

Military corruption.

Hemis tormented Kadrak terribly.

It was routine to send Kadrak alone to fight at the frontlines.

She would even use him as a shield while the unit retreated.

This was essentially ordering Kadrak to die.

Nevertheless, Kadrak desperately survived.

He would somehow return to the unit only to be insulted by Hemis again.

“You have quite a tenacious life force, don’t you~?”

“Th-thank you!”

“Is it because you’re stupid? You’ll easily live for 500 years! Ohohoho!”

Someone might think this way.

Shouldn’t he refuse such unreasonable orders?

Unfortunately, Kadrak didn’t have the option to ‘refuse orders!’

Because he was too afraid of Hemis.

Having witnessed her power up close, Kadrak couldn’t even think of resisting and suffered through the injustice.

Then a decisive incident occurred that made him leave the army.

“Lady Hemis.”

“What?”

“Hu-hu-humans are in-invading…”

“Kadrak. Didn’t I tell you not to stutter?”

“So-sorry.”

“Hmm~ Are you ignoring my orders now? Is that it?”

“Th-that’s not it…”

That day too, Kadrak was scolded.

In fact, Kadrak didn’t want to stutter.

He originally did stutter frequently, but not this badly.

It’s just that whenever he stood before Hemis, he became so nervous that his usual stutter got worse.

“I’m not in a good mood today. The meat I ate this morning wasn’t tasty at all.”

“So-sorry…”

“Go out alone and stop them. If you come back without stopping them, you’ll be tonight’s dinner.”

With that, Kadrak left the Demon King’s Army.

The humans invading at that time were a massive army of over fifty thousand soldiers with two legends among them.

To face such a large force alone?

That would be certain death.

But if he said he couldn’t do it, he’d become dinner right away, so he had no other choice.

Except to run away.

“He-Hemis… That witch…”

Even after more than 200 years had passed.

He still felt a strange mixture of anger and fear when thinking about Hemis.

“My treasure… I only need my treasure.”

Anyway, after hiding in Inessimot, Kadrak accidentally learned about a very delicious yellow fruit.

Later, he discovered this place where trees bearing that fruit were gathered.

Though a very powerful monster that ruled the area was guarding it at the time, Kadrak, who was at his peak as Vice Commander, managed to kill it after a life-or-death struggle.

Since that day, guarding the trees that bore treasure had become Kadrak’s life and everything.

“My treasure… Touch it and die…”

Kadrak rolled his eyes around.

Over 500 years old, with a fat body and wrinkled skin.

Though his white hair was sparse, his eyes still gleamed coldly.

“If you touch it…”

Suddenly Kadrak swung his thick club.

“You’ll die!”

Crack!

The skull of the monster that was sneaking up to steal the fruit was caved in.

The monster named ‘Sleevlafa’, known as the Forest Plunderer for being cunning and cruel, was nothing but a mere mutt before Kadrak’s club.

“Sweet gold. Only I eat it.”

Kadrak took a handful of fruit and ate it with satisfaction.

At that moment.

“Human…? Human thief!!!”

He saw a monster approaching another tree with a human standing on top of it.

The eyes of the human picking fruit met with Kadrak’s.

“Touch it… And you’ll die!”

Kadrak’s body shot forward like light.

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