4 – Living with the Demon King – 3

Chapter 1 – Living with the Demon King – 3

“Once you obtain a class, it is extremely difficult to change it.”

Upon learning that Gi-jun’s class restrictions had been lifted and that as many as two uncommon-grade classes had appeared for him, the Demon King stopped on her way to bed and said so after contemplating seriously.

“Of course, it is possible to raise the grade of a class too. That is called an additional class advancement, but rather than aiming for that, it is better to obtain the highest grade class possible at the beginning, you know? That way, the possibilities for class advancements become more abundant.”

“It is like a newcomer to society finding employment. It is best to get hired by the best company possible at the start.”

“I do not know well, but it seems similar.”

There was a time when Gi-jun also pondered his future class options.

Did he think back then that he would actually end up debating between a shield warrior and a blunt weapon warrior?

As he chuckled while recalling himself from fifteen years ago, the Demon King continued speaking.

“So, to tell you my thoughts…”

Contemplating while pressing her lips with her extended index finger, she soon reached a conclusion.

“Since there is a chance to obtain a class before entering the main game anyway, let’s try our best. I would like you to start with at least a rare grade.”

“Alright, then I will do that.”

Seeing Gi-jun reject the two class advancement messages without any lingering regrets, the Demon King was slightly surprised.

She knew he trusted her—but she had still expected him to hesitate a little, after all.

“Will you be fine?”

“It is fine. It was not a class I wanted anyway.”

“Right…”

“But what is the benefit of obtaining a class?”

Thinking that he should have asked that before rejecting the class advancement messages, the Demon King explained obediently despite her disbelief.

“First of all, you get stat bonuses. And adjustments are applied to skills related to the class. For example, a common-grade swordsman receives a ten percent increase in the effect of swordsmanship-type skills, and their evasion success rate also increases by ten percent.”

“That is insane. I should have gotten a class.”

“Obtain a good one later. It is not like there is an enemy you absolutely must defeat right now anyway…”

Stopping mid-sentence, the Demon King snorted upon realizing that Gi-jun was staring intently at her.

“It is nice that you have big dreams. Shall we go one more round before going to sleep?”

“Ah—I would like to do that, but it is about time to sleep, so let’s continue tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Huh? Uh…”

Watching Gi-jun wrap up the conversation quickly and return to his tent, the Demon King became a bit dazed.

She did not have any girlish thoughts like wanting to talk to him more, but she did find it a bit ridiculous that his attitude changed so suddenly.

What was even more ridiculous was that snoring sounds began to drift out from the tent not long after Gi-jun had entered it.

“No, really?”

Although a barrier was basically included in the high-class tent Gi-jun possessed, the Demon King was also the Lord of Magic, and she could secretly deactivate the magic and peer inside with just a wave of her hand.

When she did, she saw Gi-jun fallen into a sleep so deep that he would not even notice if someone carried him away.

Only then did the Demon King realize it.

Indeed, it made sense for him to be exhausted.

Rather, it was impressive that he had held out until now.

“His sleeping face is somewhat cute.”

Smiling as she looked at the sleeping hero’s face, the Demon King restored the tent’s barrier and headed to the Demon King’s Castle herself.

She had not slept for a long time, but for some reason, she felt like she could fall asleep today.

* * *

The next morning.

Opening his eyes wide precisely at six o’clock in the morning, Gi-jun washed his face, lit a campfire, and washed some rice before putting it in a pot.

He then jogged lightly around to check what remained in the “residual world,” and while no monsters were left at all, he was able to identify some edible plants and herbs, as well as a few live animals nearby.

There were also quite a few trees and a decent river.

The problem was that the starting and ending points of the river were both cut clean off at the black boundary, which made him wonder how on earth this river was flowing.

Honestly, it was a bit scary.

‘Since I have plenty of water in my inventory, let’s not drink this water…’

Searching the surroundings for thirty minutes while jogging, Gi-jun learned that indeed, not a single element that could be “helpful for growth” remained in this world.

Since it was also the final boss’s battlefield, perhaps something was hidden like the Demon King’s Castle that had appeared yesterday, but it was all the same since he could not find it with his abilities.

“What is it, Hero? Where did you go?”

When he returned after finishing his jog and washing up, the Demon King had come out of the castle and was sitting near the campfire.

She was sniffing while glancing at the pot, which was emitting a delicious aroma as the rice cooked, and that sight felt ironic all over again.

To think that that innocent and cute woman was the Demon King who had killed a thousand heroes just yesterday.

No, the most ironic one had to be himself, sitting around the campfire with that very Demon King and grilling meat together.

“I went for a light jog. Just wait a bit, I will prepare a meal for you.”

“It is not like I came out asking for food, you know? Still, since you say you will prepare it, I will eat well.”

Contrary to her words, however, the Demon King, who had an expectant face, turned serious the moment she saw Gi-jun washing the plants he had plucked nearby.

“What are you doing right now? Are you going to make a potion or something?”

“You know I do not have a medicine-making skill. Since these are all wild greens verified by Koreans with their own bodies, just wait with an easy mind.”

“Listen well, Hero. There may be edible grass in the world, but there is no such thing as delicious grass.”

“Tsk, just wait quietly.”

The Demon King had never felt so resentful about not having a cooking skill as at this very moment.

If she had a cooking skill, she would have been able to defeat his argument splendidly, but because she could not, she had to stand by and watch that terrible grass being served on the dining table!

However, once Gi-jun seasoned the wild greens with condiments, fried eggs using his shield, arranged everything beautifully in a bowl scooped with rice, and even served it alongside homemade red pepper paste, her thoughts changed a bit.

“Here is the bibimbap you ordered.”

“…It does look somewhat pretty when presented like this. Well, flowers also taste bad when eaten, but they look pretty.”

“The taste is also excellent. Mix it up and try it.”

As he scooped his own portion of bibimbap and began to stir the inside vigorously with his spoon, the Demon King was shocked.

“Why are you mixing something so pretty?”

“I will mix yours for you too.”

“Ah, hey! Do not do it, Hero! Ah—I really cannot forgive you!”

The Demon King was infuriated when the contents of the pretty bowl were mixed into a mess while her guard was down.

Yet, once she actually started eating it, her thoughts changed slightly this time as well.

“…It is unexpectedly decent.”

“There are things that taste good when eaten separately, but there are also things that only produce flavor when gathered into one.”

Gi-jun was about to say, “Our party was like that,” but he suddenly felt embarrassed and stopped.

It was also not something to say to the Demon King who had annihilated that party.

“Right… Well, it looks like nothing special on the outside, but it is decent once you eat it, just like…”

The Demon King, who was about to say something after that, startled herself with her own thoughts and shut her mouth.

Amid the slightly awkward atmosphere, the two of them silently cleared the bibimbap.

Emptying even a bowl of soybean paste soup brewed by lightly dissolving soybean paste in anchovy broth, the Demon King cleared her throat with a cough and spoke.

“It was barely passable. Was it because eggs were added instead of meat?”

At that moment, a message popped up in front of Gi-jun’s eyes without fail.

―An existence of an infinitely high status is extremely satisfied after encountering unfamiliar but delicious food. The level of the [Cooking] skill has increased by 3, becoming level 85!

―An existence of an infinitely high status is extremely satisfied after encountering unfamiliar but delicious food. The level of the [Cooking] skill has increased by 3, becoming level 85!

He smirked.

As a smile played on Gi-jun’s lips, the Demon King glared and demanded to know why he was laughing, but since she was too busy getting annoyed at his lie that his shield skill proficiency had increased, she failed to grasp the real reason he smiled.

After finishing breakfast and cleaning up, the Demon King sat him down and began to talk.

It was about the growth of grades.

“Stats are the same as skills. Ninety-nine is the maximum value, and once you achieve a special condition in that state, the grade rises.”

“Then the one I can aim to grade up right now is my Endurance, which is ninety-nine… Oh, my Dexterity increased by 1 and became ninety-six.”

“It must have grown thanks to you sparring with me continuously yesterday.”

Stats could be raised in several ways, including title bonuses, skill bonuses, growth from leveling up, and growth from training.

Naturally, the higher it got, the harder it was to grow, so the standard rule was that once it reached the nineties, it was impossible to raise it through pure training… but that seemed to be a meaningless rule against the Demon King.

“Perhaps because it is still common grade, it is shooting up.”

“Shooting up indeed.”

Gi-jun wore a dumbfounded expression, but the Demon King waved her hand dismissively.

“Never mind Dexterity for now. Let’s raise the grade of Endurance today.”

Watching the Demon King speak so lightly, as if proposing to order jajangmyeon for lunch, Gi-jun was simply dumbfounded.

Three years had passed since his Endurance reached ninety-nine and stopped growing.

Believing this to be his limit, he had focused on raising his Strength and Mana, but since he was a tanker rolling on the front lines anyway, there had been an overwhelming number of opportunities to train his Endurance.

Even so, his Endurance was what had failed to grow.

But what? Raising the grade in a single day?

“I am the Demon King. My attack power stands unrivaled, and even my ability restrictions have been released. That means I can deliver an intense attack that you have never been hit by before.”

How about it? Do you still think it is impossible?

At the sight of the Demon King cracking her knuckles and wearing a sinister smile, Gi-jun became infinitely anxious.

“You are not holding a grudge because I arbitrarily mixed the bibimbap earlier, right…?”

“I am disappointed if you saw me as such a narrow-minded person. Though I was indeed a bit annoyed.”

The fact that she honestly admitted to being annoyed made him even more anxious.

“Take off all of your upper clothing. Armor is not used for Endurance training.”

“Alright, I get it.”

As Gi-jun took off his armor top and undergarments, his muscular physique, forged through brutal rolling in actual combat, was revealed to the world.

The Demon King, who had looked down on him as a mere common-grade human, inwardly admired his muscles trained to the limit, and she winced slightly upon discovering a few scars that persistently remained even though most should have disappeared through leveling up.

Her eyes were drawn even more to the scar remaining near his heart, which she had pierced yesterday.

“I find that scars from life-threatening wounds tend to leave a bit of a trace.”

When Gi-jun, noticing her gaze, spoke with a bitter smile, the Demon King coughed and made an excuse.

“Once your stats and racial grade rise, all of those things will disappear too. So work hard.”

“Is that so? That is a bit of a shame.”

“Stop talking nonsense and get ready.”

The Demon King reflexively reached her hand toward his chest, but pivoted it mid-way and placed it against his abdomen.

Feeling more tense than when he was being beaten during their spars, Gi-jun gulped and spoke.

“What about defense skills? Can I use them?”

“Use them. I will strike while taking all of that into account anyway.”

“This will be proper training for both stats and skills.”

“It will hurt.”

“The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that what does not kill me makes me stronger—”

“Yes, yes, I think I heard that person’s name yesterday. Anyway, you are saying it is fine because Nietzsche is with you, right?”

But do not forget that the fact you grow stronger without dying is thanks to this senior here, who attacks you with incredibly exquisite power control, and not Nietzsche—

Snorting, the Demon King threw a punch.

The moment the punch, accompanied by a horrific shockwave, exploded at point-blank range and ruptured his abdomen—Gi-jun recalled another saying by Nietzsche at the exact same time.

God is dead.

“Gah!”

Despite maximizing his defensive power by employing Metalization, his abdomen was cleanly blown wide open.

Forcing a smile onto his lips with Enjoying the Unavoidable, a mental armament skill that prevented fatigue as long as one enjoyed the situation, he forcefully held up his body that felt like it would collapse at any moment.

As blood and intestines spilled out, he somehow endured by regenerating his dying body, starting from the critical parts, using Persistent Regeneration.

The driving force of Persistent Regeneration was stamina, mana, and mental power.

Feeling his mana rapidly draining, he found himself a bit amusing for thinking, ‘Ah, this will train my mana too.’

“Your mental strength really is tremendous… It would have been nice if there was a way to check hidden stats.”

Because of the extreme pain, he could not even properly hear what the Demon King was saying.

Yet, he could sense only the worry and gentleness contained in her voice.

“You worked hard, bear with it for a bit. I will heal you right away, okay?”

Honestly, he also thought she was like a psycho.

The warm mana transmitted from her put him at ease.

And checking the message that popped up in front of his eyes as soon as the recovery was finished.

―You have endured a marvelous level of impact. The Endurance stat transcends its limit and grows to Uncommon grade! Endurance (Uc) has become 1.

―The [Persistent Regeneration] skill has become level 98, the [Metalization] skill has become level 92, and the [Enjoying the Unavoidable] skill has become level 69!

―You have endured a marvelous level of impact. The Endurance stat transcends its limit and grows to Uncommon grade! Endurance (Uc) has become 1.

―The [Persistent Regeneration] skill has become level 98, the [Metalization] skill has become level 92, and the [Enjoying the Unavoidable] skill has become level 69!

Feeling that the trial which failed to kill him had directly become his strength, a faint smile appeared on his face.

“W-what is it? Why are you smiling? Do you perhaps like being hit?”

“Is that something for the person who blew a hole in my stomach to say?”

The Demon King genuinely congratulated him upon hearing that the grade of his Endurance had risen with just a single hit, but for some reason, the spars that followed were even more intense and terrifying.

And he really did not know why, but.

―Even if it is an unsightly flower, those who like it will search for it continuously. Charisma has increased by 1, becoming 51.

―Even if it is an unsightly flower, those who like it will search for it continuously. Charisma has increased by 1, becoming 51.

That day, his Charisma increased by 1.