🔊 TTS Settings
CHAPTER 02
“……A person?”
It was a tall man with hair whiter than snow.
Wow.
To be honest, I had never once in my life seen a handsome man.
Not idols or actors on TV, not social media celebrities famous for their looks, not even global stars called “men of the century.” I had truly never once thought, that person is handsome.
At most, I’d think, well, they look a bit better than an average person you’d see on the street.
Even my friends said my standards were too high, and I agreed. So I had resigned myself to thinking I’d never be able to admire real-life humans the way people admired 2D characters in games or webtoons. I’d never get that experience of looking at someone and thinking they were handsome.
And yet—
This man was truly handsome.
Real person—no, I wasn’t even sure if this place was “real”—but this was the first time I had looked at a three-dimensional human and thought he’s handsome.
Yes. This is what a handsome man should look like.
It wasn’t that my standards were too high. It was that the standard of handsome men in the real world had been too low.
The silver-haired man, wearing silver armor, was extremely tall, but his sharp face and fair skin made him not feel intimidating. Instead, he looked almost holy—like he had stepped out of a cathedral mural. Even this barren mountain scenery felt grand, as if blessed by divine grace.
I felt so awed I almost wanted to kneel.
“Why are you in a place like this?”
Good heavens. Even his voice is good. A 3D handsome man breathing and speaking and moving. Hallelujah.
His beauty was so unreal I had to take a deep breath just to steady myself.
If someone talks to you, you should respond. Hoo. It’s rude to ignore someone just because you’re overwhelmed by their looks. Breathe. Okay, answer.
“Uh, I—I don’t know either.”
…That was way too clueless. I quickly added,
“I lost consciousness for a moment, and when I woke up, I was here.”
I decided not to explain what I had been doing before losing consciousness.
I couldn’t exactly say: I died after getting crushed by a subway train while saving someone, then some insane system window revived my body and dumped me here.
Besides, there was a good chance he wouldn’t understand words like “subway” or “system window.”
Looking at his armor, fur cape, and sword at his waist, I could roughly guess the era.
“Probably early modern… or maybe…”
Given how clean and fluffy his fur cloak was even in this harsh mountain, this might be a so-called medieval-themed modern fantasy world.
“It’s dangerous to travel alone in a place like this, even if you don’t encounter monsters.”
Right. So we should stick together.
It made sense why the party recruitment window appeared. This must be what that “waiting for party members” thing was about—someone like this handsome man.
But how do you form a party?
As I thought that, a system window appeared again, as if responding to my thoughts. Fortunately, it appeared beside him without blocking his face.
Current waiting list: (1/2)
A party invitation has arrived. Do you accept?
Of course I should accept. If I refuse here, I’ll starve within two days.
Even if I only have 30 days left, I’d like to use every bit of life I have.
Accept! Accept immediately!
As soon as I sent the mental signal, the (1/2) changed to (0/1), and a new window appeared.
[Party Formed!]
The party has been successfully created!
All mission difficulty has increased by 2x.
…What nonsense is this?
You told me to form a party, so I did—why is the difficulty increasing? Are you messing with me?
I glared at the system window, and it went poof and disappeared, like it was mocking me.
But I didn’t have time to argue with a vanished window.
I still hadn’t answered the man in front of me.
“So… would it be alright if I travel with you?”
Even though we were already systemically in a party, I asked politely.
“Yes. That would be best. Let us travel together until we reach a village.”
“Is there a village nearby?”
“To reach the nearest one, you must cross two mountains.”
Two mountains? These weren’t small hills either.
“If we don’t encounter monsters, it will take about five days.”
So it’s a rugged mountain range that takes five days just to cross—and there are monsters too.
Honestly, I wasn’t that surprised. This world already didn’t feel peaceful, and I had kind of expected monsters after seeing the party system.
“Um, then…”
“My name is Calion.”
Ah. So it’s introduction time.
Somehow the name fit him perfectly. With that unreal appearance, he felt less like a real person and more like a game character.
“My name is Joo-in.”
I decided not to give my surname. People in fantasy genres often don’t understand Korean naming conventions anyway.
But unexpectedly, he pronounced my name correctly.
“Joo-in… a beautiful name.”
That was unexpected.
“Joo-in-nim.”
“Ah! Please don’t add the ‘nim’!”
He probably meant it as honorifics, but with my name, “Joo-in-nim” sounds like “master” or something weird.
At hospitals, it was fine because they used my full name, but just the given name makes things awkward.
I don’t have any interest in being called “Master” by a stranger.
“Understood, Joo-in.”
Just “Joo-in” sounded slightly strange too.
But judging from his name, people here probably don’t attach honorific suffixes; they just say the name as-is.
Like “Amy” instead of “Amy-ya.”
“Ugh… Amy-ya, the soup is salty…”
I swallowed the joke before it escaped my mouth and smiled awkwardly.
I didn’t bother correcting him further. I was past the age where I corrected how strangers addressed me.
“Please take care of me, Calion.”
Calion lowered his eyes quietly.
His softened expression almost looked like a faint smile.
He was as still as a winter mountain.
His snow-white hair flowed smoothly without tangling, and his pure face—so flawless it looked like it contained a winter sky—shone vividly like a living statue brought to life.
His strong jawline and masculine neck removed any sense of fragility.
“That over there is the monster territory. This area is not their main habitat, but stray monsters sometimes wander nearby.”
Calion said he was a monster hunter.
With his holy appearance, I had thought he might be some kind of divine knight, but he described himself as a wanderer with no fixed affiliation.
“What kind of monsters are they? Are they different from beasts?”
Since I had set the foundation that I lost my memories from being knocked unconscious, Calion didn’t find it strange that I knew nothing about monsters.
He didn’t seem suspicious—maybe he trusted people easily, or maybe I just looked like a total beginner-level Lv.1 nobody.
“Immortal beings powered by core stones. They usually wander the mountains without eating or sleeping, but when they find humans, they become violent and try to devour them.”
“…Only humans? They don’t eat other animals?”
“Monsters do not require sustenance, as they do not reproduce.”
“So they don’t need food, but they still eat humans?”
Calion seemed to hesitate, as if even he found the explanation hard to accept.
“I’ve heard it’s because they like humans.”
“….”
Like humans? So they eat them because they “like” them? What is that supposed to mean—like liking fried chicken so much you devour it whole?
It made no sense, but arguing with Calion wouldn’t change anything.
I changed the subject.
“So you’ve been living in the mountains this whole time?”
“No. After monster hunting, I resupply at nearby villages and move on.”
So it’s hunting, not extermination. They probably can’t wipe monsters out completely.
From what I heard, there seemed to be a lot of them anyway. Even if Calion looked like a holy knight blessed by the gods, one person couldn’t defeat a million monsters.
“Don’t the monsters ever attack human villages?”
“Sometimes they do, but if they don’t come in large groups, they can be repelled.”
So they’re just normal party-playable monsters. If villagers can handle them together, they’re probably not boss-level.
“If possible, I would like to escort you to the nearest safe ‘castle’…”
A castle?
