HLGST 01

Chapter 01

001. I Became the Good-for-Nothing Son of a Slave Trader

“Die… please… just die…!”

A tearful voice pulled me awake.

Standing before me was a woman so breathtakingly beautiful that it was impossible to look away.

She looked like a famous actress come to life, but her lovely face was twisted with hatred as she hurled curses at me.

The veins on her forehead bulged as she squeezed my throat with all her strength.

Crunch—

“You worthless bastard…! Even tearing you limb from limb wouldn’t be enough, you piece of human garbage…!”

Only then did I think:

Ah… this must be a dream.

If this were real, the pain would have been too overwhelming to stay conscious.

So this had to be a dream.

Still… what a bizarre dream.

Maybe it was because I’d convinced myself it was one, but I felt strangely calm.

Calm enough to observe the chaotic scene around me.

For example…

The woman currently strangling me.

Looking closer, there wasn’t a single place on her body that escaped notice.

Setting aside the fact that she wasn’t wearing a single stitch of clothing, what really caught my eye were the countless deep wounds covering her body.

That’s… really bad.

No matter what she did, who the hell beats someone like this…?

Long crimson welts crisscrossed her silky skin.

Fresh blood still seeped from many of them.

Judging by the wounds, someone had clearly whipped her.

What kind of lunatic would do something like this…?

I was left speechless.

Then—

“Ah…”

Our eyes met.

Reflected in her emerald-green eyes was a pig.

No…

An absurdly obese mountain of fat.

The moment she saw my face, she bit her lip so hard that blood trickled from it.

“Die! Dieeeeeee!”

Even if this was only a dream…

For the first time, I felt genuine fear.

Her murderous eyes.

Her scream filled with rage.

Her face twisted by hatred.

I’d only ever heard of expressions like that.

Seeing one in real life made chills run down my spine.

…Huh?

Wait.

My spine?

But… this is a dream. How could I possibly—

“Ghk—!”

“Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!”

Suddenly, all the air burst from my lungs.

No…

It escaped, only for my throat to clamp shut again.

I had no idea what was happening.

Nor did I have time to think about it.

“Kh… Kghh… Gaaaah…!”

“Dieeeee!”

It hurt.

It hurt.

It hurt more than anything I’d ever experienced.

So this was what people meant when they said their vision turned yellow.

I struggled desperately to survive, but this sluggish body refused to obey.

As the agony continued to build, even my vision slowly faded into darkness.

Am I… going to die?

The instant that thought crossed my mind—

“Gasp! Haaah! Haaah!”

My airway suddenly opened.

Like a starving beggar, I greedily gulped down mouthfuls of air.

The disgusting squealing sound coming from my throat irritated me, but now wasn’t the time to worry about dignity.

First…

If I wanted to live, I had to get away from this crazy woman.

I tried to move.

Then—

Thud.

…What?

A surprisingly light weight collapsed onto my body.

Forcing myself to lift my head, I saw the woman lying face-down on top of me, completely motionless.

Honestly…

Who wouldn’t panic in this situation?

“Uwaaaaaah!”

I leaped to my feet.

As I did, the woman naturally rolled back onto the bed.

For a moment I wondered if she’d died.

Fortunately, she still seemed to be breathing—barely.

Considering the condition she’d been in before going berserk, collapsing like this was probably inevitable.

Anyway…

“Haaah… haaah… I’m alive… fuck.”

A curse slipped out without thinking.

Honestly, it was a miracle that “fuck” was all I said.

What a goddamn disaster.

What the hell is going on?

Looking around, unfamiliar scenery greeted me.

A magnificent chandelier hung from the ceiling.

Golden candleholders decorated the walls.

The furniture looked incredibly expensive.

This is practically the bedroom of some medieval noble…

No matter how much I racked my aching brain, I couldn’t make sense of it.

Could this still be a dream?

No.

Everything felt terrifyingly real.

The pain lingering around my neck was proof enough.

“…Sigh.”

If that was the case, I needed to retrace my memories.

Unfortunately…

There wasn’t much to remember.

I remember getting absolutely wasted at the company dinner.

Then everyone wanted to go to karaoke for a second round.

I secretly slipped away instead and drank even more by myself.

After that… everything’s fuzzy…

“Ah!”

Wait.

I remembered.

Oh, for fuck’s sake…

A memory flashed through my mind.

Last night.

While hugging a utility pole in an alley and vomiting my guts out…

An old man dressed like a hippie had suddenly appeared before me.

That dazzling white smile of his—so bright it practically screamed “Hawaii”—came rushing back.

I vaguely remembered chatting with him about a bunch of nonsense.

But only one thing remained clear.

A suspicious red lottery box…

Don’t tell me… that lottery…

My head throbbed.

“Congratulations! You won first prize! Now tell me your wish!”

“My wish? Hic… I just want to YOLO my way through life until I croak. Anything’s better than working myself to death every single day.”

“Hoho! Live freely until you die, eh? Excellent! Then I shall grant your wish! Congratulations!”

Creak.

“Congratulations my ass, you senile old lunatic!”

I clutched my aching forehead.

Something straight out of a dream had become reality.

For now…

All I could do was take a deep breath and accept this impossible situation.

Fine.

Let’s pretend something straight out of a movie… or a novel… happened to me.

Let’s say I somehow escaped dying from overwork at my crappy company.

…But seriously.

Almost dying before I even got to enjoy my YOLO life? That’s just unfair.

The memory made my body shiver.

My gaze naturally drifted toward the unconscious woman lying on the bed.

Then I noticed it.

…A magnifying glass?

Floating above the silver-haired woman’s head was what looked like a magnifying-glass icon.

No…

More accurately, it looked like a game UI icon.

Curious, I focused on it.

The moment I did—

“Ha… haha…”

A laugh escaped my lips.

【Aria Scarlet】

Female / 19 Years Old / High Elf

■ Mindless Avenger ★★★★

• Level: 17 ▼
• STR: 4 ▼
• INT: 21 ▼
• DEX: 15 ▼
• CON: 4 ▼
• CHA: 23 ▼

Traits:

• Frail
• Despair
• Avenger
• Slave

Was this some kind of emotion-reading ability?

A game-like status window appeared in midair without me doing anything.

“Mindless Avenger…”

That single title explained everything.

It wasn’t hard to figure out why she’d tried to kill me.

And they’re even kind enough to spell it out.

As I focused on each trait, additional information appeared.

[Frail]

Her body has been severely weakened through torture.

Several attributes are reduced.

Highly vulnerable to disease.

[Despair]

The Blake family of slave traders slaughtered half of her clan.

Overwhelmed by despair, she is far more likely to choose self-destruction.

[Avenger]

She lives only to avenge her people.

She will never stop until her revenge is fulfilled.

[Slave]

She is bound by a slave collar.

All of her overall abilities are greatly reduced.

The slave collar… must be that.

The iron collar wrapped around her slender neck.

If the status window was right…

Then she was a slave.

Which meant…

“The original owner of this body belongs to the Blake family… a family of slave traders?”

Sigh…

Unable to suppress another sigh, I turned around.

I stopped in front of the enormous golden mirror I’d noticed earlier.

Reluctantly opening my eyes…

A bitter laugh escaped me.

Reflected in the luxurious mirror…

Was a body that looked anything but luxurious.

“You look like the kind of guy who’d use one of those hypnosis apps… What a sight.”

The sagging belly.

The multiple chins.

It was truly spectacular.

In this fantasy world…

Even an orc would probably feel insulted if someone suggested we become friends.

Now this is just plain unfair.

That hippie old man had completely scammed me.

No matter how hard I tried to think positively…

This wasn’t first prize.

It was the grand prize of bad luck.

A nuclear-level losing ticket.

Of course…

My despair wasn’t just because of my appearance.

You damned animal…

Above my own head floated the same magnifying-glass icon.

【Ian Blake】

Male / 18 Years Old / Human

■ A Petty Narcissist Consumed by Inferiority ★

• Level: 6
• STR: 12
• INT: 8
• DEX: 6
• CON: 5
• CHA: 1

Traits:

• Inferiority Complex
• Cowardly
• Morbid Obesity
• Narcissist
• Patricide
• Impotent
• Twisted Sexual Desires

“…Sigh.”

The terrible stats?

Fine.

I could reluctantly accept those.

But that combination of Patricide, Impotent, and Twisted Sexual Desires?

That was impossible to ignore.

He’s like a medieval version of Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu…

No… this eunuch’s even worse.

How do you murder your own father…?

[Patricide]

Blinded by lust, he assassinated his own father through underhanded means.

His growth potential has been drastically reduced.

Then the woman he was obsessed with…

Obviously it’s her.

Wonderful.

This world’s already a complete train wreck.

The real problem…

Was that I was now the one expected to clean up the mess.

“…Ah, my life.”

Where exactly was the “YOLO” part supposed to begin?

Every path I looked at only seemed to lead to an early grave.

In movies, protagonists always adapt to situations like this without missing a beat…

So why can’t I think of a single solution?

“Aaaagh!”

Unable to hold back, I grabbed my hair in frustration.

“…”

Something felt wrong.

There was…

A lot of hair in my hand.

“This bastard’s balding too?”

Dear God…

Why are You putting me through this?

Knock. Knock.

Just as my mind began to shut down…

A knock at the door shattered the miserable silence.

“Young Master Ian, it’s Harrison.”

Damn.

The worst possible situation had arrived far sooner than expected.

I wasn’t prepared for this at all.

Meeting someone who actually knew the original owner of this body?

That was practically guaranteed to expose me.

The only silver lining was that he’d announced his name first.

My strange ability activated automatically.

Of course…

The situation remained hopeless.

The butler’s description says: “A clumsy and treacherous schemer.”

And he even has the trait Poisoner?

Just what kind of life did this impotent bastard live?

I couldn’t help letting out a dry laugh.

It was almost miraculous that he’d survived this long.

Then again…

Maybe this was simply the moment everything finally caught up with him.

One thing was certain.

I had absolutely no intention of dying quietly.

“First things first… I need to figure out how to stay alive.”