It was a well-known fact among adventurers that heroes were often stubborn and morally bankrupt.
Ironically, I ca to realize this after encountering the eccentricities of the first hero who helped after I arrived in this world.
“What is the ultimate state of a swordmaster known to cut through everything? Radioactivity! A swordsman who handles radioactivity as aura, ignoring the opponent’s defense and destroying at the genetic level, is truly the strongest!”
“Uh… I wouldn’t recomnd that.”
“Shut up! I’m a hero, and my ability is invincible!!”
Despite my dissuasion, he used his ability to create a sword that emitted radiation, slicing through all enemies in his path, fully indulging in the thrill of being a swordmaster.
And as a result, he soon succumbed to acute systemic cancer and died.
After witnessing such Darwin Award-worthy stupidity from the first hero, I beca skeptical of heroes and spent so ti anxiously shifting from porter activities to labor jobs like city reconstruction and wall repair.
“Oh, hey there, you work really diligently. How about coming over here and helping with so digging?”
I t Ja-seong about a week after I started working at that construction site.
He, who had arrived in this world a few years before , was one of the heroes who assisted the empire primarily through labor, not adventure.
As a hero, his abilities greatly impacted the construction sites, to the extent that plans were modified around his participation.
Yet, this inevitably led to considerable doubts about his activities.
It seed unlikely that those with power would leave soone of his abilities alone, yet why did he work in labor without any patrons and settle for an inco below the average hero?
“It’s simply because I don’t like being under soone else’s control.”
One day, curious about this during a al, I asked him, and he casually explained.
“The power of a hero cos from their patrons, so no matter the title of a hero, without being under soone, you can’t enjoy any power or benefits.”
“But as a hero, can’t you benefit in various ways? Like being treated as a hero by the citizens.”
“That damned hero treatnt also needs to be selectively applied. If you’re a hero, you’re supposed to save and protect everything, but ‘this is politically problematic, so delay it; that doesn’t make money, so do this first’… With constant ddling in my work, how can anyone enjoy being a hero under those conditions?”
As he said, heroes were essentially promotional tools, when you get down to it.
Although his behavior was unbecoming of a hero, he had his own sense of justice, which likely didn’t fit what was imposed on him.
Rather than being an idol to the public, he pursued justice accompanied by freedom… In essence, this male hero seed more like a wanderer or gallant than a conventional hero.
“Of course, I could tolerate it if it were for making money, but there are things I just can’t stand, no matter what.”
However, my impression of him wasn’t just because of his human-like and friendly deanor, which differed from that of typical heroes.
Those who tread a different path from the usual heroes typically had eccentric aspects to them.
He was one of the most morable eccentrics among such heroes.
“What can’t you tolerate?”
“The food is tasteless.”
“…What?”
“The food of this world’s nobility is utterly tasteless. Moreover, sitting politely at a table and waiting dumbly for appetizers and desserts to co and go, does that make any sense?”
“Um, well, there were things like omakase in our original world, too…”
“Whether it’s omakase or irasshaimase, dawdling isn’t a man’s al! A man’s al is about going to a Korean restaurant, ordering stir-fried pork, drinking a bowl of Sikhye, and then quickly getting back to work, right!?”
Korean restaurant, huh?
I never expected to hear about a Korean restaurant in this other world, sothing I’d only heard of when working part-ti on weekends to earn tuition.
“Even though the als on the construction sites here are more palatable than the nobility’s food, I still miss the als from our previous world sotis.”
“Ahaha, I sotis feel the sa. Eating greasy food every day, I really miss the kimchi stew we had back ho…”
“Oh, Woo Hyo-Sung, you spoke at the right ti. Speaking of which, I’m going to get so ingredients for kimchi stew. Can you help carry so stuff for a bit?”
“What? A porter job?”
“Haha! Don’t worry! I’ll take care of all the dangerous stuff.”
Having developed a camaraderie while working together, it wasn’t easy to outright refuse him.
Thus, from the early days of my arrival in this world, I joined Ja-seong on his culinary adventures.
Well, calling it an adventure was a stretch; most of the places we went to were dangerous areas like magical realms or dungeons.
In this world, there were no convenient manufactured goods or genetically modified foods like in our original world, and finding substitutes was a risky business.
“Ah yes, so we ca to this forest teeming with man-eating plants just to gather garlic?”
“I tried them recently, and they taste just like garlic. I’ll quickly go and dig so up, so you just wait here for a bit, little brother!”
There was probably no one else but him who would dive into a cluster of man-eating plants just to dig up so garlic.
“Why are the barbarians here walking cabbages on leashes?”
“I looked into it, and it’s similar to how Hinduism reveres cows. They believe cabbages have life, so they treat them like pets…”
“There’s a limit to being uncivilized. Hyo-Sung, distract them for a bit. I need to harvest all these cabbages for kimchi-making.”
“…You do realize we might end up as sacrificial offerings in a voodoo ritual, right?”
He was probably the only one who would raid a barbarian’s ritual garden just to eat so kimchi.
Soone making seasoning from lava containing special minerals lted from a volcano to give a smoky flavor to stir-fried pork, and another battling a ten-ter tall ice golem to get ingredients for ice cream to be eaten as dessert…
“It’s a world where even preparing a al is tough! But isn’t the taste alright, considering the effort put into getting it!?”
“It’s just… well… edible.”
“Haha! Yes, we risked our lives for that ordinariness, sothing we won’t experience again in this world!”
Despite the reward not seeming like much, Ja-seong genuinely rejoiced, focusing on the sense of familiarity it brought.
Though I couldn’t shake off the thought of him being eccentric, dining with him occasionally made nostalgic for the old world.
The fact that one had to risk their life just to get a glimpse of the fragnts of the previous world made realize that I could no longer return to my original world.
“Well, now that the al is over, it’s ti to pray.”
Feeling that bitterness at the end of the al, he would always quietly pray in front of , holding a cross.
It was a mont when he, always jovial and acting on a whim, revealed a solemn dignity akin to working.
This was an attitude he could show as a believer in a religion, separate from his eccentric traits.
“Speaking of which, Ja-seong. You said you were supporting a religious order, right?”
“It’s not a very famous order, but, well, the more powerful ones are no different from nobility, so it felt odd to join them. Smaller, lesser-known orders tend to be more active in community service.”
Rather than becoming a lackey for orders that already had everything and enjoying the benefits, he wanted to help lesser-known orders that devoted themselves to caring for people, even if they had nothing.
When thinking that such action befit a hero, he often explained the reasons why he adopted a religion.
“In my original world, I lived recklessly and committed several regrettable acts. So, I tried to nd my ways by volunteering and embracing religion… But just because I ca to another world doesn’t an my trashy past disappears, and I can’t stop repenting, can I?”
“…Contrary to appearances, you’re surprisingly devout.”
“Devout, huh? It’s just sothing I do for my own peace of mind.”
Helping others was ultimately a rebellion against his past behavior and a way to correct his own actions.
In this way, he considered himself a hypocrite, but on the other hand, he thought that even such hypocrisy was enough if it helped soone.
Especially after eting several people intoxicated with their own abilities and moral failures.
“Hiiiik! Please don’t kill !”
However, there inevitably cos a day when you part ways with soone you’ve co to respect.
The catalyst for this was when we ventured into the demon realm to gather ingredients and found a demon tribe mber isolated in the middle of the forest.
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