Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad [EN]: Chapter 3

“Seriously, what’s the big deal calling me when I’m so busy?”

Rachel’s expression was quite sour today.

It was because she had been summoned by her superior.

“I need to hit top performance again this month and get that bonus!”

These days, people are so lethargic that it’s not easy to send them as Heroes.

Nevertheless, Rachel had achieved the top Hero transfer performance for the past few months and was still fighting hard to maintain her position.

“Ahem, ahem…!”

Lost in thoughts of her performance, she arrived at her destination before she knew it.

A hallway paved with pure white marble.

Rachel, standing in front of the door at the end, straightened her clothes.

Rachel opened the door with the brightest smile she could muster.

“Did you call for me?”

“Yes.”

Greeting Rachel was a man with a stern face.

Her superior, named ‘Frizzella.’

“Rachel, that man named Choi Hyun-seok. Do you remember him?”

Frizzella abruptly brought up Choi Hyun-seok’s name.

Rachel was momentarily flustered but quickly regained her composure.

“Of course. He was an important Hero candidate with SSS-grade potential.”

The only man from Earth with SSS-grade potential.

She even received a special bonus for sending him as a Hero, so there was no way she could forget.

“You said it yourself. That you completed Choi Hyun-seok’s transfer without any issues.”

“I did!”

Rachel was puzzled.

Why was her superior, Frizzella, saying this?

She didn’t know the reason, but a sense of unease began to creep in.

“Where did you transfer Choi Hyun-seok to?”

“I sent him to the capital of the Domis Kingdom with the other Heroes. Giving Choi Hyun-seok special treatment from the start just because he has SSS-grade potential would violate regulations.”

“I see… So, you sent him to the capital of the Domis Kingdom?”

“Yes!”

“But you know…”

Frizzella clenched her teeth as if trying to suppress her anger.

“Since when did the capital of the Domis Kingdom turn into a Demon King’s army fortress?”

“Pardon?”

“Did the Domis Kingdom perhaps fall without me knowing?”

“What are you talking about…”

Rachel couldn’t understand what her superior was saying at all.

“Choi Hyun-seok is a very, very important prospective Hero. So, I checked separately to see if he was properly transferred. Even though it violates regulations, it was that important.”

Frizzella approached and brought her face close.

“And I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

“…”

“Why on earth! Why! Is Choi Hyun-seok captured in the Demon King’s army fortress!?”

“Demon King’s army fortress, you say…?”

“That’s not all. There are a whopping 93 other prospective Heroes captured there.”

“What!?”

“Looking at the records, all of them were sent by you, Rachel. And that’s just in the last three months.”

Frizzella glared fiercely.

“You sent them recklessly without even checking their qualifications as Heroes, all to boost your performance. And as if that wasn’t enough…!”

Frizzella’s voice gradually rose as she spoke.

“You’re throwing all the Heroes into the Demon King’s army fortress!? Even Choi Hyun-seok, who has SSS-grade potential!? You must be out of your mind!”

“T, that can’t be…”

“I just checked your transfer equipment. It turns out the transfer coordinates were incorrectly entered.”

“Coordinates…?”

At that moment, for some reason.

A scene flashed through Rachel’s mind.

“Mmm, macarons are the best.”

One month ago.

That day, when she was enjoying coffee and macarons as usual.

“Slurp… Ah! Hot!”

She spilled coffee on the typewriter.

And wiped the typewriter with a cloth.

‘Could it be that time…?’

Rachel wore a blank expression.

Frizzella smirked and placed a hand on Rachel’s shoulder.

“Are you starting to grasp the situation now?”

“W, well…”

“Rachel, you’re prepared for this, right?”

***

Demon King’s Army 3rd Corps, 2nd Slave Unit.

Thousands of human slaves were mobilized here to expand the fortress.

“We are… the great… Demon King’s Army…”

Choi Hyun-seok swung his pickaxe while singing the Demon King’s Army 3rd Corps’ anthem.

“Let’s defeat humans. Let’s devour humans…”

How long had he been swinging the pickaxe with glazed eyes?

“That’s all for today’s work. Everyone, get inside!”

Zak, the goblin leading the slave squad Choi Hyun-seok belonged to, shouted.

“Get in there! You useless humans!”

Zak kicked the slaves’ butts.

‘That son of a bitch…’

‘You shorty!’

The ugly monster goblin with green skin was small.

As such, any average adult male could easily subdue him.

However, people didn’t dare to attack Zak.

It was because of his cruel personality.

Zak, who wielded a 1-meter-long sword indiscriminately, was synonymous with terror for the slaves here.

“Human! What are you dawdling about!?”

The spark flew to Choi Hyun-seok.

The approaching Zak struck the back of his head with his palm.

“Huh!? Why aren’t you going quickly! You snail!”

Zak was short, so his hand couldn’t reach the back of Choi Hyun-seok’s head, who was 198cm tall [approximately 6’6″].

So, he jumped up and down to hit the back of his head, which made him even more angry.

‘This goblin bastard…!’

For a moment, a fire ignited in Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes, but he desperately controlled his emotions.

“I, I’m going. Haha!”

Choi Hyun-seok lowered his head with a fake smile.

“Go quickly! You stupid human!”

“Yes… Yes!”

Choi Hyun-seok hurriedly returned to his cell.

‘I’m not going to let you die peacefully…’

Someday, he would get his revenge.

He would hit that annoying goblin’s head about 500 times until he begged to be killed.

How long had he been sharpening the blade of revenge?

Before he knew it, all the slaves had returned.

Zak locked the prison door and left.

“Hoo… Finally, it’s quiet.”

Choi Hyun-seok sighed.

Now, the prison was more comfortable.

At least there were no Demon King’s soldiers to make him work or harass him here.

‘Now, shall I check today’s results?’

There was something Choi Hyun-seok was into these days.

To be exact, it was his only hope.

That was the status window!

The status window was similar to the interface used in games.

He learned about it thanks to the people here.

“It’s a special ability only Heroes have!”

Park Tae-soo, a fellow slave with a wealth of knowledge, told him that the status window had a very familiar user environment.

▫Name: Choi Hyun-seok

▫Title: Prospective Hero

▫Level: 1

·Strength: 28

·Agility: 29

·Stamina: 31

·Mana: 10

·Bonus Points: 0

▫Hero Points: 0

▫Ability: Pickaxe Digging (D)

▫Skills: –

“Oh, Stamina went up by 1.”

Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes, which had been like those of a dead fish, regained a little vitality.

He had heard that stats would increase if you worked hard.

But he had been giving up halfway because there had been no response for a week, but finally, a stat had increased.

“Did your stats already go up?”

Park Tae-soo, a slave from the next cell, spoke to him.

It seemed he had heard Choi Hyun-seok muttering.

“Yes. Stamina went up by 1.”

“Amazing. So, the world champion is different, huh? Haha!”

“What good is being a world champion? I’m a slave.”

Choi Hyun-seok smiled bitterly.

“No. I’m sure you can escape this place and become a real Hero.”

Park Tae-soo was sincere.

How surprised he was when he first learned Choi Hyun-seok’s identity.

That the famous world-class martial arts champion was right here.

Moreover, his stats were extraordinary.

The average stats of the Heroes who come here are usually 10-15.

Even if they were really high, they were around the late teens, but Choi Hyun-seok had stats of nearly 30 from the start.

“I’ve heard it said, but starting stats affect growth potential.”

That’s what a Hero who was captured here and died a while ago said.

If that were true, Choi Hyun-seok would become a Hero with greater potential than anyone else.

That thought became even more certain as he watched Choi Hyun-seok’s growth rate.

“You said your Pickaxe Digging ability is D-grade now?”

“Yes.”

“You’re really something else!”

The Pickaxe Digging ability was a common one possessed by all the Hero slaves here.

However, considering that Choi Hyun-seok had only been at the fortress for a week, it was amazing.

Usually, it was the time when the Pickaxe Digging ability was just starting to develop.

Choi Hyun-seok had not only created the ability but had also improved it by two stages.

‘He’s not a fake Hero like us, but a real Hero material!’

One might say what’s the big deal about just Pickaxe Digging, but Park Tae-soo sincerely believed it.

Someday, Choi Hyun-seok would escape this hell and become a true Hero.

‘I need to make a good impression before that!’

There are two ways to survive in the harsh wilderness.

Either you are excellent.

Or you have to grab the right rope.

Park Tae-soo’s senses, honed by 30 years of corporate life, told him.

That Choi Hyun-seok was the top-notch lifeline.

***

That night.

Even though it was late, Choi Hyun-seok couldn’t fall asleep.

“Hoo…”

The cold stone floor felt against his back.

There was a bed made roughly of straw in the cell, but the smell was so foul that he didn’t even want to look at it.

‘How long will it take to raise my stats like this and get out of here…?’

Recently, these stats were Choi Hyun-seok’s only hope.

‘Will I become strong if I roughly achieve an average of 100?’

The current average of his stats, excluding Mana, was about 30.

So, he would have to raise each stat by 70 more, which means raising a total of 210.

‘Since it went up by one each week, 210 would be roughly 1470 days. 4 years, huh…?’

It was really a useless calculation.

There was no guarantee that his stats would continue to rise every week.

Choi Hyun-seok knew that fact as well.

He was only doing this because he felt like he could endure this hell if he did something like this.

‘This is all because of that vixen Rachel, right?’

He gritted his teeth even in his sleep when he thought of Rachel.

‘How can she do this when she has such a pretty face!?’

How could she do that?

He was even going to convert to Christianity because of Rachel.

But she was committing such a shameless act!

“Hero, you say! When I wake up, the village chief of a rural village will come running barefoot, saying, ‘Hero-nim~! [Hero-sir]’ and serve me food…”

The village chief of a rural village?

What actually appeared was a cow-headed muscle monster spewing flames from its horns.

“I finished my mission, and what do you know? The village chief’s youngest daughter was a pure and beautiful woman in her 20s!?”

There was no beautiful woman.

There was only a short goblin who evoked disgust just by looking at him.

Oh, wielding a sword covered in scabs was optional.

Choi Hyun-seok gnashed his teeth.

‘I can’t die like this! I’ll survive no matter what.’

Hero? I don’t know about that anymore.

I’m not interested.

Choi Hyun-seok’s goal was to survive.

And to take revenge.

The ugly goblin guard Zak.

The boss, cow-head Raidrun.

Finally, Rachel, the devil in an angel’s mask.

‘Until I get stronger… Until then, I’ll lie low.’

He had to get stronger somehow.

He heard that in this world, you can gain superhuman strength with something called mana.

·Mana: 10

His mana was only 10 now, but there would be a way to raise it somehow.

That wasn’t the only hope.

‘What are these Hero Points? They seem very important…’

Choi Hyun-seok paid attention to the ‘Hero Points’ item at the bottom of the status window.

▫Hero Points: 0

Unfortunately, no one knew about this.

Everyone was just talking nonsense.

“If you collect those points, you can buy a legendary weapon!”

“I heard you can go back to Earth?”

“They say it gives you so much power that you can break rocks with one punch.”

There was nothing particularly helpful.

What would these fake Heroes know?

They were just slaves who had fallen into the fortress and lived as slaves from the start.

They had only heard more because they had come a little earlier than Choi Hyun-seok.

“Hero Points. I need to know what this is…”

Choi Hyun-seok frowned and continued to think.

Then, a familiar voice came from behind.

“Shall I tell you?”

Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes widened at the voice.

‘This voice, could it be…?’

His head slowly turned.

Choi Hyun-seok knew who the owner of the voice was.

How could he forget this voice?

Although it was a short encounter, he would probably never forget it.

“Y, you…!?”

“It’s been a while, Hero-nim [Hero-sir].”

Rachel greeted him with a shy smile.