Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad [EN]: Chapter 7

Central Square of Hemone Fortress.

Choi Hyun-seok was leading physical training with 3,000 slaves.

“Match the rhythm and run! One! Two!”

At first glance, it seemed lively, but Choi Hyun-seok’s mind was full of worries.

‘I need to start combat training soon…’

Initially, he superficially conducted formation drills or had them sing military songs to appease Raidrun.

Suddenly starting combat training would raise suspicion, and he needed to demonstrate improved work efficiency first.

The plan was to gradually increase training time as results became visible and secretly incorporate combat training, but…

‘Why is he so interested!?’

Raidrun watched Choi Hyun-seok’s training every day.

“It’s okay! His interest won’t last long!””Right? It won’t!”

Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel had hoped his interest wouldn’t last long.

Raidrun was a high-ranking officer in the Demon King’s army.

What fun could it be for him to watch slaves training?

But unfortunately…

“Excellent. Excellent!”

Raidrun was genuinely enjoying it.

It wasn’t just a fleeting interest.

Raidrun’s interest in the morning training grew day by day.

He started actively giving Choi Hyun-seok his opinions, and now he had even moved his office to a location overlooking the training ground (square).

At this rate, combat training is out of the question.

‘Haa… what should I do…’

Choi Hyun-seok ran his hand over his face.

‘At least it’s a relief that my Charisma stat keeps increasing…’

About ten days had passed since starting the training.

In the meantime, Charisma had increased by a whopping 8 points, reaching 20.

Troop Leadership also rose from F to E grade.

But this alone is not enough.

Choi Hyun-seok’s goal is rebellion! A coup!

To drive out the blockhead Raidrun and occupy this fortress.

‘No. Let’s calm down. I shouldn’t rush things. Slowly, step by step…’

As Choi Hyun-seok was lost in thought…

“Waaaaaa…!”

“Kyaaaya-!”

A commotion was heard in the distance.

“What is it?”

“What’s going on?”

The slaves’ atmosphere became chaotic.

Choi Hyun-seok clapped to get their attention.

“Everyone, focus! Training isn’t over yet!”

He didn’t know what was going on, but it probably wasn’t related to him, a slave.

It was best to focus on training for now.

At that moment.

“Choi Hyun-seoook-!”

A huge shout was heard, echoing throughout the fortress.

Turning around, he saw the giant Raidrun running at an incredible speed.

It was such a terrifying speed that a cloud of dust rose behind him, like in a cartoon.

“Y-yes!?”

“There’s no time. We have to leave the fortress immediately!”

Raidrun grabbed Choi Hyun-seok’s wrist and said.

Choi Hyun-seok’s eyeballs began to roll 360 degrees.

‘What are you suddenly talking about?’

What on earth is this crazy blockhead saying?

As Choi Hyun-seok was panicking, people in armor began to run from afar.

“There he is! That’s the leader! The Red Nightmare Raidrun!””Regular soldiers, fall back! Knights will handle him!”

Five heavily armed knights rushed towards Raidrun.

As soon as he saw them, Choi Hyun-seok understood the general situation.

‘The human army is here!’

He didn’t know the exact circumstances, but the human allied forces had invaded Hemone Fortress.

The fortress had fallen, and Raidrun was clearly trying to abandon the fortress and escape.

‘But why is this crazy blockhead trying to take me with him!?’

Choi Hyun-seok cautiously glanced at Raidrun.

‘What should I do? Should I hit him now?’

Choi Hyun-seok hadn’t forgotten his first day in this fortress.

Raidrun took his head kick head-on and wasn’t fazed.

He had formidable durability.

And what about his strength?

Just grabbing him almost crushed his ankle and crippled him.

‘But I’ve grown since then too. And this time, I even have reinforcements.’

Five knights running towards Raidrun.

They were wearing heavy armor at a glance.

Yet, they were moving at an incredible speed, surpassing ordinary people.

They were clearly very skilled.

‘Let’s seize the opportunity to escape while the knights are dealing with Raidrun.’

If necessary, he was thinking of shaking off Raidrun and escaping to the human side.

At that moment, Raidrun suddenly disappeared.

Shu-shook-!

It was a fleeting moment.

Raidrun had already reached the five knights.

Koo-oong, Kwajik! Koong! Kwaak! Pu-hwaaa!

It’s impossible to see what happened.

As Raidrun waved his hand, the armored knights flew away like cannonballs.

“Uh…?”

Choi Hyun-seok’s jaw dropped to the floor.

‘H-he went through the wall…’

A person was embedded in the wall.

Not just embedded, but dug into the wall.

The armor they were wearing exploded, and their once-majestic bodies were now covered in blood.

“Choi Hyun-seok. What are you doing? I told you we need to go!”

Raidrun shook off the blood from his fist and urged.

Choi Hyun-seok, who had been spacing out, finally came to his senses and nodded.

“Yes! Raidrun-nim!”

A tear streamed down Choi Hyun-seok’s cheek as he ran out of the fortress.

***

It’s a peaceful journey.

The air was clear, and all that could be seen in all directions were endless meadows and the horizon.

Several carriages were passing by on the road that followed the scenery.

The carriages were pulled by Drakhons, magical beasts similar in appearance to horses.

Clatter… clatter…

Only the sound of the Drakhons running could be heard in the quiet.

Choi Hyun-seok was sitting alone in the cargo hold of the carriage.

His eyes were unfocused, like a crazy person.

He had been staring at the sky for five hours already.

‘I’m finished…’

Choi Hyun-seok sighed deeply.

It had already been a day since they left Hemone Fortress.

In the meantime, the human allied forces had sent pursuit teams several times to capture Raidrun.

“There he is! We’re almost catching up!”

The pursuit team rode in spiritedly on horseback.

There were about 100 of them.

The few surviving Demon King’s soldiers were trembling with fear.

Raidrun stepped forward alone.

“You’re the Red Nightmare Raidrun.”

“That’s right.”

“Today, I’ll cut off your head and raise the kingdom’s prestige, Keuaaaa!”

The commander of the pursuit team, who was trying to cut off Raidrun’s head and establish the kingdom’s prestige.

He died with his neck ripped off.

Alive.

The pursuit team, who saw the sight, all froze…

And a massacre occurred.

Red Nightmare Raidrun.

At that time, Choi Hyun-seok was able to understand why Raidrun was called the Red Nightmare.

‘I tried to beat a guy like that… I wasn’t in my right mind.’

Raidrun was beyond the level that humans could handle.

He even felt stupid for trying to stand against such a guy.

Choi Hyun-seok gave a pathetic smile.

‘Goodbye… Isekai [another world]… Goodbye… Adventure… Goodbye… My 2nd life…’

Choi Hyun-seok dreamed.

To go to another world, go on a great adventure, and become a hero who defeats the Demon King!

After that, to meet a kind and beautiful blonde noble lady, have a sweet romance, and get married!

To have lots of rabbit-like children and build a happy family.

In his old age, he had a grand plan to spend time watching his grandchildren playing in a small mansion!

“It’s over now…”

A hero who defeats the Demon King?

The reality is that he is dragged away as a slave without being able to handle even one of the Demon King’s army officers.

What blonde noble lady?

The only people he’s seen since coming here are the grimy slaves in the same situation.

“Haa…”

It was when Choi Hyun-seok was sighing deeply.

“Hero-nim [term of respect]. Hero-nim…!”

Then Rachel sat on Choi Hyun-seok’s shoulder and whispered.

“Get a hold of yourself! Hero-nim!””Call me a slave, not a hero…””Please, get a hold of yourself!”

Rachel raised her tiny hand and slapped Choi Hyun-seok’s cheek.

Whack!

But Choi Hyun-seok didn’t react at all.

It would be nice if he got angry.

“Eueiei…!”

Rachel, who was clenching her fists tightly and trembling, continued.

“Hero-nim! Even if you go into a tiger’s den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you!””How do you know that proverb…””That’s not the point right now! What I mean is, we can turn this situation into an opportunity!”

At the word opportunity, Choi Hyun-seok’s head turned weakly.

“What opportunity…”

“You can properly understand the actual conditions of the Demon King’s army. If you escape later, it will definitely be a great help in becoming a hero…””Don’t talk about escaping!”

Choi Hyun-seok grabbed Rachel.

“If you hadn’t sent me to the Demon King’s fortress in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“…”

Rachel was embarrassed by Choi Hyun-seok’s words.

She rolled her eyes around and then lowered her head.

“I’m sorry…”

“Hoo… it’s okay. What’s the point of thinking about what’s already happened.”

There’s nothing that will change if he blames Rachel now.

Choi Hyun-seok muttered self-deprecatingly.

“Choi Hyun-seok. What’s wrong?”

Suddenly, a huge head resembling a bull popped out.

It was the Red Nightmare. Raidrun.

“It’s nothing! Haha!”

Choi Hyun-seok smiled brightly as if he had never been discouraged.

“Good to see you look healthy.””Of course! I’m all about health!””Okay. We’ll be arriving at the 3rd Corps headquarters soon, so please take care of me then.”

“Yes…?”

Choi Hyun-seok made a blank expression.

Take care of him? With what?

Raidrun continued to explain.

“Didn’t I tell you? That we’re going to see the Corps Commander. I plan to formally enlist you in the Demon King’s army.”

Honey was dripping from Raidrun’s eyes as he spoke.

“Ah, eugh, ah…”

Choi Hyun-seok, whose brain had stopped, couldn’t speak and babbled.

“Is there a problem?”

Raidrun’s eyes suddenly turned fierce.

Choi Hyun-seok was startled and came to his senses.

“Ah, no! It’s such an honor that I didn’t even realize it! Hahaha!””That’s right! Keuahaha! You really are the man who suits the Demon King’s army more than anyone else!””Of course, you’re the best, Raidrun-nim! Hahahaha!””Is that so!? Hahahaha!!!”

For a while, the laughter of the two men did not leave the carriage.

***

At the same time.

The human allied forces, who had occupied Hemone Fortress, were releasing the slaves.

“Citizens of the Mariotte Kingdom, come this way!””This is the Drasen Empire!”

The atmosphere is quite chaotic.

There were as many as 3,000 people captured in Hemone Fortress.

It seemed it would take quite some time to return them all to their respective homelands.

“Hmm… where should I go?”

Choi Hyun-seok’s slave colleague, Park Tae-soo.

He was in serious 고민 [agony/worry].

‘I can’t suddenly say I’m a hero, this is really…’

There were nearly a hundred people in this place in a similar situation to Park Tae-soo.

Unhappy people who fell into the Demon King’s fortress despite being heroes.

As they gathered in one place, unable to do anything, a soldier approached.

“Are you all perhaps heroes?”

The soldier’s words brightened the faces of the people.

“Yes! That’s right!”

“All the heroes, please follow me.”

The soldier guided the prospective heroes.

The heroes began to get excited with slightly flushed faces.

“We’ll be treated properly now, right?””Of course! We’re heroes!””I knew it! There’s no way we’d be treated like this!?””If it weren’t for that Rachel, we could have lived comfortably in this life too!””Now it’s finally running like a proper Isekai!”

Everyone was excited and throwing out a word each.

Only Park Tae-soo remained silent.

‘Something’s wrong…’

Park Tae-soo is a man without any special abilities.

The reason he was able to endure more than 30 years of social life was one thing.

He was good at grabbing the right 줄 (rope/line) [opportunity].

In the workplace and in society.

He was ghostly aware of when and what 줄 [opportunity] he had to grab to survive and climb up.

‘The atmosphere is strange.’

Park Tae-soo’s 직감 (intuition) [gut feeling] rang an alarm.

That this road is a rotten 동아줄 (rope) [lifeline].

That if he grabs this and climbs up, the 줄 [rope] will break and he will fall.

‘It can’t hurt to be careful.’

Park Tae-soo carefully broke away from the ranks.

It was to watch the situation for a while.

It wasn’t difficult to get out because the atmosphere was so chaotic.

‘Let’s secretly follow and join later if the atmosphere looks okay.’

The prospective heroes continued to move, following the soldier’s guidance.

The place they finally arrived at was a vacant lot.

There were heavily armed knights and soldiers.

An elderly man in the middle.

Olaben Grimier, the Duke of the Drasen Empire and commander of the allied forces, greeted the heroes with a welcoming face.

“Welcome. Heroes.”

Commander Olaben stepped forward.

“I’ll ask, is there anyone among you who is not a hero?”

The heroes shook their heads at Olaben’s question.

“We all came here as heroes.”

“I see.”

At that moment, Olaben gave a twisted smile.

“Start it.”

What does he mean by starting it?

The question didn’t last long.

Shoaaaaaaa-!

A rain of arrows poured in from all directions.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Keoheok, keok! Save me!”

The heroes tried to escape, but it was impossible.

The soldiers had already blocked all the paths.

“Kkeoeok…! Kkeueok…”

“Keoheok…”

The hellscape ended in an instant.

Before the time to drink a cup of tea had passed, all the heroes were dead.

The soldiers showed meticulousness, stabbing the chests of the fallen people one by one to confirm the kill.

A pretty familiar look.

It didn’t seem like they had done it once or twice.

“Commander-nim [term of respect]. All killed.””Good. There are no missed personnel, right?””They say that all the heroes in the fortress were gathered and managed in one area from the beginning. There would be no one who leaked out.””Really? There are times when the Demon King’s army guys are helpful. Hahaha.”

Commander Olaben laughed heartily as if he was really enjoying it.

And the man watching him from afar, Park Tae-soo, trembled like an aspen tree.

‘W-what’s going on!?’

He has to escape from here.

The moment he hears that he is a hero, he will die.

‘If I just rejoin the ranks…’

As Park Tae-soo was carefully turning around.

A soldier blocked the way.

“Ah, aren’t you perhaps a hero?””Yes, yes!? No!”

Park Tae-soo, flustered, waved his arms urgently.

“That’s strange. Black hair must be a demon if it’s not a hero. Are you perhaps a demon?”

Suddenly a demon, he is not such a being.