Chapter 76

Heness’s New World

Heness turned her head and looked around the room. In her earlier haste, she hadn’t noticed, but the lavishly decorated love hotel was an interior style she had never seen in her life. Of course, her youth and lack of travel were part of the reason, but the elegant lines of the exquisitely finished wood, the beautiful patterns carved into the walls, and the soft lighting, whose method she couldn’t even begin to guess, were so beautiful that they made her gasp.

And how soft and comfortable was the bed she was sitting on? The sensation of the water bed, swaying precariously, was like something out of a fairy tale princess’s room. On one wall, a clean, transparent mirror, which she had admired before, was large enough to reflect her entire body with room to spare. On another wall, mysterious translucent curtains covered the window. A gracefully painted landscape, whose artist she didn’t know, hung behind the bed, and in front, something large and darker, similar to the mirror, was displayed.

Only after examining all of it did Heness clearly realize that where she was now was a place where entirely different cultures and technologies thrived, unlike anything she had known. She could have felt this same sensation from the various strange items in the bathroom where she had just washed, but in her rush to clean herself, she hadn’t been able to pay attention to anything else.

“Perhaps this is where the royalty of the country called Silla live?” The room felt a bit cramped, but Heness thought it was entirely possible for a place with such facilities.

Having regained some composure, Heness now turned her head to look at the broad back of the sturdy man who was crouched on the floor, fiddling with some black, seed-like objects. Heness suddenly realized. What Jun-sang had said in the middle of the blood-soaked Forbidden Forest wasn’t just a simple confession. She now truly understood that he had meant for her to come with him to his world.

As this realization dawned on her, Heness suddenly felt anxious. It was an unease about having to live a completely different life with completely unknown people in a completely unknown world. Her father, her mother, and her siblings. They would never dream that she was in such a situation. They would just think she was lost and wandering in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.

“…” Heness felt a slight surge of anger towards this man who had abruptly brought her into the middle of a bedroom without a single word of explanation about any of this. She knew he was a man of few words, but this lack of explanation felt a bit too much. And to bring her here and then act so indifferently!

Heness unconsciously clenched her fists and made a motion to hit the back of the large man’s head, who was sitting with his back turned, absorbed in fiddling with something. However, she was unaware that her actions were being perfectly reflected in the mirror that adorned one side of the room.

Jun-sang couldn’t help but chuckle at her reflection in the mirror.

“Heness.”

“Ye-yes?”

“Are you bored?”

“…” Heness feigned ignorance, looking away, but Jun-sang used psychokinesis to pull the remotes from the side table into his hand and turned on the TV.

“Watch this for now.”

“…” Heness, looking around to see what she was supposed to watch, was startled a few seconds later when images and sounds suddenly began to emanate from the black slab on the wall.

“Huh? Th-that?”

“…” Jun-sang chuckled at Heness’s surprised expression and slowly rose from his seat, approaching her.

“…” Heness froze, her eyes wide, as Jun-sang’s sturdy body, exuding a masculine scent, drew closer. F-finally… Finally, it was happening! Heness, flustered by this never-before-felt sensation that was perhaps excitement, fear, or both, squeezed her eyes shut.

But Jun-sang, completely oblivious to the mischievous thoughts bubbling up in this cute girl’s mind, placed the remote in her hand and began to explain. “If you press this, the video changes, and if you press this, you can change the volume. I don’t know if you’ll understand what they’re saying, but… Heness?”

“Yes!”

“Why are your eyes closed? I’ll explain again, so watch carefully.”

“…” Only then did Heness cautiously open her eyes and listen to Jun-sang’s explanation. But with a man wearing only a gown standing right in front of her, such an explanation couldn’t possibly properly register in her ears. No, explanations aside, Heness found herself unconsciously gulping as she caught glimpses of his firm chest subtly visible through the gown.

“Do you understand?” Jun-sang asked after finishing his explanation. Heness, wanting to escape the current situation, simply nodded her head.

“Yes, I understand.”

“…” Jun-sang shrugged at her seemingly distracted demeanor and returned to the mat to continue checking the seeds.

“Huuuh…” Heness let out an involuntary sigh of relief. To accept all of this calmly like Jun-sang, this girl still had so much left to experience.

Heness looked at the long, black, and even blunt stick with strange protrusions all over its surface, held in her hand.

“…” What had he said earlier? Her mind was so preoccupied that she hadn’t properly listened to the explanation; it had all gone in one ear and out the other, leaving her somewhat helpless. But isn’t it true that ignorance is bliss? Heness watched the images and listened to the sounds coming from the strange device on the wall, then pressed a long protrusion.

The video changed, and she saw women, scantily clad, with only small pieces of cloth covering their chests and private parts, standing there.

“…” Heness’s jaw dropped. Of course, she herself would sometimes strike such poses when her maids helped her change clothes, but she had never imagined showing such a sight to others. Yet, the women in the video were even smiling calmly as they looked at her!

—There has never been such lingerie! World’s first! Dream lingerie! Don’t be surprised, one set of XX lingerie for an astonishing price of thirty-nine thousand eight hundred won. Thirty-nine thousand eight hundred won…

Jun-sang continued checking the seeds, then heard the home shopping advertisement and looked over to see Heness, mouth agape, mesmerized by the TV in the mirror. Jun-sang thought, “She may be young, but she is indeed a woman.” And since he would be stuck here until the next quest activated, he also thought it would be a good idea to go out later and buy clothes that fit her.

“Gasp!” Heness, who had been dazedly watching the TV with her mouth wide open, belatedly realized her indecency and hastily closed her mouth. She then quickly checked if Jun-sang had seen her.

“Phew…” Fortunately, Jun-sang didn’t seem to have turned his head. Heness quickly pressed the button she had just pressed again to change the video. This time, with some thumping music, a group of women dancing under dazzling lights appeared.

“…” Heness’s mouth dropped open again. My, my, my… She didn’t quite understand it, but compared to the barely-dressed women from before, these women were wearing more clothes, yet it felt incredibly provocative. The cultural shock from the bizarre, snake-like undulations of their bodies, as they caressed themselves, bleached Heness’s mind blank once more.

But after a short while, as the initial shock began to fade, Heness began to speculate, on her own, about the source of Jun-sang’s somewhat indifferent attitude. Could it be… that he only reacted to that level of exposure?! Now that she thought about it, the women in the group who had escorted her into the Forbidden Forest also wore strangely revealing clothes. Jin Se-ah’s somewhat full yet body-hugging cotton pants, Seo Yoo-mi’s white dress that barely covered her knees, or Jung Da-bin’s overtly tight jeans!

“Ahhh…” Heness had an epiphany. She was completely unaware that it was a highly distorted and absurd realization, but nonetheless, it was the first epiphany Heness had gained after crossing over to this world.

However, at that moment, Jun-sang, listening to the cheerful music emanating from the TV, was caught in the vain delusion that music transcends worlds, regardless of where one lives. He sorted through the gold coins embedded in the seeds and gathered them to one side. Heness, momentarily absorbed in her epiphany, stared blankly at the TV screen, then heard the jingling sound and finally remembered the pouch of gold coins still in her dress.

“Ah! That’s right!” When Jun-sang looked up, wondering what she meant, Heness rummaged through the dress she had taken off and folded by the bathroom door, then pulled out a small leather pouch.

“What’s that?” Jun-sang asked. Heness replied with an embarrassed expression, “Actually… I promised to give these gold coins as a reward for taking me there. But I was so flustered that I couldn’t hand them over.”

Jun-sang nodded at Heness’s words and extended his hand. “I’ll deliver them later.”

“Would you?” Since the request had already been fulfilled, the Jester’s emergency fund she had secretly taken was destined to become someone else’s property, so Heness handed the pouch to Jun-sang without hesitation.

Jun-sang took the pouch, untied the string, and checked its contents. He quietly gazed at the gold coins inside, then placed the pouch next to the pile of gold coins he had separated earlier. Naturally, this pouch of gold coins would likely never reach Lim Seo-yoon’s hands. No, considering that granting the request of a naive child had led to the current situation, he almost felt like demanding extra payment.

After what felt like a long time, Jun-sang finally finished checking and categorizing the seeds. He then pulled out a comfortable tracksuit from the cabinet and put it on, then handed a similar one to Heness.

“Wear this for now.”

“Yes.” Heness had worn similar clothes during their journey to Ibelua before, so she took them without reluctance and changed in the bathroom.

Once they were roughly ready, Jun-sang turned off the TV, collected the mat spread on the floor, and Heness’s discarded clothes, storing them in the cabinet. Then, as Heness, dressed in the tracksuit, came out of the bathroom, he quietly asked, “Heness.”

“Yes?”

“That… do you remember what happened after I told you to go inside earlier?”

“…” Jun-sang asked about the situation when she was unsummoned. Heness tilted her head, then replied, “I don’t really know, but it felt like I had a really pleasant nap.”

“Nothing else you remember?”

“No.”

Jun-sang nodded and said again, “We need to leave this place, so please go inside for a moment again.”

“Hmm… Can’t I just come with you?”

“No.”

“…” Heness pouted, but she didn’t seem particularly reluctant and nodded. “Alright.”

Upon hearing Heness’s answer, Jun-sang finally unsummoned all his pets. After leaving the inn, he re-summoned Heness in a secluded alleyway.

“Hmm?” Heness, reappearing with a flash of white light, looked around, realizing she was in yet another new place. Jun-sang said to her, “Let’s go get some food.”

“Yes.”