Chapter 1

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EP.1 I Slain the Demon King – 1

[Achievement: Demon King Defeated]

The demon king, with his massive horns and mountain-like bulk, his brutish muscles, numerous tentacles, and aura of darkness, had his neck pierced by the hero's sword, and a message window appeared before my eyes.

It has been three years since I was possessed by this game.

Now, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

I endured a lot of hardship after learning that I could return to reality only by completing all achievements.

Of course, just defeating the demon king doesn't mean I can go back immediately.

Still, overcoming one of the biggest obstacles is certainly something to be happy about.

At least, I can finally part ways with the things that have made my life difficult.

“Haa… Haa…”

The hero who struck the demon king's neck.

Her golden hair, as if cast from molten gold, was delicate.

Her gaunt face bore the marks of a long journey.

Her crimson eyes, like the sun, contrasted with her frail arms.

The slender and impressive figure of the beautiful hero, Claire, looked at me and said with difficulty,

“O-Over there… Sage… H-Heal, heal…”

“Ah, right.”

Her cry brought me back to my senses, and I looked at the other party members.

The silver-haired knight, taller than me by a head, with blue-tinted hair.

The knight, Renventia, who proved her strength with the muscles visible under her armor, was gasping and spitting blood from the demon king's attack.

The beautiful elf archer, Evangelin, with her lustrous black hair like the night sky and green eyes, was trembling, holding a broken bow.

Among those present, only the official leader of the hero party, Claire, and I, the unofficial party member, the sage Yun Hyun-woo, were still standing.

“S-Sage…?”

Her voice, barely calling out to me, made me hesitate.

After all, 80% of my suffering over the past three years was due to dealing with these people.

Seeker of the Eight Stars.

The game I entered is a notoriously difficult roguelike game.

Once you die, you can't be revived.

And it's not like a gambling game where you can die from stress or quit the party.

Or, even worse, backstabbing is frequent.

It was a truly dirty game.

When I entered the game, the hero party was already formed, and due to the game's settings or the nature of the sage class, I couldn't join the party.

So, I had to support them as an unofficial party member, and the variety of experiences I had during this process…

I couldn't help but wonder if I should heal them now that they were no longer as necessary.

“H-Hey… Sage? No… Hyun-woo…?”

Her frightened voice made me shrug.

There were still unfinished achievements and small tasks they needed to do, so I couldn't just let them die here.

“Heal.”

A gentle light spread from my staff, enveloping the area. At that moment, the two who were out of combat let out a deep sigh and regained their composure, standing up.

“Huuu… This fool…!!”

Was it because the heal was late? The elf archer, Evangelin, approached me and growled.

Following her, the knight, Renventia, looked at me with a stern expression, showing her contempt.

“…Tch. Do you lack the will to help your comrades?”

As soon as they recovered, they started berating me, using the stress from the battle with the demon king as an outlet.

And the hero, Claire, who should have mediated, was watching me with a dark expression.

Yes. She was just watching as they built their self-esteem through their meaningless and unreasonable berating.

Afraid that I might argue.

Afraid that I might get angry.

Afraid that the tenuous bond of the party might break.

It wasn't necessarily wrong.

After all, maintaining the party by using me as a scapegoat was something I had hoped for, and it was a valid strategy in the game.

Of course, my heart, made of glass, couldn't help but feel bitter.

I am a man, after all.

All three of them are beautiful, and our relationship was good in the early and mid-game.

Claire, who was chosen as a hero and pulled the hero's sword, always felt sorry for me, who didn't receive the hero party's special privilege of divine protection, and was grateful to me.

The proud knight, Renventia, though stern, never refused to help people to raise the city's reputation for my achievement.

The elf archer, Evangelin, who loved my lute playing and singing, even offered to make me an honorary elf after a festival event.

The main story's journey was so difficult and painful that it changed all of them.

But there's no point in dwelling on the past.

“Haaaa… Anyway, since we've defeated the demon king, let's return to the kingdom quickly.”

The hero party's duty was to defeat the demon king.

Now that we've accomplished it, they should all return to their respective places.

Yes.

The hero will return to the kingdom as a hero.

The knight will return to the knight order.

The elf will… probably return to the forest?

Or maybe stay in the kingdom.

As members of the hero party who achieved the great feat of defeating the demon king, they will all have a bright future.

Of course, not me.

I'm just an unofficial member, and I don't care about such things.

“Y-Yeah. Let's go. Quickly.”

As the berating from Renventia and Evangelin ended more quickly than usual, Claire, looking at me and the other party members, said hurriedly.

The portal, a spell only the hero can use, was ready. At the entrance to the dimensional gate connected to the kingdom, Claire looked at me desperately.

Hmm…

“Your mental state is rotten. When you return to the knight order, I'll take you as my squire and properly retrain you. Follow me.”

“Or maybe it would be better to become a low-level forest keeper.”

“How about a soldier in the kingdom? Or a servant in my mansion?”

“W-Well, can we talk about this later…?”

“If the hero says so, we must accept it.”

“Hmph. The honorable elf hero is even willing to protect a fool like you.”

They started discussing my treatment after defeating the demon king.

A squire in the knight order, or a servant, would be better.

No, it would be better to take me as a party follower.

It would be better to grow trees in the forest.

It might be better to enlist me as a soldier in the kingdom.

As they discussed, Claire, unable to do anything, just watched.

“Alright. Kids. Gather around for a moment.”

“Oh. Alright. Have you decided? You're going to the knight order, right? To correct your rotten mental state…”

“The forest. The forest. Fool. The nobility of the forest is the only thing that can make a fool like you a proper human.”

They were still berating me and drawing a blueprint for my future, clearly still stressed.

Of course, their blueprint had nothing to do with what I needed to do.

I can't achieve achievements by being a servant or a squire.

I checked the remaining achievements. I had already obtained all the achievements that could only be obtained by traveling with the hero party and progressing the main story to defeat the demon king.

What remained were the achievements that could be obtained through the adventure mode after the main story ended, or those that I hadn't done yet.

There was no reason to stick with the hero party like this.

Therefore.

Now that I've defeated the demon king and have no reason to stay with them.

I smiled at them.

Very freely.

“It was fun working with you all, and I hope you all do well in the future!”

It wasn't really fun, but what could I say as I was leaving?

“…What? H-Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo… What…?”

“Let's do a cheer before we part ways!”

Chapter 5 of the main story.

Before our relationship became awkward, we always did this cheer when we were in trouble.

I extended my hand, but they just stared at me, not understanding.

“Come on! Yesterday was better than today! Today is better than tomorrow!”

“…”

“One! Two! Three! Fighting!”

I shouted and raised my hand alone.

The hero took her hand off the sword to open the portal, the knight frowned in confusion, and the elf gritted her teeth.

“W-Well… H-Hyun-woo? No. H-Hyun, the sage. Why…?”

The hero said, almost in a whisper.

“What? Now that we've defeated the demon king and we've all done what we needed to do, let's go our separate ways, right?”

“What… What… What are you saying!!”

Realizing what I meant, Renventia shouted, and I shrugged.

“Well… Didn't I say I would only stay until the demon king was defeated?”

“There's still a lot to do!”

“That's true.”

The demon king was defeated, but there were still many monsters.

The hero party's strength is needed to eliminate them.

“You guys.”

But there's no reason for me to go with you.

The reason is simple.

It doesn't count towards the achievements.

I only cared about achieving all the achievements to escape this damn world.

“…Are you lying?”

The elf archer, who always called me a fool after revoking my honorary elf status, was quite confused.

Her always proud and arrogant eyes were trembling.

“Lying. Fool. Can you still make jokes in this situation? Hmph. Fine. It would be a great honor for you, but I'll give you the honorary elf status again…”

“No. No. What honorary elf? I don't care about that.”

Claire's crimson eyes wavered.

Though she was a hero, she was a coward inside and was afraid of me leaving.

“W-Well, H-Hyun-woo. What about everything that happened…”

“After following the party around!! Now you want to run away!!”

Renventia shouted. She talked about my rotten mental state, proper training, and working as a servant in a noble family.

She was stuck in her arrogance, created to protect herself from the pain and stress of being a hero party member.

Evangelin also started berating me, trying to keep me or let me go, I couldn't tell.

“Even if you say that… We all got what we wanted, didn't we?”

You are heroes, and as members of the hero party, you wanted to defeat the demon king.

So, you used me to relieve the excessive stress and complaints from the difficult journey.

I wanted to progress the main story, defeat the demon king, and achieve the achievements.

So, I sacrificed myself for three years to ensure your stable journey.

It was a clean and fair deal.

Just like you go home after buying something, now that we've achieved our goals, it's over, right?

Mentioning this obvious truth, Claire started to look flustered.

“Hyun-woo. I'll apologize on their behalf