NOVEL WEB Chapter 1: Pleasure-less Responsibility
“Take responsibility for our mom.”
I had a gut feeling that I was screwed.
“Take responsibility!”
It wasn’t because of the child in front of me, who was squawking and making a fuss.
‘I can’t speak.’
From the moment I opened the door, a strange sensation overwhelmed my entire body.
Even when I tried to force myself to swallow, my throat was stiff, refusing to move.
An indescribable fear, sensations drawn from my intestines were boiling within, not bursting out.
Cold sweat flowed down to my chin and dropped.
“Got it?”The smiling child seemed strange.
A sensation of a giant abyss gazing at me. A powerless fear. I tightly closed my eyes, and tears flowed.
[World Tree]
Suddenly, that word brushed my mind and, like the morning dew, melted and disappeared.
-Tuk.
-Tuduk, Tuk.
Sweat drops continued to fall. The one-sided gaze of the child suddenly seemed familiar.
“Tsk, why did you have to mess with our mom, of all people.”
The child, scoffing disdainfully, no longer had the innocent appearance from before on her cold face.
My head wasn’t functioning. I felt dizzy in this incomprehensible situation.
I was not the one who messed with the child’s mother. From the beginning, a shut-in like me, who could I have messed with?
Just an ordinary college student, that was me.
‘The only thing I messed with… that last dawn-’
-Siluk.
Whether she read my thoughts or not, the child smiled.
‘Ah.’
Understanding the situation, a deep remorse overwhelmed me.
When I came to, the world had changed.
To be more precise, I was dragged into another world.
Was this what they called fate? Ridiculous.
I killed time, lying blankly on the mattress, and finally looked at the hologram window that I had been desperately ignoring.
[User Lee Shiheon. Welcome to our first husband candidate.]
This alien knowledge had been ravaging my mind since earlier.
An absurd amount of information boiled inside my brain.
The fact that I had gone to another world.
Even if I realized and denied my predicament, the reality didn’t change, and I had no choice but to close my eyes and organize my thoughts for a long time.
It didn’t take long to realize that the injected knowledge was necessary to live in this world.
“Ah.”
A sigh flowed out of me.
“Damn it.”
I covered my face with both hands and swept them down my face.
One sentence was enough to explain my newly realized predicament.
I fucked the World Tree and came to another world.
This world was composed of several World Trees.
The World Trees, which stretched out into the empty world, cradled the children born from their roots and watched over creatures with a maternal gaze to ensure the children grew well.
The world I belonged to was [RH2-Earth]. A place without World Trees, a progressive world that had undergone unique development.
The important thing was that a young World Tree took an interest in my world and rooted itself on Earth.
‘And I fucked her.’
As a result of the daughter of that World Tree holding me responsible, I was dragged into an unheard-of and unseen otherworld.
‘Unbelievable. Did I really fuck a World Tree?’
All I did was some piston action to a small tree in the back of a mountain. It was just a tofu fap, a mere disgusting act of self-pleasure by a worthless guy.
Who would have known that such a small tree was a World Tree? Insanity.
But no matter how much I cursed, it was still inexplicable.
I sat on the bed and sighed heavily. Unnecessary regret for what I had done in the past surged again.
“After studying hard and becoming the top student, I’ve ended up married to a tree.”
['The World Tree of Purity' feels embarrassed.]
“Can you shut up? You’re too sensitive.”
['The World Tree of Purity' feels sullen.]
The semi-transparent hologram appearing before my eyes was updating every moment, like the chat in an online game.
Of course, all that appeared in that window were the unnecessary sweet talk and emotions of the World Tree, which I wasn’t interested in.
This ‘World Tree of Purity’ kept talking to me from the day I arrived in this other world.
It seemed like it would be my wife, but I didn’t like it.
“Can’t I go back to the Earth I used to live on?”
I mumbled, hoping for a response, but the expected reaction from the World Tree did not come.
It was probably impossible. I scratched my head and bit my lower lip.
‘What’s with N-1 Earth? Even parallel worlds are distinguished.’
This place was [N-1 Earth], a world where World Trees had taken root.
I didn’t know what they were and why they lived and died. I just received the knowledge.
Every part of my body detested the World Tree. Damn thing.
-Bibibik.
I checked the hologram window at the pleasant notification sound in my ear.
[User-Lee Shiheon, you must become a person fitting to be the World Tree's husband.]
“I refuse.”
[This notice is only for this time, and you have to carry out the quest.]
No way. I read on.
[The price of not carrying out the main quest is your 'complete extinction', and you must have the proper attitude and sense of responsibility as the husband of the World Tree. Your user system will assist you.]
Complete extinction. In other words, death.
In short, they were threatening me with a huge threat, saying if I didn’t become the best husband, I would die.
“Heh, heh heh heh.”
I couldn’t help but laugh due to the absurdity.
Have I ever felt such helplessness in my life?
-Ding!
[A quest has arrived.]
[Main Quest 1. Different from the Sprout]
▶ You are a foreigner who drifted into this world. A spouse for the World Tree? You may qualify, but you are still worthless. Prove your worth.
▶ The number of tasks assigned to you is [1].
Pass the El Academy.
[Quest Reward]
The Love of the World Tree x 1
[In case of Quest Failure]
You will die.
Remaining deadline: 120 days, 24 hours, 59 minutes, 54 seconds.
“Why do I have to be a spouse? And I’ll die if I fail?”
Scold me if you would. It seemed like the World Tree, looking at me, was saying so.
“Damn it!”
I shook off the overwhelming emotions with a curse.
My previously happy life was now over. I had to forcibly adapt to this world if I didn’t want to die.
I researched this world with the computer provided in the room.
‘Hunters and heroes, dungeons and villains,’
From what I found, this world was similar to the modern fantasy I knew. Apart from the fact that tree people, wooden beings in human form, lived here, it wasn’t much different from where I originally lived.
I roughly understood it. It was a familiar setting, a world I never thought actually existed.
A fantasy where magic and swords coexisted!
But, no excitement filled me.
I had never wished to fall into such a world, risking leaving my mother, who lived in Gangjin, Jeollanam-do.
[Please create your character.]
Before long, I stared at the popped-up hologram window and exhaled a resigned sigh.
‘What’s the use of denying it. I’ve already fallen into this world. Who knows, if I behave, they might send me back to the original world.’
The reason for having such thoughts was nothing special.
Firstly, that crazy World Tree bastard held my right to live or die.
And the second reason was…
[Creating Information Window for Lee Shiheon.]
[Name]
Lee Shiheon (World Tree's Husband Candidate)
[Age/Height/Weight]
24 → 20 years / 174cm / 65kg
[Stats]
-Strength 5
-Endurance 5
-Agility 5
-Stamina 5
-Mana 5
-Charisma 5
-Intelligence 5
-Potential 5
-Luck 5
※Charisma, Intelligence, Potential, and Luck are innate stats and cannot be enhanced with additional points.
-Unique Traits (0)
-Owned Skills (0)
-Talents (0)
-Remaining Points: 100
The second reason was because this was my area of expertise.
Thanks to the gaming experience I had accumulated over the years, I was adept at such systems.
I moved my fingers and adjusted the stat I should prioritize.
-Potential 10.00 (Maximum)
-Remaining Points 27
Potential and intelligence, such innate stats that had a value of 5, belonged to the fairly exceptional category.
Those who reached 7 in innate stats were commonly called geniuses.
Only those who influenced an era could reach 9 in innate stats.
‘I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but to have a good fate, potential is essential.’
Potential decreased as one grew and bloomed into unique traits and skills.
I had spent more than half of the points, but holding onto potential was undoubtedly a winning lottery ticket.
Explaining the reason was complicated, but the biggest reason was…
‘The intuition of a gamer who can’t resist being overzealous.’
I was planning to allocate all the points to growth potential.
It was a no-loss deal, and I had to be wise to live in this world where the World Tree was watching me.
[Unique Trait Selection]
-Sword God(EX) 500p.
-Mana Ruler(EX) 500p.
.
.
Most traits in the unique traits section could not be chosen with my remaining points.
However, the points I didn’t have could be obtained directly.
I saw a plus (+) and a minus (-) on either side of the numbers in the stats I had just viewed.
-Strength 4.00
--Remaining Points 29
Reducing strength increased the available points, as expected.
So, there was only one thing for me to do.
-Strength 1.00 (Minimum)
-Endurance 1.00 (Minimum)
-Agility 1.00 (Minimum)
-Stamina 1.00 (Minimum)
-Mana 0.00 (Minimum)
-Remaining Points 256
While acquired stats could be increased with effort, most unique traits could not be obtained no matter how hard one tried.
Choice and Concentration.
Since I couldn’t have everything, I had to focus on potential.
I reached for the charisma stat.
-Charisma 4.00
['The World Tree of Purity' is surprised.]
“Hmm?”
-Thunk.
-Charisma 3.00
['The World Tree of Purity' shakes her head in disapproval.]
[Compulsion is activated!]
-Charisma 3.00 → 5.00
“No, I don’t like that.”
-Charisma 1.00 (Minimum)
-Remaining Points: 561
['The World Tree of Purity' sobs.]
What was important was ability, not appearance. It could release me from being a husband candidate if it didn’t like it.
Especially giving up on innate points like appearance had high value. I poured my points into luck.
-Luck 10.00 (Maximum)
‘Luck is essential.’
I would like to greatly reduce intelligence, too, but fearing becoming an idiot, I decided to stop.
What remained were traits and talents.
To earn points, I added various debuffs that acted as talents.
-Talent :: Ugly Appearance[F] +100p
-Talent :: Lustful Demon[F] +50p
-Talent :: Quarrel Starter[F] +50p
-Talent :: Severe Obesity[F] +100p
['The World Tree of Purity' cries loudly.]
“What, why, what?”
['The World Tree of Purity' earnestly begs you.]
Crying won’t change anything.
I had to endure these penalties to use the talents I had reserved.
-Talent :: Late Bloomer(EX)
▶[Exceptional Growth]: Potential significantly increases. (Current Potential: 10→20)
▶[Full Bloom]: You stand out in various fields proportional to your potential.
▶[Never Give Up]: Mental strength significantly increases.
※This ability is not visible to others!
A highly precious ability created by spending all collected points.
[Do you want to confirm? Y/N]
The moment I pressed Y, my whole body felt heavy.
When I looked down, my belly was covered in lavish flesh. It seemed like a difficult journey awaited me.
But talents could be removed depending on personal effort.
If I lost weight, I could quickly shake off severe obesity.
‘Compared to the worst traits, bad talents are relatively easier to overcome.’
Not high-risk high return, but high-risk hyper return.
It was absolutely not a losing deal.
100 days left until the academy admission application.
I had to raise my stats as much as possible by then.
I slapped my cheeks a couple of times.
The situation was desperate, but I didn’t feel bad.
Rather, it was extremely pleasant.
['The World Tree of Purity' wails.]
Because the World Tree, which cursed me, was hanging its head and crying.