1 Responsibility Without Pleasure
"Take responsibility for my mom."
I instinctively knew I was fucked.
"Take responsibility!"
I shouted, not just because of the child in front of me, but because of the child asking me to take the responsibility of her mom.
'I can't talk!'
A sickening sensation washed over me the moment I opened the door.
I tried to swallow hard, but my throat stiffened and wouldn't budge.
An indescribable dread, a sensation drawn from the gut, not spilling out, but boiling inside.
A cold sweat trickled down my chin.
"Okay?"
The child's smile was eerie.
The sensation of a vast abyss was staring back at me. A helpless terror. I squeeze my eyes shut, tears streaming down my face.
[World Tree.]
The words flashed through my mind, then melted away like morning dew.
-Tuk.
-Tuk, tuk, tuk.
Beads of sweat continued to fall. The one-sided child's gaze suddenly looked familiar.
"Tsk, why did you have to touch my Mom?"
As if in disdain, the child's cold face showed no trace of its former sweetness.
My head was spinning. Dizzy with incomprehension.
I wasn't the one who touched that child's mother. Who was I to touch her in the first place? Just a college student who could be anywhere. That was me.
'The only thing I touched was… The other day at dawn—'
-Silence.
As if reading my thoughts, the kid laughed.
'Ah.'
******************************
When I woke up, the world had changed. Or, more accurately, I'd been pulled into another world.
I don't know if this is what people call out-of-body experience, but this was ridiculous.
I lay dazedly on the mattress, killing time, staring at the holographic window in front of me that I had been ignoring.
[User Si-Heon Lee, welcome as our Potential Husband candidate.]
Alien information flooded my mind from earlier. So much information made my brain boil.
The realization that I was in another world.
Realizing my situation and denying it didn't change the reality. I could only close my eyes for the time being and organize my thoughts.
It didn't take long for me to realize that the information I was being fed was what I needed to survive in this world.
"Ah."
I sighed.
"Shit."
I wrapped my hands around my face and swept them down my face.
It only took one sentence to explain my newfound predicament.
I'm dead, and I've come to this world.
*********************************************************************************************************
This world is made up of many World Trees.
Growing out of the void, the World Trees nurture their children born from their roots and watch over the creatures with motherly gaze to ensure that they grow well.
The world I belonged to was [RH2-Earth]. A place without a World Tree, an enterprising world with an exotic development.
Somehow, a young World Tree, intrigued by the world I belonged, took root in it.
'And I fucked her.'
Then, her daughter held me accountable, and I was transported to a world I'd never even heard of.
'This is ridiculous. What kind of World Tree did I fuck?'
All I did was piston a little tree in the backyard. That too, with just some tofu. It was nothing but an ugly masturbation act of a lowlife like me.
Who knew a small tree like that would be a World Tree? It's fucking insane.
But no matter how much I cursed, it didn't do anything.
I sat up in bed and sighed heavily. I felt a rush of unnecessary regret for what I did in the past.
"I studied so hard, I barely made to the top of the class, and now I am a potential husband for a goddamn tree."
[The 'World Tree Of Purity' feels ashamed.]
"Shut up. You're too sensitive."
[The 'World Tree of Purity' is sulking.]
The semi-transparent hologram in front of me was constantly updating as if it was an online game chat.
Of course, the only lines that appeared in the window were the whimpers and emotions of the World Tree, in which I had no interest.
This chaste World Tree had been talking to me since the day I had come to this world.
It seemed like this Tree was going to be my wife, but I didn't like it.
"Can't I go back to Earth?"
I mumbled, hoping for an answer, but I didn't get any answer from the World Tree.
It was probably not possible anymore to go back to my place.
I scratched my head and chewed on my bottom lip.
'What's N-1 Earth, anyway. Even parallel worlds are divided.'
This is [N-1 Earth], the world where the World Trees have taken root.
I didn't know who they were or why they were here, living and dying. I had only received this much information.
Every parth of me hated the World Tree. That fucking bitch.
-Ding!
I checked the holographic window at the cheerful notification in my ear.
[User Si-Heon Lee, you are a candidate for the World Tree's husband, and you should become worthy of such title.]
"No."
[The notice is only this one time, and you will have to fulfill the quest.]
No, I didn't want to…
I read on.
[The penalty for failing to fulfill the Main Quest is your complete annihilation and you will be expected to act with the demeanor and responsibility befitting of the Husband of the World Tree. Your user system will help you with that.]
Complete annihilation… That is, death.
In other words, this asshole, whoever they might be, were threatening me with total annihilation, which is death, if I didn't become the best Husband material I could be.
"Heh, hehehe."
I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Did I ever feel so helpless in my life before?
-Ding!
[The Quest has arrived.]
================================================================================
[Main Quest 1: From Rice Leaf to Another.]
You are a stranger in this world. You are deserving, but you are still of little value. Prove your worth.
The number of tasks assigned to you is [1].
-Acceptance to the El Academy.
[Quest Reward]
-Love of the World Tree x1
[Quest Failure]
-You will die.
Time Remaining: 120 Days, 24 Hours, 59 Minutes, 54 Seconds.
=================================================================================
"Why do I have to be a husband? And if I fail, I'll die?"
The World Tree looking at me seemed to say so.
"Fuck you!"
With one cursed sentence, I tried to get rid of all my frustration.
My previously happy life was over. I would be forced to adapt to this world if I didn't want to be left behind.
I researched about this world on the computer in my room.
'Hunters, heroes, dungeons, villains…'
As it turned out, this world resembled the modern fantasy I knew. It wasn't much different from where I came from, except that it was inhabited by Tree People and Wood People in the human form.
I got the general idea. It was a familiar world – but it was still the kind of world I didn't think could have existed.
A fantasy where magic and swords coexist!
But I wasn't particularly excited about it.
I never wanted to take a risk of falling into this unknown world and leave my mother who lived in Gangjin, Jeollanam-do.
[Fill in the character].
Staring at the holographic window, I let out a breath of frustration.
'There's no point in denying it. I've already fallen here, and who knows, maybe they'll send me back to the world I came from if I really listen to them.'
The reason why I felt this way wasn't weird. The first reason was that that damned World Tree held the power of life and death over me. And the second reason was…
[Create an infromation window for Si-Heon Lee.]
===============================================================================
[Name]
Si-Heon Lee (Candidate for World Tree's Husband)
[Age/Height/Weight]
20/174CM/65KG
[Abilities]
Muscle Strength: 5
Endurance: 5
Agility: 5
Stamina: 5
Mana: 5
Charm: 5
Intelligence: 5
Potential: 5
Luck: 5
Charm, Intelligence, Potency, and Luck are innate stats and cannot be augmented with additional stats.
Unique Traits (0)
Temparament (0)
Remaining Points: 100
=================================================================================
The second reason was that this was my area of expertise. My years of gaming experience made me a master of this system.
I moved my fingers to manipulate the stats that I should prioritize first.
-Potential: 10 (max)
-Remaining Points: 27
Innate stats like Potency and Intelligence are on the high end of the spectrum at 5.
7 point at Innate Stats would be referred to as genius.
9 point at Innate Stats would be referred to as the realm of the ageless.
'I don't know for how long I'm going to be here, but Potential is a must if I want to avoid death.'
Potential diminishes as one grows, blossoming into unique traits and skills.
Despite having spent more than half of my points, Potential is definitely a winning lottery ticket that I have to hold onto.
It's a little complicated to explain why, but the biggest reason was that…
'The insatiable gamer's mind.'
I was going to invest all of my points on Potential.
It was a no-lose deal, and I had to be smart to survive in a world where the World Tree was hounding me.
[Unique Talent Checkbox]
-Blademaster(EX): 500P
-Mana Ruler(EX): 500P
Most of the traits in the Unique Traits section were not available with spare points. But I could always earn the points I didn't have.
The stat I just saw had a plus and a minus next to the number.
-Strength: 4
-Remaining Points: 29
As expected, decreasing my strength increased my remaining points.
There was only one thing left to do.
-Strength: 1 (minimum)
-Endurance: 1 (minimum)
-Agility: 1 (minimum)
-Stamina: 1 (minimum)
-Mana: 1 (minimum)
-Remaining Points: 256
While the Acquired Stats could be increased with effort, the Innate Stats were mostly unattainable, no matter how hard one tried.
Choose and focus.
Since I couldn't have everything, I decided to focus on Potential.
I approached the Charm stat.
-Charm: 4
[The 'World Tree of Purity' jumped up in surprise.]
"Hmm?"
-Dip.
-Charm: 3
[The 'World Tree of Purity' shakes her head in disbelief.]
[Compulsion is activated!]
-Charm 3.0 -> 5.0
"Uh, no."
-Charm: 1 (minimum)
-Remaining Points: 561
[The 'World Tree of Purity' sobs.]
It's not the looks that mattered, it was the abilities that did. Maybe if the World Tree didn't find me attractive, it can give up on me being her future husband.
Giving up on Innate Stats like Charm had a high value. I focused investing those points on Luck stat.
-Luck: 10 (maximum)
"Luck is essential."
A part of me wanted to decrease the Intelligence stat, but I was afraid of becoming an idiot, so I didn't go ahead with it.
What was left was Talent and Temperament.
-Temparament: Ugly Appearance(F) +100P
-Temparament: Lustful Demon(F) +50P
-Temparament: Anger(F) +50P
-Temparament: Severe Obesity(F) +100P
[The 'World Tree of Purity' cries out loudly.]
"What, why, what."
[The 'World Tree of Purity' earnestly begs you.]
I can't help it, even if I cry.
I had to endure these penalties in order to use the points I saved.
-Temparament: Patience(EX)
▶ Extraordinary Growth: Greatly increases your Potential (Current Potential: 10 -> 20)
▶ [Full Bloom]: You will excel in various fields. Proportional to Potential.
▶ [Never Give Up] Significantly increases the mental strength.
The highly useful skills that was possible by spending all the remaining points.
[Do you want to confirm? Y/N]
As soon as I pressed Y, my whole body felt heavy.
I looked down and saw a large pile of flesh resting on my stomach.
I could see the struggle ahead.
Still, it was still possible to get rid of it through personal effort.
If I start losing weight, I can get rid of severe obesity in no time.
'Compared to the worst traits, bad Temparaments were relatively easier to overcome.'
Not high-risk high return, but high-risk hyper return.
It was a never-lose proposition.
Only 100 Days were left until the Academy admission application.
I needed to maximize my stats as much as possible until then.
I slapped my cheeks a couple of times with both hands.
The situation seemed hopeless, but I wasn't feeling bad. On the contrary, it felt delightful.
[The 'World Tree of Purity' is in a frenzy.]
The World Tree who had screwed me up was hanging her head and crying.
