TRGBH 15

Chapter 15

【Purified Red Fruit】

If you had to choose just one essential item for Awakened people, everyone would agree that it was the Red Fruit.

A precious and blessed Red Fruit, about the size of a thumbnail, that lowered an Awakened person’s Corruption Rate and also provided all-purpose recovery effects.

But strangely enough, this fruit was infamous for its bizarre taste, as if all kinds of substances that existed in the world had been randomly stuffed into it.

Some people said that in the early days, when the damn System first began interfering with reality, the Absolute Being had designed everything while getting drunk all night, which was why things had turned out this way.

I had a different opinion.

Red Fruits only worked when they were thoroughly chewed and swallowed. Also, when they were consumed while slowly savoring the taste, the Corruption Rate reduction effect increased significantly.

Looking at details like these, this wasn’t some design mistake.

It was simply the damn Absolute Being’s terrible taste.

Anyway, no matter how horrible it tasted, all you had to do was put it in your mouth, crunch it up, close your eyes, and swallow.

Unlike Song Gusul, who was screaming in front of me right now, holding out until her Corruption Rate reached 49% was simply insane.

I openly showed my disapproval and said to her,

“Whether it tastes like a dead battery or an AAA battery, just eat it already. If you keep this up, you’ll really become corrupted.”

“I don’t want to…”

No, seriously. Was this person for real?

“Then, do you have any other fruits besides this one? Surely you have at least one that’s better than battery flavor.”

Something like pine tree flavor or seashell flavor…

“If I had any, I might end up eating them. So I threw them all away.”

This woman was seriously out of her mind.

Completely crazy.

I eventually lost my temper and shouted,

“Then what are you going to do?! Are you planning to become corrupted like this? Should I call the Hunter Association right now? I’ll report that there’s someone here on the verge of Corruption!”

“No! Don’t do that!”

She shouted in her extremely hoarse voice and suddenly stood up.

The blanket she had been covering herself with slipped off, revealing the body hidden underneath.

‘She was a woman?’

Unexpectedly, Song Gusul was a woman with short black hair that reached just below her chin.

She was about as tall as me, so I had simply assumed she was a man…

Anyway, she was wearing a workout bra top that exposed her belly button and short leggings. The muscles revealed outside the clothes were absolutely terrifying.

Song Gusul strode toward me and brought her face close to mine.

Then, as if to prove something, she stretched her eyes wide with her thumb and index finger.

“Look at this. I’m still fine, right?”

There were broken blood vessels here and there, but just as she said, it seemed that Corruption had not yet begun.

Normally, when the whites of the eyes started turning pink, it was a sign that Corruption was about to begin.

“Yes, that’s true, but… this is still too dangerous. You’re still trembling. It must hurt quite badly too…”

When an Awakened person’s Corruption Rate reached 49%, extreme pain spread throughout their entire body.

According to people who had experienced this stage, it felt as if every single cell in their body were being stabbed with needles.

And the moment they lost consciousness because they could no longer endure the pain, their Corruption Rate would pass 50%, and they would enter full-fledged ‘Corruption State.’

“I’m fine. I’m fine. Unlike ordinary Awakened people, I can endure it for much longer. So don’t worry.”

“No, that’s what I’m saying. Why are you forcing yourself to endure it? No matter what it tastes like, you just have to hold your nose and swallow it.”

At my frustrated words, Song Gusul suddenly screamed,

“I can’t do that! I’m actually extremely weak when it comes to disgusting things! Battery Waste Flavor… How the hell am I supposed to eat something like that?! If I eat something like that even once, I have nightmares for an entire month. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night because I remembered that horrible taste and then gone to throw up! And you! You’re a little brat who seems to have heard a lot of things here and there, but I heard everything from Representative Jung too. He said you’ve only been Awakened for four days, right? I bet you’ve never even eaten a single Red Fruit before. Don’t talk so easily about something you don’t know. You don’t know what battery flavor tastes like!”

I knew.

I knew!

I knew very well.

I didn’t need to eat Red Fruits anymore in my current body, but in my previous life, I had to force myself to swallow fruits of all kinds of flavors until I had been Awakened for ten years.

It was a time when every single day had been a struggle for survival.

There had been no room to worry about taste.

As someone who had chewed and swallowed even rusty battery flavor, I could only scoff at her words.

“So, in short, you can’t eat it because it tastes bad?”

“That’s right!”

Song Gusul shouted proudly.

Could this be why an Awakened person at Level 62 and Ranking in the 300s lived alone without belonging to any organization?

Of course, this couldn’t be the only reason.

But it was clear that it had had a considerable influence.

Even among high-ranking Awakened people, many preferred edible-type fruits.

However, edible Red Fruits were in extremely short supply compared to their demand.

Besides, other than their taste, they didn’t have any particularly outstanding effects.

There were plenty of other fruits that could replace them if you simply endured a little nausea.

Yet even in this urgent situation, Song Gusul refused to give in.

Perhaps she was simply not suited to life in an organization from the beginning.

“What does this even taste like?”

At that moment, Lee Hasol, who had been standing beside us, picked up one of the fruits rolling around on the floor and casually swallowed it.

“Ugh!”

Song Gusul screamed as if she herself had eaten the fruit.

“Ugh, it tastes bad. So this is what batteries taste like.”

Lee Hasol stuck out his tongue and muttered.

I pointed at Lee Hasol with my chin and said,

“Seems pretty edible to me.”

“R-Really?”

Song Gusul’s pupils shook violently.

After hesitating for a long time, she eventually picked up one of the fruits, squeezed her eyes shut, and put it into her mouth.

Yes, that’s how it should be.

A person at Level 60 should at least be able to endure something like this.

“Uweeeeeeeeeeeek!”

The next moment, Song Gusul began vomiting onto the training facility floor with a roar like a dragon.

I could see crushed pieces of Red Fruit mixed in with the vomit.

Ah.

She’s really something else.

Should I just go home?

But as I watched Song Gusul emptying her stomach while tears and mucus poured down her face, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.

I walked over to her and patted her back.

“Are you okay?”

“Uweeeeeeeeeeeek!”

She continued vomiting for nearly thirty full minutes.

The violent vomiting was so intense that it looked as if she were pulling her organs out, and both Lee Hasol and I could only look away in disgust.

Only after finally vomiting up a large amount of yellow stomach acid did she collapse from exhaustion, lie down on the floor, and curl herself into a ball.

“I want my mom. Fuck.”

Song Gusul muttered in a voice mixed with tears.

Hey.

I feel the same way.

Anyway, I couldn’t just leave her like that.

I took five Purified Red Fruits from my System Pouch and held them out to her.

“I’ll give you mine. Eat these.”

“It’s fine. Even so, how could I take them from someone who just became Awakened?”

Just be honest.

You’re worried these will taste no different from battery flavor too, aren’t you?

“These have a Very Sweet Flavor.”

“What?”

She suddenly jumped up and brought her face close to mine.

I quickly leaned my head back in case vomit splashed on me.

The fruit that had been in my palm was already in her hand.

Song Gusul stared at the fruit and repeatedly exclaimed in amazement.

“No way… Not just Sweet Flavor, but Very Sweet Flavor. I’ve never seen something like this since I became Awakened…”

She rolled her eyes like Gollum after getting his hands on the One Ring, then hugged the fruits tightly against her chest in case I tried to take them back.

Song Gusul glared at me suspiciously.

Well, earlier she had said she couldn’t take food from someone who had only been Awakened for four days…

“Are you really giving these to me? You need Red Fruits too…”

“Like you said, I’ve only been Awakened for four days. Even if my Corruption Rate is high, how high could it possibly be? Just eat them.”

“I don’t have any money. I barely managed to buy those fruits with the money Representative Jung gave me.”

I had a pretty good idea what was going on.

This woman must have been spending every penny she earned on buying edible-type fruits.

And not just any edible fruits, either.

She was probably buying the expensive fruit-type ones.

‘Still, it’s a good thing we found her before she sold off all the training facility’s equipment too.’

Honestly, I really liked this place.

It was filled with advanced machines I had never seen before, and since it was privately owned, the fact that the two of us could use the entire facility by ourselves was especially appealing.

“You don’t need to pay me. If you don’t feel comfortable taking them for free, then let us use this place for about a week.”

“Really? Are you sure that’s enough? Do you even know how much this is worth…”

Song Gusul swallowed the rest of her words.

It seemed she was afraid that I might realize the value of these little fruits and change my mind.

Come on.

I already knew roughly how much these were worth too.

Since I was already being generous, I decided to add a little seasoning to my offer.

“What does money matter? You’re about to become corrupted right now. I can’t just pretend not to see it. So hurry up and eat them before I change my mind.”

The moment I finished speaking, Song Gusul shoved all five fruits into her mouth at once.

Then she began chewing them very slowly, as if savoring every bite.

An indescribable feeling of happiness spread across her face.

“So sweeeeeet. Hehehehehe.”

I watched her chew the fruits with vomit still covering her mouth for a moment, then shook my head and led Hasol toward the weight machines.

“Clean up your own vomit. We’re going to work out.”

I probably needed to tell Representative Jung to reconsider this person.

“Hey, rookies!”

A little later, Song Gusul appeared completely recovered and dressed neatly.

Her hair was still slightly wet, so she seemed to have taken a shower in the meantime.

I got off the machine and looked at her.

Song Gusul was wearing a training outfit from a famous brand.

With all those huge muscles covered up, she looked much softer than before.

But we had already seen far too much of her embarrassing side.

Apparently, the same was true for Lee Hasol.

“Oh! It’s Vomit Noona!”

Lee Hasol pointed at Song Gusul.

“Oh my! Look at this kid! It’s rude to attach a word like ‘vomit’ to a delicate lady!”

Song Gusul’s brow furrowed.

But Lee Hasol didn’t care.

“I’ve never seen anyone vomit that much before. Noona, you’re awesome!”

“You little bastard.”

In an instant, Song Gusul disappeared.

Then she appeared behind Lee Hasol and wrapped her arm around his neck.

“Then I’ll erase you from your own memories. Forever.”

Lee Hasol’s eyes were rolling back.

I hurriedly stopped Song Gusul.

“You’ll kill him! He wasn’t even wrong! Stop it!”

Fortunately, Song Gusul wasn’t an ungrateful person.

At my urging, she relaxed her grip and stepped back.

Lee Hasol coughed and quickly hid behind me.

“Oh dear, I guess I got excited again. Sorry, sorry. Anyway, I’m genuinely grateful to you. Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Song Gusul, a freelance Hunter. You saved my life! Thank you so much. How should I repay you? Hmm…”

“It’s fine. Like I said earlier, we’ll just use the training facility for a while.”

“No, no. I can’t do that. Representative Jung told me that you just finished the Hunter Selection Evaluation and are waiting to be called back, right? You’re at an age when you should be having fun, but instead, you’re putting that aside and voluntarily coming to a training facility like this. That’s really admirable. You helped me a lot this time, so I’ll personally train the two of you during this period! How about it?”

“I don’t—mmph.”

Lee Hasol immediately rejected the offer.

I quickly covered his mouth.

I had already seen Song Gusul’s true abilities through her Status Window.

If I had a chance to be personally taught by someone this powerful, I absolutely couldn’t let it slip away for any reason.

“Sounds good.”

When I accepted without complaint, Song Gusul instead looked puzzled.

“What? Really? You’re agreeing that easily without even knowing what kind of person I am?”

Good grief.

Nothing is ever simple with this woman.

“They say enduring Corruption is as painful as cutting living flesh with a knife. If someone can easily endure that kind of pain, I thought they must be an incredible Awakened person. We did see each other at our worst when we first met, but what’s so important about someone vomiting?”

“What? You’re acting like an old man. You don’t have any youthful spirit at all. Anyway, lessons start tomorrow. Do whatever you want today and leave when you’re ready.”

She put on a hat and tossed me a key card.

“Lock the door properly when you leave. I’m heading out first.”

“Where are you going?”

“I need to find the bastards who scammed me and teach them a lesson. I’m going to make those bastards eat real batteries, so look forward to it.”