I Became Artemis’ Boyfriend

Two days had passed since Zeus’s proposal was accepted. I visited the executive chamber early in the morning, summoned by her voice.

As soon as I entered, opening the door myself, the first thing that greeted me was an expensive silver carpet laid out in the center.

Following the length of the carpet with my gaze, I found Artemis seated on a raised dais at the far end, her legs crossed as she looked down at me from her throne.

Unlike her usual antics of throwing tantrums and causing trouble, she had an air of solemnity enveloping her surroundings.

“What are you doing here? Haven’t you taken up the Twelve Labors yet?”

“A… Yes.”

I walked up to the dais and gracefully knelt on one knee, bowing my head.

“The moment you confirm the details of the labor, the deadline starts, and it’s a fortnight.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Good.”

With a slight nod, she started to hand me the parchment but abruptly withdrew her arm.

Simultaneously, she stared down at me as if I were dried vomit stuck on the road, with an expression of revulsion.

“I have one question.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Didn’t you claim you seek a spiritual love with my father? I’ve heard that you appreciate values and emotions rather than looks and physique. Is this true?”

“Yes, it’s accurate.”

“Then isn’t this peculiar? You’ve been with me for about a year, and we’ve had no form of emotional rapport or camaraderie through tough times.”

“Considering I’ve been empathetically solving the citizens’ grievances and handling all the difficult tasks, it makes sense.”

“Sh-shut up! Anyways…”

Her face turned red, having been hit with an unforeseen barb of truth.

She cleared her throat, calming herself before continuing in a more serious tone.

“There hasn’t been any form of romantic interaction between us. And yet, you claim to love me? It’s absurd nonsense.”

“So what is your point?”

“You simply like my looks and physique. Your lustful desire to possess me caused you to resort to your supposed spiritual love for my father as a fallback plan.”

“You’re stating that my inner values don’t align with my actions.”

“Yes. Here’s someone who claims that values are enough for love, but in reality, they fell in love with a person’s appearance. Isn’t that a disgusting contradiction?”

She reflected deeply on that past event, ultimately concluding that my desires had created this contradiction.

If we only look at the situation superficially, it’s understandable for her to think so.

“…”

“What? No counterargument?”

“Do you remember our first encounter two years ago?”

“What are you talking about? Our first meeting was at the Pantheon hiring interview a year ago. Are you losing your memory already?”

“Haha… I’ll inform you later.”

That event two years ago.

It may have held no significance to her, but for me, it became the reason for my existence.

I believe with no doubt that the day will come when we sit across from each other, sipping tea, and reminisce about that day.

“Hmph.”

Dissatisfied with my vague response, she blew a raspberry and tossed the parchment at me carelessly.

The parchment, rolling down the dais step by step, finally stopped when it reached my knees.

Staring at the parchment bound with blue thread, I recalled our first meeting two years ago.

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Two years ago.

At a time when everything — the joy of getting into a prestigious university, dreams of a glittering future, and the hope of being able to do anything — began to fade like morning mist at a seaside,

I was sitting alone in the Central Plaza of Moonlight, aimlessly staring into the empty purse in my pocket.

Inside it wasn’t silver or gold coins but ten-thousand won and fifty-thousand won notes.

Currency as good as worthless scraps of paper in this fantasy world.

How on earth was I expected to manage my basic living with this?

“Hey, bumpkin!”

Then, someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind, so I turned around.

There was a twenty-something female wearing a gothic dress, smiling at me.

Thinking I was a bumpkin fresh out of the country, she was looking at me with both interest and amusement.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Katina! Nice to meet you.”

She offered a handshake, but I didn’t readily extend mine.

Unable to erase the caution towards this new world and its inhabitants.

“Is something the matter?”

“Is this your first time in this city?”

“Yes. In fact, I don’t even know where I am …”

I didn’t get a chance to finish my sentence.

Without hearing me out, Katina grabbed my wrist and began leading me around the city of the Moon.

Guilds, taverns, weaving shops, blacksmiths – I was dumbfounded by the reality of stepping into what felt like the backdrop of a fantasy novel set in the Middle Ages.

But thanks to Katina treating me amicably and explaining many things with kindness, I quickly adjusted without feeling too out of place.

Even I could sense my uneasiness fading away and finding some semblance of stability through her acquaintance.

Being introduced to Katina first was a stroke of luck.

But it was all a trap.

As the twilight descended, Katina lured me into a secluded alley.

Soon, mysterious thugs lurking between buildings started to emerge one by one.

“Oh my, look what we’ve caught – a baby bird in the net?”

“More like a fool than a chick, huh? Teeheehee.”

The thug’s laughter mixed with mockery reverberated through the alley.

Armed with threatening weapons, they began to surround me.

“Ugh…My throat’s killing me after all that talking.”

As if finally arriving home, Katina cleared her throat and adjusted it casually.

Then, grabbing my hand that she had held onto throughout the city walk, she rudely threw it off and casually joined the thug’s group.

By this point, even a fool could tell.

Katina, along with those thugs, were essentially a gang of extortionists preying on bumpkins.

She winked and linked arms with an eyepatch-wearing thug, seemingly the leader.

Then, they both approached me together.

“You caught on right away, didn’t you? Let’s settle the guide fee. And by fee, I mean all your possessions.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have any money.”

“Do you think hiding that coin purse and lying will work?~”

Then Katina slyly grinned and pointed a finger at my waist belt where the heavy coin purse hung.

Apparently, the plump look of my coin purse made me their target.

What fools.

Without hesitation, I chucked the coin purse to them, and like piranhas spotting their prey, the thugs gathered and tore into it.

“Woohahahaha!! …Wait, what’s this?!?”

“What kind of pictures are these?”

“South Korean currency. About 2.5 million won. Isn’t that enough for the guide fee?”

I smirked cruelly.

That’s when the realization of being tricked hit them, turning their faces a deep red from embarrassment.

“Wait… I was trying to fleece you, and now I feel bad. Though honestly, I don’t even know why this weird paper money is here.”

“…”

Disgusted by my honest answer, Katina’s face scrunched up violently and she spat on my face, muttering “disgusting.”

Cling!

Still not satisfied with that, Katina picked up a discarded plate from the ground and hurled it against the wall.

“Damn. I thought I had cornered a sucker… Ugh!”

At that moment, she laid bear her true ugly side.

“Stop exploiting others and live a good life.”

“Shut up!”

“What did you just say? Are you reporting our crimes to the police? Or the guards here?”

“Damn! You think this is the end? Bastard! Why don’t you die and see!”

Spewing curses, Katina suddenly went crazy and ripped a small part of her intact dress sleeve.

Stunned by her unexpected action, my body froze.

Just as I reached out to restrain her, one thin thug swung a club from behind and knocked me unconscious.

When I came to, my body was tightly bound to a wooden pillar, unable to move an inch, and my mouth was gagged.

Looking around as calmly as possible, the plaza was filled with people whose eyes glimmered with rage and the intent for revenge.

“Ahhh… HIIIIIII!!”

Katina, now playing the tragic female lead, started to sob dramatically.

“Everyone! That guy there! He… he didn’t protect my girlfriend… I’m so sorry!”

The patch-eyed thug trembled as he pointed at me, then knelt down and beat his fists into the ground.

The act put on by this extortionist couple was exceptionally dynamic.

As a result, the citizens surrounding me made no secret of their hate-filled gazes, eager to kill me.

It was like a herd of bulls waiting for the right moment to charge at me.

Don’t believe it.

Don’t believe what those thugs say.

It’s a scheme to hide their crimes by rousing the public’s anger to have me killed.

“HOOOOOO! Look at this!”

Katina lifted the torn sleeve of her dress, showing it off to the citizens as evidence.

That was the trigger.

Enraged citizens began throwing stones at me.

“Die, you filthy wretch!”

“Freakin’ bastard!”

“Murderer!”

The sharp stone attacks began leaving marks here and there.

My forehead split open and the blood seeped into my eyes.

Everything, the whole world, was tinged red.

“Don’t look up with those filthy eyes!!”

One woman scooped up a handful of sand and threw it in my face.

The grains burning my eyes made them unbearably itchy.

The last sight I saw, before having to tightly close my eyes, was the hateful grin on Katina’s face.

“Die!”

“D*mn you!”

“Thief!”

The barrage of stones against my body didn’t stop.

All grievances in the world seemed to be directed at me.

I don’t want this.

Isn’t it my fate to be mercilessly torn apart?

No, I don’t want this!

Please, somebody help me.

Please exonerate my unjust accusations.

I want to live.

“Who’s making all this noise?!”

Right then.

A voice as fresh as a refreshing drink that instantly wiped away the hateful and wicked atmosphere of this square.

Everyone parted to the sides, making way for a single woman marching confidently.

In a world as black and white as an old TV where the actor shines out, even in my blood-shot eyes seeing everything red, she appeared as if she had descended just moments ago, glowing with many colors as a radiant goddess.

Who is she?

“Ah, Lady Artemis!”

“Everyone bow down!”

Ah, Artemis? Is she the Artemis from the Greek and Roman myths that I know?

Then… she’s really… a goddess?!

The citizens all dropped their rocks and prostrated themselves on the ground once they recognized the situation.

Having grasped the basic gist, Artemis approached Katina, the apparent ringleader of this incident.

“Hey, you.”

“Whaaaaa! AAAAAAAAA!! Lady Artemis! I’m sorry, that guy there…”

“Y-Yes, that’s right! That one, he hurt my perfectly fine girlfriend!”

They both dramatically pointed their trembling fingers at me, tied to the wooden pole and bleeding.

Not true.

I didn’t even touch her.

Rather, I ended up on the verge of being scammed for my money under the guise of a guide.

The real victim of violence is me.

I wanted to protest, but the gag in my mouth prevented me from doing so.

I could only glare, my blood-shot eyes full of tears and sand, at the villains.

“Hmm…”

Artemis’ crescent-shaped eyes began to fill with energy as if the moon was waxing into a full moon.

And with that, she pierced the truth through the vast desert of lies and false accusations, finding a tiny needle of truth.

“What a load of nonsense is this?”

Poof!

Artemis casually flicked her nose at how absurd it all was and delivered a stunning kick to Katina’s face.

“C-Crack… Lady Artemis?”

The all-seeing goddess now glanced at Katina, treating her like a pile of filthy waste.

“Did you go play ‘King Kong’ at kindergarten? Save your lies for the moon.”

“Prejudice! Just because you’re a goddess, does that mean you can slander people arbitrarily like this?”

The poisonous look in Katina’s eyes now had no traces of tears left.

“Shut up, you brat.”

Artemis casually kicked the charging Katina away.

As a bonus, she kicked the patch-eyed thug’s jaw and sent him flying.

Then she instantly nocked an arrow on her bow, aiming directly at me.

Pfft!

The arrow accurately severed the ropes binding me.

Ignoring my collapse to the ground, she quickly nocked another arrow, this time aiming it at the patch-eyed thug.

“Ah, Lady Artemis!”

“Blackmail, extortion, assault, false accusation. …Do you want me to elaborate?”

The arrow fired mercilessly struck the only good left eye of the one-eyed thug, causing instant blindness followed shortly by his demise.

Without pause, Artemis pulled several arrows simultaneously from her quiver and shot them into the sky.

“Cough!”

“Gasp!”

High into the sky, the arrows, akin to guided missiles, sought out the remaining goons hidden in the crowd, each accurately piercing their necks in turn.

She then slowly nocked the final arrow in her quiver, fixing her gaze on Katina.

“Let this be your reminder in hell. Purity is not a weapon but a belief.”

“AaaRRRRRRRRRGH!!!”

Pfft!

Without mercy, the arrow pierced through Katina’s forehead, silencing her scream before it was fully voiced.

“Judgment delivered. I’m leaving.”

“Ah…”

Artemis coolly turned her back and left the central plaza.

I feel regretful for not even getting a chance to say ‘thank you.’

Still, I determinedly etched her magnificent figure into my pupils, vowing to remember it forever.

She was my first love; an unexpected first love that came into my life, which had been consumed by studying to enter a prestigious university.

And because it was first love, it was filled with excitement,

Because it was first love, it was so painful.

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The direction of the wind entering the executive chamber shifted, and I was urged to quickly pick up the Twelve Labors’ parchment.

I cautiously picked it up.

Now, the moment I unfold this, everything begins.

“Do you know what? You taught me something. That simply existing is happiness.”

Clutching the parchment tightly, I looked intensely at Artemis with a sorrowful gaze.

She, too, seemed to read the intensity of my emotions and looked somewhat embarrassed, fidgeting.

“Uh, Wha…?”

“You’ve always been a goddess to me, Lady Artemis, even before I knew who you really were.”

After two years of concealing it deeply, I finally confessed my feelings for her.

It was a rather clumsy confession, like a trembling father holding his newborn baby for the first time.

However, there are no regrets or lingering doubts now.

My love, happiness, future, dreams— I stake everything and step into the challenge.

“Every beginning starts with a smile.”

Wearing a pale smile, I forcefully unfurled the parchment with both hands.

[Sell sea water to the God of the Sea, Poseidon.]

The first labor has begun.

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