Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Punching Dart
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Kaisha, who had been standing quietly, took a step forward, and Dart's shoulder twitched.
Everyone around turned to stare at Kaisha. Just when it seemed she was heading toward Hellcannon under all those gazes, she abruptly changed direction.
She walked right up to the frozen Dart and swung her fist.
Pow—!!
“?!!”
Nix, standing nearby, didn't have a chance to intervene.
Nix cried out in shock.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Kaisha, having landed her punch, walked off with a much-relieved expression, whistling casually.
Kali clicked her tongue.
“Tch. If he'd handed it over nicely when asked, he wouldn't have gotten decked.”
Who in their right mind would sweetly surrender a hero already bound to Midgard's top-tier specs?
Still, the justification of coughing up the bound hero since they'd gotten help in the gate was pretty plausible.
Spaceking guild members glanced nervously at Dart amid the sudden outburst, but he showed no real reaction.
Kaisha had thrown the punch, and he'd just taken it without a word.
It was an utterly baffling situation.
“…….”
The guy who would've normally thrown a raging fit stood there with a sunken expression, lips pressed tight. Soon enough, he fully sheathed his sword, turned, and walked away.
“Da-Dart?”
The flustered Spaceking guild members exchanged uneasy looks before hurrying after him.
Abyss, who had kept her guard up with Dart right there, finally relaxed her battle stance. Kali let out a breath of relief as she took stock of the situation.
“Ha. Is it finally over?”
She turned to look at Kaisha.
Hellcannon's condition looked dire at a glance.
“Messiah.”
Kaisha dropped to one knee in front of Hellcannon and summoned her bound hero, Messiah, to heal him.
A ultimate-skill-level beam of healing light poured down, and Hellcannon's complexion snapped back to life.
Kaisha rose to her feet.
“You've worked hard.”
Even after the healing, Hellcannon lay there breathing shallowly. He gazed blankly up at Kaisha.
Kali walked over to Kaisha.
“Let's wrap this up and head out. I thought we'd finally get to go home, but we came straight out of the dungeon into a city war. I'm beat.”
“What about the police side?”
“They sorted that ages ago. Goldbunker stepped up big-time to help. Handled the injured, dealt with the news crews' cameras, held talks—all of it.”
“…….”
“Anyway, that Gilgamesh? Total spineless pushover.”
If I'm gonna run a guild in the real world now, I need to pick up some of that sly savvy fast.
Kaisha mulled it over silently before asking Kali,
“Any injuries on our side?”
“Thanks to the guild masters taking the lead, no major casualties in the front line. Kirin-nim made it safely to the hospital, and anyone who looked seriously hurt got healed up and shipped off to medical care.”
“Good work. We still don't fully get how much those heals fix or how wounds respond.”
“Yeah.”
Kali kept going.
“The captured heroes? Hyunwoo-nim and Mura-nim took them like we talked about. Thank god they have a place to hold them.”
For Kaisha, who'd decided to take the heroes alive, it was a huge relief.
Sure, capturing them was one thing—but managing them? Hyunwoo-nim, loaded with cash and manpower, had stepped right up.
“Guess I owe them a big reward.”
“Finding a quick way to send those heroes back wouldn't that be the surest reward?”
Kaisha laughed at Kali's point.
“Yeah, you're right.”
She switched on her mic.
“This is Kaisha. Thanks to all your hard fighting, we won this real-world siege with minimal losses and defended the country. We'll debrief later—disband for now. You all did amazing.”
Kaisha's voice broadcast across the entire Fulminak guild.
It was the familiar siege-channel announcement.
With no deaths or major injuries apparently, Fulminak's voice chat exploded.
[“Whoa, Guild Master-nim! Word is you threw down with that Dart prick?! You won, right?! Obviously you crushed him?! Wow, Guild Master-nim as expected!!”]
[“Puhaha! What're you doing solo, Kim Min-ho? Freaking hilarious! Great job, everyone!”]
[“Uwaaa! Is it finally over?!”]
[“Tension's easing off.”]
[“Great work!”]
[“Love you, Guild Master-nim!”]
[“Camen! Loyalty!”]
[“That was a real-life siege war.”]
[“Man, starving.”]
[“Anyone wanna grab food right now? Found nearby spots still open—hit up the group chat.”]
Kaisha smiled quietly at her guildmates' bright, lively voices.
Before entering the gate, Kaisha pulled a spare jacket from her inventory and slipped it on as she crouched down.
Hellcannon, clearly exhausted, had dozed off in the meantime.
“Help me piggyback Hellcannon.”
“I'll do it.”
Kaisha's bound hero, Whisl, stepped forward, leaving Kaisha flustered.
“Ah, no, I—”
“Sir Whisl, you're so clueless. That's her dream. Piggybacking Hellcannon.”
“…….”
Kaisha buried her face in her hands at Kali's words. The Fulminak guildmates gathered nearby burst into laughter.
“Oh, epic!”
“Puhaha! Congrats, Guild Master-nim!”
“Wow, incredible. All that singing about it every day, and you finally nabbed Hellcannon.”
“Guild Master-nim's face is red.”
Kaisha's ear tips were beet red.
Elfer, standing well away because she couldn't stand the sight of Hellcannon, pouted.
It was a full-blown party.
Whisl finally got it and helped Kaisha from another angle.
Kaisha cooled her embarrassment-flushed face with a sigh, then quickly turned and offered her back.
The guildmates chattered.
“Bet he's not heavy.”
“Our Guild Master's strength stat is nuts.”
“Guild Master-nim! Want a commemorative pic of you piggybacking Hellcannon?”
“…….”
Kaisha paused as she started to rise with Hellcannon on her back, then quietly held out her phone. The area dissolved into laughter once more.
* * *
The spot where Kaisha had finally fulfilled her long-cherished dream of piggybacking Hellcannon amid a huge uproar of joy and chaos.
As if a veil had been gently drawn aside, two figures materialized.
A blonde girl and a blonde young man.
They looked so alike that anyone would assume they were siblings. They glanced at each other.
Complex emotions flickered across their doll-like faces.
Space ripped open.
It had torn during Kaisha and Dart's fight, when the distortion invaded the Beta Field where the constellations had gathered.
“Nokhyeon-ssi... who exactly did he bring along, and what the heck is he up to?”
The girl muttered and vanished again.
The blonde youth followed.
* * *
Breaking news rolled nonstop until the downtown war wrapped up. Once cameramen gained access, detailed on-site footage hit the broadcast news.
Naturally, the spotlight fell on Kaisha—Ga-hyun.
Dart and Gilgamesh's side was too gruesome; cameramen couldn't even get close with their gear.
With her eldest brother too busy to pick up, Ga-hyun's mom—who'd caught wind of the news—called Je-hyun instead.
“Don't worry. How good is Ga-hyun at martial arts normally? What? You didn't know? She's always known how to fight! She's been scrappy since she was little?!”
To calm his aunt, Kim Je-hyun rattled off whatever lies he'd just cooked up.
Naturally, Kim Je-hyun had zero clue if Ga-hyun had ever been any good at fighting.
He glanced at the TV.
In the footage, Ga-hyun was practically flying around.
Is that even human? More like a weapon.
Ga-hyun sure wasn't losing. Swords whipping everywhere made it look risky, though.
Judging from the TV static, his aunt seemed tuned to the same channel—but she was too busy venting nonstop complaints, worries, and fury about her daughter.
Even going into the gate, she'd only left a single text message or whatever.
“Yeah,”
She'd stormed out after fighting with Mom—who'd want that stress when the conversation was a foregone headache?
Doesn't mean she wouldn't go in anyway. Crazy to even call.
“Y-yeah, you're right. Ga-hyun was out of line.”
Ever since her one and only daughter entered the gate, the aunt had gotten seriously hysterical.
Je-hyun's mom fretted over and soothed her sister, but Je-hyun—who knew the rough backstory—could only think she should've treated her better from the start.
No idea why she torments her grown-ass kid like this.
'Please trust Ga-hyun a little.'
The words welled up to the tip of his tongue, but as always with his own mom, Kim Je-hyun swallowed what he wanted to say.
If he said she might get hurt fighting, aunt would have no comeback—but even swearing Ga-hyun was invincible wouldn't end this worry-torture. Who knew?
The aunt always faked concern for Ga-hyun, desperate like she'd cease to exist without reining her in.
'No kidding—if that was my daughter, I'd carry her everywhere.'
Kim Je-hyun swallowed a sigh.
Ga-hyun had been top of her class all through middle and high school, with killer looks to boot. Even relatives had their eyes on her.
Everyone lit up at talented folks, itching to snag them for use.
Sticking a girl like that into some startup to “get along” with his eldest brother? Unless she was an idiot, her guts would've boiled over.
And Kim Je-hyun had gleefully piled on the torment.
'Why the hell did I do that?'
Je-hyun reflected hard.
Ga-hyun, whose mere presence used to crush his spirit, had tumbled down the ladder—and he'd lost his mind for a bit.
'Damn, Ga-hyun. Should've at least maxed out that card I gave you on luxury crap before bailing.'
Her card statements since entering the gate? While home, only bare-minimum living expenses.
Je-hyun felt even guiltier for no good reason.
He glanced at the TV.
Even to someone clueless, the Ga-hyun fighting hardest on-screen was clearly the hunters' leader.
Turned out Ga-hyun was a big deal in the game world.
Apparently guild master of a top-three guild in VFA, one of the most famous around.
For someone as frustratingly diligent and upright as Ga-hyun to stake her life on a VR game, there had to be good reason.
In the news footage—indistinguishable from a movie—she and her guildmates were stylishly shredding the heroes that had burst out from the game.
She fought that well.
“Yes. Yes, Aunt. Yes. Sigh. Yeah, right. Totally. Yes.”
Slumped on the sofa, Kim Je-hyun weakly parroted “yes” after “yes,” faking shared worry with heavy, pained sighs.
When Ga-hyun got home, he'd tell his aunt to quit the endless phone nagging.
The suffocating, sweet-potato-like agony dragged on forever.
Then the TV screen shifted.
The incident site came into full view from a drone camera's high angle.
[Hunter-led push finally quells Dangsan Station intersection chaos]
[Injured being transported]
Dangsan Station's mess seemed finally under control.
Right then, his phone pinged with a message.
[Ga-hyun: Call a doctor to the house]
“?”
Je-hyun, half-ignoring his aunt via Bluetooth earbuds while messing around, startled upright.
He fired back instantly.
[Kim Je-hyun: You hurt??]
[Ga-hyun: Not me]
[Ga-hyun: Anyway get a doctor]
[Kim Je-hyun: Ok...]
No clue what was up, but at least Ga-hyun wasn't hurt. Relief.