Chapter 39: Choi Seulgi
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 39: Choi Seulgi
Choi Seulgi began to move. Her meeting with the Weapon Merchant was still about three days away, but she had things to do. The thought of showing herself like this to other men was disgusting, and she felt incredibly sorry towards Kim Taesung, but it had to be done. She changed into torn clothes that revealed glimpses of her skin and slipped out of the cave.
Not knowing what the future held, she had to make the most of everything she had.
“I'm sorry, Taesung… But I have no choice.”
Originally, she had planned to finish off Park Youngwhan and Kim Pansuk and then leave the western city, but after meeting the Weapon Merchant, she had no choice but to change her course of action. Having already experienced this world once, she knew it was a place where only the strong survived. That was why she had done her best to achieve results in the Tutorial.
It wasn't as much as she'd hoped, but she had managed to kill a great number of goblins. Moreover, for some reason, the monsters' dagger techniques suited her well. She could feel herself growing at a rapid pace. For some unknown reason, that Orc was trying to nurture her. Gifting her items was just the start.
The ‘Bloodsoaked Dagger’ she was currently equipped with, and the ‘Wind Wing Boots’ he had given her as an additional gift, were all items unobtainable from human item shops. They must have been taken from the bodies of humans he had hunted… their original source was likely a dungeon. As she learned various dirty fighting techniques used by monsters in addition to dagger skills, she naturally decided to hold on a little longer and began to search for her next target.
Choi Seulgi's greatest goal was, of course, to get revenge on the Sword Saint. She didn't care whether the woman had acted with malice or not. The only thing that mattered was the fact that Kim Taesung had been miserably betrayed while trying to live up to her expectations. That alone was reason enough for that bitch to die.
She couldn't count the times she'd seen the Sword Saint laughing happily in the city and had to struggle to suppress the murderous intent boiling up inside her.
But she endured it. For the future.
‘I'll tear you to pieces, you bitch.’
Funnily enough, the fact that Kim Taesung had once shown her goodwill also remained as a small, bitter sediment in her heart.
However, it wasn't a goal she could accomplish right away.
The Sword Saint was strong. And it went without saying that the Saint Knights Order protecting her was as well. They were on a completely different level. She didn't remember the exact details, but after a little more time passed, the western city of Aia would start a war with other cities.
For Choi Seulgi, who needed to find Kim Taesung, this was the best possible opportunity. There was only one thing that made her anxious.
‘What if… what if Kim Taesung didn't make it here… or what if he had an accident during the Tutorial…'
She clearly remembered him saying that he had been summoned to the western city of Aia from the very beginning. It was only natural that she had searched for him everywhere, including the training centers for new summoners.
She couldn't describe her despair after failing to find any sign of him. It was to the point where she thought that might be part of the reason her personality had become a little twisted.
“He has to be here… somewhere, for sure. He must be alive, there's no doubt. He's definitely alive.”
The words escaped her lips unconsciously.
Choi Seulgi pressed her lips together firmly and began to search for prey. This wasn't a hunt for magical beasts or monsters. What Choi Seulgi was doing was hunting humans. Specifically, ambushing beginners.
Before her was a party of three men. She felt no guilt. In truth, Choi Seulgi considered the entire western city of Aia—the city that had abandoned her and Kim Taesung to a miserable life—as one great ‘enemy.’ More importantly, this was an unavoidable step to lure out her second target: Lee Youngdon, the Clan Master of the Red Cross Clan.
She tailed them a little longer. As expected, she could see them hunting magical beasts. Unfortunately, one of them seemed quite skilled. The way he used magic looked rather impressive. He was probably a safeguard to protect the beginners, given how restless the forest had been lately. But it didn't matter much to her.
Choi Seulgi put on a mask. Not a literal one. She was acting, becoming someone different. She burst out and started shouting.
“Hey! Over here! Help me! The Weapon Merchant's goblins… my party…”
In reality, she had no injuries. But if a woman with disheveled hair, wearing torn, bloodstained clothes, came running at them, anyone would believe her story. Especially a party hunting in a place like this.
“Sh… shit, I heard it was quiet these days…”
“Are they nearby?”
“Chang… Changsu, what do we do?”
The one who looked like a beginner seemed to believe her, but as expected, the magician was looking at her with suspicion.
“You there. Identify yourself.”
“I'm… I'm Choi Heeyoung, a fifth-grade summoner. I live in the back alleys of the slums… an older guy I know asked me to go hunting, and then…”
The back alleys of the slums were where the brothel she used to live in was located. They could probably guess what kind of ‘older guy’ she was talking about.
As expected, the magician thought for a moment before speaking again.
“We're returning to the village immediately. If we go to rescue them, we'll die too. Grab the woman and we'll head straight for the city.”
“Ah! Okay.”
Choi Seulgi collapsed on the spot, as if exhausted. Seeing the two men approach with flushed faces to help her up, Choi Seulgi let her body go even more limp. The men took her by the arms and began to slowly move her towards the magician. The magician, Changsu, was looking her up and down, as if appraising her.
“I've never seen a face like yours before…”
“Ah! Th-that's because I'm new.”
“I'll pay you a visit later.”
“Yes.”
The moment the magician slowly turned his back to her, Choi Seulgi shook off the two men's arms and instantly threw the dagger she was holding at him.
The dagger shot forward with a sound of slicing wind. With the two warriors who could have protected him occupied with her, there was nothing he could do. He heard the sound of slicing wind and hastily turned around, but…
“Sh… what the… Shie—!”
Thwack.
With that sound, the dagger embedded itself squarely between his eyes. He died without even a scream. Of course, he'd had no time to cast a spell. His eyes remained fixed on Choi Seulgi, wide with disbelief.
“You… what are you…”
Seeing this, the other two, unable to grasp what had just happened, could only stare at Choi Seulgi with their mouths agape.
Choi Seulgi threw another dagger she had on her at one of them. The other man, finally snapping out of it, screamed and tried to run. She caught up to him from behind, clamped a hand over his mouth, and shoved her dagger into his throat.
The sound of thwuck hit her ears.
“Ugh-aaaaaaargh—”
It was the exact method used by the goblins under the Weapon Merchant. Then, Choi Seulgi began to mutilate the corpses. Stabbing them all over with her dagger. Using the warrior's sword to create wounds that resembled those made by the ‘greatsword’ the Weapon Merchant carried. Only after she had thoroughly wrecked the surrounding area and the bodies for a long time was the scene set.
The next step was to collect the weapons.
Just as the Weapon Merchant always collected weapons, Choi Seulgi did the same. Soon, she entered her hideout, the ‘cave,’ where weapons were piled high. The work up until now had been difficult, but it was by no means meaningless. Looking at the pile of weapons, she began to feel a little proud of herself.
Choi Seulgi started to head out again, in the opposite direction from before. Moving as stealthily as possible, erasing all signs of her presence, she spotted another set of prey.
This time, too, she would deal with them in a similar fashion.
After crying for help, she would act exhausted in front of the strongest-looking one, or do whatever it took to make them lower their guard before shoving a dagger into their throat. If necessary, she wouldn't hesitate to use her charms or feign coyness.
After easily dispatching the others, she repeated the same actions as before.
She was staging the scene so that anyone would think it was the work of the Weapon Merchant and his goblins. An operation she had been working on for three months. To be precise, she had started it right after encountering the Weapon Merchant.
The dagger techniques he began to teach her, and the greatsword wounds she sometimes saw when he fought magical beasts.
Having chosen the ‘Thief’ class, which gave her slightly better observational skills than others, Choi Seulgi was able to ‘imitate’ the methods of the Weapon Merchant and his goblins—not perfectly, but closely enough.
The goal, of course, was to create an appearance pattern.
A truly high-level Ranger, Archer, or Thief might notice that the traces were fabricated, but those high-level types in the Saint Knights Order were too busy keeping the Green Goblin Clan in check.
They couldn't afford to leave the Green Goblin Clan unattended just to catch a single Weapon Merchant who hunted beginners and intermediates.
In that case, the job would naturally fall to a subordinate clan.
There was a very high probability that the Red Cross Clan, which managed access to the western forest, would be tasked with the job. There was no way those guys, who were notorious for their laziness starting with the Clan Master, would do the job properly. Especially that bastard Lee Youngdon—the one she wanted to chew to pieces—he hated anything that became a hassle.
The Rangers or Archers who came to write up the incident report would probably just conclude it was the Weapon Merchant's doing and dispatch personnel to the area to hunt him down. Choi Seulgi nodded.
She would use anything and everything she could to kill them.
It wasn't that she hadn't considered using the ‘Weapon Merchant,’ who seemed to care for her, but whenever she looked into his foolish eyes, she was reminded of Kim Taesung and couldn't bring herself to do it. However, Choi Seulgi knew that she needed the Weapon Merchant to clash with the Red Cross Clan. Only then would her own chances of success increase, even if just by a little.
A few days passed like that, and the day of her meeting with the Weapon Merchant drew near.
“Good.”
Before heading to the Weapon Merchant, Choi Seulgi carefully began to move towards a point she had designated. And only after arriving at the location did she discover several traces.
Without a doubt, the footprints of a Ranger or an Archer.
‘They've been here.’
With the incidents occurring in a regular pattern, they had finally started to deploy personnel here. It was only natural, she thought.
She had been consistently creating victims on a specific day of the week, around the same time, with the same method, and in a similar location. Unless the clan's archers were complete idiots, they would know that the ‘Weapon Merchant’ appeared here around this time.
The day of the decisive battle was not far off. Choi Seulgi nodded to herself and started walking towards the Weapon Merchant's location.
Since it was a good day, she thought she should indulge him a little more today. With that thought, Choi Seulgi smiled unconsciously.