Chunbae
Yujin turned back the way he had come and left.
He had gotten what he needed. There was no reason to linger in this revolting Abyss a second longer.
Besides, there was no telling what that deranged freak might pull if he stuck around and gave her the chance.
With the little bear doll hanging from his arm, he stepped onto the skill zone engraved with Leap [E].
"First floor."
A low hum rolled through the air.
The skill carved into the floor ignited, and the scenery around him warped and buckled.
Leap [E]
A flash of light, and in an instant he was back on the first floor.
At once, the women's sharp gazes fixed on him. The faint surprise in their eyes suggested they found it remarkable that he had returned alive at all.
The manager who had escorted him to the thirteenth floor approached.
"…Did you meet Lady Cupiditas?"
"Yeah. Had a nice little chat. Even got a present out of it."
"Kkyaaaang—!"
He gave his arm a shake, and the bear doll opened its mouth and let out an adorable cry.
The manager flinched hard and scrambled back a step. Judging by her face, she had a pretty good idea what the thing was.
Is this little guy more impressive than I thought?
Her reaction made Yujin look down at the bear with fresh interest. Fair enough—something couldn't just spit items in and out and earn an A-rank for that alone. There was probably more to it that he didn't know yet. Or maybe Cupiditas had built some trick into it.
I'll check later.
He set the thought aside and started walking.
"I'm heading out."
He waved a hand and left the Alchemists Guild behind.
"…I look forward to seeing you again."
It was pure courtesy. For some reason, she clearly wanted nothing to do with him—whether because of Cupiditas, the bear, or Yujin himself, he couldn't say.
"Yeah, sure."
He answered halfheartedly and stepped outside into a bustling street that welcomed him at once.
Whoa. More people came in while I was gone?
He hadn't spent that long on the thirteenth floor. A few exchanges, a little blackmail, and walking out with a bear doll—that was the whole trip. An hour at most. In that short stretch, though, the player population had clearly grown. The other Tutorial floors were starting to wrap up one by one.
No familiar faces, though.
He scanned the street as he walked, but no one worth recruiting caught his eye. The more he looked, the more he regretted letting the Sword Empress slip away earlier.
Where's she hiding?
He needed to find her fast and sweeten the deal with Black Wing [A].
He scratched the back of his head, and the bear dangling from his arm like a koala let out a long, plaintive Kkyaaaang—!
Yujin eyed it with mild discomfort, then sighed. Whatever else it was, the thing could serve as a subspace inventory—and a better one than Cupiditas's, no less. He couldn't exactly throw it away.
"Can't keep calling you Bear-thing forever. Guess I'd better give you a name."
What would work?
He strolled down the middle of the street, tossing a few options around in his head.
Teddy… nah. Winnie? Kind of weird.
After a few more steps he lifted his arm so he was eye to eye with the bear.
"Kkyaaaang—!"
"Good. Decision made."
What did a name matter, really? Easy to say and friendly was enough.
"From now on, you're Chunbae."
"Kkyaaaang—!"
It shook its head wildly, looking less than thrilled, but that was fine. The one doing the naming got to decide.
"Let's go, Chunbae!"
Ignoring the tears welling in Chunbae's eyes, Yujin strode on with purpose.
"Time to find a mount."
Lee Sia held her breath and pressed herself into a narrow alley.
She had barely calmed down enough to leave the bar before running straight into that psychotic serial killer again!
A grown man walking around with a squeaky bear doll hanging off his arm. He had even named the thing. Chunbae, of all things.
Definitely not right in the head.
If she crossed his path again, something horrible was bound to happen. She could already picture him drawing that black sword at his hip and cutting people down for no reason at all.
Determined not to be seen, she stayed hidden in the alley until he was well and truly gone. Only after confirming he had vanished completely did she finally let out a long breath and slip back into the open.
Even so, she kept her guard up as she carefully made her way through Terra.
He said if I want to get stronger, I have to hunt, right?
She pulled the business card from her pocket.
— Information Guild, Terra Branch Manager, Mullen —
An Information Guild sounded like something out of a game or an anime. Advice from the man who ran a branch of one ought to be solid. Or at least, she wanted to believe it was. He was the first person who had been kind to her since she entered the Tower of Light.
"Sulfur Deer. Sulfur Deer."
She repeated the name of the monster Mullen had mentioned. Catching those, he had said, was the fastest way to level. The problem was that Sia, as she was now, had zero chance of taking one down alone. She needed party members—at least five of them.
She looked around. Plenty of the people filling the streets were players, not natives of Terra.
This isn't going to work.
Every face she saw was dark. No—terrified. They didn't look ready to hunt monsters. They didn't even look ready to leave the city. She had no confidence she could talk any of them into going out with her, and even if she managed it, they would freeze the moment things got real.
Everyone was scared. That was fair. But she needed people who still had some fight left in them—some ambition.
Yeah. Someone like that lunatic from earlier.
The thought hit her and she flinched.
"…I must be losing it."
Of all the people she could picture, him?
Before she could stop herself, she imagined hunting alongside that man.
"Ugh!"
The image that sprang up was her own head, severed clean and mounted on a wall right next to a Sulfur Deer's.
"No matter how I look at it, that psycho is not an option."
She shook her head hard, sighed, and started walking again. She needed to meet more people. Not every player could be cowering in a corner. There had to be a few bold ones somewhere.
Her hand found the hilt at her waist on pure instinct and stroked it.
A sword roughly forged from a red lotus. Holds the faintest trace of fire-attribute energy.
By every description, a thoroughly unimpressive starter weapon. Even so, simply having it settles her nerves—as if she has held it for a very long time. Natural. Familiar. Of course, when she actually swings it, the form is still clumsy as ever.
Which way should I go?
After a moment's thought, she headed for Terra's entrance. It was the first place players would see when they arrived. If she sat tight there, she might spot someone whose expression still had some life in it.
With a destination set, her steps came easier than she expected.
"This way, right?"
She was picking her way along from memory when a racket rose up ahead.
"Hand it over!"
"N-no!"
"You looking to die? You want me to put a hole in your gut and take it then, or are you gonna be smart and give it up nice?"
As she drew closer, the curses grated on her ears. Her brow furrowed. She pushed through the cluster of onlookers.
What is this?
Three burly men had a small, scrawny boy hemmed in and were snarling at him. From their clothes alone, every one of them was a player—the ones doing the taking and the one refusing to be taken from.
"You really think something like that suits a little punk like you?"
One of the men pointed at the boy's hand.
A glove?
No—too large and too crude for a glove. Forged from black metal, it looked heavy enough to kill someone with a single punch. On a small, frail boy, the silhouette was absurdly threatening. A faint light bled from its surface. Even at a glance, it was a solid piece of gear.
So that's why they want it.
None of the three men carried anything that looked like an item. Either they had walked out of the Tutorial empty-handed, or whatever they had wasn't a weapon. So they had decided to rob a kid who looked easy to push around.
"I-I already said no!"
Even hunched and cornered, the boy refused to fold under their threats. He bared his teeth and glared right back at them.
I should stop this.
The odds were stacked against him. No matter how good the item looked, one scrawny boy couldn't handle three grown men alone. Sia started forward. Standing by and watching injustice from the safety of a crowd was not in her nature.
Then a voice spoke beside her.
"…Those bastards are dead."
A middle-aged man standing next to her had muttered it under his breath.
"Excuse me?"
He hadn't said that bastard. He had said those bastards. Which meant the ones about to die weren't the boy.
"Those idiot thugs. They're going to die."
Something flickered behind the man's eyes, and a full-body shudder ran through him.
"What do you mean?"
"That little brat came from the same place I did. Something like this happened back there, too."
When Sia pressed him, he sighed and went on.
"Back then it was five of them. And this was still mid-treasure hunt—he didn't even have that vicious gauntlet yet."
"…And?"
"All five died."
What?
"He went for the eyes without a second of hesitation. Bit a nose clean off, tore an ear, wrenched a neck. It was… grotesque."
The memory made the middle-aged man tremble again.
"They tore into each other ready to die, and the one who walked away was the kid. He was one breath from death himself, of course."
Sia turned her head on reflex and looked at the boy. Not a single scar showed on him. It was almost impossible to believe he had survived a fight that brutal.
"That monster Didascalia said he liked the kid's style and patched him up. That's how he got that item—and a few other things—before he climbed up here."
If that was true…
"Just die already, you little shit!"
One of the men finally snapped and threw a punch. In a heartbeat the boy's face should have been pulp.
What actually happened was nothing like anyone expected.
A sickening crunch of metal and bone.
A level-one player's flesh had no chance against solid metal. The boy's gauntleted fist simply shattered the man's arm.
"A-AAAAAARGH!"
Clutching the ruined limb, the man screamed like an animal.
"W-what the hell?! Kill that little bastard!"
The remaining two lunged at the boy in panic. It made no difference.
A wet crack. A grinding collapse of bone.
One man's face lost its shape entirely. The other's chest caved in. Blood poured like a waterfall, and raw, ragged screams tore through the air.
The sight left Sia's mind blank. Through the haze, the middle-aged man's voice reached her ear again.
"That's why they call the brat the Fighting Demon. Means a ghost gone mad for battle."