Chapter 174
Chapter 174
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: How to Steal the Protagonist's Woman
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I watched from a distance as Han Yeo-reum handed a drink to Han Bom, and I lamented inwardly..
'...Fucking psycho.'
Honestly, I had my suspicions.
If the target had been Yang Ji-hyeon or some other woman, I wouldn't have cared much if he fed them hallucinogens.
But this was his own younger sister.
The scene of Han Yeo-reum feeding a hallucinogen to his sister was unfolding right before my eyes.
[But it went according to plan in the end.]
'I suppose so... but seeing him like that actually makes me a bit uneasy.'
I wondered if Han Yeo-reum was so indifferent that he wouldn't care even if something happened to Han Bom, considering he was willing to drug her.
However, Armonia immediately brushed away the worries born of my doubt.
[In my personal opinion, Han Yeo-reum isn't worried specifically because the opponent is you, Su-ho-nim.]
On the day I killed over a hundred people, Han Yeo-reum had flown into a rage when I grabbed Han Bom's arm.
Then, at some point, that hostility simply vanished.
Armonia suggested that the reason that feeling disappeared was likely because of the plan for Han Bom to approach me, seduce me, and use that as a pretext to drive a wedge between me and Min Ha-yeon.
''Now that I think about it... I was pretty flustered when she suddenly asked me what I thought of her the other day.'
I recalled Han Bom suddenly asking how I felt about her after a casual chat.
[Above all, Han Yeo-reum trusts Han Bom.]
'...? What do you mean, trusts her?'
[Therefore, I believe this is an opportunity for Su-ho-nim. Although you will have to endure some annoyance, if you use it well, you will be able to completely capture Han Bom's heart.]
Armonia explained that since Han Yeo-reum had known Han Bom her entire life, he was certain she would never feel affection for another man, which is why he didn't seem to care.
He trusted the Han Bom who had displayed a lifelong hatred for men.
Even if Min Ha-yeon might be swayed, he didn't even consider the possibility of Han Bom falling for me.
[That's your opportunity, Su-ho-nim. Although you will have to endure some annoyance, if you use it well, and you can fully capture Han Bom's heart.]
'Well, in the end, it's a good thing. But if things go according to plan, the blinding bullet and that dagger will be a problem.'
I had been told that both were single-use items.
However, the fact remained that these two items were not things commonly found in such low-level areas.
'It's not like I can just ask Yang Ji-hyeon now if she has any Status Effect Removal or curse-breaking items...'
[If urgent, we'll try healing with Enel.]
'Ah, if it's a curse, leave it for now, even if you can fix it.'
Blindness had to be treated no matter what. I couldn't exactly fight the bastards outside while being completely blind.
In contrast, I could decide whether or not to treat the curse that prevented wound healing depending on the situation.
"Alright, let's get going then."
"Yes."
Everyone replied wearily, not even suspecting this was the dungeon's final stretch.
Just as Han Bom started toward me, Han Yeo-reum grabbed her and whispered something.
"If... that bastard..."
"Argh! I get it, quit nagging!"
Unable to take any more of Han Yeo-reum's constant nagging, Han Bom responded with irritation.
Shouting like that, Han Bom approached me and spoke with a smile.
"Come on, let's go."
"Sure."
Han Bom and I headed down the middle path of the three forked waterways.
And that's when it happened. We'd barely taken a few steps when a blinding light engulfed our entire field of vision.
Swoosh!
"Huh?"
"What?"
As the light receded, Han Bom and I looked around, greeting the bright sunlight.
The dirty, smelly waterway we had been in moments ago had vanished without a trace, replaced by a forest with clear air and the songs of mountain birds that settled the mind.
Han Bom looked around with wide eyes and shouted.
"What? Where are we?"
"Looks like that fork back there was the dungeon's exit."
"Oh! ...But this isn't the village?"
It was utterly bewildering.
The waterways were clearly connected to the village.
The only issue was that even the village NPCs didn't know the internal layout.
I pretended not to know as I scanned our surroundings.
...Those guys still aren't here.
[Still, please remain cautious. Just in case, Lena-ssi is also with you right now.]
According to the plan Yang Ji-hyeon had explained, they didn't intend to launch an indiscriminate ambush.
The primary goal was to let Han Bom's hallucinogen take effect and make her get into a skirmish with me.
Only then could they turn Han Bom into an Orange Summoner.
I felt that an excessive amount of budget had been invested for a plan that simply aimed to make one person a Red Summoner.
'...Once you dip your toes in, you have no choice but to stay together just to survive.'
Most of the members of the Red Crescent organization I was about to meet had likely gathered in that same way.
Whether they wanted to or not, they cooperated to survive.
And Yang Ji-hyeon was likely one of the unusual cases.
While pretending to be clueless and looking around, I pulled an item from my Inventory.
The item I took out was a compass. Remembering the instructions Yang Ji-hyeon had given me, I tried using it.
Han Bom watched me turning the compass this way and that and asked,
"What're you doing?"
"I'm checking where the village we were staying in is."
"Oh... And?"
"...This is bad."
"Huh? Why?"
I explained, continuing to play dumb.
"There are three different places I'm thinking of, but they all point in the same direction."
"...? But why is that bad?"
"The places I'm thinking of are the center of the village, the edge of the village, and the forest where I had my duel. All three are pointing in the same direction. That means..."
It meant that this place was incredibly far from Primum Village.
It was like the stars.
Just because a distant star looks stationary doesn't mean it's not moving.
Even if it orbits, it looks as if it's staying in one place because it's so far away.
In other words, like a star that appears still from a distance, Primum Village was also in a state of being very far away.
"Then we could be close to another village."
"...That's not it either."
I had been told that the other two villages were in the 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock directions from Primum Village.
But based on this compass, I could infer that we were in the 12 o'clock direction from Primum Village.
Having finished all my deductions, I gave the conclusion.
"It seems the middle path among the three at the end of the dungeon is used to drop people in a different location."
"Then, don't tell me..."
"...It means that where we are right now is a forest crawling with Red Summoners."
Just as Yang Ji-hyeon had said, the middle path of the final three was a passage to a remote area.
And she said that if you enter that passage, you are teleported to a very distant place in the 12 o'clock direction from the village.
However, since the exact coordinates weren't fixed, you were moved to a random location.
Furthermore, entering the waterway again was impossible...
'I guess the exit is generated randomly across a wider range than I thought.'
No matter how strong I was, I couldn't handle a large number of ambushers all at once.
The reason I won duels against over a hundred people before was solely because I had hidden with stealth and ambushed them.
If I had fought a head-on battle, I would have been wiped out in ten seconds.
For now, with Lena monitoring and my own stealth detection, I headed toward Primum Village with peace of mind.
"Huff... huff..."
But Han Bom was different.
Having nearly died at the hands of Red Summoners in the past, the boldness she usually showed vanished completely, and she was tense, scanning her surroundings with a dark expression.
Fear wasn't something you could erase just because you wanted to, nor could you hide it just because you desired to.
Everyone is equal before death.
Ah... except for Han Yeo-reum.
That damn regressor bastard...
As I inwardly grumbled about Han Yeo-reum, Han Bom started sweating coldly, hunching over and gasping.
"Hah... hah..."
"You okay?"
"Y-yeah... Just tense, I guess..."
Unaware of the hallucinogen, she'd chalk it up to fear-induced stress. I gently supported her.
"Let's rest a bit first."
"N-no, we can't stay here..."
"I'll handle it if trouble comes. You're more vulnerable like this."
"Okay..."
Listening to my words, Han Bom accepted my support.
The fact that Han Bom was listening to me so well was proof that she trusted my skills.
I held her shoulder and looked around for a place to rest.
The forest itself could be called a shelter, but the ground around us was nothing but damp soil.
We needed a place to sit or lie down.
'This won't do.'
I let go of Han Bom's shoulder, turned around in front of her, and spoke while crouching.
"Get on my back."
"There's nowhere to rest here, so let's look for a spot as we go."
"I-I'm f-fine..."
"I know you're not okay, so just get on quickly."
"Ugh..."
At Seong Su-ho's firm tone, Han Bom flinched, her body going limp as she climbed onto his back.
Aside from her childhood piggyback from her father, she'd never been carried by a man.
It was not revulsion, but embarrassment flushed through her entire body
However, Seong Su-ho didn't show any particular reaction while carrying her. Instead, he only let a bit of worry leak through.
"Hang in there a little a little longer"
"...Yeah."
He said that curtly and started walking.
Han Bom could feel it.
She could feel that Seong Su-ho, walking carefully step by step, was being considerate of her.
Trying to shake off the dizziness, she found herself focusing on the feel of his back.
Feels broader than it looks.
Feeling a man's back for the first time after only seeing them with her eyes, Han Bom was admiring the feel of Seong Su-ho's nape and arms.
Even during her days as a ballerina, she had been reluctant to perform with male ballerinos.
But with the physical contact with Seong Su-ho, she felt no discomfort or unpleasantness.
Rather, she simply felt like she wanted to spend the whole day embraced against his back.
A warmth and coziness she had never felt in her life were rushing in simultaneously.
And at the same time, envy rushed in as well.
And with it, envy.
'...I'm jealous of eonni.'
Han Bom never imagined she would end up envying Min Ha-yeon regarding a member of the opposite sex.
She had always envied Min Ha-yeon's personality, heart, effort, and capacity for tolerance.
And seeing Min Ha-yeon, Han Bom had been stimulated to put in effort herself.
But right now, in this moment, she felt jealousy blooming more than admiration.
'Damn it... how stupid... to think of eonni that way...'
The jealousy felt in the center of her chest began to clutter Han Bom's mind.
Han Bom began to loathe herself as she struggled to endure the jealousy she felt toward Min Ha-yeon.
But the jealousy continued to grow, and because of that, a vicious cycle repeated where her self-loathing was amplified once again.
'I'm pathetic... I'm feeling this way toward eonni just because of a man?'
Just as she was unable to control her emotions, Seong Su-ho pointed ahead.
"Oh, big rock over there. Let's rest over there for a bit."
Although it was a place piled with hard rocks, it looked much better than the slushy piles of dirt.
"Do you still feel unwell?"
"...Yes. Haa... haa..."
Han Bom sat and took a rest, but the more she rested, the more her condition deteriorated.
'Do I have to spend my whole life cleaning up after that pathetic bastard? While eonni is happy with this ajusshi?'
An uncontrollable rage began to cover Han Bom's entire body.
She was in a state where she couldn't even think to identify the cause of the rage spreading through her.
Without her knowing, the hallucinogen was spreading through her entire body.
The focus had already vanished from Han Bom's eyes, and her body, which was originally stark white, was now beyond pale—not a single vein was visible.
And when a single voice reached Han Bom's ears, the last thread of her sanity snapped.
"At a time like this, it would have been nice if Ha-yeon were here."
It was certainly a dream.
To Han Bom, this phenomenon was like a dream.
It was because the situation was too bizarre to accept as reality.
At some point, Seong Su-ho, who had been taking care of her, vanished, and a Red Summoner appeared.
Han Bom attacked one that tried to pounce on her. Screaming, she fired her Blindness Bomb, then stabbed with her dagger, halting him.
It was a complete shambles.
Her vision blurred; one thought dominated.
Ajusshi! W-where are you!
She had only one thought: a desperate need for the vanished Seong Su-ho.
The grotesquely standing trees beside her glared at Han Bom with eerie faces as if to devour her, and the plants beneath her feet turned their leaves into blades, scratching Han Bom's legs to stop her.
She ran, not even knowing what she was doing.
But no matter how much she ran, Seong Su-ho was nowhere to be seen, and Red Summoners only came running from behind, shouting.
While causing such a commotion, she was surrounded by other Red Summoners.
Han Bom's legs gave out from fear, and she collapsed on the spot.
She despaired. And she became certain.
That she had been abandoned by Seong Su-ho...
Han Bom recalled a dream from her childhood she had had a few days ago.
Han Yeo-reum, who had abandoned her... and Seong Su-ho, who had helped her up when she fell.
But in reality, she had been abandoned by both of them.
Both Han Yeo-reum and Seong Su-ho were looking at Min Ha-yeon.
'Only I... I'm all alone.'
Just as she was accepting death while shedding tears, the Red Summoners around her began to shout loudly among themselves.
But no words reached Han Bom's ears.
Her mind simply grew hazy, and she began to lose consciousness.
"Agh... My head..."
Han Bom clutched her head, opening her eyes.
But vision was hazy.
"What... Where am I?"
Beyond the blur: soot-blackened dark sky. Focus sharpened: moon and stars. And Seong Su-ho looking down.
"You okay?"
"Uh... ajusshi? This place is...?"
With a half-asleep expression, Han Bom frowned and lifted her upper body.
It was clearly night.
And the place she had been lying was Seong Su-ho's thigh.
She looked around.
And around her, countless blood-soaked corpses were piled up.
"Uh... wh-what! Ajusshi, what is this! Uh..."
While she was startled by her surroundings, a scene caught Han Bom's eye that she couldn't look away from.
"A-ajusshi... that on your leg..."
The pants on Seong Su-ho's thigh were drenched in blood.