084. The Weight of the Shield (2) (Illustration Added)
084. The Weight of the Shield (2) (Illustration Added)
At the party launch ceremony, everyone was issued their equipment, and I received gifts from Kang Do-hee and Shin Se-hee.
Then we each took a slice of the cake Im Ga-eul had brought.
Shin Se-hee delicately lifted a piece with her fork and put it in her mouth, her eyes sparkling.
"Mm, even after a while, that flavor is definitely something special. By the way, I had no idea Ga-eul sunbae's family owned that bakery."
"Yeah, at home they're always telling me that if I'm just going to be deadweight at the academy, I should come back and learn to bake. Honestly, if it weren't for my hoobae, I probably would've had to drop out this semester."
Im Ga-eul said she was glad that didn't happen, but at the same time, she gazed at the leather gloves on her hands with complicated eyes.
'Well then.'
I also scooped up a piece of the cake Im Ga-eul had brought with my fork and brought it to my mouth.
Chew, chew—
Even to me, someone who doesn't particularly like sweets, the fluffy texture of this cake was genuinely inspiring.
'Oh, this cake... the taste is just okay, but the texture is nice? If I combined the texture of a slightly chewy steak with cake, I could make something like Scake...?'
I was seriously brainstorming a new dish in my head when it happened.
Suddenly, Lee Yu-ri raised her hand.
"?"
"Ah, um. So today's schedule is done now, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so..."
I nodded.
"Then sorry, but would it be okay if I head out first?"
"Right now...?"
"Yeah, I have something a little urgent. I'll be on time for tomorrow's dungeon schedule."
Her tone was stiff, like she was reciting a script she'd memorized beforehand.
"I'm really sorry. I'll see you tomorrow!"
Lee Yu-ri apologized repeatedly, looking genuinely sorry, then hurriedly got up and dashed off.
"Hmm? Gukbap must have had something urgent today?"
"Gukbap hoobae... she barely touched her cake... Should I freeze it and give it to her later?"
"She's probably itching to try out her new shield. Well then, I'll be off too. I want to test out the performance of my new shoes."
The party members just tilted their heads or made wild guesses,
but I knew exactly why Lee Yu-ri was acting that way.
'I'd better go help our Gukbap get her spirits back up later.'
* * *
Just as I thought.
When Lee Yu-ri's head gets tangled up, there's only one place she'd go.
The personal training ground.
It's free to use, lets you clear your head alone, and lets you train at the same time.
There are scenes where she mutters to herself that it's three birds with one stone.
When I suddenly appeared behind her, Lee Yu-ri wore a blank expression.
"Training paused."
[ Training halted. ]
Along with an emotionless voice, the goblins' movements stopped dead in their tracks.
"...H-How did you get in here!? This is a personal training ground!"
Lee Yu-ri's eyes went wide as lanterns as she asked. She seemed genuinely shocked that I'd gotten in.
If you don't enter together from the start, other people's access is restricted, so I understood her surprise.
But, well.
"I asked the Instructor to help me out."
"...Huh?"
"I just said there was a party announcement I needed to make, but one person wasn't coming out of the training ground. She gave me entry permission right away."
I waggled my phone and said it playfully, and Lee Yu-ri made a dumbfounded face.
"What, that actually works...?"
I'd recalled that academy instructors basically have master keys to the training grounds
and had tried asking to see if it was possible—and Instructor Baek Seol-hee handed over the entry code without a second thought.
'If that hadn't worked, I was planning to camp out in front of the training ground until she came out.'
"...So, why'd you come? You said you have something to say?"
Lee Yu-ri quickly composed her face and spoke to me as if nothing was wrong.
"Yeah, I do have something to say."
I nodded calmly.
"You could've just left it in chat, I would've read it later. Is it urgent?"
"Of course it's urgent."
"What is it?"
"I didn't get to hear you say thank you."
"...What?"
"I mean, I gave our Tank an amazing shield, and you just bolted without a single word of thanks. I gave you a gift—you could at least let me take some credit for it."
I shrugged as I said it, and Lee Yu-ri opened her mouth like she was dumbfounded.
"What—are you saying you came all the way here just to hear that—"
Then, as if she'd figured out why I'd really come, her expression abruptly hardened.
"Hey, Jin Yu-ha."
A coldly subdued voice.
Lee Yu-ri stared straight at me.
"Don't tell me... are you pitying me right now?"
The edges of her firmly bitten lips trembled faintly.
"Do you feel sorry for me? You came crawling all the way here to comfort me because you pity me?"
"No."
"...If you knew what kind of mood I'm in right now, you shouldn't have come looking for me. Jin Yu-ha."
"Ha, shit... it's already fucking embarrassing as it is."
Lee Yu-ri roughly scratched her head, then lifted her head again.
"Come to think of it, you've been like this from the start... You knew my whole situation from the beginning, didn't you? That's why you've been trying to take care of me however you could."
As if she'd suddenly choked up, emotion began creeping into her voice little by little.
"Yeah, from the start... A guy who tosses out highest-grade Magic Stones like nothing, claiming he had no money and begging to join my party—that was fucking suspicious as hell."
"Hey, Lee Yu-ri."
"Yeah, look at me now... Well, I've got nothing to say... decked out head to toe in stuff you gave me. If anyone else saw me, they'd probably think I'm some bitch who lucked out by finding a good man. A goddamn lucky bitch who went from a Dirt Spoon to hitting the jackpot."
She looked back and forth between her wrist and her shield with a hollow expression.
"A Subspace Tattoo on my wrist that you can't even put a price on, in Camela Forest you did everything and still handed me the money and the credit, and now a shield worth hundreds of millions. Honestly, even just that emergency kit is something I'd have to spend every last bit of money I've saved to afford."
Haah—
After pouring out all that bitter sarcasm, she let out a hollow laugh.
"I'm really sorry that I'm such an ungrateful bitch who accepted all these precious things and then gave you a piece of trash like that in return."
I silently faced her.
Then she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Ah, seriously! I know that saying this to you right now makes me look like a total loser and a complete fucking idiot. I know that...! But—this is your fault for coming all the way here, so—"
"Hold on."
I raised my hand and cut into her words.
Lee Yu-ri clamped her mouth shut as if swallowing her words.
"No, I was listening, and... something doesn't add up."
My head tilted to the side.
"You called your gift a piece of trash—what's that supposed to mean?"
Lee Yu-ri glared at me.
"Out of all the gifts I got today, yours is my favorite."
As if I'd touched a nerve, Lee Yu-ri's face twisted viciously.
"Bullshit—!!!"
I pulled out the crumpled free pass she'd handed me that morning from my pocket.
"Mm, first of all, you're being loud. So I'll use this. From now on, you have to follow my orders for one hour. First, don't say a word and shut your mouth. And come over here and sit."
I nodded toward the ground at my feet and said it as if it were nothing, and Lee Yu-ri gritted her teeth.
"...What kind of bullshit stunt are you pulling right now—"
"Ah-ah."
I furrowed my brows and gave her a stern look.
"This free pass. Is that all it's worth to you? Whether it can be used or not—does that depend on your mood?"
"..."
"I'm going to use it properly from now on. Shut your mouth and come sit here. Every time you open your mouth, that's an extra ten minutes."
Lee Yu-ri bit down hard on her lip and glared sharply at me,
then slowly moved her feet.
Trudge. Trudge.
Thud.
And she knelt at my feet.
Below me, I could see the crown of Lee Yu-ri's head.
'No, hey, this posture is a bit...'
"...Turn around, stretch your legs out straight, and sit comfortably."
I hid my flustered reaction and spoke again.
Lee Yu-ri turned her back to me, stretched out her legs, and sat.
Plop.
My hands came to rest on both her shoulders.
Knead, knead—
"...Eek!?"
At the unfamiliar sensation, Lee Yu-ri flinched violently and whipped her head around.
"Ah-ah, face forward."
As I kneaded her shoulders, the elasticity of her skin pushed back against my fingertips.
'...This, this is going to be really satisfying to knead.'
I lightly channeled Mana into my fingertips and began massaging her shoulders.
"Ngh!?"
"Ten minutes added."
"...!?"
Knead, knead—
Lee Yu-ri covered her mouth with both hands to stifle the sounds trying to escape, hung her head low, and trembled.
Every time I pressed down firmly, her body jolted—it was pretty entertaining.
I kept kneading her shoulders without a word until she calmed down.
"..."
"..."
A heavy silence stretched over the training ground.
I looked at her earlobes, which had turned bright red, and then spoke up.
"...You know. Should I make an honest confession?"
"..."
"Take a look at my sword for a sec."
I let go of her left shoulder with the hand I'd been kneading and drew Moonlight from my waist.
Then I held it up in front of her eyes.
Lee Yu-ri's face, her mouth covered, was reflected clearly in Moonlight's blue blade.
"This is a really good sword. A sword you can't even get with money. The rank 2 Sword Emperor? If that woman saw this, she'd probably lose her mind and try to kill me."
"..."
"Mmm, in game terms, it's legendary-grade? It's good enough to basically be an endgame weapon."
Lee Yu-ri's eyebrows, reflected in the blade, furrowed as if to say, 'Okay, and?'
"So honestly, this sword doesn't need separate maintenance. I haven't sharpened it once since the first time I met you. I just wipe the blood off."
"..."
"So, sorry to Kang Do-hee, but that Sword Maintenance Kit she gave me—honestly, for me, it was a gift I didn't really need."
At that, Lee Yu-ri's pupils, looking at the blade, widened slightly.
She couldn't seem to believe it was a sword that hadn't been sharpened even once since then.
Even though I'd put it through a pretty rough time right after I transmigrated, Moonlight's edge was still gleaming blue and sharp.
"And me, honestly, I don't really like sweets either."
"..."
"That cake Ga-eul sunbae brought, I know it's something special, but mm, honestly, I couldn't really tell how it tasted."
"...That's because your taste buds are weird."
Lee Yu-ri slowly parted her lips and retorted.
"It was delicious..."
I couldn't do something lame like adding ten minutes here.
I nodded.
"Well, there was something noteworthy about it. That fluffy texture was pretty inspiring. I'm thinking of combining it with steak later to make something called Scake."
Lee Yu-ri turned her head with a bizarre expression, like she was questioning my sanity.
"But, probably no one will eat it, right?"
"...Who the hell would eat that."
Lee Yu-ri grumbled and rebuked me, and I grinned.
"So, when I end up not being able to use the free pass within the month, I was planning to make you eat it."
"...!?"
Lee Yu-ri's eyes went perfectly round.
"Yeah, that's right. You're eating it."
Heh.
A laugh escaped me—it seemed like her mood had lifted a little now.
"And last of all, that building Shin Se-hee gave me... yeah, that one was definitely intense."
Knead, knead—
"But, if you told me to pick just one between that building and this, I'd pick the free pass, no question."
"...Why?"
Lee Yu-ri asked, her voice tinged with hesitation.
"Isn't it obvious? It's a cheat-code privilege to hire a Tank like you, unpaid, once a month."
"...Says the guy who's using that free pass right now, in real time, for something totally useless."
"Useless, my ass."
"..."
"If I can use this to sit down an angry Gukbap and have a conversation, it's more than worth it. And it's for life anyway, so what's a little waste."
At that, Lee Yu-ri's shoulders jolted as if she'd been startled.
"...Th-That's...!"
"Nope. I have no intention of giving it back. Go away. You should've checked it carefully from the beginning before giving it as a gift."
I put on an evil grin.
"Just think of it as messing with the wrong vicious loan shark. I plan to squeeze every bit of value out of this."
"..."
"And you're going to regret giving this to me for a long, long time. Ah, I shouldn't have sold my life so cheap at rock bottom...!"
Then.
"I won't regret it..."
Lee Yu-ri, her head hung low, mumbled in a small voice.
"Hm?"
"I said I won't regret it!"
"Really? Even though you're going to become someone who makes a hundred million a day like it's nothing later on?"
When I asked that, Lee Yu-ri turned her head and looked up at me.
"No matter how great I become later, no matter how insignificant you become, I've decided to stay by your side."
She continued in a calm voice.
"I decide who my shield will protect. And the weight of my shield isn't so light that it can be changed by a single word."
Lee Yu-ri took hold of my hand, the one that had been kneading her shoulder, and slowly rose from her spot.
She turned her body to face me, meeting my eyes.
"So, I'm fine now. Jin Yu-ha. Thanks for comforting me."
She smiled as if a weight had been lifted.
