Chapter 78
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: If You're Sorry, You Should Die (3)
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*“Whoa.”*
“Are you really allowed to be telling us this?”
The sister of Yoo Se-yeon, one of the leaders of the Aria Guild, was Park Si-woo’s fiancée, and Park Si-woo had killed her. This was definitely no ordinary matter.
Choi Soo-hyun let out a smirk.
“Of course it’s a secret. Besides, if Park Si-woo found out I told you and this thing, he’d probably try to kill me first.”
“Scumbag.”
*“What a piece of work.”*
“Shut up. You’re the one who brought up Veritas, not me.”
“Are you sure it’s okay? She was still his fiancée.”
“I told you. It was just some pointless thing their families arranged, you know? Park Si-woo’s opinion was never a factor. And Yoo Chae-young’s death was ruled a dungeon accident. As far as he and that woman are concerned, they’re nothing to each other now.”
“If you say so, I guess that’s how it is.”
It was obvious there was more to the story, so I didn’t press further.
There was a reason Choi Soo-hyun was so bold in revealing this fact.
“There’s no proof, so no one would believe you anyway. And on the off chance a rumor does start, I’ll know who spread it. So there’s no need to hide it.”
I had a feeling that was his way of saying he’d hunt me to the ends of the earth and kill me if I breathed a word of this to anyone else.
“But this is strange. Veritas should have collapsed after Yoo Chae-young’s death.”
Veritas was a minor god with fewer than a thousand followers.
For a god of that scale to produce an S-rank Hunter, a Transcendent, was an anomaly in itself.
After their central figure, Yoo Chae-young, died, the followers of Veritas effectively vanished.
Choi Soo-hyun glared fiercely at Gomdolros III.
“Even setting everything else aside, I don’t get it. There’s no way the name Veritas would come out of your mouth so easily.”
*“Eek! It was Yoo Ji-han! Before you showed up, Mr. Han-gyeol, the follower of Soter, he was poking around everywhere, saying he had to find the god Soter! Ugh, you have no idea how ha-hard that made things for me behind the scenes… Hacking into the Aria Guild to erase Yoo Ji-han’s data… oops. I mean, I found out when I visited them.”*
“Found out what?”
*“Th-that Seo Ji-hoon and that hunter, Yoo Chae-young, were dating.”*
Choi Soo-hyun stared into Gomdolros’s eyes, his own gaze askew, as if telling him to continue.
*“Hunter Seo Ji-hoon had a falling out with the Raon Guild, started Black Holdings, and left the guild after Hunter Yoo Chae-young died in the Great Cataclysm. And the dungeon where she died was a team-up dungeon with the Raon Guild, wasn't it?”*
“It was.”
Even among Transcendents, there was a clear difference between one who served a god with many followers and one who didn't.
Yoo Chae-young was a rising star among hunters at the time, and as such, she faced considerable opposition.
The guild that checked her the most was the Raon Guild, which had produced a similar hunter around the same time.
And that same Yoo Chae-young entered an S-rank dungeon with the Raon Guild?
Though it was overshadowed by the Great Cataclysm, the circumstances were more than enough to fuel rumors that the Raon Guild had a hand in Yoo Chae-young’s death.
‘Blinded by revenge for his lover, he orchestrated all this.’
It was certainly plausible, but the evidence was still lacking.
“That’s impossible.”
Unlike me, who left room for doubt, Choi Soo-hyun dismissed it outright.
Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked.
“Why?”
“Because the god Seo Ji-hoon serves is Elsion.”
Elsion. It had been a while since I’d heard that name.
Choi Min-hyuk, who had died when I first entered the Tower of Trials, had also been a follower of Elsion.
While the followers of Elsion hadn’t established a single guild like the followers of Lux did with the Raon Guild, Elsion was still a fairly well-known god.
This incident was clearly orchestrated with intent by a god who had already broken a Taboo.
If the god Elsion had broken a Taboo, the fallout would be anything but ordinary.
*“D-do you think I didn't say that? B-but, you know. When you really think about it, you don't have to go around announcing it to the whole world when you start serving a different god. Heh, that was a great line, even if I do say so myself. Well, Yoo Ji-han said it, but still. Oh, mic’s still on.”*
This thing seems only half-sane itself.
Can I even trust it?
Then again, that’s probably why it hangs out with Yoo Ji-han.
“And do you have any proof that Seo Ji-hoon became a follower of Veritas, the god of the deceased Yoo Chae-young, instead of Elsion?”
*“That’s simple!”*
“Simple?”
*“We just have to beat the crap out of Seo Ji-hoon!”*
It looked like a teddy bear, but its mouth was surprisingly foul.
I narrowed my eyes, suspicious of Gomdolros.
“Yoo Ji-han said that too, didn't he?”
*“Gulp! Hehehe.”*
Gomdolros laughed awkwardly, clearly trying to squirm its way out of the situation.
*“W-what are we supposed to do without evidence! In times like these, asking the person directly is the best way!”*
“He said that too.”
*“Urk.”*
“In the first place, why did Yoo Ji-han get involved in this?”
The amusement park incident could be written off as a pure accident, but Yoo Ji-han had been chasing the wraith case just as hard as Park Si-woo.
No matter how I wracked my brain, I couldn’t see any reason for him to do so.
*“That’s obviously because of you, no… because of the god Soter.”*
“Why?”
*“How would a lowly being such as myself know what goes on in that madman’s head? He was muttering about Soter for a while before that, but then one day, he suddenly started going on about how the god Soter had made a move or something, asking me if anything strange had happened recently. All I did was tell him about the recent bossless dungeons and a few rumors circulating among hunters. Who knew things would turn out like this after he found out it wasn't Soter's doing and immediately dropped it?”*
Gomdolros sighed heavily as it grumbled.
Apparently, after his direct confrontation with me, Yoo Ji-han had all but washed his hands of the matter.
The answer I heard from him through this Gomdolros thing was, in many ways, a masterpiece of absurdity.
‘It has nothing to do with the god Soter.’
Just how obsessed is he?
Did I wrong him in a past life or something?
An obsession of this magnitude wasn’t just a simple grudge; it felt like the kind that called for vengeance for one’s parents and family.
“Sigh, why are there so many ticking bombs?”
“You’re the biggest bomb of all, you punk.”
Choi Soo-hyun and I sighed at almost the same time.
***
Through the blinds, slightly lowered with a fingertip, the midday scenery of Gangnam’s main street came into view.
It was an ordinary, peaceful urban landscape, the kind you could see anywhere.
“Can you even imagine how many people sacrificed themselves to protect this daily life?”
“Are you trying to play hero? Sorry, but I can’t play along.”
Se-yeon dropped her hand from the blinds and turned around.
Park Si-woo sat on the sofa, legs crossed, looking at her.
Immediately after clearing the Cockatrice farm dungeon, Park Si-woo had summoned Kang Han-gyeol to his office.
Choi Soo-hyun had been holed up in Park Si-woo’s office for days.
Even considering that one of the hunters kidnapped at the amusement park belonged to the Aria Guild and Choi Soo-hyun was in charge, his presence felt excessive.
Some were whispering about a fallout between the Association and the Aria Guild, but that rumor was completely false.
Choi Soo-hyun may have been the Association’s mascot, but he wasn’t its core.
Even he had his limits; there were things he could and couldn’t do.
“Why did you tell me that?”
“A whim.”
When they had discussed the matter of tailing Han-gyeol at Sky Garden, Se-yeon had mentioned Seo Ji-hoon’s god.
Seo Ji-hoon was a follower of Elsion.
It was something anyone with even a passing interest in Hunters would know, and for her to say such a thing to Park Si-woo of all people was strange in itself.
“I knew that bastard would cause trouble someday.”
“Then why did you accept him?”
Seo Ji-hoon’s falling out with the Raon Guild and his establishment of Black Holdings both happened after Yoo Chae-young’s death.
There was no way Park Si-woo didn’t know that Seo Ji-hoon held a grudge against the Raon Guild because of her death.
He gently closed his eyes.
They first met in a café at a hotel.
She looked disheveled, as if she had just come out of a dungeon.
—I’m against this marriage!
—No one said you had to marry me.
He had simply been told to go meet her once, and the woman herself was against the marriage. It was absurd.
He had planned to refuse half-heartedly anyway.
He never imagined that meeting would lead to such a long connection.
—I’m seeing someone.
—Is that so?
—Actually, we’re not d-dating… He’s someone I like. I’m going to confess!
—Then do it.
—Actually, I don’t like him enough to confess… But there’s this guy who follows me around saying he likes me. I’m gonna date him, okay?
—Go ahead.
—Hey, are you some kind of scumbag?
What.
What kind of woman was this?
He’d heard rumors that she was unique, but she was beyond his imagination.
Even if it was an engagement, it was just something their families had arranged, and there was no guarantee it would lead to marriage.
—What? You’re that young?
—You could’ve shown some interest.
—Call me noona! You’re just a kid!
—Why should I?
—Really? Then you’re asking for it. Let’s see who wins, you or me!
The scene from that day flickered before his eyes.
—Si-woo, let’s get a divorce… no, let’s break off the engagement.
—I told you I don’t care about things like that. What you need is my family, right? You can just use them as much as you need…
—You’re so young, and you’ve already learned such rotten things! You’re right. Marrying you would certainly make my life better than it is now. And I know you’re not the type to care about me and him. That’s why.
—I don’t understand.
—One day, you will. So let’s stop here.
It was the middle of a city filled with collapsed buildings, the incessant wail of sirens, and the intermingled corpses of monsters.
The sensation at the tip of his sword told him, more clearly than anyone, that his own hand was stealing time away from this woman.
The woman reached out her hand.
Her fingers, touching his cheek, were incredibly hot.
—Don’t hate him too much. His personality is a bit… much, but he’s not a bad person…
He couldn’t remember what he had said then.
Her hand slowly slid down, coming to rest over his heart.
—I told you blue looks better than red.
The necktie he wore that day was blue.
Her hand, once lowered, never rose again.
Park Si-woo slowly steadied his breath.
Se-yeon had approached him, now standing right in front.
“Isn’t it strange? You, her fiancé, are doing nothing, while another man is making a fuss, vowing revenge. It’s a mess, the kind you’d only see in a bad drama.”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“Of course not.”
Se-yeon’s face twisted into a scowl.
That was the kind of man Park Si-woo was.
She hadn’t expected to be able to shake him with words like these.
“I asked why you accepted Seo Ji-hoon.”
“Right.”
“Because he was a card I could use to keep the Raon Guild in check.”
“You…!”
“I couldn’t care less about whatever grudge Seo Ji-hoon holds.”
Yoo Chae-young had asked Park Si-woo not to hate Seo Ji-hoon too much.
But the premise itself was flawed.
From the very beginning, Park Si-woo had felt nothing for Seo Ji-hoon.
With no feelings to begin with, there was no reason to hate him.
“Why did you side with Seo Ji-hoon?”
“Because you killed my sister. I’m just getting my sister’s revenge.”
Park Si-woo bit the corner of his lip.
That dungeon had been a trap set by the Raon Guild to kill Yoo Chae-young.
Revenge.
It was a word he hadn’t heard in a long time.
It wasn't that Park Si-woo didn't have his own grudge.
Accepting Seo Ji-hoon, making a rather excessive request of Han-gyeol—perhaps he had been looking for someone to vent his anger for him.
However, upon becoming a Transcendent, one is given a Taboo.
Park Si-woo’s Taboo was…
Do not seek revenge.