Chapter 168: An Unexpected Encounter
Chapter 168: An Unexpected Encounter
Do you still want to kill me? Her words drifted into my ears, tapping gently against my heart. I closed my eyes for a moment, mulling over her question. Did I really want to kill Ko Yeonju?
“…”
No. No, I didn’t. To be precise, I didn’t want to kill her blindly. There was simply a need to kill her. The answer came quickly, but I hesitated to voice it. What should I say? How should I explain it? As my thoughts began to tangle, I opened my eyes again.
Ko Yeonju didn’t press further. She simply gazed at me with a quiet face and calm eyes. The moment I met her gaze, I was able to steady my wavering heart. Just as she herself had said, it would be better for both of us if I showed her my true intentions rather than offering clumsy denials or slick words.
I reached into my coat, pulled out a cigarette, but didn’t immediately place it between my lips.
“No. I don’t want to kill you.”
“Don’t lie. Even as you say that, your eyes and your tone hold a subtle killing intent.”
“I won’t deny that. But it’s true that I don’t want to kill you. It’s just…”
“Just?”
Flick. Fsssh.
I paused and put the cigarette to my lips. After taking a deep drag, I let the smoke drift softly into the air.
“There is a need to kill you.”
I fell silent after those words. I tried to read her expression, but it was unreadable. Even after I’d smoked half the cigarette, she remained silent. Deciding a more detailed explanation was necessary, I chose to break the silence that had settled around us.
“Back when you were with the User Jung Hayeon, you said it, didn’t you? That you wanted to kill her. You asked what was the point of debating such things in the Hall Plain.”
“Yes, I did.”
“I feel similarly. It might sound a little unfair, but just as you said, in the picture I plan to paint for the future, the User named Ko Yeonju is too large and unpredictable a variable.”
“A variable, you say. There’s nothing unfair about it. The Hall Plain has always been that kind of world. So, you want to eliminate me as a preventative measure against a variable you can’t predict. Is that your reason for wanting to kill me?”
I nodded once instead of answering. At my quiet affirmation, her lips parted slightly, and her voice flowed out. And that voice carried a strange tremor.
“Can you be so sure that I—the User Ko Yeonju—am a dangerous variable? I don’t hold any ill will toward you or your party. Who knows, I might even be beneficial to you in the future, don’t you think?”
“That’s possible. But in the Hall Plain, yesterday’s ally can become today’s enemy. No one knows what the future holds. I decided it would be better to deal with you cleanly here and now, rather than let you go and regret it later.”
“For some reason, your words seem to carry a strange sort of conviction.”
“You can call it a gut feeling born from experience, or you can call it a man’s intuition.”
As I threw her own words back at her, she seemed at a loss, her mouth opening and closing without a sound. I sensed the time had come to play my hand. I had said all that needed to be said. I spat out the now-finished cigarette and spoke calmly.
“Letting you go now would leave me feeling too uneasy. You’re a User so appealing that any Clan Lord would covet you. If I can’t have you, if I can’t bring you to my side, then I believe killing you here is the right decision for me. Therefore…”
“…”
“I’d like to hear your answer now, User Ko Yeonju.”
The moment I laid all my intentions bare, an expression finally surfaced on Ko Yeonju’s face. But it was still difficult to read. She looked happy, yet sad. Excited, yet overwhelmed.
Then, Ko Yeonju let out a deep sigh. She took a few deep breaths, as if to compose herself. Finally, she ran both hands back through her hair and opened her mouth.
“You want me that badly? So much that you’d rather kill me if you can’t have me?”
It might have been my imagination, but a faint blush seemed to bloom on her cheeks as she spoke. I tilted my head for a moment, but since she wasn’t wrong, I answered, “Yes.”
“Are you serious? Truly?”
“I am.”
I answered her follow-up question with force in my voice. Hearing my confirmation, she smiled faintly and continued.
“Alright. I’ve made up my mind. I’ll give you my answer now.”
As she finished speaking, she immediately raised her right hand. And in it was a dagger, gleaming with a sharp light.
“…………………….”
The moment she raised the dagger, a wave of emptiness washed over a corner of my heart, but the Orb of Horrence I carried immediately filled the void. I licked my lips and gripped the hilt of the sword at my waist.
“User Ko Yeonju. Am I to take this action as your answer?”
“That’s right, User Kim Soohyun. The Shadow Queen will join your clan.”
At that, I froze, my hand stopping just as I was about to draw my sword. What did the woman in front of me just say? Her words were so far off the mark that I felt bewildered for a moment. I quickly looked back at her face. Ko Yeonju’s expression was nonchalant, but her eyes blazed with an unreadable desire. She tossed the dagger in the air a few times, caught it, and spoke in a clear voice.
“Hoho. You said you wanted me. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…May I ask why?”
“It’s nothing special, just the usual reasons. I don’t want to die, and I want to live. And more than anything… I want to place my bets on a User like you.”
“What I’m curious about is why you raised the dagger. I almost misunderstood.”
“It wasn’t a misunderstanding.”
Ko Yeonju shot me a sharp glance, then snatched the hovering dagger out of the air. She pointed it directly at me and continued.
“I heard your answer loud and clear. I understand the source of my anxiety now. But just because it’s surfaced doesn’t mean it’s been resolved.”
“You’re more timid than you look.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Resolving my anxiety isn’t something I do myself. It’s something you have to do for me.”
“…This seems like it’s going to be a rather rough method of resolution.”
I sighed deeply and drew the sword I had paused in pulling out. The Formless Sword, tucked away safely in my User Warehouse, flashed through my mind. I had planned to start carrying it around, pretending I’d gotten it from the Chaos Mimic after this was all over. It was a shame I didn’t have it now. Of course, I didn’t think I would lose. I felt a little sorry for Ko Yeonju, but I had already thoroughly analyzed her abilities and skills from the 1st playthrough.
“I’ll tell you this in advance, but you’ll be in trouble if you think what I showed you in that cave was all I have.”
“I’m sure you have more up your sleeve.”
“Hoho. Did you really think recruiting a User of my caliber would be that easy?”
Yeah, yeah, I answered inwardly and immediately got into my stance. Even if I had the upper hand in many ways, Ko Yeonju was still a User who had reached the ranks of the Ten Strong. If I let my guard down, it wouldn’t just be a bruised ego; I could actually lose. She, too, let a deep smile spread across her face, bent her body slightly, and continued in an excited tone.
“From this moment on, I’m coming at you for real. With the intent to kill the Year 0 User, Kim Soohyun. So you…”
As she spoke, the shadows around her began to split into dozens of pieces. This was the special ability of the Shadow Queen, Abyssal Host. Was it S+ rank? The thought that she was starting off so strong made me swallow hard.
Soon, the shadows had multiplied into a countless swarm. Ko Yeonju darted her tongue out, lightly wetting her lips. Then, with her eyes curving into thin crescents, she finished her sentence.
“Shatter me so completely that you blow this anxiety away in one fell swoop. I’m coming at you with the resolve to kill you. So prove you can make me—this Shadow Queen—submit to you completely.”
“Gladly.”
The word ‘completely’ struck a chord with me. In other words, she didn’t want to be beaten ‘barely’ or ‘narrowly’; she wanted me to overwhelm her perfectly, without flaw. I shot back a cool reply. The moment I answered, the shadows swirling around her transformed into dozens of tendrils and shot toward me like arrows.
*
When I slowly opened my eyes, warm sunlight was streaming through the window. We had only gotten back to the inn as morning broke, but I had slept longer than usual. After finishing my customary morning meditation, I immediately left my room.
When I went down to the first floor, the party was gathered around a single table. They were chattering away but turned their heads toward the stairs when they sensed me coming down. Soon, a cute User in a priest’s robe waved at me in welcome.
“Ah! It’s Orabeoni!”
“Oh, hyung. What’s with you sleeping in today?”
“Yeah. I think this is the first time I’ve seen you come down later than us, Oppa.”
Pushing past the kids who swarmed me like fish in water, I plopped down in a nearby chair. Normally, I’d feel refreshed after sleeping, but today my body felt a little stiff.
“Kim Soohyun. What were you up to yesterday? I waited and waited, but you never came back, so I just went to bed.”
“Vivian? Don’t lie. Who was it that ran to their room saying they were dead tired the moment we got to the inn?”
“Ugh!”
Vivian, who had been talking to me, pouted as Hayeon called her out from the side. I let out a small laugh, then looked around before speaking quietly.
“Has User Ko Yeonju not come out yet?”
“Th-that’s right. It’s unusual for both of you, who are always so d-diligent, to be late. Did something happen last night?”
Just as Shin Sangyong’s sudden question was about to chill the mood, the tightly shut inn door burst open. A group of three or four Users entered. I’d never seen them in Mule before, and they were all women.
A woman with long, straight hair looked around the entire inn and spoke in a bewildered voice.
“Huh? Wasn’t this place closed until yesterday?”
“I know, right? Did it reopen? Anyway, lucky! I was so tired, this is perfect. Doesn’t seem to be many other Users, either. We should grab a good room before others start showing up.”
“Yeah, yeah. Excuse me~! Are you all Users staying at this inn?”
A female User with a sword at her belt turned to us and spoke. My party members all stared blankly in silence before their gazes shifted to me. The new Users also looked at me, leaving me no choice but to answer.
“Yes. We are currently staying here.”
“Oh, in that case, do you happen to know where the innkeeper is?”
“Over there.”
I pointed toward the kitchen, and the female Users’ eyes widened as they followed my finger. And there, Ko Yeonju was just emerging from the kitchen, her face drowsy and her hair a mess.
She was quite a sight. Her clothes were torn here and there, and reddish marks were faintly visible on the skin peeking through. On top of that, her hair was disheveled and her eyes were narrowed, so it was only natural for a stranger to be taken aback. It seemed she had also collapsed into bed right after coming in yesterday. Hmm. Did I overdo it yesterday?
The women whispered among themselves before one spoke cautiously.
“Um, excuse me. Do you have any rooms…?”
“No.”
“Wh-what? But these people…”
“This isn’t an inn. Look somewhere else.”
But Ko Yeonju cut the female User off mid-sentence and waved her hand dismissively with an annoyed look on her face. The woman with long hair who had spoken first, flustered by her appearance and response, quickly stepped outside and looked up, probably at the sign.
“But there’s clearly an inn sign here. We came on the recommendation of other Users we know…”
“Ugh, you’re so annoying. Can’t you take a hint?”
Ko Yeonju finally scowled at the woman’s persistence. She followed her outside with slow steps and looked up at the sign as well.
“See? It clearly says The Demure Lady…”
Without even waiting for the woman to finish, Ko Yeonju quietly raised her hand. She twisted it back behind her shoulder and then slammed it into the inn’s wall with all her might.
CRASH! CRUMBLE! THUD!
“…”
“There, happy now? This isn’t an inn anymore. You must have heard wrong.”
Ko Yeonju spat out the words and then began to gather the fallen pieces of the sign. Seeing this, one of the quicker-witted Users grabbed her friend’s arm and whispered.
“Ye-rim, let’s just go. I think we came to the wrong place.”
“O-okay, unni.”
The two of them then dragged their remaining, still-sputtering friend far away.
They weren’t the only ones left dumbfounded. My party members were also staring at Ko Yeonju with uneasy expressions. But she paid their gazes no mind and stepped back inside the inn.
“Sorry. I was handled so roughly at dawn that I ended up sleeping in. Is our baby hungry?”
“Ah, nooo… I’m fine… Huh? Roughly?”
“Just wait a little bit, sweetie. Unni will make you breakfast soon.”
When Ko Yeonju spoke to Ahn Sol, the little girl, who had initially been shaking her head, became utterly flustered at her latter words. Was she more surprised by the ‘handled roughly at dawn’ part or the ‘unni’ part? But Ko Yeonju said no more. She kept brushing back her messy hair as if it bothered her, then grabbed a tattered piece of her collar and ripped it off with a sharp tear.
Finally, Ko Yeonju put the long strip of cloth in her mouth, skillfully tied up her hair, and walked back into the kitchen. Ahn Sol, who had been staring blankly at her retreating back, whipped her head around to look at me. It was probably the former.
And so, the first morning after our expedition began with a sigh.