Chapter 42: Make an Offer
Chapter 42: Make an Offer
I’d planned to bring it up over drinks tonight if I got the chance anyway. Besides, since it was highly likely Kim Hanbyul and I would part ways, I figured it wouldn't hurt to be honest about my intentions. If I'd known it would come to this, I wouldn't have spoken to her like that in front of the hut. A belated regret washed over me, but the fact was, we had both changed our minds.
“If you ask me 'why'... it's a little difficult to answer.”
“Is it… difficult to tell me?”
Seeing Kim Hanbyul put a particular accent on the word "me," I shook my head. That wasn't what I meant.
“That's not it. Do you remember what we talked about on the steps of the hut?”
“...Yes.”
“I... well... I've had a lot of time to think over the past three months. Seeing this world, the Hall Plain, has changed my perspective a bit. In any case, I'm not going to join the Golden Lion Clan, or any other clan for that matter.”
Even though I trailed off a bit at the end, Kim Hanbyul was as sharp as ever. She seemed to mull over my words for a moment before her eyes widened in surprise. Her quick mind seemed to have grasped my intentions.
“Then. Are you thinking of starting a new clan, Oppa?”
“Something like that. I’m considering founding a clan. The others did not receive offers from the Golden Lion Clan, and aside from that, I wanted us to stay together from the beginning.”
“I also...”
The moment I finished, Kim Hanbyul reflexively started to say something but clamped her mouth shut. I could feel her breath hitch slightly. A look of conflict clouded her face. After biting her lip, she seemed to make up her mind and spoke in a voice higher than usual.
“I feel the same way. My perspective has changed a lot since coming to the Hall Plain. You were amazing during the Rite of Passage, Oppa. Even after entering the User Academy, you proved you were special, different from everyone else. I probably know better than anyone that you're capable. But...”
But. That was the signal that she was about to get to what she really wanted to say. I listened with a somber expression.
“The Hall Plain is a vast and enormous world. So much so that it wouldn't be strange for anything to happen anywhere. It's not a place where one person's ability can solve everything, like it was in the Rite of Passage. You'll probably say you're not alone, that you have the other three.”
I had been about to say just that, but I closed my mouth and nodded. Kim Hanbyul, her cool composure now restored, looked at me intently and continued.
“I'm not trying to say whether you can or can't do it. I'm not trying to be negative. But... I still feel that, even if you deny it, you can't help but carry everything on your own. In the Hall Plain, it's too dangerous for a group to depend on a single person.”
Kim Hanbyul wasn't underestimating the abilities of the other three. She was, however, connecting their attitudes to mine and pointing out a flaw. In the end, she was saying that I couldn't do anything alone, and her point had some merit. But there was one thing she was overlooking.
She took a deep breath, as if she had said all she needed to. I gave her a moment to catch her breath and organized my own thoughts. Then, I slowly began to speak.
“You have a strong single-minded streak, Hanbyul.”
“......?”
“It's good to think rationally. But you have a tendency to see things from only one direction.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“I'm telling you not to carelessly judge me and the others by your own standards.”
Kim Hanbyul seemed surprised by my cold tone—one she'd never heard before—and quickly shut her mouth. I stared at her with a cold gaze. It was a little heartbreaking to see her lips tremble slightly at my unfamiliar tone. But I had decided to treat her as just another User, so I would say what needed to be said.
“That... I'm sorry. But I thought you and I were similar, Oppa. Always rational...”
“Similar, you say. You might think so, but for me, joining a clan isn't what I'd call a rational choice. Especially not the Golden Lion Clan.”
“...Why not? Are you saying I'm wrong?”
“Is being right or wrong what's important? Every choice has its pros and cons. Isn't a rational choice one where you weigh them, consider your own situation and that of those around you, and pick the best option?”
Kim Hanbyul made a rational choice based on the present. I made a rational choice based on the past and the future. It was a simple principle, yet Kim Hanbyul looked confused. For the first time, I felt a tightness in my chest as I looked at her. We weren't understanding each other.
“The Golden Lion Clan is the top large-scale clan on the Northern Continent. It's an open secret, but... they've already established a base and are preparing to advance into the Steel Mountains. It's bound to be different from the very beginning compared to starting from scratch. I honestly don't see what advantage there is in the path you're trying to take, Oppa.”
“Who can guarantee that the advance into the Steel Mountains will succeed? They said they would recommend you for an executive position, but have you considered what that really means? More importantly, do you truly believe the Users in the clan you intend to join are trustworthy?”
I shot back, my tone laced with a bit of sarcasm. Despite that, Kim Hanbyul just listened in silence. A momentary silence fell between us, and I could feel a cold current forming. Just as I paused and was about to continue, she spoke first.
“Then are you saying you're a trustworthy person, Oppa?”
“......”
One sentence. Just one sentence. With that single phrase, the subtle chill between us transformed into a piercing silence that settled over us. The only sounds were our breathing. A myriad of expressions flickered across her face. Frustration, sadness, regret—all sorts of negative emotions. It was the first time I had seen such a variety of emotions from her since we met.
I spoke quietly, but my next words carried an emotion I could not hide: disappointment in her.
“You asked me back then, 'Why are you doing this, Oppa?' If I were to answer that question now, I...”
I.
“Back then, I wanted to serve as a shield around all of you. I wanted to give you trust and receive it in return. By nature, I do not trust people easily, so it was not as though I had never considered going alone. But as you said, I also knew perfectly well that I could accomplish nothing by myself. I could not ignore that fact.”
I took a breath, then immediately continued.
“Once I made that decision, I felt I should at least be allowed to choose the people I began with—people who trusted me, and people I could trust. It would be a clan, after all. If I was going to create one, I wanted at least one or two people who felt like family.”
As she listened, Kim Hanbyul's eyes trembled violently. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something. But by then, the massive Museum of Academic Information building was already looming before us.
Once before, she and I had stood at a fork in the road. Back then, she had followed my choice. And now, we were once again facing the same fork. I had already chosen my direction; she had not.
I calmly climbed the stairs and grabbed the handle of the front door. Kim Hanbyul remained motionless. I gently pushed the door, and this time it opened smoothly without a creak. I slowly stepped inside.
I heard no footsteps from Kim Hanbyul behind me.
*
Ahn Hyun and the others were already drinking. In the end, I never managed to raise the subject I had wanted to discuss that night. Watching them laugh and fool around, I sighed inwardly. These carefree bastards would not understand how I felt in a million years, and the thought left me needlessly irritable.
Still, I showed none of it outwardly. A day like this might never come again. Beginning tomorrow, the road the kids and I would travel was a thorny one that could never be called easy. I would work them so hard that they would remember the User Academy as paradise by comparison.
The drinking party ended in great success(?). Ahn Hyun and Lee Yoojung got carried away and eventually passed out. Fortunately, Ahn Sol was still awake, so each of us carried one of them back to the dormitory. After tossing Ahn Hyun into a corner, I lay down and became lost in thought.
Now that I was in the Hall Plain and my perspective had shifted, there were so many things to do. The first priority was to receive my mission reward points tomorrow and leave Barbara immediately. As I mulled over various plans, I drifted off to sleep.
And the next day, the long-awaited morning arrived.
To be honest, the graduation and departure ceremony was quite boring. They said a lot of things, but it all boiled down to: you've worked hard, and we hope you'll be active on the Northern Continent.
『You have completed the User Academy in Barbara, the metropolis of the Northern Continent. Four stat points have been added as your mission reward.』
After the graduation ceremony and the award of the points, the Users divided cleanly into two groups: those who had received offers and those who had not. The former joined the clan members who had come to welcome them, while the rest could only stand by empty-handed.
They could probably find a clan to join if they went down to a general city or even a small one, not necessarily a metropolis. Seeing them still loitering around after the ceremony made me feel a little sorry for them. Not that it was any of my business.
The first thing I wanted to do was run to the warehouse and collect the items I'd bought with GP, but that plan was thwarted when the others immediately flocked to me. Ahn Hyun, Lee Yoojung, and Ahn Sol. As the four of us gathered, I could feel people who looked like clan scouts watching us. I had already politely declined all their offers, but it seemed they still held out some hope.
Ahn Hyun’s potential had been overshadowed by me, Woo Jungmin, and Seon Yuun, but he had still shown enough promise to make clans eager for him. Lee Yoojung’s results were also above average. Both had received numerous offers from mid-sized clans, but apparently rejected all of them because of me.
Honestly, Ahn Sol was the greatest treasure of them all. Priestess of Radiance—the pinnacle of the Priest class and one of the representative female Users who would one day stand beside the Princess of Execution and the Shadow Queen. Even if she never obtained that class, her initial 75 Magic Power and 100 Luck were tremendous advantages.
But surprisingly, Sol didn't receive much attention. I heard from Ahn Hyun that she was having a hard time controlling her magic power. It made sense; it would be strange for a User who was still a novice to control an upper-intermediate level of magic power. Her true value would likely become more apparent as time passed and she grew more accustomed to it.
The scout from the Golden Lion Clan was looking at the Users with a dumbfounded expression. I found out after the ceremony that the clan had made offers to a total of five new Users this time. However, only two of those five had accepted.
“I'm sorry. I have companions I've been with this whole time. I have no intention of joining alone and leaving them behind.”
After I skillfully turned away the last scout who came to recruit me, Ahn Hyun and the others looked quite apologetic. They seemed to believe what I'd said at face value. This misunderstanding wasn't a bad thing, but it left a bad taste in my mouth, so I figured it would be better to tell them the truth when I got the chance.
When we stepped out of the academy's main gate, the area outside was bustling with new and existing Users. I could see the emblems of various clans, led by the members of the Golden Lion Clan.
Then one scene caught my attention. At its center was Lee Jiyoung. Apparently admitted into a reasonably well-known clan, she watched the Users who had received no offers with an arrogant expression. She stood beside an instructor with her arms folded, putting on airs so pathetically that I almost laughed. I wondered how that face would look six months later, but for now I turned away.
It occurred to me that Kim Hanbyul had to be somewhere nearby; for some time, I had felt a persistent gaze boring into my face. When I looked toward it, I found her endlessly watching me and my companions. But I no longer wanted to remain entangled with her. Since word that she was a Jewel Mage had not spread, the Golden Lion Clan appeared to have decided to keep it secret for the time being.
The others were following me closely, their faces full of anticipation. Just as I was about to hurry away, a voice calling my name forced me to stop. I turned my head and saw Woo Jungmin and his party. From his first words—“So you didn't join either”—I could guess who the other two who had rejected the Golden Lion Clan's offer were. (Of course, I had already had a rough idea.)
While we were chatting for a bit, Woo Jungmin suggested we team up for a while. Honestly, it was a tempting offer. It would be easier for me to wipe them out in one clean sweep now, before they could gather their strength as the Red Fang Clan. However, before I could even answer, Won Hyesoo from his party and Lee Yoojung from mine shot each other looks of disgust, and the suggestion fizzled out.
Won Hyesoo still seemed unable to let go of her resentment, occasionally glaring at me. I understood how she felt, but my tolerance had limits. If she continued behaving that way, I would not view her kindly either. I let her leave peacefully for now, but resolved to teach her a harsh lesson someday. Then I exchanged a brief farewell with the group.
When I glanced back, I saw the others staring blankly at me, having stopped in their tracks. They too must have rejected offers from decent clans to follow me blindly. They hadn't quite shed the attitude of chicks following their mother, but I felt like I wanted to trust them to some extent.
To do that, the first thing I needed to do was tell them my plan for the future.