Seohwa's Promise
Roque stared blankly at the woman. She smiled.
"What's wrong? You're looking at me like a ghost come back to life."
He couldn't respond. Her clear smile left him speechless. Even though she was the one person he'd wanted to see more than anyone.
Worry gradually crept across her face.
"...Roque? You okay? Are you hurt somewhere?"
She approached. Without hesitation, she reached out and touched his forehead, tilting her head.
"No fever. Should I ask Peace Executioner for some medicine?"
He slowly extended a hand toward her face. She blinked her clear eyes in confusion but didn't pull away. His fingertips met her soft white cheek. Warm and gentle, just as he remembered. Her face flushed red.
"Um, if Dad—no, if Master sees us like this... Not that I hate it or anything..."
"Seohwa."
At his call, her eyes, which had been fixed on the floor in embarrassment, met his. In her transparent gaze, he saw a wretched man. A sad, weary man. A lonely city dweller in a concrete jungle of tens of millions, clutching nothing but a battered sword—a ronin.
The woman facing that man replied.
"I'm listening, Roque."
Roque gazed at her faint smile for a long while, but in the end, he said nothing. He simply pulled her slowly into his arms. She buried her face silently in his chest.
They stayed like that for some time. With her cheek pressed against his chest, she spoke, her voice slightly muffled.
"...Roque, you know if we get caught like this, Master will really chew us out, right?"
"Let him."
At his curt reply, the woman called Seohwa gently pushed him back and looked up. Her hands rose to cup his face.
"You can't do that, Roque. You have to listen to Master. Forgot our promise?"
"Promise?"
Her face puffed up in a pout.
"Really? You're gonna tease me like that? When your lifelong wish is done, you'll stand tall in front of Dad and... y'know..."
Her pouty expression quickly turned beet red. Flustered, she buried her face in his chest again and whispered.
"...ask for my hand."
At that whisper, Roque felt heat rising in his eyes. He squeezed them shut to hold it back and hugged her tightly.
"Yeah. I did say that. After my wish is fulfilled."
Wish. His long-held desire. Back then, it had been revenge. But she'd called it a "wish" instead, saying "revenge" was too negative. People had to think beyond revenge, she said—it couldn't be the end of life.
"...Maybe it would've been better if it ended there."
"Huh? What'd you say, Roque?"
Roque didn't answer. He just tightened his arms around her once more. Sensing something, she fell silent and simply held him.
Then his left hand caught his eye. More precisely, a faint yellow glow on the back of it.
He stared at the light blankly for a moment, then let out a bitter smile.
"I know. No need to rush me."
Muttering that, he gently pushed her away. As he did, he naturally snatched the palm-sized wooden block from her waistband.
"Roque?"
She watched him back away with puzzled eyes. Roque drank in her image with his own.
Then the wooden block in his hand hissed and cracked with a sharp pishh. Sparks flew from the fissures.
The sparks flared wildly, shattering and incinerating the block. Moments later, a long gray flame blazed in his grasp.
As the gray flame appeared, the surroundings began to change. The clear sky and bright sun blurred in radiant light. The old walls, blooming garden, and tiled house were swept away too. The whole world dissolved into light.
Finally, the light reached the woman gazing at him. She faded as if submerged in a sea of light behind her. Even as she scattered into it, her eyes never left Roque. She just wore a sad smile.
In the last moment, she said,
"I love you, Roque."
Her form vanished completely. Even after, Roque stared at the spot for a long time. Until the light on his left hand flashed again, he stood silent.
He lifted his flashing left hand and said,
"...Yeah. Time to get to work."
Now only Roque and the world of white light remained. In the next instant, he swung the gray flame in his right hand through the air.
That simple motion shattered one face of the light world with a crack. The fragments scattered as zeros and ones, runes Roque couldn't read.
Beyond the broken world, several panicked people came into view. Wearing headgear and seated, screens of numbers and runes flashed before them.
As Roque strode toward that world, a flood of data poured across their screens. He heard their chatter.
He glanced back. The space he'd shattered, like broken glass, was sealing shut.
Roque surveyed the area. Blue grid pillars soared to the ceiling, while stalactite-like formations hung down from above.
It felt like a massive rectangular cave. At the center, a pillar of light pierced from floor to ceiling, surrounded by six seated mages.
The wall he'd broken through was part of that light pillar. Up close, it was a cluster of glowing numbers and runes.
After a quick scan, Roque muttered at the mages still spouting gibberish.
> Can't you see me?
The mages didn't react. They were too busy processing the data flood. Roque shrugged, dispersed the gray flame, and decided against blood. They were just doing their jobs.
Instead, he raised his left hand.
> Where to now?
A yellow arrow appeared on his hand, pointing steadily like a compass. Roque dashed between pillars following it.
Finding the target didn't take long. Spotting the yellow glint under blue pillars was easy.
Touching it with his left hand opened the pillar like a block wall with holes, revealing glowing runes inside. Unlike others, Roque could read these.
> Hm···
Reading was one thing; the tangled data mass was too risky to touch. Overflowing with city reconstruction, road management, water systems.
Then a thin beam shot from his left hand, threading through the data to snag a hidden chunk. It materialized before his eyes.
Roque read the header.
His face hardened as he delved in. Neatly organized: assassinations, terror, info manipulation targeting election figures, executed by D-Planning. Familiar faces—an orc in gladiator gear, a dwarf in pinstripes.
> So they were the ones scraping the mayor's office dark corners.
He checked the end: Final handler, Professor Hugo Russell. Little River resident.
No photo or details, but Roque guessed a rich donor to the mayor's office. This rich man and dragon cultists had deeper ties.
His eyes locked on the address.
> Guess I gotta smash this guy first.
As he muttered, the page slurped into his left hand. Elizabeth had pocketed it.
Confirming the pillar reseal, Roque raised his left hand high. A thin beam linked to the distant light pillar. His vision yanked along it.
Amid their frantic voices, Roque pushed beyond the light pillar. His vision flooded with light again, numbers and runes streaking by.
When something solid met his feet, the first sound was Bini's electronic Vulcan cannon fire.
His sharpening vision revealed wreckage of chimeric firewalls everywhere—dozens of corpses. Roque stepped forward.
As he emerged from under the server, Bini beeped at him, its lens light seeming to say finally done?
> Yeah. Done.
Bini retracted its legs from the server surface, tilted toward Roque, and wiggled its Vulcan arm invitingly.
Roque smirked, about to mount, then froze. Beyond the wreckage, wriggling masses approached—far more chimeric serpents than before, a wave flooding the server surface.
> Shit.
With a grimace, he hopped on. Bini launched off the server. Serpents instantly filled their spot, twisting into a pursuing pillar.
Bini's twin Vulcans roared, but the pillar regenerated faster. It beeped in panic.
> Time for a parting gift.
Roque stood tall on Bini, cupped his hands at chest level like gripping a rod. A gray flame sword ignited.
He leaped lightly toward the rising pillar, swinging at its head.
Gray fire waves from his blade engulfed it. The serpent pillar vanished without ash. The server surface cleared.
After sweeping the firewalls with one swing, Roque remounted. Bini, now meek, beeped once and ascended the infinite Cyber Space surface. A meteor shower tunnel welcomed him again.
Exiting Cyber Space, scenes flashed in Roque's eyes. As expected—perhaps dragon illusions again.
But they differed. Dim incandescent lights, white tiles on walls and floor. A windowless room. White-coated figures beyond bars debating her; occasional arrogant presences.
An elf-like form, but with yellow reptilian eyes.
He said,
⤒ ⤒ ⤒
Roque's senses returned. Elizabeth fidgeted off his net gear.
"Not collapsing this time."
"Thanks to Bini."
The robot on the floor beeped in agreement. Roque watched it wag, then met Elizabeth's eyes.
Gazing into her round eyes, he said,
"Keep seeing weird shit."
"Elizabeth only saw that woman."
Silence fell, heavy. Bini glanced between them nervously.
Then gunfire erupted outside the Abandoned Factory. Roque confirmed no Kaylee, then stood.
As he headed to the entrance, Elizabeth packed the orc link cable, net gear, and dashed into the Black Knight. Bini closed its compartment and rolled after.
Roque halted. Heavy military boots thudded, a shadow entering.
"Oh? Done already? You actually hacked?"
The shadow was Kaylee, rifle slung over her shoulder. Roque's eyes shifted past her—to the ragdoll dragged by her chrome cyberarm. An armless elf.
Kaylee grinned.
"Recognize this guy? The one who popped up at the villa. Still kicking."