Kim Yohan's Perfectly Reasonable Question
To a question Kim Yohan had every right to ask, Yujun shook his head.
"The chances of being spotted were too high. If I'd tried some half-baked infiltration just to pull the two of you out, I would have turned this place into a hornet's nest."
"Huh? You think so...?"
It was an excuse. The mess had a reason of its own.
Taking down the celestials on the outer perimeter with an attack that mixed Touch of Healing and Chaos had been no problem at all. This would make a decent tool for assassination, he had thought, and the number he cut down had crept steadily upward. Once it passed eight, the celestials realized he was there. He had sunk far too deep into trying out a new ability. By rights he should have killed two or three and pushed inward fast. He hadn't. The fault was plainly his.
Even so, he could hardly lay that whole sequence out, plain and unvarnished, for the two who had been waiting on him without a clue.
"Anyway. We don't have time. Let's go. Paranet."
At his word the undead skeleton knight took shape inside a magic circle. He was enormous for anything one might call a skeleton knight, but the look of him left no doubt.
"...Whoa. Didn't think I'd ever see him in the flesh."
Kim Yohan had known Shin Yujun long enough to have seen Paranet in recordings. Watching the summon grow larger and larger had been novel on a screen; up close, he was bigger than Kim Yohan had imagined, and the sheer size pressed down on him.
"Paranet. Take us outside. The farther, the better."
"Dad!"
Harp tapped Yujun's shoulder with a short little arm.
"Hm?"
"What if we let the other prisoners go too?"
"Why? You want to save them?"
"If we turn all of them loose, the celestials might not look at you quite so hard!"
"...Huh. Smart. That's my Harp."
Those innocent eyes had made him assume the little one simply wanted the prisoners freed. Apparently not.
"Thanks for the good idea. We'll do it your way."
"I'm happy I could help Dad!"
Yujun stroked Harp's head, then kicked the thick doors down one after another until every last one was shattered. Not a thread of mana went into it. Kim Yohan's mouth fell open.
"Holy shit... how strong is he?"
He knew perfectly well how the celestials strained just to open those doors. He had watched them struggle the whole time he was locked up. Wondering if he had seen wrong, he stared hard at Yujun.
Boom! Crack!
He hadn't imagined it. No mana flared at all. None gathered in the arms or the legs. Which meant that spectacle was nothing but raw physical stats—and the sight that followed was worse.
"Paranet. Don't just stand there watching. Do it like I did."
"Yes!"
Crash! Crash!
A kick from Paranet smashed a door that was immensely thick and solid. He seemed to put more strength into it than Yujun had, but he wasn't using mana either.
"Think you can do that too, mister?" Kim Yohan asked Joseon's Best Sword, Dokgo Minsu.
"But of course."
"Come on. Your Strength stat isn't even that different from mine."
"Have I not told you? Whether one tempers the body or neglects it makes a vast difference. Even if your Strength matches mine, the force you can actually bring to bear would fall short of mine by more than double."
"Wow, listen to you bluster. Mister, once we're out of here, we start with an arm wrestle. How about it?"
"Very well. I shall show you properly."
While the two of them waged that little war of nerves, every door holding a prisoner came apart.
"Paranet."
"At once!"
Paranet drew Kim Yohan and Dokgo Minsu in against his chest. Hugged tight to the skeleton knight, Kim Yohan felt a chill race through him—and in that instant a brief dizziness took him, and the world changed.
A green meadow. Manuela and Do Jiyun came running.
"It's been a while. Joseph. Uncle Joseon's Best Sword."
"I told you to call me by my name," Kim Yohan said.
"Dokgo Minsu sounds more like a handle, though."
"Even so, Joseon's Best Sword is a little..."
"Quite right. Do not make sport of my name."
Do Jiyun took one look at Dokgo Minsu's deadly serious face and burst out laughing. Then Kim Yohan turned to Yujun.
"By the way, No-Pay... I mean, Mr. Yujun."
"Yes."
"Was that just now Space Movement?"
"That's right. I didn't cast it. It's Paranet's ability."
"No way. He's not even a lich, and a skeleton knight is throwing around teleportation? That has to eat an insane amount of mana."
"Mortal. That is because I am exceptional—"
Paranet was swelling with pride, thumping his own chest, when Yujun cut in.
"It's because the skill rank is high. Paranet isn't the brightest, so the high grade compensates for him."
"Ah. Makes sense."
Kim Yohan accepted it at once. Paranet stared at the ground, thoroughly put out.
"Then couldn't you have used teleportation when you came to rescue us?" Kim Yohan asked.
"Entering from the outside is difficult because of the barrier. From the inside out, it worked."
"...Fair enough. If breaking in with teleportation were that easy, someone would have come for us ages ago."
"Didn't the two of you side with the hardliners? They didn't send help?"
At that, Kim Yohan gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"We probably don't even register. We're mercenaries they hired on a bounty, so honestly they might prefer us dead. Of course they have to put on some show of trying to save us if they want to protect their public image, but that's all it is—a show. Anyway, seriously, thank you. It's good to see you."
"Good to see you too."
Yujun looked from Kim Yohan's face to Dokgo Minsu's and back. How were they this close to what he had pictured?
Dokgo Minsu, who had gone by the handle Joseon's Best Sword, looked to be in his forties—more dignified and handsome than expected. The long hair tied back, though, made him look like someone terminally committed to the bit.
Hongdae Fashion People Joseph. Kim Yohan looked about Yujun's own age, a young man in his twenties who seemed as if he haunted the streets of Hongdae.
Not much difference between us, then.
"We've talked plenty over chat, but since we've actually met, shall we do introductions?" Do Jiyun suggested.
"Age is a secret. I'm Do Jiyun. I run the Shrine Guild."
"Is that an introduction...? All that came out was a gender and a name."
Dokgo Minsu took the shot. Do Jiyun, long used to it, ignored him without effort.
"Next."
"Kim Yohan. Twenty-six. I dress well, and also... as you can see, my sense of humor is outstanding."
Everyone was busy being speechless.
"Huh?"
Then Harp exploded.
"Pfft—!"
"See? Even the little cutie laughed."
"Which part of that was funny..."
Do Jiyun looked genuinely lost. Harp grinned and explained.
"He said his sense of humor was outstanding with a completely straight face, even though none of it was humorous at all. That was the funny part. And he said he dresses well while looking like a beggar, which was funny too. Looked at that way, he might actually have a sense of humor after all."
"...What."
In short, the laugh had burst out of somewhere he never intended. Cut to the quick, Kim Yohan's face burned red.
"What is that?"
"My divine beast. Also my child."
"So that's why he called you Dad?"
"Yes."
"Cute, sure, but isn't the mouth a little too rough?"
"Harp can't lie. I'll apologize for him."
"That was an apology, right...?"
Next was Joseon's Best Sword.
"I am Dokgo Minsu. The sword is my trade. Which is why, Yujun, I would face you once, if you are willing. Your showing at the Species Tournament left a deep impression upon me. I daresay I have become an entirely different man since that day. I wish to show you the fruit of my training."
"Ohhh—shit! Pbbbbt!"
Kim Yohan made a spectacle of himself.
"This is a matter of pride! We already know who's stronger, so how about settling it with swords alone?"
"Why are you the one getting excited, Yohan..."
Do Jiyun laughed, half incredulous. Unlike Kim Yohan, Dokgo Minsu was serious in manner and expression from start to finish. Yujun nodded.
"Sounds fun. No skills. Swords only. Let's have a bout."
Last was Yujun's turn.
"Shin Yujun. Twenty-two. Haven't done my military service yet."
He delivered it without a flicker of expression, and everyone lost the power of speech.
"...Sorry? What did you just say?"
"Twenty-two?"
"What's wrong? You all right? Nobody hurt anywhere?"
Their violent reaction left Yujun faintly thrown. By the actual passage of time, he ought to have been twenty-six or twenty-seven. But that would have been too unfair. Inventory synchronization had swallowed five years of his life whole, and sheer resentment kept him from accepting those years. So he had shaved the number down. More than that, he already had a record—he had introduced himself as twenty-two to Kim Heeyeon, the Dungeon Search specialist. The first time was the hard part. Why would the second be difficult?
"No, I mean... I haven't served either, but why are you twenty-two?"
That was what baffled all of them.
"I'm twenty-two."
"Don't lie. Are we really doing this, between us?"
Kim Yohan pressed. Yujun fell into thought.
With these people, do I even need to hide it?
They weren't Demon God Worshippers, and they were no obvious villains. On top of that, they shared years of playing the same game. They were people who had lived that experience with him.
Now that I think about it, telling them shouldn't matter much.
He hadn't regressed. He hadn't possessed someone else's body. There was no reason to hide it from people he could trust. Decided, he opened his mouth.
"You know I'm a first-year player, right?"
"Hard as it is to believe, yes, we know you're a first-year. But something's off. All of us day-one members are fifth-years. Why are you the only first-year?"
"I'll explain that."
Yujun told them he had received a certain privilege, and that a synchronization tied to it had left him asleep for five years. He left out everything to do with the inventory. The inventory was as good as his hidden trump card, and however close they were, he judged it better kept secret.
"So five years just vanished?"
"Yes."
"...Wow."
None of the three spoke. Each seemed to be sorting through their own thoughts. The first to break the quiet was Kim Yohan, who liked to talk.
"What kind of privilege hands you five years as a penalty?"
"That's a secret."
"I did pick up a hint from the word synchronization. It's tied to the No-Pay Casual Gamer character, isn't it?"
"Oh..."
Yujun looked at him, mildly startled. Kim Yohan smiled and nodded.
"Knew it. My own privilege was something a little like that. Nothing next to yours, of course."
"The thing is..." Yujun hesitated, then went on. "The synchronization still isn't finished."
"Yours?"
"Yes."
"Huh? Didn't you say you were asleep while it was in progress?"
"I can move around now. But it isn't over."
"Then how much longer until it finishes?"
"Time isn't the problem. There's something I need."
"Something you need?"
"Yes."
He let the pause hang on purpose.
"A Synchronization Marble. It's an item—practically exclusive to me. Once I have it, the synchronization that stalled can start again."
"...Oh ho."
"So. Does anyone here happen to have a Synchronization Marble?"
Yujun looked at his three old comrades with expectant eyes. The buildup was perfect.