A Favor?
"A favor? What kind of favor?"
The King of the Abyss hesitated a moment.
"There is a man currently under bounty. Sim Sanghoon."
"Sim Sanghoon?"
The name was familiar. Perhaps becoming a player had sharpened his memory; either way, he knew at once who the man was.
The player the System designated an Irregular during the Species Tournament — that was Sim Sanghoon.
It hadn't been all that long ago. Measured by time, it was relatively recent.
"A village in the Seventh Realm was laid to waste by that man. At the time we treated him as just another criminal and merely issued a bounty."
"Ah. So that was Sim Sanghoon's doing."
The King of the Abyss nodded and went on.
"Capturing him, we managed in the end. Even putting him on trial. The trouble began there. Sim Sanghoon killed most of the people in the courtroom by his own hand. The presiding judge was caught up in it as well, of course."
"The judge died?"
"He did."
"Wasn't Sim Sanghoon already neutralized? How is that even possible?"
"That, I do not know. He employed some trick, and we grew careless and suffered for it. That is all."
"At that level, isn't it impossible for the high-ranking enforcers to catch him?"
"Which is why I am asking this of you. Sim Sanghoon is no ordinary player."
"You think I can beat him?"
"The power I sense from you is, to speak frankly, comparable to my own. As things stand, I cannot leave the palace. And so there is no one I can rely upon but you."
"Why can't you leave the palace?"
"Because what Sim Sanghoon seeks is here."
"Is that so?"
"It is only a feeling, but I am convinced it is the truth."
"Do you know where Sim Sanghoon is?"
"He is somewhere within this First Realm. Resolve the matter, and I shall give you something finer even than a skill gem."
"All right. For now."
Settling one more piece of business before leaving the Abyss didn't seem like a bad idea. More than anything, the king was offering something better than a skill gem. There was no reason to refuse.
"You don't know the exact location, though?"
"Only that he is in the First Realm..."
"And if this starts dragging on, I'm allowed to drop it then, right?"
"I ask out of my own desire. It is by no means a demand."
"Fine."
After exchanging messengers with the King of the Abyss, Yujun went to the room where his companions were staying.
"What took you so long? Did something happen?"
"No. I picked up a request."
"A request?"
"Catching a player named Sim Sanghoon."
"Hm? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere."
"I think the high-ranking enforcers mentioned a wanted man earlier," Ju Donghyeon said.
Hong Yeji let out an ah and nodded.
"Anyway, we're going after him."
"Is he a bad person?"
"Yes. Apparently he wiped out an entire village. And he caused trouble in the First Realm's court as well."
"Then when do we get the First Realm reward?"
"Hard to say. We won't be able to collect it until after we've caught Sim Sanghoon and left the Abyss."
"So it isn't something they hand over just for entering?"
"We came in through a broker, by a workaround. The moment we leave the First Realm, they'll pay it out at several times the rate."
"But if we stick our hands into this too, won't we lose even more?"
"I'll tell the King of the Abyss to compensate all of you as well."
He had already placed the king in his debt, so there was nothing to hesitate over. The King of the Abyss had plenty. Pressing a few extra rewards into their hands would hardly be difficult for him.
"Really?"
"Ahem."
Ju Donghyeon and Hong Yeji brightened visibly.
"But do you even know where Sim Sanghoon is, going looking for him like this?"
"We'll have to comb the First Realm."
"That sounds hopeless. I heard the First Realm is enormous."
"We still have to look. He's Korean, the same as us, so if we spot him we ought to recognize him."
"So we just need to find a Korean who isn't one of us?"
"Yes. And..."
Yujun looked at Ju Donghyeon, who wore a bewildered expression.
"I'll need your help, Mr. Ju."
"My help? Do you mean Clairvoyance?"
"That, and Future Sight as well."
"As I told you before, Future Sight cannot be used. Not here in the Abyss."
"Let's see if we can make it possible."
"Pardon?"
Ju Donghyeon stared at Yujun as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"How?"
"I'll ask the King of the Abyss. In the end, things like the First Realm's barrier are tied to him. With his authority, it should work out somehow."
"Ah. Is that so?"
Yujun nodded and opened his messenger. He asked the King of the Abyss about the barrier — that they could find Sim Sanghoon's location by looking into the future, and whether the barrier's effect could be lowered or stopped, if only for a moment.
So Future Sight had been unusable because of the barrier after all.
"He says it's possible."
"You already exchanged messengers with him?"
"Yes."
Hong Yeji let out a hollow little laugh. Friendly with the King of the Abyss already. She had been sick with worry that he might come back from an all-out fight with the king, but thankfully that didn't seem to be what had happened.
"You should be able to use Future Sight right away," Yujun said.
He couldn't sense what, if anything, had changed about the barrier, but a message arrived from the King of the Abyss.
"Understood."
Ju Donghyeon closed his eyes. Knowing the player's name was Sim Sanghoon, peeking ahead with Future Sight was not difficult.
"I've determined where he is."
"Oh, that's a relief."
"He looked, unexpectedly, quite ordinary."
"When you say ordinary, what exactly does he look like?"
"Like a typical Korean college student. A two-block cut, with bangs long enough to cover his eyebrows."
"Ah."
That description clicked at once.
"Where should we go?"
"You know the passage we came in by? The one we used with the broker."
"Yes."
"He was hiding in the tunnels."
"The tunnels?"
There really was nowhere safer from the high-ranking enforcers than the tunnels. For whatever reason, they rarely moved through them.
"That is the problem. The tunnels all look much the same, so I cannot pin his location down exactly."
"Well, just knowing he's in the tunnels is enough for me."
"I'll keep searching with Clairvoyance."
"Yes. Let's head for the tunnels, then."
Hong Yeji spoke up.
"But can we get around without the broker? We don't really know the roads."
"True. It'll be fine, though."
Ever since his memory had improved, he didn't forget a path once he had walked it. Keep moving, and he would memorize the way.
"Mr. Ju. Was there anything unusual about where Sim Sanghoon was? If there was, tell me even the smallest thing."
"Less a feature of the place than this: I saw him controlling Abyss monsters."
"Controlling them?"
Yujun's eyes widened.
"Yes. Abyss monsters were standing guard in front of him. He gave them orders, and they obeyed as if it were only natural."
Yujun fell quiet. Let's think this through. Sim Sanghoon had erased a village in the Seventh Realm, and in the courtroom he had killed everyone involved, the judge among them. He had been placed under the highest-grade bounty, and now he was a fugitive.
Is he using the Abyss monsters as scouts? If Sim Sanghoon had the ability to communicate with them, that guess carried real weight.
There's no time limit, but the sooner we catch him, the better. Unable, for some reason, to leave the First Realm, he seemed intent on holding out as long as he could. The King of the Abyss had said Sim Sanghoon was waiting for a chance to break into the palace. Then they had to take him before he could try anything.
If it came to it, he would kill him. With that permitted, there was nothing difficult about this.
"Found him!"
Ju Donghyeon, who had been burning through Clairvoyance without a pause, shouted.
"Lead the way."
"Yes."
Ju Donghyeon took the lead, and they drove forward at speed. Whenever an Abyss monster showed itself, Yujun cut it down at once with Ancient Magic.
Surely the one I just killed wasn't some kind of scout. The thought flickered through him. But even if the man had noticed, it was already too late — Yujun had found Sim Sanghoon.
He was, just as Ju Donghyeon had described, a typical Korean.
"Who are you?"
Ringed by Abyss monsters, Sim Sanghoon asked.
"Bounty hunter."
"Ha. We're both Korean. Why are you doing this?"
A line people dragged into the Tower of Infinity loved to trot out. Yujun let out a short laugh.
"Which is why I feel genuinely awful about it."
There were more Koreans in the Tower of Infinity than anyone could count. Making an exception for every one of them just because they shared a nationality was absurd.
"And you think you can catch me?"
Sim Sanghoon didn't look the least bit anxious. He seemed confident in his own ability.
"Yeah. That's what I think. You putting your faith in the Abyss monsters?"
"No. I'm just playing with them because I'm bored. How long have you been in the Tower of Infinity? Five years? Four? You a player?"
"No. One year."
"What? A first-year reached the Abyss? If that's true, it's impressive. Obviously a lie, though."
"You're here too."
At that, Sim Sanghoon burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Kahahaha!"
It was a laugh far too hearty for the moment, and Yujun pressed his lips shut. Sim Sanghoon laughed for a long while, then hardened his expression and spoke.
"This tower, where the magic and monsters you only see in movies actually exist. It's been nearly five years since humans were dragged here. And strangely enough, only Koreans come. More precisely, people who lived on Korean soil."
Yujun said nothing, and simply kept watching to see where this was going.
"Even the ones they call top rankers have only had five years now. Long, if you call it long. Short, if you call it short."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'll let you in on one very shocking fact. I came to the Tower of Infinity nine years ago."
Yujun stayed silent.
"When I arrived here, the human race didn't even exist."
"So what you're saying is, you got here earlier than everyone else."
"That's right."
"It is strange. Why? There has to be a reason."
"Well, I don't know the reason either. At first I was thrilled at the thought that I'd come to another world. This place is dangerous, sure, but with the System's help I was able to grow strong fast."
Hm. A guy who likes to hear himself talk? He hadn't expected to be told this much, in this much detail.
"A four-year head start on growing. You'd be pretty strong, then."
"Exactly. Which is why what you're doing is laughable. A bounty hunter? Heh. Don't make me laugh. You're nothing but prey set in front of a beast. And that prey, not knowing its place, has shoved its face right up to the beast's mouth."
Sim Sanghoon wore a thin, unpleasant smile. Just looking at it was irritating.
"Ugh. He really thinks he's something."
Hong Yeji, watching from behind, said it. Both Sim Sanghoon and Yujun clamped their mouths shut.
"What did you say?"
At her words, Sim Sanghoon's face twisted into something fiendish. Her blunt honesty seemed to have struck him square in the pride.
"Hey. I asked what you said."
"Nothing. You were just swaggering so hard. Excuse me — you're not cool at all."
The mood sank all at once. Yujun felt a clean, satisfying rush at what Hong Yeji had said. Sim Sanghoon, of course, did not.
It was a dangerous thing to say. A red energy gathered in his hand, and his eyes held nothing but the intent to kill Hong Yeji.
Yujun had no intention of letting the opening slip.