Saber (3)
Choi Suho ground his teeth, unable to contain his fury.
'How dare he look down on me?'
Three years in Elid. The record-setting achievement of reaching level 140. A PVP record of 120 wins and 6 losses across 126 matches — he had adapted to Elid while everyone hailed him a genius. No one had ever dared to slight Choi Suho; he had always been the object of everyone's envy.
And yet this beggar of a bastard, who couldn't even keep proper armor on his back, kept provoking him.
'That bastard took down Do Minjun?'
If anything stuck in his craw, it was the remark from Hwa Minseo, the Guild Master of Chulgyeol — but no matter how he turned it over, none of it made sense. Do Minjun was a titan who wouldn't be outmatched even against a rank-10 hero. The notion that he had died to some beggar bastard was beyond imagining.
'Something must have gotten under her skin, and she threw together an excuse.'
He had been sure Hwa Minseo was lying. But seeing this changed his mind.
Ding—
Hero Kang Woobin has requested PVP.
Do you accept?
'...'
As for PVP, he'd done it so many times it made his skin crawl. Most of the people whisked off to Elid and made heroes fancied themselves the protagonist of the story and flew into rages at the drop of a hat.
Ding—
The opposing party has registered a wager.
'This has to be a joke.'
Half-wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him, Choi Suho rubbed them and checked the message again.
Ding—
'Four million runes?'
You couldn't so much as set a wager unless you actually possessed the value. Which meant that bastard really was sitting on four million runes.
'He's a freaking tycoon...'
Selling off every piece of equipment he was wearing wouldn't come close to that figure. Had he ever even laid hands on four million runes in his life? Every rune he gathered went straight into stats or gear upgrades — there was no way he'd ever held that kind of money.
Gulp—
'I have to take this fight. No matter what.'
Whatever the reason, there were no grounds to refuse a PVP. The reward for winning a battle he absolutely could not afford to lose was a staggering four million runes. Get his hands on that, and he could trade this errand-running for a spot on a proper raid team.
But there was one small problem.
Ding—
The item's value is too low to accept PVP.
He couldn't register a wager of equal value — which meant he couldn't even accept the PVP in the first place.
"What's wrong? Is there some kind of problem?"
Just as Choi Suho sank into thought, Woobin asked, the corner of his mouth curling into a smirk.
That look of open contempt was begging to get his lights punched out. Ordinarily he would have cursed him out on the spot, but no rebuttal came to mind.
'Fuck...'
So what was he supposed to say? That he'd go find some runes, so please wait? Even with guild support and liquidating everything stored in the warehouse, he wouldn't scrape together a million runes.
'Ah!'
Then, all at once, a single item came to mind.
'If it's the one my senior has...'
A month ago, the Master had bestowed an item on her to commemorate her awakening. The problem was that the senior treasured it more than her own life.
'I'll just have to talk her around somehow.'
Decision made, Choi Suho stowed his weapon into his inventory and opened his mouth.
"Give me a little time."
"I'm sorry? What was that? I can't quite hear you."
"I said give me some time!"
"Why would I do that? And for someone begging a favor, you're being awfully short with me."
Crunch— Choi Suho bit down and chewed at his lip.
"Just ten minutes. Please."
"Still can't hear you."
"Ten minutes! I'm asking for ten minutes! There's something I need to prepare!"
Choi Suho scowled in frustration and dropped his head. Woobin snorted at the sight and replied.
"Well, since you're begging this desperately, I'll grant it as a special favor. I'll be generous — thirty minutes."
Choi Suho's eyes quivered as he gave a stiff nod.
Watching him tremble with barely contained rage, Woobin's lips curled upward.
'He's completely lost it.'
The man who'd been seething at the provocation was nowhere to be seen. The moment he laid eyes on that windfall of a reward, his rage-driven violence had turned into a war of profit and loss.
'Might as well go check on something.'
Woobin walked off, leaving Choi Suho behind him. There was something he wanted to confirm.
Ba-dump— ba-dump—
Just what items had Do Minjun dropped — the man who'd granted more experience than a field boss?
Swoooosh—
A fresh breeze sent fallen leaves swirling through the air.
It looked no different from any ordinary forest, but the faces of the four people standing there were grim enough to suggest they'd fallen straight into hell.
Oblivious or not to their mood, Seo Heebin stepped out in front of them, her bobbed hair swishing.
"Hello there. I'm Seo Heebin of Saber, and I've come all this way to help you."
She handed out business cards of the kind you'd find at any company and began to speak.
"Our Saber Guild is the number one guild in Elid, expanding our influence across a wide range of industries — food service, hunting, crafting, and more. The territories under our ownership are enough to found two entire cities, and..."
The boasting rolled on. There was no way to verify whether any of it was true, but if it was, they certainly seemed like a fine organization.
"Anyone who wishes to follow me, please raise your hand. If you join our guild, I can confidently promise you the finest support Elid has to offer."
The moment the sales pitch ended, one of the men showed interest.
"Support, you say? What kind of support are we talking about?"
"What else? Everything you'll need to survive from here on out. Food, clothing, and shelter included — all the way up to the knowledge it takes to stay alive in Elid."
"You keep going on about Elid this, Elid that — what even is Elid? I've never heard of the country. Isn't this Korea?"
"No, it is not."
"Then..."
"Simply put, it'll be easiest to think of this place as the afterlife."
"What? The afterlife?! Are you saying we're dead?!"
"No. It's a metaphor — you'll find it easier to think of it that way. Elid is not Earth. It's an entirely different world."
At Seo Heebin's answer, the man shut his mouth.
'Just a little more and this should do it.'
Seo Heebin studied the new heroes' expressions. They fidgeted anxiously, unsure where to rest their eyes — then, one by one, stole glances at her face. Fear born of sheer ignorance had them searching for someone to lean on.
Seo Heebin flashed her brightest smile and racked up their favorability. Everything was proceeding smoothly, exactly as the manual prescribed. All that remained was to dangle the sweet bait, and she'd walk away with at least one of the four.
'Why is she just sitting there watching?'
Seo Heebin glanced at Hwa Minseo, who sat in silence. At first she'd seemed to be helping the new heroes, but at some point she'd simply taken a seat and done nothing at all. Hadn't she come here to recruit new members too?
'Did killing Do Minjun finally put her at peace?'
The story of Hwa Minseo and Do Minjun was famous throughout Elid. Do Minjun, the vice guild master, had murdered the guild master Kim Hooyoung and plundered his items. Afterward, he had killed more than half of his fellow guild members.
Rumors that sensational were hard to miss — it would have been stranger not to have heard them. As if to bear those rumors out, Hwa Minseo had asked after Do Minjun's whereabouts every time she met anyone.
And the end of that revenge was today.
It made sense that something as trivial as recruiting new members didn't even register in her eyes. Though whether the emotion awaiting her would be catharsis or emptiness, no one could begin to guess.
Seo Heebin turned her gaze to the second figure.
Dressed in beggar's rags without even a shirt, he sat off in a corner fiddling with something. He'd thrown a shitfit the moment anyone so much as went near the new heroes, but for whatever reason he'd gone quiet now. Either way, it was no bad turn of events for Seo Heebin.
"Now, then—"
"Senior!"
Just as Seo Heebin was about to cast a lifeline to the despairing new heroes—
"Let's have a quick chat."
"Why? Can't you see I'm busy?"
"It'll only take a second."
Choi Suho had appeared out of nowhere and derailed her work. He'd looked ready to brawl with the beggar bastard, then suddenly gone quiet and done nothing at all. And now, far from lending a hand, he was sabotaging her out of nowhere?
"No. Tell me later."
"I can't. It's urgent, I'm telling you."
"You little..."
She balled her fist tight. She could feel the new heroes' eyes on them.
'Endure it...'
She hadn't built up nearly enough favorability yet; violent outbursts were to be avoided.
"Please wait just a moment. I'll have a quick word with my colleague and be right back. In the meantime, please accept this small token from me."
Seo Heebin pulled food out of her inventory and set it down before the new heroes.
It was meat, steam still rising from it in lazy curls.
At the sight of food, the new heroes' expressions eased noticeably.
"Follow me."
Seo Heebin seized Choi Suho's arm and marched him off to a secluded spot. The moment they arrived — WHAM!!! — she hammered the back of his head with everything she had.
"Seriously! Did you forget why we came here?! We came to recruit new members! What exactly do you think you're doing?!"
"Ow, ow. I know. I'm the one who found this place, aren't I?"
"..."
Come to think of it, hadn't Choi Suho been the one to locate this place? That alone, she supposed, meant he'd done his share.
"S-so what! You found them and that's it?! You're supposed to persuade them somehow and bring them back with us!"
"I know. I'm leaving that to you, senior. I've got my own business to attend to."
Pop— A vein surged up along Seo Heebin's forehead.
'Should I just kill him where he stands?'
He was going to palm the work off on his senior — the senior he should be looking up to like the sky itself. And he said it right to her face. She'd known full well for a while that the brat had no sense, but this crossed the line.
'Hoo... Endure it. Endure.'
Still, finding the new heroes deserved real credit. In a way, tracking down the new heroes quickly was the single hardest part of the whole job.
"Senior, could you lend me the Ring of Blazing Energy the Master gave you as a gift?"
Mega Explosion
KABOOM!!!!!
A violent explosion slammed into Choi Suho's body.
Fssss— As the hazy smoke cleared, Choi Suho's figure came into view.
"Ugh, I knew you'd do this."
Choi Suho broke out in a cold sweat as he lowered his raised shield. As if he'd predicted the incoming blast, he had blocked the attack perfectly.
"Have you lost your mind, you brat? This is what I get for spoiling you rotten."
"It'll only take a second!"
"Get lost!"
"1.5 million runes!"
"What?"
"Lend it to me and I'll give you 1.5 million runes."
"What kind of bullshit is that?"
It was definitely bullshit — but the figure of 1.5 million runes pricked at Seo Heebin's curiosity. Choi Suho didn't miss the opening. He laid out, in thorough detail, the conversation he'd just had with Woobin.
"So. That bastard requested PVP with four million runes on the line?"
"Yes. That's what I'm telling you. Just lend it to me for a bit. I'll win and bring it straight back."
"No."
"Why? Don't tell me you actually think I'll lose?"
"It's not that."
However he might come across, Choi Suho was a genius the guild itself acknowledged. His level was a mere 140, but in PVP he toyed with heroes in the 170s. That was why the guild had chosen him as its next-generation main hero — the new hero recruitment he was running now was a mission reserved only for members the guild trusted and recognized.
"Then why not? I said I'd give you 1.5 million runes if I win."
"I hate the very idea of staking something the Master gave me as a wager."
"Haah... fine, seriously. I get it. 1.7 million runes! If I win, you get 1.7 million."
"Not a chance!"
"Oh, come on! 2 million runes! Add just a little more and that's enough to buy the Fenrir you're always raving about, senior!"
At the word Fenrir, Seo Heebin's ears perked up.
"Fenrir? Ahem! I really can't, though..."
"2.3 million! I seriously can't budge any further. I'm the one doing all the work here, haah..."
"2.3 million?!"
"Have you been living under a rock? You don't trust me? Choi Suho, champion of seventeen consecutive Beginner PVP tournaments! I don't lie — not even once!"
At Choi Suho's bombastic declaration, the red ring on Seo Heebin's finger slipped into Choi Suho's palm.