Settling Accounts (2)
Grrrr— grrrr—
Fenrir's breathing drifted through the air.
Fenrir, of all things...
Hwa Minseo was floored by the appearance of a mount she had never dreamed of.
Fenrir was an ultra-rare mount, obtainable only by slaying one of the scant few divine beasts in Elid. Even Hwa Minseo couldn't get her hands on one — there simply were none on the market. So how, in the world, had he come by that?
"Then we'll be off."
While she was still flustered, Woobin swung up onto Fenrir's back and gripped the reins.
"Just a moment!"
Hwa Minseo called him to a stop without quite realizing she was doing it. She couldn't have named the reason — only that she felt she had to keep this man close, somehow, whatever it took.
"Is something the matter?"
"Well, that is..."
She had stopped him, and now she had nothing to say. Then, all at once, she remembered the item that man had won.
"Would you consider selling the Demonic Sword?"
At her offer, Woobin turned, a spark of interest in his eyes.
"The Demonic Sword?"
"Yes. I'll pay well above the average market price."
Woobin dismounted from Fenrir — so he was open to selling, then. Watching him do it, Hwa Minseo felt her lips curl into a slow grin.
Got him.
To Hwa Minseo, the Demonic Sword's worth began and ended with the fact that it was her master's memento. There was no reason on earth to pay a fortune for it — but if she could forge a connection with this man, that alone would be worth the price.
"I'll think it over once I hear your number."
"Paying entirely in runes would be a stretch, I'll admit. Come to our guild first, and we can discuss it at our leisure. I can offer no less than 25 million runes."
The moment she finished, Woobin's eyes narrowed to thin slits.
She read it as deliberation. She had to drive the wedge in now, before his mind could wander anywhere else.
"And if you'd like, I can throw in the Wing Shoes as well."
Wing Shoes.
A hidden item whose game-breaking effects began with letting its wearer walk on air, and extended to a 200 percent boost in leap-attack power. Like the Demonic Sword, it was a legendary item — the only one of its kind in all of Elid — with an estimated value well past 15 million runes.
To anyone who understood the Wing Shoes' worth, this was an offer impossible to refuse.
And sure enough—
"Not bad."
Woobin's answer was favorable.
"Then allow me to escort you to my guild first. The Wing Shoes are in the guild warehouse, you see."
She had, quite naturally, manufactured the perfect pretext to keep talking with him. If they traveled toward the guild at an easy pace, conversation would flow — and somewhere along the way, she could vet what this man truly stood for.
"I've decided not to sell, for now."
"I'm sorry?"
"There's something I need to deal with urgently. If I ever feel like selling, I'll come to the guild myself. Chulgyeol Guild, was it?"
"Yes, that's right, but—"
The answer that came back was a refusal.
Damn. That's that, then.
He seemed firmly resolved to refuse, and no words came to her that might hold him.
Should I at least take out some insurance?
Decision made, Hwa Minseo drew two items from her inventory.
"Come find me the moment you change your mind."
[Teleport Scroll: Chulgyeol]
[Handwritten Note: Hwa Minseo]
The first item was a teleport scroll leading straight to the Chulgyeol Guild. The second was a sheet of paper bearing Hwa Minseo's own handwriting.
"Keep the note for if trouble finds you. Within the Hamon and Mearoka camps, it should carry real weight."
"Thank you."
Woobin accepted the items with a nod.
Watching him, Hwa Minseo felt a pang of disappointment. With no pretext left to hold him here, she was bracing herself to see him off. She'd assumed he would simply ride away — but Woobin turned and looked back at her.
"Would it be alright if I asked one favor?"
An unexpected request, out of nowhere.
What could he possibly want? Don't tell me he meant to shake her down for money under the pretext of a down payment.
Her eyes were narrowing at the ominous turn when—
"Please take good care of those people."
"I'm sorry?"
Of all things, Woobin had asked for that.
"I'd rather you looked after them personally. Well, then."
Grrr—
No sooner had the words left him than Woobin pulled the reins, and BOOM!!! — Fenrir's hind legs drove into the earth.
Whoooosh—
The pressure wave rippled past, and Hwa Minseo's brow furrowed against it.
Watching Woobin shrink into the distance, her expression hardened.
Was I wrong about him...?
Power beyond comprehension. From Do Minjun all the way down to Choi Suho — the killing, without a flicker of hesitation, had convinced her this was a dangerous man.
But now it occurred to her that this, too, might have been a mistake.
She had been crawling through Elid for over ten years, and in all that time she had met fewer than ten people who would ever ask her to look after a complete stranger.
He did say he'd come find me later.
And she had laid her insurance against the unknown, too.
"Let's move before dark."
Hwa Minseo invited the three new heroes into her party and, riiiip—, tore the scroll.
"Sob... sob..."
Tears fell in fat drops from Seo Heebin's eyes.
It was so unfair. Even the day she'd lost her entire savings to crypto had stung less than this.
How did it come to this?
She had gambled away a precious item — a gift from her master, no less — in a bet PVP.
Had it been her own greed? She had trusted Choi Suho far too much. Who could have imagined Woobin was a master good enough to toy with Choi Suho?
Seo Heebin replayed the moment she had first crossed paths with Kang Woobin. A nobody without so much as a decent item to his name. The instant he laid eyes on them, he had picked a fight, hurling provocations.
No way...
Cosplaying as the weakling to bait them into carelessness, then the provocation, and after that the bet PVP. Thinking it over now, every step of it felt meticulously planned.
"Damn it! Damn it!!!"
Six years and more she had survived in Elid, and never once had she suffered a humiliation like this.
Kang Woobin, was it?
Anger welled up in Seo Heebin's eyes. She had to have her revenge, whatever it took. She wanted to hunt that bastard down and tear him apart. And then, all at once, it dawned on her.
The new heroes!
Her head snapped around.
"Ah..."
Where the new heroes had been standing, no one remained. Kang Woobin, whom she wanted to tear limb from limb; Hwa Minseo, the Chulgyeol Guild Master — every last one of them, gone.
What am I supposed to put in my report?
Crunch—
Rage ground her gums until the taste of blood pooled thick on her tongue.
"Are you going to pull yourself together? How long do you plan on sitting there like that!"
She found herself barking at Choi Suho, who was staring blankly into space beside her.
Choi Suho gave no answer. He just kept staring at the ground, the soul gone out of him.
"Haah... What was I even expecting? Let's go."
Seo Heebin grabbed Choi Suho's hand and pulled. He didn't budge. She was already furious enough to scream, and now he was dead weight on top of it.
"Hey!!!!"
Seo Heebin shrieked with everything she had.
"......"
And then she saw it. Choi Suho's shoulders were trembling — faintly, but unmistakably.
Drip— drip—
What looked like droplets of water were falling to the ground. Then came a choked sob, and he was crying in earnest.
"Hey... come on, snap out of it..."
She wanted to berate him, but she could feel everything he was feeling in that faint trembling.
Well, he has never truly lost before. Not once.
Choi Suho. A 15th-batch hero transferred to Elid. He had walked into Saber on the strength of his broken trait and ridden an unbroken streak of victories, growing at a monstrous pace.
No one had dared look down on Choi Suho. He had been the object of everyone's envy.
And that Choi Suho had been crushed in PVP. No — he had taken a blow that should have killed him. Past the shock of it, his pride might well have snapped clean in two.
What was she supposed to say to put the fight back in him?
I'm the one who needs comforting here.
Just as Seo Heebin was floundering at the sight of Choi Suho's sudden tears, his breathing seemed to steady, and he scrubbed roughly at his eyes with his sleeve. At last, his trembling voice reached her.
"I'm so frustrated."
"......"
"I'm so frustrated and angry I could scream... and there's nothing I can do about any of it."
She could see it plainly — his confidence, no, his self-esteem, shaved away layer by layer.
She had never seen him like this. He had never been much of a talker to begin with, and now he was making things impossibly difficult.
"Haah..."
After a long moment of deliberation, Seo Heebin planted herself in front of Choi Suho. She looked down at him and spoke, quiet but firm.
"What do you mean, nothing you can do?"
"......"
"Your level's low, isn't it? So raise it. Get your gear in order. Awaken when the time comes. You've got more work ahead of you than you could finish in a year, and you're already deflating and whining about it."
At those words, something shifted in Choi Suho's eyes. Light kindled in eyes that had gone dead. Watching it return, Seo Heebin felt the corner of her mouth twitch upward despite herself.
"Sulk here all you want. I'm leaving."
"Wait! I'm coming!"
Choi Suho trotted after her like a lost puppy.
"I'm sorry, sunbae."
"For what?"
"The ring your master gave you. I got it taken away — because of me."
"Ah, that. Don't worry about it. I've put up 6 million runes in your name."
"What? Why? That ring's estimated value was only 3.4 million runes."
"He said he'd throw in another 2.3 million, remember?"
"Then it makes even less sense. Add it up and that's only 5.7 million."
"Ever heard of interest?"
Trading the same trivial banter as always, Seo Heebin and Choi Suho walked on.
Deep in a forest sunk in heavy darkness.
Ding—
[Vital's Soul Stone has been used.]
Before Woobin, a hulking medieval knight materialized.
"Guard the perimeter."
It was a precaution he had no need of alone, but he gave the order all the same, against whatever might come.
Clank— clank—
The heavy ring of metal prowled the darkness around them.
That should keep things reasonably safe.
Woobin dropped to the ground where he stood and let himself savor an ease he hadn't known in ages.
Crackle— crackle—
A campfire bloomed to life. Simply watching it left him feeling somehow settled.
How long had it been since he'd known peace? He had been trapped for so long that the simple absence of pain felt foreign to him.
Maybe I should have dragged one of those bastards back with me.
He needed intelligence — where those traitorous bastards were, and what they were doing. Saber guild members like Seo Heebin or Choi Suho were bound to know their whereabouts. If he'd seen this coming, he would have kidnapped at least one of them.
Not that they'd have come quietly.
And it wouldn't have been easy regardless. Hwa Minseo, who so plainly set great store by honor, had been planted squarely in the way.
What was done was done. He needed a new plan — and the best place to gather information was wherever people gathered.
The nearest territory from here would be Bushin.
Bushin was a neutral territory under the Hamon Kingdom — a trade city where merchants from every nation converged. Go there, gather intelligence, and he could have everything he wanted. The only problem was that it lay a fair distance off.
Grrrowl—
He was mid-plan when a riotous noise erupted from his stomach.
Come to think of it, he couldn't even remember the last time he had eaten a proper meal. In Chronos's dungeon, the sensation of hunger had been something close to a luxury. But not here. Not anymore.
He was hungry. He was tired.
"Would you like this? I brought it along, just in case."
Had she heard the growling? Min Juhee fished something out from inside her coat and held it out to Woobin.
Well-cooked meat. It had gone cold — prepared some time ago — but it gleamed with juices, and it looked delicious.
It wasn't hard to guess that it had come from Seo Heebin, or else from Min Juhee's own supplies, but one thing didn't add up.
Why hand it over to him instead of eating it herself?
What exactly is she trusting, following me like this?
Truth be told, Min Juhee following Woobin at all had been strange from the very start. They had a contract, yes — he would protect her until her safety was assured — but to Min Juhee, Woobin was a stranger she had met only that day. They were out in the wilds, where a single ill intention on his part would leave her with no one to call for help. So what had she been trusting when she agreed to follow him?
Whatever her reasons, it wasn't an unwelcome arrangement. If she already trusted him this much, then extending her a little more credit would forge that much thicker a bond of trust.
"Thank you."
Woobin took the meat she offered and bit down hard.
The moment his teeth pressed through the surface, the juices burst free. Salt and sweetness flooded his mouth, and a sharp pang shot through his salivary glands.
Delicious.
The meat vanished in an instant.
Not enough.
His reawakened appetite began to goad at his brain. Fried chicken. Crispy fritters. Tteokbokki. Countless dishes wheeled through his head.
He wanted a shower. He wanted to sink into a warm bed and sleep in peace. Every desire he had been denied until now washed over him from head to toe.
Those fucking bastards.
Woobin's face twisted savagely. Fury surged up from somewhere deep in his chest.
He was angry enough to grind his teeth to powder at those bastards — the ones who had made even the act of eating a single piece of meat, even the simple rest of closing his eyes, impossible to enjoy. That time had stretched across a full fifty thousand years. However long it took, he would make them pay back every last second.
Maybe I should just leave right now.
Grrrowl—
Just as Woobin was gnashing his teeth in fury, a commotion burst out from Min Juhee's side this time.
"Ahem!"
Min Juhee flushed scarlet and coughed. Embarrassed, perhaps, she abruptly struck up a conversation.
"Thank you for earlier."
"For what?"
"You asked her to take good care of us, remember?"
"Ah. Right."
She seemed to mean his parting words to Hwa Minseo. There had been nothing deeper to them — he had simply been saying, in a roundabout way, that they weren't to be handed over to Saber, but cared for directly.
His belly was more or less full now.
Woobin decided to carry on with the preparations he had yet to finish. First order of business: opening the supply box that only Min Juhee could unlock.
"Please open this for me."
Woobin handed the 18th-batch supply box over to Min Juhee, and—
[You have opened the 18th-batch Hero-exclusive Supply Box.]
A brilliant light began to flood the surroundings.