Settling (3)

Chirp— chirp—

Fresh birdsong drifted on the morning air as warm sunlight patted gently against her face.

Mmngh—

Min Ju-hee wrinkled her brow and pushed herself upright.

"Ugh... I feel awful."

She stretched with all her might, but the soreness wouldn't fade. She was exhausted beyond words. Even two straight days of overtime had never drained her like this. She'd been certain she would pass out the moment she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lay down—yet she hadn't slept a wink.

Skreee—

A beast's shriek had rung out from time to time through the night, and beneath it, grrrrr—a sinister rumble had come slithering along the darkness.

It had been terrifying, frightening—but the hardest part of all was the bare ground.

Forget a blanket; there wasn't even a mat to lay down. Maybe that was why. Just lying still, the chill seeping up from the earth had felt like needles driven into her bones. And why did her back have to ache this much?

"Haaah..."

Min Ju-hee let out a long sigh and chewed on her lip.

I want to go home.

She wanted to sink into a hot bath, down an ice-cold can of beer, and roll around in her own bed.

How much longer could she endure a life like this? Honestly, she was at her limit. The physical hardship she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could accept—but the mental strain was far too much to bear.

And if she really, truly couldn't go home... what then?

.........

Could she actually keep scraping out a life here?

"Snap out of it!"

Smack—

Steadying her wavering heart, she slapped both cheeks with her palms. As the sting bloomed across her face, yesterday's conversation with Woobin came back to her.

"If you get used to being helped, you'll never be able to do anything. Learn to solve things on your own."

With those words, their conversation had ended—she hadn't managed to exchange anything more with him. He'd spent the whole time fiddling with something on his own; she'd been curious, but couldn't bring herself to ask.

Solve things on my own...

Min Ju-hee turned the meaning of those words over in her head.

He said it's like a game, right?

She needed to study every spare moment she could find. She had no choice but to make herself at home in this place.

The only games she'd ever played were League of Legends and Candy Crush, but even that had been plenty of help for grasping her current situation.

So... there are levels like in a game, you gear up with items, and you hunt monsters. Something like that?

First, Min Ju-hee checked her own condition.

Ding—

"Level 73? What? I'm pretty sure I started at 1."

She was in a party with Woobin, and her level had risen as a result—but Min Ju-hee had no idea why it had gone up.

So I just raise these, right?

Min Ju-hee's gaze drifted to her unallocated points.

Seventy-two in total.

Spending them on her stats seemed to bring some kind of change to her body.

Which ones should she raise? If she chose wrong, it looked like there would be no undoing it.

He'd only scold me again if I asked...

She wanted to ask Woobin, who actually knew these things, but the courage wouldn't come easily. Then again, dumping them into random stats didn't sit right either.

Since nothing seemed to demand a hasty decision, Min Ju-hee moved on to check the next system.

Ding—

A single card and a staff popped out into Min Ju-hee's grip.

The staff was simple—just gripping it in her hand equipped it, so there was nothing to ponder there. The problem was the skill card. How was she supposed to use this thing?

Drawing on everything she'd experienced so far, Min Ju-hee acted at once.

She picked up the card and called out, "Equip." Swish—the card in her hand dissolved into a wisp of light and was absorbed into her body.

Ding—

Nothing in her body felt any different. She'd half expected something to click into place like magic, but no such luck.

Figures. It's this, then.

Staff gripped tight, Min Ju-hee took aim at the empty air.

This world's system was simpler than she'd expected: speak a command or picture what you wanted, and it activated on its own.

Gulp—

This spell, too, would surely fire the moment she pictured its name in the empty air. She wanted to test it right away—but something held her back.

Shatter...

Shatter, of all things. The written description alone made her uneasy.

If she fired it off carelessly and stirred up some pointless trouble, that would be a problem.

It was at that very moment—after long deliberation, just as Min Ju-hee was about to give up on the experiment—

THUD!!!

A heavy impact rolled across the earth, and grrr—grrr—a sinister breathing brushed past her skin.

"What was that?!"

Her eyes tracked the sound—and locked onto a single creature.

Huff— huff— huff—

Blue skin, a massive frame closing in on four meters. And those sharp fangs that flashed every time it exhaled its ragged breath—familiar to the point of raising gooseflesh.

"Th-that monster..."

The first monster she had met after falling into this hell. More than four people had already died to that thing alone.

Gulp—

As the present overlapped with that memory, her hands began to tremble.

"M-Mr. Woobin... Mr. Woobin!"

Min Ju-hee whipped her head toward the spot where Woobin had been.

"Huh?!"

Right up until yesterday, Woobin had definitely been lying there. But the spot was empty. Nothing remained.

Don't tell me...

Don't tell me he'd abandoned her and left.

Before she even had time to doubt—

KUWAAAH!!!!

The monster came charging at Min Ju-hee.

She couldn't even scream. Like a rabbit before a tiger, her body had frozen solid.

Clank—

In that instant, a single figure cut across the ogre's path.

That's Mr. Woobin's...

The spirit body Woobin had left summoned—the Knight of Sorrow.

Whoosh—

The club in the ogre's grip cleaved the air and WHAM!! slammed into the Knight of Sorrow.

KRAKOOM—

The Knight of Sorrow tumbled across the ground and was driven flat into the dirt.

An impact that would have made instant death unsurprising.

Creeeak—

The Knight of Sorrow hauled itself upright, looking ready to collapse at any second.

Clank— clank—

Staggering, it advanced on the ogre once more.

I have to run...

At the sight, Min Ju-hee's mind raced to a judgment.

That monster was a predator Woobin's spirit had no hope of handling. Once the spirit was gone, the next prey would be Min Ju-hee herself.

Which meant she had to flee this place before the Knight of Sorrow fell. Her instincts screamed at her to run. And she had fully intended to.

The grip around Min Ju-hee's staff tightened.

On my own...

Because now, at last, she truly understood what Woobin had been trying to tell her.

If she ran to escape this moment, she might well survive.

But what if a situation like this came again? Would she be able to run away and live then, too?

She had to solve it herself—so that even if the very same situation came looking for her again, she could climb over it every single time.

WHAM!!!!

The ogre's club bore down on the Knight of Sorrow. Fsssh—the Knight scattered into motes of light and was gone.

Swivel—

The ogre's gaze swung toward Min Ju-hee. In those blood-red eyes, there was no reason to be found.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

With every step that closed the distance, her hands shook harder.

Just a little closer.

THUD!!!

The ogre reached point-blank, and whoosh—its massive arm came swinging down.

It was so close the reek of its beastly hide stung her nostrils. The perfect distance—an attack that could never miss.

"DIE!!!"

Min Ju-hee thrust the staff out with every ounce of strength she had, the activation word blazing through her mind.

Ding—

BOOM!

Something seemed to burst at her fingertips—and then a single scene poured into Min Ju-hee's vision.

KRAKOOOOOM—

A pillar of fire with no end in sight, beginning at the monster's torso, gouged out the forest dead ahead.

Thud—

The ogre's lower half, robbed of its torso, crumpled to the ground.

"Haah— haah—"

Ding—

Min Ju-hee dropped to her knees, breathing rough and ragged.

Ding—

She tried to stand, but a wave of vertigo slammed into her, as if the ground and sky had traded places.

I won.

Without realizing it, her grip tightened around the staff.

It was a sense of accomplishment she had never once felt before.

Just as she finally let out a long, shuddering breath—

THUD!!!

A chilling impact rolled out from behind her, and—

GRAAAAH!!!!!

a bloodcurdling shriek tore through the air.

What?!

She spun around on instinct—and there stood an ogre, grinding its teeth in fury.

A massive club, a good two meters long, whoosh—already hurtling through the air, aimed to pulp Min Ju-hee's body.

Oh—!

There wasn't even time for that fleeting instant where your whole life flashes before your eyes. It was the very moment Min Ju-hee came face to face with death.

Swish—

A single figure appeared in front of Min Ju-hee, and—

Ding—

BOOM!!!!!

The ogre was simply gone.

Ding—

Watching the scene before him, Woobin curled up the corner of his mouth.

Insane.

The ground where the ogre's body should have burst into a spray of flesh was spotless. It was as if nothing had ever been there—peaceful, almost.

Woobin clenched his right palm tight. Creak—the shape of something like a black leather glove. An eyeball set into the back of the hand glinted, glancing around at the surroundings.

So it can be used like this, too.

The glove fitted over Woobin's right hand was the demonic sword in an altered form.

He'd assumed it could only transform into the shape of a sword—a big misconception, born of his own preconceptions.

Just how much stronger did it get?

Fist Strike.

Even bare-handed, it had been fierce enough to make its targets vanish as though detonating. Naturally, he'd assumed that even with the damage boosted, he wouldn't feel any real difference.

But he had been wrong.

Fist Strike was a percentage-type skill—its damage scaled in proportion to Attack Power.

The ogre, struck by a Fist Strike empowered through the demonic sword, had gone beyond simple detonation into the realm of outright evaporation.

No blood, no viscera—he liked that part. But there seemed to be a slight problem.

I'll have to be careful when I go looking for materials later.

The ogre's hide alone had its uses.

But if corpses evaporated without leaving so much as a scrap behind, he might find himself in a bind down the road.

"Thank you."

Min Ju-hee came up to Woobin and bowed her head deeply.

Not bad.

Woobin was satisfied with her conduct.

Only yesterday, she'd seemed like a kid who couldn't give a straight answer to even the simplest question. Her movements were sluggish, her thinking soft and half-baked.

But the judgment she'd shown moments ago wasn't bad at all.

Letting the second ogre's attack catch her off guard was deeply regrettable—but the courage to stand and fight instead of running deserved credit.

Good adaptability, maybe.

As he sized up Min Ju-hee, Woobin drew out Fenrir's Saddle.

From the skill card work to the item setup—the broad strokes of their preparations were all complete.

Now all that remained was to go to Busin and get information on those bastards.

Ding—

Whoosh—

Every time Fenrir's paws struck the earth, a wind that felt like it would tear her ears off grazed past them.

The trees they'd passed moments ago were already dots, too small to make out—that was their speed.

"Ugh!"

Eyes squeezed shut, Min Ju-hee clung to Fenrir's fur in a death grip and endured.

At a speed where even Woobin would have to write off an arm if she fell here—of course she was terrified.

More useful than I expected, though.

Woobin looked over the 18th Batch Privilege, activated through his party with Min Ju-hee.

Every single option was so absurdly overpowered that one effect had slipped his notice.

Ding—

The World Tree at its heart, with the Five Great Kingdoms displayed around it.

That much information showed up even on the basic map—but the Master Map was a different beast entirely.

His current position, his route of travel marked out in arrows—the readability put him in mind of a state-of-the-art navigation system.

But the feature that truly seized Woobin's gaze was this:

Ding—

Dungeons spread across every corner of Elid, and—

Ding—

—even the real-time locations of World Bosses.

The Master Map held a staggering wealth of information.

The route he would have taken anyway could now be traveled along the optimal path.

And the result of that was spread out before Woobin's eyes at this very moment.

Beneath a sky packed full of clouds, across vast plains without a single hill in sight, castle walls rose up tall and proud.

Busin. A territory of the Hamon Kingdom—and a city of neutral trade.

A place he'd only meant to drop by in passing, to dig up information on those traitorous bastards.

······

Woobin's expression sank into something dark and terrible.

Fweet— BOOM!

Fireworks burst open above the walls of Busin. A violet blaze so vivid it shone even in broad daylight bled across the sky.

Jung Hyun-tae...

A 3rd-batch hero who had crossed over together with him—and the younger brother he had trusted and relied on more than anyone.

That bastard had a line he always used to say:

"When something good happens, you've gotta celebrate in style!!!"

Fweeeew— BOOM!!!

Whenever a special day came around, he would always set off fireworks.

Of course, lighting fireworks was no guarantee that Hyun-tae was actually there. But Woobin was certain.

Violet fireworks were one of Jung Hyun-tae's favorites.

A fierce killing intent bled out through Woobin's eyes.

Wait for me, you son of a bitch.