Busin (1)

"We'll go on foot from here."

With roughly a kilometer still left to Busin, Woobin dismounted from Fenrir.

There was no real need to hide the beast, but if Jung Hyun-tae was waiting somewhere inside, a giant wolf trotting through the streets would draw exactly the wrong kind of attention.

They had been walking for about ten minutes when—

"Whoa... it's enormous. This really isn't Earth..."

Min Juhee stood gaping at the overwhelming scale ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the fortress city. Apparently only now registering the twin suns overhead as well, her expression froze stiff.

The area around them was in an uproar.

"Make way! Coming through!"

From merchants hauling cargo in from distant regions to knights in full battle dress, hundreds of Elid's residents were streaming toward Busin.

"Dad! Look at that lady! She's so pretty!"

In front of a cart piled high with bundled goods, a little girl who seemed to be the merchant's daughter pointed at Min Juhee and beamed.

Min Juhee broke into a bright smile and answered her.

The reply that came back, however, was ice-cold. "Don't stare at her." The child's father hurriedly shoved his daughter inside the wagon.

Min Juhee scratched her cheek, looking sheepish.

It was a familiar scene. The people of Elid were, by nature, intensely wary of otherworlders like them.

And as if to prove the point—

"Move it!!! You're in the way!"

A great roar exploded from behind.

"Aack!"

"Get clear!"

The Elid residents scattered in flawless unison.

With the road cleared, a massive leopard came into view beyond the fleeing crowd. Or rather—above the leopard, a hero clad in ornate armor.

Caring nothing for the people around him, the rider came hurtling straight toward Woobin.

"Lea!!!"

CRUNCH! BOOM—

The cart carrying the girl who had greeted Min Juhee shattered outright and burst apart. Debris flew in every direction—and the little girl went flying with it.

"Lea! Stay with me! Somebody, please, help us!"

The girl's father's voice broke into sobs.

"W-Woobin! Look out!"

Somehow the giant leopard had already closed the distance to a spot directly behind Woobin. Min Juhee stumbled backward, frozen in a half-crouch.

'Nothing about this place has changed.'

Watching it all unfold, Woobin curled the corner of his mouth upward. This, too, was a sight he knew well. Heroes were, as a rule, the sort of creatures who never spared a thought for the people in their way.

'A-rank, is it.'

Woobin swiftly deduced the mount's grade. The leopard's frame, the tusks jutting out like an elephant's ivory. It was a Repardo—the beast widely ranked the finest of all A-grade mounts.

"Still haven't fucked off, you crippled bastard?!"

From atop the Repardo, the hero smirked down at Woobin.

"Eek!"

Min Juhee panicked and crashed to the ground, and the leopard charged like a runaway truck.

'What a nuisance,'

With his fist only half-clenched, Woobin tapped the Repardo's foreleg the way one might knock on a door.

Ding—

BOOM!!!!

"Whoa—!"

CRAAASH—

The hero astride the Repardo was thrown like a rider tossed from his horse, dragged across the ground and slammed flat.

A beat of silence fell.

"What was that? Just now..."

"Pay it no mind. You don't want sparks landing on you."

The Elid residents resumed their walk, wearing bewildered expressions.

"Aya yaya... what the hell was that, fuck."

The hulking hero—Kim Baekcheong—scratched the back of his head as he hauled himself upright.

"What are you gawking at?!"

He roared at the wary Elid residents, then flicked his fingers through the empty air. A message unfolded before his eyes:

The molar that had been glowing with light had drained to a dull gray.

"Wh-what... it died?"

Kim Baekcheong's face hardened.

Unlike a spirit body, a mount could never be summoned again once it died.

Which meant Kim Baekcheong had just lost his mount in the space of a heartbeat.

"Which bastard did this..."

Kim Baekcheong's voice seeped out, low and shaking. The faint tremor running through his shoulders made his fury plain.

"WHICH BASTARD DID THIS!!!!!"

THUD!

A monstrous pressure crushed down on everything around him.

"Aack!"

"Run!"

The Elid residents scattered in flawless unison.

"That psycho's throwing another tantrum. Let's get inside, fast."

Even his fellow heroes averted their eyes and hurried toward Busin.

"You're ignoring me?! WHICH BASTARD WAS IT!!!"

Kim Baekcheong's rage-filled gaze swung toward Woobin.

"It was you, wasn't it! You! The second I bumped into you, this shit started!!!!"

Kim Baekcheong began advancing on Woobin with terrifying menace.

"That guy just stepped in it big time."

"Another bastard's getting crippled today, huh."

The words sounded concerned, but a glint of interest shimmered in the heroes' expressions. Nothing in the world was more entertaining than watching a fight.

Their one small disappointment was that what was unfolding here wasn't so much a duel as one-sided violence.

And so every eye turned to Kim Baekcheong, who had closed the distance to right in front of Woobin and was glaring down at him with murderous menace.

His face had been ugly to begin with; now, with bloodshot veins surging up beneath the skin, he looked every inch a bandit lord.

"You won't lower your eyes?!"

Kim Baekcheong's palm cleaved through the air. Whum—a bone-chilling whistle burst out, like a baseball bat swung at full speed.

Woobin's pupils contracted. Perhaps thanks to his high skill stat, the man's palm seemed to slow, as if frozen mid-swing.

Woobin narrowed his eyes at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠palm closing in.

Ding—

'That's a hell of a lot to shave off.'

For killing a single mount, a full ten points had been stripped from his Good-Evil Value.

How much more would it bleed if he killed that bastard?

In the worst case, if the value fell to zero and a bounty went out on his head, he might not even be permitted through the gates of Busin, a neutral city.

'Can't be helped, then.'

If it were up to his heart alone, he would have pulverized that bastard exactly like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Repardo—but this once, he had to swallow it.

Not that he intended to stand there and take the hit.

So long as he didn't kill the man or inflict a mortal wound, the Good-Evil Value wouldn't shift by much.

'Just stomp him a little.'

Judgment rendered, Woobin opened his palm—meaning to catch the fist hurtling at his face.

Thwack—

But no impact ever arrived at Woobin's hand.

"That's quite enough."

A new figure had darted out in front of Woobin.

Long, straight white hair and battered old armor. The distinctive mana of Elid's natives wreathed her entire body.

"What the hell is this bitch now?! Fuck off!"

Kim Baekcheong drove his boot into the belly of the woman who had cut in.

With a single choked "Ugh!", the woman was swept off her feet and sent skidding across the ground.

"Filthy thug. An NPC dares block my path?"

The woman barely hauled herself upright and drew her sword from its sheath.

"Oh? You want a piece of me? Fine. Come at me, then."

Kim Baekcheong spread his arms wide in open provocation.

At the sight, the onlookers' faces brightened all the more.

"What is she, a resident? Weak as hell."

"Decent face on her, though."

They appraised the woman's skill and her looks, smirking.

The woman paid them no mind. She simply tightened her grip on her blade—shing—and settled into her stance.

Just when it seemed she was sinking lower into her crouch, she kicked off the earth with everything she had and came flying. It was clean, economical movement, without a scrap of waste.

In a breath she was inside Kim Baekcheong's guard, and whoosh—her sword ripped toward his abdomen.

Compared to the ordinary adventurers scraping by in Elid, her skill was outstanding.

Past Silver, one might say, with Gold within sight.

But that was precisely where her strength ended.

Crunch—

The woman's full-power slash stopped dead.

"What? That's it? Give me something more."

Kim Baekcheong grinned and closed his fist. Crunch—the sword trapped in his grip buckled and was crushed to scrap.

A moment later, whoosh—smack—his palm cracked across the woman's cheek.

Her head whipped sideways, and she crumpled toward the ground.

"Oh no you don't!"

Kim Baekcheong seized the woman by the hair, and smack! thud!—a hideous staccato of bursting flesh rang out, one blow after another.

"That's getting kind of harsh."

"What a psycho. Doesn't care if it's a woman or what. It's over. Let's go."

The sheer lopsidedness of the violence snuffed out the onlookers' interest.

'What the...'

Woobin frowned as he watched the woman being beaten.

She had butted in out of nowhere, and now she was taking a one-sided thrashing for it.

Why stick your nose into something you have no power to fix?

'Or is this actually a good thing?'

Kim Baekcheong's rage was aimed at the woman and the woman alone.

If this played out right, Woobin could slip away quietly, the Good-Evil system never even grazing him.

He chose to take the optimistic view and turned his eyes from the woman.

Smack—smack—thud—

Behind him, the sickening percussion of flesh being pounded continued without pause.

He was just turning to walk on toward Busin when a hand clamped around his arm—Min Juhee had seized Woobin's wrist.

"Wh-where are you going..."

"Where else? Into the castle."

"What? What about that woman? At this rate something truly terrible is going to happen!"

"So what?"

"What do you mean, 'so what'? She ended up like that trying to help us..."

"Did anyone ask her to? If it bothers you that much, then by all means go help her yourself."

At Woobin's flat finality, Min Juhee's gaze shivered.

'By myself...'

Because she knew exactly what Woobin was telling her. It was the same lesson, over and over.

Don't ask someone else to do what you cannot. Build the strength to settle things with your own two hands.

"Even if I want to help, I don't have the ability."

"......"

"But I still want to help!"

Resolve kindled in Min Juhee's eyes.

Shff—the Legacy of the Fire Demon took form in her grip.

"Thank you for everything, all this time."

With a small bow of her head, she started walking straight toward Kim Baekcheong.

Woobin narrowed his eyes at the sight.

'She's got guts, I'll give her that.'

Min Juhee was no fool. She knew in her bones that she couldn't beat that man.

And still, without a flicker of fear, she had drawn a weapon and walked forward. Not the kind of thing a person does without real resolve.

'Can't be helped, then.'

Min Juhee was a piece Woobin needed. Letting her face reality in measured doses was no bad thing—but there was something that mattered more.

Woobin's gaze swung to Kim Baekcheong.

Smack—

Kim Baekcheong backhanded the woman across the cheek yet again. The moment she dropped to the ground, thud—he began stomping on her.

'I don't like it.'

That man's behavior irritated him to the point of disgust.

Barging in out of nowhere, cursing up a storm. Swinging his palm at people's faces, wrecking everything in his path.

'I was curious about this anyway. Perfect timing.'

Ding—

As if arriving at a decision, Woobin drew a single item from his inventory.

The Good-Evil system was riddled with gray areas.

Kill someone directly, and the value dropped. But indirect damage never touched it at all.

So Woobin decided to put it to the test.

'If it drops, so be it.'

Woobin tossed Hetzling's Scale up into the air like shooting a basketball.

Whum—the scale spun end over end, hung at its peak, then dropped back down under gravity.

What would happen if he struck the scale at full power? Fist Strike was the skill that had blasted apart even a dungeon door under the system's protection.

The instant his fist made contact, the scale would surely be pulverized like the Repardo. But there was one bug that had existed since the old days.

Ding—

The one-second delay that came with relinquishing ownership. In that instant, an item's durability soared to infinity.

He'd used it plenty of times in raids to tank instant-death patterns—but how would it react to Fist Strike?

Woobin curled his fist, the corner of his mouth lifting in a slow grin.

"Stop it!!"

Min Juhee shouted at Kim Baekcheong. Dozens of gazes swung toward her.

Woobin did not miss that timing.

The instant the scale drifting through the air became one with Kim Baekcheong—

Tap—

He flicked the scale,

Ding—

BOOM!!!! With a colossal detonation, a thick line of force tore through the air.