Karma (2)
"I, too, can now reign as a lord in my own right."
I murmured the rather provocative remark with perfect calm — right in front of Seo Hyejin, who held the Lord class.
Dragon Gate RPG.
It shared the same RPG roots as Brave Saga Online, but its finer systems were entirely different. The game had built events and quests so that Warriors, Mages, and Thieves could each claim their own stronghold or territory — all of it fully consistent with the underlying TRPG rulebook.
A Warrior who reached level 7 could complete a specific quest and obtain a personal Castle or Fortress. The unlock quest was lengthy and demanded the defeat of difficult boss mobs, but once you became a lord, collecting taxes and resolving problems within your domain rewarded experience, gold, and the occasional rare item.
A Mage who hit level 12 could establish a personal laboratory through the in-game Mage Association. It focused mainly on alchemy — crafting goods and running quests. Special potion buffs and golem creation were particularly useful, though the path was rarely chosen.
Lastly, a Thief could found a Thief Guild. At level 9, with no special quest required, you simply went through an organization called the Thieves' Gathering. It functioned as a quest brokerage — issuing or accepting contracts for material gathering, monster extermination, theft, assassination, and the like, all in exchange for experience and gold. And crucially —
the person running the Thief Guild could take those quests themselves. Commit hard enough to guild contracts and leveling up and stockpiling gold became dramatically easier.
Dragon Gate RPG was designed so that a player could operate only one territory system at a time. Some dual-class or triple-class builds, however, could exploit loopholes and run two or more. A Warrior/Mage/Thief like me could mesh two territories together without any real burden. Whether the developers intended it or not, there was even a function for founding a separate Thief Guild inside a Warrior's domain.
So — which territory did triple-class players prefer?
First, without question, was the Warrior's Castle or Fortress system.
It delivered gold and experience on a regular schedule with relatively little effort, and the rewards for solving domain problems were outstanding. Even endgame-tier gear dropped at a respectable rate, which made it popular. It was also the system that compared most directly to the Lord class in Brave Saga Online. Unlike that game's Lord, there was no vassal system for taking people as retainers. Party members filled a roughly similar role, and you could at least settle civilians in your territory.
More importantly, once you chose a domain, you couldn't construct new buildings the way a Brave Saga Online Lord could by taking a Blacksmith as a vassal. You were limited to making use of existing structures.
Next came the Thief Guild. The Thief class itself was popular for its dynamic playstyle, and the quests the guild handled ranged from straightforward to complex and brutal. Intelligence gathering, assassination, theft — the contracts thoroughly satisfied the fantasy of the profession. Plenty of players rode nothing but guild quests all the way to level 25.
Least popular was the Mage's laboratory. The items it produced were undeniably high-performance, but everything else — slow, dull quests and a generally half-baked feature set — drew constant criticism. Buff potions were useful, sure, but you could pick those up from ordinary quests and dungeon runs anyway, so most players saw no reason to pour effort into crafting them. Perhaps the developers had slapped a penalty onto the territory system precisely because the Mage class was already so versatile and indispensable in a party.
At any rate, as a triple-class holder — and the only person in the world with the Dragon Gate RPG system — I had hit Warrior level 7 and Thief level 9, unlocking both territory systems.
"I've already decided where I'll establish my domain. If it's that place, it should lack for nothing as a territory in Seoul."
I'd explained it to Seo Hyejin beforehand, so she nodded in understanding. Then her voice took on a faintly wistful note.
"Aww, that's such a shame. If you didn't have that... I could have appointed you as a knight under the lawful Baroness Seo Hyejin of XX-gu and worked you like a subordinate day and night."
"What a thoroughly chilling thought."
I fired the joke right back. We were both snickering, ready to close the subject — until —
"D-day and... n-night...!?"
Sora reacted like she was having a seizure. Her axe-blade eyes snapped toward Seo Hyejin again.
"It just means he's too good a talent to hand over to someone else, Sora. Don't you feel the same?"
Of course Seo Hyejin was no pushover. And Han Sora, faced with that non-excuse of an excuse —
"Ah, y-yes. Well... m-my oppa is a goddamn top-tier carry, so. Ehehe..."
— melted instantly under Seo Hyejin's sugarcoating.
Watching Sora's wariness dissolve all over again, a sigh coiled helplessly in my mouth. Sora, as a fellow gaming nerd, I am mortified for you...
"Even after we leave, I hope you'll become the strongest guild in XX-gu — no, the strongest guild in all of southern Gyeonggi. We will build a powerful guild in Seoul as well. Let us join our strength. If we rebuild with Seoul and Gyeonggi at the center... humanity may yet have hope."
I raised my beer can and proposed a toast to Seo Hyejin — not as a fellow survivor, but as one leader addressing another.
"We've only just started, you know? Let's not aim too high. Though... I do hope it turns out that way myself."
With an awkward little smile, Seo Hyejin lifted her own glass and clinked it against mine. Soju. So she preferred the hard stuff over beer.
I was certain of it. Seo Hyejin would build the finest guild in southern Gyeonggi right here in XX-gu, and I would raise the greatest domain in Seoul.
Starting tomorrow, once the hunting drills grew far more practical than anything we'd done so far — once we elevated the survivors' combat power — that day would have a solid foundation beneath it.
"Ah, by the way... what kind of functions does the Thief Guild have?"
"I-I, um, was kind of curious about that too, Oppa..."
"Well, the Thief Guild is..."
April 15th.
With an even harder hunting schedule already mapped out in my head, I let the conversation bloom gently among Han Sora, Seo Hyejin, and myself.
"Just as expected, the notification popped up! Now that we're setting up a base in Seoul, this should make figuring out how to grow a lot easier."
After the drinking and dancing wound down and the cleanup was finished, we returned to the villa. The moment we got back, I informed Kim Seyeon that the Thief Guild and Warrior Lord systems had both activated.
A little flushed from the alcohol, she looked brighter than usual — glasses off, smiling sweetly. She looks pretty when she smiles without a care in the world, I thought.
"Tomorrow I intend to head straight for the subway station."
"Oh, finally... so tomorrow is when the real in-depth training starts?"
"Indeed. More than that... tomorrow should tell us whether we can put the subway station to use later on."
"Aha — you're talking about travel between bases, right?"
Some of the subway lines in Seoul — more precisely, across the greater capital region — connected to one another. The main roads were wide open, which meant endless interference and danger. The subway was different. If the tunnels were clear enough, you could walk all the way into Seoul with relative ease.
Fantasy comics, movies, and anime were full of those lightly traveled underground passages, weren't they? Of course, our underground passages had been thoroughly worn by human hands.
All of that assumed the subway was relatively viable for travel. If we went in and found a hell-pit packed with monsters... we'd have no choice but to stick to surface routes.
"Ahem. Shall we save the heavy matters of state for tomorrow? I'm going to take this lovely mood, hop into bed with our already-asleep Seeun, and chat the night away until we drift off!"
With a playful wink that didn't quite match her thirty-two years, Kim Seyeon headed for the bedroom.
No — before she went in, she glanced back, covered her mouth with one hand, and let out a soft little laugh.
"Hehehe... Jeong Hoon-ssi, you have a pleasant night too, okay? And make sure you use protection."
"Hm?"
Pro...tection? What the hell was that about all of a sudden?
As if she had no intention of hearing my interrogation (not that I'd even prepared one), Kim Seyeon slipped into the bedroom and shut the door with a firm click.
And from the presence I felt at my back alone, I solved Kim Seyeon's little riddle in an instant.
"Oppa..."
Wrapping my waist in both arms, Han Sora pressed against me — her whole body radiating an unmistakably sultry heat.
Soft.
And then it touched me.
Han Sora's breasts. Not wrapped in underwear — not even covered by outer clothes. Her bare chest pressed flush against my back.
I-if Lawful Good weren't holding me back, I'd be rock-hard in five seconds flat...!
"You're not seriously planning to spend the day after our first time... doing nothing... are youuu...?"
That whisper of hers — thick with slyness, sweetness, and a blatant invitation to more —
"As if I would."
Like hell I could refuse that!
And so the night of April 15th ended with me getting wrung dry in the cowgirl position.
April 16th.
I gave my lower back a couple of taps. A faint twinge made me scrunch my eyes. But that was as far as it went. I let neither complaint nor expression slip free.
Of course I didn't.
"Ehehe..."
Right beside me, linked arm-in-arm with mine, was Han Sora — her skin somehow even smoother than before, radiating pure satisfaction from last night's activities.
"Unnie, even so... shouldn't you at least tell her to show a little restraint?"
"Seeun-ah. How am I supposed to stop her when she's that happy?"
"No, that's not what I mean, it's just... the sounds the two of you were making... never mind."
Park Seeun and Kim Seyeon's whispered exchange drifted over. I ignored it. No — I decided I hadn't heard it. Let's just go with that...
Once we came down to the villa entrance, I looked over the survivors gathered in front of me, eyes sparkling.
Last night's party — grilled meat and alcohol — had left everyone's faces bright. A few still wore faintly furrowed brows from hangovers, but satisfaction was written all over them.
"As I mentioned previously, today we will begin hunting at the XX-gu subway station. There, you will learn teamwork and crisis response through real combat."
Kim Seyeon delivered the day's plan on my behalf. As of yesterday, nearly everyone assembled here — barring a handful of non-combat classes — had already gained practical experience. Most of the participating survivors had hit level 10 or were right on the verge, so it stood to reason.
Even so, the mention of entering a dark subway station cast a film of tension across their faces.
"W-will we be okay..."
"It's going to be pitch-black in there, right?"
Darkness.
When people can't see what's in front of them, anxiety inevitably spikes. Every sensation against the skin, every sound, becomes razor-sharp. Bodies lock up, and proper responses fall apart. Even if your eyes adjust, a space that stays dark indefinitely — no electric lights the way a subway station normally has — is a prime candidate for claustrophobia.
"It's a good thing we packed plenty of lamps and flashlights."
Just as Kim Seyeon said, we'd grabbed a considerable stock of lamps and flashlights on the way back yesterday. The lamps in particular were the kind you could hang on subway station walls, and I'd stuffed a mountain of them into the Feather Bag.
Well — if conditions inside the subway turned out too bad, I'd just scrap the plan and stick to building-focused combat experience aboveground.
"Sora, how about perimeter watch — holding up okay?"
"Y-yes. Don't worry, Oppa!"
I got a confident assurance from the Sora glued to my arm. Good. Everything was going according to plan.
...
However —
"O-Oppa... over there, people are coming this way...!?"
I hadn't expected an incident to blow up a mere ten minutes after that bold guarantee.
Sora was right. A group of unfamiliar people was pouring toward us from the far end of the main road. At first I thought Kim Suhyeok's gang had finally shown up — but no.
Shabby clothes. Gaunt frames. A crowd I'd never seen before.
Women, men, children, and the elderly mixed together in rough proportions. Even without an Archer's eyes, I could tell they were half-naked, starving, and exhausted as they surged our way.
"Jeong Hoon-ssi... those people look like other survivors from XX-gu."
People we were always going to run into eventually, that much was certain. The type who'd spotted our villa group striding boldly through the streets not long ago and bolted in a panic.
So why were they approaching us all of a sudden? Before, they'd fled in terror.
"C-come on, Oppa! Let's go together!"
"Wait a moment, Jeong Hoon-ssi!"
Almost on instinct, I stepped forward to meet them head-on. Kim Seyeon and Han Sora scrambled after me. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Seo Hyejin falling in silently behind us as well.
"Look at that..."
"It's true — their clothes are clean and they've actually put on weight...!"
"Fuck... some of us were too scared to even stick our heads outside until yesterday...!"
"So they just get to hog all the good stuff among themselves...? Bastards... no, those fucking bitches...!"
The closer we got, the more the strangers' voices spilled into my ears.
The atmosphere was deeply wrong. No — it was viciously hostile. Distrust, jealousy, even outright hatred burned in the eyes fixed on us.
What the fuck...? What did we even do to deserve this?
I was still tilting my head at their mood when someone broke from the survivor crowd and came straight at us.
A man around my age. And taller than me, the bastard. That already pissed me off. Why the hell did guys over 180 keep popping up everywhere!?
"Hey, you. You the boss of those people?"
...Judging by the cocky tone right out of the gate, whatever business had brought him to us was definitely not friendly.