Homeward Bound (2)

Home was good. Staying at the royal palace after everything had been settled was pleasant enough, but there was no denying that my own room and my own house were more comfortable.

Ah...

Of course, I was a little afraid of the work stress waiting for me, but by now things had probably ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been sorted out to some extent.

When I pictured Team Leader Kim Miyoung, Park Jungki, who was reasonably competent by support-team standards, and our Hwang Jeongyeon, who was nursing a crush on Park Deokgu, all grinding away in my place, a smile tugged at my lips for no good reason.

It was only natural to wonder how everyone had been doing.

Kim Hyunsung and Park Deokgu, Sun Heeyoung and little Kim Yeri.

For now, it was my party members I missed most. I had always thought about them, but apparently I had grown attached to them more than I realized.

A group outing after so long might not be a bad idea.

Maybe we should go into a dungeon.

A trip to Celia with everyone might be nice, too.

I didn’t know whether I could spare the time, but a little breathing room was never a bad thing.

I named the white griffon Whitefall.

There was no particularly deep reason for it. It was white, so Whitefall seemed like a perfectly fitting name.

Riding the griffon was still awkward, but the sight of the thing seeming to accommodate me for once improved my mood.

After crossing a small mountain, the city that came into view was the Free City of Lindel.

The tiny shape of Lindel gradually grew closer and closer.

We’re here.

I had returned to Lindel.

Of course, we arrived at the landing field of the Red Mercenary Guild. The Blue Guild still didn’t have a place that could house griffons.

Jung Hayan dropped lightly from my back with a faint regretful air and climbed down from the griffon, and I patted Whitefall’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head once.

"Kurruk."

He really was a cute one.

"Could you keep an eye on him for a bit, noona?"

"Of course."

"Could you also look after the other griffons for a little while? Our guild still doesn’t have room to keep them."

"That’s not hard, darling. More importantly, why not stay the night?"

"No, it’s fine. I should stop by the guild first."

"Is that so? That’s a shame."

"I’ll come by tomorrow or the day after. If I have time... there are a few things I need to talk about, too."

She seemed a little disappointed, but didn’t press the issue.

She said it lightly, but Cha Heera probably had things she needed to do as well.

She had been away from the guild for quite a while herself.

So Jung Hayan and I left the Red Mercenary Guild. It had been a short time if you counted it one way, and a long time if you counted it another, but Lindel was still the same as always.

The people selling goods in the square were still there, and so were the people looking for party members. Some were busy preparing to head out hunting, while others gathered on terraces and chatted away.

Nice.

It was right then that a strangely familiar figure entered my sight.

That bastard...

It was only natural that the back of the man with the large frame looked familiar.

Even the woman beside him looked familiar from behind. With her long hair, she was clearly one of our guild’s mages.

I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but the side of her face, bright with a smile, made it obvious she was enjoying herself.

"Ah!"

Jung Hayan, who was at my side, must have realized who it was too, because she gave a sharp little gasp.

There was no need for an explanation.

I had no idea whether those two had already become, well, that sort of relationship, but from the outside they looked awfully close.

It was only natural to lift the corners of my mouth and call out his name. The fellow jerked around in surprise, and I caught sight of his face.

"Deokgu!"

"Huh?"

The expression on the face that had turned toward me brightened piece by piece.

It was the kind of reaction you’d give to seeing someone come back from the dead.

He wouldn’t even have made that face if he’d seen someone kick open a coffin lid and climb out.

That familiar face unfolded into a grin in an instant, and then his whole expression crumpled. It wasn’t the look of someone annoyed or angry.

He looked like he was trying desperately not to cry.

"Hyung, hyung!"

He came charging at me with all the grace of an eight-ton truck whose steering had broken. The way he barreled toward me looked less like a person and more like a bull or a rhinoceros going in for the kill.

For a moment I wondered whether it might be wise to lean away, considering how hard he was about to hug me, but I was glad to see the bastard too.

In the end, I made the first bad decision.

"Hyyyyyung!"

I opened my arms a little, and he seemed to get even more emotional. When he crushed me against him, my breath was knocked clean out.

Shit... maybe I shouldn’t have hugged him.

I was worried my spine might snap.

Still, I patted Park Deokgu on the back as well. The onlookers were staring at our manly embrace like it was the strangest thing in the world, but Park Deokgu didn’t seem to care. He even had me in a bear hug and was spinning me around and around.

This bastard...

It was only after we’d spun across the square for what felt like forever that he finally spoke.

"Hyung! No, if you were coming back, you should’ve said something at least...."

"Puhahahat. I’m pretty sure everyone else already knew. Didn’t you see the griffon flying in?"

"Ah! So the one riding that white griffon was you, hyung?"

"Yeah."

"I heard our hyung had made it big, but... khh.... More importantly, did something hard happen to you? You look like your face’s been cut in half."

"Nothing like that. If anything, things have been a little easier lately."

"Come to think of it, there was something in the papers about you getting, what was it.... that false accusation, right? Did my heart not just drop through the floor when I heard that? Is everything sorted out now?"

"Of course. That was going to come to light eventually. It was nothing serious, so don’t worry. Weren’t you already aware because of the letters?"

"Well, I knew roughly what was going on, but from here I can’t know how things are moving over there. If I’d been able to go, I would’ve gone, but every time I thought about it another letter arrived... ah, I just figured you must be safe. I was so worried I couldn’t sleep at night."

"Puhahahat."

"This isn’t funny, hyung. Really. I didn’t say anything, but Hyunsung was getting ready to rush over too. Ah, come to think of it, I forgot about noona. Have you been well?"

That was slightly heartening.

"Yes, Deokgu oppa. W-we’ve been fine."

"No, no. Enough of this. We should head back to the guild quickly. Everyone will be thrilled once they hear you’re back."

"More importantly, what were you doing here with Jeongyeon?"

When I glanced at Hwang Jeongyeon and asked, Park Deokgu began to fidget.

For a relationship expert from Gangwon Province, he looked oddly bashful.

Hwang Jeongyeon, too, was blushing with her head lowered, and it looked like something had progressed between them while I was away.

"M-more importantly, let’s hurry back to the guild. Ki-young. It’s nice seeing you again after so long, too."

"Ahem. Let’s move."

The way he was trying to steer the conversation elsewhere was somehow endearing.

Thanks to that, the walk back to the guild didn’t seem likely to be boring.

Jung Hayan and Hwang Jeongyeon were walking along slowly, chatting as they caught up on everything they’d missed.

As for me, I talked with Park Deokgu. Most of it was about the guild.

"Have Heeyoung and Yeri been doing okay?"

"Heeyoung noona seems the same every ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠day... and our little Yeri’s been growing like a weed."

"Hmm?"

"Kids that age grow a little every day, don’t they? I see her all the time, so I can’t really tell, but everyone else at the guild says she’s gotten a whole lot bigger. Ah, and it seems like she’s getting strong really fast too... if you see her, I think you’ll be surprised."

"Ahhh...."

"Doesn’t seem like you’re all that curious, hyung."

"No. I was already expecting Yeri to grow quickly. What about you, Deokgu?"

As I spoke, I cast a quick glance at Park Deokgu with Mind's Eye, and his overall stats appeared in my view, none of them bad.

His numbers weren’t especially impressive after all the monsters I’d seen, but they had the feel of someone growing steadily and honestly.

Endurance at 70...

That was not a bad number. No, it was excellent. Once a stat reached 60, growth became difficult, so a core stat at 70 was by no means low.

He really ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠has worked hard.

The bastard had probably been running himself ragged in his own way.

He was in a position where he had to keep up with the other geniuses around him.

Even so, I thought it would be hard for him to truly keep pace. I knew better than anyone that the ceiling of innate talent couldn’t be changed.

And yet for some reason, I had the feeling this pig might actually pull it off.

"Well... I’m not that amazing or anything... I just worked as hard as everyone else."

"Really?"

"The training I did every day, you know. My stats did go up, and I tried to learn a lot of things here and there, went to find the seniors I’d seen back then and all that, but I don’t really feel like I grew all that much."

"How much did they go up?"

"My endurance and stamina went over 70, and my strength is still 67. The mana stat just refuses to budge, no matter how hard I beat on it...."

"You’re doing well."

"Huh?"

"You’re doing well, so that means you just need to keep going like this."

"Ah...."

"You don’t need to compare yourself to other people, Deokgu. If you keep doing your best in your own way, there will definitely come a day when you’re rewarded for it. It’s fine to worry, but don’t dig too deep into it. If it gets hard, come find us separately. If you look at the stats of the other free citizens who started with us, or the people who had no choice but to take non-combat jobs, you’ll get a rough sense of just how fast you’re growing."

"Hyung."

"There’s that famous saying, too: hard work never betrays you."

Even as I said it, I felt a bit guilty.

I knew better than anyone how easily hard work betrayed human expectations.

Still, the simple bastard seemed genuinely moved. At the thought that he might go splashing around in another puddle of emotion, I hastily changed the subject.

"Has everything I ordered been taken care of?"

"Ahhh. I think so. Honestly, I’m not sure myself, but didn’t that woman you hired, Kim Miyoung, say she was handling everything outside her own work too?"

"That’s a relief."

"Well, of course you’ll still need to check it yourself, but... our hyung over there looked like he’d handled things properly, too."

"Any other unusual incidents?"

"Ah! I think I forgot to mention this, but... there’s been a new person, isn’t there?"

"A new person?"

"Seems like someone your hyung personally brought in. I think they joined Blue a while ago. A kind and friendly fellow, and strong too.... Ah! While you were gone, he even sorted out the guild as the person in charge of administration, and... he gets along with our hyung so well they’re attached at the hip every day."

.....

For some reason, unease crept in.

"Anyone else?"

"I’m not sure how to put it exactly, but... if I had to explain, it’d be like he has both civil and military talents. He’s smart, and he’s good at fighting too."

I had expected someone else would fill the gap I left behind, but I hadn’t expected someone entirely new to show up. The mention that he was close to Kim Hyunsung made my chest tighten for some reason.

Shit... Hyunsung.

It was only natural to feel anxious.

I had already expected Kim Hyunsung, who knew every capable person under the sun, to start pulling talent into Blue, but that was happening sooner than I’d thought.

Among them were surely people he had known well in the first round, too.

There might even be people I didn’t know, people who had forged bonds I had no part in.

As Kim Hyunsung’s closest confidant, it was a somewhat unsettling story.

As if fate were making a fool of me, Kim Hyunsung came into view from far off. He had someone with him.

Kim Hyunsung, smiling brightly with the corners of his mouth lifted, was deep in conversation with the doll that held a spear.

"Ah... looks like hyung’s come to meet us up ahead."

Park Deokgu was speaking earnestly at my side, but there was no chance I was hearing him properly.

The reason was obvious.

It was Kim Hyunsung, laughing as though he were having the most enjoyable conversation in the world.

You never smiled at me like that, you bastard...