Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Episode 21.
“Haaak, haak!”
Ryan, gasping for breath that reached his throat, rummaged through the chaotic warehouse.
“Ryan, if the bombs go off, leave immediately and save the people underground first.”
Gunter’s plea echoed in his mind.
Ryan shook his head irritably.
“This crazy bastard.”
He was worried.
It was true that Gunter was strong.
Hadn't he just seen him subdue a Paladin with a single blow the day before yesterday?
But as far as Ryan could guess, it was a kind of ‘Trump Card’.
‘He was out cold for a long time right after the fight ended.’
There was no guarantee he could unleash that power now.
‘If you’re dead, I’ll piss on your tombstone.’
With that, Ryan hurried his steps and soon arrived at the stairs leading underground.
But the problem started there.
A few low-ranking thugs were lingering nearby.
“What the hell is going on?”
“More importantly, they say the boss is dead?”
“What? Because of the explosion?”
“I don’t know, damn it, they say everyone who went up to the second floor is dead.”
Normally, he could have broken through easily, but now his Stamina and Magic Power were both depleted.
Moreover, his ribs, which he had been hit earlier, might be broken; every breath sent a pain like scratching flesh.
‘Damn it, it must have gotten worse while beating up that brute earlier.’
No matter how tough he was, fighting multiple opponents in this condition was impossible.
As Ryan impatiently stamped his feet, it happened.
Viiiiing-
Clank-
A heavy metallic sound echoed from beyond the smoke behind him.
An irritable alarm sound followed immediately.
Beep- beep-
Ryan froze, not knowing what was happening.
The murmuring of the low-ranking thugs revealed the source of the noise.
“…The sound is coming from the boss’s room?”
“What, no way… did the door open?”
“If the alarm is ringing, isn’t that it?”
The thugs, who were initially hesitant, changed their expressions.
Doubt turned into certainty, hesitation into greed.
“Fuck, it’s all mine!”
“Let’s grab everything before the fire spreads!”
Vile laughter and rough footsteps passed by Ryan, who was hiding behind a wall.
Ryan let out a sigh of relief and got up only after they were gone.
Whatever it was, it was good….
“Let’s proceed underground quickly.”
“Ah, fuck! You scared me!”
The hammer he swung instinctively stopped just before hitting the elf’s head.
Dimona merely bowed her head without showing surprise.
“My apologies. I’m accustomed to moving without making a sound.”
“Wh-what….”
“I came to help.”
Ryan, who had been staring at her blankly, lowered his hammer with a short sigh.
“Damn it, be more careful.”
Dimona bowed her head briefly again, then headed towards the underground stairs as if nothing had happened.
Ryan followed her.
Thump- thump-
As they ran down the steep stairs together, Dimona suddenly spoke.
“Will it be alright?”
The subject was absent, but Ryan understood.
“…We have to hope so.”
“I wanted to stay and help…”
“I told you to go save people first, didn’t I?”
Dimona nodded in the darkness.
Ryan let out a hollow laugh.
“Yeah, that’s the kind of guy he is. He tries hard to calculate things, but he’s always a bit off.”
“He’s a good person.”
That’s right.
Ryan had known that for a long time.
He felt a strange sense of pride that Dimona seemed to have realized it too.
But then.
“……”
Dimona stopped midway down the stairs.
Her eyes were closed, trembling slightly.
Flicker—
A strange current flowed through the air.
Ryan asked cautiously.
“…What are you doing?”
Dimona took a short breath and uttered one sentence.
“Lock the door.”
Creeeak- BANG-!
At that moment, a faint metallic sound echoed from beyond the ceiling.
It was the sound of the boss’s room, where the thugs had rushed in, being locked.
Ryan was silent for a moment.
‘Trapped in the middle of a burning warehouse.’
He could almost hear the screams of those who would soon burn.
However, Dimona didn’t even blink.
“I’m not a good person.”
“Ah… that’s reassuring.”
Ryan suddenly felt like returning to Gunter’s side a little sooner.
* * *
Regrettably, the situation was unfolding in a direction quite different from what Dimona and Ryan had expected.
“…Ah, you cheap bastard.”
Gunter sighed, as if the ground were sinking.
“Cheap? What is cheap?”
A condescending voice came from directly in front of him.
“I am a holy knight who must carry out God’s will, and these are the rat-like orphans of this wretched city. If trash abandoned even by their own parents is used to save my life, wouldn’t that be the glory of a lifetime?”
Gunter looked at the Paladin, who was raising his voice as if he were so righteous, with contempt.
…Yes, games and reality are different.
He realized it anew.
Even a boss who appears majestically in a game can act despicably in reality by taking hostages.
The Paladin held two children at swordpoint, pushing them forward.
The boy was about sixteen, his emaciated body covered in the whip marks left by the Paladin.
The girl standing beside him was even younger.
Dark bruises bloomed vividly around her hollow eyes.
Both were much younger than the children rescued from the Priest’s room.
The Paladin reiterated his warning, “Drop your weapon, heretic.”
The boy held the girl’s arm tightly with trembling hands.
His eyes were resigned.
He didn’t even beg for his life.
Completely expressionless.
“I told you to drop your weapon. I’ll count to ten.”
The Paladin raised his sword as if to swing it.
Gunter made no move, watching them as if gauging them.
One thing was certain….
‘It’ll be hard to save them.’
There was more than fifteen meters between him and the Paladin.
No matter what he did, he couldn’t close that distance instantaneously.
Above all, the moment he attempted anything, the children’s heads would be severed.
Even the Overlord’s Eye couldn’t drastically increase his speed itself.
It was impossible to save the children at this distance, unlike up close.
He was, after all, a Rank 2 Paladin.
His pure physical abilities were actually superior to theirs.
‘I have to give up.’
His heart felt heavy… but in truth, the evaluation of Gunter wouldn’t change even if those two died.
He had already successfully rescued the hostages who were meant to be sacrifices and completely annihilated the smuggling organization.
He was confident he could win a one-on-one fight against the Paladin.
If he finished the trial like this, Night Crow’s evaluation of him would likely be top-tier.
If the first act, second chapter, ended with a No Death Clear, the rewards would be beyond imagination.
‘Think long-term, think long-term.’
Even if he put down his sword now, nothing would change.
Would the Paladin spare the children out of piety?
He would kill him and then immediately use them as sacrifices.
Of course, there was a way to save them by repeating life… but why bother?
Two children in the Paladin’s room.
The sacrifices in the basement.
Dimona and other special sacrifices in the Priest’s room.
Was it necessary to voluntarily take on the hard mode of saving all three groups within a limited time?
‘Absolutely not.’
…Yes, weren’t they called abandoned orphans?
Even if they survived here, they wouldn’t last long in this harsh city.
That was the fact.
Fact.
“……”
Everything was clear.
Yet, Gunter couldn’t move.
It wasn’t for any grand reason.
It was just that the way the girl kept looking at her brother bothered him.
‘…Oppa.’
Unlike her brother, who seemed to have given up on life, her eyes seemed to be chasing the possibility of life.
The girl’s lips moved slightly.
‘Oppa.’
That sight was no different from what remained in Lee Jong-hyun’s memory.
It was the same as the bright eyes of his younger sister, who had finally made him stand up after their father ran off and their mother passed away, when he had wanted to die.
“Damn it, really.”
Clang-
Gunter dropped his weapon.
He had gripped it so tightly that blood stained the handle.
“Haha, you’re weaker than you look.”
…Yes, beyond weak, a sucker, a fool.
But this was simply… an impossible area for him.
Irrational and inefficient?
He knew.
The rewards would be lower.
The death count would increase by one… or perhaps several.
But-
“Hey, you son of a bitch.”
“…What?”
“You’re dead later.”
Gunter decided not to regret his current choice.
Thwack-!
“Wh-what the!”
Once the decision was made, his movements were unhesitating.
Gunter quickly ended his life with his dagger.
It would be a hassle if he were captured alive.
Along with the pain piercing his throat, his vision blurred.
The last thing he saw was the children’s wavering expressions.
[You have died]
[Counting death records]
[12/99]
.
.
.
[#12 The Life of Calculation]
[Gunter, do you not understand profit and loss?]
[Karma for the twelfth life: 412]
[Current Karma: 420]
[Accumulated Karma: 1,165]
.
.
.
[Accumulated Karma has surpassed 1,000]
[A sufficient amount of Karma has been gathered to bring about a change in fate]
Ting-!
[Special Privilege, ‘Partial Co-Return,’ is now available]
-
You can designate one specific person to return with you.
-
The designated person will maintain their pre-return state (stats, skills, affinity, etc.).
-
However, previous memories will not be inherited.
-
The return target can be changed with each return.
[Designating ‘Dimona Ruen’ as the target for Partial Co-Return]
[Affinity with ‘Dimona Ruen’ has been unlocked]
[Returning to Save Point #2]
[10, 9, 8…]
* * *
Since possessing this body, there was one fact I tried hard not to forget.
I am someone who must return. To Earth, where my family awaits.
Over the past three years, I had often chosen cowardly options and turned a blind eye to injustice.
But there was always a line I had to protect.
It wasn’t a matter of calculating profit and loss.
It was about what kind of person I would return as…
‘Yes, damn it, it’s rationalization.’
[The Ninety-Nine Overlord Knight King states your choice was correct]
[The Red Street Pillar silently agrees]
[The Addict Saintess’s eyes well up with pride]
…The gods, who knew nothing.
Who knew nothing of the full story of this choice, nor the struggles at the bottom.
[They cheer you on]
However, their affirmation, made in ignorance, dispelled my existential dread.
As I opened my eyes, I muttered strongly.
“…Still, this is the last time. There won’t be a second.”
“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
The return had begun.
Whether self-reproach or regret, that was for later.
I started assessing the situation.
Save Point #2 was the time right after I saved Ryan, who was being beaten.
He was preparing to move for a diversionary tactic, and I was just about to depart for the Priest’s room.
Fortunately, it was a timing where I could do something.
‘Now… what should I do?’
If I moved like in my previous life, the same thing would happen.
Unless I dealt with the Paladin first, he would appear before me with the hostages.
‘Then it’s over. A checkmate.’
Even if I kept Dimona by my side instead of sending her to Ryan, it wouldn’t solve the hostage problem.
The Paladin wasn’t holding any Magic Tools, and there was nothing hackable in the destroyed corridor.
The moment the Paladin takes hostages, the children cannot be saved.
‘If only it were a Moon Wolf….’
But she, the interviewer, would not move until I died.
That was the rule.
In other trials, they might try to spare the lives of challengers and hostages, but the Execution Unit was different.
For them, selecting one proper individual was more valuable than the sacrifice of several.
Therefore, the plan must start with rescuing the children.
‘But that’s also a problem….’
The Paladin is different from the Priest.
Even if I caught him off guard, subduing him without a commotion would be impossible.
I would definitely be discovered, and I would draw a lot of aggro.
‘I won’t be able to save Dimona.’
Ten minutes.
That was the time given until the Priest’s dagger was plunged into Dimona’s neck.
If I rushed to the children first, I would lose a Special Class companion.
Furthermore, if the powerful Arcane Runner were sacrificed, the Priest’s power-up would be beyond manageable levels.
“……”
Attacking the Paladin first.
Attacking the Priest first. Both were wrong answers.
Though it seemed impossible, I had to resolve both at once.
I took a short, deep breath.
‘In the end, this is the only way.’
I had no choice but to adopt a strategy that was perhaps Plan Z.
A dangerous operation I had just devised on the spot.
Of course, there might be a better way.
‘No, there definitely is.’
But I didn’t have time to think of it.
Every second was critical.
I calmed my turbulent heart.
‘…It’s okay.’
It’s not all bad.
This world always rewards you more when you take the unexpected path, the more difficult choice.
In that sense, if this operation succeeds, I might gain something that would make the No Death Clear reward seem insignificant.
‘A hope circuit? Shut up.’
[The Red Street Pillar chuckles, stating he said nothing]
In any case, the dice had been cast.
[Current Karma: 420]
After checking the remaining Karma in the corner of my vision, I patted Ryan’s shoulder.
“Ryan.”
“…I get most anxious when you call me like that. You know?”
Sorry.
Today, you are the ‘key man.’
I draped the ‘Frost Ghost Robe (with a Lizard’s Core in its pocket)’ over Ryan’s shoulder and quickly explained the outline of the plan.
“……”
“Why.”
“You crazy bastard!!!!”
Kuaaaah-
The invisible Ryan howled.