The Price of Misunderstanding
Blocking Goinmul in the gallery does what? First, their posts won't show up for you. Second, your posts won't reach them either. A perfect cutoff. The block function draws a magical boundary line that stops any more hurt between you two.
I hadn't forgiven Geomseong for feeding me the parasite. The moment I confirmed my body was fine, I blocked her right away. Sure, I wanted bigger revenge, but that was all I could do at the time. She was worlds away, and what was I gonna do against a 24 billion combat index monster?
But now, I'm half-forgiving her. Not fully—just fifty percent.
They seem to hate Geomseong.
Or do they just hate swords?
They're right. I could just ignore the boss and move on. Given the rag golem's slow movements, it's totally doable.
But I want to take it down.
'Running away becomes a habit too.'
I have to climb to the 50th floor central city. I'm on the 103rd now. That's 53 more floors ahead. Dodging stuff from the start isn't good.
Skipping the floor's representative boss mob to go to the next level is like advancing without meeting conditions. A shortcut, basically.
With so much journey left, better to progress properly than rush with cheats. Who knows what backlash hits later.
My mind was made up. Left one last comment.
But their reactions suddenly got weird.
Oh shit, no way...
Floater bastards are all insane. Yeah, it's clear now. Scavenger and NoPension have each other blocked. Or maybe just one way.
"No wonder their convos sometimes crossed wires..."
Why did Scavenger and NoPension block each other? Some special beef like me and Geomseong?
"Not my business."
A bit curious, but priority is taking down the 103rd floor boss. I unblocked Geomseong and used the gallery's whisper function—one of its features.
Enter the target, Goinmul, and request a 1-on-1 chat, right?
"Hmm. Guess I gotta say something."
I chat via gallery a lot, but low social skills are what they are.
Right then.
Geomseong popped into my post.
Geomseong—Seol Unbi—didn't know she'd been blocked by Kim Hogu (Kim Jinwoo). After handing over the parasite, when his posts vanished from the gallery, she misunderstood.
"Hah, what a spineless cur. Planning to cowardly flee?"
But after a week, her face grew grave. Still no posts from Kim Hogu. Heart sinking, she spam-refreshed the gallery window.
Just in case one popped up.
"...My god."
But no posts from Kim Hogu. A week and a day, two days, three...
At this point, she assumed he was dead. And that she caused it.
"N-No way he chose death because he hated learning sword that much..."
She never wanted this outcome. Never dreamed he'd pick death.
So the shock hit hard.
"M-My selfishness killed a man... I took an innocent life unworthy of a sword learner... H-How could this..."
She fed him the parasite not just to make him a disciple. While the parasite's in, he's immune to zombie poison. He'd hunt zombies ahead and get bit plenty. The parasite at least blocks infection.
She gave it for his survival too.
Good intentions, but he didn't get it and died. Because he hated learning sword from her.
"Day 10 today. Detox pill's effect would've worn off after a week... By now, organs rotten, long dead. Ahh..."
Seol Unbi never thought he'd endure the parasite. Thus, she saw herself as a murderer, drowning in guilt.
Kim Hogu was the first to use the parasite. First newbie to enter the gallery on zombie-filled 103rd since she started saving disciples.
Geomseong shed gloomy tears.
Goinmul and floaters didn't tell her the truth. They preferred fanning flames over mediating—stirring drama for fun. Lighting fires and laughing. An ancient gallery tradition, their vitality boost content.
So she had no clue Kim Hogu was fine.
After that day, she cut back on gallery time. From 20+ visits a day to 1 or 2. Barely posted.
Guilt was too heavy.
"Ahh... Why did I do such a thing."
Maybe the wall before her was too huge. She felt impatient, thirsty for growth. Desire to get strong. Desire became greed, greed called murder.
First time directly killing someone.
So guilt hit harder than usual.
"Sorry, sorry..."
Seol Unbi wiped tears, apologizing to Kim Hogu. Meanwhile, he was cozying up with Wilson.
Even after, she never realized she was blocked, sincerely repenting daily.
Teaching sometimes leads to death. Knowing that, why push him toward it from the start?
"Aaaah..."
Today too, sighing like a lament, she barely opened the gallery. Typed a repentance post, pressing hard. Meaningless now that Kim Hogu was dead, but at least this way show reflection, pray for his soul.
Just as she uploaded.
A shocking post appeared.
Seol Unbi rubbed her eyes, doubting them.
Not wrong.
"Gasp!"
Kim Hogu was alive.
More fragile than I thought.
I didn't bother correcting her misunderstanding.
...Sigh. Human or what.
I swallowed hard. She's groveling so flat-out, now I'm flustered. Didn't expect this level of sorry...
Honestly, forgot about her after blocking.
Even more bewildering.
'Still, gotta ask.'
I quietly typed my request.
Now I'm the one feeling sorry for blocking her.
Didn't expect such a fierce reaction.