Eastward (3)
Just as they were about to quietly approach the direction of the sound—
A boy who looked about twelve years old burst out from a small clearing thick with foliage.
"Hah... hah..."
Fear filled the boy's face, yet no monsters were nearby.
"I-I think I got away. Phew, I'm alive. Thank you! Thank you!"
The boy exhaled in relief and bowed his head over and over, as if their appearance alone had saved his life.
But Hyun Si-woon's eyes only grew colder.
His gaze locked onto the boy's appearance.
Half a year.
Half a year had already passed since the world collapsed.
Yet the child's clothes, though worn, were not terribly dirty. The dirt on his face looked deliberately smeared, unnatural, and above all, for someone supposedly terrified out of his wits, a lively spark still danced in his eyes.
For a young child to survive alone in a place like this in that condition was next to impossible.
Oh?
In that moment Ha-wol's intrigued voice rang through Hyun Si-woon's mind.
This place is truly peculiar.
'What is?'
The distribution of monsters is astonishingly sparse. The energy here is... clear and stable. Even in the world this lady once lived in, places like this were called spirit lands and treasured highly. For it to reach this level, a rather powerful Ranker ought to have claimed it as their domain, yet...
Ranker?
At that word Hyun Si-woon's shoulders tensed for an instant.
The residual image of a crocodile head flashed through his mind.
Another one of those bastards, in a backwater like this?
Sniff, sniff.
Ha-wol made a show of sniffing the air, then shook her head.
No, that is not it. This is different from the foul, artificial energy of those Ranker dogs. This is far older and purer... Hah. A natural spirit beast, perhaps?
While Hyun Si-woon conversed with Ha-wol, the boy was already talking with the others.
He had latched onto Jang Cha-yul's clothes and was sniffling.
"Hic... It was so scary. Mom and Dad both died and I was left all alone... Sob."
Jang Cha-yul patted the child's back with a pitying expression.
Baek Do-hee, too, looked on with sympathetic eyes.
"What should we do? Should we take him with us for now?"
Just as she carefully asked that—
"Look at this little shit."
Taat!
Baek Yeon-ho shot forward like a bolt and seized the boy's wrist.
The boy's hand had been a hair's breadth from the emergency ration pouch hanging at Jang Cha-yul's waist.
"Ah!"
The boy flinched and tried to pull free, but Baek Yeon-ho's strength was already beyond ordinary human limits.
"W-what... Why are you doing this?"
The boy rounded his eyes, desperately trying to hide his panic.
Baek Yeon-ho was not buying it.
Still gripping the wrist, he grinned and said,
"Wow, kid. Those fingers of yours aren't ordinary. Did you train as a professional pickpocket somewhere?"
At his words Jang Cha-yul and Baek Do-hee looked back and forth between the boy and their own pouches in shock.
As the situation flipped, the other party members surrounded the two of them, on guard.
Hyun Si-woon seized the moment and asked,
"You approached us on purpose, didn't you? Your clothes are too clean, and that tone is pure acting. What the hell are you?"
"N-no! What are you talking about!"
The boy thrashed in Baek Yeon-ho's grip, denying it with everything he had.
Tears welled up in his eyes almost instantly.
"I was just so hungry... I was so hungry I couldn't help myself... Sob, I'm sorry, I was wrong! I wasn't really going to steal...!"
The child's desperate performance made Baek Do-hee and Jang Cha-yul's hearts waver again.
Even Hwang Dae-un carefully spoke up: "Hyeong-nim, the kid seems really scared..."
The acting was certainly skilled.
Fear, injustice, and the desperation of a starving child came through vividly.
This one's no ordinary brat.
Hyun Si-woon clicked his tongue inwardly.
With acting this good, most adults would fall for it.
But he had no intention of wasting any more time.
Shing!
He drew the Formless Sword.
The cold scrape of metal cut through the air.
He leveled the tip right in front of the boy's throat.
There was no killing intent, yet the merciless pressure made it seem as though the blade would pierce him at any moment.
"...!"
The boy's sobs cut off as if by a knife.
The tears that had been welling froze in place; his pupils shook violently with true terror.
Hyun Si-woon's eyes were completely different from moments before.
There was not a shred of pity or compassion for a child in them—only cold suspicion and warning.
"I'll ask one last time."
Hyun Si-woon's voice was as cold as ice.
"Who put you up to this? What's your goal? You have five seconds. Five, four..."
"I-I'm sorry! I'll talk! I'll talk!"
Feeling genuine killing pressure, the boy collapsed in an instant.
Trembling all over, he began to spill everything.
"There's a camp... A camp. If you walk quite a ways from here, you'll reach it... A place called Eden."
"Eden?"
"The adults there ordered me. They said to go outside and bring back food."
"..."
"If I go back empty-handed today, they'll hit my sister...! That's why I did it! Please just look the other way this once. I have to take something back...!"
The boy finally sank to the ground and began to wail in earnest.
Hmm.
Hyun Si-woon frowned.
This part did not seem like acting.
"They hit your sister? Who's hitting you kids?"
Baek Do-hee soothed the child first.
Even so, her expression had hardened.
Trash who used children as shields to fleece other survivors...!
"Hic, hic! My sister... She's always been weak. But they say she doesn't work well enough... The Climber uncles... They don't even give her proper meals... And they keep..."
The boy could not continue and burst into tears again.
Climbers.
Hyun Si-woon's eyes lit up.
Other Climbers had come down to the provinces besides them?
"Si-woon, how about we go with him for now? No matter what, treating little kids like that is just too much."
Baek Do-hee stepped forward.
"..."
Hyun Si-woon looked at her in silence.
Memories of the past flickered through his mind.
Second floor of the Tower, back when they still did not know each other.
When Yu Jae-jun and Choi Geon-woo had tried to drive him out, the first person to oppose them and shield him had been Baek Do-hee.
She had not changed—then or now.
Someone with a warm nature who simply could not walk past the weak, a temperament that almost did not fit this ruined world.
It's because of that personality that she becomes this team's healer and its emotional pillar.
Hyun Si-woon nodded.
As long as he had chosen to lead the team with her, he had to respect and sometimes accept this side of her.
Orders alone could not truly lead a team.
Besides, I was curious myself.
He was not moving out of simple pity.
Hyun Si-woon was the leader of the team.
Every decision had to rest on clear practical benefits, and he judged that those benefits existed.
First: information.
If another group of Climbers had come down to the provinces—
He wanted to know their level and how they had settled in this region.
It would let him grasp the outside ecosystem of the Tower to some degree.
Second: the spirit beast.
Ha-wol had said it.
This area was a spirit land, and the probability of a spirit beast existing was high.
An unexpected great opportunity might be hidden here.
Third...
To be honest, Hyun Si-woon needed rest as well.
They had been training and walking nonstop until they were exhausted. If there was a camp—
Wanting to stop by was only human nature, was it not?
"Get up."
Hyun Si-woon said to the kid.
"What's your name?"
"Yu-jin... Seo Yu-jin."
"Lead the way. To that place called Eden you mentioned."
The distance was considerable.
Past Wonju City, into a basin high in the rugged terrain of Chiak Mountain.
"This is it?"
"Yes..."
It had once been a bio-research complex, he said.
A place with fairly high concrete walls topped with barbed wire.
A guard stationed there immediately drew his bowstring.
"Halt right there! Who are you!"
"Hey, isn't that Yu-jin? Yu-jin brought outsiders! Report to the boss!"
At that shout a small commotion rose inside the camp.
Hyun Si-woon narrowed his eyes at the bows in their hands.
Lower-rank Climber bows.
So Climbers really had been here.
About ten minutes passed.
Creak!
With that sound the steel gate opened.
At the same time a sturdy man in his mid-forties appeared, accompanied by his subordinates.
"My, my. Survivors in this harsh world. I am Ma Gang-il, the one who leads this camp. For now, welcome."
Ma Gang-il's gaze thoroughly scanned their weapons.
In particular—
When he saw Kang Si-a's Moonlight Bow faintly glowing, his eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.
"Are you all Climbers who have ascended the Tower as well? There are quite a few Climbers here too, so if it's not too rude, may I ask how many floors you have reached?"
"We barely cleared the second floor not long ago."
Hyun Si-woon answered immediately.
They had cleared the third, but there was no need to tell the truth.
"Oh, the second floor. Impressive."
He said the words, yet Hyun Si-woon felt the subordinates behind him stir.
Not from surprise.
Because they were weaker than expected.
Contempt and relief.
Tsk tsk tsk.
Ha-wol clicked her tongue as well.
I can hear the sound of those dogs abacus beads clacking even from here.
Ma Gang-il put on a kindly smile once more.
"You must have had a hard journey. Since you've come such a rough way, we'll prepare a place to wash and rest first. I'll have dinner made as well. We can talk more at leisure later."
"Shall we?"
Hyun Si-woon decided to watch the situation for now.
Ma Gang-il's office.
A place remodeled from the former research director's room.
A map of the camp hung on the wall, and a whiskey bottle sat on the desk.
"Boss, what are you going to do?"
"Their clothes may be shabby, but their eyes are no ordinary ones."
At his subordinates' worries—
Whirl.
Ma Gang-il swirled his whiskey glass and gave a cold smile.
"So what if they're not ordinary? They're just bastards who barely cleared the second floor. We, on the other hand, have passed the third."
"...That's true, but. That silver bow is strange too... Ah, and her—doesn't she look familiar?"
"Hm?"
"Someone she resembles... Ah, that's it! Isn't she that national archery team member?"
"National archery team?"
"Kang Si-a. The one who won gold and shot commercials... That bitch looks exactly like her."
At the subordinate's words Ma Gang-il's eyes flashed.
He recalled Kang Si-a's face.
Though covered in sweat and dust, her clear features and solid physique were clearly no ordinary thing.
The other women were the same.
The woman with the staff had a soft, kind impression, and the one with the spear had a sharp yet healthy charm.
"Heh. Is that so."
A greedy smile curved Ma Gang-il's lips.
"Then we definitely can't let them go. That bow the girl's holding looks like quality goods just from a glance. First, put them at ease. Offering a drink and probing them would be good too."
"Leave it to me. That's my specialty."
"Bulgom."
"Yes."
From further back—
The solid bulk of Bulgom answered.
"You prepare the drugs for the meal. Especially for the women—nothing lethal, just enough so they can't keep their minds clear. You understand what I mean?"
"Yes, sir!"
Hearing the subordinate's crisp reply—
Gulp!
Ma Gang-il downed the whiskey in one go and smiled with pure greed.