Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16: The Field Boss Appears
“Why… are you still here…?”
Kang Hana had been standing there for about five minutes before she finally snapped out of it. She whipped her head around, avoiding my unwavering stare with a guilty expression.
I offered her the handkerchief I was holding. To her questioning gaze—clearly asking what I was doing—I simply gestured with my nosebleed.
“Ah… thank you, oppa…”
Kang Hana quickly wiped the blood flowing from her nose. The bleeding stopped immediately without starting up again. I took back the handkerchief and replied.
“I didn’t hear your answer.”
“What answer…?”
“Are you interested in forming a party with us?”
Kang Hana’s pupils started shaking wildly. She rolled her eyes, carefully watching my face and Yoo Dahui’s. There was no sign of disgust, but she hesitated as if her mind was in turmoil.
She’s probably thinking hard.
Even a powerful woman like her, suddenly dropped into an unfamiliar world, would find it extremely difficult to wander alone in a place she didn’t know. That was on a completely different level from moving around a familiar place by herself. And the Tower of Struggle was full of various races. She, a woman who couldn’t even approach other humans first, was about to party with other race players? That was basically the same as getting drafted in Korea.
“Is the person behind you also in the same party?”
Kang Hana shot a glance at Yoo Dahui. Yoo Dahui was smiling with a capitalist grin while waving her hand. It was a smile that clearly showed she wasn’t pleased with Kang Hana’s hero suit at all.
“Yes. I’m in the same party.”
“…Then I’ll do it.”
Once I confirmed that she was joining us, Kang Hana nodded with visible effort.
She must find it easier with a woman rather than a man. Thinking about it, even in the novel, Kang Hana never spoke about men. Whenever Yoo Dahui threw out some lewd comments, she would just blush and cover her ears in embarrassment. The fact that Kang Hana didn’t talk about men at all was almost like she had never even considered the possibility.
She’s truly something else in a completely different way.
The protagonist Yoo Dahui wasn’t naturally sexually closed off. As I repeated regressions, I spent far more time with my partner than anyone else—longer than most could imagine. Because of that, the walls between us slowly crumbled. That was why she often threw the idea of other men at her lovers. The other boyfriends she had all somehow got caught by Yoo Dahui once.
In the Tower of Struggle, the society wasn’t large enough, so avoiding a catch was impossible. Of course, since she was the protagonist, if she caught someone, it was instant death. Regressors didn’t search for them again. If I did it, it was romance. If you did it, it was adultery. Passive skill unique to the protagonist. Stepping outside the regressor’s radar? That was terrifying. That’s why I wore a mask.
“If it’s decided, let’s head out soon.”
We left the inn and headed toward the gate. The closest gate was still to the north. The north gate was crowded with players who had come out early in the morning. You couldn’t just sit around and rest because you needed to earn coins to survive. The fixed goals, the presence of other players, the fear of falling behind—it wasn’t just humans who thought that. I could even see the Korean party far away.
I locked eyes with the lively group of mackerel who were chatting loudly. Soon the entire Korean party was staring at us, their eyes murderous. I shrugged it off. We were basically dead anyway.
“But won’t it be fine without equipment?”
“What? Ah, yes… it’s fine.”
Kang Hana’s own physical specs were her weapon. Her superpower Body Reinforcement served as both sword and shield. Yoo Dahui was struggling to understand it. Since Kang Hana was clearly a heavenly woman on the surface, even going barehanded seemed unreliable.
“Hana, how old are you?”
“I-I’m twenty-five, but… Dahui, how old are you…?”
“I’m…”
Yoo Dahui suddenly went silent. A woman who looked younger than her sister was in fact her older sister—unreal reality that no one could grasp.
“I’m twenty-two. Just call me unnie. Uhm, unnie.”
“Hmm… really?”
“You can be more relaxed. She’s the same age as me.”
“Got it…”
We awkwardly used informal speech, then stepped out of the north gate. It felt different from when we were with the Korean party—much more solid.
> [Battle Settlement in Progress…]
> [100 Coins Acquired!]
We cleared the group of dead men along the path. I wondered if they knew our party’s strength. They didn’t keep coming nonstop. It was good—no waste of time. With Kang Hana, the strongest player, there was no reason to move slowly like the Korean party. We went straight ahead and thought things through.
We hunted each monster we met in one shot and advanced toward the field boss. Now Yoo Dahui needed to know about the field boss. How far had we gone?
Kiaaak—!
“What is this? It’s a monster I’ve never seen before?”
It was a ghoul. A bent back with a large hand. The sharp claws were so hard they could even block steel. Unlike the slow dead men, this was a fast monster, but not particularly difficult to deal with. It was normal for one to appear alone, so forming a party would be enough to break through them.
Kiaaak—!
As soon as the ghoul spotted us, it charged like a madman. If it ambushed us at that speed, we wouldn’t even be able to breathe before dying.
“Dahui, it’s dangerous—back off.”
Kang Hana stepped in front of us and clenched her small fist. It was a simple punch that didn’t feel like any skill at all. Paang!
“Ah…”
I didn’t know about the dead men. Even the Korean party could wipe them out in one hit. But ghouls were different. Even at first sight, anyone could tell they were no ordinary monster. Yoo Dahui must have noticed too. Kang Hana smashed that kind of monster with one punch. From now on, I’d start searching for Kang Hana at the moment of regression. It was a good sign. Regressors needed to recruit better partners by using information from previous turns. I was now determined to abandon the Korean party.
> [Battle Settlement in Progress…]
> [1,000 Coins Acquired!]
Coins could be used even on the first floor. The more you had, the better. One ghoul gave more coins than a hundred dead men. The dead men were done for. Graduation time had come. Yoo Dahui looked dazed as she asked Kang Hana.
“Unnie… why are you so strong?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m a hero, after all…”
“A hero?”
“Ah… the reason I’m so strong is…”
Kang Hana briefly explained her superpower. She didn’t brag about being the Number One Hero or anything like that. Yoo Dahui clapped her hands together as if she had just understood something.
“Wow, that’s amazing. So even if they’re humans, not all humans are the same, right?”
“Huh? Is that how it works?”
“In worlds with superpowers, you get superpowers when summoned. In worlds with different abilities, you get those abilities. Maybe it’s because you’re a human from another dimension…”
Yoo Dahui glanced at me and fell into thought. What kind of thoughts were those? Her eyes still seemed to be holding onto a seed of doubt…
“Yoo Dahui, what are you doing? Let’s go already.”
“Uh, uh. Yeah, got it.”
I pulled the lost-in-thought Yoo Dahui along and we moved a little farther. We boarded the bus with a sweet smile and sucked coins like mosquitoes. Sweet.
By now we had over 3,000 coins. That was more than enough to worry about food and shelter until we cleared the 0th floor.
“Oh. There are also strengthened ghouls.”
Yoo Dahui exclaimed upon seeing ghouls with different colors from the usual ones. Even one piece of information was a power for a regressor. Someone’s here.
The moment strengthened ghouls started appearing, a strange smell began to waft from far away. It smelled like players. It was only the second morning of the second day, and coming this far was no small feat. I could roughly guess who it was. The man among the riders who was the strongest. The man with the grand title of Heaven Shattering Sword Saint. There was another characteristic I couldn’t quite remember. I knew Yoo Dahui never searched for him even after regression… Why?
After racking my brain, it still didn’t come to me. I gave up and quietly led the party in the direction the smell was coming from. It was good to get to know Baek Seon-woo too. He wasn’t a pervert who lusted after women, and he wasn’t an evil person who enjoyed killing.
The smell grew thicker. The forest was beginning to trap the darkness. The cruel ghoul cries echoed from all directions.
Foolish one.
“What, haven’t you heard that kind of thing a lot from your master?”
Right in front of us stood Baek Seon-woo, the Heaven Shattering Sword Saint.
Stripping away the chance to return alive with your own hands.
“You don’t look like you’re about to die though.”
Regret is late no matter how fast it is. Regret after death.
“Even though you’re weak, aren’t you ashamed to put on such airs?”
Baek Seon-woo was aiming his sword at the field boss Dark Knight. He was wearing a fluttering martial arts robe, giving off the aura of a young man who wasn’t fully grown yet.
Ah. I remembered. That was the reason Yoo Dahui never searched for him.