Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: Honey Rises in the City, Moon Flows on the Door. (4)
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Player, writer, and now even a director.
Was it because this was the third time meeting someone from outside the world?
Yeomyeong didn't feel all that rattled.
He was simply curious why such an abrupt encounter had come about.
He could have understood it if they'd come with hostility. If it'd been a sneak attack, he would've gladly countered.
But Sancho, who had introduced himself as the director, posed no threat whatsoever. On the contrary, he'd sent a limousine for the group and explained the situation through one of his underlings the entire way there.
The boss's deteriorating health and the organization fracturing as a result.
It was dangerously sensitive information to share with outsiders he'd only just met.
'...What on earth is he thinking?'
Did he mistake him for a player? No, that didn't make sense either—it made even less sense for him to act this way.
Both the writer and the player had hidden their identities out of concern for others from outside.
'He's clearly got some ulterior motive...'
But facing him in person, it didn't feel like malice or enmity.
The words coming out of his mouth right now proved it.
"When I first got the offer to direct, it was a shock, let me tell you. For a mid-tier director like me, taking on a franchise world... well, it felt like the capstone of my career, you know?"
"..."
"My filmmaking skills aren't bad, but I'm lacking when it comes to original works? That's what they were saying, basically. Honestly, if it weren't for the money, I wouldn't have taken it."
Casual chit-chat to close the distance and lighten the mood.
A strange sense of familiarity came from the way he added lightly, 'But the payout was too good to turn down.'
The small talk dragged on so long that it veered into talk of filmmaking techniques.
That's when Yeomyeong cut him off and asked.
"So, what is it you want from me?"
Was the question too blunt? Sancho's mouth, which had been spinning idle banter to ease the tension, twitched.
He glanced back and forth between the sword on the table and Yeomyeong, then leaned back in his chair.
"A while back, I learned you raided an abandoned dragon's nest."
Yeomyeong recalled how the player had looted an ownerless dragon's nest beyond the dimensional gate, filling his inventory with resources from it.
The elixirs the guy had guzzled like water had come from that very nest.
"That dragon's nest? It's the place I've been searching for over the past five years."
"...Five years."
A long time. Especially for someone who knew all sorts of information about this world.
Sancho smirked at his puzzled look and replied.
"Unlike you, I don't know much about this world's lore. All I have are scraps I picked up while shooting the movies."
"..."
"What I knew about the dragon's nest was just one throwaway line of dialogue."
"Dialogue?"
"'Somewhere by Crystal Lake, there's a dragon's nest. An elixir from there might just save him...' I still remember it. The actress playing the saintess was goddamn terrible."
Yeomyeong barely suppressed a frown.
"...So the elixir was your goal."
Spot on. Sancho nodded without denying it.
"After confirming you'd raided the nest, I looked for other elixirs... but honestly, it was hopeless. Where else in this world do you find one of only three bottles that exist?"
"..."
"It might rub you the wrong way, but I was clutching at straws tailing you. And I found out you use an abnormally efficient subspace inventory and get stronger by killing people."
Inventory and level up.
Yeomyeong understood how he'd known to send the limousine.
The reason he could be sure the man with the illusion-cloaked face was a player.
No doubt he'd seen the inventory in action when he'd severed the fingers of those beastmen who'd picked a fight. Somehow.
Coincidence. Yet another coincidence.
Just like all the uncanny coincidences since arriving from beyond the dimensional gate...
'...Is it really just coincidence?'
As Yeomyeong felt an inexplicable sense of wrongness he couldn't put into words, Sancho picked up the phone at the corner of the table. It was for room service.
"Talking without a drink is making my mouth dry. Got a favorite liquor?"
His tone was a bit casual. He seemed eager to keep things friendly, but Yeomyeong sighed.
And gave the answer Sancho least wanted to hear.
"I can't sell the elixir."
The hand holding the receiver froze stiff. A moment later, Sancho set the phone down and asked.
"What's the reason? If it's money... don't worry about that. This sword right here? Consider it a down payment."
The Knight Order's treasured sword as mere down payment? Tempting, but Yeomyeong shook his head.
He couldn't trade what he didn't have.
"Sorry, but I've already used the elixir."
"Ah..."
A sigh laced with disappointment, followed by heavy silence.
Yeomyeong quietly gathered mana, wary of a sudden shift in attitude.
But contrary to his fears, Sancho slumped like the sky had fallen.
The silence stretched between them for a long while.
Finally, Sancho cautiously broke it.
"Did you use it all? If any's left, tell me. Just five drops... five drops is enough."
"I'm sorry."
"...What about other elixirs? Know where any are?"
Yeomyeong shook his head. A real player might, but he was a usurper who'd killed one and stolen their powers. He had no clue.
"..."
Silence again.
They say despair at the end of hope hurts the most. Sancho's expression embodied it perfectly.
Pain, disappointment, sorrow.
He fidgeted with trembling hands, then abruptly asked.
"You... what's your level right now? No, how strong are you? Can you use sword aura?"
It wasn't a challenge to fight. Desperation seeped from his tone.
Yeomyeong paused, then shrugged.
"Strong enough to fight a dragon."
"...A dragon."
Sancho pressed his fist to his lips, lost in thought. As if weighing something.
A moment later, he made an unexpected proposal.
"Would you... come with me to kill someone?"
***
At the same time, Seti and the others were unpacking in the hotel suite.
Not that there was much to unpack.
All the heavy stuff was in Yeomyeong's inventory, and their bags held only emergency wallets and underwear too embarrassing to show him.
Anyway.
Neti finished sorting the luggage in a flash and headed straight to the window to take in the city nightscape.
Was it the LED overload trendy beyond the dimensional gate? Gemini City sparkled no less than Earth.
Especially around the LA dimensional gate—a masterpiece. The gate absorbing surrounding light mixed with the LEDs, like a massive glittering diamond.
Compared to the half-military outpost of the Gaeseong gate, it was art.
As she lost herself in the beautiful view, her sister's voice reached her ear.
"Neti, we're splitting up rooms. What do you think?"
Turning, she saw her sister sorting Yeomyeong's bag.
No sign of the saintess or Corbus—they must've gone into the bathroom.
"...Splitting rooms? Why? This place is big enough for all of us."
"We rented three suites. No need to cram into one. Yeomyeong's a guy, right? And besides..."
Seti's gaze drifted to the corner as she trailed off.
There sat the captive necromancer. Her hair dyed yellow by Yeomyeong's illusion, she rolled her eyes anxiously.
Seti glanced at her, then back to Yeomyeong's bag.
"I'll take that necromancer to another room and watch her. You room with the saintess and Corbus here."
"Uh... what about brother-in-law?"
"He'll have his own."
Was that necessary? He'd been a perfect gentleman even sharing a room alone with the saintess—no funny business.
She didn't think anything would happen even sharing...
Feeling something off, Neti narrowed her eyes as Seti pulled a small bag from Yeomyeong's luggage.
The bag with magic tools like Uragan's hilt and the golden seal.
She usually kept it tucked in her top, but had left it behind for now?
Neti jolted as her sister opened the small bag.
"Sis, wait—"
But her worry didn't come to pass.
Far from attacking, Seti picked up the hilt and examined it closely!
"..."
Stunned, Neti couldn't close her mouth.
She snapped out only after Seti finished packing.
"Uh, sis..."
"What now?"
"You didn't... steal it, did you?"
Seti frowned, not getting it at first, then realized from her sister's stare at the bag.
"...Are you insane?"
"No, you're the insane one! What were you th—"
Neti's nonsense cut off there. Fed up, Seti finally flicked her forehead.
***
At the same time, on the hotel's sixth floor.
CIA agent Scarlett O'Hara, who'd rented the entire floor with mercenaries, was biting her nails.
Things had gone to shit.
That wasn't the plan. She'd meant to handle Dreytorial herself, wrap up Gemini City cleanly, and earn upper brass approval.
But Dreytorial wrapped before she even arrived, and the city's mood was worse than she'd imagined.
Bonus: ambushed by a crazy necromancer.
FUCK.
She'd planned to ask those guys from the train for help, but they'd vanished upon city arrival.
She asked the mercenaries to track them, but they refused—guard duty, not search.
Goddamn mercs.
Refusing such a simple request meant they knew something, but she couldn't figure out what.
Desperate enough for wild thoughts.
'No way that golden-eyed guy is here to meet the Knight Order...?'
Logic whispered no, but her gut screamed yes.
Crunch, crunch.
Her thumb shredded despite efforts to calm down, worries festering rotten.
Then Scarlett O'Hara—no, Dina—made up her mind and shot to her feet.
She went straight to the window and looked up at the night sky.
More precisely, the moonlight obscured by LEDs.
Soon her eyes tinted pale white like the moonlight.
Moon becomes eyes, eyes become moon—a miracle.
Her body couldn't withstand, blood trickling, but Dina kept straining her eyes.
Then moonlight peeked over the city, following the fallen one's will to illuminate the ground.
Seeking no one but the old man who would destroy the dimensional gate.
* * *