23
23 - Rather Easy
The two parted ways without even having a chance to realize the identity of their déjà vu.
Rona, who had crossed through the Blue Portal, took a breath upon seeing the familiar forest scenery.
A majestic royal palace was built in the vast forest. The palace, constructed with pure white timber and refined luxury stone materials, was so enormous it could encompass three forests.
That imposing palace was Rona's workplace and residence. And.
'......Suffocating.'
It was also a place Rona detested.
As orderly and neat as its exterior appearance, the palace was a stifling place with its atmosphere, dress codes, and even the Elves who frequented it.
Being a place where particularly pure-blooded High Elves among the noble High Elves came and went, the palace's etiquette was correspondingly rigid.
Boring. Not free. Want to get out.
These were the emotions she had harbored since the first day she entered the palace.
If it were unfortunate that she couldn't leave despite this, then it would be unfortunate indeed.
"Have you returned?"
One of the palace servants who had been waiting took an extremely low posture, bending his knees and waist. He then raised both hands above his head, and Rona removed her coat, soiled with dirt and dust, and placed it in those hands.
The servant took out a clean new coat and helped Rona put it on, then quietly departed.
The spotless white coat was smooth without a single wrinkle, befitting the palace's formality.
However, Rona, who wore the coat, felt no emotion, her lips not even twitching.
-Have you come, second daughter of Garcia?
At that moment, a white light that had flown from the sky delivered a voice from afar.
It was the voice of one of the palace nobles who compiled the achievements of knights entering and leaving the Gate and reported them to the royalty.
An annoying person who would peck at your ears if you didn't produce proper results, and even when you brought good results, would take them away without a single word of praise.
-How did the matter of supporting the Dark Elves go?
"Nothing special happened. Supporting them was just looking after a bandit group, so what could have happened?"
-I heard news about a swordsman who steals souls.
Tsk.
Rona clicked her tongue softly.
"That's right. He was getting beaten up somewhere and ran away."
-You saw the swordsman?
"I stayed only at the base, so I didn't see him."
-......
Perhaps shocked by the blatant admission of negligence, the other party fell silent.
Then they spoke in a much colder voice.
-How can you rebuild your family when you're so lazy? Diligence is the greatest virtue of High Elves, so why are you so negligent?
Here it starts again. That annoying nagging.
Letting it go in one ear and out the other, Rona headed toward her residence prepared within the palace grounds. The white light continued to follow her, delivering the nagging.
-I don't know how you received a knight's title with such an attitude. When on earth will you raise and protect your family? Would you approach even the task of protecting your family so insincerely? It's very clear why a perfectly fine family was wiped out overnight......
Unable to listen any longer, Rona drew her sword and slashed at the light.
The voice was cut off, but the irritation and stress clung like thick tar, refusing to fall away.
Rona swept her hair back, somehow calming her anger.
'I miss Jin-woo.'
How long had it been since they parted, and she already missed him. Those days spent in that waterfall cave were so enjoyable and free.
The days of walking through the forest with Jin-woo, the days of exchanging swords, and even the days of blankly watching Bulkar's work—everything was full of interesting things.
It was much better than barely surviving trapped in this completely blocked palace, surrounded by stuffy High Elves.
While sweeping her hair back and touching her face with her palm, she suddenly remembered the last handshake she had shared with Jin-woo.
It was a firm hand, different from Elves, but that hand was warm and gave a sense of stability.
She knew similar hands. Hands that had held her—no, rather than held, had carried her and fled.
It was a story from childhood, but she still remembered it. The hands that had wrapped around her waist and lifted her head to pour nectar into her crushed eyes.
The memory of that day was so intense that even now, when Rona encountered strong enemies or dangerous situations, she would recall the sensation of those hands.
Then, mysteriously, her heart would become peaceful and her mind would become calm.
She felt a similar sensation from Jin-woo's hands. It seemed that Jin-woo's hands were similar to the sensation from that time, causing the memory to flash back.
'Well, it's a story from over 150 years ago, though.'
For a very brief moment, she thought that benefactor might be Jin-woo, but that couldn't be.
Human lifespans barely reach 100 years, so there couldn't be any connection to something from 150 years ago. Moreover, they lived in different worlds.
Still, she felt good. She already felt friendly toward Jin-woo, but after that handshake, her internal intimacy seemed to have increased even more.
Next time they meet, let's treat him even better—such thoughts occurred to her.
Thinking this way, she suddenly felt they had parted too easily.
'I should have attached at least one spirit for location tracking.'
Why didn't she think of such a good idea then? Wasn't it something she could naturally consider?
Of course, the reason she didn't think of location tracking at the time was that it would violate morality.
No matter how insincere she might be, she was still a knight. It wouldn't be right to attach such things to others.
'It's not proper etiquette. I don't know about Jin-woo's world, but on our side, it's also a crime.'
Arbitrarily attaching such spirits or familiars to others was strictly a crime in the kingdom.
If it weren't a crime, wouldn't that mean it would be okay to freely spy on other Elves' private lives?
Fortunately, Rona also quickly came to her senses and realized it wasn't something a knight should do. It was a bad deed that thieves like Benvil would do rather than knights.
'But let's do it anyway.'
But strangely, her resolution remained unchanged.
She pondered ways to secretly attach a spirit to Jin-woo without being caught.
***
Jin-woo, who had returned home, was startled when he saw the garden. Unlike before, when it was barren, it was now full of green plants.
The ground was covered with grass, and on one side was a tree in the midst of growing. There were vine plants flowing along the fence and flowers blooming in clusters.
He had seen Shartia plant some things, but it seemed those plants had grown luxuriously.
However, since it wasn't organized, it seemed to need human care.
'I should get some gardening tools.'
It wasn't bad to see the space that had nothing transform like this.
Thinking he should buy gardening tools the next time he went to the mart, Jin-woo entered the house.
"Whew."
Returning to his own home naturally brought a sense of relief. His mind became peaceful, and his body relaxed.
That day, Jin-woo didn't do anything and went straight to sleep. He lay down on the bed and truly didn't move a finger.
He only got up briefly when hungry to simply grill sausages or eggs, and slept for everything else.
Active sleeping as if trying to wash away every bit of fatigue accumulated at the Gate without leaving a trace.
But the fatigue accumulated from long outdoor living couldn't be resolved just by sleeping.
The next morning, Jin-woo headed to a 24-hour jjimjilbang.
「Gwangbaek Salt Sauna・Jjimjilbang Men・Women Sleeping Room Equipped」
The jjimjilbang he entered after seeing the sign was the largest one in this area.
Jin-woo, who had paid the fee and received a key, showered and washed his hair before soaking his body in hot water.
"Uhhh."
His eyes lost focus, and his body immediately became drowsy.
Since there was only a cold stream at the Gate, soaking his body in such hot water was unimaginable.
This strange sensation of feeling like his breath was being blocked while his insides were completely released—how could he feel this at a cold stream?
Perhaps because it was early morning, there weren't many customers. Using the bath almost as if he had rented it exclusively, Jin-woo became absorbed in various thoughts.
Mostly about settling accounts from this Gate.
'The biggest thing would be the Sky Sword that Bulkar gave me. I wonder how much it would go for if I put it up for auction.'
Even with dwarf-made swords, prices varied greatly. There was no fixed price, so if many people wanted it, the price would go up, and if few wanted it, it would go down.
He didn't know how much the Sky Sword would sell for, but it probably wouldn't be cheap.
From what he briefly looked up yesterday, there was an article saying that the cheapest sold dwarf-made weapon, a dagger, was sold for 1.5 billion won.
If a dagger went for that much, a longsword would probably get several times more.
'But I have no intention of selling it.'
Of course, he had no intention of selling the Sky Sword. Unless he desperately needed money, but that wasn't particularly the case.
He was already living comfortably with the money earned from prey and magic stones. Even this jjimjilbang was three times more expensive than the neighborhood bathhouse.
Unless he was going to buy a building in the heart of Seoul, he wasn't desperate enough for money to sell a gifted sword.
'Next...... Right, I got several Dark Elf weapons.'
He had picked up their weapons while cutting down several Dark Elves. It was a busy moment of chasing and being chased, but with the mindset of doing what needed to be done.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a situation with much leeway, so he couldn't sweep everything up, but he brought whatever he could grab.
Things like swords and arrows. Since he wouldn't use these directly, it would be fine to sell them.
'I'll keep the magic stones obtained while catching the rat swarms for emergency situations, and hand over the prey caught while looking for the Blue Portal with Rona to Cheonok Trading Company.'
Organizing things one by one, he had surprisingly gained a lot from this Gate too.
Just selling everything he decided to sell would probably generate quite a lot of income. Thinking about the estimates Cheonok Trading Company gave during the last settlement, he might receive around 100-200 million won this time too.
If it was over 100 million won just from other byproducts, excluding the Sky Sword and magic stones, that would be a sufficiently satisfactory amount.
'Come to think of it, I need to go to the Management Bureau to report my survival. If I report this time, I'll be promoted to E-rank.'
It was a satisfactory Gate in many ways. Moreover, there were connections made there, making it even more so.
At that moment, someone entered the bath. A man with an unusually large build who had to bow his head despite the quite high door.
In Seoul, there was only one person with such a noticeable build.
"Aren't you Director Ma Du-sik?"
"Huh? Hunter Kang Jin-woo?"
Ma Du-sik opened his eyes wide as if seeing an unexpected person.
"I heard you went to a Gate, but it seems you've already returned."
"Yes. I returned home yesterday, slept like a log, then came out to soak my body."
"My, it's fortunate you returned safely. Please wait a moment. I'll just shower and come back."
While Jin-woo closed his eyes and waited, Ma Du-sik soon came out. Water displaced by his massive frame splashed onto the bathhouse floor with a splash.
"I didn't know Hunter Kang Jin-woo was also a customer here."
"I usually go to a bathhouse near my house, but today I wanted to rest at a bigger place."
"Ah, you need rest since you just returned from a Gate."
"Something like that."
"I understand. During my active days, I was busy playing every time I returned from a Gate. Hahaha. You need time to let off steam."
As he said, Jin-woo was currently resting and letting off steam.
But strangely, even in the midst of this, thoughts about swords kept coming to mind. About the hundreds of sword exchanges he had shared with Rona.
Since this felt natural, Jin-woo didn't resist what came to mind.
He thought he had heard before that it was important to forcibly empty one's mind and rest, but the more Jin-woo emptied his mind, the more thoughts about swords filled that space.
"How was this Gate?"
"It was successful."
"A quick answer. May I ask how it went?"
"I can't go into details, but I made progress in swordsmanship."
"Oh, congratulations."
Perhaps because Ma Du-sik had also come to rest, only light conversation continued. Talking like this reminded him of a previous promise.
"When are you going to Jeongun?"
"The restaurant? I'd like to say anytime is good...... But I wonder when I'll have time. I've become busy again."
"I'll wait whenever it is. I'm unemployed, so I have plenty of time."
"Haha, you have the respectable profession of Hunter, so how are you unemployed?"
"When I'm not entering Gates, I'm unemployed."
Hmm. Since he said he was unemployed, there was quite a bit of time left until the next Gate. It seemed wasteful to do nothing during that time.
At one point, he thought about looking for sword schools or dojos, but now he felt it was too late. What school could provide better teaching than Rona?
In that case......
"Director, may I request some information from the Management Bureau?"
"Of course. What information do you need?"
"Please give me information about the Erosions observed worldwide. Including places where cores haven't been destroyed."
"Erosions where cores haven't been destroyed...... You're thinking of honing your exploration abilities."
That wasn't it, but since he was going to gain abilities, it was similar.
"Understood. I'll talk to the Director and have it delivered by messenger."
"Thank you."
"Speaking of Erosion cores...... Hmm......"
Ma Du-sik tilted his head and frowned as if finding it difficult to speak.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, actually, while Hunter Kang Jin-woo was at the Gate, we received a support request."
"A support request?"
"Yes. They said an Erosion with no visible core occurred near the city, so they requested help from Hunter Kang Jin-woo. You should have received an email too, but didn't it come?"
"I haven't checked, so I don't know."
He wasn't the type to check emails frequently anyway. Yesterday, he had only slept, eaten, and slept all day.
"But why are you speaking so reluctantly? Support requests are common for the Management Bureau."
"Actually, that city is Tokyo."
"Why is that a problem?"
"I find it hard to recommend Tokyo. It's dangerous."
Tokyo is dangerous?
"Isn't it a city like Seoul? Is there a particular reason it's dangerous?"
"It's very different. It's almost in a state of anarchy."
"Anarchy?"
"There are the City Hall and the Management Bureau, but their power is very weak. They're no different from scarecrows. What rules that place are various assassination guilds."
It was an ominous explanation.
"Tokyo uniquely has many Hunters who awaken assassination-type abilities. They build power among themselves and fight, and in that process, government officials being found as corpses is an everyday occurrence. It's chaos."
"I think I've heard something like that...... Is it that severe?"
"Even wealthy people who travel with bodyguards hanging all over them absolutely never go on Tokyo trips. Having everything stolen is routine, and they kidnap people to thoroughly collect ransom money. It seems to be their business—they say if you properly pay the ransom, they'll let you live. Let you live, that is."
"Ugh."
Just hearing about it, it sounded like a mafia city. No, since it's Tokyo, should it be called yakuza?
"Anyway, I don't recommend Tokyo. There's a saying that a gentleman doesn't set foot in dangerous places."
"That's true, but."
But something suddenly came to mind.
"If it's assassination abilities, they're abilities specialized in stealth and ambush rather than frontal combat, right?"
"That's right. Usually, assassins are guys who specialize only in hiding their bodies and surprise attacks. Their frontal combat is just slightly better than ordinary people."
Then doesn't that mean they'd actually be easier to deal with if you could discover what's hidden?