[8F Crevon]

Jin Sahyuk hid in a dense forest and even dug a hole in the ground to escape from Kim Hajin’s attacks. She didn’t have the time to feel humiliated. In a mere minute, she dug a hole deeper than most underground tunnels and tended her wounds inside.

“Uk!”

Her shoulder injury looked serious. The arrow cleanly pierced it and her right arm would’ve fallen off if the attack had been 1 cm closer.

Sssss…

A handful of magic power resonated and appeared in front of her as she took out a potion.

— Hurt again?

Jin Sahyuk glanced towards the voice. It sounded human, but came from a tiny cat.

“Shut up, Bell.”

Bell disguised himself as a cat and wagged his tail.

— You said you didn’t like the mouth, so I changed it to something cute. You don’t like it?

The cat perked its ears to appear cute. Bell could turn his entire body and parts of it into magic power. The cat resulted from him reshaping his eyes and mouth. He chose to be a cat because that was the only animal Jin Sayuk didn’t hate.

“Can’t you tell by looking? I’m not in the mood to talk.”

The cat’s eyes widened. Her remarks sounded quite gentle considering her shoulder had been shot. Did the cat thing really work?

— Before, you would’ve started cursing by now. Jin Sahyuk, you’ve surely changed! Or am I just too cute? Meow?

Jin Sahyuk even withstood that stupid remark. She sighed and continued to ignore the damn cat.

— Do you want me to avenge you?

That question caught her attention. She paused and sharply glanced at the cat sitting cross-legged.

— I think I can kill him at least once if it’s a surprise attack.

Bell carefully tested the waters.

“Don’t you dare.”

Her curt reply felt expected and unexpected.

Bell smiled. At this point, he thought she would accept help.

“I’ll be the one who kills him.”

However, she hadn’t lost her fighting spirit yet.

— I understand. Take care of that wound.

Bell disappeared into thin air as Jin Sahyuk sighed alone. She reflected on today’s events while hiding in the serene forest. A single shot almost took her arm off, but she felt like she had a chance of winning now. She could definitely close the gap in their abilities.

Jin Sahyuk held a potion in her left hand and twisted the cap off with her mouth. Pong— She poured it over the wound. Tzzzzz… Steam rose from the point of contact and the pain felt even worse than the initial shot. Her bloodshot eyes swelled until they almost burst. She recalled his face while enduring the pain. I want to kill him. I will kill him myself. With my own two hands, I’ll… She endured with tears streaming down her face, but never screamed.

A monarch must always be calm and collected on the outside.

She learned that from reading Machiavelli.

***

[Party ‘Kimchipay’ has defeated the calamity, Medusa!]

Kim Suho’s party members sprawled on the ground to catch their breath.

“Haa… Haa…”

“Aiya…”

Was it a groan or a sigh? The indistinguishable sound echoed across the field. They finally won after 3 hours of desperate struggle. They utilized their advantages until the end. Medusa’s magic eye of petrification required extreme caution since petrification would result in eternal death. Medusa knew players could resurrect, so she would’ve kept them as stones in her stomach.

However, the Sword Saint gift could cut through anything, including the magic eye of petrification. She became nothing more than a slightly more powerful monster.

“By the way, that was Black Lotus, right?” Yi Yeonghan suddenly asked.

They all harbored the same question despite the victory and joy. They lost the advantage for a moment in the middle of the fight when hundreds of harpies appeared. The party planned on retreating or calling for reinforcements, but arrows suddenly came flying from the distance. The dark streaks appeared out of nowhere and decimated all the harpies. That magnificent scene of destruction lingered in their minds.

“Probably. Those arrows definitely belonged to Black Lotus.”

Kim Suho placed his hand on Misteltein and raised his upper body. He looked up at where the arrows came from and recalled the man standing above there. Did he help them out of amusement or was this part of his heroism like others believed? Kim Suho stared at the cliff for a long time feeling slightly confused.

“I don’t like this party name no matter how much I think about it.”

Chae Nayun narrowed her eyes at the system. They initially decided on Kim Chae Fe Yi with the first syllables of their family names, but Yi Yeonghan needlessly turned it into Kimchipay.

“It’s funny. It sounds like your dad’s company, Daehyun Pay.”

Chae Nayun clenched her teeth at Yi Yeonghan’s remark.

“That’s nice and all, but this damn system keeps making fun of me.”

Chae Nayun’s system looked like this:

[Kimchipay has defeated Medusa.]

[Nayunjajangman Chi Nayun’s contribution is 14%]

It deliberately wrote her name as Chi Nayun.

“You wanna die?”

Her threats only made the system mock her more.

[Kimchi Nayun’s contribution is 14%]

“Sigh.”

It’s useless to fight something you can’t even see? Chae Nayun lay on the ground as the others clicked their tongues. As expected of the magic power monster, she still seemed energetic even after using so much magic power.

“The weather’s nice.”

Chae Nayun looked at the sky. A thought suddenly crossed her mind and she widened her eyes.

“Wait, didn’t Black Lotus kill all the harpies!”

“What the heck? Somebody’s a little late.”

“Huh?”

“We’ve been saying this entire time that was Black Lotus.”

“Really?”

Chae Nayun awkwardly scratched her cheek. She didn’t pay attention because the system kept picking fights with her.

“Why did Black Lotus…”

… help us? Chae Nayun mumbled as she opened the messenger. The only person she recently exchanged messages with was Extra7. He used to be her teacher, but now he seemed full of mysteries. She kept messaging him because she felt he had something to do with Kim Hajin. She pulled up their conversation log and examined the last couple of messages.

Me: Hyung, can we meet? I have a dangerous mission next week.

Me: Not joking, I might actually die lol It’s a super dangerous mission.

Me: Hyung, I want to take lessons from you before I leave.

Extra7 still hadn’t replied to any of them. She smacked her lips in disappointment when another system notification popped up.

[Rewards For Defeating Medusa] [You have received 2 Effective Good Selector.] [Effective Good Selector — You may turn a Lv.6 item or lower into an effective good.]

“Oh, what’s this?” Yi Yeonghan shouted.

“Effective good selector? Hey, Suho! Isn’t this really good?”

“You’re right. Lv.6… What should we bring outside?”

Kim Suho smiled and Chae Nayun also beamed as she looked through her inventory. A ticket that could transform an item into an effective good, which meant the item could be brought outside the tower. I don’t even have to think about what to bring outside. Of course, it’ll be the [Lv.6 Jack Churchill’s Claymore] that I’m holding right now. However, another item suddenly caught her eye.

[Lv.5 Invitation Letter to the Love Room]

If I can use the ticket on this Lv.5 item… Another system notification popped up.

[Return to the royal palace and claim Crevon’s rewards.]

[100,000 TP will be divided according to the contribution rate.]

[The weapon that Kimchi Nayun rented, Lv.6 Jack Churchill’s Claymore, will be permanently bestowed to Kimchi Nayun.]

“Are you kidding me? Say Kimchi Nayun one more time…”

“Hey, what are you doing?” Yi Yeonghan yelled at her. She turned back and saw everyone preparing to return.

“Let’s go claim the rewards!”

“Okay.”

Chae Nayun glared at the air and followed them.

***

A peaceful home on a peaceful evening. I patted Evandel’s head as I answered various questions for the Truth Agency.

“Oh, so something like this happened.”

I’d been receiving lots of requests these days thanks to word of mouth. The djinns of Destruction wanted to uncover which hero killed their executives. Of course, I had no intention of accepting their request. I discovered someone familiar again as I browsed the requests.

“What’s wrong with her?”

[Dear Truth Agency, 

This is LadyU from the other day. My request this time is also driven by pure curiosity. I am incredibly sorry to take up your time with such questions. Then again, my question is out of sheer curiosity and lacks a specific purpose, so please don’t feel obliged to accept. And please don’t get upset that my request is a repeat occurrence and kindly consider it as a silly girl’s immature curiosity…]

Yoo Yeonha and her extremely polite writing. This time, she requested about….

[Are the English Royal Court guild’s vice leader, Rachel, and Jeronimo Mercenary’s Fenrir, Kim Hajin, lovers?]

“Has she gone crazy these days?”

Perhaps her business mindset always assumed the worst. Still, how far have her delusions gone? I quickly replied.

[The answer is no. Fenrir Kim Hajin does not have any lover.]

I made myself clear so she wouldn't ask again. Is she going to ask if I like men next? After I replied… Ding— I received a text from Yoo Yeonha.

[Hey. I just got out of the tower. Tell me your nickname if you’re out too.]

“Hmm.”

I could probably tell Yoo Yeonha. She was close to Chae Nayun, but wouldn’t spill the beans like Yi Jiyoon.

“Uuunn…”

Evandel began wriggling in my arms. She narrowed her eyes as if having a nightmare and dove deeper into my arms.

“Cute.”

I smiled and patted her. I surrounded my touch with stigma’s magic power and she peacefully fell back asleep.

— Hajin. There will be a meeting.

A voice rang in my ears. Boss recently learned this skill called [Magic Power Transfer]. She figured out how to use it to communicate through the mind. I placed Evandel in bed and stepped outside.

No stars appeared in the sky outside the apartment complex at 11 P.M. I recalled Crevon’s sky filled with stars. Boss had purchased an apartment unit nearby that I recommended a long time ago.

She owned building 101, the largest and most expensive in the entire complex. Its market price had since gone up by 5 billion. Housing prices always cost a fortune around here, but the Tower of the Wish increased them even more.

I arrived in front of building 101’s suite #902 and opened the unlocked door. The house looked empty. Only a single chair stood on the marble tiles covering the spacious living room. Boss sat in the chair with her eyes closed. She probably tried to set the mood, but… Click. I turned on the lights first.

“…”

She frowned at me.

“Boss, where’s Jain?”

— I’m here.

A reply came from below. I followed the voice and discovered a small puppy.

“Huh? Is that you, Jain?”

— Isn’t this amazing? I’ve never been so small in my entire life. I feel like I’ve surpassed my limits after coming out of the tower.

The cute puppy spoke while panting.

“It’s cute.”

— Haha, really?

I turned to Boss again and she looked at me.

“The reason I called you here today is…”

— Central Asia, you know? They found artifacts there. Let’s get to the point quickly, yeah?

Before Boss could say anything… Jiiiing— Beams of light came out from Jain’s eyes like a projector. They all picked some weird skills from the tower.

— This is the catalog of core artifacts.

A list of Genghis Khan’s artifacts came up. [Temujin’s Bow] and the [Saddle of Khan] caught my eye. A desire surged from deep within me the moment I saw them. I never thought of myself as materialistic, but I felt a strong urge to obtain [Temujin’s Bow] to use it with the [Dark Ore Arrow]. Of course, I already had the [Blessed Bow of Horus], but the more the merrier.

— Among these…

“We’ll leave the small fries and take the big ones.”

Boss interrupted Jain, “But Kim Hajin.”

“Yes?”

I tilted my head at Boss. She only said one thing.

“You won’t be participating in this mission.”

***

I walked down the streets of 8-3F Crevon with Boss one week later.

“Are you upset?” Boss asked with only two days left until the mission.

“No,” I answered nonchalantly.

I agreed that they didn’t need me in this next mission. The excavation site had limited space, but a sharpshooter required enough distance to survive. The terrain didn’t suit me.

“It’s okay. I’ll be training for a while.”

“Yeah.”

We finished talking and continued our walk.

Boss seemed bothered and began muttering to herself.

“It’s not bad to wear your heart on your sleeve when you’re upset. It’s healthier to openly talk to others rather than piling things up inside. Which book did I read from? If we fall out over something like this, then that means I didn’t communicate very well with my subordinate. It’s my fault…”

I thought about covering my ears when I saw Rachel on the other side of the street with Princess Araha. Rachel left a great impression on the royal family during the defense against the calamities. She had officially become a royal guard and probably came with Araha to watch the [Crevon Martial Tournament] today.

“Oh, who are you up against Boss?”

The final round had been put on hold for various reasons. However, the royal family’s optimism returned after defeating two calamities without many casualties.

“I’m against a man I don’t know.”

“Mm. Yeah? You can go on ahead to the waiting room.”

“Okay.”

A question popped up in my mind as Boss left.

“Ah, Boss.”

“Yes?”

She turned around as if she expected it.

“What’s the nickname of the guy you’re fighting?”

“He’s called Yeokma.”

“Mm, well, good luck. Not that you’ll need it.”

We smiled at each other as she disappeared inside.

“Hmm…”

I decided to look around before the martial tournament began. A lot of powerful players and nobles came to watch. I spotted Kim Suho and Chae Nayun. Both of them looked disappointed that they didn’t know this tournament existed.

Who was Yeokma if he wasn’t one of them? Kim Junwoo? I tilted my head. Suddenly, I felt a sense of uneasiness and quickly took out the Book of Truth.

Who is the Yeokma participating in the Crevon Martial Tournament? A one-dimensional question like this would use too much stigma, so I asked the Book of Truth another question instead.

[Is the Yeokma in the Crevon Martial Tournament the person I know as Bell?]

I spent 1 streak of stigma and charred letters appeared over the Book of Truth’s page 5 seconds later.

[Yeokma is indeed the person you know as Bell.]

“…!”

I ran to find Boss as soon as I read those words.