Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Part 17

“Do you know how much I searched through the canyon on Floor 23 looking for that black stone you mentioned? I broke twenty pickaxes! I practically turned the entire floor of Floor 23 upside down!”

“So, you didn’t find it?”

Yugeon asked coldly.

The process was not important. Only the result mattered.

Seeing Yugeon’s gaze, Hwang Mungi sighed and reached into his clothes.

“As if I wouldn’t have found it. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”

Swoosh.

Hwang Mungi reached into his spatial bag, pulled out something wrapped in cloth, and placed it on the table.

A black unrefined stone about the size of a ping-pong ball.

Trying to find something this small in such a vast place had truly been hell.

“This is it, right?”

Hwang Mungi asked with a suspicious look.

“No matter how I look at it, it’s just a rock... It doesn’t even have any sort of description.”

Grab.

Without answering, Yugeon picked up the stone.

A heavy weight.

And a faint trace of stellar energy transmitted through his fingertips.

There was no doubt.

【Item: Ore that Holds a Star】

Rank: Heroic

Type: Auxiliary Weapon

An incomprehensible item without even a description.

‘He found the right one.’

Yugeon nodded.

A fragment of a meteorite that fell from space. Its power was dormant because it had not yet been processed.

This was not a mere stone.

It was an item that someone would absolutely need in the future.

“I’ve confirmed it. This is definitely the item.”

“Phew... Thank goodness.”

Hwang Mungi let out a sigh of relief.

He looked as though he might genuinely have burst into tears if Yugeon had said it was the wrong one.

“Then now... you’ve got to give me what you promised, right?”

Hwang Mungi’s eyes gleamed greedily.

A Legendary item.

The reward Yugeon had offered for the commission.

To be honest, he had been half doubtful.

A Legendary-rank item in exchange for bringing back a single rock that looked utterly useless.

He had even suspected it might be a scam, but after seeing Yugeon’s strength, he had clung to the job with the thought that he had nothing to lose.

“Of course. I keep my promises.”

Swoosh.

Yugeon took something out of his newly purchased spatial bag.

A brilliant red gemstone.

It was only about the size of a golf ball, but the energy emanating from it was powerful enough to press heavily down on the air inside the room.

“Th-This is...”

Hwang Mungi’s eyes widened as though they might pop out.

He could tell just by looking.

That was no ordinary item.

“It’s an item called Arachne’s Lament.”

“G-Good lord... It really is a Legendary item...?!”

After checking the item, Hwang Mungi’s jaw dropped in shock.

He had carried out the commission because he trusted Yugeon.

But actually seeing a Legendary item right in front of him made his heart begin pounding wildly.

“You’ve read the description, so you already know, but it has a skill called Shadow Step.”

It allowed instantaneous movement to any dark space within one’s field of vision, and at night or in darkness, it consumed no mana.

It was the perfect item for Hwang Mungi, whose specialty was mobility.

“Good lord...”

Hwang Mungi’s hands trembled.

There could not be a more perfect item for him.

For someone whose specialty was movement skills, a spatial movement ability with no cooldown was like giving wings to a tiger.

No, it was more like attaching a jet engine.

“Y-You’re really giving this to me? In exchange for just this one rock?”

“It’s an exchange based on necessity. To me, that stone is more valuable.”

And above all, it was also repayment for the life debt he owed this man from his previous life.

“Th-Thank you! Good lord... a real Legendary item. This is insane, seriously!”

Hwang Mungi rubbed his cheek against the gemstone, unable to contain his overwhelming joy.

Watching him, Mincheol quietly whispered to Yugeon.

“Brother, is it really okay to give that away?”

“It’s fine. Like I said, it doesn’t suit my combat style. It doesn’t suit you either.”

“Ahem. Anyway... the deal is finished now, right?”

Hwang Mungi tucked the gemstone deep inside his clothes and cautiously watched Yugeon’s reaction.

He seemed afraid that Yugeon might change his mind.

“Yeah, it’s over.”

“Good! Then I’ll be going. I need to test this gemstone too, and I really need a wash.”

“If I have another deal for you in the future, I’ll come find you.”

“Hmm... Fine.”

After thinking it over, Hwang Mungi nodded.

This was someone who handed over a Legendary item without hesitation.

Keeping a connection with him would probably prove useful in many ways.

“Ah, right.”

Hwang Mungi, who had been turning away, suddenly stopped and looked back.

His expression had grown noticeably serious.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

“?”

“I heard that Baroden appeared on the first floor some time ago. But apparently, someone appeared and killed it in a single blow. According to the witnesses... the composite sketch looks exactly like you.”

Hwang Mungi narrowed his eyes.

The description he had heard from the witnesses, and that unfathomable strength.

Only one person came to mind.

“Yeah, that was me.”

“Huh... It really was you?”

At Yugeon’s casual reply, Hwang Mungi let out a hollow laugh.

He had suspected it, but to think this guy really had been the one who killed Baroden.

“Looks like someone commissioned you to find me.”

Flinch.

When Yugeon spoke with a faint smile, Hwang Mungi’s expression stiffened slightly.

“You can sell the information. They probably threatened to cut off business with you unless you accepted the commission, some big-money client, I’d guess.”

“You... how did you know that?”

Hwang Mungi was greatly flustered.

Just as Yugeon said, a major corporation had commissioned him to investigate the Awakened who killed Baroden.

They had even threatened to stop doing business with him in the future if he failed to find the person.

“You really don’t mind if I sell it?”

“It’ll become known eventually anyway. If that’s going to happen, it’s better for you to sell it. You can solve the difficult situation you’re in at the same time.”

“...It’s not free, is it?”

“You’re quick. That’s right. This is a debt. So one day, you’ll have to repay it.”

“Jeez... Seriously.”

Hwang Mungi scratched his head vigorously.

How could such a young guy be this calculating?

Ever since meeting him, Hwang Mungi felt as though he had constantly been dragged around by the nose.

“Fine, I understand. Then I’ll hand over your information. But I’ll make sure to repay this debt.”

“Good.”

Creak.

Thud.

Click.

The door closed, and silence returned.

“Brother, can we... really trust that man?”

Mincheol asked with a worried expression.

“Don’t worry. He isn’t the type to betray someone.”

In his previous life, Yugeon had owed Hwang Mungi his life.

Wasn’t it only in the face of death that a person revealed their true self?

Yugeon knew all too well what kind of person Hwang Mungi was.

“But Brother?”

“?”

“Aren’t you interested in guilds?”

During the time they had spent together, Yugeon had shown little interest in guilds.

With his strength, he could easily have joined even the number one guild.

“A guild...”

Before his regression, he had not been particularly interested in guilds.

But now that he had started gathering companions, he had become somewhat interested.

Of course, he had no intention of creating one immediately.

Swoosh.

‘It’s about time I started preparing.’

Yugeon turned his head and looked at the large calendar hanging on the wall.

About twenty-nine days from today.

A monster wave would occur.

The day when monsters would once again be spewed out was approaching.

‘So I need to move quickly before the wave happens.’

His second companion.

It was time to go bring back Seo Hwarin, the Saintess of Reversal.

_____________

Area 3, Floor 26 [Orc Outpost].

Across a wasteland filled with swirling red dust, ragged breathing and screams rang out together.

It was the territory of the savage monsters known as orcs.

Between those desolate rocky mountains, a five-person party was fighting a difficult battle.

“Graaaagh!”

A warrior-class man screamed as he rolled across the ground.

The rusty axe blade swung by an Orc Warrior had grazed his shoulder.

His armor tore like paper, and crimson blood sprayed out like a fountain.

“Leader! Are you okay?”

“Damn it...! The bone is exposed! Healer! Where’s the healer!”

The leader, Robertan, shouted at the top of his lungs, veins bulging in his neck.

At his shout, a woman who had been hiding silently behind a rock jolted and rushed out.

Her white clothes were already so stained with muddy water and blood that their original color could no longer be recognized, and her face had gone pale with fear.

Seo Hwarin.

She was the party’s only healer, yet throughout the battle, far from receiving protection from the party members, she had remained timid and intimidated while watching their moods.

“I-I’m coming right now...!”

Seo Hwarin hurried over and placed her hand on Robertan’s wound.

A horrific injury from which blood surged in thick pulses.

An ordinary person might have fainted at the sight, but as though accustomed to it, she drew up her mana with trembling hands.

“Hurry up! I’m going to bleed out!”

“Y-Yes!”

Sacred Healing.

Wooooong.

A cluster of white light bloomed from her fingertips.

Unlike the warm golden light produced by ordinary healers, hers was a pale, almost painfully cold white.

The instant that light touched the wound, something astonishing happened.

The shredded muscles rejoined in an instant, and the severed blood vessels connected again.

In just three seconds, the wound that had been deep enough to expose bone vanished without leaving a trace.

In terms of performance alone, it was overwhelming healing power that would make even A-rank healers from major guilds click their tongues in amazement.

However, instead of a sigh of relief, a groan filled with pain escaped Robertan’s mouth.

“Uuugh...!”

Smack!

As though burned by fire, he violently slapped Seo Hwarin’s hand away.

“Aah!”

Seo Hwarin screamed and fell backward onto her bottom.

Having been shoved by a large man, her body rolled across the ground.

“Hey! Are you insane? Were you trying to kill me?”

“I-I’m sorry...! Did it hurt that much? The wound is completely healed, though...”

“The wound isn’t the problem! What the hell is this feeling?!”

Robertan shuddered as he clutched his shoulder.

The wound had undeniably healed. There was no pain either.

And yet, a horrifying sense of foreignness remained in its place.

A chilling cold like a blade slicing through flesh.