EVS Chapter 81

Sa-yoon hadn’t called the boss of the City of Dwarves stronger than the Rat King for nothing. Even in the midst of a dirty and vile fight, the creature didn’t fall easily. Even with its arms severed and legs slashed, it recovered quickly and immediately sprang up to charge as if it had never fallen.

Moreover, it was a dwarf. Though a monster, it had a level of intelligence similar to humans, which meant that Sa-yoon wasn’t the only one who could use traps and deception.

Boom!

For the third time already, the floor Sa-yoon was standing on suddenly collapsed without warning. Sa-yoon barely managed to avoid falling into the hole by using air-walking. Cursing under his breath, he drew a long sword in one hand and the dagger from his waist in the other.

Once would be enough.

He just needed one opening to thrust Heris’s dagger deep enough that it couldn’t regenerate, and to recite the activation word.

However, the creature had good instincts. Whenever Sa-yoon thrust Heris’s dagger, it quickly retreated, not allowing him to close the distance. It stayed far away, firing its long-range sniper rifle. In terms of cowardice, they were both equally matched.

Bang!

A fired bullet grazed his hair. Sa-yoon tilted his head to the side to dodge the shot, grimacing as he put away the cumbersome long sword.

Feeling this could go on forever, he changed weapons. Instead of the sword, a silvery wire appeared in Sa-yoon’s hand.

‘Moonlight (S-).’

It was the wire he had obtained after clearing the City of Iron, an unconquered gate. According to the system window’s description, this wire was made by processing moonlight. It extended from Sa-yoon’s hand.

“Pieek!”

Choosing the wire over the sword proved to be the right decision. The wire strands, too thin to be seen by the naked eye, shot out at a ferocious speed, instantly knocking away the dwarf’s gun and restraining it. Thinner than ordinary wire and made of moonlight, Moonlight was like an assassin that could hide its form under strong lighting, and the dwarf had no means to defend against this sudden assassin.

Crunch.

Sa-yoon wrapped the wire around his hand and pulled. The elastically extended wire returned to its original position, dragging the boss of the City of Dwarves along with it. The wire dug into both Sa-yoon’s hand and the dwarf’s body simultaneously. The wire, now tasting its owner’s blood, became even harder.

“I didn’t want to use this because it’s unpleasant.”

Sa-yoon glanced at Moonlight, which was greedily absorbing the blood flowing from his grasp. In terms of lethality alone, Moonlight was the most excellent weapon. As it became stronger the more blood it consumed, it was perfect for dealing with multiple B-rank or lower awakened ones. But there was a reason he didn’t often bring it out.

Moonlight sucked the blood of its wielder. As if demanding payment for using its great power.

Even though Sa-yoon was S-rank, he didn’t have an infinite supply of blood in his body. The longer it was used, the faster it absorbed blood, so when using Moonlight, he had to finish the job as quickly as possible and put it away again.

It was a weapon that would eventually strangle its own master.

While that aspect felt attractive, he was reluctant to use it because he didn’t like the feeling of giving his blood to the damn thing. But because this dwarf was both quick-witted and agile, he had no choice this time.

“Kueeek!”

The dragged dwarf screamed. It sounded like a cry, or perhaps a plea to be released. Sa-yoon immediately raised Heris’s dagger to the dwarf boss that had been pulled right in front of his face.

Sa-yoon plunged the raised dagger into a vital point and recited the activation word. At the softly muttered words, a brilliant white light enveloped the boss room.

Following the light came an explosion, and then an unpleasant sensation covered Sa-yoon’s face and hands. Frowning, he took out a cheap coat from his inventory to wipe his face and brush off the debris stuck to his body. Sa-yoon checked in front of him. Where the dwarf had been standing was now an emerald jewelry box.

As he was about to pick up the jewelry box and leave, he heard the sound of water from somewhere. Catching the sound he hadn’t properly noticed while focused on the battle, Sa-yoon spotted a decorative fountain installed in the inner part of the boss room. He had never gone deep into the room before, so he didn’t know there was something like a healing spring installed.

I’ve been wasting potions all this time for nothing.

If there had been a healing spring in every boss room, he wouldn’t have needed to use potions after battles. Clicking his tongue at this belated realization, Sa-yoon approached the fountain. As he bent down to wash the splattered flesh off his face, he heard the door creaking open behind him. He sensed footsteps steadily approaching.

“Did you win?”

“What, you think I lost?”

Stating the obvious. Although Sa-yoon knew Geon-joo had come quite close, he prioritized washing his face, splashing water with a splash to clean off the blood that had sprayed on him.

“It took you a bit longer than usual.”

“The bastard was more cowardly than I thought.”

“You mean the Guild Master?”

“Are you crazy?”

This time, Sa-yoon threw back at Geon-joo the very words he often used with him. He knew his guts had been growing for a while, but now it seemed like he was ready to spit out his heart too.

If you’re going to speak so boldly, at least get rid of that Disillusionment tag on your quest window first.

Feeling annoyed, Sa-yoon stood up and looked at the fountain. Thinking that Han Geon-joo’s temperament was water-soluble, he wondered if he had mind-reading abilities as he slowly began to distance himself.

His skill at sensing ominous signs was unnecessarily good.

“Stop talking nonsense and take this.”

After wiping the remaining water off his face with his hand, he tossed him the jewelry box. Geon-joo, whose hands had become lighter as if he had put all the items received during the battle into his inventory, caught the reward. When he first threw things at him, he would catch them in surprise and confusion, but now there was no startled reaction. He had hoped he would get used to it, but he had adapted too quickly in such a short time, halving the fun of teasing him.

Maybe next time I’ll just throw a knife or something.

He had become too composed when receiving items safely enclosed in a jewelry box. As he was thinking about just taking out the item inside and throwing it next time, Geon-joo, who had opened the jewelry box to check the reward, glanced at Sa-yoon.

“Should I take this one too?”

“When have you not taken them? If you don’t want it, give it back.”

“…I didn’t say I wouldn’t take it.”

He quickly put it in his inventory after that little protest. Sa-yoon looked disapprovingly at Geon-joo, who didn’t even say a word about offering it to the Guild Master out of courtesy. As he did so, Geon-joo, who had been looking at his inventory window, furrowed his brow as if deep in thought. Then he took out the reward he had just put in, carefully placed it back in the jewelry box, and took three steps forward. These were the same number of steps he had retreated when Sa-yoon had acted as if he might snatch the item away.

He came forward exactly as much as he had retreated and held out the jewelry box in his hand.

“…Do you want to keep it, Guild Master?”

Sa-yoon snorted at the small voice that escaped him.

“I’ll accept it if you get on your knees and bow.”

His expression said he’d rather die than part with it, but it seemed he was prepared to do so. When Sa-yoon waved his hand saying it was fine, Geon-joo offered the item again, saying, “Just take it.” Instead of taking the jewelry box his pretty one was offering, Sa-yoon gripped his shoulder.

“It’s fine, let’s go, pretty one. We’ve cleared the third dungeon.”

As if to reinforce those words, the dungeon shook lightly. Sa-yoon bent down, saying it would collapse in about 10 minutes, and Geon-joo, sighing, leaned into his and put the jewelry box back into his inventory. There’s no rule about offering something three times. It seemed he really didn’t want to give it up but had offered once or twice out of guilty conscience.

Muttering inwardly that the Disillusionment should be on him, not him, Sa-yoon quickly traversed the City of Dwarves dungeon.

“Aren’t you losing out too much?”

Halfway out of the dungeon, Geon-joo, who was being carried, suddenly spoke up.

“What?”

“The items. Even just counting what I’ve received so far, it’s more than ten.”

From the cold resistance artifact to the gate rewards and various dungeon rewards. Not only had he given all the items that dropped to Geon-joo, but he had also given him weapons and accessories he himself possessed. Sa-yoon pondered whether to sarcastically thank Geon-joo for finally realizing this fact or to chide him for being too slow on the uptake, so he left a long pause. As the silent pause lengthened, perhaps feeling uncomfortable, Geon-joo added softly.

“Except for the cold resistance one, you can take the others back if you want.”

He said it in a voice that didn’t sound fine at all. Sa-yoon chuckled softly, amused by Geon-joo’s attempt to maintain his dignity.

“Talk about squeezing blood from a stone.”

“You were the one squeezing though.”

“When did I?”

“With the Yongho Guild.”

“……”

“You took everything, even stripping them of the clothes they were wearing.”

At these calm words, Sa-yoon let go of Geon-joo whom he had been carrying. As they had been flying, Geon-joo immediately started to fall. The moment his eyes widened, Sa-yoon swiftly caught him again. Surprised, he clung to his neck more tightly than before. It seemed he was prepared to hold on with all his might even if he tried to drop him again.

“Are you crazy?”

“Who told you to state facts that damage my reputation?”

“Even if I just stated the facts…”

“Even if you just stated them, what?”

“…I was just saying.”

He became docile after being dropped once. Sa-yoon adjusted his hold on Geon-joo to a more stable position, signaling he wouldn’t drop him again, and brought the conversation back to the topic that had strayed.

“Items are overflowing anyway. It’s better to give them to you than to let them rot in my storage.”

“But don’t you feel it’s a waste?”

“Why would it be? It’s like tossing you a 100 won coin that’s just lying around at home.”

In reality, if we were to calculate, it wasn’t 100 won but more like 10 million won per item. Geon-joo seemed to know this fact too, as he opened his mouth to object. Sensing that he was having trouble choosing his words, Sa-yoon spoke first.

“If it really bothers you that much, you can pay me back when you become S-rank later.”

Rather than him doing something pointless out of a sense of debt, becoming S-rank through hard work would be the better way to repay the favor. As he reminded him of what he had pointed out on the day of the welcoming ceremony, Geon-joo fell silent. Wondering if he had fallen asleep, he glanced at him in his arms and saw his black eyes staring at his intently.

It was a face that seemed to have something to say. He had seen this expression before.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. Just something I wanted to ask.”

“What now?”

“But I don’t think you’ll give me a proper answer even if I ask, so I’m not going to.”

“What is it that makes you say that?”

He had a talent for irritating people. He had piqued his curiosity but then shrugged it off as if he had resolved it on his own. Annoyed by this, he pressed him for an answer as the exit came into view. Sa-yoon, who had increased his speed to escape the underground, set Geon-joo down on the ground.

“So what did you want to ask?”

Having left the damp underground for a more pleasant location, Sa-yoon didn’t forget to inquire. Geon-joo, now out of Sa-yoon’s arms, fiddled with the ring on his finger. The silence didn’t last long.

“…Why was it me?”

“…?”

It was an out-of-the-blue question. Tilting his head slightly in confusion at the sudden remark, Sa-yoon listened as Geon-joo continued in a calm voice. The atmosphere was quite different from when they had faced each other and talked in a quiet place before.

“There were many others at the center that day, so why did you bring me specifically?”

“……”

“I’ve been thinking about it and I’m curious. Even if my gate performance was good for someone who had just awakened, it wasn’t at a level worthy of being recruited by the famous Night Rat, right? From the start, I wasn’t at a level that you, Guild Master, would invest in by giving away all these items. As you always said, my rank is still low, isn’t it?”

Just B-rank.

He said this with a slight smile. Whether it was a smile of disbelief or self-deprecation, this time even Sa-yoon couldn’t tell.

Every word he said was correct, leaving Sa-yoon at a loss for a rebuttal. In contrast to his silence, Geon-joo, who had become more talkative, once again fiddled with the ring in his hand.

And then, he posed the final question.

“I’m really curious now, so I’ll ask. Why did you bring me along?”

“……”

“No, let me rephrase that. Do you need me enough to invest this much time and items in me?”

For your plans?

The question ended on a rising tone.

Sa-yoon’s gaze met eyes whose intentions he couldn’t fathom.