Chapter 12
Anne's expression hardened.
“But didn't Mr. Ska say he'd help me look for them?”
“We already found all the scattered party members. Don't tell me you're planning to recover their corpses too?”
Jeong Yushin's head began to throb.
He shouldn't have said they would look for their companions when he decided to save Anne and travel with her.
It hadn't been part of his plan, but they had happened to find two of them. You could call it good luck.
Yushin felt that way, but Anne might have felt differently.
She might have seen it as some inevitability brought about by fate rather than coincidence.
‘I must have run my hope circuit so hard that it got infested with demons.’
Regret surged too late.
While working as an outsourced employee at a shitty little company that called itself a family, he had questioned why he was being given work different from his contract and gotten cursed out by its young boss.
A party as close as family had fallen apart over a single mistake.
Somehow, he had luckily found a way to survive.
Even luckier, he had found people, too.
And now they wanted to go looking for the boss who was already dead.
Though it rubbed him the wrong way, he spoke to Anne with the last shred of conscience left in him as a modern man.
“Anne, I'll stake my conscience on this. Kaal is dead.”
“Things were so urgent that you might have seen wrong, though.”
‘This fucking sucks.’
This was a complete disaster.
He couldn't take it anymore.
“Let's stop. I'm going alone. You lot sort things out among yourselves. Search or don't.”
Anne said urgently,
“Mr. Ska! Do you really think you can go alone?”
“It'd be better than dying while looking for that dead bastard.”
He gathered his belongings and stood up.
“Ska!”
Anne's anguished voice echoed through the dark cavern.
‘She's completely lost it.’
Yushin gritted his teeth and turned his back.
Just as he was about to leave the cavern, something dropped from between the plates of his hard leather armor. It was soaked in goblin blood, but he could still recognize it.
A clump of brown fur.
It belonged to Darmong.
Yushin stared blankly at the clump of fur on the floor.
“Why is this here?”
A breathless sound escaped Yushin.
The beastkin who had accepted him when he had nowhere to go.
The beastkin who had helped him without holding back when he set his sights on becoming an explorer.
If not for Darmong's help and advice, he might still be wandering the streets, let alone becoming an explorer. Though Darmong had charged him for lodging.
He picked up the clump of fur and toyed with it.
After standing there for a long while, Yushin finally managed to open his mouth.
“Anne, let's go to the central area. A lot of explorers pass through there, so we should be able to get some help and advice. If we meet a good explorer, we might have a much easier time finding our companions. This is my final concession.”
Anne, who had been silent, opened her mouth.
“Understood.”
‘I should split off from her there.’
Yushin tucked the blood-soaked clump of fur into his waistband.
Yushin and the others gathered their belongings and left the shelter on the outskirts.
Like Din, Marie had a rope tied around her waist and was dragged along.
In a long silence, each of them made their way through the darkness with their own thoughts.
Several more hours passed. Or was it only a few minutes?
It felt as though they had walked and walked all night. Or perhaps they had crawled.
There were no hobgoblin attacks.
Was it because they were covered in goblin blood and filth?
He didn't know.
By the time the feeling had left the soles of their feet, they had reached the boundary between the central and outer areas.
And then.
They found Kaal.
Only his crushed, half-eaten head remained.
Arms and legs that looked human or beastkin were piled up in strange shapes, with heads beautifully arranged on top like decorations on a Christmas tree.
Kaal's head was there.
The disgusting structure was a totem erected along the boundary separating the outer and central areas, marking the hobgoblins' territory.
“There he is.”
Yushin raised a finger and pointed at Kaal's head.
Anne's body stiffened like a statue.
It was the expression of someone who had witnessed something that could not exist.
Anne staggered toward it.
“Ah... ah...”
She stared up blankly, then fell to her knees and vomited onto the floor.
“Blaaaargh!”
Yushin approached the totem and carefully took Kaal's head.
“Marie, it's Kaal.”
“Kaal? Kaal. Kaal. Kaal.”
Marie tenderly cradled the head Yushin handed her.
Yushin patted Anne's back as she retched and cried.
“Look at them. Din and Marie. They can't survive here without you. Are you going to keep kneeling here and grieving?”
Anne stared at Yushin with horrified eyes.
“Don't look at me. Look at them. Your friends from the village.”
He grabbed Anne's chin and turned her head so she would look at Marie and Din.
One was giggling vacantly, while the other was tenderly stroking Kaal's head.
“Don't you even pity them? This happened because of you. It never would have happened if you'd stopped Kaal from going to the second level in the first place.”
“B-but Kaal...”
“He's dead. Are you going to blame the dead? Wouldn't Kaal be sad? Do you really think you bear no responsibility at all?”
....
“You found Kaal's head, and now you want to find his body too? Then let's split up here. I'll go ahead. Bring your friends and come slowly.”
He took his hand off Anne's chin and stood up.
Clutch!
Anne grabbed Yushin's arm. The strength that suddenly welled up from somewhere made it incredibly painful.
“Let's go. I said I'm going, you fucking bastard. You heartless bastard!”
Yushin spoke calmly.
“Anne, if you talk to me like that, we can't travel together. I'm not your friend or your subordinate. Do you understand?”
Anne suddenly began to chuckle.
‘Fucking terrifying.’
The laughter stopped abruptly. Anne staggered to her feet.
“Let's go, Mr. Ska.”
“Do you still have the strength to shoot a bow?”
“Don't worry. I'll shoot even if I have to do it dead.”
[The key to motivation is a sense of responsibility.]
Just as he had seen on YouTube, he worked to instill a sense of responsibility in Anne.
‘The result was a success.’
Her bulging eyes were a little frightening, though.
‘At this point, am I not a top-tier motivational instructor?’
“All right, let's go.”
He clapped his hands to break the tension.
Yushin dragged Din along, while Anne dragged Marie, and they walked on.
* * *
“Finally.”
Covered in wounds from head to toe and exhausted beyond belief, Yushin muttered in a trembling voice.
Despite all the twists and turns, they had made it.
A stele stood in a huge cavern.
He had hoped to encounter other explorers on the way to the transfer area, but they had not met anyone.
Food was a problem, but the bigger problem was that they had used up all their torches. The church had provided candles, but he had cut back on sleep and rest and kept walking, gripped by the fear that it would all be over if those ran out, too.
Din and Marie were all right, but Anne's condition was serious.
Her face was pale, and her lips were dried out.
The bandages around her abdomen were already stained with blood, and the stench of rot wafted from them.
Her steps were so unsteady that it would not have been strange for her to collapse at any moment.
That was why, when the hobgoblins attacked just before they reached the stele, he thought it was all over.
Yet despite being in the worst possible condition, Anne killed four of them with bow skills bordering on the supernatural. Yushin dealt with the remaining five.
In the midst of their desperate struggle, Din was giggling vacantly, while Marie had wet herself while clutching Kaal's head.
‘Well, at least we made it here.’
He turned his head and looked back.
Anne was practically a walking corpse, while Din and Marie had collapsed onto the floor, exhausted from the forced march and the battle.
When he touched the stele, two portals opened.
A red portal leading downward.
A blue portal leading outside.
“Let's go.”
Since Din kept trying to enter the red portal, Yushin sent him through the blue one first. Then Marie. Then Anne.
Finally, Yushin.
As he was enveloped in blue light, he felt a sensation of floating.
And then there was a sunny sky.
The group stood on a gigantic magic circle that appeared to be the exit of the Great Labyrinth.
A strange sense of liberation enveloped his entire body.
“Hahaha. Fuck, I survived!”
Yushin shouted loudly and collapsed on the spot. People wearing priestly robes hurried toward him, but his vision blurred and flickered, and he could not see them clearly before passing out.
“I survived. Ghek.”
He muttered one more thing and passed out.
* * *
When he opened his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
“Awake? This is the relief station beside the Great Labyrinth's exit.”
A white-haired elderly priest spoke.
“How long was I lying here?”
“About five hours.”
He sat up and looked around the room. It resembled a hospital ward, with several beds arranged throughout the spacious room. There were not many people occupying them.
“It'll be full soon. It's evening now.”
“How can I ever repay this kindness? Thank you.”
He had never expected such a benevolent organization to exist in another world, too.
He was moved.
“One silver coin.”
The enormous sum that came out of nowhere made Yushin feel as though someone had struck him in the head with a hammer.
“Excuse me?”
“You weren't badly injured, so we only used simple healing magic. That's one silver coin. If it's difficult for you to repay it, we'll put it on your debt. You can pay it back gradually through the Guild.”
‘Why is it so expensive? Is this right?’
Perhaps his dissatisfaction showed on his face, because the old man smiled.
“It's cheaper than the price of your life.”
‘He's got a point.’
Yushin paid one silver coin without another word.
All he had left was one silver coin and a few copper coins.
The emptiness of his pockets left a bitter taste in his mouth. Still, it was fortunate that he had collected the hobgoblin ears.
“Ah! And your companions.”
“Yes. What happened to them?”
“Honestly, their condition is pretty serious. Especially the red-haired girl.”
“Is she dead?”
He asked flatly. In truth, he neither cared nor wanted to know.
“No. She was on the verge of death, but we managed to save her.”
“Oh. Well, that's good.”
The old man's eyebrows twitched at his indifferent tone.
“Ska, weren't you the party leader? Weren't you the last one to come out of the labyrinth?”
“Not me. The friend who has only his head left is the leader.”
“Then what should we do? You're the only party member whose mind is still sound.”
“They can put it on each person's debt, I suppose. But can the friends whose minds are damaged be treated?”
“There may be some hope for the girl, but the boy is beyond help.”
So Marie could be saved, but Din was beyond hope.
“Well, they'll manage somehow. I'll be going.”
Just as he stood up from the bed and began gathering his belongings,
The ward's door was violently flung open.
Bang!
“Anne! Din! Kaal!”
A burly human man came in, shouting loudly.
Seeing him limp, Yushin knew he was the injured village companion Kaal had mentioned.
“...Marie?”
The man's gaze swept around the ward before fixing on one spot. His trembling voice echoed through the quiet room.
Marie was sitting in a chair beside the bed where Anne lay.
Tenderly stroking Kaal's head.
Din was crouching beside Marie, continuing to giggle.
“What is this?”
The man struggled over to them and spoke.
“Marie, Din. What happened? Say something! And what's with this head?”
Yushin slung his backpack over his shoulder and approached.
“It won't do any good. Marie's mind is broken, and Din has gone mad.”
“Who are you?”
The man growled fiercely.
“The person who took your place.”
“Explain what happened!”
“You see the head Marie is holding over there? That's Kaal.”
“What...?”
The man asked again as though he had heard something impossible, but his gaze remained fixed on the head in Marie's arms.
“Kaal. He fell into a hobgoblin trap, was stabbed by a spear, and died after a club smashed his head.”
Silence settled over the ward.
The man's legs seemed to give out, and he suddenly sank to the floor.
“Urgh... Bwaaagh!”
Then he began vomiting.
At that moment, the old man approached and clicked his tongue.
“Can you vomit in a ward where hygiene is important?”
“I agree.”
Yushin nodded.
After emptying his stomach, the man sprang up and grabbed Yushin by the collar.
“You bastard! What did you do?! Why are you the only one unharmed?!”
‘Did this bastard's brain-to-mouth filter break?’
Yushin swung his fist and smashed it into the man's jaw.
Whack!
The man staggered, then slumped to the floor.
“A fight in the ward? Tsk, tsk.”
The old man clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
Yushin clicked his tongue as well and spoke.
“I saved every one of them and brought them out. You should be bowing to me and thanking me. I took arrows like a goddamn porcupine, ran all over the place, and risked my life to save your companions. Damn! It's not like I can strip naked and show you my wounds.”
He added a little exaggeration.
“Hmm. It wasn't quite that bad.”
The old man's objection came out of nowhere.
Yushin's and the man's eyes met.
“That old man? I met him for the first time today. He seems a little off in the head. You're Kaal's companion, right? What's your name?”
Ignoring the old man's hollow laugh, the man opened his mouth.
“Tarman.”
“All right, Tarman. There's somewhere we need to go together. Right now.”
“Where?”
“The Explorer's Guild.”
“Why?”
“We need to collect the reward for the subjugation quest. We have to pay your friends' medical bills, don't we?”
“Why do I have to go with you?”
“Because I have a feeling you'll come complaining later that the reward was distributed incorrectly or something. If you don't like it, don't come.”
“I'll go with you.”
After hesitating, Tarman nodded and answered.
He seemed at a loss after the sudden shock of his village friend's death, but he also seemed to have quickly pulled himself together.
“The Explorer's Guild building is right next door. This branch mainly handles subjugation and gathering quests. Since it's not a busy time, we should be done fairly quickly.”
The old man interjected.
“The old man's speech is coherent and clear. Is he really mentally unsound?”
When Tarman asked, Yushin shrugged.
“Maybe it's a brief bout of dementia. Do you really think that matters? We don't even know how much the treatment will cost.”
“Well... that's true.”
“Let's go.”
He wanted to finish distributing the rewards as quickly as possible. He never wanted to have anything more to do with these wretched bastards.
Tarman glanced at Kaal's head and hesitated, but eventually followed Yushin.
Yushin and Tarman left the relief station and entered the Explorer's Guild building next door.