CH 37

Chapter 37

“H-hey, what brings you here?”

Why would Kim Sangyoon visit my house at nearly 10 pm?

I hesitated but eventually opened the garden gate. After all, he was a familiar face. Kim Sangyoon strode onto the front porch, edging towards the door, even though I had not invited him in.

I checked Seo Dawon’s slight frown out of the corner of my eyes, and I sneakily blocked Kim Sangyoon’s path.

“Um, Sangyoon-nim…Is there a reason why you’ve come so late at night?” I asked, “I’m a bit flustered…”

“Can we speak inside?”

“That’s…It’s a bit late now, can’t this wait until next time? Why all of a sudden….”

“Oho. Is there someone inside? Someone you can’t introduce me to?”

“……Huh?”

What on earth is he talking about?

Puzzlingly, Kim Sangyoon smiled widely as if he had caught me by the tail. Seo Dawon, standing next to me, looked him up and down. “Is he drunk?” He asked.

All joking matters aside, I think I smelled the faint scent of alcohol off his body. Perplexed, I held onto Kim Sangyoon’s arm. I don’t know why he’s acting like some ex-boyfriend, drinking and barging into another’s house, but I felt as if I shouldn’t allow him inside.

However, Kim Sangyoon snatched my wrist the moment I laid my hand on his arm. I twisted, trying to get away. “W-What are you doing?” I cried. However, against a Warrior–a class that boasted superior strength–my struggles were in vain.

Seo Dawon immediately began to walk closer as soon as he saw the scene.

However, just before Dawon grabbed at Kim Sangyoon’s shoulder, the Warrior spoke to me in a low tone, “You met with Bae Jaemin at the , didn’t you?”

……What?

My eyes opened wide, unable to hide how shaken I was.

My expression must have confirmed something for Kim Sangyoon; He began murmuring, “I knew it…I knew something was weird. A dungeon where two level 60 Users died, I should have known something was wrong when someone like you survived…”

I couldn’t even begin to explain myself–I had no idea how Kim Sangyoon found out….or what exactly he knew.

However, Kim Sangyoon’s temper flared at my silence. “Aren’t you going to say something?” Perhaps he thought I was ignoring him.

“N-no, I’ve never met him.”

I had no choice but to deny everything, but Kim Sangyoon didn’t seem to believe any of my words.

How on earth did he find out?

However, Kim Sangyoon began to accuse me of something quite strange.

“You’re going to feign ignorance now? You thought I wouldn’t find out that you, after receiving Bae Jaemin’s support, messed up the raid on purpose? Getting caught in the lake and dragging your feet…Dragging us to the trap room for some supposed ‘ingredient’…After wasting our time, Ahn Joosung defeated the Lich Lord!”

It was hard to even understand his words. In the first place, I had no idea who Ahn Joosung was–I knew neither his face nor his class.

So, I asked him, “Who is this Ahn Joosung?”

Kim Sangyoon, flushed with frustration, stood intimidatingly in front of me, invading my personal space with his large stature. He threateningly growled, “You don’t know Ahn Joosung? Bae Jaemin? How many beatings will you need until you remember?”

“No matter how stubbornly you repeat yourself, I….”

“Then what do you say to this? A Necromancer who hadn’t even reached level 50 returns from the Dungeon and begins to sell dozens of the highest grade Barnasiums. And today, earlier in the day, you exchanged business cards with Bae Jaemin at the department store. There’s photographic evidence of this scene; plenty of people saw it!”

“……..”

This….crazy….!

Did Kim Sangyoon misunderstand all because of *that*?

I hurriedly stated, “The Barnasiums were given to me by a friend–I was a third-party seller.”

By that time, he had already grabbed me by the collar and lifted me into the air. “Bastard, I already know that ‘friend’ is Bae Jaemin.”

“Cough, cough…..!”

“I knew something was suspicious about you and your accident–how you survived so long on your own. Hey, call Bae Jaemin right away or I’ll….”

However, Kim Sangyoon did not finish his sentence.

He stood there with his eyes open wide, as if he had been electrocuted. His amazing grip force, which had been squeezing my collar, had suddenly slackened, and his body began trembling all over.

I stepped away quickly, catching my breath. When I looked up, Seo Dawon was behind him, lightly gripping and bending Kim Sangyoon’s neck. The touch wasn’t normal; something gold twinkled on Dawon’s fingertips. Furthermore, Kim Sangyoon continued to convulse and started to foam at the mouth.

The crotch of his jeans also began to darken–he had wet himself from the force of Seo Dawon’s mysterious skill.

Is Dawon…planning to kill him?

I couldn’t stop gaping at the scene. As soon as our eyes met, Seo Dawon gently released his hand and lightly flicked some invisible dirt off his skin, as if he had touched something filthy.

After he was released, Kim Sangyoon could not keep his balance and crashed on the floor, limbs writhing in agony.

Seo Dawon did not even blink at the violence and blandly recited a spell, “Aqua.”

Water, enough to fill a bucket, blinked into existence in the air above the Warrior. From there, it relentlessly sprinkled over his prone body.

Kim Sangyoon did not return to his senses with that first deluge. However, when Aqua was repeated multiple times, his upturned eyes returned to their normal position. He seemed to have regained consciousness, though his body temporarily lost mobility due to shock.

Seo Dawon kicked Kim Sangyoon’s listless body and looked at me. He said, softly, “Lee-kyung-ah, call my name.”

“……Huh?”

“Focus your will, and, with the intention to 'summon” me into reality, call for me.”

Would you like to manifest your servant, ‘Seo Dawon’?

As he talked, an opaque message appeared. I was confused, but I called his name as he desired.  “Seo Dawon.”

The moment I called his name, a strange feeling washed over me. It felt as if the surrounding colors became desaturated–the scenery awash with a strange lighting.

I looked up at the sky casually, trying to locate the origin of the disharmony. Just a moment ago, the moon was bright and yellow, shining softly onto the front garden; now it glowed an unnatural brilliant vermillion.

An unnatural stillness followed.

The chirping of grasshoppers, usually present at all hours, was silenced.

“S-Save me!!”

You’ve succeeded in triggering the status effect ‘Fear’.

Charisma increased (+10).

We hadn’t even tortured Kim Sangyoon after Seo Dawon’s first attack, but he suddenly started crying and begging.

His reaction reminded me of one of the Necromancer class skills, [Fear]. Seo Dawon stepped on Kim Sangyoon’s head, and the Warrior could only grab onto his shoe, pleading for mercy.

“I’m sorry, I’ve done wrong. I’m so sorry…..Ugh…..”

“I want to ask you something.” Seo Dawon ignored my shell-shocked expression and acted on his own. His unusually sharp voice cut through the tense air.

“Yes, yes…I’m listening” Kim Sangyoon replied through his tears.

“The man that Bae Jaemin is pushing. Ahn Joosung. I’d like to hear about their relationship.” Seo Dawon’s voice was calm, but I couldn’t help but shudder. The contrast between his voice and the blazing focus in his eyes made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

Kim Sangyoon bashed his head onto the ground. “Yes! Yes, just ask me anything!” He responded, pleased to be able to help. He seemed to have instinctively understood that his life and death lay in the palm of Seo Dawon’s hands.

“Why do you think Bae Jaemin is supporting this Ahn Joosung?”

“W-Well, Ahn Joosung…..knnngh!”

When Kim Sangyoon tried to raise his head to respond, Seo Dawon kicked his face without any mercy, preventing his face from being exposed to the pitiful Warrior.

“Don’t look up. You don’t need to see me to answer my questions.”

“Mmrgh…..Yes…..yes….”

" "

“Well then. Where were we? Ahn Joosung?”

“Yes…Ah, Ahn Joosung…He’s the grandson of Chairman Ahn of the Shin Shin group. T-that’s why Bae Jaemin to Ahn Joosung…He’s a special contact. Whether it’s carrying him through Dungeons or bringing him to unthinkably difficult places…He’s poured a lot of effort into raising Ahn Joosung…” Bowing his head to the floor, Kim Sangyoon began to air all the grievances he had towards the man.

While listening to his story, Seo Dawon tapped his chin and murmured to himself, “Hmm, blatantly favoring someone born with a gold spoon in his mouth would sow some discord.”

“….Yes, yes. T-that’s why people…Often the raids become twisted or ruined because of Ahn Joosung…There’s a lot of discontent among the Users who know about it.”

“So, guys like you, who can’t squeeze into their party, have some complaints about it, huh?”

“Yes.” Kim Sangyoon winced at the blunt words but eventually nodded. For a man who was so eager to believe that I had colluded with Bae Jaemin, he quieted so easily under Seo Dawon’s foot. Cold sweat ran down my back–was he jealous?

Kim Sangyoon continued to add to his tale, eyes tightly squeezed shut. “But….T-there’s a lot of complaints within HaHae as well…Since Ahn Joosung is low level and is unskilled…yet he’s treated like a guild master…”

“You’re talking about the HaHae guild?”

“Yes….”

“Didn’t they just form yesterday?”

“The official announcement was yesterday…Unofficially, they’ve been a guild for many years already. They’ve been calling themselves HaHae for a long while now.”

“When did that start?”

“I don’t know…Maybe…Around two years ago, there were a lot of rumors about them.”