HG Ch 23

<23>

[SYSTEM] You have gained the required experience points. Your Spiritual Power has increased. [SYSTEM] HP and MP have been restored. All status effects have been removed. [SYSTEM] You have reached a certain class level. The exclusive trait <Butcher Ding’s Precision[1]> has been added. [SYSTEM] With your exquisite hand movements, you can now automatically reload gun-type weapons.

Only after raising his Spiritual Power to 65 was he finally able to escape that hellish dungeon. Eunho wiped his damp eyes roughly with his sleeve.

Yoon Iseo, who had been gently stirring a breeze with his unfolded bamboo fan, spoke up.

“Why do you keep crying?”

To Eunho, that voice sounded like a reproach, as if calling him pathetic.

“Maybe it’s because I’m a kid who’s hard to please,” Eunho replied sulkily.

When both his body and heart were exhausted, the only thing that came to mind was the face of someone he trusted and loved, like a pillar of support.

He regretted not paying closer attention when the Chang-gwi had imitated his mother. He even started having thoughts like that now.

He just wanted to be with someone important to him. Not someone in their thirties, emotionally dried up and cracked like a rice field in a drought.

Clothes that had been crumpled or torn during battle wouldn’t look new again until they were repaired in a village. While Eunho was sniffling and smoothing out the wrinkled fabric of his clothes, something came tumbling down over his head.

Having been struck by various objects, Eunho snapped like a teenager entering a stormy adolescent phase.

Just as he was about to shout, “Ah!” he realized that everything rolling around on the ground were items for a Level 65 Gunner.

Surprised, Eunho stopped himself mid-sentence and looked at Yoon Iseo.

“Don’t cry with that face.”

Yoon Iseo flinched as if caught off guard by his own tone.

“I wasn’t angry just now.” He mumbled an unnecessary excuse, then seemed to think better of it and took a step back.

His gaze, which had been fixed on the corners of Eunho’s eyes, began to wander.

It was only then that Eunho realized—

Yoon Iseo wasn’t scolding him at all…

“…You can’t do anything like this.”

He was slightly furrowing his brow, like someone who felt sorry.

The moment when Yoon Iseo, whose thoughts he could not at all fathom, revealed his true feelings, Joo Eunho felt an indescribable emotion.

—“Are you crying because you hate it? …Tell me properly. If you don’t speak, I won’t know.”

Why did it feel like this had happened before?

But the question soon faded away.

After changing into all the new gear and exiting the dungeon, Yoon Iseo immediately began scaling Seoraksan like a mountain goat climbing a sheer cliff. It was as if he had been waiting for this. Although it clearly wasn’t a proper path, he deftly stepped between the rocks, forging his own route.

Eunho hurriedly followed behind. All he had to do was copy how Yoon Iseo climbed but for some reason, he just couldn’t manage it.

“Ugh, huff huff… Hyung-nim… Can’t you just, huff, wait up a little?”

Yoon Iseo looked back at the dying Eunho with unmistakable scorn. This time, it wasn’t a misunderstanding. That was definitely a judgmental look.

“How the hell did you distribute your stats?”

“Well, I’m a Gunner, so I maxed out strength and agility,” Eunho answered proudly.

“What about your HP?”

“Just the minimum. I was taught that a true damage dealer goes short and intense.”

“That’s not a damage dealer. That’s just someone with a short lifespan.”

Letting out a very obvious sigh, Yoon Iseo began moving again. He wedged his foot into a narrow crack in the rocks and climbed with swift, fluid motions, looking like an Olympic gold medalist in sport climbing. In contrast, Eunho had long since devolved into a four-legged creature.

How long had they been climbing?

Just as Eunho was about to collapse from sheer exhaustion, a familiar hand suddenly appeared from above. The hand held a long strip of cloth, twisted for grip.

Understanding what it meant, Eunho grabbed the cloth and was hoisted up in a single motion, only to come crashing back down.

“Argh!”

“Such a baby.”

Yoon Iseo, who hadn’t bothered to catch the falling Eunho and instead stepped far aside, strolled over leisurely. His relaxed face, as if he hadn’t even broken a sweat, was unbelievably irritating.

“I’m really in pain. Now that my level is higher, my sense of pain has been activated.”

When Eunho grumbled, Yoon Iseo paused for a moment. Then he asked, “How much does it hurt?”

Eunho hadn’t expected Yoon Iseo to show much interest even after mentioning his sense of pain had returned. The unexpected concern felt oddly ticklish.

“I can bear one or two hits, but anything more than four and I start wanting to give up my bank password.”

Eunho answered jokingly and gave a little grunt as he got to his feet.

“Anything else besides that?”

“Like what?”

Yoon Iseo let out a breath and murmured, “…When will ■■■ ■■ react?”

The static he’d forgotten about scratched at his nerves. As Eunho’s expression tightened, Yoon Iseo, sensing his state, fell silent.

“Joo Eunho.”

Then, as if something about the moment pricked his conscience, Yoon Iseo spoke in a gentle voice. After being caught off guard like this a few times already, Eunho found it unsettling, but he couldn’t ignore it.

“…What is it now?”

Strangely, he just couldn’t brush it off. Whatever Yoon Iseo was about to say, it felt like he had no choice but to hear him out.

“This was the fastest method, so I had no choice. You know that too.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I… got ‘carried’, right?”

But was it really right to call that “got carried”? Maybe “got dragged into a carry” would be more accurate.

“It’s not my fault.”

Yoon Iseo continued speaking. Eunho was the only one here, yet Yoon Iseo still spoke at a slight angle. Was that just a habit? After he finished speaking, he tilted his head to the right, like a young beast pretending it hadn’t just caused trouble.

“What do you mean, ‘fault’…”

“We’re here. That’s the thatched cottage.”

Without giving him time to ask further, Yoon Iseo stepped into the thatched cottage first.

Eunho simply scratched the back of his head, then followed him in as if nothing had happened.

The run-down thatched house didn’t even have a proper gate, let alone a fence. Just a few bare branches tied together and stuck upright.

Stepping into the yard, Eunho called out, half-heartedly, “Is anyone here…?”

But there wasn’t the slightest trace of life inside.

“We’re supposed to meet the Taoist hermit, but if he’s not here, do we have to wait again?”

Eunho stood awkwardly in the yard, unable to even think of going into an empty house uninvited. Then Yoon Iseo flung open the nearly-collapsing door of the cottage and walked straight in without even taking off his shoes.

“Hey, at least take your shoes off!”

Startled, Eunho hurried after him, carefully placing his own shoes neatly on the stone step.

As he stepped into the room, he found Yoon Iseo already inside, arms crossed, staring straight at him.

When their eyes met, a smirk curled at Yoon Iseo’s lips.

“You’re no different from those over-immersed players who change into pajamas every time they enter their in-game house.”

The playful jab continued. Eunho decided to say nothing. He clamped his mouth shut and silently glanced around the inside of the cottage.

The low, narrow room was so cramped that even Eunho couldn’t stand up straight. There was nothing in it except a single wooden sitting platform.

It didn’t feel like someone had just stepped out for a moment. There was no sign of anyone living here at all.

Now that he thought about it, even the garden crops out in the yard had all withered and died.

Where had the Taoist hermit gone?

As Eunho bent over, he lightly swept his hand over the sitting platform—

Ding!

[Main Quest: The Prophecy Book That Wanders the Village (In Progress)] [SYSTEM] Someone once lived here. [SYSTEM] But now, it is an abandoned thatched cottage where no one lives.

At the same time, the shabby blanket chest beside the sitting platform began to glow a vivid yellow. Eunho hurriedly opened it.

[SYSTEM] You have obtained “Prophecy Interpretation, Volume I”.

He opened the interpretation he had just discovered.

[SYSTEM] You cannot read the prophecy. ※ Viewing requirement: “Prophecy Interpretation, Volume II” [SYSTEM] However, when you open “Prophecy Interpretation – Vol. 1”, something becomes visible.

From the opened interpretation volume, a piece of paper fluttered down at Eunho’s feet.

[SYSTEM] You have obtained “Letter from the Taoist hermit”.

Eunho picked up the Taoist’s letter and hurriedly unfolded it.

[SYSTEM] You are reading “Letter from the Taoist hermit”. [SYSTEM] ‘If you are reading this letter, it means either that fate has linked us, or that my seal has been broken. According to the theory of yin and yang, all things between heaven and earth are imbued with energy. Death signifies the ascension of yang energy, but if one cannot let go of resentment or lingering attachments from life, that yang fails to ascend, lingers in space, and turns into yin energy, acting on its own. * This is what we call a ghost. Through countless wars and the shedding of innocent blood, the spiritual energy of Joseon’s great mountains is steadily fading. Malicious ghosts now run rampant, wars break out, and this is precisely why the nation is in decline.   I have struggled for years to stop this. And now, I am on my way to seek counsel from a renowned old monk. In the meantime, please protect the peace of Joseon in my stead. There are two locations where I placed seals: the Chang-gwi’s lair in Jirisan, and the rock cave in Seoraksan. If one of the two seals has been broken, it’s likely the other is in a similar state. Please, protect Joseon… (The rest is smudged with tears and unreadable.)’

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Author’s Note:

*From 『Yongjae Chonghwa^[2]』