HG Ch 37

<37>

After bidding farewell to the baby Cheongryong, they left the Cheongryong Wondang (Shrine).

Their destination was Manyeok Village near the foot of Jirisan, the closest settlement to the mountain. Before beginning the Jirisan raid, they planned to stop by the village to repair their items and buy consumables.

“Then shall we meet at the tavern after we’re done with our errands?”

Up until now, Yoon Iseo and Joo Eunho had only stayed together when necessary. When they didn’t need each other, they spent their time apart, keeping a distant, businesslike relationship. Eunho assumed they would act the same way in this village and asked accordingly, but Yoon Iseo looked at him with a disappointed expression.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“That’s cold, Joo Eunho.”

“Me?”

Wasn’t it Yoon Iseo who, when Eunho had suddenly felt emotional and looked up at the sky after parting with the young Cheongryong, asked him, ‘Why are you getting so worked up over a piece of game data?’ 

But Yoon Iseo nodded and said something truly absurd.

“You have to help me buy items.”

“…Me?”

“Yeah. I also need to get my equipment repaired.”

Then, after thinking for a moment, Yoon Iseo said, “Hand.”

When Eunho reflexively opened his hand, Yoon Iseo placed a heavy pouch of money on it.

“I’ll pay you well for the errand, so please take care of it, okay?”

Eunho instinctively put the pouch into his bag, though his expression was still puzzled.

“Well, I’ll take the money since you’re giving it to me, but… why are you even paying me to run errands for you? You could just do it yourself like you usually do, wander off on your own, and get everything done.”

It felt like a prim, aloof cat suddenly coming over with a harness in its mouth and saying it wanted to go for a walk with him. It didn’t suit him at all.

But Yoon Iseo tilted his head, as if Eunho’s perfectly reasonable question was the strange one. “It’s because I can’t do that anymore, so I’m asking you to do it, right?”  

As expected from the man who had once downed six bowls of tarakjuk, even after a round of conversation, Eunho was left with more questions than answers.

Normally, he would have found this frustrating. But Joo Eunho right now was not his usual self; he was a veteran who had spent the night with Yoon Iseo and had even ended up making a child with him.

Thus thought the veteran Joo Eunho, No point overthinking it. He probably just needs me for something. And he’s paying me, anyway.

With that, he accompanied Yoon Iseo toward the marketplace of Manyeok Village. Yet as they walked, a growing sense of unease crept up on him.

What is this?

He glanced around, puzzled, and after a moment’s thought, he spotted a herbalist and bought a few roots of high-quality herbs.

Satisfied with the good deal, Eunho’s expression softened, and he asked Yoon Iseo, “What else did you say you needed? Equipment repairs?”

“Yeah, weapon repairs.”

They were just heading toward the forge when something strange happened.

Thud!

“Tch. Filthy bastard! No shame at all!”

A man who was clearly an NPC roughly slammed his shoulder into Yoon Iseo, then spat on the ground and walked off.

What was that?

Eunho, the witness, was the most shocked.

Why would an NPC act like that toward a player? Is this some kind of AI rebellion?

He was left speechless and stared at Yoon Iseo. But Yoon Iseo himself did not look particularly surprised. He was just fiddling with the herbs Eunho had bought. Then, watching Eunho stop, he cocked his head instead.

“Aren’t you going to the forge?”

“Huh? Ah, yes…”

What was that? Eunho was curious, but since the other person seemed so indifferent, he didn’t press it. While cautiously glancing around and walking, they arrived at the forge.

Just as Eunho was about to enter, Yoon Iseo suddenly thrust out his spear.

“Then get it fixed properly.”

“You… You’re giving me the spear? Let’s just go in together.”

Could he really trust someone enough to hand over a max-level weapon like that? Eunho wanted to refuse outright rather than risk having to replace the weapon while earning a few coins running errands. He shook his head and made a gesture that he absolutely would not accept it.

After thinking it over at Eunho’s words, Yoon Iseo finally came into the forge with him.

And then—

“You bastard! Get the hell out! Trying to ruin someone’s business, are you?”

The blacksmith scowled the moment he saw Yoon Iseo and waved his hand at him, shooing him away.

“Get out quickly before I salt you!”

Eunho looked aghast, and Yoon Iseo simply watched quietly. He even said, “I’ll just wait outside,” and started to turn and leave the forge. His retreating figure looked unbearably forlorn.

In the end, Joo Eunho, who gets restless and has bad dreams whenever he sees injustice toward the weak, stepped forward.

“Why are you treating someone else’s companion like that? Huh? What exactly did that person do wrong?”

When Eunho spoke in a loud, resonant voice uncharacteristic of him, the blacksmith answered with a look of disbelief. His expression said, ‘Birds of a feather flock together, perhaps you too?’ What on earth was he on about?

“What did he do wrong? Don’t you know what kind of man he is?”

Those words pushed Eunho’s buttons, who had lately been painfully aware of information gaps because of the system’s filtering.

“What the heck is it! How am I supposed to know when no one told me?!”

While Eunho was venting the anger from a slap received from the east with one delivered to the south^[1], the blacksmith slapped his chest and cried, “Aigoo, aigoo!” then shouted at Eunho. At the same time, he wagged a finger toward where Yoon Iseo was standing, as if to say, ‘Look at him.’

“That bastard… is a beast who gets aroused by children!”

“…What?”

If the blacksmith had instead said something like ‘A lowborn pretending to be a noble!’ or ‘He’s into sodomy!’ Eunho might have bristled and angrily explained why that was unacceptable. But what the blacksmith said now was just so…

He’s seriously such flammable trash that deserves to be burned alive?

Eunho’s gaze slid over to Yoon Iseo.

Meanwhile, the blacksmith clicked his tongue, driving the wedge in deeper.

“There’s even a mark showing he molested a child for all to see. Tch!”

“……”

What? Not only got aroused, but actually… molested a child? It was even in the past tense.

Eunho turned to look at Yoon Iseo. He wore a face that said, ‘Were you really that kind of despicable beast? If you say yes, I’ll kill you right now.’

Meeting that sharp, icy gaze, Yoon Iseo frowned.

“Well… If we’re being technical, yes, I did touch a child here.”

“……”

Catching Eunho’s stare, Yoon Iseo, looking unusually flustered for him, hurried to add, “I meant you.”

Eunho let out a laugh full of disbelief.

“Me? You mean to say you touched a child because of me? Why don’t you go ahead and say you transmigrated here because of me, too?”

Why not just blame him for the Earth being round or for the law of conservation of mass while he was at it?

“Yes, it’s all because of you.”

“What did you just say?”

Yoon Iseo replied clearly, word for word, “Like how I got a penalty because I kissed you.”

Eunho’s mouth fell open.

Now that he thought about it, he did recall seeing something like that on the system window.

[SYSTEM] A penalty will now be applied.

Only then did Joo Eunho realize that the “child” the NPC had been referring to was himself, and his expression stiffened. In front of Eunho, who was now staring blankly at his own toes, Yoon Iseo crossed his arms.

“So now I can’t trade with any NPCs for 12 weeks.”

“What are you going to do, then?”

“You’re going to buy things for me, Joo Eunho.”

So that was why he had been making Eunho handle simple errands like repairing or purchasing items in exchange for small fees. Finally understanding, Eunho nodded awkwardly, though still uncomfortable. Then, after a moment’s thought, he asked, “Then what about me? I can still talk to NPCs just fine.”

“Of course you can.”

Then their voices overlapped.

“Why? It was mutual—”

“You’re the victim.”

Yoon Iseo paused, then laughed incredulously. “Mutual?” His expression as he looked at Eunho was the same as if he were asking, ‘How many times have you fallen for voice phishing scams already?’ which made Eunho bristle.

“I just thought it was mutual because I grew up used to the Korean school system, where everyone gets punished even if only one person messes up! I didn’t actually mean it was mutual…”

Flustered, Eunho started spouting nonsense, his poor speaking skills failing him once again. Meanwhile, one of the young male NPCs tried to charge at Yoon Iseo, so Eunho grabbed him and pulled him aside. Yoon Iseo stood quietly by Eunho’s side.

“So, does that mean you can’t go around the village anymore?”

“Huh? It doesn’t matter. What they do in the village is just for shame or reflection. It’s really just a symbolic gesture.”

“Then why are you acting so shameless about it? You should at least pretend to feel sorry.”

I’m the one embarrassed here… Eunho glanced around.

The strange sense of discomfort he had felt earlier—this was it. Among the bustling crowd in the marketplace, no elderly or weak NPCs came within a certain distance of Yoon Iseo. Countless eyes were darting glances at them. When an event triggered in which a mother NPC hurriedly scooped up her child and fled as soon as the kid got too close to Yoon Iseo, Eunho found himself wishing he could just leave the village altogether.

“…Let’s just go on the raid already.”

The main quest was supposed to be about saving Joseon from crisis, yet the fact that Yoon Iseo was being treated by NPCs as worse than a dog, like some villain, left Eunho utterly bewildered.