Chapter 36: To Hall Plain! |
The transfer was nothing special. Having experienced it hundreds of times, it was just a matter-of-fact feeling. After completing the transfer to the [Inn of Beginnings], I stepped out into the second-floor hallway and noticed a commotion downstairs. This was the time to wait for guidance from the users who had already entered Hall Plain. It was usually a quiet time, with everyone tense until the guides arrived, so the noise was rather unexpected.
Once the new users finished their setups and completed their transfers, the transfer barrier surrounding the inn would dissipate. As soon as the barrier fell, existing users would open the doors and come in to guide the newcomers. That was the procedure. In the past, I had strongly disliked the existing users who took on this guide role.
Their attitude was incredibly arrogant. To make an analogy, it was like a private first class who’d just gotten a taste of military life looking down on a newly enlisted private. Of course, they were survivors who had made it through the Rite of Passage, just like the new users had. I acknowledged that they had worked hard to survive after that.
Listening to them (the ones acting as guides) was a spectacle in itself. After adapting to Hall Plain to some extent, they'd see new users and feel smug, thinking, 'I used to be like that.' For the record, I remember the user who told me that died three months later.
In any case, I didn't like it, but there was nothing I could do about it now. Listening to their explanation and quietly enrolling in the User Academy was the best course of action at present.
Since we're on the topic, I should explain a bit more. The User Academy was a truly revolutionary method. I don't know who suggested its establishment, but they must have been sharp. Unlike the old, haphazard days, the situation improved so much after the academy was founded that it became rare for new users to lose their lives senselessly in the early stages.
Anyway, reuniting with the kids was one thing, but I was pondering what to say. Lost in these and other thoughts, I walked down the second-floor hallway and soon found myself at the end. I was just about to think that all I had to do was open the door in front of me.
"Shit!"
Even if it meant lying, I wanted to meet the kids and clear up any misunderstandings first, so I had no choice but to stop my hand as it was about to push the door. From near the first-floor staircase outside, voices I definitely recognized drifted through the crack of the door to my ears. One after another.
"This crazy bitch, can't you just listen? I'm telling you, I saw it clearly with my own two eyes!"
"Your eyes must be fucked up! Who gave you the right to run your mouth like that!"
"Crazy bitch. Was I the only one who saw it? Huh? Bo-rim said she saw it too! Didn't she say she saw the crossbow snapped in half?!"
Hearing the name Bo-rim, I could guess who the owners of the profanity-laced voices were. The troublemaker, Park Dong-geol. I never imagined he'd actually make it to Hall Plain alive. Honestly, I had pretty much stopped caring about them after we separated, and my true feeling was that I couldn't care less if they lived or died. Anyway, I decided to think as positively as possible. I remembered how he'd been an ass in the beginning, so I figured I'd get a chance to deal with him myself when the time was right.
I immediately knew who the other high-pitched voice belonged to. Seeing Yu-jeong clash with Park Dong-geol anytime, anywhere, I couldn't help but think they were fated rivals. I clicked my tongue and quietly pushed the door open.
"Shu—!?"
Immediately, the sound of a creaking door was followed by the sight of numerous people. Yu-jeong, who had been about to tell him to shut up, stopped and looked up at the sound. I gave her an awkward smile.
It seemed I was the last of all the users to be transferred. The moment I stepped out, a flood of gazes turned to me. A rough count showed over forty people; the inn was bustling with survivors. In the past, there were barely twenty. Aside from the high level of the users, it seemed that defeating the boss monster on the sixth day had some effect. Did this mean that, originally, more than half of the people here would have died on the last day?
I walked down the stairs, one step at a time, and offered a light greeting.
"So you all made it. I'm glad you're safe."
Of course, they're alive. I practically sent them to the warp gate wrapped in cotton wool. Despite my fairly normal greeting, there was no response. Just as I was about to feel embarrassed, Yu-jeong staggered toward me.
"Oppa...?"
"Yeah."
She raised her arms, placed her hands on my face, and began to gently touch both my cheeks. Her eyes and lips trembled, showing just how shocked and overwhelmed with emotion she was. It wasn't just Yu-jeong. The hope they had clung to, thin as a thread, had become a reality before their eyes. An Hyeon's group and Woo Jeong-min, who seemed to have grasped the situation, were also staring at my face in disbelief.
Yu-jeong continued, her voice choked with emotion.
"Oppa... is that really you, Su-hyeon oppa? It's not someone else, right?"
"What, do I look like a doppelgänger? Ow, that hurts. Don't pull so hard. I said it hurts."
"Congratulations on your survival. I never imagined you'd have made it... incredible."
I managed to peel Yu-jeong's hands off my cheeks just as a husky voice spoke from the side. I turned my head and saw, as expected, the surviving Woo Jeong-min and his party. Woo Jeong-min looked like he wanted to say more, but I gave a slight shake of my head. He seemed to understand my signal and closed his mouth, which had just been about to open. After that, I briefly met the eyes of Won Hye-su, who was staring at me with a surprised face, but she just whipped her head away in response.
An Hyeon looked ecstatic, Yu-jeong's face was a mixture of joy and sorrow, and Sol was on the verge of tears as they stared at me. An Hyeon's group and I just looked at each other for a moment. They seemed to want to say something, their lips constantly parting, but the words wouldn't come out.
The words just wouldn't come. That didn't matter much, but for now, I wanted to escape the attention. It was already burdensome enough, but if Sol were to burst into tears in a place this crowded, it would be truly embarrassing.
Soothing Sol, who looked like she was about to start bawling, I deliberately moved toward a corner seat. Meanwhile, the completely ignored Park Dong-geol watched us sit at a table, then huffed and stormed off to the opposite side with Lee Bo-rim.
After a short while, as the stares from the crowd lessened, the kids also seemed to have composed themselves. The only one who was still a bit much was An Sol. She had plopped down right next to me and had been tightly gripping my collar since earlier.
I sent An Hyeon a look asking for help, but he just gave an awkward smile and started talking.
"Hyeong. I still can't believe it. It's like I'm looking at an immortal."
"Haha. Immortal is a bit of an exaggeration. I was just lucky."
An Hyeon shook his head at my words. No, more importantly, do something about her. She wasn't a toddler, so why was she still clinging to my collar? An Sol, oblivious to my thoughts, replied in a trembling voice.
"No. To me, it feels like I'm witnessing a miracle. While waiting at the bottom of the stairs, I kept thinking, 'what if'... but every time, Oppa was..."
As she spoke, her grip on my clothes tightened. Seeing An Sol choke up again, unable to finish her sentence, I felt a sense of helplessness. But the fact that I had to start lying now made me smile bitterly inside.
"Anyway, I'm just glad to see you all alive again."
"If you were alive, you should have come sooner! Always making people worr... No. I'm sorry, Oppa. It's not like you wanted it to be this way..."
Watching Yu-jeong cycle through nagging, apologizing, and crying, I tilted my head. I hadn't realized the kids cared about me this much, but at the same time, I felt a sense of pride. Yu-jeong clenched her fists, wiped the tear stains from her eyes, and continued.
"Oppa. Tell us what happened. That bastard over there said your crossbow was near the warp gate, snapped clean in half. You were nowhere to be seen. Neither was that monster."
Ahem. So it has come to this. I was glad I'd burned the boss monster's corpse in preparation for this moment. However, failing to dispose of the crossbow properly was my mistake. I wanted to just gloss over it, but I felt a cold gaze on me. The owner of that gaze was Kim Han-byeol. I had a feeling that if I tried to be vague, it would cause problems with her later.
Kim Han-byeol hadn't said a single word since I'd arrived at the inn. Except for when she first saw me, her expression had barely changed. I turned my head and met her gaze for a moment. The instant I read the emotion in her eyes, I felt a slight, complicated pang in my heart.
Overall, her expression conveyed relief, but I could also detect a faint mix of disbelief and suspicion. Han-byeol was definitely not just some average kid. In a way, her personality seemed quite similar to mine. She didn't get swayed by her surroundings or emotions, always leaving room for reason to intervene. I probably wouldn't ever be able to grasp her true nature, but one thing was certain: a seed of doubt about me had been planted in her mind.
The inn was no longer as noisy as it had been initially, nor was it silent. The hushed whispers of the surviving groups could be heard all around. I sighed inwardly. It felt like I'd been sighing a lot lately. In the end, I decided it was better to claim I couldn't remember much rather than concoct a clumsy lie.
"Yeah. That's right. I tried to dodge the monster's attack... but I think it was aiming for the crossbow from the start. It split right in half. It was pretty bleak back then. Haha."
"Is your left arm okay?"
Kim Han-byeol spoke up immediately after I finished. On the surface, it sounded like concern, but to my ears, it was, 'Weren't you wearing the crossbow on your left arm?' I smacked my lips and replied right away.
"It attacked with its tail. I raised my left arm without thinking, and it seems it just grazed the crossbow."
"...Then what did you do?"
"Well. I'm not really sure, to be honest. I guess you could say I don't remember. At that moment, I thought I was really dead, so my mind just went blank. I think the beast was stomping around wildly, and I was rolling on the ground like a madman..."
In a quiet voice, I began to explain, heavily editing my actual experience and beating around the bush. My conclusion was that I had taken advantage of the thick dust, run for my life, and rolled toward the lowlands of the forest. Everyone nodded at my explanation. Everyone except Kim Han-byeol, that is. Anyone who had faced the boss monster head-on for more than three minutes would immediately know my story was full of lies and holes.
Kim Han-byeol seemed lost in thought and didn't ask any more questions. It was partly because she hadn't been there, and also because the main atmosphere was one of celebrating my survival, so she likely kept quiet. However, the suspicious look in her eyes didn't seem to have faded. I decided to stop talking at this point. After all, my roundabout explanation was just a way to buy time.
Before I knew it, the barrier outside the window had faded considerably.
============================ Author's Note ============================
Han-byeol's unpredictable attitude is a hint for an upcoming event. ㅇㅅㅇ
Aww. So many comments and recommendations. For some reason, I had trouble writing today. I even took two showers in the middle of writing... T.T. Still, I was able to finish today's chapter thanks to all your comments. Hehehe. Maybe tonight I'll dream of swimming in a sea of comments? To the readers who left comments! To the readers who gave coupons! To the readers who favorited! To the readers who recommended! Thank you all. :)
『Replies to Replies』
1) SaramInsaeng: Congrats on first place! That's right. But honestly, he really does need to raise his stamina. Su-hyeon's stamina is too pathetic right now....
2) Beolju: Ahaha. I don't want to stop writing these replies just yet. I have a lot of fun writing them. My heart even flutters.
3) backtheclock: I'm debating. It's not a one-true-love story, but there are people he wants to save. However, I'm still deciding whether to go the harem route or the one-man-woman route~.
4) Kaihon: I did serialize 12 chapters back in March of '12 before turning it into a draft. If you remember that... that's amazing! ㅋㅋ
5) Maryeonggeom: H-here's the next chapter! *bows*!
6) Gemmwen: That's such high praise it makes me squirm. Thank you. I kept grinning like an idiot while reading your comment, Gemmwen-nim. :)
7) IriIngyeo: Thank you for the coupon. Multiple chapters... I'm so sorry. I really want to do it... *sob*. T.T
8) Noraepulip: C-calm down;! The next chapter is right here. So please calm....
9) Criacen: There is. What Su-hyeon experienced is also a type of metamorphosis. However, you can think of it as an abbreviated version, different from the normal kind. :)
10) CrossDie: I'm such a useless author, accepting coupons but not being able to release multiple chapters. T.T
11) Anbinnakdo: Zero Code. Hahaha... you'll see later, but Su-hyeon has absolutely no intention of using Zero Code or a wish to save people. No, it's not that he has no intention, but from his perspective, it's something he must not do. That's a more accurate way to put it. It's related to the ending, so it's difficult to reveal it now. :)
12) Toranoanal: Hahaha; I'm the type to always include an afterword. I'll continue to bring you substantial content!
13) Katamunenai: As for Park Dong-geol... huhu. Huhuhuhu.(?)
14) Naegabyeonheasanda: Actually, I thought I had increased the pacing, but it seems it's still slow from the readers' perspective. But if I push the story forward any faster, I'm worried I won't be able to convey everything I want to. T.T
15) Riknukseu: Aigoo~ Here's the next chapter~. Read this and grow big and strong~ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Ah, you're so adorable! ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
For those who aren't in the replies! I read every single comment, so please don't be sad. If there's anyone who absolutely must get a reply, please give me a signal beforehand. I will definitely make sure to catch it.
Well then, I'll take my leave for today.
I hope you can always read with a relaxed heart.
Favorites, recommendations, comments, critiques, and questions are always welcome.