RE: Player again

319

[Chapter 101] [Even If You Mix Blood with Blood (5)]

'Because I think you'll need it.'

Words someone might have said with concern.

However, the one who heard those words felt as if the pride they had maintained all along was crumbling.

...I know, I know too.

Minji was running through the darkness, wrapped in a black cloak.

Panting heavily, she recalled what Eunha had said when he handed her the cloak not long ago.

At that time, Eunha looked infinitely serious and somewhat frightening.

A fear that couldn't be expressed in words.

She, who had known him since they were very young, couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen this time as she watched him hand over the cloak.

That something would happen for her childhood friend to have such a solemn face.

Surely Eunha would know what that 'something' was, and as always, he wouldn't tell her anything.

He would disappear without a word and try to shoulder everything alone.

I know! I know too!

But still—!

She spurred herself on, hearing the sound of something not human chasing her from behind.

She knew it herself.

Her friends knew it too.

The reason why Eunha tries to embrace everything alone.

It's because they are weak.

Because all they can do is run away from monsters like now.

That's why her friends, though frustrated, accepted the artifacts Eunha had given them beforehand.

They would be desperately running like her, trying not to get in his way.

—But it's too much...

It had been a long time since she separated from her group members.

Some of her group members had become sacrifices to the monsters.

The reason she expressed it as sacrifices was because she ran forward, turning her back on their cries for help.

Selfishly thinking in her heart that thanks to them being caught, she gained time to escape.

"Haa... haa... *ugh*!"

Yes, it's selfish.

She tried to shake off her despair while continuously infusing her internal mana into the Avenger's Cloak.

Surely her friends would be surviving by sacrificing someone like her.

But there was no choice!

Because there's nothing we can do!

If she hadn't received just this black cloak from Eunha, Minji might have been able to justify herself in that way.

However, Eunha had only given protective artifacts or serious advice to other friends, but gave only her a cloak.

The implication was clear.

Eunha was worried about her.

It's a grateful thing.

But that was never what she wanted.

Avenger's Cloak

She had always wanted to be an equal friend, standing side by side with Eunha.

That's why she tried to become a player, that's why she entered the academy and continued to make painstaking efforts.

Nevertheless, Eunha and her friends' skills were advancing to a level she couldn't keep up with as time passed.

Nevertheless, she tried not to let that show somehow.

But now it had been revealed.

And to the person it should never have been revealed to.

That night, when she received the black cloak, she felt as if everything she had built up until then was crumbling.

A friend who could speak on equal terms with him.

The moment he gave her that cloak, she could no longer be equal to him.

Regardless of Eunha's feelings.

As a result, he pitied her.

As a result, he excluded her existence from the future he was envisioning.

Now she would only be remembered by him as someone to be protected, or as an academy classmate or childhood friend.

And he would meet more people, experience more things, and completely forget about her.

"Sa-save me...!!"

"Kyaaaa─!!"

"St-stay away! D-don't come...!"

Screams were heard nearby.

Minji wiped away her flowing tears and ran forward, looking only ahead.

With someone's death as collateral.

Not knowing what there was to live for like this.

—I want to live!

Nevertheless, she wanted to live.

She didn't know anymore.

Whether she was crying because of guilt for leaving someone's death behind.

Or because she wanted to live.

Ju..., just a little more...!

How much further did she have to run for this hell to end.

There wasn't much internal mana left.

She was deliberately avoiding the forest path where students were running and choosing only paths with few people.

Monsters tried to pounce on the students, not attack her running alone.

Moreover, she was still using the magic of the black cloak.

Guilt and relief.

However, as she ran with these contradictory emotions, she ended up overestimating the Avenger's Cloak.

The cloak could hide her presence, but it was impossible to hide her scent or traces.

Grrrr─!!

"─...!!"

Eventually, she encountered a creature with a developed sense of smell.

The monster that fell from a tree was emitting killing intent while drooling.

☆

"...Ugh!"

Fire had spread.

It seemed someone had set fire with a torch they were holding out of fear.

Parang clicked his tongue briefly as he saw the pillar of fire that suddenly rose behind him.

Nausea welled up.

Just which bastard...!

The damage lost from causing a forest fire was far greater than any benefit gained.

Monsters usually didn't suffer damage from fires, and above all, there were students fleeing beyond there.

Of course, they wouldn't die from being caught in the forest fire, but students with their retreat cut off would have to find a new escape route while being chased by monsters.

[Parang oppa! It looks like there's a fire, where are you now!? You're not in there, are you?]

[I'm not there! Jin Seona, who are you with right now!?]

That's when telepathy arrived from Seona.

Parang was relieved to confirm through her telepathy that her position was at the front.

[I'm with Eunhyeok now. Hayang is further ahead of us, and Minho and Eunwoo are near us.]

[Noh Eun─.]

─Where is that guy?

Parang, who was about to say those words through telepathy, had his attention stolen by a monster that ran out through the flames.

Woof woof!

Grrraaah─!!

"...These things really...!"

Parang, whose telepathy was interrupted, quickly swung his Blue Claw.

The blade, expanded by receiving internal mana, sliced the side of an 8th tier monster and cut off another monster's hind leg.

However, it was an attack by two creatures.

Startled by an attack that passed under his left eye, Parang quickly retreated.

When he wiped his face with his forearm, red blood was smeared.

[Oppa, are you okay!?]

[I'm fine. Shit...]

[...You're not saying that to me, right?]

[I'm in the middle of fighting...!]

"...Hey! Let me talk on the phone, really!"

Parang lacked concentration.

He couldn't do telepathy as cleanly as Seona.

His telepathy became disrupted midway, and in his anger, he released his internal mana. The suddenly emitted mana surged towards the charging monsters.

It was the magic called Roar that high-tier monsters often used.

Parang, who became able to use some of the Blade Wolf's magic after using the Gift "Wolf's Fang", intimidated them like that.

He violently swung his claws at the creatures that had curled their tails.

One was knocked down, and another whimpered before perishing.

[So where the hell is Noh Eunha?]

[He's not detected here. He's not there?]

[I can't find his presence either.]

That Noh Eunha son of a...

It was good that he had prepared potions.

Parang, who drank a mana recovery potion, gritted his teeth.

His instinct was telling him.

Eunha knew this would happen.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have advised him not to forget to bring his claw.

But if he knew what was going to happen, he should have taken measures to prevent this!

Jin Parang cursed at him who wasn't here now.

Noh Eunha's advice was too naive.

If he had predicted that this would happen beforehand, students wouldn't be dying like this.

"Ah, damn it..."

There was a bad aftertaste.

Seeing the students he had become close to over days of eating and sleeping together dying made him uncomfortable.

Yet when monsters tried to attack his group, Jin Parang was the first to use a group member as a shield to survive.

He knew it was something to be criticized for.

But surviving was the priority.

He was certain he wasn't the only one who committed such an act.

The only difference between them and himself was that he didn't suffer from guilt.

He was someone who had burned his Righteous Living textbook in front of the homeroom teacher on the first day of elementary school.

He'll be fine somewhere, I'm sure.

Soon, Jin Parang decided to stop thinking about Eunha.

The most useless worry in the world was worrying about Noh Eunha.

That guy would find his way home no matter where he was abandoned.

According to Jin Parang's thinking.

[Let's put Eunha aside for now.]

Seona agreed as well.

Jin Parang nodded.

[It seems Minji is where you are too.]

[What? I couldn't find her before... Oh? You're right?]

At that moment, Seona informed him of Minji's location.

Parang, who deployed his detection network, perked up his wolf ears at Kim Minji's location that was suddenly caught in the detection network.

It seemed she had been using some kind of concealment magic.

Either her internal mana had run out or she had been attacked.

It seemed her concealment magic had been lifted and her location exposed.

Anyway, Jin Parang's course of action was decided.

[I'll bring her.]

[Please do. As soon as you find Minji, you need to come towards Ucheon Elementary School right away. Don't stray to other paths. Okay?]

[Got it.]

[You can find your way, right?]

[I'll ask Kim Minji.]

[And are there no players or instructors near you?]

[Somehow I got separated alone.]

[I see. Be careful.]

[Seona─.]

[Yes?]

Parang turned his steps towards where Minji was.

Then he sent telepathy to Seona, sparks crackling between his wolf ears.

[─Let's make sure to meet alive.]

[Oppa, please don't raise unnecessary flags. It's really uncool.]

Seona's telepathy sounded exasperated.

Parang clicked his tongue.

He regretted that there wasn't a single person around who understood him.

Not knowing how cool this is...

Jin Parang wagged his wolf tail.

☆

There wasn't much reason for setting the fire.

No, if there was a reason, it was a big one.

It was because the students he had just killed had set fire to the forest while the Fog Flower Party was camping before the regression.

They had no particular reason.

If there was a reason, it was that they wanted to see the suffering of the party that was being pointed at.

For them, it was simple bullying.

At that time, Lee Yujung was furiously angry, and Jin Parang, who came out through the flames, caught all of them.

And Bae Subin showed those who were caught exactly what the pain of burning in fire was like.

She burned them one by one in front of the others so they could watch that pain clearly.

When she got bored, she put out the fire and burned another person.

This went on for several rounds.

Even going so far as to quickly hold a mirror to their faces when they melted from the heat.

They weren't killed by burning them all at once, but by slowly roasting them to death.

That's why she was the "Witch".

"Aaaaah!! Fire! Fire! Fire! Aaaaaaaah!!"

"Hot hot hot hot─!!!"

Eunha, who was watching the forest fire from a tree far away, looked at the students who ran out through the flames.

Among them were those he intended to kill, and those who were unfortunately caught up in it.

However, they all had to be killed.

If those who didn't need to die were at fault, it was that they happened to be at the scene.

"...Ugh...!"

"Fire fire fire fire... Aaagh... ugh...!"

Eunha, who came down from the tree, indifferently killed the students who were on fire all over.

He stabbed his sword into the chests of those rolling on the ground.

And he threw the corpses whose breath had ceased back into the flames.

It was good to start the fire.

Now he found the reason for lighting the fire.

It was to incinerate the corpses.

Eunha nodded as he looked at the pillar of fire brightening the night sky.

"Did you see?"

Then he tilted his head back and looked at a place away from the fire scene.

He imbued his voice with mana.

It should have reached there.

Yet that place was quiet.

"Come out."

He didn't expect an answer anyway.

Eunha used Thousand Step as soon as he sensed the other party trying to escape.

"─Aah!"

A student who wasn't caught in the ghost spider's web.

Unfortunately, since he had seen his murder, he couldn't leave him be like this.

Kill him.

He stepped on the back of the male student who had fallen to the ground and gripped the black thorn tree.

"U-Eunha! It's me!"

That's when it happened.

Eunha withdrew the sword he was pointing at the male student who spoke as if he knew him.

He needed to see his face.

Eunha tapped the male student's side and told him to turn his body forward.

Eventually, the male student turned over.

Showing both palms to indicate he wouldn't resist.

"─What? It was you?"

"......"

It took time to recognize the face.

Eunha, who had been thinking it might be someone he was acquainted with, recognized the male student and smirked.

His name was... Kim Jihoon, wasn't it?

Kim Jihoon, a direct descendant of Yeongwon Card.

He urgently cried out while looking at the blade hovering before his eyes.

"I-I didn't see anything!"

"......"

"I don't know anything. Eunha, what happened just now?"

He'll pretend not to know.

No, he'll act like he doesn't know.

Kim Jihoon was desperately expressing this.

Eunha raised the corners of his mouth.

It was interesting.

Before, he had been crushed by his killing intent, but now he was struggling to live.

Just before, someone who discovered him cried and begged for their life before meeting their death.

"─That's a shame."

"...What?"

Eunha, who had been giggling softly, looked down at Kim Jihoon as if he was truly regretful.

If he acted like this, he could have been kept around and used.

If memories were erased with Stygian Eye.

But Kim Jihoon was an enemy.

Yoo Dojun's enemy.

Even if he was left alive, he wouldn't be of help to Yoo Dojun.

"Hey, Jihoon."

"...Yes! What!?"

"Why don't you give me back my card?"

"......"

Kim Jihoon's eyes wavered.

Eunha hadn't expected an answer anyway.

He had thought from the beginning that the card he had given him to buy coffee wouldn't be accepted.

He had also reissued the card.

"The reason you're dying is..."

"W-wait! Just a moment! Card! I'll give you the card─!!"

"─It's not because of the card."

"...What?"

Kim Jihoon died.

Kim Jihoon's face, with his neck cut off, had a puzzled expression.

Eunha laughed out loud at the severed head.

He kicked the head like a soccer ball into the fire pit, then threw the headless corpse in as well.

I should kill those I didn't like normally too while I'm at it.

Somewhere, people were killing monsters to live.

Somewhere, someone was killing people for the future.

But there was no lofty mission in the purpose of serving the future.