“Ugh…”
A groan involuntarily escaped due to the pain. It felt like my body was shattered from head to toe. In reality, there wasn’t a single part of my body that was unharmed.
“I’m dying.”
—Of course you feel like you’re dying after pulling a stunt like that!
Ray’s nagging belatedly echoed in my head. But after groaning in pain for a moment, I burst out laughing, ‘Haha.’
Top-tier. It was a rank inflated due to its size, but still, it was a monster that I, Kang Yi-sin, could never have dreamed of facing.
I who had never even entered a Gate.
I took down such a being.
Of course, it would have been impossible without Taika. But still, I succeeded in facing and capturing that monster with my own strength.
I, who hadn’t even properly cleared a single Gate.
I was so happy my chest felt tight.
I pretended to know everything, but all I had experienced until now were just illusions in simulators.
Even when I joined Seol Rok-jin, I only wallowed in the muck of human affairs, never once contributing to saving the world.
But now, here, for the first time.
I accomplished something that a ‘raid team’ would experience.
—You know, that tightness in your chest might not just be psychological. Your ribs might be broken or something.
“My ribs are fine.”
I said that as I tried to get up.
Or rather, I tried to.
“Ah.”
My body immediately slumped back to the ground. Come to think of it, all the bones in my legs were broken.
“Hmm.”
I sent all the remaining mana to the regeneration mana circuits, but it seemed it would take time for my shattered leg bones to mend.
So in the meantime, what should I do…
Han Seo-hyeon and Kim Jae-ho came running towards me.
“Boss! What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine at all! I saw you earlier! You tried to get up and immediately collapsed to the ground!”
To think they saw such an embarrassing sight. I wish they had pretended not to notice. But that was too much to ask of this kid who came to rely on me in place of his dead brother.
“Really, how can you be so reckless!”
Seeing him pounding his chest as if he couldn’t even speak properly, I turned my gaze away.
“Why are you lying down?”
Kim Jae-ho tilted his head looking at my condition.
“Oh, you know. I just felt like lying down because I’m tired.”
“If you lie down there, your mouth will get crooked. Get up.”
Kim Jae-ho tried to lift me up, but as I said, both my legs were broken.
“Urgh.”
Even if I could somehow suppress the pain, my body, having lost its support, couldn’t even stand properly and fell over to the side again. Seeing me flailing like a deflated doll, Kim Jae-ho’s face turned pale.
“Something’s wrong with him!”
“His legs, his legs seem to be broken! No, what are you doing to an injured person! Just leave him alone for now!”
“Something’s wrong!”
The two of them shouted beside me. It was utter chaos. Han Seo-hyeon, who seemed to have come to his senses belatedly, said to me:
“At least drink a potion.”
“Is it necessary? It’ll heal with time.”
Potions are expensive. Especially mid-grade or higher potions that can mend bones. It’s better to save those for later. If we were still in the midst of battle, I would have gladly drunk a potion, but now that the situation has settled, drinking a potion would be a waste of money…
“Ah, just drink it when I tell you to!”
“Mmph!”
Han Seo-hyeon poured the potion into my mouth.
“You spilled it! And what if it goes down the wrong pipe when you pour it like that! I could die!”
“Well, if you had just drunk it when I told you to, wouldn’t it have been better?”
Not a shred of remorse! I’ve failed in properly raising your younger sibling, I’m sorry! Han Jo-hee.
—Who exactly are you apologizing to?
Ray interjected, hearing my nonsense.
Still, thanks to drinking the potion, I could feel my leg bones quickly mending. Hearing cracking sounds, it seems the bones were slightly misaligned. At least it’s fortunate it wasn’t an open fracture.
That would have been a truly horrific sight.
[Are you alright?]
Taika, who arrived belatedly, checked on me first. I spoke, supported by Han Seo-hyeon:
[I’m fine. I’ve had a potion too, so don’t worry… More importantly, I’d like to collect the spoils first.]
[The spoils?]
[Yes, we can’t just leave that as it is, can we?]
Honestly, if my body was in good condition, I would have rushed over there immediately. I’m so excited to see what such a high-ranking monster will yield.
—You materialistic thing.
Ignoring Ray’s curse, I put on a serious expression. Right now, the most important thing is the spoils, no matter what anyone says.
You never know. Since it was a sand monster, it might be set to scatter over time?
At my words, Taika continued to look at me with a worried expression, but I shook my head.
I meant, hurry up and go find the spoils first!
[Alright.]
As Taika headed towards the monster’s corpse, Han Seo-hyeon said:
“That guy has no sense of propriety. Look at him, going off to look after his own interests in this situation!”
Unable to admit that I had ordered it, I pretended not to know. It would have been better if he had just cursed at Taika like that. Han Seo-hyeon’s gaze turned back to me.
“You’re crazy, absolutely crazy. You don’t know how precious your body is.”
“Ugh.”
I groaned even at the slap Han Seo-hyeon gave my back.
“Oh!”
Surprised by his own action, Han Seo-hyeon hurriedly checked my body, but fortunately, I was fine.
Ah, after dealing with Yebrica so impressively, what’s all this about? My cheeks reddened with embarrassment.
“I won’t die. It might not be painless, but I’m fine now, and the parts that aren’t fine are healing, so stop looking at me like that.”
“You’re not fine. I was really scared earlier. I thought you were really going to die.”
Looking closely, Han Seo-hyeon’s hands were trembling slightly as he said that. I knew he always had nightmares, but still…
—Even so, he’s holding up incredibly well considering. Among children thrust into war at a young age, such mental fortitude is…
‘That’s enough, no need for such tragic stories.’
It was already overwhelming to embrace the past of the kid right in front of me.
—Everything an adult says becomes flesh and blood…
‘I feel like scabs are forming on my eardrums, so let’s stop.’
After retorting to Ray, I spoke to Han Seo-hyeon:
“I won’t die, so don’t worry. I’ve only stretched my legs knowing where I’ll lie down.”
Thinking about what we have to do from now on, we can’t afford to whine every time something like this happens.
“Let’s see what he brings back.”
[I’ve got something quite good!]
What Taika brought back was a mana stone as big as my torso. Seeing it, Han Seo-hyeon’s mouth fell open.
“Whoa!”
The Red Flame Mana Stone I had stolen from the auction was about the size of my fist. That was estimated to be worth about 30 billion won.
But this mana stone was as big as my head.
“Is, is this all…”
“That’s right, a mana stone.”
If there’s something Han Seo-hyeon doesn’t know, it’s that this is before refinement, so it will become much smaller after refining. Well, even considering that, the size was still enormous.
Inside the clear, transparent yellow gem that reminded one of a pumpkin, particles that looked like sand were swirling. Is it containing Yebrica’s attributes as they were? As I quietly examined the mana stone, Han Seo-hyeon and Kim Jae-ho whispered behind me in low voices:
“Jae-ho hyung, we practically caught it ourselves, didn’t we?”
“That’s right! It’s ours!”
“Exactly! Even if they dealt the final blow, there are three of us and only one of them! So 75% should be ours, right?”
“That’s right!”
Kim Jae-ho, who belatedly grasped the situation, quickly added.
The two of them glared at Taika with fierce eyes, but there was no need for that in the first place.
[As promised, you can have this.]
Taika handed the mana stone over to me. I said with an embarrassed face:
[Are you sure it’s alright to give it all to us? This will be worth whatever price we name.]
[Haha, I couldn’t have caught it alone without you in the first place. My goal was to catch this monster, so it’s fine. I also received incredible teachings.]
Those teachings, well, your future self would have figured them out on their own. It’s awkward that he’s actually giving it when I asked for it.
Still, it’s not polite to refuse someone’s concession, so I’ll accept it quietly.
The problem is…
[I’m not in a condition to receive it right now.]
My legs are still broken, you see. Naturally, my body couldn’t stand on its own, and I was firmly gripping Kim Jae-ho’s shoulders with both hands. No matter how good the mana stone is, I had no hands to receive it right now.
“I’ll take it!”
Han Seo-hyeon, who noticed, stepped forward. But the mana stone was unnecessarily large for Han Seo-hyeon to carry.
To return to the base carrying that in an already exhausted state…
It would be difficult.
Seeming to notice this, Taika picked up the mana stone again.
[I’ll carry this for you.]
“What are you thinking!”
[You can trust me.]
“Really now, are you planning to run off with it?”
[I absolutely won’t do that.]
Don’t they seem to be communicating strangely well?
I stopped Han Seo-hyeon.
“Just let him carry it for us if he’s offering.”
“Ugh! What if he runs off with it?”
“He won’t do something so embarrassing.”
I took out a string from my bag and wrapped it around the mana stone. I’m thinking of attaching a string so we can carry it temporarily.
“Shall we head back now?”
I decided to cling to Kim Jae-ho’s back until my legs mended. This was surprisingly comfortable.
As we were about to move to return to the base, Taika casually opened his mouth:
[By the way, didn’t you call me Taika earlier?]
[Did I?]
I might have.
[Now that it’s come to this, how about calling me comfortably?]
[No, Mr. Cooper.]
Not a chance, you fool.
* * *
The journey back was comfortable. Of course it was. The sandstorm that had filled this area was gone. Our GPS started working normally too.
“Ugh, we still have to walk quite a long way.”
“Did you send the rescue signal?”
“Yes.”
There’s no reason to go the hard way when we can go easily. We defeated the thing and most of the sand that made it up scattered, but the sand created by the sandstorm didn’t disappear.
As the wind blew sand every time it rose, I put the mask back on Han Seo-hyeon’s head.
“Keep wearing the mask.”
“Ugh.”
“There’s still a lot of dust around, even if it doesn’t look like it.”
So we advanced slowly. And in front of us, shuttles appeared, spewing sand. The problem is that the number of shuttles was excessive.
“Hmm?”
All these shuttles came to rescue just us?
I was a bit uneasy, but I remained calm. The mask on my face was still working well.
People poured out of the shuttles that stopped in front of us. Among them, one person particularly stood out.
[Taika!]
At that name being called out, Taika beside me made an ‘Eek’ sound. Ah, now I understand why they brought so many shuttles.
It’s Taika’s agency. They must have been searching for Taika after learning he had come here.
Now we just need to hand Taika over to those people and hitch a ride on one of the shuttles.
Was it a mistake to think so carelessly?
The person running towards us stopped in their tracks.
“Wait.”
Oh? Korean?
Well, they did say he was Korean. I was about to greet him with a smiling face.
“Weltschmerz?”
If it weren’t for the words he uttered.
‘Damn it.’
My gaze turned to Han Seo-hyeon. My mask set to default mode because I couldn’t show someone else’s face.
It still had the smile symbol engraved that I had used when raiding the auction.
I made an instantaneous situation assessment.
“Seo-hyeon, grab the mana stone.”
At those words, Han Seo-hyeon quickly snatched the mana stone from Taika’s arms.
[Huh?]
“Jae-ho, prepare to leave this place.”
At the same time, I drew up mana. We created a smokescreen with the sand gathered around and ran away from there as fast as we could.
Damn it, I thought things were going too well!