Chapter 43 - Temple (3)
“By the way, what are you doing?”
That question came from Seo Ah-in.
She looked completely drained, perhaps due to the burden of single-handedly maintaining the vanguard in the successive fierce battles.
“Huh?”
“Not ‘huh?’. I’m asking why you’re slacking off like that while I’m being rolled around like this.”
“Slacking off? I’m just conserving my strength.”
“…”
Seo Ah-in looked back and forth between the hilt of her sword and me.
She seemed to be contemplating whether to draw it and cut me down, but I just shrugged my shoulders.
No, it was really true, so it was hard to even make an excuse.
If she asked why I was saving my strength, I could explain it well enough.
“Hmm.”
I stared at a man walking at the front.
Han Seong-wook.
He was the one who had gathered the Climbers here from the beginning.
So far, he had been leading the people with a kind smile constantly on his face, but there was no way he was only having good thoughts as he appeared to be.
He was the guild leader of that thug guild.
He definitely hadn't gathered people here with pure intentions.
Especially when considering the true nature of that one named Yelena.
“…Ah, here we go again.”
Seo Ah-in let out a deep sigh as soon as she saw the terrain that appeared before her.
A cliff with no visible bottom below, and a single log bridge precariously stretched across it.
It was a sight that clearly implied that something ominous was about to happen.
“Wow… if you fall from here, you won’t even get a funeral.”
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t cross it, right?”
“Ah, I’m not going first. I’d rather fight a Demonic Beast than do that. I just can’t.”
It seemed everyone thought the same way, as they all avoided crossing the bridge with terrified expressions.
And, when the situation went like this, all eyes tended to fall on the person who had always stood at the front until now.
“…I should go first, right?”
Seo Ah-in muttered gloomily in a half-resigned voice.
“No. This time, I’m going with you.”
Therefore, my answer must have sounded incredibly sweet to this one.
Seo Ah-in blinked her eyes for a long time before answering me.
“…Pardon?”
“I said I’m going with you.”
As I said that, she tilted her head with a look of incomprehension.
Though her expression quickly turned pale.
“?”
No, why.
Why are you turning pale?
“Th-the fact that you're coming with me, it feels like it means something dangerous that requires your intervention is about to happen…”
You really have gotten quicker on the uptake.
I grabbed the scruff of Seo Ah-in's neck as she tried to turn and run away as soon as she saw my implicitly affirmative expression.
“…”
From a distance, Seo Hye-in was watching with a worried gaze, but I just gave her a thumbs-up.
This person had been given a heads-up about what I was about to do, so she wouldn't be flustered, but her worries wouldn't be lessened either.
Well, if Seo Ah-in had heard, she might have seriously tried to stab me right now.
“Haha. Well, well. What’s the rush?”
And as I dragged Seo Ah-in and pushed to the front, Han Seong-wook, who had been watching, smoothly chimed in from the side.
“This path ahead looks extremely dangerous, unlike what we’ve seen so far. Let’s wait a moment.”
Bullshit.
That was the thought that immediately came to mind, but instead of saying it out loud, I just gave a smirk on the outside.
There was no way a guy who had just been standing with his arms crossed while Seo Ah-in was performing dazzling feats among the Demonic Beasts would suddenly awaken to such goodwill.
This guy definitely heard something from Yelena.
The place in front of us would have undoubtedly been designated as an ‘instant death zone’ if this were a game.
‘He’s probably just thinking it’s a waste.’
Thanks to Seo Ah-in taking the lead and going on a rampage, the conquest time for this temple was being dramatically shortened.
If this one went up there and died, wouldn't there be one less person to fight for him? That was probably the extent of his thoughts.
“...”
And, as for me.
He was probably praying for me to die.
Yelena must have told him this and that.
“It’s fine.”
“Ahem, but it looks dangerous?”
“No. I appreciate the concern, but. It’s really fine. The bridge looks sturdy too.”
“…Haha. If you say so.”
Han Seong-wook said and slyly stepped back.
The way he was wiping his mouth clean while knowing that people would die if they went up there showed his character.
In the first place, I had already expected him to act like this.
Rather, if he hadn't, I would have been in trouble.
Because the opportunity to use the knowledge I had would disappear.
“…Mr. Kim Gyu-sik. How about we listen to him?”
“Don’t tell me you have a fear of heights too?”
“Looking at this height, I think even someone who doesn’t would develop one.”
“That’s a relief. I would have dragged you along even if you did.”
“…”
Seo Ah-in continued to whine and complain with teary eyes, but I ignored it all and pushed forward again.
Well.
What had to be done was already decided, anyway.
“W-wow…”
As we got on the single log bridge, an uncontrollable groan escaped Seo Ah-in's mouth as she looked down.
A place so deep that no light could reach it must be what they were talking about.
It was a sight that made me think that if I made a mistake and fell, it would be impossible to even recover the body.
“Wait a minute, Mr. Kim Gyu-sik.”
“Yeah?”
I turned my head at the sudden call, and Seo Ah-in was looking up at me with a queasy expression.
“I just, had a very, very terrible thought.”
“Yeah.”
“…I think you said earlier that the reason you were coming here was because something was going to happen.”
I hadn't said it with my own mouth, but it was more or less correct.
“But.”
She clung to my arm as if to hug it.
It seemed that seeing my smiling face was turning her anxiety into near certainty.
“If it's an 'accident' that can happen on a single log bridge, only one thing comes to mind…?”
I gave her a proud smile.
“Could you deny it instead of looking proud?!”
At the same time as Seo Ah-in shrieked, the sound of something snapping came from both ends of the bridge.
It was a threatening sound that made the Climbers who were about to follow us instinctively flinch and step back.
“Wh-what?!”
“This bridge, it’s about to collapse!”
Yep. That’s right.
If this were a game, this bridge would probably be a trap that would lead directly to a game over if the player stepped on it.
If you didn't quickly return to your original position when the ropes supporting the bridge snapped, you would die immediately.
“…Wait a minute, Mr. Kim Gyu-sik! Even now, let’s turn…!”
Seo Hye-in shouted in alarm, but this time too, she fell silent when I just gave her a thumbs-up.
In the first place, it was quite difficult to turn back now even if I wanted to.
The entire bridge was shaking like crazy as the ropes snapped one by one.
‘In the first place…’
I had no intention of turning back anyway.
This bridge, which was no different from an instant death trap in the game, was a slightly different ‘device’ from a veteran’s perspective.
I set my watch.
“Mr. Kim Gyu-sik? Mr. Kim Gyu-sik?! Is this right? Is this really the only way?!”
This time too, I conveyed my intention with my expression instead of answering.
And upon meeting my fresh smile, Seo Ah-in's eyes immediately lost their focus.
It seemed she understood well.
“…No, this really can't be right.”
And with the sentence she muttered as if her soul had left her body as a starting point.
“Hold on tight.”
The bridge completely collapsed.
Naturally, due to gravity, my and Seo Ah-in's bodies began to free-fall through the air.
“I-I! I don’t want to die in a place like th-!!!”
I let Seo Ah-in's scream go in one ear and out the other, and took out a gun with a hook attached from my pocket.
Hookshot.
It was for hooking onto a wall or something to support a person's weight.
I took a deep breath and timed it.
I observed the numbers on my wristwatch as if engraving them onto my optic nerves.
So.
Now.
Right now.
-!
The fired hook flew across the dark abyss.
Although there was no visibility at all, I didn't have to worry about success.
A veteran is a veteran because they don't make mistakes.
“Hup!”
With the feeling of the hook catching on something, an immense load was put on my arm, but thanks to my diligent investment in stats recently, I was able to endure it.
“Phew…”
I let out a sigh and dangled in the air.
A deep smile was forming on my face.
It was a stunt that would have led to instant death if it failed, but it was worth it.
If you looked at the map structure, this temple was conquered by going down from the surface.
And, the location of the most important ‘boss room’ was in a place that could be reached by going straight down from that bridge.
In short.
I just took a ‘shortcut’.
“Hey, snap out of it.”
I spoke to Seo Ah-in, who was hanging onto my arm, practically fainted with her eyes open.
“We’re here.”
It wasn’t a lie.
The path that would take other people days to descend.
This one and I had broken through it in a matter of seconds.
***
And a short while later.
Seo Ah-in was on the verge of fainting at the sight of the giant wolf.
I felt like she’d been like this all day.
“Ah, I, ah…”
“…You breathe with your nose and mouth.”
I said that to her, but.
The ‘boss’ of this temple, which we encountered in the huge cave that served as the boss room, boasted an overwhelming presence.
Seo Ah-in, who had maintained her senses even after seeing the combat golem, was actually staggering from the pressure of the Mana this one was emitting.
“…”
And in contrast to this one who was on the verge of completely losing it, the large wolf was looking down at us with calm eyes.
Eyes that were green, unlike the yellow ones I had seen to death on this floor.
As I also met its gaze squarely, the wolf let out a big breath and raised its body.
[Go back. If you leave now, I will not harm you.]
“…Huh?”
Seo Ah-in looked up at the wolf with momentarily dazed eyes.
[What is it, human. Did you mishear me?]
“No, no. I was thinking that, according to the development so far, we would have to fight you, but you’re surprisingly gentlemanly...”
Well, that was true, but.
In the first place.
The ‘clear condition’ in the quest also said to 'enter the core of the temple', not to kill something.
This one was a guy that could be ‘utilized’ in a different way.
[...If you've encountered the ones swarming at the temple entrance, I understand. But I serve a different master from those cursed traitors. I would appreciate it if you refrained from treating us the same.]
“Right, about that.”
And this was the proof.
As I then started to take off my shirt, Seo Ah-in, blushing furiously, turned her head away.
“Wh-what are you doing...!”
“...”
If you're going to turn your head, turn it completely. Don't turn it halfway and peek from the side.
I ignored her for now and took off everything I was wearing until my bare skin was visible.
Seeing that, the wolf's eyes narrowed.
[...You, human. That is...]
I got a new tattoo on my back too.
It was a gift from the ‘sacrifice’ a while ago in exchange for hiding him.
It was similar to the one engraved on Han Seong-wook's body, but his tattoo's center would be glowing yellow.
The center of my tattoo was glowing green.
And.
“Familiar, isn't it? Doesn't it look like something you've seen somewhere?”
[...]
As I spoke to the silent wolf with a grin, it looked down at me in silence.
“You can chase me out if you want. But before that, I have a proposal I'd like to make. Want to hear it?”
There was probably no reason for this one to refuse.
This tattoo could only be bestowed by the ‘master’ this one just mentioned.
And if this one agreed to my proposal.
My plan could now start to pick up speed.
So, for that reason.
[Entering the ‘core of the temple’.]
[Quest condition will be updated.]
[A branch for the ‘Hidden Ending’ will be set.]
As I read the messages that popped up one after another a moment later, I couldn't stop smiling.
If things continued to roll like this.
The end would undoubtedly be a huge jackpot.