Chapter 149
In the sudden situation, I reflexively stepped back and looked around. Where? Exactly where did it come from?
“Hey, get back.”
Hoin stared at one spot, then immediately hurled a spear he had set down toward it.
Bang!
With that sound, the spear lodged into the wall. Unable to withstand the force, the shaft trembled once before going still.
Taekjin also stepped far back and aimed his crossbow at the spot where Hoin’s spear had struck.
Pang!
With that sound, the fully drawn crossbow fired and embedded itself next to the spear. Just as Taekjin tried to reload…
Something suddenly flew in, and Hoin instinctively raised his greatsword to block it.
Whatever it was struck the flat of the blade and fell.
‘…A sword?’
A sword that wasn’t particularly short.
The moment I looked at it, something flashed toward us in an instant.
It didn’t feel like it jumped or rushed… it literally flew.
Bang!
Hoin grabbed a sword from the stall and blocked the incoming attack.
Rather than blocking, it was closer to him taking the hit himself. He didn’t deflect it properly and just took it with his body.
“Urgh….”
Unable to withstand the momentum, he was completely pushed back.
“You know.”
There was only one person who would show up like this.
Sa Jaeheon. That damned Sa Jaeheon.
He made his usual motion of flicking his sword once. Then he looked straight at me.
“This labyrinth.”
He knows it. I know this labyrinth.
“Nam Muyeong!”
Hoin shouted for me to fall back, and Taekjin, who couldn’t shoot for fear of hitting me, only held the taut bowstring and muttered,
“…This is bad.”
This is bad. Something anyone would mutter in this situation.
And especially me.
Sa Jaeheon didn’t rush me with his sword. Instead, he walked up slowly and grabbed me by the throat.
That alone said a lot.
—
[Wow. I didn’t expect him to look down on you this much.]
—
You are no threat to me. Not even worth drawing a sword.
With just a few actions, he conveyed that.
You’re not dangerous… but you’re annoying.
“Y–”
Hoin gasped and tried to stand immediately.
Only Sa Jaeheon remained calm. That calmness felt like arrogance… or something natural.
The pressure he exuded was on a completely different level.
As my airway tightened under his grip, I instinctively grabbed his arm.
“How much do you know?”
He had already figured it out.
Since when? Since when had he been watching?
“Do you know the future, or the past?”
He didn’t give me a chance to ask anything.
Only he asked. I only answered.
I twisted his wrist hard.
Why should I?
Why the hell would I tell him everything?
If I’m going to die anyway, I’ll drag everything down with me.
“Cough–ugh–ha….”
As if demanding an answer, his grip loosened slightly.
“Cough, ah–what the hell are you talking about….”
He can’t see it anyway.
It’ll be exposed later, but for now, I can still play dumb.
“Bullshit, damn it….”
Unless he rips my head open, I have no intention of saying anything.
Hoin is here. Taekjin is here.
And…
‘The narrator is here too.’
If I tell the truth, the first one to go insane about it is that bastard watching with wide-open eyes.
Just look at how he interfered when I tried to tell Hoin something.
At least telling Sa Jaeheon didn’t seem to be a big problem. He already knows irregulars exist… he’s one himself.
But Hoin and Taekjin are different.
They’re not irregulars.
Hoin isn’t stupid either. He kept rethinking what I said, over and over. My reactions too.
At some point, he started observing me.
My expressions. The way I talk.
I didn’t notice at first.
But it’s hard not to when someone stares that hard.
It was especially obvious when we were alone.
Taekjin?
He’d probably already have a rough idea what I meant.
Whether it makes sense or not doesn’t matter.
In a world like this, what’s the point of separating logic from nonsense?
“Let go… damn it… ah.”
Even with my throat grabbed, I said it.
All I’ve got now is guts.
Holding my dagger, I slashed at Sa Jaeheon’s wrist.
I didn’t slash deeply… just trying to make him back off.
But there was one problem.
—
[Oh.]
—
He didn’t dodge.
Still gripping my throat, he grabbed the blade of my dagger as it moved across.
Blood began dripping steadily.
A pool formed on the ground.
The blade was embedded deep, and as I struggled, the wound must have been tearing wider.
But he didn’t let go.
Still choking me, he gripped the blade and pulled.
The moment my hand and the dagger were dragged free…
He threw my dagger toward the charging Hoin.
Thud!
The sound of my dagger embedding somewhere, and the heavy sound of a body hitting the ground behind me, overlapped.
Ha. Damn it.
Taekjin still hadn’t recovered his breath.
There was only one body that fell.
How do I get out of this?
How the hell do I break this situation?
***
“Urgh….”
Hoin gritted his teeth and stared ahead.
‘I closed the distance as fast as I could.’
But…
‘Even though all his attention was on Nam Muyeong.’
He still noticed.
His senses were absurdly sharp.
Even though it looked like he might kill Nam Muyeong at any moment, if you looked closely…
He wasn’t actually trying to kill him.
‘If he wanted to, he’d already be dead.’
This was the same method Johanna used back in Hermadion.
First, seize the weak point.
Once you hold the weakness, you gain psychological dominance.
And with that, you can get what you want… or force disarmament.
That overwhelming difference in strength creates that kind of despair.
The first thing he learned:
Even if the gap is overwhelming… don’t give up.
If you must die, die with honor.
“What kind of life did you live to earn the hatred of someone like that?”
Taekjin asked with a bitter tone.
Nam Muyeong let out a strangled breath.
It sounded like he tried to laugh.
Laughing, seriously?
At a moment like this?
Hoin gritted his teeth and stood again.
He had to figure it out.
That monster…
What are his weaknesses?
How does he think?
What’s his fighting style?
‘Fast sword.’
Fast.
But not just speed-focused.
Each clash had heavy force behind it.
If someone had talent for killing, it would be someone like him.
Hoin steadied his breathing.
No matter what, he was completely different from the man in the broadcast room that day.
It wasn’t just that he got stronger or more violent.
Back then…
He at least knew what justice was.
At least.
‘That guy definitely did.’
So why?
‘Back then, he even protected Nam Muyeong.’
But now…
He clearly didn’t remember him.
Then is he just a monster wearing someone else’s shell?
A different personality entirely?
Then why is he fixated on Nam Muyeong?
He doesn’t even remember him.
And if he just likes killing, why keep Cha Hyeongseo around?
Hoin gripped his sword again and lowered his stance…
Just as he prepared to move…
The man spoke.
The one who might not even be “Sa Jaeheon.”
“Answer.”
From head to toe, he examined Nam Muyeong.
As if he could figure everything out just by looking.
Even as Nam Muyeong twisted his arm desperately, he just held him there by the throat.
Maybe if he waited…
He’d find out.
What Nam Muyeong was hiding.
Why did something about him keep bothering his instincts?
“Ha.”
Hoin moved.
Just as Nam Muyeong opened his mouth to speak…
He leapt.
Faster than before.
Thud! Crash!
Items are scattered across the floor.
Faster.
Deeper.
—
“Even so, can you just go around hitting other kids like that? Hoin, mom told you many times. You’re bigger than others, so even if it doesn’t hurt you, it really hurts them.”
“Son, your mom’s not wrong… but I’m proud of you. If you’re going to live as a man, you need loyalty. You were protecting your friend, right?”
—
Loyalty.
If you’ve been given something…
You owe loyalty.
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