Chapter 154

 

As soon as I saw him, I instinctively opened my inventory and checked the potions I had. It was full of lethal concoctions made specifically for Tae Jae-heon, in preparation for a day like this.

Each one was a painstakingly crafted masterpiece, the kind you’d call the work of a generation. But even with all of them, I didn’t expect to actually kill that monster bastard.

If I was a Potion Master, he was a goddamn Madman Master.

For Tae Jae-heon, the concept of “death” didn’t even seem to apply.

If he summons Rune and Root, I’ll hit them with anesthetic poison first.

f he draws a weapon himself, I’ll go with the darkburst shot.

If I somehow get captured, then… I’ll have no choice but to use that one…

While I calculated my odds, Tae Jae-heon’s gaze flicked down to my dirt-smeared hands and knees, messy from gathering.

“So, you ran away, only to end up doing… this?”

Click.

He tutted, and the sound hit a nerve. I snapped back.

“What exactly you’re doing here?”

Even I was surprised at how naturally I used formal speech with him.

Cheong and Zero both looked at me in shock, eyes wide.

But Tae Jae-heon didn’t even acknowledge them. He kept his gaze fixed on me, a twisted smirk playing at his lips like he’d just heard something amusing.

“Meeting here of all places… feels nostalgic, doesn’t it?”

“Nostalgic is a funny—”

“Kang Eui-jin.”

His voice cut sharp and warning, and I shut my mouth reluctantly.

Dusting off my hands, I stood up. Tae Jae-heon spoke again, this time in a voice heavy with irritation.

“This is the last time I let it slide. Time to wrap up your pathetic little games.”

“Don’t make me laugh. I’d rather die than go back.”

Tae Jae-heon closed his eyes and massaged his temple as if I were giving him a headache.

“I’m barely holding myself back from dragging you off right now… so just listen.”

There was a cold weight to his words that made me flinch. But what really caught me off guard wasn’t the tone—angry or not—it was something else entirely.

‘What the hell? Did I just hear something totally out of character for Tae Jae-heon?’

Holding back? Holding back?!

That bastard, who lives like the world belongs to him, is “holding back”? From what?

I stared at him in disbelief and asked, dumbfounded.

“Did you eat something weird? That’s strange. I haven’t even laced anything with poison yet.”

There was no way he suddenly turned over a new leaf.

With wide eyes, I stared at him as he stepped toward me. Immediately, Cheong’s sword, which had been trained on him, ignited with flame and blocked his path.

“You shall not come any closer to boss.”

Tae Jae-heon’s glance briefly flicked to Cheong before locking back onto me. His unmoving eyes were sharp enough to make me swallow hard. I stepped forward.

“If you lay a hand on Cheong, I won’t hold back. …Cheong, lower your sword.”

“Boss…..”

“It’s fine.”

This bastard had always done whatever he wanted without caring about anyone else. If someone like that said he was “holding back,” there had to be a damn good reason for it.

He can’t drag me off right away, but he still followed me all the way into the Tower…

I knew it sounded completely insane, but I couldn’t help asking, hesitantly.

“Don’t tell me… you’re here to help me?”

Cheong’s face twisted like he’d just heard the most offensive thing in the world.

Even Zero looked at me like are you serious?

But Tae Jae-heon didn’t deny it.

After a brief pause, he finally spoke in a low voice.

“What a disgusting thought. I’m just here to peel off that parasite clinging to you. Nothing more.”

“Parasite? What the hell are you—oh, fuck no! Don’t call my Cloud that!”

It hit me late, and I panicked, looking down at my ankle as if Cloud might’ve heard.

Tae Jae-heon let out a dry laugh.

“Because of that, you became a target. And now you’ve even been summoned into the Tower. And yet, you’ve grown attached?”

“So what? Fuck off.”

I grumbled, but I kept an eye on Tae Jehun’s expression.

No matter how rude he was, his words sounded an awful lot like he was here on a quest—like the other S-ranks. He hadn’t attacked, hadn’t summoned Rune or Root. His unusually passive approach gave weight to the possibility.

I mean, if he dragged me off to Nox right now, he’d be facing the other S-ranks, the cult, and public backlash.

Even Tae Jae-heon couldn’t ignore all that.

Of course he’d want to resolve the root cause—the issue with the Constellation.

Even if you take a roundabout route, as long as you end up in Seoul, it’s fine—the fact that the immediate threat of being dragged off to Nox was gone was undeniably a huge win. 

Sure, Jae-heon would probably flip once the Constellation problem was resolved, but that was a problem for later, once I was safe and back in the workshop…

‘Now that it’s come to this, I’ll just use him to the fullest.’

As I locked eyes with  Tae Jae-heon, a glint of resolve in mine, he gave a crooked smile.

“Keep your eyes open.”

“…”

That bastard. God, I hate him.

***

Tae Jae-heon left after telling me to return whenever. As his figure disappeared from view, I flipped him off, and beside me, Zero let out a snickering laugh.

“That was quite the show. That’s the first time I’ve seen you speak formally. So Tae Jae-heon gets special treatment?”

“It’s just a habit. Doesn’t mean anything.”

“But I’m older than you too, Boss. Hohoho.”

I turned and looked at him, completely thrown off by his nonsense. His smug, annoying grin pissed me off enough that I kicked his leg and snapped.

“What the hell do you want? Get lost. Go hunt some wild boars or something.”

The scene that greeted me when I went back to the base camp, with my hard-earned materials in my hand, was something completely unexpected.

“What the hell is all this?”

The Nox bastards had set up their camp right next to ours. And somehow, their tents were in way better condition than ours—looked like they’d brought their own fancy gear.

Everyone looked unsettled, murmuring in disbelief. Lim Dan came storming toward me, fuming.

“Hey! Where the hell did you go?”

“Just out back by the cliff. Needed to gather some materials.”

“Do you even think before you act? Tae Jae-heon’s literally camping next door! You can’t just wander off alone!”

“Yeah, I already ran into him.”

“What?”

Lim Dan’s jaw dropped. Cheong stepped in to speak on my behalf.

“Zero and I escorted them. Tae Jae-heon didn’t seem to have any intent to attack either.”

“Are you hearing yourself? That guy staged all that just to kidnap Kang Eui-jin…”

“I’m going in first! I’ve carrying a lot of stuff!”

Sensing the nagging was about to get worse, I chose flight over fight. I heard Lim Dan shouting something behind me, but I dashed off straight to my tent.

“Phew… That was almost a disaster.”

I dumped the armful of gathered materials onto the wooden table. Some of them would spoil quickly if not processed right away. My inventory was way too full—again. 

The last time I’d been this pressed for space was when I first unlocked the skill Owner of the Ancestral Mountain.

Sitting down, I pulled out the crafting tools Seung-yeon had given me and began trimming the ingredients. I was deep in concentration when a ticklish sensation brushed my leg. I looked down to see Cloud staring up at me.

“Cloud?”

“Mehh—”

He stomped a hoof on my leg like he wanted me to lift him up. Caught off guard by his cuteness, I obliged—and the second he was up, he snatched one of the ingredients in his mouth.

“No! I haven’t checked that one for toxicity yet!”

“Meeeeehhh!”

“Cloud, come here!”

I shot to my feet and reached out, but he hopped out of my grasp. He chewed the herb quickly, then started sniffing around the table like he was on a mission. I chased him around in a panic, trying not to knock over any of the carefully laid-out ingredients, but kept missing.

“You’re gonna be so in trouble if I catch you. Last warning. Three, two, one—!”

“Meeehh!!”

“One-point-five. One-point-five divided by half…”

He finally stopped in front of a bundle of Dreaming Twigs. I’d already appraised that item earlier, so I relaxed a bit.

“Oh, you should’ve said that’s what you wanted.”

Cloud began tugging at the bundle, using his hooves and nose to pull it apart. It was fine—I could reorganize it later. Watching him work so earnestly was pretty adorable… until I noticed something off. 

The twig in his mouth wasn’t like the others—it shimmered with a dark reddish tint instead of the usual glowing violet.

“Hey, hey HEY! Wait! Cloud, spit that out!”

“Mehhhh.”

I caught the escaping Cloud with one arm and tugged at the twig clamped in his mouth.

“Spit it out! Spit it out!!!”

“Meeehh!”

Cloud’s dark eyes stared up at me, full of wounded betrayal as if he couldn’t believe I was doing this to him. It hurt my heart, but I couldn’t back down. I poked at his cheeks and kept pulling at the twig until I finally wrenched it free.

There was a perfect bite mark in the center of the dark reddish twig. I stared down at it, frowning. Now that I looked closely, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it earlier. The color was far too suspicious. I must’ve overlooked it in the chaos of all that gathering.

“Appraise.”

<Cursed Dreaming Twig>

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“Cur…sed? And this is…”

I stared at the system window floating in front of me, stunned. The word “cursed,” the ominous reddish-black aura swirling around it, and those black, constantly shifting glyphs—I’d seen them before. 

It was from Seong San-ha.

“Eui-jin ah. What are you doing?”

“Huh? Oh—!”

Startled by Seong San-ha’s voice behind me, I lost my grip on the twig.

Seizing the moment, Cloud leapt up and snatched it right back into his mouth.

“No!!”