Chapter 150. Jung-suk [1]
The meeting which had followed with great discord came to end after a common ground was reached. A small number of heroes would go into the city as a detachment, while the rest would return to the capital. Those returning wouldn’t simply leave but would help relieve about half of the danger the infiltration unit would face by Ru Amuh’s request. It was an unexpected result even though their decision was mainly attributed to their desire to gain merits. Ru Amuh seemed to have convinced some people that his plan was worth a try and that they weren’t going to march right into a meaningless death. At least he had made them think, ‘It will be worth risking my life for, and it’s a form of investment.’
But of course, the rest of the rescue team had low expectations. It seemed that they were still ridiculing or pitying the detachment for their recklessness. Nevertheless, the conversation was over. They decided to carry out their plans before it was too late, and the rescue team began their preparations.
“I’m sorry.” After finding Chi-Woo, Shadia apologized to him. “I thought I should raise my hand after seeing you raise yours…but in the end, I couldn’t shake off the thought that the task was too difficult.”
Chi-Woo shook his head. “It’s okay. Even if you volunteered, you would’ve been rejected.”
Ru Amuh emphasized swiftness among the detachment and didn’t let those who lacked stealth or were noticeably large participate. This was the reason why Snowy Mountain had been excluded from the team too. Hearing this, Shadia’s gloomy complexion brightened a bit.
“That’s true. Since I’m a magician and alchemist, I would be captured sooner rather than later,” Shadia said. Then she took out a small pouch and handed it to Chi-Woo. “It’s a health potion. I’m sure you’ve seen the effects of it before.”
Chi-Woo nodded, a bit taken aback.
“I made a couple of new bottles. It’s going to be less effective than the one I used back then, of course, but it will be better than nothing.”
Now that Chi-Woo took a good look at her, he noticed that the top of Shadia’s head was flat. The mandragora that should’ve grown back by now was nowhere to be found.
“Can I really take this?”
“Of course~ All of this might come back as merits. That’ll be good, won’t it~”
Thus, Chi-Woo accepted the bottles gratefully. These were potions that could regenerate a severed body part in an instant. Even if they were less effective than the previous one, they could be a lifeline in case of emergencies.
“Good luck.”
“You too, Ms. Shadia…” Chi-Woo looked over his shoulder mid-sentence and said, “…Be careful just in case.”
“No need to tell me. And it’s not me you need to worry about.” Shadia tapped Chi-Woo with her fist and got up while waving her hand. After watching her leave for a while, Chi-woo sighed and took the pouch he had been rummaging through.
—Hey, hey, hey, what were you thinking?
Philip, who had been waiting for his turn to speak the whole time, rushed up to Chi-Woo and called Chi-Woo’s name harshly.
—For what reason did you say you will participate in the detachment? And what are you going to do about her?
Chi-Woo looked down at the mysterious girl who had a robe wrapped all around her. As if she was clueless about the situation, the girl had been staring in the same one direction from night to day. Chi-Woo got on one knee and tapped her shoulder carefully with his index finger. Startled, the girl took a couple steps back. Only when she realized it was him did she cautiously approach again. Chi-Woo looked into her wary, innocent eyes and said, “We’re going to enter the city soon.”
The girl’s mouth gaped open slightly.
“But it won’t be easy. It will be very, very dangerous.” Seeing her response, Chi-Woo thought there was no need to say more, but he added in a low voice, “We could die. No, at least half of us will surely die.”
—I think it’ll be more than that…
Philip murmured, but Chi-Woo didn’t refute it since it was true.
“What are you going to do? Are you still going to follow us?”
“Ah,” the girl said. “Uh, Ah!” She smiled brightly and pointed to exactly where the city was.
“I understand. But you can’t do whatever you please once we get in.” Chi-Woo nodded and got up. This was the girl’s decision. If he was going to be so focused on safety, he wouldn’t have brought her in the first place.
Philip’s eyes widened. The girl’s reaction was a hundred times better than crying or regretting that she joined the team, but she was…way too calm to a shocking degree.
—Hm, I don’t think you volunteered out of loyalty to a friend.
Philip murmured with his arms crossed.
—Then why? You must know that entering the city wouldn’t be the end of it. In fact, that would only be the beginning of hell.
‘I don’t have a great or noble reason.”
—You know, I don’t think you are stupid. Do you remember what I told you at the Academy?
Chi-Woo nodded.
[Did it all look easy? Since you defeated a god, you thought you could easily defeat a demon?]
[You were really lucky then to have come out alive.]
…Of course, how could he forget? Chi-Woo knew where he stood.
—I don’t think you would’ve made the same mistake… It makes me more curious.
Philip smiled slightly while stroking his chin.
—It’s not loyalty that compelled you to volunteer, nor are you depending on luck to complete the mission. It would be more understandable if you were greedy for merits, but from what I know of you, you are the risk-averse type. You don’t enjoy earning great profits by undertaking high risks. You prioritize safety and aren’t dying to kill yourself. So, it makes me even more curious about the reason why you joined the detachment.
Chi-Woo turned to look behind him again. He saw the path the rescue team had taken to come here. Then he turned back, facing the path the infiltration unit would take from now on.
“…” Chi-Woo suddenly remembered his life in the cave. He had struck his head against the wall a couple times for being unable to do anything in fear of death. To overcome this fear, he escaped a mythical monster again and again; and at that time, he learned one important lesson: it was human nature to run for their life, and it wasn’t the wrong decision in itself, but if one really wanted to live, they needed to carefully choose the ‘direction’ they would escape in. And this direction wasn’t necessarily one that would immediately distance him from the imminent danger, and when Chi-Woo realized this fact, he got a message that he gained a new ability.
‘It’s exactly because I want to live,’ Chi-Woo finally answered.
—…What?
Philip looked taken aback, but Chi-Woo turned to leave without saying another word.
There was a saying that fighting with one’s life on the line would lead to survival, while living cowardly would surely lead to death. Chi-Woo had already prepared to die, and he didn’t think that he was going to survive for sure. Nevertheless, there was one reason why Chi-Woo wanted to move forward. His special ability, ‘Insight into the Unknown’, told him that the path to survival wasn’t behind him, but before him.
The operation began, and the detachment began leading the way. The rest were keeping a distance and keeping quiet. Everyone crouched down and moved as quietly as possible in a line, hiding in the shadows of the hills as they slowly made their way to their destination. Before they knew it, the detachment had completely moved out of the forest and stepped into where the hilly areas were joined. As they moved on, the city grew bigger and bigger in sight.
The non-stop explosions had lasted till sunset, but now, there was an eerie silence surrounding the city, as if the opposing forces were now in a standstill. The heroes had been moving forward one small step after another, and then, Chi-Woo felt his whole body start to slowly stiffen. His body felt heavy, and he became out of breath; he wasn’t sure if it was because of nervousness.
Something had been fraying his nerves since a while ago—the cause was on his left. Nangnang had told them that the city was surrounded by two forces. The place where the rescue team was crossing was dark, but their path was illuminated somewhat by moonlight. The area on their left, in contrast, was pitch black as if it had been swallowed by darkness. They couldn’t see anything beyond 100 meters. Chi-Woo could understand why Nangnang had told them to stay away from the area as much as possible.
‘Demon.’ There was probably a high-ranking demon from the top 66 near them. Otherwise, it didn’t make sense that the Demon Empire would be able to cover that big an area in their sphere of influence. Of course, Chi-Woo had beaten a high-ranking devil before, but in reality, that had been purely Philip’s skills, and he didn’t think he could achieve the same thing now. They had been in a different world back then, and now they were on Liber. Since the Demon Empire had opened tunnels all throughout Liber and conquered a great mass of land, they would be able to exert 100 percent of their true power here. Thus, it would be the greatest folly to think he could beat demons easily like before.
‘It would be best if I don’t run into…’ Chi-Woo stopped walking. His synesthesia alerted him to a new presence. As soon as he turned his head, he saw moonlight reflected on a big hill.
Swish! The night wind swept up to them out of the blue. At the same time, a torch dropped and rolled down. Ru Amuh had moved it with his skills. After telling everyone to stay still and sending a signal, he crawled up the hill alone.
Ru Amuh checked the situation in a hurry and was relieved. He saw groups of two patrolling the area, but they hadn’t been caught yet. Of course, he couldn’t be sure, so he went further up ahead and peeked out his head. The sight in front of him was as expected from the explosive sounds that had been ringing all day—there were trenches and bunkers everywhere, and lumps of irons protruded out of huge holes in the bunkers.
Ru Amuh smacked his lips because Nangnang had been right. There was a large barrier built around the city; it was not as dense as a spider web, but it was still solid and thick. It would be absurd to even think about infiltrating any further. If they passed this point, they would definitely be caught no matter how hard they tried to conceal their presence. Even though they weren’t even halfway through the gate yet, there didn’t seem to be a way forward. Ru Amuh stared intently at the front line and came down cautiously. After typing out the information he had confirmed and sending it out as a message to those below, he began moving again.
Ru Amuh didn’t want to go against Nangnang’s warning and move into the area shrouded in darkness on his left, but he thought it would be necessary to walk the tightrope along its border to get to a location where he could make it into the city with a leap. Ru Amuh, who had been moving along the edge without getting any closer to the darkness, lifted his hand. He was signaling everyone to wait where they were.
And like this, he reached their first destination; if he went a little further, he would be inside the Demon Empire’s camp. And if he turned to the hill below him, he’d be able to see the front line of the Indigenous Monsters Alliance that he just checked out. Now, the rest of the heroes must have checked the information sent by Ru Amuh, and he had to wait for them to find the best position to take.
Since this whole operation depended on speed, it wouldn’t take long for them to situate themselves. However, this also meant that they would have to jump straight into the city soon. That was why everyone was quiet. Their expressions varied, but they all had their mouths shut.
Ru Amuh approached Chi-Woo using the short time they had and called out to him in a barely audible voice, “Teacher… Thank you.” The simple words were loaded with meanings.
Chi-Woo glanced at Ru Amuh. “…Mr. Ru Amuh.” With a bright smile, he whispered, “I trust your decision.” Ru Amuh smiled in reply. There was no need for more words.
Chi-Woo got a notification then. It was a message from a member of the detachment, telling them that they had situated themselves and were going to start moving in soon, so they should prepare themselves. Ru Amuh took the lead again. All members of the detachment curled up when they saw Ru Amuh grab the handle of his sword, as if they were getting ready to race.
* * *
At the same time, one hero looked down from a hill and said with a dismayed look on his face, “…So, they’re planning to jump in from there. It’s crazy no matter how many times I think about it.”
Another person shook their head and murmured, “Damn it, if only I had my original power.”
If the heroes were at their peak strength, breaking through the barrier below them would be as easy as a short warm-up before their real battle. They would have even made bets to see who could break through first. However, the reality was cruel. It was no wonder that they would feel despondent and have low self-esteem. Those emotions were what triggered their conflicts.
“Will this even work…”
As the heroes hesitated to move, one hero asked, “Didn’t they say they were ready?”
“Uh? Ah, yeah. They did.”
“Then why are we just standing still instead of getting started?”
“Should we just go—?”
At that moment, the yeti, Snowy Mountain, got up without giving others any more time to speak. The hero widened their eyes mid-sentence. The yeti was enormous, and his presence was even more terrifying when he rose to his full height.
“Hey, hey! Stay down for now! Sit!”
Snowy Mountain ignored them and picked up a rolling rock—no, to others, it was basically a boulder. Then, without anyone being able to stop him, he threw it with great strength towards the bunker in the frontline trench.
Swoosh—! Bam! And like this, the stage set in the night sky with the moonlight as spotlights began.
1. Sequence of moves in the game of go that results in a balance of both black and white sides ☜