A day passed. As soon as the dawn broke, Chi-Woo and the others split up into teams and set out to investigate. Although they didn’t make much progress, the mood around the camp didn’t sour because everyone could feel a significant change. First of all, it was much easier to wander around the forest now compared to the day before, where it had been all gloomy darkness and suffocating air. Today, the air was clean, and warm sunlight embraced them all. For the first time, the forest felt like a forest to the heroes.
“It feels like I’m on a walk.”
“Yeah. I thought I was walking into a haunted house yesterday.”
After falling into an all-consuming pit of despair where there was no room for dreams or hope, the heroes felt liberated when they finally saw the rays of light shining on them. Thus, everyone talked to one another with relaxed faces, and as they did, the topic of the conversation naturally steered to Chi-Woo.
“It really is amazing. I wonder how he did it though?”
“He did explain what happened. It seems there’s something more than meets the eyes about him.”
Chi-Woo would’ve been displeased to hear it, but he had become a household name among the natives and the seventh recruits.
“But what’s his name again?”
As expected, it was his alias Chichibong—rather than Choi Chi-Woo—that was becoming well-known. The day passed by without much happening.
Of course, there were still problems to be dealt with. Although the biggest threat had been taken out, the food shortage grew worse day by day. Ironically, saving the fifth and sixth recruits had exacerbated the shortage. Not only were there significantly more mouths to feed, their new additional members were also mostly patients suffering from malnutrition and therefore needed to eat well, which was the greatest challenge they faced. With the way things were progressing, the recruits would soon have to dig up grassroots to eat.
There was a silver lining, though. Thanks to the natives’ ardent care, the fifth and sixth recruits had begun to wake up one by one.
“Water…water…” When one hero opened his eyes and asked for water, Eshnunna quickly brought a water bottle to his lips. Gulp, gulp. After mindlessly drinking the water, the hero finally looked around his surroundings with narrowed eyes. They looked confused for a while and gasped out, “Where…?”
“We are at the main base camp.”
“Main…base?”
“The seventh recruits had arrived. They attacked the ranch yesterday and defeated the broken beings and saved you all.”
The hero opened his eyes slightly wider. “I see…Seventh recruits from the Celestial Realm…” He let out a sigh of relief and attempted to sit up, but ended up wincing in pain.
“Are you all right?” Eshnunna reached out to support him with a hand on his back.
The hero struggled a little before nodding. “Thank you…oh, by the way…” As if he had suddenly remembered something, he turned to Eshnunna, and his whole face twisted.
Upon his return from the noon investigation, Chi-Woo dropped by to check on Giant Fist. Giant Fist hadn’t opened his eyes since the ambush during their first attempt at investigation. He was still in a critical state. After all, it had been a miracle that he was still alive after getting a hole in his stomach and having most of his intestines destroyed. Chi-Woo would’ve died if he suffered such injuries. Giant Fist was only able to hold onto his dear life because he was of a different species, and his body was honed with arduous training.
After bringing the almost untouched meal he had received close to the bedside, Chi-Woo stared at Giant Fist, lying on the bed so still like he was dead. Perhaps Chi-Woo shouldn’t care if this person died or not. In a way, it was Giant Fist who had brought Chi-Woo to this living hell. Still, Chi-Woo couldn’t help but care for him. Chi-Woo didn’t want Giant Fist to die so pitifully, and he knew the hero’s death would leave a mark on his heart.
At first, Chi-Woo had been skeptical of Giant Fist and had suspected him to be some madman. Chi-Woo hadn’t even known Giant Fist for a long time, but he had become quite attached. Frustration welled in him as he watched Giant Fist’s pale face. He wanted to do something, but there was nothing he could do. He didn’t have healing abilities, nor could he bring someone who could heal…Wait, there was one thing he could do. Chi-Woo took out his seven-sided die and stared down at it.
He felt hope rise in his heart; perhaps an alternative event could occur like that time with Ru Amuh. Nevertheless, Chi-Woo hesitated to roll the World’s Milestone because there was more than a fifty percent chance that the dice would fail. He had gotten a message notifying him of the die’s failure when he rolled a four, and nothing happened… When he rolled five and six, he got a ‘small success’ both times, and an incident beneficial to him occurred. In other words, if he got a number below three, he could fail, or an incident could occur to make their predicaments worse. For example, the die could cut off Giant Fist’s lifeline, as he was barely staying alive.
Since Chi-Woo couldn’t manipulate the chances, he couldn’t just roll the die and see what happened. At the same time, he wasn’t going to sit here and do nothing. Although everyone around him put him on a pedestal and praised him for accomplishing a great feat, the reality was still grim. Chi-Woo tightened his fists, feeling his helplessness weighing heavily on him.
“Oh, you’re here,” said a familiar voice. Chi-Woo turned around and saw Mua Janya.
“Aren’t you tired from the investigation? You should rest.”
“I was wondering if he was awake.”
“Are you worried about him?”
Chi-Woo nodded. Mua Janya smiled sweetly at him and said, “Don’t worry too much.”
Chi-Woo looked at her in surprise, wondering if she had found a way to save Giant Fist, but she replied, “If he dies, he dies.”
“…”
Chi-Woo was at a loss for words. It wasn’t the first time he got this impression, but Mua Janya had a tendency to speak very bluntly at times.
“He knew about Liber’s situation beforehand, and it was Giant Fist who made the decision to come to this place,” Mua Janya continued. “He has to face the consequences of his choices. He must have been aware of this before coming here.”
Mua Janya was quite different from Ru Hiana. She had already considered and accepted the possibility that Giant Fist could die. “Moreover, Liber wouldn’t give us the luxury to linger around and mourn for our companion’s death.” In short, it was better to do something rather than let their companion’s death go to waste. Chi-Woo understood what she meant, and he did agree with her. However, there was a difference between simply understanding a concept and putting it into action. Chi-Woo let out a humorless laugh and smiled.
“I envy you. I wish I could think like that.”
“That’s how I have survived to this point,” Mua Janya shrugged. “You can’t do my line of work without such a mindset. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.”
“Fair?”
“A hero doesn’t become a hero because of their greatness,” Mua Janya said in a lowered voice. She looked down at Giant Fist and asked, “Do you know why most heroes are the sole survivors of all kinds of adversaries and difficulties? It’s because their dear families, companions, subordinates, masters, and even strangers have sacrificed themselves for them.” She answered her own question without giving Chi-Woo a chance to respond. “Why, there’s even a term for extras that no one even remembers—Random Villager A.” Despite the smirk on her face, her words were grave and loaded with meanings. “Who’s to say we won’t turn out like them?” Mua Janya glanced sideways at Chi-Woo and added, “Especially in a world like this.”
Since heroes reached their position through the sacrifices of a large number of people, they could also be sacrificed at any time. When it was time for them to sacrifice themselves, they needed to recognize this fact and accept their fates.
Chi-Woo smiled bitterly at Mua Janya’s extremely logical and reasonable statement. Every time he heard things like this, he always thought, ‘Are all heroes like this?’
If that was indeed the case, Chi-Woo was not confident that he could ever become a hero. He didn’t want to be one, either; he was a thoroughly selfish person full of desires.
“If you’re so worried, you should rest and save your energy. Wouldn’t it be better to use that energy to find food or medicine?”
“What about you, Ms. Mua Janya?”
“I have a lot of experience with situations like this, and I’m strong, so it’s fine. I’ll stand guard here. I can delegate the responsibility to someone else if a native comes.”
Everything Mua Janya said was reasonable, so there was nothing Chi-Woo could argue against. He turned around to leave. Mua Janya sighed deeply as she watched him go. With a bitter expression, she said to Giant Fist, “You’re up, aren’t you?”
Flinch.
Giant Fist flinched. He slowly opened his eyes and said with a hoarse voice and a weak smile, “You…knew…?”
Mua Janya snorted. “Why didn’t you say something if you’ve regained consciousness? He’s worried about you.”
“I…just…woke up…and you were talking…” Giant Fist spoke with involuntary pauses. Glancing at the plate that Chi-Woo left behind, he smiled faintly and said, “Again…root vegetables…”
“You’re complaining about the food as soon as you wake up?” Mua Janya clicked her tongue “You should be grateful. This is probably the last day you’ll be having root vegetables. From tomorrow on, we’re going to have a great time eating mud balls together.”
Giant Fist’s eyes widened. “The situation…”
“It’s not bad. Things are much better than before in terms of safety. I’ll even say that everything is looking up except for the food shortage we face.”
“Better…how…?”
“Right, you don’t know about it. While you were sleeping on your ass, a lot of things happened. Don’t be too shocked by what I’m about to tell you!” Mua Janya sat on the edge of the bed and relayed to him what had happened so far. Surprisingly, Giant Fist was not shocked at all. He simply nodded calmly while Mua Janya talked about Chi-Woo’s achievements.
‘What the—why isn’t he surprised?’ Even if Giant Fist wasn’t shocked, Mua Janya thought he would at least say something along the lines of, ‘As expected! It’s Sir Chi-Hyun’s brother after all!’ and be proud of Chi-Woo.
However, Giant Fist quietly listened to Mua Janya and said, “Do you…really…think that…?”
“What?”
“What…he said…at the end…”
Finally understanding his question, Mua Janya smirked and said in an incredulous tone, “Come on. Do you think I won’t know something that even you know?”
Giant Fist smiled and sat up with some difficulty. “This is a…good time…I have something to tell you…” Giant Fist took a deep breath to say something important, but at that moment, both of their gazes quickly shifted outside, where a commotion could be heard.
“What’s happening? Wait here. I’ll go check and come back.”
“I’ll also…”
“No, you haven’t recovered.” However, Mua Janya went up to support Giant Fist as she said that, and they slowly made their way out together.
It was complete chaos.
“This fucking bitch!” Several heroes of the sixth recruits were yelling and pointing their fingers at Eshnunna. It seemed that they had tried to attack her; Zelit and the other seventh recruits were doing their best to hold them back, while Eshnunna lowered her head and silently endured their accusations and insults.
“Calm, calm down for a bit!”
“Let me go! I told you to let go!”
“Didn’t I explain everything to you! You’re taking out your anger on an—!”
“Fucking hell! Do you seriously expect me to believe your nonsense!?” The man pushed strongly in anger, and Zelit took a few steps back. Despite his condition, he still had some strength left since he was a hero. “You seventh recruits may not know any better, so listen carefully. That bitch, that fucking bitch—” The man’s voice shook as he pointed at Eshnunna with his thumb. “She’s a fucking traitor. Ain’t I right?”
Eshnunna bit her bottom lip.
“We came all the way here to save them, and this fucking bitch sold us in exchange for the survival of her and her people. You hear me?”
Ru Hiana stepped forward with gritted teeth. “It’s so fucking annoying to hear you end every sentence with ‘bitch’.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Who the hell am I? Are you fucking deaf? We told you that she didn’t do it out of her own will.”
“You expect me to believe that? Are you a moron?”
“That’s rich coming from you. Some of us have been bewitched as well. Why do you think it’ll be different for the natives?”
Ru Hiana’s rebuttal gave the man pause. He huffed and looked at the seventh recruits who had now gathered around them. “Fine. That’s what you think, but what do the rest of you think?”
“Sir, I understand how you feel, but please calm down.” Ru Amuh stepped forward this time. “There seems to be a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“It’s not that she didn’t tell you about them. She couldn’t. I understand that you’re angry about the suffering you’ve gone through, but please consider the fact that the natives didn’t have a choice, either.” Ru Amuh asked him to listen to their story again in a calm and polite tone.
However, Ru Amuh’s words fell on deaf ears since the man was too enraged to listen. “…Ha.” He let out a burst of fake laughter in disbelief and suddenly smiled. “Wow…Ah. Is that it?”
“Sir?”
“I couldn’t understand why you were shielding her so much even when the truth is so obvious. Did that bitch beg you guys to save her in exchange for her body, perhaps?”
His unforgivable insinuation plunged the heated atmosphere into dead coldness. Ru Amuh looked disgusted, and Ru Hiana’s face turned bright red with fury. Eshnunna, who had been quietly enduring the verbal abuse, froze as well.
“Aha! If that’s not it, did you already—”
While the man continued to spout insults, Chi-Woo saw Eshnunna’s pale, stricken face and stared hard at the source of the abuse. The man had crossed the line.
1. [Choi Chi-Woo’s] Personal History
->Innate Ability
Personality: Neutral
Characteristics: Three lines
“This fucking bastard…” Chi-Woo swore under his breath and took a step forward.
