Chapter 140 – LV.Nine Priest Seo Rayeon – [One]

After returning to Happy Village, Seo Yun was in a tent with two of her teammates.

Naturally, it was to look after Gaeulbi, but the girl was staring blankly, then suddenly making choking sounds and dry heaving. It was unsettling to leave her alone, not knowing what she might do.

In the midst of this, Han Siwoo also looked deeply troubled, and Seo Yun could guess why.

When Gaeulbi killed the soldiers, Han Siwoo, despite Seo Yun’s urging, didn’t stop her from the sidelines but instead assisted her. Not just once, but multiple times.

And now, after meeting Gaeulbi’s aunt as the leader of the soldiers, most of the soldier killings the girl had committed had degraded from revenge for her family to merely venting her own anger.

Everything she had done up to now had become meaningless slaughter. Some of the killings were revenge for Seo Yun, but since Seo Yun had returned alive and well, the subsequent killings couldn’t be justified… The shock Gaeulbi was experiencing now wasn’t just from being abandoned by her aunt, but also from the overwhelming sense of futility regarding everything she had done so far.

Moreover, why had Gaeulbi, despite her insignificant class, participated in life-threatening hunts to earn Experience Points diligently? From what Seo Yun remembered, it seemed to be because she wanted to raise her Level to gain the strength to easily deal with the soldiers and rescue her aunt.

‘So, the entire journey up to now has essentially turned to nothing… If she had only talked about hunting those soldiers and never actually acted on it, the shock might have been less. Han Siwoo probably guesses this too, which is why he seems to feel it’s his fault.’

So what could be done? Seo Yun was busy comforting Gaeulbi on her own, making her cocoa and wiping her tears.

While doing so, it was quite a while later when Gaeulbi finally spoke.

“Thinking about it… my aunt… I don’t think she was ever particularly kind to me from the start. I don’t think she smiled much either… Back when I lived with her, I just thought, ‘Oh, people are naturally this blunt,’ but… maybe she didn’t really like me much from the beginning?”

To her question, Seo Yun said something she didn’t truly believe.

“No way. She probably just said things she didn’t mean.”

“How would you know?”

“Don’t people usually say things they don’t mean when they argue?”

“No, this time it feels like she revealed her true feelings she had hidden deep inside…”

“Gaeulbi.”

“And also. There are quite a few owners who adopt a cute poodle, then after a few years their affection cools and they find everything about caring for the dog bothersome, but still take it for walks regularly and give it heartworm medicine out of a sense of owner’s duty, right? I think my aunt was exactly like that. I probably wasn’t cuter or less troublesome to care for than a poodle!”

Gaeulbi suddenly raised her voice, then belatedly apologized as if realizing her mistake.

“Ah, sorry… I wasn’t trying to get angry at you, Seo Yun…”

“I know, I know. It’s okay.”

As Seo Yun hugged her shoulders, Gaeulbi began to cry in earnest.

Seo Yun patted her back and made eye contact with Han Siwoo. ‘Don’t just stand there, do something.’ Whether he understood the meaning or not, Han Siwoo also belatedly approached.

“It’s all okay. Don’t be too upset, alright?”

Han Siwoo comforted Gaeulbi with an uncertain tone and held her right hand.

Seo Yun also held Gaeulbi’s left hand, and Gaeulbi looked back and forth at the faces of her two teammates who each held one of her hands. Then, as if overwhelmed by her teammates’ comfort, she sobbed and cried out.

“Thank you, really…”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I only have you guys now! Only you guys…”

“Yeah, we’re by your side. Okay?”

As Seo Yun continued to comfort her, Gaeulbi fixed her gaze on Seo Yun’s face. Then she suddenly asked.

“Seo Yun, you won’t leave me, right?”

Seo Yun nodded.

“Yeah,”

“Later too?”

“Yeah, I won’t leave. I won’t leave.”

Seo Yun, who had answered without deep thought to give the desired response, was taken aback the next moment.

Gaeulbi raised her head, not to accuse her of lying, but…

“No, Seo Yun, you said you were going to leave…”

“When did I?”

“You said you’d leave for the sky, last time…”

What was that about? After pondering for a moment, Seo Yun soon realized what ‘leaving for the sky’ meant.

“Are you talking about me leaving as in Ascension? Challenging for the position of a god?”

“Yeah. You promised to Ascend with the Troll, right… Are you really going to attempt Ascension?”

“Well.”

“Don’t answer vaguely, answer properly, okay? Can’t you just not do that Ascension thing?”

In this situation, it was difficult to flatly say that Ascension was necessary to stabilize the world, and also difficult to say she had no intention of Ascending at all, knowing it would lead to betrayal later.

So when Seo Yun kept silent, Gaeulbi seemed to interpret that silence in a negative way regarding herself.

“The Lesser Angel Race can Ascend the moment they reach Level 15, right? Then I, I’ll make sure you don’t reach Level 15…!”

Gaeulbi stopped mid-declaration and closed her mouth.

Seo Yun also realized what kind of threat she was about to make.

‘It seems she was about to threaten to stop Party hunts to prevent me from leveling up if I intended to Ascend like this. To get a promise that I wouldn’t Ascend even if I reached that Level…

But sadly, that girl’s class wasn’t Priest or Mage; a Martial Artist threatening to leave the Party is the least effective class for such a threat. From the teammates’ perspective, if the Martial Artist leaves, they could get more Experience Points, so it would actually be a benefit.

‘Or maybe she was scared that saying she’d quit Party hunts would sound like a declaration of parting like this…’

Seo Yun forced a slight smile and said.

“I’m sorry, okay?”

“Don’t say you’re sorry, just…”

Gaeulbi started sobbing again and only managed to close her mouth after a long while.

Then, a presence was felt outside; it seemed Gaeulbi’s crying could be heard outside the tent, and someone outside was hesitant to enter.

Seo Yun opened the tent entrance and looked to see who was there. An unexpected person was standing there.

“Jihyeok?”

Kim Jihyeok nodded awkwardly.

“Yeah, um…”

“Did you come to see your mom?”Even though it felt awkward to hear that she had been seen as something other than a mother, she had welcomed them warmly. But as expected, they felt awkward on their side too.

“It’s not that. Rayeon asked me to pass on a message…”

“What did she say?”

“She asked why you didn’t stop by when you were heading back? She said you should come visit now, even if it’s late.”

At Kim Jihyeok’s words, Seo Yun shook her head.

“You probably noticed too, but our team members are feeling a bit down right now? It’s not really a good time to go anywhere.”

“Come all together. I heard they prepared something delicious to treat you guys. Chocolate cake.”

Seo Yun, who was about to refuse again, raised one eyebrow.

“Chocolate cake? How did they manage that?”

“They bought eggs from Happy Village and apparently used chocolate and flour from expired supplies that were still good?”

Seo Yun asked Gaeulbi.

“Do you want to eat chocolate cake?”

“Is cake really important right now?”

Han Siwoo chided, but Seo Yun immediately countered.

“They say sweet things are good when you’re feeling down. It’s not easy to get sweets in this world, so if we miss this chance, we might not get another.”

Meanwhile, Gaeulbi seemed to think for a moment before nodding.

“If you’re going, Seo Yun, then I’ll…”

As it happened, Seo Yun had something to pass on to Seo Rayeon, so she decided to accept the invitation.

“Uncle Haengun? I need to go to the neighboring village for a bit.”

When Seo Yun went to find Oh Haengun to inform him she needed to leave the village briefly, Oh Haengun said:

“Going to the neighboring village is fine. But could you pass on a message asking if they could help if the Centaurs attack again?”

“Ah, is it an alliance proposal?”

“Right. That Rayeon girl is your clone, isn’t she? If she’s copied even half your strength and reliability, having her on our side alone would be a huge boost…”

“That’s certainly true.”

Seo Yun answered modestly, then filled the truck with gas (since going to propose an alliance was village business, she could use the village’s gas and vehicle).

After loading up the three teenagers, she headed toward the neighboring village.

When they arrived at the neighboring village, Seo Yun was surprised by the people who came out to greet her.

It was a village she had visited before, but far more people were there now, with much brighter expressions than last time.

She had once given various people here the cold shoulder, so she felt a bit uneasy about coming. But contrary to her expectations, the neighboring villagers welcomed Seo Yun with surprising warmth.

“Welcome, Lady Seo Yun!”

It seemed the fact that she was the older sister of the angel they had made their leader had influenced them.

Seo Yun glanced at the man who had come out to guide her.

“Weren’t you Kang Junseok from last time?”

Merely mentioning his name caused an astonishingly bright smile to bloom on the man’s face. It almost looked like a smile of gratitude.

“Huh? Yes! That’s right! I can’t believe you remembered…!”

“Please speak comfortably, Mister.”

“How could I?”

Feeling both burdened and a sense of superiority, Seo Yun crossed through the neighboring village and entered Seo Rayeon’s tent. Seo Rayeon, sitting with her long legs crossed, greeted them.

“Great, Unni. You came?”

At Seo Rayeon’s gesture, the people around immediately brought out food to serve the guests. They couldn’t set a table as lavishly as in the old world, but the aforementioned food still caught the eyes of Seo Yun and her two teammates.

“Here, chocolate cake. I already know you don’t eat food, Unni, but it would be good if you had at least one piece…”

Seo Yun glanced sideways and saw Gaeulbi and Han Siwoo already eagerly digging into the cake. Their attitude was clearly one that would please the hosts.

After a moment’s hesitation, Seo Yun did the same. She took a spoonful and ate it—it was amazingly delicious. Surprisingly, it was worth using precious fuel to come here just for this.

Moreover, she didn’t even feel uncomfortable. If she had eaten this precious food among the people she saw last time—the pitifully emaciated refugees—she would have felt terribly self-conscious, but that wasn’t the case now.

The people Seo Yun had just seen in the neighboring village all had flesh on their faces. Even if they couldn’t enjoy the luxury of eating chocolate cake, they all seemed to be getting by without skipping meals. It was clear that during Kim Jongil’s time as village commander, they couldn’t even properly eat one meal a day.

That change was truly astonishing.

“The village seems to be in much better condition. As you said last time, it’s entirely your doing, right?”

At Seo Yun’s question, Seo Rayeon nodded confidently.

“Right. It’s all thanks to me.”

“How did you do it?”

“I hunted a crazy amount.”

“You hunted a crazy amount?”

“Yeah, monster hunting. Why, when you wander around, you encounter monsters a lot, right? It’s dangerous and tiring, so people usually avoid it, but I wandered around and hunted tons of monsters, any and all of them. I did it in winter too, and this summer, we finished hunting early in Happy Village, right? So there were quite a few monsters left that we didn’t catch—I caught them all.”

“Alone?”

“Well, this summer I brought Kim Jihyeok and other warrior Misters along and used them like hunting dogs or beaters, but I caught most of them alone? Others get tired or need to sleep, so they can’t move around hunting 24/7, but I can. I wandered day and night, killing monsters and collecting their souls.

And monster souls are the power source for magic items, right? I put the souls I brought into farming light items to produce provisions, and I put souls into the rock-control magic wand borrowed from the Trolls to rebuild the village fortress walls. I earned so much experience doing that that I already hit Level 9? I think I’ll reach 10 soon… What about you, Unni?”

“12.”

“Wow, you’ve been as busy as me, Unni? You’re really something.”

Seo Rayeon smiled as if impressed, but in Seo Yun’s opinion, the other girl had surpassed her in terms of leveling speed. She had leveled up almost cheat-level fast by hunting Yetis, but the other girl had reached that level honestly, hunting alone. She must have been incredibly busy even by herself…

Once again, Seo Yun felt the reality that this girl was her clone.She herself had once done something similar to Seo Rayeon. Back when she was being ostracized in Happy Village, with nothing better to do and wanting to earn the villagers’ recognition, hadn’t she roamed outside day and night, collecting scrap to earn contribution points?

Based on that past experience, she could guess why Seo Rayeon, despite being of Evil Alignment, was capable of such passionate hunting for the village’s sake.

It must have been to be revered and praised by the villagers.

‘No matter how wicked and ill-mannered that bitch is, if it’s for her own admiration, she’ll gladly devote herself to others…’