Chapter 153 – LV.Thirteen Priest Seo Yun – [Five]

Oh Haengun blew the chief’s horn trumpet to gather the village Players. “Woooooooooo…”

It was clearly different from when Oh Haengbok blew it, who had greater lung capacity due to his Warrior profession. The sound from Oh Haengun’s horn trumpet was pitifully weak and lacking in power, making one wonder if it would even echo throughout the entire village.

Still, it was evident he was trying his best to keep blowing. The sound of the horn trumpet seemed to cut off at times but continued persistently until it had gathered all the village Players here.

The Players gathered in one place continued their heated discussion.

“We almost got screwed last time doing that. Feels like we’re gonna get screwed again… They said they’d resurrect us at the Death Altar if that happens, right?”

“Since William is asking us for support instead of the Sun Ship, it seems the Sun Ship is far away. Since the Sun Priests are on the Sun Ship, resurrection would be difficult.”

“Damn it…”

“But if we ignore them after receiving help, won’t the Paladins refuse to help us in the future?”

Listening to their discussion, Seo Yun’s eyes kept blinking. She had naturally assumed the opinion to help would be overwhelmingly dominant, but strangely, the opinions of those for helping and those against were evenly matched.

Listening quietly, it even seemed like those possessed by Gwanghaegun’s mindset were more numerous at the moment.

“Even though we received help last time, we need to think practically. Right now, just providing provisions for the military grunts is already breaking our backs. And now we’re supposed to take in hundreds more refugees?”

“They’d bring their own food, wouldn’t they?”

“They’d have to abandon all the crops planted in their fields to come here, so how would they manage?”

Amidst this, Oh Haengun remained silent the whole time. Was he thinking his role now was something like a discussion moderator or opinion coordinator?

From Seo Yun’s perspective, such a role might be fine for a usual leader, but not now. Military matters should never be led democratically.

‘Or maybe he knows he needs to decide something but is afraid to make a decision that holds everyone’s lives accountable…’

To help lighten the new chief’s burden, Seo Yun spoke up.

“What if I go instead of the whole village going together?”

Only then did Oh Haengun open his mouth.

“You, Seo Yun?”

“Of course, not alone, but taking a few volunteers with me. That should lessen the burden on the village too. How about it, isn’t that okay?”

As she said this, she looked at Oh Haengun. She sent a gaze implying, “With this, you can nod comfortably too, right?” but Oh Haengun’s expression hardened.

After a moment of silence, Oh Haengun spoke.

“No… it’s a commendable suggestion, but that won’t do, Seo Yun.”

“It won’t?”

Fortunately, Oh Haengun didn’t mean that even that level of support was impossible. He declared:

“We go, all together.”

Everyone focused their gaze on Oh Haengun. Park Jaeyun, the Warrior who had been most vehemently opposing support at this gathering, spoke.

“You said the Undead Legion is targeting that place right now? The one controlled by that Final Boss…”

“That’s right.”

“If we go there recklessly, that Undead Legion might turn its attention this way. Maybe us revealing ourselves there this time could become the trigger for them to invade here…”

Oh Haengun cut him off.

“No. According to the news Seo Yun delivered, skeletons have already come to the Korean Peninsula. So whether we go there to help or not, those Undead will swarm here anyway… And even if that weren’t the case, we should help that village.”

“Why? Because we received help from them last time?”

Oh Haengun slowly nodded. As if his heart was churning now, he spoke with a slight stammer.

“If, in the end, as prophesied, those bastards will invade our village, if that future is utterly unchangeable… then at least the process should be beautiful… Even to request support from the Paladins again later, we should act morally, right?”

Oh Haengun was saying that since we’re doomed anyway, let’s go out in a somewhat splendid way. Even in ruin, let’s act with loyalty and then perish.

It was a somewhat grand statement in its own way, but he spoke too vaguely for it to sound very cool.

Yet, no one laughed or dismissed it. One by one, they stood up from their seats. The Warriors around them also shook their heads and then rose together. Park Jaeyun said:

“Then, let’s go.”

And so, everyone set off. The matter was urgent. There was no time for lengthy tactical discussions; they simply briefly assigned each other’s Positions and then moved toward the Dimensional Gate.

Arnold, who had rushed over upon hearing the village was doing something, also joined the group. The heavily armed village Players marched.

“Our village is really amazing, huh? A Level 13 Priest, a Level 12 Warrior and Mage… um, a Martial Artist… and a Barbarian Warrior whose level I don’t know but must be incredibly high.”

Park Jaeyun spoke as they walked, clearly intending to boost everyone’s morale. And then someone tactless muttered:

“If we have a Level 15 Warrior here too, that’s the best.”

“Fuck…”

They continued walking straight ahead.

A light flowed from Seo Yun’s pouch. Opening the pouch and taking out the orb inside, she saw the Communication Orb glowing.

Holding the Communication Orb, she asked:

“Seo Rayeon?”

Lately, they had hunted together often, so they had exchanged communication devices. Seo Rayeon’s voice came from the Communication Orb.

「How did it go? Did the Trolls say they’d send you to the Dungeon? From going there last time, I know that just entering and exiting a Dungeon once means a Level Up.」

Frowning at the question that didn’t match the situation, Seo Yun said:

As could be seen from her absurdly passionate hunting so far, which had raised the entire village’s quality of life, Seo Rayeon had a great interest in Leveling. Even without the goal of reaching Level 15 to Ascend, to maintain her authority, her level needed to be high, and as the combat force responsible for a village, the higher the level, the better.

“Yeah, they said they’d send us directly to the Dungeon.”

「Wow, when?」

“I couldn’t ask that. Didn’t have the leisure.”

「Why?」

Seo Yun explained the current situation and said they were on their way to help those people right now.

Then, a brief silence flowed from the Communication Orb, followed by unexpected words.

「Unni? Don’t go.」

“What?”

From beyond the Communication Orb, Seo Rayeon said:

「I’m of the Angel Race now, right? Lesser Angels have precognitive abilities in their settings. So, you know Lesser Angels have an intuition bonus depending on player choice during character creation…」

“And?”

「It feels ominous. Don’t go.」”What do you mean ominous? I don’t have precognitive ability, so you don’t either, right?”

“That may be true, but… I feel something.”

What does she mean by ‘feeling something’? Seo Yun, finding it absurd, demanded a proper explanation even amidst the busyness. Seo Rayeon replied like this:

“My chest keeps fluttering right now, and I feel strangely anxious…”

Seo Rayeon went on to describe various other strange sensations she felt, insisting that these sudden feelings were clearly warning of some ominous future.

After listening to all her claims, Seo Yun fell silent for a moment. Then she spoke.

“That’s probably not because of something in the future, but because of something in the past.”

“Because of something in the past?”

“You know.”

At Seo Yun’s low voice, silence flowed again.

There was likely no need to explain that the current situation, similar to when Kim Ak died protecting her, was stimulating the deep recesses of her mind. Because that girl’s intelligence was the same as her own.

Seo Yun cautiously asked.

“Want to come along? It’s another chance to get into debt in Happy Village.”

“No, I won’t go…”

Seo Yun sensed confusion in that uncharacteristically unconfident voice of her clone, and sadness mixed within that confusion.

She could also feel that the cause of that sadness wasn’t that she herself didn’t know it, but that she deliberately refused to understand it.

“Do as you wish.”

“Sorry…”

With those words, the communication ended. Seo Yun continued walking while thinking.

‘She said she completely parted ways with her Kim Rayeon self, but it seems that’s not the case…’

Come to think of it, did Seo Rayeon hate herself when she was Kim Rayeon? Wanting to forget all the experiences and emotions from that time, Seo Rayeon had likely ignored all those memories with her superior 8-point Mental Stat. It seems one of those memories has now surfaced.

Ahead, Oh Haengun’s anxious voice pierced her ears.

“Here, the Dimensional Gate. Let’s go in…”

Entering the blue Dimensional Gate revealed an ashen world.

Unlike this land where blizzards frequently blow, today it was strangely quiet. That silence felt more ominous than ever now.

Everyone hurried their steps and finally reached the Fortress Wall.

Paladin William greeted them all.

“You came quickly! Sorry to trouble you. There are so many monsters around here that just moving together carries a high risk of being attacked and all dying… I couldn’t protect these people moving alone…”

Seo Yun responded.

“Hmm, that’s probably because this place existed in the game.”

“It existed in the game?”

“Yes. I heard this village was in the video game too. The area around the village was a monster spawn location. As you know, in video games, players need to fight monsters frequently so they don’t get bored, right? So in video games, they set monster spawn rates, sacrificing realism to ensure frequent encounters with monsters. That monster spawn rate might be implemented here…”

“Ah, was that the reason? Well, it’s good we can leave this time then.”

“And since this place existed in the game, there’s one more fact to keep in mind.”

Seo Yun briefly explained what happened when people tried to leave this village. As she continued her explanation, William’s expression hardened.

“No wonder they didn’t want to leave…”

“Why, are they refusing to leave?”

“Yes. Strangely many people say they’d rather die here. Even when I threaten them, they say they can’t leave… We don’t have time to persuade each of those people now, so it’s just frustrating.”

Soon the Undead Horde will attack, and those left behind will all die. They came here to do good, so there’s no reason to leave them like that.

“Then… let me talk to them.”

“You, Seo Yun? Well, they might listen to an Angel’s words.”

Soon, Seo Yun approached the villagers here.

The villagers’ gazes focused on the ‘Angel.’ Seo Yun asked.

“Who here intends to stay and not leave?”

At her words, several raised their hands. Seeing the number was considerable, Seo Yun was surprised. Seo Yun asked.

“Why won’t you leave? You’ll likely die if you stay.”

A middle-aged man began explaining in rambling, still-not-proficient English.

“Well…”

His words were so incoherent it was hard to understand, but roughly it was this:

They know they’ll die even if they stay here. But here they can resist a bit before dying, so they might live longer. If they leave this place, they’ll all die even more horribly… Finally, he said this:

“You’re saying you’re cursed?”

“Yes, we’re cursed not to leave here. The curse of vengeful spirits.”

“What vengeful spirits?”

“Of the people we drove out and killed here…”

Seo Yun could roughly understand what that meant.

She recalled that the village’s population was written in the Rulebook, so if it seemed they’d exceed the set number, they drove that many people out of the village; that almost all those driven out died because there were too many monsters outside; that all those who spoke French instead of poor English and angered the meteorite were driven out and killed; that they even directly killed all the children who posed a high risk of making mistakes.

She also recalled that when the Purple Moon rose, all those who died then rose as Undead, and understood that all the supernatural phenomena preventing these people from leaving were being perceived as a kind of curse combined with the villagers’ guilt here.

Seo Yun closed her eyes, then opened them. There was no time to discuss at length whether all those acts were necessary for survival or not.

Seo Yun simply said briefly.

“As an Angel, I declare that curse is now lifted.”

The man who had been earnestly explaining to Seo Yun opened his eyes wide.

“The curse is lifted?”

Seo Yun nodded.

“Yes. The unjustly killed vengeful spirits have probably gone to Heaven by now.”

“Then if we leave this time, what happened before won’t…”

“I don’t know that. There might still be vengeful spirits who haven’t left. So some might die this time.”

“Then ultimately…”

“But as an Angel, I guarantee this: Those who die that way will also go to Heaven.”

The man asked in an anxious voice.”Is that really true?”

Seo Yun nodded and recited the lines she had desperately conjured up in her mind just moments ago.

“Even sins committed under unreasonable circumstances may still be sins, but… whether it’s God or the Sun God up in that sky, I doubt they are cruel enough to deny commutation for all of it. And if the god in that sky doesn’t send you to Heaven, I’ll do it myself.”

“You yourself, Angel?”

“Yes. Even if I can’t do it now, someday. Since you’ve all suffered unreasonably, you deserve to be rewarded after death.”

The words she had just spoken weren’t merely improvised—she truly believed and uttered them with conviction.

She, who had never suffered while the world changed, would not judge whether they were guilty or not. And of course, she would not leave them to be judged by the Meteorite, the root cause of all this.

Seo Yun felt not only the people who had said they wouldn’t leave but also those who had gathered to leave all looking at her. Even the villagers here and the Players from Happy Village were staring at her.

She spoke to all of them.

“Well, then. Shall we go?”

The hesitant man nodded. And along with him, the people who had said they would stay in the village began bustling about as if gathering their belongings. Amidst this, William approached and whispered softly.

“You’re really not an NPC, are you? One set up as an Archangel…”

And Seo Yun snapped irritably.

“I told you, I’m not.”