Chapter 17 – LV.Two Angel Girl Seo Yun – [Three]

Seo Yun thought that she could ask the other party members for help, but that would be a last resort. If she asked them for help, the fact that Seong Juri had entrusted her with the luggage would become known to the party members. It would be better than the secret spreading throughout the village after returning to Happy Village and the situation becoming known, but still, she had to solve it alone if possible.

So Seo Yun decided to act as if nothing had happened.

She picked up the discarded pickaxe again, pulled out the stump, and plucked a few clumps of grass before returning to the campsite.

“Oh, you’re back? As expected, Seo Yun’s skills are the best…”

Kim Ak gave a thumbs-up. Seo Yun smiled slightly, then struck the stump a few times with the pickaxe to turn it into firewood.

Mealtime arrived. For Seo Yun, it was a nerve-wracking time.

Fortunately, Seong Juri carried her own provisions in her backpack. Amid the spreading aroma of food, Seo Yun pondered ways to resolve the matter in her head.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem too difficult.

After the meal, they had to prepare to sleep immediately. These days, the world grew dark too quickly, so everyone had become accustomed to sleeping early and waking early.

After everyone set up their tents, Kim Ak spoke.

“First night watch is Taeyang. Next is…”

The party members had also decided to take turns on night watch, and even though Seo Yun didn’t sleep, it was for training purposes.

About an hour later, it grew dark.

Seo Yun ended up guarding the campsite with Park Taeyang.

For a while, silence flowed. And when about an hour had passed, Seo Yun thought it was time to gradually put her plan into action.

Seo Yun opened her mouth.

“Hey.”

With just that one word, Park Taeyang quickly spoke.

“Don’t talk to me. Don’t act friendly.”

“What?”

“I still haven’t forgiven you.”

Even with her mind filled with her future plans, Seo Yun was shocked. She pondered the words she had just heard.

What the hell did that bastard just say?

Forgive? Him, me?

“You’re really an amazing bastard…”

At Seo Yun’s words, Park Taeyang glared.

“What?”

“You’re insane. Anyway, listen. I’m going to leave alone for a bit, don’t worry about me, okay?”

Park Taeyang didn’t nod, but he didn’t try to stop Seo Yun either.

In the end, leaving Park Taeyang behind, Seo Yun left the campsite and began walking silently toward where the man and woman who had ‘shaken her down’ might be.

She had a guess where they might be.

Seo Yun knew the geography of this area better than anyone. She also remembered where the intact buildings suitable for sheltering from the night cold were.

So that delinquent couple was probably around now…

Sure enough, inside the building Seo Yun arrived at, there were the two, a man and a woman.

Seo Yun stared at the tightly locked army stew restaurant. Standing in front of the building, her necklace vibrated, alerting her to the presence of two souls.

Fortunately, the two inside that building weren’t keeping watch either. Well, it would be difficult for just two people to take turns sleeping and waking.

So, were they asleep by now?

She didn’t know. As anxiety began to make her heart pound, Seo Yun did something she normally wouldn’t do.

‘Goddess, please allow me to become a righteous thief today…’

After silently reciting a line from a cartoon she watched as a child, she cautiously approached the window.

Peeking inside the building through the window, she saw the man and woman lying on the floor, unmoving. They seemed to be asleep.

Seo Yun hesitated for a moment, then slipped her body inside and infiltrated the building.

With a campfire between them, the girl and the man were sleeping with some distance between them. Thanks to that campfire, it wasn’t difficult to examine the surroundings.

Seo Yun walked quietly in the darkness without making a sound.

She successfully approached the man’s side. Seo Yun carefully bent down and took hold of his leather backpack.

She clearly remembered that the stolen provisions had gone into this leather backpack.

Seo Yun took the man’s leather backpack and left the building. Even after slipping out the window, she walked silently, holding her breath.

Then she glanced back, but no one was following. Only then could she let out a sigh of relief.

As expected, an angel girl never fails at theft.

Feeling grateful to her own Race for the first time, something she usually didn’t like, Seo Yun walked toward the campsite, holding the captured leather backpack in one hand.

Somehow, she couldn’t feel the weight of the leather backpack. Wondering if the provisions weren’t inside, she belatedly reached in and, fortunately, felt the provisions in her hand.

After transferring them back to her own backpack, she returned to the campsite.

This time, it seemed Lee Jongho was on night watch. His voice came.

“Who is it?”

“Me.”

The campfire, lit to keep warm during the night watch, illuminated Seo Yun’s figure.

Lee Jongho finally seemed relieved and spoke up.

“Where did you go alone?”

“To collect items.”

“In the middle of the night? Aren’t you living too hard?”

His tone sounded more admiring than sarcastic, and from his voice, she somehow even felt a sense of favor.

So, it was a voice pretending to be friendly.

Seo Yun muttered with a frown.

“This fucking bastard.”

Lee Jongho deflected.

“Uh… why are you suddenly cursing…”

“Haven’t you been treating me like I don’t exist for the past few months? You were the bastard who said before the Class Change, as one party, let’s get along well from now on. After chewing on it all this time, why are you suddenly talking to me pretending to be friendly?”

Lee Jongho paused for a moment, then said this.

“I’m sorry.”

With those words, an uncomfortable silence flowed.

When it was time for the next night watch, Lee Jongho went inside the tent and woke the next person.

“Jeon Sangguk? Wake up, Jeon Sangguk…”

Realizing it was Park Taeyang’s underling’s turn again, Seo Yun sighed inwardly.

Soon after, Jeon Sangguk cautiously approached the campfire. Seo Yun didn’t even look at Jeon Sangguk. After all, she had never even exchanged words with this guy in the first place.

Again, an uncomfortable silence flowed, and Seo Yun, feeling stifled, thought.

Not long ago, she had saved their leader. She barely saved him from being crushed or bitten by that snake monster. And yet, she still had to be ignored continuously?

She didn’t particularly want to get along with them, but still, this situation continuing was annoying. Whether it was because of the party’s atmosphere or her own stress.Finally, when it was Kim Jihyeok’s turn, Seo Yun could finally relax.

Kim Jihyeok quietly approached and sat down beside her. Seo Yun patted his shoulder and said,

“This mom has been through so much…”

Kim Jihyeok laughed, not understanding the context.

After that, the seven of them walked and walked. And now, truly nothing happened.

Even Seong Juri, who had been the most worried, somehow managed to keep up, and the seven of them all passed through the target point.

Then it was the road back to the village.

“Someone’s approaching.”

At Seo Yun’s words, Kim Ak gave the order to be on guard. They were all moving cautiously.

Seo Yun spotted a man and a woman watching them from a building over there.

‘That punk couple…’

Were they suspecting that this group had stolen something? They hadn’t left any specific clues behind, but given the circumstances, it was a plausible suspicion.

Kim Ak also looked at the two and muttered,

“Are they kids from the neighboring village?”

Seo Yun spoke, pretending to be nonchalant.

“Should we not drive them away?”

“Well, don’t mind them. There’s no need to approach them, but also no need to push them away. No need to worry about them calling their gang to ambush us either. They know this is Happy Village territory, right? As you know, Happy Village is the strongest village in Incheon. They absolutely can’t touch us…”

“If we’re the strongest in Incheon, are there stronger villages outside Incheon?”

Kim Jihyeok asked, and Kim Ak replied.

“Probably not? We’re called the strongest in Incheon because we don’t know the situation in other regions, not because there are stronger villages out there.”

“Then is Chief Oh Haengbok called the strongest in Incheon because we don’t know about other regions either?”

“Of course! Chief Oh Haengbok is probably the strongest in Korea, maybe. Everyone in Incheon knows, right? When the Chief was Level 10, he smashed the Vampire Centaur and its Centaur troops and saved Incheon… Thinking about the Rulebook info, that’s really unbelievable…”

Seo Yun couldn’t understand at all how Kim Ak’s expression looked so proud as he said that. Even after getting thoroughly beaten up not long ago, could he still respect him that much?

Anyway, the claim that they wouldn’t dare attack out of fear for that Oh Haengbok and the village he ruled seemed true. In a situation where this side had far more people, it was unlikely they’d take such a risk just to retrieve a single leather backpack.

Sure enough, the man and woman in the distance only fidgeted a bit and didn’t dare attempt anything. Judging by the occasional vibration of the necklace, they seemed to be following from afar, but in Seo Yun’s view, even that wasn’t worth worrying about.

Happy Village was getting closer. They could tell even from a distance.

Kim Ak muttered, filled with emotion.

“We’re almost there…”

Everyone paused for a moment and looked towards where their village was.

Although it was getting dark, the presence of Happy Village was distinct even in the darkness.

Seo Yun saw the vast fields surrounding the fortress wall and the blazing Miracles of the Priests above them. Over a hundred light sources were casting giant spotlights around the village.

It was an overwhelming sight.

Over there was a scene, splendid in a different sense from the glittering nightscapes of old. In a world trapped in snow and darkness, only that space retained a fragment of the luminous glory of the past.

As everyone gazed at the sight, mesmerized, Seo Yun quietly called to Seong Juri.

“Juri?”

Seong Juri also belatedly realized she needed to put the luggage back. After secretly finishing the task while others weren’t looking, the seven of them passed through the fortress wall and returned to the village.

It was Oh Haengbok who greeted the returning new Players.

“You’ve all worked really hard! Plus, you even got combat experience catching that snake last time, right? You’re now proper Players as…”

Oh Haengbok said that since everyone must be tired now, they should go get some rest, but tomorrow he would hold a simple feast for this Party. He didn’t forget to emphasize how much the birth of this new Party would help the village.

“I don’t say this in front of the residents, but honestly, farming is only possible because there are Players, hmm! Of course, the esteemed Priests go without saying, but even Warriors or Rogues like you guys are a huge help. From now on, if you collect monster Souls…”

Seo Yun also knew what Oh Haengbok was talking about now.

When Players defeat monsters and bring back their Souls in Glass Vials, the Mage puts those Souls into a certain Magic Item.

That Magic Item is an item that emits light within a certain range, and the light’s emission spectrum is the photosynthetically active radiation for crops.

By installing these items inside tents, crops can be grown inside the village, not just in the fields outside the fortress wall. Thanks to that, Happy Village’s food situation is good enough to even raise chickens.

“…I hope you remember that the village will develop in proportion to your hardships…”

Everyone, even in their exhaustion, listened to the Orc’s long speech with apparent emotion.

Seo Yun also listened for a while before returning to her own tent.

First, she put her bag down on the floor.

She took out the leather backpack she had stolen from the man and kept in her own bag.

Last night was dark and rushed, so she hadn’t properly checked its contents. To see what else was inside, she opened the mouth and turned it upside down.

The first things to come out were two Crossbows. Then bundles of arrows came out, and when a spear popped out, Seo Yun couldn’t believe her eyes. That length looked impossible to fit in a backpack no matter what?

Several rings, necklaces, and a few swords poured out in succession, followed by books and a silvery lamp tumbling out in a heap. More items seemed about to spill out, so Seo Yun belatedly pointed the backpack’s opening upward.

Seo Yun looked at the pile of items now stacked in her tent and wondered. What in the world was this?

Come to think of it, she seemed to have seen a backpack like this in the Rulebook.

She hurriedly opened the Rulebook and confirmed the existence of this item.

‘So this is…’

It was a Bag of Infinity.

According to the Rulebook, it’s a Magic Bag that can hold an almost infinite amount of items, and the weight of its contents disappears the moment they are placed inside. Its price was listed as ten thousand gold.

The other items that had spilled out of the bag were also extraordinary. Seo Yun groaned as she looked at the pile of items stacked here.A magical power could be felt emanating from those objects. Each and every one of them was a Magic Item.

‘Just like my ring…’

Seo Yun looked at the ring she was wearing.

Perhaps, when she was defeated by that ‘Strength-only piece of shit,’ this ring could have been taken from her.

Maybe she should have considered herself fortunate that only the Provisions were taken and not this. Considering how few such magic rings existed in the village, and that there was almost no way to obtain another, its loss would have been a terrible blow to the village.

Seo Yun thought of the man and woman who must be out there somewhere.

Had the two already given up on retrieving their belongings and left for distant lands? Or perhaps…

Seo Yun rose from her seat.