Chapter 100

“Why are you interfering now, damn it?!”

Cho-i Hyeon said, gripping her head. Taehyeok Sa raised an eyebrow. He looked at her as if demanding an explanation. But Cho-i Hyeon had no time to explain to Taehyeok Sa right now.

“Wait, wait.”

She held out her palm to Taehyeok Sa, signaling for a moment.

‘Why did you come out now, damn it!’ ‘Do you think it’ll be solved if I don’t call you?’ ‘Ugh, I should just rip it out of my guts.’ ‘Then you’ll die.’

“Oh, right?”

Cho-i blinked. If I rip this out of my guts, wouldn’t I die? But can I really rip it out of my guts? Or should I rip it out of my brain? Either way, I’d die. Unless it can be solved with surgery.

“Why me, of all people?” ‘It’s because it’s you.’ “Talking about fate, my ass. Damn it, this guy and that guy, they’re all the same.”

Cho-i Hyeon said, sounding fed up. Then, Taehyeok Sa, whose patience was wearing thin, asked again.

“May I ask what you’re doing right now?”

“Uh, I think you’ll have something to say if I tell you.”

“Go on.”

“I can talk to ‘that’ in my head. Though most of the time it just pops out on its own.”

Taehyeok Sa then rubbed his forehead for a moment. I know, I know it’s a serious situation. Cho-i Hyeon grumbled to herself and spoke to the Entity again.

‘What do you mean it’s because it’s me?’ ‘……’

Well, this time, even when she spoke, there was no answer. She knew full well that it was no help at all, talking whenever it felt like it and then shutting up whenever it wanted to. Cho-i looked at Taehyeok Sa, who was contemplating with a serious face, and asked.

“What are you thinking so hard about? Is it my business or yours?”

“Let me say it again, your business is as good as mine.”

“Because you have to take responsibility for me?”

“Yes.”

“I really wish I was dead.”

Then Taehyeok Sa suddenly asked.

“You don’t seem to care, do you?”

“About what? Talking in my head? Well, it’s a bit inconvenient, but my head doesn’t hurt, and I’m not dizzy…”

“No, not that.”

“What?”

“I told you that you’d have to die someday, but you didn’t react much.”

“What do you mean I didn’t react? I told you I wish you’d just die.”

“You don’t really intend to kill me.”

“Not yet, because I still need the ‘Paehyeok’ signboard. First, I need to find out more about the hidden dungeon, and also more about how to get rid of what’s inside my body…”

Taehyeok Sa looked at Cho-i Hyeon with a face that seemed unsure how to explain for a moment, then suddenly said.

“If it were me, I would have killed you the moment you said that.”

“I told you, your guild…”

“It’s strange that you’re tolerating someone who says they’ll kill you someday, even if they’re needed. Especially someone like me, who once consumed you.”

“…So, what do you want me to do?”

Cho-i Hyeon asked, as if she didn’t understand. Then Taehyeok Sa rubbed his temples with a look that asked if he really had to explain this, and said.

“You have no self-respect right now.”

“Self-respect?”

“Yes.”

“I respect myself.”

“I don’t think so.”

“No, I do, so why are you tackling me?”

“If it’s something you can solve by dying, you’d throw away your life, wouldn’t you?”

Cho-i Hyeon raised her voice as if asking what the problem was.

“Because I’m not going to die!”

“Even if you don’t die, it’ll still be painful, won’t it?”

“You knew that, you son of a bitch, and you still used me up like that?”

Taehyeok Sa thought. The situation, her surroundings, were making her unhesitant to throw away her life. And he was one of them. Taehyeok Sa felt like he had been used, but there was no one who actually used him. It was just fate that Cho-i Hyeon appeared before his eyes. No one had ordered him to do that to her.

‘But why do I keep feeling…’

Why did he feel uneasy? While Taehyeok Sa was lost in thought for a moment, Cho-i Hyeon got up and headed for the elevator.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you can rack your brain over it yourself. I’m leaving!”

Cho-i Hyeon disappeared in the elevator. Taehyeok Sa quietly watched her back. And he let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“It’s funny, to do all that and then feel this way now.”

It was a fact he knew well himself.

* * *

Nara Shim had been quite nervous watching Cho-i Hyeon, who had been in a bad mood for the past few days. Because she didn’t know when that bad mood would explode. She knew it would be fine as long as Cho-i Hyeon didn’t take it out on her, but it was unavoidable that it was uncomfortable to watch her constantly sulk.

“Hey. Is something wrong with you?”

“Why?”

“No, it’s written all over your face. Not ‘why’.”

“Hey.”

“Huh.”

“If you were in my situation, what would you do?”

“Me in your situation?”

“What if it wasn’t me who was abandoned that day, but you, and you ended up like me and didn’t die? What do you think it would be like?”

“What do you think it would be like…?”

Nara Shim fell into deep thought. It seemed like she had some kind of problem, but to ask such a question out of the blue…

“I don’t really know.”

“Don’t say it so simply.”

“I’m not saying it simply.”

Nara Shim sat down next to Cho-i Hyeon, who was curled up on the bed, and said.

“Seriously. Ask me in more detail. Like, why you’re in such a bad mood right now.”

“Bad mood? I’m just normally annoyed and hurt.”

“You get hurt too?”

“I mean, a normal person would have been hurt.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Cho-i Hyeon listened to Nara Shim’s words and began to think. So why am I so annoyed? The existence of Taehyeok Sa had been an annoying figure to her from the moment he first appeared, but as of yesterday, he had become an even more annoying human.

“How would you feel if someone who had killed you hundreds of times told you that you deserved to die?”

“What? Where in the world is there such a son of a bitch?”

“There is, you jerk. Your Guild Master.”

“My Guild Master? Our Guild Master?”

“Yes.”

Nara Shim scratched her head.

“I thought there was something between you two, but I didn’t know it was like that. I understand why you keep growling.”

Nara Shim grumbled, pulled her legs onto the bed, and hugged them. Then she started to think more seriously.

“First, it’s going to be really annoying.”

Cho-i Hyeon sat quietly, choosing her words. And soon, she felt like she understood a little why she was so upset.

“Do you think I treat my body carelessly?”

Nara Shim said, looking down at her, who was wrapped in the blanket.

“Even if that’s the most efficient way, I don’t think I could do it that way.”

Cho-i Hyeon furrowed her brows for a moment. Nara Shim smoothed Cho-i Hyeon’s brow with her thumb. Cho-i Hyeon shook her head back and forth, and Nara Shim chuckled briefly.

“Just because I don’t die doesn’t mean I don’t get hurt. If that were the only method, there would be no choice, but I’m saying I wouldn’t be able to do it proactively. If there’s another way, I’d try it.”

Then Nara Shim called Cho-i Hyeon.

“Normal people don’t do that.”

Nara Shim said with a troubled expression.

“You should just kill the Guild Master too.”

Cho-i Hyeon, who had been wrapped in the blanket, got up. She threw off the blanket and sat on the bed, lost in thought. Nara Shim sighed inwardly. Just when she thought things might be settling down, Cho-i Hyeon suddenly jumped up again.

“Oh, damn it, you scared me. What now?”

Cho-i Hyeon leaped off the bed. She immediately changed her clothes and began to get ready to go somewhere.

“Hey, where are you going!”