Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Traces

“This is bewildering.”

It was not empty words.

He was truly bewildered, so it came out aloud.

Lee Do-guk looked at the customer, Ryu Jin, who had returned.

He had been waiting for the envelope of money, but something completely unrelated had come back.

No, that was not quite right. Since this human should have the envelope of money, it had returned.

The problem was that it was not Jo Woo-chan’s group.

Ring, ring, ring, ring.

The phone in his pocket rang.

“So it wasn’t someone with the same name.”

Ryu Jin placed the phone on the table.

Aris had searched the pockets of the collapsed friends.

There had been a familiar name in the latest call list, so he had brought it with him.

‘These stupid bastards...!’

Lee Do-guk clenched his molars.

Since he had called them out at this hour, he had been willing to overlook the fact that they had come after drinking.

But to botch the situation this badly after doing it half-heartedly.

It seemed he would have to summon them for the first time in a while.

“You won’t pretend not to know, will you? Even without this phone, it’s too unnatural. Kids like that waiting until this hour, I mean.”

“You’ve gotten a lot more casual, customer.”

“Should I bow to you, then? You’re the one who tried to rob me first.”

After speaking, Ryu Jin quietly stared at Lee Do-guk.

Even as he said it himself, it felt a little unfamiliar.

In the past, he would not have gone this far.

It felt as if the switch that had been turned off had properly flipped up after Kronos stabbed him in the back.

In any case, it was Kronos’s fault.

“Hah! Look at this bastard.”

Lee Do-guk let out a hollow laugh.

This was a new type of lunatic.

Wiping the laughter from his face, he continued.

“Hey, mister. If you didn’t get robbed, you should’ve just thought you were lucky today, gone home, washed your feet, and gone to sleep. What glory were you hoping to enjoy by coming back? It was TallaGram anyway, so you wouldn’t have been able to track me down.”

“Then the calculation wouldn’t add up. I almost got robbed of everything, but the one who arranged this would have no risk.”

“Wow!”

Lee Do-guk shook his head.

He was even crazier than expected.

He came back because of something like that?

“This mister doesn’t know how scary the world is.”

He pushed his hand under the display stand.

Not just anyone could do business here.

This was a market where one had to roll around in the mud until nearly dying, and also have a reliable backer, before being able to enter.

He took out a large sashimi knife and stepped down.

“You came here to rob me, so you need to pay the price, right? Like you said, it would be disappointing if there was no risk at all.”

He held the sashimi knife out toward the troublesome customer.

That would probably snap him back to his senses.

Humans raised in warm places did not have many chances to face a sashimi knife like this—

CRUNCH!!

“Huh?”

A huge question mark appeared on Lee Do-guk’s face.

The sashimi knife he had been holding had disappeared.

And for some reason.

His wrist, which had never once broken or cracked in his life, had lost all strength and was dangling.

“Duuuu...!”

Behind Lee Do-guk.

Poporu, the Demon of Kung-du, lowered the arms he had crossed.

It was impossible to snatch a sashimi knife with his plump fingers in Miniature version.

So he had simply destroyed it.

‘The crime of pointing a blade at my lord is punishable by death, du!’

Of course, he did not actually kill him.

He also lacked the strength for that.

“Uh... Ugh... Gaa...”

Just as Lee Do-guk was about to scream from the pain slowly spreading through him.

Crack!

Ryu Jin’s heel flew into his vision.

That was Lee Do-guk’s final memory.

And how many hours passed after that?

“...Look at me! ...Do-guk hyung!”

At the voice coming from beyond, his eyes twitched.

What on earth had happened?

Why was everything pitch-black before his eyes?

Was he dead?

“Hyung!!!”

“Hah!”

He opened his eyes with a burst of breath.

It was not an unfamiliar ceiling, but a view of the alley market’s ceiling, so familiar that he was sick of it.

Perhaps the sun had risen, because neighboring merchants and Jo Woo-chan’s group surrounded him.

For some reason, everyone’s face was strangely twisted.

“H-Hyung. Are you all right?”

“What do you mean, all ri—”

A memory suddenly surfaced.

Swallowing dryly, he shifted his gaze.

He hoped it was a mistaken memory, but it was not.

His wrist was still dangling.

“Gaaaaaaaah!!”

The moment he recognized it, tremendous pain washed over him.

He could not endure it without screaming.

Besides, why was it so hard to breathe?

Groaning, he crawled to the mirror in the shop.

This rotten son of a bitch!

Not only was his nose smashed, but his upper and lower teeth were all gone too.

“Ah.”

Was it because he had grown even slightly used to the pain?

A cold shiver climbed up his spine.

He had forgotten the most important thing.

Whether his juniors were watching or not, he crawled along the floor and entered the shop.

Then, in a frenzy, he opened the secret space beneath the counter.

“You son of a...”

At the empty space, profanity burst out aloud.

At this moment, his wrist, his face, and everything else no longer mattered, and he cleanly forgot all the pain.

That was how badly he had been ruined.

Unable to believe the reality before his eyes, he felt around inside the safe.

There really was nothing.

The 2,000 Lowest-Grade Magic Stones he had gathered for the tribute due the day after tomorrow, and the 50 million won in cash.

“Everyone outside, get in here!!!”

Jo Woo-chan’s group, still not fully sober, ran inside.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Lee Do-guk began by striking them cleanly across the face with his intact hand.

After steadying his breathing, Lee Do-guk opened his mouth.

“Find that bastard no matter what you have to do. If you can’t find him, both you and I are dead. Got it!?”

“Yes, yes!!”

“Get out there right now!!”

At his fierce shout, Jo Woo-chan, the leader of the group, turned around.

And just like yesterday’s uninvited guest, he bumped into someone wearing a mask and a black hat pulled low.

What was this now?

---

At the time when a certain alley market in Incheon was being turned upside down.

Ding.

Ryu Jin opened the door of his main bank and came out.

He did not immediately head anywhere.

He merely stood there and took in a deep breath.

It had been a very long time.

Since the morning air had felt this refreshing.

It had been worth waiting for the bank to open.

Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.

A smile formed on his lips at the chirping that felt like harmony.

Perhaps because he had wiped out the loan principal pressing down on his shoulders in one shot.

His heart could not have felt lighter.

‘Was his name Lee Do-guk?’

He recalled the shopkeeper’s face and left a virtual note.

A bad bastard, but also a treasure goblin who had paid off my loan.

“My lord, du! You look happy, du!”

“I paid off all my debt. The incredible fact that I no longer have to pay money every month.”

“Congratulations, du!”

As I stroked Poporu, I looked around.

Where had Steamed Bun Aris gone?

“Booooss!”

Aris, who had run over diligently on her short legs, tugged at my pant leg.

“There’s an incredibly delicious smell coming from over there!”

I followed her finger with my gaze.

It was a bunsik street stall selling tteokbokki, sundae, fried snacks, and odeng.

‘This friend knows good taste.’

After placing Aris on my shoulder, I headed toward the stall.

Passing this place by during a hungry morning was unthinkable.

“Behave yourselves. Got it? We’re taking it to go.”

The demon friends stuck out their thumbs side by side.

Since I had sold every Lowest-Grade Magic Stone I had obtained to wipe out the loan.

For now, let us at least feed them this until their stomachs burst.

“Hello.”

“Oh, welcome. What can I get you? Our tteokbokki sells best.”

“Really? Then could I get five servings of tteokbokki, five servings of sundae, five servings of fried snacks, and two servings each of spicy odeng and regular odeng?”

The auntie who had been stirring the tteokbokki stared blankly at Ryu Jin.

To think her first customer of the morning would be such a big spender.

It seemed business would be good today.

“Is it too much?”

“Oh, look at my mind. Too much? Not at all. Sit for a moment and drink some odeng broth. I’ll make it quickly.”

“Thank you.”

I scooped odeng broth into paper cups and added a couple drops of soy sauce.

Then I blew on it several times and cooled it down enough.

It would be troublesome if they screamed because it was hot.

When I quietly pushed it to the side, Aris and Poporu drank it neatly.

Seeing their eyes go wide, it seemed they were very satisfied.

‘Let’s see. What should I order?’

I opened the shopping cart list I had written little by little.

First, a wooden sword to use inside Plum Blossom Venerable... Wait, is it okay to buy this? Getting hit by a tree branch hurt a lot, didn’t it?

After thinking for a moment, I pressed the add button.

She was the Plum Blossom Sword Venerable in name, so she would probably beat me in moderation without killing me.

I also purchased a few home weight-training devices that took up a bit of space.

I should exercise with Poporu.

# Child-Sized Bulletproof Helmet.

I had asked Poporu about it once before, but he had shaken his head, saying a martial artist’s body should be light.

Let us buy only a new one for Aris.

The last one had become quite damaged after deflecting debris on Floor 100.

Lastly, I added shark-fishing gear.

Floor 5 of the Labyrinth, which I planned to enter after the bunsik mukbang.

A sturdy fishing rod was essential there.

“Your takeout is ready. It’s 80,000 won altogether.”

“Thank you. I’ll transfer it to your account.”

After finishing the transfer, I bowed once more and left the stall.

Perhaps because the lingering feeling of paying off the loan still had not faded, the morning still felt refreshing.

I walked leisurely while swinging the plastic bags.

Let us eat deliciously, then go run the Labyrinth.

Because this was only the beginning.

---

In front of a shop in the alley market.

A woman with her hat pulled low watched Lee Do-guk and the group of juvenile delinquents being dragged away by the police.

To think middle schoolers were already extorting money and valuables.

She felt as if a lot of things beyond her imagination were happening.

“Unni!”

Her younger sister, Yoo Si-a, who had finished speaking with the police, came running over.

“Thank you for coming with me when you must already be busy.”

“If I hadn’t come with you, you looked ready to bring the people from the Kendo Club with you. With no fear at all.”

“I even brought a wooden sword properly. With just this, I can beat them all up.”

Yoo Si-yeon let out a deep sigh.

They were sisters, so how could their dispositions be so different?

She absolutely hated getting involved in troublesome matters, so she tried not to interfere as much as possible.

But her younger sister, Yoo Si-a, had possessed an extraordinary sense of justice since childhood.

To the point where, as soon as she heard that her childhood friend had been robbed of money, she grabbed a wooden sword and ran over.

“By the way, who could it have been? You saw it earlier too, right, unni? The face of that shop owner was beaten to a pulp. The kids who robbed Do-uk’s money were also seriously bruised.”

At her younger sister, who kept forming question marks, she raised a hand.

“That’s enough. It has been handed over to the police, so stop paying attention to it. Understood?”

“Okay. I’m really sorry when you need to level up, unni.”

“As long as you know.”

She crossed her arms and turned around.

As rumors spread that Yoo Si-yeon had left Kronos, social media and the press were going wild.

But Yoo Si-yeon did not care.

Because her attention was focused solely on the vanished Plum Blossom Jade.

In order to reach a level where she could solo Floor 100, she was madly grinding through the Labyrinth.

Even while answering the chattering Yoo Si-a, she organized the grinding loop she would run today inside her head.

Then, just as she was about to take the next step, she discovered something and froze in place.

An alleyway was in complete chaos, perhaps because it was the place where yesterday’s fight had happened.

“Unni? What’s wrong?”

Even while thinking it was absolutely impossible, she moved as if possessed by something.

And the moment she arrived right before it and witnessed the traces of dawn.

Her eyes had no choice but to widen greatly.

It was impossible not to recognize them.

They were traces of First Blossom Step.