Chapter 55 : Teaching someone a sweet lesson (1)

The child my brother rescued from that suspicious research facility was taken to a reliable hospital where an acquaintance, a Priest user,

worked.

Besides severe malnutrition, no fatal defects were found in her body, and we received confirmation that she would regain her health quickly

with gradual recuperation.

Yejin felt relieved and, as the guardian of the unidentified child, completed all procedures for her treatment.

However, an unexpected problem arose.

[–She could become an important figure, so keep her alive if possible.]

[I’ll contact you when things are settled.]

[It seems like it will take a bit longer than an hour, so rest comfortably.]

The old message was already well over 24 hours old.

This single line was the last contact from my brother before he disappeared.

[–Okay.]

[–But when are you coming?]

[It’s been over 3 hours?]

[–Oppa?]

[If the work you’re doing is taking long, please at least contact us.]

[Everyone is worried.]

[–Please answer…]

[–Where are you?]

He was always someone who didn’t check his messenger often.

So, starting three hours after contact was lost, I also started calling him.

As someone who had known him well for a long time, I knew he at least answered his phone calls promptly.

But this time, even the phone calls didn’t go through.

It was literally complete silence.

Objectively speaking, my brother wasn’t someone who needed worrying about.

Rather, it made more sense to worry about the others in our group, except for Yejin unnie, who was the only one ranked higher than him.

After all, that man was the third most outstanding and powerful user in the world.

Yerim knew that simple rankings didn’t decide everything.

She also knew that even the most skilled person could fall if they were careless or arrogant.

But, at least the brother she knew wasn’t someone who would collapse so easily.

Even though recently his memory had become monstrously better, his magic casting speed had increased, and his emotional changes seemed

to lessen, making him more blunt… oppa was still oppa, and in their eyes, he was always an amazing person.

“So I should trust and wait…”

까, just as she was about to finish her mutterings and lie down on the hospital bed, the pathetic image of her brother, ambushed by an old

friend and completely bound, flashed through Yejin’s mind.

Next, the cute expression he had while drooling in his sleep when she visited his house late at night, once.

After that, the scene where he was embarrassed about losing consciousness and wetting himself after being choked, once.

Finally, the foolish appearance, unlike the brother she knew, accepting a shady job driven mad by the jewels and money offered by the

government, flashed by one by one.

…Indeed, it seemed her brother had changed significantly in various ways.

He was still the most trustworthy person to Yerim and her sister, but lately, he kept showing clumsy sides.

Like panicking and making strange choices in situations where he normally wouldn’t make mistakes or waver in judgment, or being caught

off guard by a surprise attack from a less capable opponent due to carelessness.

‘…I did hear that dragons cherish friends they’ve made once and are thus prone to betrayal, or that they go crazy for jewels…’

Even though her brother was a horned half-dragon, she didn’t think he would succumb so easily to such instincts.

Surely, he must have had something else in mind.

…Still, it was true she was worried.

It was a fact that he had been showing frequent openings lately.

“Right, saying it would end in an hour and then no contact for a whole day after that means..”

It means we can come find you, right, Oppa?

While Yerim, burdened with mountains of worry, was heading with her companions to the research facility where she had parted ways with

Gyeoul, Gyeoul was heading towards an address written under ‘Entry Route’ in the list of test subjects found at the facility.

The location of that address was a remote region in China.

Thanks to improved control skills from flying with <Flight> magic instead of walking all the time, and the overflowing mana characteristic of

a Dragon Mage, he was flying at a speed well over 500 km/h, but the distance was such that there was plenty of time to organize his thoughts

while flying.

‘Will Yerim be worried…’

Down below, the cities of China, tragically destroyed by the rebellion of users who regained their strength, were visible.

Of course, only some buildings were destroyed, and people still lived in the majority of intact buildings.

But the faces of the people were all filled with anxiety and worry.

Understandably so, as that place was a region ruled by China’s extremist guild, famous even in the game’s past.

He heard they destroyed all the communication base station buildings and even all the satellites passing nearby.

Supposedly to block external propaganda and media that might incite escape among the people.

Thanks to this, he heard they were collapsing economically and militarily due to economic sanctions and being designated as a terrorist

organization by other countries, but were somehow holding on with the power of magic and skills.

From a user’s perspective, communication and conversation were basically possible for all classes over hundreds of kilometers using

<Telepathy>, <Message>, etc., and for certain classes or those who learned specific skills, messenger skills could even reach the other side of

the globe, so it wouldn’t be much of a problem, but he thought that if he were an ordinary person, he wouldn’t be able to live there due to the

frustration.

Anyway, thanks to that extremism, his phone was currently completely useless.

He hadn’t particularly invested skill points in communication-related magic, so he couldn’t use messenger-type magic from this distance.

Therefore, he currently had no means to contact them separately.

‘Surely, no problems will arise just because I’m not there…? I told them it would take a little longer, to just rest quietly..’

Setting aside Siana and Hyewon for now, Yejin and Yerim were kids who trusted and followed him implicitly, both in reality and in the game.

Since he told them to rest well, they should be resting well.

Once he escaped this extremist territory, contact would somehow become possible.

In this day and age, with Wi-Fi, it’s harder to find things that are impossible.

He could just send a quick message via Katik or something.

‘Ah, a barrier.’

He heard it was a large-scale barrier set up by the extremist group to prevent ordinary people from escaping their territory.

He thought he saw somewhere that it was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest barrier in the world.

The strength of a large-scale barrier is determined by the size of the area it protects.

It weakens if the protected area is wide, and strengthens if it’s narrow, a principle not much different from flour dough.

Of course, it changes if specific areas are specially treated or if multiple layers of barriers are installed, but there was no way they could afford

to grant such additional effects to a barrier enveloping a part of a country’s territory.

Of course, even a barrier of this level could block the passage of ordinary people.

They probably couldn’t break through even with dynamite or a bazooka.

At least, it would require fellow users or the mobilization of another country’s army to penetrate it.

Of course, from his perspective, it was merely a rudimentary and weak screen that he could pass through without being detected.

‘Still, there’s no need to take the risk of passing through the barrier… a bit disappointing, though.’

Unless they provoked him first, there was no need to make his presence known and cause trouble.

He increased his altitude, rising above the clouds.

The drop in temperature was palpable even on his bare skin, but he solved it by casting a protection magic on his body.

Even without protection magic, this level of cold hadn’t been a problem since his synchronization rate increased, but he disliked the sensation

of his clothes freezing into a hard solid, so he couldn’t bear it without using magic.

Just as he was about to fly on for a while longer, someone started following him from below the clouds.

Soon, the presence multiplied from one to dozens.

It seemed someone below had sensed his presence and sent some mages capable of freely casting flight magic and some bird-type users.

“Unidentified flying object detected! Suspected to be a user.”

“You have illegally entered another country’s airspace!”

“Stop! If you don’t stop immediately, we will apprehend you!”

As expected of byproducts from a guild steeped in user supremacism as well as Sinocentrism, they were shouting something in Chinese, but

he couldn’t understand what they were saying.

He had started learning several foreign languages since his intelligence improved, but Chinese wasn’t among them.

Instead of answering their shouts, he pulled the hood he was wearing over his face and cast stealth magic.

As expected from a group that was a top-tier guild even in the game, there were some skilled individuals among the pursuers who saw

through his stealth magic and continued to follow, but as he gradually increased his gear, most dropped off when his speed exceeded four

digits.

“To keep up with me, you need to bring at least a jet or Eunrang (Silver Wolf).”

He was one of only two Chinese rankers within the world’s top double-digits and was regarded as the most skilled and mannered among

Chinese rankers.

Compared to China’s total population, this might seem like an absurdly small number, but recalling China’s history of suppressing

<Fantasia> even before the User Incident, having two rankers in the top double-digits was a remarkable achievement.

Anyway, Eunrang was one of his game friends.

And judging by <Red Cliff>‘s disastrous actions, he was most likely removed from the Guild Master position nine times out of ten.

‘Where could he be and what could he be doing now.’

Thinking about his old friend brought back old memories.

While flying through the sky, chewing on nostalgic memories filled with longing, he sensed pursuit again.

This time, it was accompanied by a noise incomparable to that of ordinary humans.