Chapter 84.1

Chapter 84 – Rule 27. The Leader Never Lowers His Guard (4)

Swish!

A dark blade sliced through the air.

Weekend.

New Yongsan Street.

In the workshop’s testing room, Oh Baek-seo continually swung her black sword.

Several graceful paths were traced in the air, as if watching a dancer with beautiful movements.

I watched in a trance for a moment, then snapped back to reality.

“Baek-seo, how does it feel?”

“Hmm.”

Baek-seo paused.

“It’ll take some getting used to, but once I do, it should be better than the White Wheel Sword. It’s definitely good.”

“That’s a relief.”

The sword Baek-seo was wielding was one she had created using Platinum Mileage she had saved since middle school.

I had found the workshop using my original story knowledge to locate a suitable place.

After the Moon Chae-won incident, Baek-seo had lost her sword, the White Wheel Sword.

Since she was already accustomed to the White Wheel Sword, I was worried if a replacement weapon would suffice, but it turned out to be better, which was a relief.

“Hyunwoondo…”

Baek-seo murmured as she looked at the sword in her hand.

The light reflected off the sharp black blade.

Hyunwoondo.

The White Wheel Sword was named for its white wheel-shaped guard.

The current sword, Hyunwoondo, enhanced the thundercloud realm of her unique ability, and its sleek black blade stood out, thus earning the name ‘Sword of the Black Cloud.’

‘The White Wheel Sword was a good weapon, but Hyunwoondo seems to be an upgrade.’

I felt a sense of pride.

It was like the satisfaction of giving my favorite character good equipment. It’s been a while since I played online games, so I’m not sure if that’s an appropriate analogy.

“I’m satisfied. I was worried about it, but you found a great place.”

“I know a bit about this kind of thing. I scouted various places before because of the Iron Dragon Staff.”

“You’re so thorough, Leader… I’ll repay you later.”

Baek-seo smiled brightly.

‘This is healing…’

I felt like I was being compensated for the exhausting week I had just endured.

However.

“……”

“?”

Baek-seo seemed deep in thought as she looked at Hyunwoondo.

Under normal circumstances, I would have assumed she was simply contemplating the new sword, but lately, Baek-seo had often seemed lost in thought, which concerned me.

“Baek-seo.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve been thinking lately, and please don’t take this the wrong way. Is something going on recently?”

When I asked directly, Baek-seo looked at me, puzzled.

“Why do you ask all of a sudden?”

“You seem troubled. I’m not sure, but I think I can read your expressions to some extent.”

I had been looking at Baek-seo’s face for a long time.

Thanks to that, I could somewhat discern her expressions. I could tell when something was wrong.

Especially lately, Baek-seo often seemed troubled, unable to hide her emotions.

“Well… To be honest, thinking about the White Wheel Sword that I had grown attached to makes my heart ache a bit.”

It didn’t seem like she was being completely honest.

Baek-seo never really talked about her difficulties, even though we were now in a relationship.

I didn’t know if she was waiting for another major incident to spill her troubles.

“You don’t look convinced?”

“Just tell me when you feel like talking.”

“You’re getting perceptive, Leader.”

“I’ve always been perceptive…”

I had always had a keen sense.

If she didn’t want to talk now, that’s fine. I’ll wait.

We left New Yongsan Street and boarded a bus together, sitting in the back. Since it was before evening, there were few passengers.

I focused on the scenery outside the moving bus.

I had been using every spare moment to train.

My eyes were fixed on an area on the outskirts where there was a crescent-shaped rock. I had noted it in advance.

‘Setting coordinates on the rock… is still difficult.’

Setting coordinates in places I couldn’t see wasn’t hard. The problem was setting them on specific objects far away.

Yes, the training I was doing recently involved setting coordinates near the crescent rock.

─ ‘If you form a rift adjacent to the object you want to move, you can forcibly pull that object into the wormhole. The object then moves through the wormhole to the opposite rift. While concepts like temperature or water pressure are difficult to handle, solid objects like rocks are possible.’

A few days ago, Geumyang had explained the technique she had shown me.

The gist was that to spatially move an object, I needed to use my power to pull that object into the rift. The external environment doesn’t affect the wormhole.

Geumyang suggested imagining an ‘invisible extra hand,’ but I still didn’t quite grasp what she meant.

“Leader.”

“Hmm?”

Baek-seo’s call interrupted my concentration.

I canceled the coordinate setting and turned to her.

“Do you still carry that talisman?”

“Talisman?”

I pulled out the purple peony talisman from my inner pocket.

“This one?”

“Yes, that one. Do you know what it means?”

“No, I just kept it because it was a gift.”