episode_0051

Jeong Yu-sin immediately grabbed the scabbard of the longsword placed at his bedside and drew the sword.

He jumped off the bed and stood on the floor.

“Who is it?”

There was no answer from under the bed.

“Come out before I split the bed in half. Last warning.”

Rustle.

A sound was heard again from under the bed.

Jeong Yu-sin gripped the sword.

Something peeked its head out from under the bed.

Jeong Yu-sin’s eyes widened as he identified the figure.

“A rat?”

A dumbfounded voice involuntarily leaked from his mouth.

“Squeak.”

A plump rat with white fur crept out.

“And here I thought it was something. Got nervous for nothing.”

Jeong Yu-sin lowered his sword and laughed, then hardened his expression.

“You’re a person, aren’t you.”

“Squeak?”

The rat tilted its head.

“Look at this guy? He understands me?”

Jeong Yu-sin quickly rushed in and grabbed the rat.

“Squeak squeak!!”

The rat caught in Jeong Yu-sin’s hand struggled.

“Stay still!”

He grabbed the rat with one hand, rummaged through his belongings with the other, took out a rope, and tied the rat up tightly.

“Who sent you? Are you from the underworld?”

Jeong Yu-sin lowered his voice as much as possible and spoke.

“Squeak!”

The rat flapped its hands and writhed.

“Who sent you!”

Thump!!!

“Hey! Let’s get some sleep!”

The boarder in the next room shouted, banging on the wall.

“I’m sorry.”

Jeong Yu-sin apologized and glared back at the rat.

“I’ll interrogate you tomorrow. If you make another squeak, you’re dead.”

Jeong Yu-sin hung the rat on the ceiling, stared at it for a long time, and then closed his eyes.

The next morning.

Jeong Yu-sin called Tarman and Ann and sat them at the table.

“So… you’re saying this rat is a person?”

“Yes. Look closely. Isn’t its behavior suspicious?”

Tarman scratched his head.

“I don’t really know.”

“It’s kind of cute when you look closely.”

Ann said, resting her chin on her hands and looking at the rat.

Jeong Yu-sin crossed his arms and glared at the rat, which was tied to a rope and sprawled out on the table.

The right thing to do was to go to the temple and check if it was a person with a rat stigma or a real rat.

But.

It cost a whopping one silver coin.

In the current difficult financial situation of the shop, he didn’t want to waste money.

“For now, put it in a jar or pot and keep a close watch on it.”

“There was a small iron cage, wasn’t there? In the warehouse.”

Jeong Yu-sin nodded at Ann’s words.

A cage to put small animals in.

Not bad.

“Then keep it locked up in there. Watch it carefully. If it acts like a person, tell me immediately.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Jeong Yu-sin got up from his seat. Whatever the situation, he had a mountain of things to do.

* * *

Two weeks passed.

The heat of early summer was gradually intensifying.

Jeong Yu-sin’s daily life remained unchanged.

After finishing his early morning exercise, he went to the orphanage to learn to read.

Around lunchtime, he would push himself to the brink at the swordsmanship guild, and in the evening, he would collapse and fall asleep, repeating the same routine.

He thought this morning would go similarly.

Jeong Yu-sin turned his head while eating breakfast.

Someone was standing at the door of the inn.

“Silva!”

Jeong Yu-sin jumped up from his seat.

Silva looked quite haggard.

Jeong Yu-sin approached Silva.

“How is your health?”

Silva smiled faintly.

“I suffered a bit because of the medicine, but I’m much better now. Aldean helped me break free from the addiction.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Sir Sca.”

Silva called Jeong Yu-sin’s name with serious eyes.

“Yes.”

Jeong Yu-sin replied.

“I will go see Karin.”

“Now? Rest a bit before you go.”

Silva glanced at Ann and Tarman, then turned his head to look at Jeong Yu-sin.

“Since you’re running the inn without any major accidents, you don’t need me. Besides, one of the tasks I was assigned is to contact Karin if something happens to Sir Sca.”

“Can’t you just contact her by letter?”

“I am the messenger.”

The white wolf beastman smiled.

I see.

“I understand. Then I won’t stop you any further. But please take care of yourself.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll see you later.”

Silva bowed his head and said goodbye, then left the inn.

Jeong Yu-sin watched Silva’s departing figure from outside the inn.

Karin is about two months away from here, so it will take about four months to go and return.

He decided to wait patiently.

Besides the villages and the maze city on the Pilgrim’s Road, he doesn’t know any other areas. That means there’s nothing he can do even if he goes out.

He returned to the inn and sat at the table.

There was a small iron cage on the table.

Inside it, a white rat was sprawled out.

When Ann put small pieces of chopped vegetables into the cage one by one, the white rat took them with both hands and munched on them in an orderly fashion.

“How is it? Has it been acting like a person?”

“···It seems smart, but it doesn’t look like a person.”

Ann replied.

Jeong Yu-sin glared at the rat in the cage. The rat didn’t even turn its head and was focused solely on eating.

“No matter how I look at it, it looks like a person.”

“If you’re so worried, I think it wouldn’t be bad to go to the temple and get it checked.”

Tarman looked at Jeong Yu-sin with worried eyes.

He was worried that constantly suspecting the rat of being a person might cause his madness to return.

“I should. I’m going to go crazy like this.”

For the past two weeks, he had been talking to the rat every morning, and he was about to develop a mental illness that he didn’t even have before.

He tried to endure it because of the money, but there was no need to endure it at the cost of his mental health.

Jeong Yu-sin finished his meal, picked up the cage with the rat in it, and left the inn for the Temple of the Great Earth Mother.

He simply held up the cage to the receptionist at the Temple of the Great Earth Mother.

“I want to confirm if this rat is a person.”

“I see.”

The temple receptionist said, looking at Jeong Yu-sin with pitiful eyes.

“The cost to check the stigma is one silver coin.”

“Here it is.”

He paid the money and immediately went to a small room with a male priest.

The male priest chanted an incantation in front of the cage, but Jeong Yu-sin couldn’t hear it at all.

‘Is it a person or a rat. A rat or a person.’

Jeong Yu-sin kept glaring at the rat.

A small light emanated from the male priest’s hand and enveloped the rat.

After a while.

The priest tilted his head.

“···No stigma is detected. It seems to be just a rat.”

Jeong Yu-sin staggered at the shocking news.

“Really?”

“Yes. It seems you were mistaken.”

Jeong Yu-sin stumbled out of the room.

He steadied his dizzy mind, went outside the temple, and crouched down.

He made eye contact with the rat and thought about various things.

Could it be that he was overreacting because of a combination of things?

Could it be that he was on edge because the inn was struggling and the Barbaroi were increasingly revealing their presence?

Jeong Yu-sin closed his eyes and meditated for a moment, then slapped his cheeks.

Squeak.

He opened the cage.

“Go.”

The rat crawled out of the cage.

Its buttocks were plump from how well it had been fed for the past two weeks.

The rat scanned Jeong Yu-sin’s face once up and down, then disappeared into the bushes.

“What am I doing.”

Jeong Yu-sin swept back his hair, looked at the sky, and then entered the orphanage.

Diego was in charge of today’s class as well.

He hadn’t seen Mion for the past two weeks.

Coming here, he felt a pang of conscience. He wondered if he had pushed Mion too hard.

“Hoo.”

Jeong Yu-sin finished his class at the orphanage, ate at the temple cafeteria, and then approached the temple receptionist.

“Sir Sca, what else can I help you with? If you need counseling, we can call someone separately.”

The temple receptionist said.

Perhaps because of what happened in the morning, the receptionist’s words were a bit different.

“I wrote a letter to Priest Mion, and I would like you to deliver it.”

It was a letter written with clumsy writing and insufficient words.

He could only hope that his apology would reach her.

“I understand. She hasn’t been feeling well lately, so we’re very worried about her. Thank you.”

The temple receptionist smiled and said.

“Yes. Then.”

Jeong Yu-sin left the temple and ran to the swordsmanship guild.

“Your expression looks like you’ve been dumped by your girlfriend.”

Ashur said with a smirk.

“It’s not.”

“Put on your sandbags and run as usual.”

“Yes.”

The increasingly difficult training was becoming ingrained in his body.

His body, which had become even stronger after the third maze trip, was absorbing any training like water being swallowed by dry land.

Clang!!!

Ashur and Jeong Yu-sin clashed swords.

Clang clang clang!!!

A clash of strength and skill.

Sparks flew from the training iron sword.

Ashur looked into Jeong Yu-sin’s eyes.

Chaang!!!

Ashur wrapped his sword around and pulled it down. Jeong Yu-sin’s sword went down.

Thump!

His upper body was completely empty.

Ashur’s shoulder was embedded in Jeong Yu-sin’s solar plexus.

“Keuk.”

Jeong Yu-sin staggered back.

“Good.”

Ashur said, looking at Jeong Yu-sin, who had collapsed on the floor.

“Can I enter the maze now?”

Jeong Yu-sin asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“Stay a little longer. But is there a reason you need to enter the maze? Did you put some honey on it or something?”

“Since I came to the maze city, I have to go into the maze. Besides, I need some money.”

Jeong Yu-sin said casually, brushing off Ashur’s question.

“Is that so? Then you should go to the explorer’s guild and find work instead. There are many things to do besides entering the maze.”

“I want to go into the maze, though.”

“It’s something you have to do anyway.”

“What does that mean?”

“Hoo, do I have to explain even this to you.”

Ashur swept back his hair and continued.

“Listen carefully. In order for a novice explorer to be promoted, it is essential to complete requests within the city. I don’t know how many you have to complete. It’s been a while, so I’m a bit hazy.”

“Are there requests other than maze exploration?”

“There are many others besides that. Didn’t the explorer’s guild tell you?”

“No?”

“I don’t know the circumstances of the explorer’s guild. Go and ask. You know the point even if I don’t tell you, right?”

“Yes. I’ll go and see.”

* * *

The next morning, Jeong Yu-sin went to the explorer’s guild branch.

It felt strangely awkward to be mingling with people after a long time.

It was because it had been a long time since he had visited due to various things.

Jeong Yu-sin took a moment to catch his breath in front of the explorer’s guild branch and looked at the sign.

Not much had changed.

He went inside, and it was crowded with people.

People with weapons.

People with backpacks, getting up from their seats with their party members.

There were also people who were obviously in the maze city for the first time.

Jeong Yu-sin stood in line at the reception desk.

After waiting for a while, it was Jeong Yu-sin’s turn.

“What can I help you with?”

A dog beastman said with a smile.

Jeong Yu-sin fiddled with his ring for a moment, then opened his mouth.

“I heard that there are other requests besides maze exploration requests.”

“Ah! I see.”

“I’m a novice explorer, so I don’t know much. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Then a receptionist next to him chimed in.

“We couldn’t help it because novice explorers didn’t like it. Most of them preferred maze exploration requests. Especially during the past few months, there were some conflicts with novice explorers regarding this matter.”

If it was a few months ago, was it during that time when novice explorers were flocking in?

The dog beastman fidgeted with his fingers, looking helpless.

“I understand. Then please recommend a request that I can do within the city.”

“Yes, please wait a moment.”

The dog beastman rummaged through the pile of documents on the reception desk for a long time.

“Found it!”

The dog beastman shouted, taking out a few documents.

‘He’s really cute.’

Jeong Yu-sin rubbed his mouth, which was about to loosen.

“Ahem. Currently, there is a maze entrance guard request.”

“What is that? Don’t the guards usually do that?”

“You know the magic circle in front of the maze, right? It’s the job of guarding there. The guards are fully on duty during the day, but from evening to dawn, they select a few external personnel to stand guard.”

“Why is that?”

“···Could it be because they’re tired?”

The dog beastman tilted his head and replied.

Are they assigning night shifts to external personnel?

Jeong Yu-sin thought for a moment and came to a conclusion.

“I’ll take that request.”

“Yes. I understand.”

The dog beastman took Jeong Yu-sin’s explorer’s badge, checked his name, and wrote Jeong Yu-sin’s name on the request form.

“You can go to the guard post at the maze entrance tomorrow night. Do you know where it is?”

“Yes. I know.”

Of course, he knew.

He had been to the guard post once before because of the Ditto incident.

He was threatened by Luke there too.

Did he tell him not to mention his disciple’s name?

It was difficult to understand why he was reacting so sensitively.

He wanted to ask him once if he had the chance to meet him again.

“Since you’re a novice explorer, the reward is 20 copper coins per day.”

That’s a bit stingy.

If he worked a full month of 30 days, he would get 6 silver coins in hand.

Wouldn’t it be better to work at the monster dismantling center?

Jeong Yu-sin hesitated for a moment and shook his head.

It was something he had to do anyway. It was also a condition for promotion.

Ah!

There was one more thing he wanted to ask.

“Are there any conditions required for a novice explorer to become an intermediate explorer?”

“In order for a novice explorer to be promoted, they must satisfy two conditions. Completing 10 requests from the guild. Reaching the 5th floor.”

“Is it okay just to reach it?”

“You must reach it with party members of the same rank. This is to prevent cheating by easily reaching the 5th floor by entering a high-ranking party.”

“I understand.”

“The work starts tomorrow.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Jeong Yu-sin said goodbye, left the explorer’s guild, and headed to the western district.

He was thinking of going to Boron’s smithy to buy equipment since he had received a guard request.

He was also planning to check on how Einhofer was doing.

His stomach ached at the thought of spending the money he had been saving so carefully.

How he had been saving it.

Slap!!!

“Get a grip. Equipment is life.”

Jeong Yu-sin muttered, slapping his own cheek once.

He had been feeling stagnant for a while because he hadn’t been able to enter the maze.

You could say he was marking time.

But today, at the fact that he could move forward again, even a little.

Jeong Yu-sin’s footsteps became much lighter.