episode_0146

Karin peered inside the window with trembling eyes.

Thanks to Astaroth’s concealment magic, she could see without being detected, but that was it.

Whether he’d obtained some kind of soundproofing magic tool, no sound could be heard from outside.

She didn’t care about things like that.

Her mother was wearing a melted expression.

It was a face she had never seen in her life, so the shock was even greater.

‘Mom.’

Even if there wasn’t a man she liked, how could she flirt with her daughter’s lover?

Anger surged.

“I…I have to go in.”

Karin said, stammering.

If she were to see her boyfriend (?) having intercourse with her mother like that, her sense of sexuality might go to a point of no return.

“Why do you have to go in?”

Astaroth asked.

“Why? Well, my mom…”

“Karin, you’re an explorer. Not the daughter of the Suin Federation representative. Are you in a position to meet someone just because you want to?”

Karin closed her mouth at Astaroth’s words. It was an irrefutable truth.

Astaroth released his magic and stepped back. Karin also quickly moved away from the window.

Ingrid, who was in the room, quickly turned her head and looked out the window.

“Keuk!”

Ingrid gritted her teeth.

She felt the faintly remaining energy of Astaroth. Did that sly guy peep?

An uneasy feeling began to rise.

Ingrid, regaining her senses, looked up at Jeong Yu-shin.

“Sky, thank you. It was a great help.”

“Is that so? I thought something big had happened because you suddenly screamed in the middle.”

Ingrid blushed.

“Not at all. It felt good. It was a massage I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I hope we can meet again next time.”

“Yes. I understand. I’ll see you later.”

Jeong Yu-shin nodded at Ingrid’s gentle dismissal and left the room.

He stood in the yard for a moment and looked up at the sky. The stars twinkled in the night sky.

Is another connection leaving the labyrinth city?

‘If I survive, I might be able to meet them again.’

He shook his head and moved on.

* * *

The next morning.

Jeong Yu-shin and Karin sat facing each other in a quiet inn.

“Karin, you look very tired?”

Karin was sitting at the counter with a hollow look in her eyes, resting her chin on her hand.

“There…there was something going on.”

Jeong Yu-shin nodded inwardly.

Well.

She must be lonely because her mother is leaving the labyrinth city.

I understand.

Jeong Yu-shin got up from his seat.

“Rest if you’re tired. I’ll go to the Explorer Headquarters.”

“To see if there are any party applicants?”

“Yeah. I’m going to stop by the blacksmith while I’m at it.”

“Really? Okay. Let’s meet at the blacksmith around lunchtime. Which blacksmith is it?”

Jeong Yu-shin explained to Karin where Boron’s blacksmith was and left the inn.

He walked slowly through the streets.

Late last night, he stopped by the magic tool store and replaced the magic stone of the ring to seal the virgin female corruption engraving.

It was a painful expense to give the sleeping dwarf shop owner extra money.

But.

‘Still, I can’t engrave a vulva on the body of an innocent virgin.’

Now that he had sealed the virgin female corruption engraving, he worried less about finding a party.

As his worries disappeared, his heart fluttered with anticipation for new encounters.

‘Who else will I meet?’

Will they be good people?

Bad people?

Or strange ones?

Finding a new party was always difficult. People’s hearts were like labyrinths, and they revealed their true colors only when a crisis struck.

That might be why he was more attached to his comrades who had gone through thick and thin together.

He felt like he knew why clans were formed.

Despite the characteristics of labyrinth parties that quickly broke up and disappeared, they united tightly as a clan.

Even amidst the flood of numerous engravings, explorers instinctively knew.

What mattered was not the engraving, but the character of the person.

That’s why Karin was more precious.

Since they had gone through crises together, he had faith that they would overcome any trials that came again.

You could say that her presence alone was a comfort?

Jeong Yu-shin smiled wryly.

Shall we go?

To find new companions.

* * *

“Oh…I’m a little sorry about that.”

A human warrior in heavy armor frowned at Jeong Yu-shin’s party invitation.

“Why?”

“Haa. Sky, you messed up.”

“What mess? I’m a fresh, energetic intermediate explorer, you know?”

The human warrior stared blankly at Jeong Yu-shin’s face. He’s handsome. He’s skilled. But there was a crucial problem.

‘I don’t think he’s sane.’

He was surprised that he had survived after spitting on Astaroth’s face. But that was it. He didn’t want to get involved any further.

‘Garbage party, even worse.’

It was right to see him as an explorer half-eaten by madness.

Explorers addicted to drugs were still decent. Once they got their drugs, they functioned properly.

“Sky, it’s hard to say this, but I have to.”

The man paused to collect his thoughts and then opened his mouth again.

“The rumor that you spat on Astaroth’s face has spread like wildfire. You can assume that there are no ‘normal’ explorers who want to be with you. The people who apply to your party are likely to have something wrong with them.”

“…”

He had expected it, but wasn’t it quite bleak news?

‘Yu-shin, it’s your karma. Take it sweetly.’

‘Idiot, you could just corrupt the females, but you’re stubbornly pretending to be a moralist, aren’t you?’

The darkness of the labyrinth again.

Slap!!!

He slapped himself once to come to his senses.

He had to be prepared for someone with a certain degree of negative engravings to appear, even if it wasn’t a complete garbage party.

The man continued.

“The fact that party members change because of reputation is the disadvantage of temporary parties. It might be better to create a fixed party. If you slowly expand your connections through a fixed party, you can build a foundation for creating a clan. Think about it slowly, even now.”

“Thanks. But you really don’t want to join my party?”

“Aside from other things, I don’t think I’ll live long if I go with you. It’s an explorer’s sense.”

The man offered advice and curses at the same time, then got up and left.

Jeong Yu-shin sat at the table and looked at the request board.

Thousands of requests were plastered close together.

There were so many fish, but they couldn’t catch them because there weren’t enough people. He could only sigh.

“Today’s a bust. Ah, my life.”

Jeong Yu-shin grumbled and got up from his seat and headed to the blacksmith.

It was better to do something than to sit around doing nothing.

If he was in a bad mood, he should at least go shopping.

* * *

He walked through the streets and arrived at Boron’s blacksmith in the western district.

“What?”

“Hic! Sky, you’re here?”

Karin approached Jeong Yu-shin unsteadily with a flushed face and hugged him.

The smell of alcohol wafted over him.

Behind Karin, Boron poked his head out and looked at Jeong Yu-shin.

“Hmm? Who are you? Karin-nim certainly…”

“What’s wrong with you? It’s me, Sky.”

“…Really?!”

Boron widened his eyes and looked at Jeong Yu-shin’s face from every angle.

“Crazy! What the hell did you eat to change so much?”

“I ate this and that. But why is Karin like this?”

He came to get his equipment fitted, but Karin was drunk.

Boron scratched his head.

“Well, Karin-nim saw me drinking and suddenly asked for some, so I couldn’t help but give her a few drinks.”

“Still, how can you let her drink so much that she gets this drunk?”

“She’s a precious guest, so I treated her to good liquor. Don’t nag me.”

He was going to say something, but Karin shook her head in his arms.

“Mmm! Don’t be angry.”

“I’m not angry.”

Jeong Yu-shin stroked Karin’s head once and sat her down on a chair in the corner.

“Where’s Ain Hopper?”

Boron pointed to one of the doors. It was a room where equipment blueprints were kept.

“He’s studying.”

“Suddenly?”

“He has to start taking custom equipment requests soon, so he needs to know everything from how to take measurements to how to get materials.”

“I see.”

“That guy is a real workaholic. I’ve never seen a dwarf work as hard as that guy in my life.”

“He must have made a lot of money. Did he erase his negative engravings?”

Boron shook his head.

“No. He says he’s not planning to erase them yet. What did he say? He said that every time he feels his limits, his desire to move forward becomes stronger? He said something like that.”

Jeong Yu-shin smiled.

That’s Ain Hopper. To grow that much even with the stamina reduction engraving and hand tremor engraving.

The word ‘amazing’ wasn’t enough.

“Good.”

Leaving Karin, he got up and went into the room where the blueprints were kept.

The smell of old paper enveloped his nose.

In the center of a mountain of blueprints, Ain Hopper, wearing glasses, was scribbling something.

He was so focused that he didn’t notice Jeong Yu-shin coming in.

Is he drawing blueprints?

Jeong Yu-shin crossed his arms and watched Ain Hopper.

He wasn’t the Ain Hopper he had seen at first.

The brave dwarf who had fought with him in the garbage party.

The comrade who had to change his career because of the negative engraving.

The blacksmith who shed tears and gritted his teeth and hammered steel was gone.

He smelled like a professional.

A smile naturally formed on Jeong Yu-shin’s face.

Ain Hopper, who had been looking at the blueprints, came to his senses and raised his head.

“Sky.”

He recognized him right away?

They had gone through thick and thin together in the labyrinth.

The crying dwarf and the crazy man had encouraged each other in this blacksmith, so it would be strange if they didn’t recognize each other.

A connection that had sustained his heart.

“Nice to see you.”

“You’ve changed a lot? I should have seen you at the festival. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, I saw you now.”

“What brings you here?”

“I came to get my equipment fitted.”

“Is that so? What parts do you need?”

Boron opened the door and interrupted.

“Disciple, let’s go outside and talk. It’s too hot here. And there’s a lot of dust.”

“Okay.”

Jeong Yu-shin, Karin, Boron, and Ain Hopper gathered at the blacksmith counter.

Boron opened his mouth.

“The materials we have now are Raikias’ leather, half a mithril steel ingot, and about 6 Morias Mountain steel ingots.”

“Did Karin tell you?”

“Yes. Karin-nim’s equipment request is already finished. You’re the only one left.”

Jeong Yu-shin stroked Karin’s head and fell into thought.

He hadn’t decided which area to enter yet. But he couldn’t just sit idly by. As Karin said, it was right to get equipment that was commonly needed.

Right.

Wouldn’t it be better to focus on mobility?

He felt that light armor, with leather armor as a base and plates added to vital areas, would be a much better fit.

The chainmail he had tried last time wasn’t bad either.

Jeong Yu-shin explained his opinion.

Boron stroked his chin.

“You’re going to focus on mobility overall? Have you given up on wearing plate armor?”

“All my equipment was destroyed when I got hit by a forest troll, you know?”

Boron made a dumbfounded expression.

“People die when they get hit by a forest troll. Is equipment the problem?”

“I lived, didn’t I?”

Boron scratched his head.

“That’s weird? You should have died? How did you live?”

Jeong Yu-shin frowned.

“You’re wondering about strange things. Are you praying for me to die? Let’s stop. The treatment here is not very good.”

“Haha. Calm down. I can’t say anything.”

“Looking at it, it doesn’t seem like there’s enough to wear plate armor with the current materials, right?”

“That’s true. But the materials Karin-nim selected are called cost-effective materials among intermediate explorers. They’re relatively cheap, but the performance is decent. Seeing how correctly she selected them, it seems like she searched hard.”

Is that so?

Ain Hopper nodded in agreement.

“Raikias’ leather is famous for its strength. It’s great as a leather armor base. Morias Mountain steel plates are also famous for their strength. If you use them, they’ll block most fatal attacks.”

“Then let’s go with light armor for the armor.”

“What are you going to do with the other equipment?”

“I’ll think about it a little more later and make a request. Let’s use the rest of the materials then.”

“Really? Okay. We’ll keep the remaining materials after making the equipment you need.”

“How much will it cost to make Karin’s and my equipment?”

Boron jumped in with a gleam in his eyes.

“I’ll give you a cheap price of 10 gold coins. How about it?”

Jeong Yu-shin sighed in disbelief.

“Hoo. Boron, we brought all the materials, so why are you charging 10 gold coins for labor? Do you have no conscience?”

“Hey! The materials are expensive, so shouldn’t experts like us handle it? There’s no need to worry about failure. We make it exactly on time. Where else is there a shop like this? Relax and we’ll make it all for you, so don’t worry.”

“Still…”

“Still what! Do you want to see my disciple starve to death?!”

Boron yelled.

Conversely, Ain Hopper shook his head.

“Sky, I’ll cut the price if you need to.”

Boron’s eyes widened.

“You crazy disciple! Your master is suffering like this, and what? Ah! My head.”

He can see Boron starving, but he can’t see Ain Hopper starving.

Jeong Yu-shin nodded.

“Okay. Let’s go with 10 gold coins.”

“How good would it be if you said that earlier? Sky, are you going to keep playing with people’s minds? How good would it be if you just paid the money?”

Slaaaap!!!

Suddenly, Boron’s face turned away.

Jeong Yu-shin and Ain Hopper stared blankly at Karin.

Karin fiddled with her hands.

“Why is that dwarf talking nonsense to our Sky? What mind? You bitch?! Do you want to die?!”

Boron blankly touched his cheek.

“Uh…”

“Sky, carry me.”

“Ah, okay. Then Boron, here’s the gold.”

Boron received the money from Jeong Yu-shin, touching his reddened cheek.

“It…It’ll take about a week. I’ll contact you separately when it’s finished.”

“Okay. Then.”

Jeong Yu-shin left Boron’s blacksmith with Karin on his back, leaving Boron, who was out of his mind.

Since they hadn’t met in a long time, they chatted about this and that, and when he came to his senses, it was already evening.

Karin must have drunk a lot of alcohol, as she wasn’t fully conscious.

When they arrived at the inn and were about to enter, someone was lying at the entrance.

A blonde woman in plate armor.

He couldn’t see her face because she was lying face down.

Her armor was covered in dust, and her hair was greasy, as if she hadn’t washed it in a long time.

‘What is it?’

He decided to put Karin on the bed first and think about it, so he walked past the woman.

When he was halfway there.

Whack!!!

The woman raised her arm and grabbed Jeong Yu-shin’s ankle.

Jeong Yu-shin’s body stiffened.

The woman raised her head and opened her mouth.

“Give…Give me food.”

“…Do you have money?”

“…”

The woman was silent.

Jeong Yu-shin looked down at the disheveled woman.

“Ma’am, you have to pay to eat. Please let go of my leg.”

“I’ll…I’ll join the party, so give me food.”

Party?

Jeong Yu-shin’s eyes widened.

‘What is this…?’