Petch – 2

“Ah, from here, we have to walk!”

It was a full day after we boarded the carriage that we finally arrived near the ruins Petch had spoken of. Petch, looking very excited, leaped out of the carriage, and I trudged along behind them.

‘……They really talk too damn much.’

I wondered if they did it on purpose to drain my energy, or if that was just their natural personality. Petch chattered incessantly the entire way here, without a single moment of rest.

When I asked why they talked so much, they said it was like an occupational hazard that developed from wandering alone so much, trying not to get bored. Even considering that, they talked an absolutely exasperating amount.

After the carriage departed, leaving just the two of us, Petch gestured in a direction, indicating ‘this way,’ and began to lead.

‘I wonder if Rije is following well.’

I felt a little bad for making them follow for a full day without rest, but they themselves said that much was child’s play, so it would probably be fine.

Nyx would catch up with teleportation much later, anyway.

“This is the place!”

Petch finally stopped after walking for almost two hours through the mountains. I checked the spot their finger was pointing to.

The trees were already densely overgrown, and the surroundings were cleverly obscured by piles of rocks and weeds, making it difficult to notice that beyond them was the entrance to the ruins, even if you knew it.

This was especially true for me, even though it was a place I’d visited countless times in the game. It made me think that they had put an incredible amount of effort into hiding it, as if it were a place potentially filled with treasure.

“Ah! Just a moment! I need to disarm the traps first!”

As soon as all the rocks were cleared, a slender arm blocked me, then headed towards the ruin entrance first. Petch, who had been about to bend down, turned back and opened their mouth as if making an excuse, with an embarrassed expression.

“What if someone else looted it before I got here, right? That’s why.”

What was set up at the ruin entrance was a trap Petch had installed to prevent any potential intruders.

In the game, Petch would never take the initiative like that, so players had to break through the traps themselves. There were quite a few people who got caught in the traps trying to enter the ruins, got ‘entrance-cut’ (blocked at the entrance), fumed, and came back to kill Petch.

Petch, who had been humming a tune and disarming the handmade traps for a while, seemed to have finished their work, and with a bright smile, gestured for me to come in.

“It’s done! Let’s go in!”

As I moved forward, I took advantage of Petch turning their back to drop a small scroll. It was a scroll enchanted with a magic circle to transmit my current coordinates to Nyx if it was separated from my body for a certain period of time.

Now Nyx would be able to find their way here. Rije was probably still watching from somewhere.

I entered the ruins. A space similar to the game, but much wider, greeted me. Befitting a place called ‘ruins’ rather than a ‘dungeon,’ it strongly exuded the feeling of being artificially constructed.

I looked around, then subtly glared at Petch and muttered.

“For ruins worth two million gold, isn’t it a bit too empty?”

“Oh, come on, I already looted this place clean a long time ago! I was the one who discovered it, so why would I leave it untouched? Anyway, this is just a tiny part, and there’s a lot more space further inside!”

That was a lie. When players fell into the trap, Petch would readily admit that this place had been this desolate from the very beginning.

Well, if there really had been treasure, they would have looted it all long ago, just as they said.

I went further inside. Petch was even humming a tune, unable to contain their excitement at the thought of swindling me. It was only natural, as they must have thought they’d hooked a big sucker.

After going down for some time, Petch pointed to the entrance of an inner room.

“We’re here! You see that door? That’s it!”

Beyond the entrance, which was about my height and wide enough for two people to stand side-by-side, I could see treasure chests lined up inside.

Every single one of them was covered in gold leaf and adorned with dazzling jewels.

“That’s where I haven’t been able to explore yet! You see those chests? Don’t they look so fancy, like they’re full of something amazing?”

“Oh, really? They look pretty ordinary to me. There must be a reason you left them untouched, right?”

“There is, but, hmm… it’s hard to explain in words, so it’d be better if you saw it for yourself. Let’s go check it out!”

So this is how they evade explanations and subtly lure me into the room.

Petch led the way, entering the inner part of the entrance. I followed them inside. Petch, standing near the entrance, pointed to a chest placed a little distance away.

“Now, I’ll tell you the reason. Come a little closer and take a look.”

Seeing Petch simultaneously heading towards the entrance while luring me further inside, I laughed inwardly. It was a very natural movement, as if they had done this more than once or twice.

I played along. As I approached right next to the chest, Petch began to ramble on about some useless information. I pretended to focus on the information while observing Petch.

While rambling on with their mouth, they were subtly shifting their feet little by little towards the door. It was so slight that if you weren’t really concentrating, you wouldn’t even notice they were moving.

They must be planning to quickly slip out alone and close the entrance, taking advantage of my focus on the chest. I quietly waited for Petch to reveal their true colors.

“……So, this is the trap. Here, you see this mark? Compare it with the chest next to it.”

The opportunity came quickly. At Petch’s words, which were clearly meant to distract me, I thought, ‘They’re finally making their move,’ and turned my head in the direction their finger was pointing.

It was as expected. As soon as I turned my head, I heard the sound of footsteps rapidly receding.

I looked at the room’s entrance. Immediately after the pink twin tails disappeared outside, 쿠웅! a sound echoed as iron bars descended, blocking the doorway.

“Hahahahat!”

Petch was laughing triumphantly in front of the iron bars. I suppressed the laughter that was about to burst out of me and walked towards the bars.

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? You fell for my trick! You’re finished now!”

Petch, having revealed their true colors, didn’t even use honorifics. There was no need to be polite to prey they had just hooked.

“This trap is for idiots and morons like you. I wonder if you’ll like it. A stupid moron who’s crazy for money and rushes in without thinking. That’s exactly you, isn’t it? Right? Well, for someone as desireless as me, it’s a story I don’t quite understand!”

‘They’re talking exactly like in the game.’

Hearing the word ‘desireless,’ I couldn’t hold back my laughter and let out a snort. Seeing that, Petch’s expression grew even more malicious.

“Ha, you’re laughing? Do you even know what kind of situation you’re in right now?”

“My situation? What about it?”

It seemed Petch didn’t like how nonchalant I was despite having fallen into their trap. They twitched an eye for a moment, then snorted.

“You seem to think you can get out of there, but go ahead and try. Not a single person has ever gotten out of that room so far, you know? The same goes for you, that’s what I’m saying!”

“Hearing that just makes me less worried. ‘Never before’ is practically the same as ‘it’s about to happen now,’ isn’t it? Do you not read novels or something?”

And here, I’m going to set that precedent.

Thinking my words were just bluster, Petch held their stomach and cackled. After laughing for a long time, Petch wiped away tears with a finger.

“Do you think no one else has said things like that? Well, guess what. The guy who said that, he starved to death in here, you know? Later, he begged me to let him out, but I never did, not once! You’re going to end up the same way.”

“Well, I don’t think so.”

“Think whatever you want. You’re going to die soon anyway, so you might as well think freely. Oh, don’t worry too much! If you’re dead when I come back later, I’ll strip everything you’re wearing and sell it for you!”

As Petch waved their hand and left, I was left alone in the room with the ornate treasure chests.

There were exactly 13 chests in this place. Six along the left and right walls from the entrance, and one, the largest and most ornate, on the wall directly opposite the entrance.

All the treasure chests were very lavishly decorated, exuding an aura that they were filled with treasure at first glance, and they certainly would have been.

If only they weren’t mimics, that is.

‘Annoying bastard! What kind of reaction is that?’

Petch exited the ruins, cursing the man trapped inside. Instead of crying and begging, which would have been more appropriate, what was he doing, mocking them?

Thanks to him, there was no satisfaction in watching, so Petch couldn’t even deliver the lines they had prepared. It was just another thing that made them furious. Petch had wanted to tell him to choose carefully, as there were mimics among the treasure chests.

The woman who had been trapped just before him had cried and begged to be let out as soon as she realized she’d been tricked. That’s why it was satisfying to make her do various things.

Well, in the end, she was eaten by a mimic and died.

‘How many more people will I have to send in now?’

It was true that Petch themselves hadn’t fully explored the ruins.

There were mimics among the chests in the room, and Petch didn’t know which one contained the real treasure. They didn’t want to accidentally open the wrong one and get eaten by a mimic.

That’s why they brought people here, trapped them, and told them to find the real chest.

If the guy currently trapped succeeded, Petch would wait until he starved to death, then take the treasure and his belongings. If he failed, they would just bring in someone new, as they had always done.

That man was the sixth.

Usually, Petch would lure people with words, but they never expected someone to just outright buy a map like that. Spending a million gold on a mere scrap of paper that might contain nothing-he certainly wasn’t in his right mind.

‘But he’ll at least be able to tell front from back, right? Surely he’s not that unintelligent.’

The chests where people had been eaten and died were covered in blood, and Petch had deliberately left some of the bloodstains slightly uncleaned. This was to prevent the misfortune of someone opening the same chest.

‘Well, I’ve earned a lot of money, so maybe I’ll let one mistake slide.’

Petch recalled the million gold filling their bag and smiled contentedly. A million gold would be enough to live lavishly for several months without any problems. It seemed like a good time to indulge in some luxury after a long while.

It was the moment Petch was humming a tune and about to leave the ruins.

“Clearly there were two people going in, but why is there only one coming out? That’s quite strange.”

Petch froze, stopping their steps at the voice coming from the ruin entrance. Someone was blocking the entrance. A familiar silhouette, and a woman’s voice they had heard before.

“You are……”

Petch knew who that woman was.

Blue hair and blue eyes. A neat uniform of a white sleeveless top and dolphin shorts. A voluptuous chest of a size that couldn’t be hidden at all by the uniform, which covered everything it was supposed to, and a flawless figure.

It was the woman who had been next to the black-haired man Petch had trapped inside.

Petch looked around. The shorter one was nowhere to be seen. Either he had been left behind, or he was hiding. It had to be one of the two.

“How did you come here?”

First, Petch tried to assess the situation using honorifics. Figuring out how much that woman had noticed was the top priority.

If she had simply followed him here, knowing nothing, Petch could just sweet-talk her into leaving. But if not… then Petch would have to kill her.

“How did I come? I came to catch you.”

“……Huh?”

The blue-haired woman grinned.

“It means I came knowing everything, you swindler. You just scammed my man and trapped him in there, didn’t you?”

“……”

If she was going to talk like that, there was no need to pretend. Petch’s expression turned grim.

Perhaps he had given her some instructions before coming here. Was that why he was so triumphant even after falling into the trap? Because he knew this woman would come to rescue him?

‘Ah, that’ll do it then.’

Petch smirked.

If he was relying on that woman, then Petch just needed to kill her, cut off her head, and throw it to him. Then he, too, would realize that his trusted corner had been shattered and would make a face full of despair, just like the others.

Besides, Petch had to deal with that woman to get out of here anyway, so it was hitting two birds with one stone.

Petch set their bag on the ground, even taking off their coat and neatly folding it. Then, they pulled out a weapon from inside the bag. It was the sword they usually favored whenever they needed to use a weapon.

Petch couldn’t even remember who its original owner was. They had killed them too long ago.

“What, you want to fight me? Don’t be a bother, just surrender, why don’t you?”

The woman snorted. If she reacted like that even after seeing her opponent draw a weapon, it was one of two things: a greenhorn who didn’t know her own strength, or an exceptionally powerful individual who had seen it all.

However, judging by that incredible figure, she didn’t seem like an exceptionally powerful individual.

How could one move properly with breasts of that absurd size? To move nimbly, one’s body must be free of excess.

“I have to kill witnesses, you know. You wouldn’t let me go peacefully anyway.”

“Oh, you know that well? Then this will be quick.”

The woman crooked her finger. It meant ‘come at me first.’ It seemed she was looking down on Petch as just a merchant. It was clear, seeing as she hadn’t even drawn a weapon.

‘Perfect.’

For Petch, this was a welcome development. They knew very well how to kill someone, having done it to the point of boredom. And that woman would be no different.

Petch kicked off the ground and charged at top speed. Perhaps the woman couldn’t even react because the speed was faster than expected, as she hadn’t even laid a hand on her weapon until the very moment Petch was about to stab her.

‘Goodbye, you idiot!’

Petch aimed for her Adam’s apple and thrust the sword.

The tip of the sword accurately pierced the woman’s Adam’s apple.

“……Huh?”

“Just asking, but this isn’t the end, is it?”

It certainly would have been, if the woman hadn’t snatched the blade with her bare hand.

It was a completely unexpected situation. Petch froze stiff in place. The woman clicked her tongue in disapproval.

“You were going to kill me with just this level of skill? How pathetic.”

Petch tried to pull out the sword. Since the woman was holding the blade with her bare hand, if Petch pulled the sword out, it would be the woman who got injured.

“Eek… Ick…!”

But the sword didn’t move at all.

Petch tried pulling, pushing, twisting, and moving it sideways, but the sword, gripped in the woman’s hand, didn’t budge an inch.

That meant there was an enormous power gap between Petch and that woman. So much so that it was impossible even to make the sword move, let alone pull it out.

‘Damn it!’

Petch had thought she was just some pretty-faced bitch, used as a bodyguard and a fuck-toy like other noble young masters did, but had he actually found a woman with formidable skill too? The thought that they had picked the wrong fight suddenly flashed through Petch’s mind.

Seeing Petch struggling desperately to pull out the sword, the woman opened her mouth in a pathetic tone.

“Since you still don’t seem to get it, I’ll give you one piece of advice.”

“I don’t need that-“

“There’s only one thing in this world that can pierce me.”

The woman moved her arm lightly. Simultaneously, Petch’s body floated into the air and was sent flying far backward. Before hitting the ground, Petch quickly flipped upright, bent their legs, and landed.

Petch immediately raised their head. Surely she wasn’t going to attack right away?

“……!”

No. The woman stood still in place, holding the sword Petch had been using with both hands.

The woman, gripping the tip of the sword with her left hand and the hilt with her right, simply applied force.

-Kkigigigik!

‘That crazy woman…!’

Petch’s face was painted with horror. The sword began to bend like taffy, until the tip and the hilt met. The sword, folded in half in the middle, had been reduced to exactly half its length.

‘She… folded a steel sword with sheer strength?’

The woman casually tossed aside the sword, now reduced to half its length. 쨍강, it went. A pathetic metallic clang echoed through the ruins. Petch faltered, unconsciously stepping back a few paces.

The blue-haired woman, who had effortlessly folded a steel longsword as if it were cake, still hadn’t drawn a weapon, and crooked her finger.

“You said you were going to kill me. What are you doing, not attacking?”