Chapter 22
Nighttime Room Rental (3)
Yeongwoo sat on the edge of the bed, quietly listening to the sound of running water coming from the bathroom.
Shhhhh—
What exactly was going on here?
In front of the bathroom's glass door—which was practically useless for privacy—the woman's clothes and backpack had been carelessly left on the floor.
Everything except her dagger, shorts word, and shield.
What is she doing in there?
It was almost impossible not to imagine her showering.
After all, she had gone into that tiny bathroom carrying a sword and shield.
Then again, it wasn't exactly normal to enter a room occupied by a complete stranger and calmly take a shower first.
Is she really that confident in a fight?
Thinking back on her appearance and story, she definitely wasn't an ordinary person.
Either way, once she's done washing up, I'll tie her up securely.
If he bound both her hands and feet with rope and left her on the floor, he'd still have time to react even if she somehow cut herself free and launched a surprise attack.
Of course, Yechan would need to wake him up before it was too late.
"Hmm..."
Yeongwoo stared at the commemorative coin still sitting on the table.
Then he noticed that the timer at the top of his vision had disappeared.
Ah, right.
By now, the red fog should have begun forming outside.
There was a window on the wall beside the bed, so he quickly approached it and looked outside.
Although the half-open window was covered by a blue protective barrier, he could still see what was happening beyond it.
A reddish fog was spreading throughout the city.
"Huh?"
A human silhouette appeared near the fog.
Tap-tap-tap!
A man was running desperately toward somewhere.
Judging by his lack of equipment, he had either been robbed or was one of the latecomers who hadn't followed the initial quest line.
Lucky guy. Somehow survived without running into goblins.
But it seemed his luck had run out.
The red fog was rapidly closing in on him.
And eventually—
Swish.
Without a sound or warning, the fog swallowed him whole.
The motel was quite far from the scene, but Yeongwoo should at least have been able to hear a scream.
Instead, there was silence.
The only thing he could see was the man's silhouette staggering inside the fog.
Then—
"...Ah."
The man stopped walking and collapsed.
How long was that? One minute?
Yeongwoo thought back.
From the moment the man entered the fog until he could no longer support himself.
About a minute, I think. Not sure if he's dead, though.
As he muttered to himself, Yechan called out from behind.
"Um... mister."
"Hm?"
Turning around, Yeongwoo saw Yechan looking somewhat flustered.
And a few steps behind him stood the woman, who had apparently finished showering.
She was wrapped in a bath towel.
A shorts word was in one hand and a shield in the other.
Yet neither the Gumi Sword Technique nor Golden Flash reacted.
Neither considered the situation combat.
"Thanks. I had a nice shower."
The woman glanced at the commemorative coin she had left on the table, saw that it hadn't been touched, and leaned her sword against the wall.
With the hilt facing upward so she could grab it instantly.
Remembering their agreement outside, Yeongwoo spoke sharply.
"You said I could tie you up as long as you didn't have any weapons. If that's still true, put down the shield too."
The woman obediently dropped the shield.
"Everything I told you earlier was true. So I hope you won't be too tense."
Instead of answering, Yeongwoo placed the shield between the bed and the wall.
That way he could grab it immediately while lying down.
The woman smiled again.
"But aren't you really the First Sword of Gumi? Gumi isn't a city big enough to have two people who look that similar."
"So what if I am?"
"And what if I'm not?"
"If you are, then I've had the honor of meeting someone important. If you're not, that doesn't really matter either."
A vague answer.
Not wanting unnecessary trouble, Yeongwoo remained silent.
After all, he planned to leave Gumi as soon as the fog disappeared.
I need to move to another city before the mutants appear. The longer I wait, the bigger the gap between me and the First Swords of other regions will become.
[Golden Foundation]
Summon a Golden Rainfall in two unknown regions. (1/2)
[Special-Class Social Worker]
Return a mutant alive.
Those were the two recommended achievements he could realistically pursue soon.
If he got lucky, he might even accomplish both at once.
"By the way, what's the relationship between you two?"
The woman asked again.
"Nothing special. We just ended up traveling together."
"Not family?"
"Then how are you sharing a room?"
She sounded genuinely surprised.
Yeongwoo tilted his head.
"You're sharing a room with us right now."
"Well... that's true."
At that moment, Yeongwoo sensed something suspicious.
"Anyway, could you put some clothes on first? It feels a little awkward tying you up like that."
He signaled Yechan to prepare the rope.
The woman smiled.
"Wouldn't it be more dangerous if I got dressed first? You never know what could be hidden in my pockets."
Wrapped in a towel, she casually raised both arms.
Yechan looked back and forth between her and Yeongwoo with a troubled expression.
Meanwhile, Yeongwoo stood on the bed and spoke irritably.
"That's for me to worry about. Just get dressed already. If you keep stalling..."
"If I keep stalling, what?"
For some reason, she looked completely relaxed.
And from that moment on, Yeongwoo became certain that at least one thing she had said was a lie.
For example, the claim that she was pregnant.
Even if we looked easy to deal with, there are two of us. How can she be this calm? Especially if she's supposedly pregnant.
The woman continued waving her hands as if asking to be tied up immediately.
Then—
"Give me that rope."
Yeongwoo climbed off the bed and took it from Yechan.
"Uh... what are you doing?"
"She wants to be tied up. Might as well grant her wish."
Even as he said that, he didn't expect her to cooperate.
Nothing about the situation made sense.
Most suspicious of all was her constant insistence that she was unarmed.
When Yeongwoo nudged the shield away from her feet, she smiled.
"Feel safer now?"
"Not really."
Holding Early Bird in one hand and the rope in the other, Yeongwoo approached.
The woman shuddered while staring at the blade.
"You're going to tie me up while holding that? That's dangerous. Put it down. I don't even have a weapon."
Yeongwoo ignored her.
"Just stay still."
The distance between them shrank to less than a meter.
Then—
"...!"
His eyebrow twitched.
Something had flashed beneath the towel wrapped around her body.
At the same time, both Gumi Sword Technique and Golden Flash issued warnings.
[Your Sense stat has temporarily increased from 100 to 137.]
"This—!"
Whoosh!
Both moved almost simultaneously.
The woman drew a dagger hidden beneath the towel and thrust it toward Yeongwoo's neck.
Meanwhile, Yeongwoo
Swung Early Bird upward from below.
And severed her arm.
The right arm holding the dagger.
Slash!
"Huh?"
The attack happened so fast that she seemed unable to process it.
She stared blankly at her arm as it flew away in an impossible direction.
Then—
Thud.
Her severed arm hit the floor.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Blood erupted from the wound.
Watching it stain the bedsheets red, Yeongwoo sighed.
Looks like he'd be spending the night in a sea of blood.
"Hey."
"Ghhh...!"
"When you said this was the last room available... you meant something else, didn't you?"
"You already robbed every other room and only this one was left, right?"
It was a plausible guess.
But the woman was in too much agony to answer.
She was desperately crawling toward the door.
"Wait. You'll die outside anyway."
Yeongwoo grabbed the shield he had placed beside the bed and hurled it diagonally at her back.
WHOOOOSH!
The steel shield flew through the air and slammed into her waist at a horrifying angle.
CRACK!
"Ugh—!"
She collapsed face-first, drenched in sweat.
"Y-you crazy bastard...!"
Jumping off the bed, Yeongwoo spoke quietly.
"You should've stayed still and attacked at dawn."
"Why pick the harder option?"
"Guess this trick worked pretty well on other people."
Fear flashed across the woman's face.
Only now did she realize she had completely misjudged her target.
"You're... really the First Sword."
"Weren't you already assuming that?"
"Different from what you imagined?"
"Th-that's..."
"Die."
Yeongwoo didn't bother listening further.
He drove his blade into the back of her neck.
Stab.
The trembling stopped.
A small pool of blood slowly formed beneath her.
Stepping through the blood, Yeongwoo searched the body.
There were no additional weapons hidden beneath the towel.
But he did find something on her finger.
A ring.
A dark, tarnished silver ring.
An item?
When he removed it, an item description appeared.
[Murderer's Finger] — Ring
Increases stats by 10% in PvP combat.
[Empty Slot]
Exclusive to the achievement "Portrait of a Murderer."
Portrait of a Murderer?
An achievement.
One Yeongwoo had never seen before.
Probably associated with a different alignment than "Thickheaded."
Which meant—
She had unlocked achievements too.
Either way, his first impression had been correct.
This woman was far from ordinary.
And Yechan, who had witnessed everything from only a few feet away—
Couldn't even breathe properly.
He stood frozen in place.
Every second of what he had just seen had been shocking.
"You okay?"
"Turns out she was a scammer."
Yeongwoo attempted an awkward reassurance, swallowing the words:
Her pregnancy was probably a lie too.
Current time:
11:23 PM
After confirming that the red fog outside had grown even thicker, Yeongwoo lay down on the bloodstained bed.
The smell of fresh blood drifted through the room.
Yet it wasn't unpleasant enough to stop him from sleeping.
He had already become accustomed to it.
As the tension left his body, his muscles relaxed.
His eyelids grew heavy.
But Yechan—
Unlike Yeongwoo, he couldn't fall asleep so easily.
For a long time, he stood motionless.
Staring at the woman's corpse lying near the entrance.
It was a cruel and bizarre night.