I didnât cry. I wasnât even close to crying.â Still, I lost my temper and shot back.
Jung Garam snorted, âI think I understand why Bae Jaemin had so much fun seeing you twitch.â
However, unexpectedly, Seo Dawon defended me. âItâs because Lee-kyung-ie encountered Bae Jaemin back at the Tower of Command. Also, he sees the memories of the dead every time he signs a contractâŠHe says it feels like heâs possessed the person involved.â
Jung Garam stared at me for a moment, âIâm the one who got done in, but why is he the one thatâs making a fussâŠâ He grumbled but ceased his teasing.
In fact, the skill to revive the dead required me to view their last moments. Briefly assimilating with the dead left a significant impact on meâitâs not some random memory, after all, but the very moment they are killed. I even threw up after Seo Dawonâs contract.
However, I couldnât exactly express to these two that I was in pain because of their memoriesâŠAfter all, thatâs not what you should say to the ones that actually diedâŠ
âHow are we going to engineer a meeting between Moon Issak and Bae Jaemin?â I changed the topic.
âWeâll have to send Kim Sangyoon.â Seo Dawon answered straight away, as if he had already thought ahead.
Sangyoon-ssi�
âHowâs that going to work? Do they know each other?â
âOf course not. Moon Issak never socializes.â
âHeâs a total psycho.â Jung Garam added.
Ah, I think the reviews from my servants are way worse than Bae JaeminâsâŠJust who is this person thatâs supposedly a stickler for rules, unsociable, and yet, according to Jung Garam, a psycho?
âUmâŠThis Moon Issak personâŠWhat does he do?â I asked curiously.
Seo Dawon and Jung Garam opened their mouths at the same time, âHeâs the youngest executive secretary of the Korean Dungeon Association.â
âThat guy. Heâs one strict old soul,â Seo Dawon shook his head. âHe is such a fastidious man that during the Red Lotusâs heyday we often got fucked over by him.â 1
I couldnât believe that such a stick in the mud would not get cowed by the Rankers but, instead, manage to attack them insteadâŠHow on earth did Moon Issak pull that off?
In addition, the [ Korean Dungeon Association] was the foremostâand highest in the hierarchyâgovernment agency for Users and Dungeon related matters. The association even directed the police-like organization that caught criminal users. In short, they were the executive branch for Users.
If he had risen to the executive secretary position in such a highly competitive place, he must be competentâŠ
âButâŠCan Sangyoon-ssi really mark a person like that?â 2 I wondered if Kim Sangyoon could handle someone like that.
Seo Dawon succinctly answered, âOf course not.â
âAh, then?âŠWhat then?â
âSo, Iâm sending him in together with Garam-ie.â
HuhâŠbut Kim Sangyoon canât see Jung Garam, right?
And given Jung Garamâs crumpled foreheadâthe young Treasure Hunter standing to the side with a sullen expressionâSeo Dawon must not have discussed this plan in advance. Unexpectedly, Jung Garam did not protest; his pouting lips were uncharacteristically quiet.
âGaram-ie will observe the situation, check in with me, and Iâll communicate with Kim Sangyoon. That guy doesnât have to know that Garamâs been revived just yetâŠIf those two are in a pinch, Iâll intervene as well to hide all traces of Garamâs presence.â
âOkay.â I also thought that either Seo Dawon or Jung Garam should accompany the Warrior, so I had no specific complaints.
After organizing the party divisions simply and quickly, Seo Dawon looked at Lackey, wriggling at my feet. âLackey will pretend to be Lee-kyung-ie in this room again.â
[Clack clack.]
Lackey seemed to respond to Seo Dawonâs voice before, soon losing interest and laying on the ground, tearing off bits of the carpet. Still, I was relieved that it didnât seem to react too sensitively besides its lukewarm reaction. The skeleton dutifully stayed within this room without escaping as well.
So thenâŠSeo Dawon and I were the only ones leftâŠ
Would he and I go together to find Koo Hui-seo? Seo Dawon confirmed my guess and ordered me to move with him.
After dividing our roles, we shared examples of situations that might arise and gave our opinions on how to deal with them. First, it would normally be difficult to find Moon Issak, but fortunately, this problem was easily solved by Jung Garamâs ability.
âSo, I went to the hallway opposite to Choi Lee-kyung during the search, earlier.â
âAh, yeah?â
âThe maids were all sweeping and cleaning with the doors wide open thereâŠall except for one room which left its door closed. That room was marked with a âDo Not Disturbâ sign.â Jung Garam shrugged, indicating that the closed room must be Moon Issakâs. That theory seemed plausibleâBae Jaemin might have been further misled as we reserved a room on the same floor as this man.
Furthermore, only our floor and the floor below were in operation in this annex. The upper floor was more luxuriousâand therefore more expensive; I donât think a person of Moon Issakâs station would reserve a cheaper room downstairsâŠ
Jung Garam, while searching for the [anti-vision] anchor, sprayed an item called the [Ten Thousand Li Perfume] in front of that door, in case of an emergency. 3
The [Ten Thousand Li Perfume] was a scented spray normally used for shadowing or trackingâa peculiar item that could only be detected by its user. No matter where the target may be, the user could trace this scent back to them.
Of course, since Jung Garam was currently an incorporeal soul, he would not be so easily detected by others. However, if one put the [Ten Thousand Li Perfume] on the door, he could be alerted if the person inside were to leave and approach his location.
Fortunately, the [Ten Thousand Li Perfume] was not activated while Jung Garam was exploring earlier, but, once sprayed, the item would last for three days. He would be able to track whoever stepped out of that room in that time frame.
âWe can accurately determine the timing of when Moon Issak leaves his room. Once he steps through that door, we can monitor his movements on my map.â
Thanks to his quick thinking, we could avoid waiting for him outside his room all day. However, inviting him to eat at [Tea Banquet] together was another matter.
âIs there a possibility that Sangyoon-ssi knows Moon Issak?â
From the way he made a few phone calls to grab a reservation at this hospital, it seems as if he knows a fair amount of peopleâŠ
However, both Jung Garam and Seo Dawon looked skeptical when I asked Kim Sangyoon in the next room over.
âIâve seen him onceâŠIâve never held a conversation with him nor gotten his personal contact, though.â The Warrior said.
âAhâŠSo then I guess itâs difficult for you to invite him to dinner?â
âW-what? Invite him to dinner?â Kim Sangyoon looked down at me with an anxious expression and fidgeted his large hands. âUm, Moon IssakâŠ.UhâŠHis personality is a bitâŠâ He hesitated.
Just how horrid is this man for someone like Kim Sangyoon to disparage his character? Perhaps I was just ignorant, Moon Issak was famous enough that Kim Sangyoon, who had never spoken to him once, already knew about his character.
Kim Sangyoon did not stop there; he looked around and bowed his head, whispering to me, âI heardâŠthat Seo Dawon also had an impressive personality back in the days.â
âYesâŠ..Eh?â
âMoon Issak was called the âSeo Dawon of the civil service departmentââŠ. Well, rumors like that were plentiful. He was arrogant and didnât treat others well, picky, and was prone to riotingâŠâ
âI-I seeâŠâ
The problem was that Seo Dawon and Jung Garam were not even three steps away from Kim Sangyoon, who was ignorant about the proximity of the subject of his gossip.
Seo Dawon smiled and gave a meaningless exclamation, âHo~oh?â Jung Garam looked at Kim Sangyoon in excitement, twisting and biting his lips to hold back his laughter.
In this unusual atmosphere, I tried to hurriedly change the subject, but Kim Sangyoon finally drove the nail in the coffin. âHowever big Moon Issakâs infamy may be, it couldnât possibly be as big as Seo DawonâsâŠHehe.â
âHahahah!â Laughter erupted out of Jung Garamâs convulsing body.
Kim Sangyoon with bright eyes said, naively, âUm, what I just said nowâŠplease keep it a secret from Seo Dawon-nim.â
I nodded my head, but I couldnât bear to look at him because I felt so sorry for the Warrior.
TL: RIP Sangyoon again. Good luck at your funeral.
Footnotes
ìż ëščë€ = to eat hard taffy. This is slang for âfucked upâ in Korean. Itâs also used quite vulgarly to tell people to âfuck offâ or âfuck youâ Marking is a common video game or sports term. It means to take something as your opponent so that others can focus on other things. According to Wikipedia, Li (Chinese: é, lÇ, or ćžé, shĂŹlÇ), also known as the Chinese mile, is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. The li has varied considerably over time but was usually about one-third of an English mile and now has a standardized length of a half-kilometer (500 meters or 1,640 feet).