Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 149

“Ah….”

A groan echoed in the room.

“Aaaah!”

With a rough scream, Seo Ha-neul rose up.

“Hah… Hah….”

Her whole body, clad only in underwear, was drenched in sweat.

“Ha. Shit.”

With a rough curse, she opened a water bottle and gulped it down.

The water poured down roughly, dripping from her mouth, but she was so engrossed in drinking that she didn’t even seem to notice.

“Haa….”

She breathed out again, finally regaining her composure.

It was a routine she went through every day since that day.

-Why!

The face that cried out.

-Why… why….

The face that had been distorted in vain.

She could still clearly remember the emotions disappearing and the betrayal filling her.

“…….”

Why was it?

“Shit….”

She didn’t know herself.

-Your reason was because of unrequited love, right?

Seo Ha-neul’s face contorted as she recalled Kim Jong-soo’s words.

That’s right.

She had liked Ro-woon.

But there was someone else by his side, and there were times when she resented that.

“Even so….”

Seo Ha-neul’s voice was like a sigh.

“I didn’t mean to….”

She had resolved to give up on Ro-woon.

She couldn’t have Ro-woon, but she didn’t want to lose the name Dank.

Also, Ro-woon, who was like a brother she had grown up with since childhood.

-Seo Ha-neul. Be careful.

She had no intention of betraying him.

“What was I possessed by?”

After roughly wiping off the sweat, she put on her clothes.

“It may not be enough as compensation….”

Her exposed skin was covered with countless large scars.

“I’m living in quite a bit of pain too.”

She had already heard.

-Ro-woon is dead.

Ro-woon, who had been sentenced to forced labor at the Hwasan corpse disposal site, had died in some kind of accident, and Kim Shin-hong was also reported dead.

She had no idea what happened to the others.

“I wish that would bring him peace.”

Seo Ha-neul smiled bitterly as she finished dressing.

She knew it was nonsense.

To have dragged the life of the person she loved into the mud, and to think that his death was a release, was just self-consolation to calm her still pounding heart.

Still, there was one reason why she could barely calm her heart.

“I will survive. So I will pay for all my sins.”

The fact that she, who was still alive, was still receiving that punishment.

Every day, every hour, every minute, every second was painful.

The day that had started again, resentfully, was the prelude to ruining her past, and it was her job to stain the name of the person she loved with disgrace.

“I will….”

She made a resolution, then regained her usual expression and left the hotel room.

Knock knock.

She knocked on the door of another room.

“I’m coming in.”

She opened the door.

***

“Are you still sleeping?”

Seo Ha-neul said roughly as she opened the door.

Unlike herself, who couldn’t sleep well because of nightmares, Kim Jong-soo, who played the role of Ro-woon, had a habit of not waking up once he fell asleep.

That’s why she had to come to wake him up every time.

“Don’t overdo it. Or I’ll….”

Seo Ha-neul, who had entered the room, slowly closed her mouth.

“You were awake?”

Kim Jong-soo, whom she thought would be asleep, was sitting on a chair as if nailed to it, staring out the window.

“What’s with you?”

But Seo Ha-neul felt something was off.

Kim Jong-soo, who used to curse at her every time she came to wake him up, was just looking out the window without saying anything.

“Hey. Kim Jong-soo…!”

Feeling uneasy, she grabbed Kim Jong-soo’s shoulder.

“……!”

Immediately, Seo Ha-neul stepped back in surprise.

“I told you not to call me by that name.”

Seo Ha-neul came to her senses at the voice she heard.

“…….”

Kim Jong-soo was the same as ever.

The usual prickly appearance, and the appearance that resembled the Ro-woon of the past.

But for a moment, she was terrified by his gaze.

“Seo Ha-neul.”

Seo Ha-neul trembled again at the voice calling her name.

“You….”

The voice and tone were no different.

But for some reason, the sense of incongruity she felt didn’t go away.

Seo Ha-neul cautiously reached for her waist.

“Weren’t we supposed to go to the Mars gate today?”

But she stopped her hand at the voice she heard again.

“At this rate, we’ll be late.”

Only Kim Jong-soo and Seo Ha-neul among the new Dank members knew today’s schedule.

“I don’t care, but those people won’t leave you alone, will they?”

And the fact that he even mentioned those people.

“Did you eat something wrong this morning?”

Seo Ha-neul said, letting out a sigh of relief.

“You surprised me.”

“What?”

“……Nothing.”

A sense of incongruity that she couldn’t explain in words.

And the strange feeling she had felt for a moment.

“So why were you awake this morning, unlike you?”

“You told me to act perfectly.”

Yesterday, she had ordered him to perfectly act as Ro-woon.

“That’s right. You did.”

Kim Jong-soo was right.

Ro-woon was always the first to wake up.

If there was a gate raid that day, he would be the first to wake up, adjust his condition, and make all the preparations so that his colleagues would not get hurt.

He showed what a leader should do and what a leader was.

“You’re doing well.”

Seo Ha-neul smiled bitterly and headed for the door.

“Don’t be late. Today’s schedule is going to be quite packed.”

Thud.

She left the room and put her hand on her heart.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Her heart was pounding wildly and wouldn’t stop.

“Why….”

She couldn’t understand.

No matter how much she told him to act as Ro-woon yesterday, she didn’t expect him to do it so perfectly.

It wasn’t just about waking up early and preparing.

His tone and voice were no different, but she remembered his gaze and feeling.

“Could it be….”

A suspicion arose.

But Seo Ha-neul shook her head.

“What are you thinking? That guy is dead.”

It was clear that Kim Jong-soo had just come to his senses.

* * *

“We have to raid three gates today.”

Seo Ha-neul, who had managed the schedule in the past, said to the Dank members.

There were no past members among the others except for Ro-woon.

Dank was a small elite group, just like in the past.

“Understood.”

There was nothing that resembled the atmosphere of the past.

The members answered stiffly.

“Did you understand?”

Ro-woon, or rather Kim Jong-soo, didn’t even answer.

“Don’t bother answering multiple times.”

Everything was different from the Dank of the past.

Seo Ha-neul had to erase even everything about her.

Because it was known that her colleagues were killed by Ro-woon, their survival was a complete secret.

“And when we’re done, there’s a meeting between small player guilds. Dank was invited, so we have to go.”

“Did we ever participate in such meetings?”

Seo Ha-neul flinched.

“No.”

They had never done that in the past.

They had never participated in any kind of meeting.

“But we have to.”

It was different from the past.

“Yesterday you told me to do it perfectly.”

“We can’t do that perfectly. You know what our role is.”

“I understand.”

Before they knew it, the new Dank had entered the Mado area of Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, where newly created gates were densely located.

Buzzing.

Numerous players were already gathered to enter the gate.

“It’s Dank.”

They recognized Dank and whispered.

Some even came up to shake hands.

“We believed in you.”

There were also those who added a few more words.

“There’s no way Mr. Ro-woon is a colleague killer.”

Flinch.

“But how did you come back?”

A question followed.

“Guild leader.”

Seo Ha-neul approached as if she was busy and tried to separate the two.

“And where was that place?”

Questions came one after another.

“We have to hurry. We’ll miss the gate raid at this rate.”

Seo Ha-neul gave a look that said not to answer, but.

“It was hell.”

Ro-woon opened his mouth.

Seo Ha-neul’s face hardened at that.

“Hell…?”

Until now, many people had asked the newly appeared Dank and Ro-woon many things, but Ro-woon had avoided answering.

Most people thought it was because he was being mindful of Hwasan.

But finally, Ro-woon opened his mouth.

Buzzing.

The players who saw the scene began to gather.

“What are you doing?”

Seo Ha-neul whispered to Ro-woon.

“Are you talking about hell?”

“We weren’t even given proper meals.”

“Hey….”

“Once a day, they gave us a clump of leftover scraps.”

The players gathered.

Ro-woon spoke calmly.

“Do you know how a monster’s corpse rots?”

A player, as if overwhelmed by Ro-woon’s words, shook his head.

Most players don’t know how monster corpses are disposed of.

The monster corpses that result from raids are left behind, and later the association moves the corpses and assesses their value to be passed on to the players.

Unless it was a large organization like Hwasan, there was no way to dispose of the corpses on their own.

“It emits deadly poison. It feels like your flesh is burning, and your insides are being churned.”

Gulp.

“But after a day or two, you get used to it.”

“Do you develop immunity?”

Ro-woon laughed.

“Of course not. How can you develop immunity when your player core is destroyed? You get paralyzed.”

“You mean… they destroy the player core?”

“That’s impossible….”

“They go that far?”

“Not just suppress it?”

There was an uproar.

Squeeze.

Seo Ha-neul grabbed Ro-woon’s wrist.

“Once you’re paralyzed like that, your mind starts to become clearer. The pain from the poison, touching the magic stones without a core….”

Ro-woon rolled up his sleeve.

Scars covered in burns.

A part of his forearm was completely black.

“……!”

It was not a small injury at all.

“With a clear mind, you process corpses every day while starving. That pain can never be gotten used to, and if you rest even a little, you get whipped….”

“Stop it.”

Seo Ha-neul said, unable to bear it any longer.

“But….”

Then a question flew in.

“If your core was destroyed, how are you here?”

Once a player core is destroyed, it cannot be regenerated.

It was like a player’s life, so it was impossible to replace it.

Then everyone’s eyes turned to Ro-woon.

“I’m just kidding. Just kidding.”

Ro-woon laughed.

“We have a lot to do.”

With that, Ro-woon hurried away.

The players seemed to have unresolved feelings, but they thought Ro-woon was joking.

“Then….”

The players were about to ask another question.

That’s when it happened.

Kwaaang-!

A loud explosion erupted in the distance.

“Get down!”

They shouted urgently and fell flat on the ground.

Whoosh-!

The following shockwave swept over everyone, creating a whirlwind.

Those who didn’t know what this meant were not even qualified to be players.

“It’s a gate break!”

A gate break, where the magic power of the gate reaches its limit and explodes.

“Damn it. Why all of a sudden…!”

The players who were still unable to get up were shocked by the aftermath.

A gate break was like a disaster.

Then, there was a player who stood up through the storm of magic power.

“Dank!”

It was Ro-woon.

Whoosh!

As Ro-woon walked out through the whirlwind, Seo Ha-neul, who had been flustered, finally got up.

“Guild leader!”

Seo Ha-neul, who had rushed to Ro-woon as if to attack him, said to Ro-woon in a rough voice.

“What are you doing! You crazy bastard!”

This was an unplanned emergency.