NOVEL WEB Chapter 90 - How to Enjoy Vacation (6)
I blurted out the truth as if I was talking about nothing.
“Because it benefits me.”
“Is he helpful in protecting your family?”
I couldn’t figure out the intention of the question at all, so I glared at him. Then I spat it out as if chewing.
“Yeah.”
Finally, the gap in the door widened enough for a person to pass through.
I pushed past the tiger bastard and quickly ran to my friends. I could feel his gaze behind me.
“Nahyun!”
I heard the group calling me from in front. I headed toward them without hesitation.
“Geez, how awkward.”
Shin Haewoon was just smiling awkwardly while looking at our group that had quickly gathered.
Park Siwoo was pointing his sword at Shin Haewoon next to him. It seemed that he had subdued him.
If he can’t draw magic from water, then his fighting ability is lower than Park Siwoo’s. The moment the group prepared to attack Tornito, someone’s voice echoed through the hall.
“I’m really going crazy, you know!”
Park Yulhan suddenly appeared in the air.
Pitch-black darkness gathered and his physical form was fully revealed. The cloak on his back was fluttering in the air.
“Didn’t I tell you not to move recklessly?”
“Ah geez, I got caught, didn’t I?”
Shin Haewoon was smiling calmly even in that situation.
Tornito paused for a moment upon seeing Park Yulhan, then continued to direct his gaze towards our group.
“No fighting! No fighting! And Sir Shin Haewoon, you have already lost the fight and are being held captive, so why are you acting so relaxed?”
Park Yulhan was busy talking, then he was startled by the holy arrow Shin Baran was aiming at him as if to restrain him, and raised both arms.
“Ah, we’re going to retreat today, so please put your worries away.”
“Put away? Shin Baran, shoot that thing.”
“I know even if you don’t say it!”
As soon as Scammer spoke angrily, Shin Baran shoots her arrows. However, Park Yulhan easily dodges all the arrows using his incredible speed.
In the meantime, Tornito seemed determined to attack us, casting lightning around his body.
“Aaah, I told you not to fight! Can’t we do that!”
Park Yulhan waved what looked like a baton in the air. As soon as he did, Shin Haewoon and Tornito’s new form disappeared from this space.
“Then we’ll see you later!”
Park Yulhan, who had taken them out in an instant, also disappeared into the darkness.
We were left dumbfounded for a moment.
“…Did they run away?”
Min Jaeyoon stammered an answer to Park Siwoo’s words.
“I think so…?”
“…Do they have a teleportation item?”
“Yes. I think so. That must be why they were able to boldly attack us and take us out.”
Scammer added in agreement with Lee Hana’s words.
“We’d better watch out for raids in the future.”
“I see~ More importantly, why did we suddenly move to this dungeon?”
“That… I thought that moving to another dungeon would have a higher survival rate than staying in that dungeon filled with water magic, so I used items to move everyone.”
“You really know a lot of strange things.”
Scammer just laughed awkwardly at Choi Soojung and Shin Baran’s words.
“More importantly, since we cleared the dungeon anyway, we’ll be able to get the items. Let’s go to the altar up there.”
We climbed up to the altar in the center of this space as he said.
There were ten gold coins on the altar. Since there were exactly ten, it seemed like the gold coins came out according to the number of clears.
“I’ll collect them first.”
“Yeah!”
According to the rules of the Gate Treasure Exploration Club, he decided to collect the gold coins first. He’ll distribute them appropriately when it’s time to use them later. After collecting all the gold coins with the symbol of the scales, the space distorted and we returned to the sea dungeon before moving into the dungeon made by Scammer.
“You must be tired today, so let’s go and rest now. We’ve collected enough Mermaid’s Breath.”
Everyone agreed with his words.
“We’ll dispose of the items and distribute them after the trip is over.”
“Yes!”
I glanced at Na Yuri, who would have sneered at him normally. Na Yuri didn’t say anything to him, despite looking like usual.
Then Scammer glanced at Na Yuri and looked away.
Is it because of the mood?
I moved to the hotel with a strange sense of unease.
***
That strange anxiety reached its peak when Na Yuri spoke to Scammer separately before going to her room.
“You have something to say to me, don’t you?”
He nodded silently at those words.
“Come out to the rooftop lounge at 8 today.”
“Got it.”
Na Yuri was strangely calm as she approached Scammer. So was him.
I’m so nervous, what the heck?
But I couldn’t just follow Na Yuri, so I just watched her head to the rooftop after dinner.
I felt tired for some reason, thus leading to me rejecting everyone’s suggestion to play a little more at the arcade and returned to my room.
At that moment, when I was thinking about checking the story fragments that had been updated before,
[Story Fragments have been added.]
The update alarm rang.
Again? I checked the story fragments.
[Currently collected Story Fragment: 7]
– Academy’s Genius Commander: 3
– ???? ??? ???? ?? (Locked): 4
I pressed ‘Academy’s Genius Commander’. Then, three fragments appeared.
In addition to the fragments I had seen before, the two newly created fragments showed Na Yuri and Scammer’s faces. I pressed the second fragment. Then, the video started playing.
[Story Fragment]
Na Yuhan met Na Yuri in a new dungeon in which he arrived at using the scales and gave her a brief briefing about the dungeon.
After that, they walked in silence.
Na Yuhan seemed to be constantly thinking about something with his pale face, and so did Na Yuri.
After a while, they arrived in front of a door.
“The first dungeon is your dungeon.”
Na Yuhan read the letters engraved on the door and said with a tired face. Then he lay down in front of the door.
“Clear it yourself and come back… I’ll sleep a little. Wake me up before going to the next dungeon.”
Na Yuhan sighed and spoke so.
“Is it a combat-related trial?”
He was silent for a moment at that.
“…No, but it’s also a trial that I shouldn’t dare interfere with.”
He then looked at the ceiling and said.
“Go and do whatever you want. But don’t come out and try to kill me.”
At those words, Nayuri made a puzzled expression, but opened the door without saying anything.
And then the school scenery appeared before her eyes.
“Here is…”
Na Yuri’s eyes widened. Her head turned to a rooftop.
There was a girl standing there. The moment she saw that, her breath stopped.
“No.”
Her legs moved.
And at that moment, the girl fell.
“No!”
She threw her whole body to support the girl.
She seemed to have taken all the shock for her, yet she looked at the girl as if she didn’t care about her own pain.
The girl was safe.
“Thank goodness…”
Thus, Na Yuri was relieved. Thick tears fell from her eyes.
“This time, I saved you.”
“This time?”
And then she heard a familiar voice. It was Na Yuhan, who looked like a middle school student.
“Ah, so I failed.”
Na Yuhan, who had said that to the girl, stared at Na Yuri and spoke.
“You know, little sister.”
The sly smile really annoyed her.
“Would you stop interfering with the proof of love?”
She really wanted to kill that mouth that was talking nonsense.
Perhaps that’s why, Na Yuri started beating Na Yuhan, who was laughing brightly, without hesitation.
“DIE, YOU BASTARD!”
Bugh, bugh, bugh…
A desperate fist sound was heard. Before she knew it, Na Yuhan was just shaking unconsciously at her fists.
“Stop it!”
The girl grabbed her arms, which were running wild.
“If you keep doing that, I’ll hate you!”
Na Yuri laughed at that.
“You always did that.”
“What?”
“When I hurt Na Yuhan, you did that to me.”
She laughed as if crying.
“That’s why, I didn’t want you to hate me, so I left him alone,”
Tears flowed from her eyes.
“In the end, I made you die.”
She grabbed the girl’s shoulder.
“I shouldn’t have only thought of myself. I should have done it for—for you.”
That girl, with a messy face, she smiles.
“I’ve always wanted to say this.”
And then she says.
“I’m sorry.”
The illusion blurs. Like a vision clouded by tears, the world is blurry.
“I’m sorry…”
She stood like that until the illusion completely disappeared.
And then, silently wiping away her tears, she went out the door she came in through. Na Yuhan was asleep there.
Na Yuri clenched her fists while looking at Na Yuhan, and then soon lowered her head.
“You, wake up.”
In the end, what Na Yuri chose was a more gentle method than she had thought. Na Yuhan slowly opened his eyes at her light footsteps.
“…Are you done?”
“Yes.”
“You could hit me once, though.”
At those words, Na Yuri looked at Na Yuhan for a moment.
“You?”
“…Yeah.”
“Enough. Let’s go.”
And then she turned around and started to stride ahead. Na Yuhan followed behind her without saying a word. Soon, they stood in front of another door.
He clenched his fists tightly as if he was prepared for something.
Na Yuri opened her mouth in front of the door.
“I think you’re not Na Yuhan.”
“As expected, is that so.”
Na Yuhan smiled bitterly.
“You said that only real memories are trials, right?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go.”
Na Yuhan opened the door without saying anything. And a small room appeared.
“This is…”
A room where game consoles and strategy guides were strewn about. That definitely wasn’t the room of Na Yuhan that Na Yuri knew.
He spoke.
“This is my room.”
And he opened the door to the small room.
“This is my house.”
The cold, empty interior of the house was revealed.
There were boxes of various items piled up inside the house. It wasn’t that dirty, as if someone was taking care of it.
“The method of clearing it is simple.”
Nayuhan said as if it was nothing special.
“I’ll go out, and just… say hello to someone.”
And so they did.
They walked through the trial in silence.
The video cut off here.
I realized I had been holding my breath without realizing it, and let it out again.
The message of this video was clear.
Na Yuri was now certain that the current Scammer wasn’t the Na Yuhan she knew.