093 – I hate submitting my pride more than d*ath #3
Baek Yeo-ul usually tripped over rocks or protruding corners and fell quite often even on a normal day.
And now, with a blindfold on top of that, there was no way she could walk around normally.
But?
Rustle, rustle-.
“Left! Kangkang’s on the left! Go left!”
Bangdaengi Baek Yeo-ul had a better sense than expected.
Of course, Seugal didn’t trust Baek Yeo-ul’s sense, though.
“Are you sure it’s left? How do you know that?”
“Our house often has power outages, so I’m used to walking around in the dark. Anyway, it’s left! Left!”
Following Bangdaengi’s words, Seugal moved her steps to the left, feeling her way with her palms.
Clomp, clomp, clink-.
Though the abandoned factory had many things to trip over, Seugal’s balance was good enough that, unlike Baek Yeo-ul, she didn’t fall.
Instead, her unprotected back was constantly attacked.
Puff-!
“Ah! These spider brats…! Argh! It bit my b*tt! This crazy spider brat!”
“That’s not a spider brat, it’s Kangkang!”
The teamwork between Seugal and Baek Yeo-ul was still pathetic.
Even though they should have leveraged each other’s strengths.
Still, it’s admirable that they didn’t quit the training.
They’ve all developed some stubbornness.
They must want to get the “Hanamjin Photobook” no matter what.
Both of them surely know that they can’t possibly finish the training today if they keep going like this.
It’s about time they realized that the only way to get the “Hanamjin Photobook” is to swallow their pride and collaborate with each other.
That’s why, relatively less obstinate Bangdaengi proposed first to Seugal.
“In this situation, we should probably cooperate, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come here.”
In the darkness hidden by the blindfold, Bangdaengi and Seugal drew closer. After a whisper, Seugal let out a bewildered “Huh?” as if she’d heard something absurdly bizarre.
“Are you sure that’s right?”
“That’s right! Don’t underestimate me! I’m Baek Yeo-ul, who captured the Judge and arrested the Demon’s mind! I’ve had more real combat experience than you, Seugal!”
Who would have thought that Bangdaengi would shout loudly in front of Seugal?
In reality, Bangdaengi, a member of the “No Leftovers Day” team, had gathered a lot of combat experience.
A kind-of veteran!
The collaborative operation designed by such Bangdaengi turned out to be—The blind leading the lame.
“Baek Yeo-ul, you’re heavy! How much do you weigh right now!”
“Sh…shut up!”
Seugal carried Bangdaengi on her back. With her familiar experience in power outages, Bangdaengi became the eyes, and Seugal with her flexible legs became the legs.
Not bad?
“Go left!”
Baek Yeo-ul gave instructions to Seugal like a mouse in a chef’s hat.
“Ahh!”
Seugal collided with a protruding edge of the wall.
“Hey!”
“Oh… I guess it wasn’t the left. Right!”
This is going to take a few days at this rate.
Nevertheless, it was undeniable that the training progress had suddenly accelerated. Seugal’s back was protected thanks to Bangdaengi, and Bangdaengi had gained legs in the form of Seugal.
Puff-!
Puff puff-!
Kangkang running around the darkness here and there.
Seugal and Baek Yeo-ul were gradually narrowing the distance toward Kangkang.
“Left! Hurry!”
“Baek Yeo-ul, do you even know how hard it is to run blindfolded?”
And finally—.
Baek Yeo-ul stretched out her hand to grab the Kangkang that was lunging toward Seugal’s face. Her expression immediately brightened as she looked incredibly delighted.
“Done! We did it! I caught Kangkang!”
Bangdaengi got off Seugal’s back and took off her blindfold. Soon, Seugal also removed her blindfold.
However, the looks of joy on the two, thinking that the training was over, changed instantly to something peculiar. Their eyebrows even twitched.
Seugal asked me.
“What is it?”
“What do you mean ‘what’? It’s Kangkang.”
The thing that Baek Yeo-ul had caught was actually my hand. Because the one walking around in the dark was not Kangkang, but Hanamjin all along.
So, what they had been doing until now was actually my capture training.
“Then the one that hit my back and bit my b*tt was all….”
“It wasn’t a bite but a pinch. Kangkang.”
When I made the spider cry sound, Seugal’s face turned very red. It seemed like Bangdaengi was also upset.
“I thought it was really Kangkang!”
“How can beginners like you two catch the Demon Beast spider Kangkang in the dark? Even if you cooperated, it would take a week. That’s why I patched the difficulty.”
In other words, it was a beginner’s training.
Even then, they passed relatively quickly. Both of you have quite the talent.
As they say, people need some sort of reward to gain motivation.
Flap-.
I took out the “Hanamjin Photobook” that I had prepared.
“There are two people, but there’s only one photobook, what shall we do?”
Should I watch how these two, who just completed their awkward collaboration, negotiate and compromise?
At that time, Seugal let out a snicker.
“You can give that thing to Baek Yeo-ul. Just bring out the “Chore Token”.”
“Are you really going to give up the photobook you’ve been wanting so much? Seugal, you’ve truly understood the concept of consideration and respect for others. Today’s training was effective!”
Tears were welling up in my eyes from the overwhelming sense of emotion.
No, they were already flowing!
Cry cry-!
Then Seugal, looking flustered, turned red and shouted.
“What?! Who would want some photobook anyway!”
Flap-.
Seugal snatched the “Chore Token” from my hand. In the end, the “Hanamjin Photobook” went to Baek Yeo-ul.
“…”
Baek Yeo-ul looked at the “photobook” in her hand and the “Chore Token” in Seugal’s hand with a rather ambiguous expression.
“Then the training is over. Let’s catch Kangkang.”
There was a founding ceremony for the Main Purge Team this afternoon, so I needed to prepare from now if I was going to attend.
Just then, Seugal let out another snicker.
“You said you could catch Kangkang alone in five minutes, right? Prove it.”
Prove it?
That’s easy.
I pulled out a ketchup bottle from somewhere down below my waist and squeezed it onto the floor.
Then, a hidden Kangkang appeared drawn by the smell of ketchup.
-Kangkang…!
“Caught.”
It took me less than ten seconds to catch Kangkang.
Seugal shrieked while watching the struggling Kangkang.
“Hey! That’s cheating!”
There wasn’t any rule about not using ketchup, so where’s the foul?
Should I throw out a great quote here?
“Survival is about that.”
# # #
There was a “Star Mine Purge Team Founding Ceremony” in the evening.
A few politicians were coming to take pictures and read oaths of resolution and declarations.
Seugal didn’t want to attend this event.
She didn’t want to get involved with old people who were trying to use the young awakened ones risking their lives fighting Mains for political purposes.
Now that Seugal was less hypocritical and more honest, meaningless parties and social gatherings were just a waste of time.
However, Hanamjin said it was better for Seugal and Baek Yeo-ul to attend this event.
It was better to see the faces of those who would participate in this purge team.
—Don’t you need to see who might become your comrades?
Comrades.
On the way to the venue, Seugal sitting on the bus looked at Baek Yeo-ul sitting beside her.
Baek Yeo-ul was wearing an old China dress, but she was giggling while looking at something.
“Kangkang, look. Hanamjin’s kindergarten picture.”
-Hiioong…!
When I saw Baek Yeo-ul talking to the beast hidden in her bag, Seugal felt uncomfortable.
Because beasts were creatures that couldn’t be tamed.
Of course, Seugal did know about ‘Yining’ so she had some experience that beasts could also have goodwill towards people.
But Yining was special in various aspects, and Hanamjin, who tamed Yining, was also special.
“Hanamjin used to have long hair like a girl when he was a child! He looked so feminine! Isn’t that right!”
-Kangkang…!
What? Hanamjin had long hair in kindergarten?
Seugal couldn’t believe that the messy monster and the man who was trying to project an image of a “man” used to have long hair like a girl.
‘Was there ever a time when that strange guy was a child?’
So, when Seugal’s eyes fell on the photo album Baek Yeo-ul was holding with some interest, Baek Yeo-ul protectively hid the album on her side and growled.
“This is my reward! You got the “Chore Token”!”
“….”
Let’s stop talking.
While thinking of that, the bus stopped in front of “The Emperor Hotel”, which was known for having the best facilities in City D under the darkening sky.
As Seugal and Baek Yeo-ul headed to the banquet hall, many people had already gathered in small groups, chatting.
“Isn’t that Ji-som, a rank 3 Awakened One? She’s been performing remarkably these days.”
“That’s someone with experience fighting the Demon’s Main. Of course, she’ll fight against the Star Main too.”
“That’s Moon Hyun-a over there isn’t it? I heard she quit exploration and became a high school teacher.”
“Because of the situation, she’s probably making a temporary comeback to active duty. Look, An Yu-ri is there too.”
There were political figures and celebrities from TV, as well as quite a few renowned awakened ones.
Seugal carefully observed each of them, memorizing those who would join her in the purge team.
While calculating how she might collaborate with them, Seugal began to understand why Hanamjin said it was good to attend this event.
“Isn’t that you, Ga-eul? I heard you were kidnapped by Nam San-ho. You’ve suffered a lot, haven’t you?”
At that moment, a woman approached and spoke to Seugal. She was a mysterious beauty with silver hair tied back and wearing a black dress.
She was the awakened one called “The Tracker – An Yu-ri,” mainly supported by young women due to her straightforward character.
She was 25 and reportedly had no boyfriend.
“Didn’t you think about kicking his balls? I would have if I were in your situation.”
“An Yu-ri, if you were in my situation, you definitely couldn’t have done that.”
“No, I could. Once you start getting treated like a woman in this line of work, there’s no end to it, you know? You repay them double without considering means or methods to avoid being underestimated.”
“I would absolutely not be able to do that.”
“Really? I’m different. I hate pretending to be a fragile princess. We need to be able to save ourselves. Your sister here is telling you; reality is different from the fairy tale where a prince appears.”
“Huh?”
“Contact me if you want to become stronger.”
After laughing loudly, An Yu-ri wandered off into the distance.
‘What is this? Is she delusional? It’s annoying to be disrespected by all sorts of people.’
Seugal didn’t like the idea of being kidnapped and suffering this kind of humiliation.
‘So where is that guy?’
Seugal had heard that Hanamjin would also be participating in the purge team and would come to this event.
As Seugal was looking around, she caught sight of an unpleasant man.
“Joo-hyun! You look so handsome today!”
“Your suit looks really good on you!”
Prince Juhyun.
He could be considered the prince of this “Emperor Hotel.” It was embarrassing to see all the money-seeking women fawning over Prince Juhyun.
Some handsome awakened ones like Kim Choon-oh or Goo Goon-hoon were also surrounded by women, but Seugal didn’t even glance at them.
“Is the person in charge of this purge team this person?”
“He looks young.”
“Should we go talk to him?”
At that moment, a man’s voice was heard. When Seugal turned her head, there was a man in the corner sitting on a chair reading a book.
Reading a book in a noisy social gathering like this?
Seugal thought it was a cliché and found it uninteresting, but at the same time, she understood why the women were attracted.
Tall stature with a black tuxedo, hair slicked back with wax, distinct features, deep eyes, and a confident expression that bordered on arrogance.
‘Well, his looks are passable.’
She thought he was worth a glance once, but he wasn’t her type at all.
Especially those men who flaunt their looks and show off—Seugal detested them. The type that only posts perfectly touched-up photos on SNS to showcase themselves.
Enough drama involving Prince Juhyun and Nam San-ho.
She knew all too well how much these men, impressive on the outside, cower back in fear and tremble when they are required to act as “men” in crucial moments.
‘That guy leading the purge team, is he seriously showing off like this? Given that I’ve never seen his face before, he’s probably unknown awakened one parachute-dropped in by Nam Bada from America.’
Men should prove themselves through their actions, not words or appearances.
Seugal unconsciously recalled the old boy who had always worn a worn-out school uniform, had his hair roughly dried to look always messy, and erected walls to distance himself from pretenses.
‘Why am I thinking of him now?’
While she was caught up in this inner conflict, the man who was reading the book caught Seugal’s eye.
“Over here!”
“What is it? Why is he coming over here?”
“Is he coming to me?”
The man slammed his book shut and started walking steadily toward Seugal, making her feel a bit exhausted.
She thought that this man was probably going to ask her number or flirt with her in some way.
Thud.
Before she knew it, the man had arrived in front of Seugal.
‘Look at that. He’s here because of me.’
Seugal was already feeling annoyed.
“What is it?”
While wondering what kind of speech this man was going to deliver to flirt with her, she asked disinterestedly when the man with deep eyes opened his mouth.
“I admire your milk carton.”
“Huh?”
She thought she had misheard.
Because there was no way a person could say such nonsensical words.
If someone were going to say something crazy like this to Seugal—
Her eyebrows immediately tensed.
“Are you… Hanamjin?”
