Chapter 8 – River Pirates (1)

When Sun-woo returned to his studio apartment, a message appeared on his phone.

[2,000,000 won has been deposited from World Bank.]

It was the money Sun-woo had exchanged for points just before returning to the original world.

“World Bank?”

Sun-woo knew this bank. World Bank. One of the largest banks in the world, and Sun-woo was also a regular customer of this bank.

“Well, they’re guys who summon people randomly and create objects from games, so what do you expect.”

The thought of checking up on the bank briefly crossed his mind, but he immediately dismissed it. If he went around investigating and it became known to others, he would likely just face sanctions.

Anyway, the money seemed to be fine.

Sun-woo decided to submit his resignation to the company he worked for. Now that he knew this work would continue, it was impossible to keep living a normal life.

Sun-woo put on his tracksuit and prepared to go outside.

He couldn’t forget the feeling when he cut through the marble. He wanted to hurry outside and swing his sword once more.

After getting dressed, Sun-woo checked his skill window on his phone.

<Three Talents Qigong. 3 Star> Grade increase: 100p

<Three Talents Sword Method. 2 Star> Grade increase: 50p

<Spirit of the Earth. 2nd Class> Grade increase: 50p

After much deliberation, Sun-woo raised both his sword technique and sorcery by one level to 2nd class each. Initially, he had thought about saving up more to add a skill slot, but every mission was too dangerous to think about the distant future.

Finally, he checked the mirror by the door. It seemed his height had grown considerably in the past few days. Sun-woo clicked his tongue at his shortened clothes and then headed to the back mountain clearing that only he knew about.

***

Three days later, Dimension Delta, Yangtze River Basin

The island consisted of tall reed beds along the riverside, a small lake in the center, and low hills to the east.

And Nan-seol’s figure looking down from the hill on the island was like a beauty in an oriental painting.

However, Nan-seol’s beautiful forehead was deeply furrowed.

This was because she could see a small fortress surrounded by wooden palisades.

At first glance, this island looked like an uninhabited island overgrown with reeds, but a small fortress had been built inside the island. The crude fortress was located in an area lower than the water level and was completely invisible from the river side.

“River pirates?”

A group of bandits who robbed boats passing through the river. It was definitely a stronghold of water bandits.

That’s when it happened.

“Tsk, an emergency summons again. Didn’t the others come?”

Sun-woo’s voice was heard behind her. He seemed to have come in a hurry, wearing a tracksuit.

Nan-seol shook her head.

“You’re the first to arrive, Sun-woo.”

Sun-woo approached her side and looked down. The entire island was tinted with a somewhat murky color. Sun-woo’s expression became serious.

“Don’t tell me it’s a village where people live?”

“Yes, it seems to be one of the Yangtze River pirate strongholds.”

Sun-woo had been preparing himself all along.

Since gorillas, goblins, and even amplification stones had been contaminated, he knew the time would come when he’d have to face people too. But now that it was actually happening, he couldn’t help but feel tense.

“But is it just the two of us? Why isn’t everyone else coming?”

Sun-woo looked puzzled at the group that didn’t appear even after time passed.

But Nan-seol seemed to be listening for something.

“Hide!”

At some moment, Nan-seol signaled to Sun-woo and retreated backward. Sun-woo immediately followed her.

The two disappeared into the bushes, and the bushes rustled for a moment.

“Kyaak! Wh-where is that guy hiding? A s-strange guy came to interfere with our work.”

“It’s only a palm-sized island, so we’ll find him soon.”

Murmuring voices came from below. The sounds gradually moved upward, and two people appeared on the hill.

With their tattered clothes and bloody spears in their hands, they were definitely the water bandits on this island.

“Hu-hurry up and search, then let’s go down. We c-can’t be late for the next business. K-killing them all is definitely the best. I don’t know why we didn’t know this before.”

The other bandit nodded at the stuttering words.

Their movements weren’t much different from ordinary people. But their stuttering speech, eyes completely bloodshot with red, and darkly stained skin definitely didn’t look normal.

They began searching the surrounding bushes. Poking here and there with their spears while examining the area around the hill, they shrugged their shoulders and turned around to go back down.

That’s when it happened.

A mound of earth that had been protruding from the bushes quietly collapsed, and Nan-seol emerged from within.

Nan-seol silently approached behind the bandits and swung her sword.

Slash.

Her sword passed through the bandits’ necks, and the bandits fell to the ground spurting blood.

Sun-woo, who had been following Nan-seol out, flinched and stopped when he saw the falling bandits.

The scene of one person killing another was unfolding before his eyes. It was the first time he had actually seen it. Sun-woo’s body froze regardless of his will.

Nan-seol, who had shaken the blood off her sword in the air, stood quietly to one side and waited for Sun-woo to approach.

Sun-woo gritted his teeth and drew up his qi. The qi that had been scattered by shock began to move again, and his racing heart gradually calmed down.

Sun-woo could move again. When he finally reached her side and looked at the corpses, Nan-seol spoke.

“You adapt quite quickly. I only cried for a week after my first battle.”

Nan-seol’s considerate words comforted Sun-woo. Sun-woo’s heart became much more at peace.

“But was it necessary to kill them? It seemed like just hiding would have been enough…”

These were people who might return to normal if only the contamination source was eliminated. At Sun-woo’s cautious question, Nan-seol shook her head.

“They’re water bandits. Whether contaminated or not, they cause great harm to the people. Even if I can’t actively hunt them down, I can’t let them escape before my eyes.”

Certainly, her concept of killing was completely different from Sun-woo’s. Nan-seol’s words contained her conviction.

Anyway, Sun-woo wasn’t in a position to stop her. If he didn’t want to die, he had to kill. Sun-woo, having steeled his resolve, gripped his sword tightly.

[This is a support mission due to a summoning request. The requester’s location will be briefly displayed on both of your retinas. Please join with the requester and share information.]

When the voice ended, both people saw a white pillar of light briefly shooting up into the sky. The location was in the reed bed on the west side of the island.

They looked at each other. It seemed only the two of them had been summoned.

“Let’s go.”

Sun-woo ran down first. Nan-seol smiled slightly at Sun-woo’s resolute appearance and then followed him.

On their way to where the light had shot up, Nan-seol and Sun-woo eliminated two patrol groups of two bandits each. Nan-seol took out three, and Sun-woo also brought down one bandit in front of the reed bed.

After Sun-woo brought down the bandit, Nan-seol carefully observed him, but Sun-woo didn’t seem to be in shock. Sun-woo calmly moved the earth to bury the corpse.

Nan-seol breathed a sigh of relief at his composed appearance, and the two entered the reed bed.

The widely spread reed bed was tall enough to hide people completely. Several bandits were rummaging through the reeds, but it would take more than a day to search through this entire vast reed bed.

The two crouched low and continued toward where the light had appeared. Shortly after, when they approached the expected point, Nan-seol sent a signal to be careful.

Sun-woo was puzzled, but he drew up his qigong fully and surveyed the surroundings.

That was the moment. Something jumped out from between the reed forest. And at the same time, Nan-seol leaped forward.

Clang clang clang clang!

Sparks flew in front of Sun-woo and the sound of swords clashing erupted wildly. The swords clashing at tremendous speed were impossible for Sun-woo’s eyes to follow.

The next moment, Nan-seol was knocked backward. She had been pushed back.

The opponent who had sent Nan-seol flying was a large-bodied man in his thirties who looked like Zhang Fei from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms due to the beard on his face.

He seemed excited about something and was about to launch himself to chase after the knocked-back Nan-seol.

Rumble rumble rumble rumble.

But he couldn’t chase Nan-seol. A wall made of mud had shot up in front of him.

He rammed into and smashed the mud wall, but stopped there. Seeing Nan-seol glaring at him with her sword and Sun-woo with his hands on the ground, he scratched his head.

“Oh no, you were on our side. My mistake.”

Sun-woo and Nan-seol simultaneously grimaced.

Having confirmed they weren’t enemies, they decided to move locations first. People were gathering due to the sound of clashing swords.

They left the reed bed and hid in a crevice in the coastal cliff. Sun-woo erased their traces with sorcery, allowing them to escape pursuit.

The group could now finally have a conversation.

“Sorry. I was hiding while being extremely tense, so my body just reacted to the presence of people.”

His apology was half-hearted. It was hard to believe he had been tense.

Sun-woo shook his head and first introduced himself.

“I’m Min Sun-woo.”

“I’m Nan-seol, 3rd generation disciple of Mount Hua.”

“I’m from the Hwangbo family. My name is Hwangbo Ja-gyeom.”

At his introduction, Sun-woo looked at Nan-seol, but she shook her head.

“I’m just an ordinary 3rd generation disciple of Mount Hua Sect. I don’t know much about noble families.”

At her words, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom drooped his large frame in disappointment. Then he soon burst into admiration.

“Ah, so the young lady is one of the Twin Flowers of Mount Hua.”

At his words, Nan-seol looked puzzled. As someone who only focused on martial arts training within Mount Hua, she couldn’t know the rumors circulating outside.

“Mount Hua’s first-class swordsman and a man who uses magic or something. Huh? Your clothes are strange. Where are you from?”

At his question, Sun-woo explained his skills.

“Well, there are all kinds of people. The martial arts side isn’t much, but that sorcery that moves earth seems like it could be helpful.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom, having organized his thoughts, looked at the sky and grumbled.

“I spent all my remaining points to buy a summoning item, and it’s just a beginner team that’s only completed three missions?”

After sighing deeply, he explained the situation to the two.

“I’m not in a group but mostly move alone. I tried forming teams a few times, but it never worked out. Unless it’s related to the alliance, I keep getting summoned alone.”

Even Sun-woo could see that conflicts would have been frequent due to his simple and crude personality.

“Anyway, as you can see, this mission is to deal with contaminated river pirates. It’s grade 2. When I was summoned and looked around, the pirate chief here turned out to be the contamination source. So I grabbed my sword and charged in.”

At his story, Sun-woo couldn’t help but sigh.

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom had directly entered the village, blowing away the blocking bandits as he approached the contamination source. But he had been pushed back by the pouring bandits and eventually had to flee.

“I’ve tried to find opportunities several times since then, but it wasn’t easy. I thought the grade might increase if I dragged it out longer, so I used the summoning item.”

Summoning item. It was something neither Sun-woo nor Nan-seol had seen. It seemed to be an item that could only be seen at higher grades.

“What I want to ask you two is to distract or block the small fry while I deal with the contamination source. If you roughly cause a commotion and lead the guys in the village out, I’ll charge in and cut off the contamination source’s head.”

Thinking it was a good idea, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom had a very triumphant expression.

But from Sun-woo’s perspective, it was a plan with numerous flaws.

Even if they lured them out, what would happen if not enough came out as needed, or what would happen if the contamination source also came out together – he hadn’t thought about any of this.

Sun-woo, who had been thinking about the village he had briefly seen from the hill, offered his opinion.

“I have one method.”

At Sun-woo’s subsequent explanation, he scratched his head.

“Does that make sense? Tsk, well, you take responsibility.”

But Nan-seol trusted Sun-woo’s words, and eventually the group headed toward the riverside.