Chapter 21: Set Course north-westward

"Did you find her?"

"No, sir."

"Why?"

"The rain has washed away her tracks..."

"I know that. Why?"

"She's a ruthless one. Over twenty of our men have been found dead, their heads missing."

"I saw. But why?"

"Bodies are appearing in areas where no signal was given. This means she knew we were coming and didn't even have the chance to blow the flute before..."

"I can figure that much out myself. Why haven't you found her?"

"..."

Heuksal[^Heuksal (흑살) – Literally means "Black Kill," likely a code name or alias for an assassin.] glared at the innocent stones on the ground.

The future Cheonsal[^*Cheonsal (천살) – Literally means "Heavenly Kill," likely a higher-ranked assassin.] , or more precisely, Cheonsal's son, tapped Heuksal's cheek.

"Hey, get your act together. There's five hundred gold coins on the line."

"..."

"If you fail a mission worth five hundred gold coins, how am I supposed to face my dad? What am I supposed to say? 'Oh, Dad, we cast the Heavenly Net, but the target suddenly disappeared. So we failed.' Like that?"

Cheonsal's son continued to tap Heuksal's cheek.

"No way. I'll go and say, 'Dad, those kids are completely useless. They can't even signal or hide properly. The Black Slaughter Unit wasn't like this before, but ever since you took over, it's become a complete trash heap. They can't even catch a single girl, losing five hundred gold coins and countless men in the process.'"

'Dad, how did you raise your son?'

Heuksal swallowed a groan.

'If your only son, born after you turned fifty, is so precious, you should have raised him better.'

But then, the image of Cheonsal[^Their relationship extends beyond a purely professional one, as Cheonsal is also Heuksal's godfather, having taken him in during a turbulent period in his life.], his godfather who had taken him in, came to mind, his hands clasped together in earnest pleading.

'He may be like this, but he has a good heart. He's just... lost right now, having lost his mother. Please do this for me. If this mission succeeds, all the talk about succession will die down. I'm begging you.'

Heuksal swallowed his anger.

For his beloved godfather.

'Once this damn kid is named successor, I'm leaving this business for good.'

"...I'll do my best, sir."

"Good. Heuksal, you go yourself. Don't just sit around here, get your feet moving. What are you going to do, just sit around and get fat in your old age?"

Traps. Ambushes. Signals.

The more she moved, the more she lost.

So what if she didn't move?

A-Qing dug a hole in the pit, about head height.

Her hands, reinforced with Qi, dug out the dirt wall as if scooping out clay.

Suddenly, a memory surfaced.

Wow, if I had martial arts during military training, I could have been the best digger, no, the best in the entire army!

Or not? They have excavators. What good is one person's hand?

Still, if I had Qi on my shovel, I could have dug through dirt, rocks, and roots like nothing!

She dug a small tunnel.

She pushed the dirt with her feet, roughly piling it up at the entrance.

She left a small opening for air, not completely blocking it off.

The problem was Jin Jangmyeong's condition.

He was shivering, his body already cold.

Even in the pitch-black tunnel, she could picture his lips turning blue.

A-Qing hugged Jin Jangmyeong tightly.

Actually, A-Qing was cold too.

She was exhausted, bruised, soaked, and holding a cold child. She felt like she was freezing to death.

Still, if I feel cold, wouldn't she feel warm?

Fortunately, Jin Jangmyeong gradually stopped shivering.

She fell asleep, unable to overcome his exhaustion.

Her faint, raspy breathing echoed through the tunnel.

Does she have pneumothorax or something?

A-Qing's mind grew hazy.

As her tension eased, all sorts of pain flooded in.

But it felt trivial.

Awake or not, it didn't matter. It was so dark she couldn't tell the difference anyway.

When she briefly came to her senses, she wondered if she had dozed off.

Then, suddenly, a small whisper seeped in.

"...Why are you doing this?"

"What?"

"You could have just left me."

"I didn't know it would turn out like this."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought they would just chase after me if I ran. I didn't know they would set up traps and play dirty like this. Those bastards, I won't let them off. Once I get out of here, I'll..."

"What if you knew?"

"Huh?"

"What if you knew it would turn out like this?"

"Then I would have left you behind. So you don't have to feel sorry for me or anything. It's my fault for being stupid."

"..."

There was no response.

Then she asked again.

"You can still hand me over."

"Now?"

A-Qing scoffed.

"I did kill some of your people, but it was all for survival. They'd be thrilled if I said, 'Let's just forget about this.'"

"But."

"Now you're a hostage. If things go south, I'll hold a knife to your neck. Oh, my Moonlight Sword. I paid a lot for that. Anyway, I heard there's a river in this area? I'll demand a boat and escape, leaving you behind."

"..."

After a while, the child spoke again.

"The Yangtze River."

"Huh?"

"It's called the Yangtze River. Mom said it's the longest river in the world."

"That's funny. The longest river is the Nile."

"The Nile River?"

"But does the Nile River really exist? Here? Do the things I know really exist? That salt lake, I wanted to see it before I die..."

"...What are you talking about?"

The child spoke again.

"...Why are you doing this?"

"Didn't you ask that already?"

"Aren't you afraid of dying?"

A-Qing changed the subject.

"Hey kid, imagine you wake up and you've become an incredibly handsome guy."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just imagine. Pretend it's a dream. But you don't wake up from this dream. You get hungry, you get sleepy after eating, and it hurts when you get hit. So is it really a dream?"

"...Then it's not a dream."

"But there's a status window, no... uh... well, something like a ghost keeps following you around. It keeps telling you, 'You're dreaming right now. This is a dream world.'"

"Then it is a dream?"

"I don't know. That's the problem."

A-Qing bit her lip.

Every time she went to sleep, she imagined waking up in her comfortable studio apartment.

The factory worker who fell asleep at her desk would wake up with a start and chuckle at the sight of my character, newly created on the monitor.

She might delete the game out of unease, or she might just shrug it off and keep playing.

If I came here suddenly, it wouldn't be strange to leave suddenly.

So A-Qing lived freely.

She did as she pleased and said what she wanted.

Why should I hold back in a world I could leave at any moment?

So A-Qing didn't hold back.

There was no reason to save money either.

What's the point of saving up to buy a house and hoard gold when it will all disappear when I go back?

Of course, this world was definitely real.

A-Qing didn't think of the world as a dream.

If only that damn status window wasn't there.

The status window always reminded A-Qing that she was an outsider.

That she didn't belong in this world.

Don't forget you're a game character.

What happens when I die?

Do I just die?

Will it be game over and retry?

Or will I return to the monitor?

If I was dragged into this world for no reason, it wouldn't be strange to be kicked out for no reason.

What if there was a reason?

What if some transcendental being put me here for some purpose?

And what if that purpose is no longer valid, whether I succeed or fail?

Then what about me?

"...Are you okay?"

A-Qing forced her uneasy mind to calm down.

Now was not the time to panic.

"Of course. I'm fine."

"You're sure, right?"

"You little thing, worrying about me?"

A-Qing forced a smile.

It wouldn't be visible in the darkness anyway.

In the end, the problem was people.

Is a life of just eating, sleeping, and pooping really a human life?

In the end, people lived as people.

Because it was too lonely.

She couldn't bear the loneliness, so she made friends, and then she left abruptly because she was an outsider.

She didn't want to be hated, so she accumulated good deeds, played the good guy.

And now she was being nosy again.

"Hey."

"What?"

"But why did you bring me with you?"

"Because I wanted to. Why?"

"There's a reason, isn't there?"

"Well, if I had to choose someone, you were the only innocent one."

That was all there was to it.

If she had to choose, she had to side with the innocent person.

A con artist and a child molester were all the same.

"Pure Yin Body or whatever. It's not like our little guy wanted to be born that way, shouting 'I want to be a Pure Yin Body, Pure Yin Punch! Pure Yin Punch!' It's not his fault he was born that way."

It was also something she said to herself.

Is playing games a crime? Is creating a female character a sin?

I didn't choose to be like this, what could I do?

"But, my mom. My dad too..."

"I'm sorry to say this, but your mom is a con artist. Honestly, a thousand gold coins makes her a pretty big con artist, doesn't it?"

"But, my mom and dad did it for me."

"Did you ask them to? Did you say, 'Mom, please commit fraud for me. Otherwise, your daughter will die!'? You didn't, right? So what's your fault? Nothing. Not guilty. Case closed. No objections allowed."

"But, those people..."

"Even if they try to play the victim card, they're still child molesters and guilty of kidnapping and whatever else. They're the worst kind of scum. Tell them to go to hell."

A-Qing said firmly.

Jin Jangmyeong fidgeted in A-Qing's arms.

"Is it really okay?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Really really?"

"Yes."

"Really really really?"

A-Qing suddenly frowned at a thought.

"Wait, you're sixteen, right? What's with that? Are you trying to act cute? You secretly enjoy being a kid, don't you?"

"...What are you talking about? You're the ugly one."

"I didn't say it out loud, did I?"

A-Qing chuckled.

"Actually, you're not so bad yourself."