ETVC C42

Chapter 42

Recalling the scolding I had endured but yesterday, I knew full well that I possessed neither dignity nor authority. Even when I straightened my shoulders and sought to don a mask of grandeur, none deigned to take notice.

Futile pretence. Best to cease such vanity.

I turned my mind to the words of those fragments of the System.

[Kay, do not be wroth. We have yet so many explanations to deliver.]

Shiri patted the broad back of Kay, whose shoulders still heaved with anger. They were fragments of the System, akin to artificed minds, and yet their behaviour bore such a human fragrance that it set me strangely ill at ease.

[In the region of Seoul, one hundred and eighty-nine guilds survived the first guild war. Of these, the ten highest were granted seed rights and thus advanced directly into the second.]

Faces of guildmasters who had gained seed rights filled the air. Among them shone Baek Soohyuk, Kang Gwonhoo, and even the figurehead of his original guild.

What game does Gwonhoo play, so untroubled even at the thought of contending against his own guild in later stages? Would he willingly cast them aside? To him, no doubt, his guild is but a tool—discardable, even if well-forged.

[The remaining one hundred and seventy-nine must fight to ascend and claim the right to choose their faction.]

Still surly, Kay swept a paw through the air, whereupon the faces of those without seed rights appeared in a vast array. The moment my own visage emerged, my features stiffened, betraying me with an awkward grimace.

“Brother, look! Your face is there—so handsome!” cried Jun, pointing eagerly at the projection.

“Spare me your flattery,” I muttered, abashed and discomfited, and turned to scan the other guildmasters. Then—at the edge of the display—I beheld a face that should not, could not, be there.

Impossible…

The blood drained from me, my hand trembling.

There, speaking lightly with another, was one who could not live, and if alive, should never be here.

“Seo Gogyul…?”

It was my brother in the real world.

Is this some Easter egg he left when he wrought the game?

That seemed the most reasonable guess—yet my heart thundered as though to deny reason. What if he, like me, had entered this world? What if he had not perished after all? The thought alone near split my chest with its violent beating.

The rest of the explanation fell deaf upon my ears.

[Thus concludes the first briefing! Those who must contest the preliminaries, wait for your match to be declared.]

The projection faded, and I plunged into the crowd, desperate to reclaim that fleeting face.

“Brother? Where are you going?”

“Woojin?”

Jun and Jisoo’s voices brushed my ear, but I had no breath to answer.

That back—!

Exactly as I remembered it, save a touch younger. I seized his arm, and when he turned in surprise, I saw the very image I had glimpsed in a nightmare photograph.

“Are you… Mr. Seo Gogyul?”

“Yes, I am. But who are you?”

My first thought was that he feigned ignorance.

No… he sees not Han Gyeol’s body. I am another, and so he knows me not.

The timer marking our dwindling respite ticked mercilessly. There was no time but to speak plainly.

“Do you perchance know of one named Seo Han-gyeol?”

“Not in the least. Some long-lost family member come to claim me, perhaps?”

His tone was warm, pleasant, and utterly unlike the brother I remembered, who had been more akin to Soohyuk in temperament.

“Ah—!”

To summon his true likeness to mind was agony. My temples throbbed, and clutching my head, I pressed the words forth.

“Think again. Please.”

“Truly, I cannot recall. I am sorry.”

There seemed no falsehood in his voice. Was he truly only alike in face?

“An acquaintance of yours?”

Gwonhoo’s voice fell behind me, his hand upon my shoulder. At once I recoiled, unwilling to yield aught of this matter to him. Gogyul, too, shrank back two steps, cowed perhaps by Gwonhoo’s presence.

“We shall speak again,” I murmured, signalling that we must return to our place.

“Did you pursue him so?”

I glanced askance at Gwonhoo, who followed without protest.

“When you bolt like a crazed cat that’s sighted a beetle, curiosity is only natural.”

Of late, he seemed fond of likening me to beasts. For one who loved no animals, he had a gift for such metaphors.

Wait—did he just call me mad?

Yet before I could retort, his next query drove the thought from me.

“And who is this ‘Seo Han-gyeol’?”

“That… a scoundrel who robbed me of coin. I mean to find him.”

What other reason could justify my frenzied pursuit?

“And how much did this thief take?”

Whatever sum I named, he would think it paltry. Still, I aimed high.

“Ten thousand diamonds…”

His eyes narrowed, sharp as a blade.

‘So little, and yet you flail like this? Pauper.’

I could hear his scorn as clearly as if he had spoken.

“Or perhaps fifty thousand…”

But his gaze remained the same.

“Well then. I trust your brother’s training has made you strong enough to afford distraction.”

His barbs were unmatched.

“Yes… no doubt,” I forced.

Meow!

Back at our place, I found my cat out of its cage, tail lashing. The bars were bent further than yesterday—clear proof of its tantrum within.

〈Beast Tamer skill ensures monsters linger near you. If you wish to raise its level, keep it ever by your side.〉

So Soohyuk had said. Yet my heart was heavy.

Could this little one ever fight? No—never. Such a creature, small and dear, I could not hurl into peril.

“Where were you rushing off to? I could not follow, for the cat cried so piteously. Do you know how I fretted?”

Jun, once meek, now voiced his complaints freely. Though I was glad of the walls between us falling, I feared another scold at my heels.

“Fifteen seconds left on the timer,” Jisoo warned. “When it strikes zero, the groups shall be revealed. Do not stray again.”

She spoke as though guildmaster herself, and I the troublesome recruit.

“Yes, yes. I shall behave.”

The timer gave no reprieve, swiftly striking its end. Before us, Shiri appeared.

[Chronos Guild is in Group B! Follow the guide, if you please.]

Seventeen groups there were, each with near ten guilds. Surely the system had chosen the arrangement. In Group B, wary eyes weighed one another.

Not Gogyul’s guild. Fortunate, perhaps… yet I half wished it were, to learn more.

[Greetings once again! I, Shiri, shall serve as host for Group B. Fortune smiles upon you—had you drawn a later group, you would have waited long indeed.]

Cheerful though she strove to be, silence met her. Unfazed, she pressed on.

[Since you are all so tight-lipped, a survival match shall suit you best! Yet, to avoid chaos, not all may enter. Two members from each guild shall be chosen—at random!]

It was ill news indeed. The worst lot would be Jisoo and Jun paired together. The second worst—Jun and myself.

Jisoo had strength, aye, but little knowledge of a hunter’s ways, and but one battle’s worth of true experience. To send her forth with Jun was perilous indeed.