Chapter 747: 002

Shin Byeongcheol only stayed flustered for a moment before quickly trying to salvage the situation.

He scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed.

“Goodness, looks like I interrupted you two while you were having a nice moment. What do I do with myself, making you feel bad like this?”

“I thought you did it on purpose.”

Dang Gyu-ri answered with a bright smile.

Their eyes, however, seemed to be asking, You did this last time too. You were aiming for this, weren’t you?

Apparently catching that part, Shin Byeongcheol’s complexion had gone beyond dirt-colored and turned dark and ashen.

He waved both hands in a frantic panic.

“Hey! Whoa, hey! Like I’d do that on purpose. Absolutely not. Absolutely.”

“Is that so~?”

“I’m telling you, it is. I came looking for this guy, and the timing just happened to line up. I wasn’t trying to interrupt. Believe me.”

“.......”

Instead of answering, Dang Gyu-ri crossed their arms and stared at him.

As if they were debating whether to believe him or not. Whether to kill him or only half-kill him.

Shin Byeongcheol broke into a cold sweat and continued.

“......Though I guess I really was being tactless. Midterms just ended, so of course you two would want to see each other. I didn’t even give you private time.”

“.......”

“I’ll leave for now and contact you again later. Yeah. Yeah, that’d be better.”

But before he could turn away, I waved him off.

“Why bother coming and going? Just stay.”

“Shouldn’t you two, well, finish what you were doing?”

“We already did enough.”

Dang Gyu-ri looked slightly dissatisfied at my words, but they did not say anything.

Apparently, they thought they had received pecks up to a more or less satisfactory point.

So I changed the subject and asked Shin Byeongcheol,

“Where were you during midterms? I didn’t see you once.”

“Me? I stopped at B-rank, nice and reasonable. What’s the point of getting greedy?”

Not like I could jump into a brawl between monsters, he added.

Fair enough. If his combat ability was lacking, there was no need to aim for the upper zones.

He could have reached around B- or C-rank just by picking up crystals at a decent pace.

He asked with an intrigued expression,

“I hear you completely smashed Sagong and Cha?”

“The rumor already spread that far?”

“This body has eyes and ears everywhere in Dragonslayer Academy.”

“How capable of you.”

“So, is it true?”

I jerked my chin as if it was nothing.

“Felt like I needed to show them properly at least once.”

“Goodness, you did well. I heard those people were completely mentally broken. Especially Cha Hyeonju.”

“Sagong Uk, maybe, but Cha Hyeonju will recover quickly.”

“With her personality, she would.”

She’s beyond strong. She’s vicious, absolutely vicious, Shin Byeongcheol said, shaking his head.

What matters is how she acts from now on.

I recalled the conversation I had exchanged with Cha Hyeonju near the end of the battle.

—You need to use your heart kindly. I grew fast, and so did they, because we helped one another.

—......That method doesn’t suit me.

—I still think it’s worth considering at least once.

If she stayed stubborn and came at me again anyway, then I could just beat her down and send her off like I had so far.

At this point, I figured she could be handled by the [Bond] members without me needing to lift a finger.

But if she changes her mind even a little.

And if she shows at least minimal goodwill and sincerity.

Maybe improving relations up to the level of Gwak Jicheol, Mo Yongjun, or Jeong Jinmyeong would be possible.

Trading occasionally, helping each other obtain hidden pieces, things like that.

Ultimately, everyone was pursuing world peace, after all.

On the other hand, Sagong Uk seemed impossible to recycle......

Anyway, those were things to think about later.

I moved on to the main topic and questioned Shin Byeongcheol.

“So what brings you here? Right after midterms ended.”

“Nothing major. This.”

Along with his answer, he took out a small potion bottle about the size of a finger.

It was [T.E.B - 002].

I became very pleased and said,

“That one you gave me last time was most useful indeed.”

“Glad it helped, good sir.”

We faced each other and laughed heartily.

On the day I departed for Hyeseong, Shin Byeongcheol had handed over T.E.B - 002 to make up for his previous mistakes.

I had used it to raise [Sovereign] to S-rank.

Thanks to that, I had been able to talk and negotiate with the dragons, the Blood Cult Leader, and the Chief Protector from an equal position.

However, the one I had received then was a kind of prototype that Shin Byeongcheol had specially pushed his “business partner” to finish first.

Then the fact that he was showing me another one now meant—

“Looks like you made more?”

“Not more. Almost all of them are done.”

Shin Byeongcheol smiled a rich, capitalist smile and slipped a hand into his inner pocket, then pulled it back out.

Every finger joint had a T.E.B - 002 wedged between it.

Apparently, he had been steadily producing them while I was in Hyeseong and while midterms were going on.

At that moment, Dang Gyu-ri, who had been watching, opened their mouth in a sweet tone.

“Mr. Shin~”

“Uh, yeah, why? What is it?”

“May I have one too~?”

Their eyes, on the other hand, gleamed chillingly and said only two words.

—Hand it over.

Shin Byeongcheol seemed to catch that, because his shoulders trembled.

He forced his expression under control and smiled.

“Oh, of course I was going to give you one! How many times have I wronged our dear underclassman? If this helps calm your anger even a little—”

“I’m not angry~”

“Ah, uh, right, right. You’re not angry. I misspoke again.”

This damn mouth of mine is the problem, he said, slapping his own mouth lightly several times.

Then Shin Byeongcheol held out T.E.B - 002 with a polite gesture utterly unbecoming of an upperclassman.

He even added flattery until the very end.

“I’m giving it to you as a gift because I’m grateful our dear underclassman has generously overlooked things several times.”

“.......”

However, Dang Gyu-ri did not take the potion bottle and only smiled faintly.

Shin Byeongcheol cautiously asked,

“Um...... Is there some problem?”

“If it isn’t rude~ may I have just one more~?”

“My dear underclassman, drinking two of these won’t do anything. Look at the item description.”

[T.E.B - 002]

▷High chance to raise the rank of a random skill/trait by one stage.

▷Effect is not applied upon duplicate consumption.

▷Warning: Minor temporary side effects may exist.

Dang Gyu-ri smiled brightly and nodded.

“Yes, I know~”

“Then why are you asking for one more......?”

“I’m going to give it to my older sister.”

“......!”

Shin Byeongcheol’s complexion turned dirt-colored again.

The older sister Dang Gyu-ri was talking about was Dang Gyu-young, the former Thief Club captain.

Though in truth, they’re the same person.

Unfortunately, all Shin Byeongcheol had right now were suspicions and instincts.

What if he refused and Dang Gyu-ri “told their older sister”?

No one could know what kind of bloodshed would happen the next time they met.

And even if he knew they were the same person, what would change?

If they told him to hand it over, he would have to hand it over all the same.

In the end, Shin Byeongcheol gave them two T.E.B - 002s with a resigned air, though he managed his expression like a professional until the end.

“I didn’t think of the captain. Of course I should give her one. Tell her I said hello.”

“I will~”

Dang Gyu-ri answered that way, then sent me a glance.

It felt like they were asking, I did well, right? so I slowly nodded.

To think they had secured spares for the [Bond] members.

But human greed was endless, so I offered a casual word at this point.

“Mr. Shin Byeongcheol, may I receive some as well? I have more than one or two mouths to feed.”

“Wait, wait. Time out.”

Shin Byeongcheol raised a hand and continued.

“If it were up to me, I’d give you as many as your headcount, but I can’t do that right now.”

“And why is that?”

“We already talked it over with the Discipline Committee. Once they’re complete, I’m supposed to hand them over first.”

His identity had been exposed while distributing T.E.B - 001.

Several forces were looking for a chance to kidnap him.

To prevent that, we had brought in Gwak Seungjae and the Discipline Committee.

In exchange for receiving intensive protection, Shin Byeongcheol had promised to provide 002 as bait during the next temporary-storage-facility defense battle.

To that, I said,

“You don’t have to hand over all of them.”

“That doesn’t mean I can just throw them around either.”

Apparently, to be meaningful as bait, there needed to be at least a certain quantity, and quite a few would also be needed for the groundwork.

Shin Byeongcheol added an explanation.

“We’re going with a scenario where I release one or two at a time to spread rumors, then bam! I get caught by the Discipline Committee and they confiscate them.”

“I see.”

“Please understand.”

After saying that, he handed me one potion bottle.

“I’ll give you this much. The rest after everything’s over.”

“When would that be?”

“Next...... PvP week, maybe? Apparently they’ll do the ban wave and temporary storage then.”

Since next week was raid week, that meant there was still quite a bit of time.

Of course, just three potions were a sufficient harvest.

I would receive the rest eventually anyway.

Soon after, I exchanged glances with Dang Gyu-ri.

“Want to try drinking it now? Or later?”

“Now sounds fine.”

Dang Gyu-ri answered with a fresh smile.

They opened the potion bottle and downed it right away.

“.......”

At that, Shin Byeongcheol looked extremely tense.

When I or other people had drunk it, he had seemed calm, saying things like, “Well, it might fail,” or “Think of it as paying off bad luck,” but he seemed to desperately want Dang Gyu-ri’s to succeed.

Fair enough. If it failed, that anger would head straight toward him.

Before long, Dang Gyu-ri glanced lightly into the air and said,

“It succeeded.”

“Oh, thank goodness. Thank goodness. What went up?”

“Shad—”

They stopped answering midway and shut their mouth.

Apparently, the rank of a skill with “shadow” in its name had gone up.

They were supposedly known as a warrior class, yet they had a shadow mage’s skill?

Not just Shin Byeongcheol—anyone would be able to confirm with 100% certainty that they were Dang Gyu-young.

Since an awkward atmosphere seemed to be settling in, I deliberately asked a question to smooth things over.

“Why, what went up?”

By then, Dang Gyu-ri seemed to have thought of an excuse, because they showed a fresh smile.

“[Skull Barrage].”

“[Skull Barrage]. A very excellent attack skill.”

As I nodded, Shin Byeongcheol carefully slipped into the conversation.

“There’s a skill like that?”

“Yes, Mr. Shin. Would you like to see it?”

“Huh? No, I’m good. I’m good. [Skull Barrage], what a terrifying name from the start.”

Shin Byeongcheol hurriedly stopped Dang Gyu-ri as they tried to take out their bat.

Then he retreated one step at a time and continued.

“Anyway, I gave what I came to give and delivered what I heard from Gwak, so I’ll get going now.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Have a nice time, you two!”

Soon, he moved away while displaying [Thief Steps] at maximum output.

Dang Gyu-ri glanced after him and shook the two remaining T.E.B - 002s.

“Who are you giving these to first?”

The candidates, excluding Dang Gyu-ri, who had just drunk one, were Seo, Go, Hong, Song, and Han Somi, for a total of five.

We had to give them to two people first, then give the rest after the temporary-storage-facility defense battle.

I thought for a moment, then answered.

“I’m thinking of giving one to Go Hyeonwoo first.”

“Is he still challenging that sacred relic or whatever?”

“Yes. If his rank rises, it should get at least a little easier.”

“That could happen. While you’re at it, you might as well give one to Han Somi too.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

The two of them always practiced and sparred together, so if one side grew stronger, the other would also benefit in turn.

So we messaged the swordsman couple and started walking toward where they were.

“.......”

Dang Gyu-ri naturally stuck close to my side and linked arms with me.

Seeing that made something suddenly occur to me, so I asked,

“Are there no side effects?”

“Side effects?”

“The potion. Like suddenly being unable to control your impulses, or having thoughts you normally wouldn’t.”

“......I’m not sure?”

Dang Gyu-ri tilted their head as if they did not know.

But soon, as if something had occurred to them, they raised their eyebrows brightly.

“Now that you mention it, I do feel an impulse.”

“What kind of impulse would that be?”

“The impulse to do a full-course lap with Kim Ho, from the entertainment district all the way to the dorm.”

“There’s no side effect like that.”

When I answered firmly, Dang Gyu-ri’s lips poked out.