#Side Story, After That. 1

After standing motionless for a long time in front of the cliff where Yu-wan had fallen, Kapros was finally led away by Kran. They exited through the passage that had opened behind them, circled around the cave, and returned to Zagreb.

The guild war had long since ended. Kion-hyung and Palton, who had been anxiously waiting for them at the Giant guild, were left speechless after hearing Kran's story. Kapros logged out immediately afterward and collapsed into bed, suffering from body aches. This sudden inability to work worried his master and his wife greatly, but Kapros couldn't say anything. He was only able to log in again a week after that day.

When he entered the long-awaited place, three people were waiting for him.

"Kap..."

Kran, whose face didn't look much better, quietly approached Kapros.

"Kar. You idiot. What's with that face..."

Kion-hyung also patted Kapros's shoulder firmly, trying to put on a nonchalant expression. Kapros tried to smile faintly, but it only earned him another hit from hyung. Yet, even through that, he felt an unfamiliar sensation as he sensed everyone's concern for him.

In fact, he had already sorted out most of his thoughts during that time, so he was feeling rather relieved now. But seeing how they were all walking on eggshells around him made him feel even more inconsiderate and sorry.

"Hyung. You're leaving soon, right?"

When Kapros asked Kion-hyung and Palton, they looked at each other and nodded.

"Yeah, we should."

"I think the next quest location you're looking for is definitely the place we talked about before. I've been thinking about it again, and there was a similar phrase on the stone tablet that appeared when I cleared the quest in the adjacent dungeon. I didn't know what it meant then and didn't pay attention to it... I'm glad it's helpful to you."

Kapros remembered it as the words inscribed on the stone tablet with Superior's message.

[I, Lord Superior, build this maze next to the place where the last memory of my friend, who practiced God's will alongside the warriors leading the battle, remains. I have sealed all the demons in this area inside, so my friend's god will never be invaded again. ...Additionally, I leave a part of my power for the descendant who may come someday.]

A friend who leads the battle and practices God's will.

Thinking about it now, it could only be interpreted as referring to the Holy Knight. The place where the last memory with his friend remained. The invasion of his friend's god. Recalling that the place was named the Forgotten Temple Dungeon, it fit perfectly.

As Kapros explained his thoughts, hyung's face relaxed a bit.

"Thanks. ...And I couldn't even help this time."

"No. If it weren't for you, I might have died before even entering the city from the beginning. Don't say things like that."

Kapros grinned, thinking of the Kalap Titan, and hyung chuckled. He seemed to feel a bit more at ease.

"Hey. ...Kapros."

Palton, who had been calling him "pretty boy" and other nicknames every day, properly called his name for the first time. When Kapros turned his head curiously, he saw Palton wearing a strangely awkward expression.

"Yes."

"Let's be close friends from now on. We weren't exactly unfriendly before, but... you know."

What an unexpected thing to say... Anyway, when Kapros nodded, Palton grinned and slapped his back hard.

"Ugh..."

"Next time we meet, I'd like it if you all called me hyung. If there's anything I and the Giant guild can help with, we'll help you until our guts fall out, no matter what it is."

Kapros couldn't help but smile back at the big smile Palton wore while saying this.

"The same goes for us."

"Hahaha! And you too, let's have a match sometime later."

As soon as Palton playfully held out his fist, Kran extended his own fist with a pleasant smile and bumped it.

"You'll lose, hyung."

"What are you talking about? Haven't you seen me fight?"

As Kapros was lightly watching them bicker already, suddenly Kion-hyung shouted "Hey!" loudly. Everyone's attention turned to him.

"Wait a minute. But if we part like this, when will we contact each other again? Are we supposed to wait until we happen to meet by chance again? I can't accept that anymore!"

At those words, the group froze.

"The words I wanted to say but couldn't..."

Kran muttered, glancing at Kapros.

"I see... Set a date."

Palton immediately said in a firm voice.

"A date?"

"Everyone give out your phone numbers, and we'll set a date to meet outside. I don't think you guys are the type to only know each other here... Surely there's no one who isn't, right?"

Even without the subtle threat in his fist, no one objected to those words. And watching their reactions, Kapros couldn't hide his dejected expression.

Right. Not just here... there was... reality.

After exchanging contact information, Kion-hyung and Palton left first. Before parting, Kapros asked Kion-hyung one last thing.

"If you die during a quest, how long is the penalty period where you can't log in?"

Hyung hesitated for a moment, then sighed and ran his hand through his faded golden hair.

"You're talking about Dark, aren't you?"

"..."

"Well... The quest we're on is quite unusual, you know."

In MIST, if one met a normal death, the period of inability to log in was about 3 to 7 days in reality. However, if one died during a quest, it was known that the penalty period increased. Although it was said that there wasn't much difference for easy quests, and some could be retried even after dying and coming back to life, in Yu-wan's case, it was a special quest, and he had died to Caesar, the Knight of the Demon God, who was an opponent he absolutely shouldn't have died to, so it would probably be even worse.

Kion-hyung, who had been watching Kapros's expressionless face, sighed again and stroked his head.

"Sigh... I'm not sure either. But according to the information posted on the homepage, the maximum was two weeks for a high-level user who died during an S-class quest. So... I think we should expect at least that much."

"Two weeks..."

And several weeks passed. Even after two weeks had passed and they kept waiting, Yu-wan didn't appear.

In the end, Kapros had to depart towards the west, their next destination, with only Kran.

"They said two weeks..."

Kran, who was walking ahead, turned his head as if he had heard Kapros's sudden mutter.

"Hm?"

"Nothing."

When Kapros shook his head, Kran smiled a bit bitterly. Though he felt sorry for that expression, Kapros didn't feel like saying anything at the moment, so he stopped what he was about to say.

"Ah, there are Four-Handed Ogres over there."

At Kran's sudden gesture as if he had discovered something, Kapros looked ahead and saw several ogres with four intimidating arms, true to their name, lumbering around the field. Four-Handed Ogres were one of the mobs highly disliked by users due to their appearance, which seemed like an even more disgusting evolution of regular ogres, and their brute strength, which was twice as hard to deal with as it already was. As the Four-Handed Ogres, who seemed to have spotted them, came charging with terrible screams, Kran calmly drew his sword.

"I'll take care of them. Wait here!"

As soon as his sword was enveloped in white aura, Kran dashed forward, leaving only afterimages.

Well, I guess I'll just watch then. As Kapros stopped and leisurely observed, Kran began dismantling the Four-Handed Ogres' prized arms at an incredible speed. It was quite a powerful scene, but having seen it so many times by now, Kapros was on the verge of yawning.

"Holy Crush! Crush! Crush!"

"Grooah! Uooh! Argh!"

Although it looked dangerous, Kapros wasn't worried at all, knowing Kran wouldn't get even a scratch.

Kran had revealed that the identity of the skill book he had obtained from the cave was the Divine Sword-Breaking Technique, the secret skill of the Shine Knight. Perhaps because of this, Kapros could see him using various skills quite often these days. In addition, the Golden Gauntlet that came with the skill book was an artifact exclusive to holy knights, evenly raising all sorts of stats, which made it feel like a proper quest reward item.

Kapros had first seen equippable items coming from quests with Kran, but when Kion-hyung and Palton showed what they had obtained as well, it made him realize how much further he had to go.

Kion-hyung's item was the glove he had worn before healing the injured Kapros when they reunited recently, and he said that when he wore it, his magical power increased tremendously, allowing him to act as a priest of the healing god. Palton's was actually the greatsword he had been carrying on his back, which he had received during a quest, and its incredible durability and stats were enough to make listeners sick with envy.

"At this rate, even if you do quests just aiming for the items, you won't be disappointed."

Everyone nodded unconsciously at Palton's words.

"But if you think about it the other way, how much more amazing must the Knight of the Demon God guy have received? Rather, it could be interpreted to mean that there will be many situations in the future where items of this level will be necessary. Besides, all the items we received are non-transferable. We can't sell them either."

It was certainly a reasonable point.

Caesar, the Knight of the Demon God. After meeting him again, Kapros tried not to think about him at all, but he couldn't help it. One fortunate thing was that the shock of meeting Jeong Seung-jo again was offset by the shock of him killing Yu-wan. Had the bigger shock countered the other shock, making it zero? Anyway, Kapros didn't want to think again about the mind-shattering shock he had felt when he met him.

Until now, even paying attention to past events had been stressful for Kapros. But not anymore. He couldn't when he thought of Yu-wan. Although he still didn't have a sense of what exactly he wanted to do about Caesar, it was clear that he couldn't just ignore him and move on. The more he recalled that last back view he had seen on the collapsed bridge, the more a cold flame rose in his heart.

"I've finished. Let's go now. ...What are you thinking about so hard?"

Kran, who had apparently finished them all off and was walking back while lightly rolling his shoulders, asked curiously. Once again, Kapros just shook his head with a faint smile, without answering.

"Nothing. Let's go."

"Okay."

The clear sky and wide fields, as if they were going on a picnic, made their hearts feel a bit more at ease. As they were walking silently for a while, enjoying that feeling, Kran suddenly spoke up.

"You know."

"..."

"That guy... I keep thinking we should have asked for his contact information before he left. ...That thought keeps coming to me."

A silence followed, as if there was a thorn stuck in their throats.

That had been one of the things that had been stabbing at Kapros's heart ever since Palton had asked for their contact information. Why, why hadn't he asked Yu-wan anything?

"...Yu-wan didn't ask either."

After a long silence, when Kapros answered quietly, Kran scratched his head and laughed.

"Yeah. But that might have been because I didn't ask first."

The moment he heard those words, Kapros's throat choked up again. Because I didn't ask first... It was an undeniable, obvious statement.

It wasn't something that could be avoided with just a single statement about not being interested in others. Yu-wan wasn't such a light acquaintance to Kapros, but in the end, because he hadn't asked first, they had parted without knowing anything about each other.

If I had asked first...

"...I should have asked."

At Kran's quiet voice, which seemed to have read Kapros's thoughts, Kapros couldn't say anything.

"Yeah."

The words that finally came out after a long while sounded stupid even to Kapros's own ears, but Kran just flashed a smile.

"Kap."

"..."

"Even if I were falling, I'd shout out my phone number as I fell."

"...Right."

At Kran's bright tone, Kapros felt a part of his heart warm up a little. When he chuckled, finding it funny as he imagined it, Kran suddenly clung to his neck.

"Hahaha! Now there's no one to stop me from doing this! Actually, I'm so happy!"

"..."

"I'm very happy!"

"Lightning Bolt."

Crackle!

"Gyaaah!"

Somehow... This guy seemed to be 99% jokes with only 1% seriousness. Kapros had thought he was strangely serious lately. Shaking his head, he electrified the hand clinging to his neck, and laughed again at the comical sight of Kran writhing from the shock and backing away.

"Hahaha..."

Right. Next time we meet, Yu-wan. I'll get your contact information first. If I met Kion-hyung again, why couldn't I meet Yu-wan again? Yu-wan was the guy who had babbled about his destination being me and whatnot, saying he would definitely follow me. Thinking about that, the belief that Yu-wan would somehow find him again became close to certainty, so there was no reason for him to be so down.

"How long are you going to stay like that? I'm going."

"Whoa, wait, Kap~!"

Perhaps because his heart felt lighter, Kapros's footsteps became even more buoyant. Noticing this, Kran's expression also seemed to brighten as he chased after Kapros, exaggerating his complaints.

You said you'd follow soon, so go ahead.

You said you'd follow first, so I believe your words. Yu-wan. So hurry up and follow or not. I'll try to go a bit slower, depending on the circumstances.