Vol 2 Chapter 23

"What? But why weren't they here when you were in danger, and only come now?"

"I sent them far away."

"You did?"

Kion-hyung, who had questioned in bewilderment, soon raised his eyebrow and clenched his fist.

"Don't tell me they used you as a sacrificial lamb and ran away?"

"No... that's not it."

Kion-hyung really hadn't changed at all. As Kapros was swallowing his laughter at his unchanged demeanor, Yu-wan and Kran arrived, panting heavily.

"Kap! Are you oka... Huh?"

Suddenly, with a sound of air being torn, Kion-hyung's fist blocked Kran who was running towards them.

"Huh? ...Huh?"

Pushing aside Kran, who was looking back and forth between Kapros and Kion-hyung in confusion, unable to assess the situation, Yu-wan spoke.

"Who are you?"

"Did you just ask who I am?"

As Kapros pulled back the agitated Kion-hyung, he stepped between them.

"Calm down."

Taking advantage of the moment when everyone had quieted down, Kapros first looked towards Yu-wan and Kran. Although they had only been separated for a short while, their faces looked new to him, perhaps because the situation had been so intense that he felt like he had nearly died and come back to life.

They had clearly agreed to go ahead first, so why had they come back? Somehow, Kapros felt he knew the reason, but he pretended not to and asked to clear up Kion-hyung's misunderstanding.

"Why did you come back?"

"How could we leave you behind and go on our own? Honestly... I was about to turn back right away, but we saw the fire while the Black Swordsman was stopping me and we were arguing. But here... Wasn't this a prairie earlier? Now it's turned into a desert?"

Kran, who had been speaking while scratching the back of his head, went off on a tangent and made a horrified expression as he looked at the devastated surroundings.

"This... How on earth did you do this?"

"..."

As Kapros listened to Kran's muttering about how it would take a long time to recover, he turned his head towards Yu-wan. Yu-wan was just looking at Kapros with sunken eyes, without making any excuses or additional explanations to Kran's words. Perhaps the reason he had stopped Kran was to follow Kapros's instruction to go ahead. It was obvious. Kapros already knew well that Yu-wan was that kind of person.

"...Thank you."

Yu-wan seemed momentarily surprised by the sudden thanks, but soon slowly curved his eyes.

Kion-hyung, who had finally grasped the situation after hearing Kran and Yu-wan's words, barely managed to subdue his aggressive demeanor. Kion-hyung's gaze, which was particularly fixed on Yu-wan, was sharp enough to unsettle an ordinary person, but Yu-wan looked only at Kapros without even turning his head, as if he didn't notice at all. Before a second round could begin, Kapros quickly decided to ask Kion-hyung about the things he had been curious about.

"Hyung. So... how did you end up here?"

"Hyung? Did Kap just call him hyung? Who is this person?"

As Kran's surprised voice was heard, Kion-hyung, who had relaxed the tension in his eyes, patted Kapros's shoulder and laughed.

"Well, I've been doing fine... These days I've been wandering around with that guy. Then we saw the fireworks here and came to see what was going on. Actually, at first we were just going to pass by..."

Kion-hyung paused for a moment and glanced at Kapros.

"No matter how I looked, it seemed like it was you over there. I'm glad my guess was right."

Kapros said nothing. It's not easy to help someone in the middle of a burning plain. Rather, it was more impressive that Kion-hyung had recognized him from such a distance.

"Hmm... But it's just me, right? What about those guys? You said they're your companions, but they just abandoned you and ran away."

"If you've heard the whole story, aren't your words going too far?"

Kran flared up, but Kion-hyung ignored him, picking his ear.

"Kar. You must have had a hard time hanging out with such a noisy guy."

"What did you say?"

"You've been talking non-stop since earlier, why do you have so much to say? Looking like a girlish pretty boy..."

"Are you done talking? Kap! Did you hear that? He called me a girlish pretty boy!"

While Kapros was half-listening and letting it slide, wondering when he should break this hostile atmosphere and make introductions, Yu-wan, who had been standing quietly like Kapros, spoke up after carefully observing Kion-hyung's face.

"I think I saw you in the Episode 3 video..."

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Kion-hyung's back twitched greatly. After fumbling his face for a moment, he screamed.

"Oh no, when did I take off my mask?"

Kran, as if he had just now taken a proper look at Kion-hyung's face, muttered with an expression of disbelief.

"Uh... Now that you mention it, I thought his face looked somewhat familiar..."

It seemed that the role of properly introducing everyone in this situation fell to Kapros. He sighed and opened his mouth.

"This is Kion-hyung, who used to travel with me. I didn't expect to meet him here again, but it seems he is indeed the protagonist of the video. And hyung, this is Yu-wan, my companion, and that's Kratos. They're my... friends."

Kapros glanced slightly at Kion-hyung as he mentioned the Episode 3 protagonist, but surprisingly, Kion-hyung said nothing. By the way, trying to say Kran's full name after so long, Kapros almost couldn't remember it, which made him feel guilty. When introducing Yu-wan and Kran as friends, he hesitated at the newfound feeling, but fortunately, no one seemed to notice.

After the introductions were finished, the hostile atmosphere thankfully eased considerably. But Kapros had forgotten that there was one more person here.

"Hey. If you're all introducing each other, shouldn't you include me too? But... you guys look somewhat familiar? Have I seen you somewhere before?"

"Ah! You're that person who laid hands on Kap in Tolang!"

Kran shouted in surprise.

"Oh, those weak guys from back then?"

The tall, giant man clapped his hands as he heard Kran's words. But because of the content of his words, a cold silence instantly fell among everyone.

"..."

"...What did you just say? Who did you lay hands on?"

Among them, Kion-hyung, who had been silent with the most distorted expression, started beating up the tall man, who flinched at the glaring eyes, before he could even run away.

"...What did I just hear, Pal-deung? Huh? Pal-deung? What the hell, Pal-deung?"

Thanks to his skills that had improved even more than before, Kion-hyung's fists and feet were invisible to the eye. The tall man quickly covered his head and curled up his body while being hit. His appearance was unimaginable as the same person who hadn't even gotten a scratch when they had attacked him before.

"Wait a minute! My memory's not clear, let me think a bit more! Ugh! Kuok! W-wait..."

"Just get crushed for now!"

After a long while, Kion-hyung, who had heard the whole story of how the trio met the now battered 2-meter tall man in Tolang while trampling him underfoot, finally stopped kicking the man after a few more minutes of venting his anger, dusted off his hands, and approached Kapros.

"Whew. It's been a while since I've had some exercise."

"Who is he?"

Kapros asked, pointing at the well-tenderized man. Kion-hyung answered while kicking the man again.

"This guy is Palton, who somehow ended up traveling with me. Don't mind him."

Palton? Earlier he had called him Pal-deung, so that seemed to be a nickname.

Suddenly turning his head, Kapros saw that there was nothing left where the Kalap Titan had been lying until just now. He wondered what had happened, as there was no notification or item that usually appeared when defeating a monster.

"The Kalap Titan..."

As Kapros muttered in surprise, Kion-hyung said "Huh?" and kicked Palton once more.

"Hey, get up. What did you do with that bug from earlier?"

Then, as if the beating had been a lie, Palton slowly got up and answered with a smile.

"It died earlier, so I picked it up."

Whack! As soon as the answer came out, Kion-hyung slapped the back of Palton's head. Kapros saw Kran's face turning pale at the excessively violent atmosphere, which seemed too much for friends.

"Kar took that down all by himself! How dare you try to take it all?"

"But I did finish it off with that rock throw, didn't I? ...Ah, okay. Let's talk without the fists. Ugh... what a waste..."

Kapros stared at him in disbelief. If Kion-hyung hadn't asked, was he planning to take all the items the boss mob dropped? But more than that, did he say he took it down with a rock throw?

"...Rock?"

"Ah. The rocks thrown earlier. This guy threw them. I don't have many suitable ranged attack skills, so I just told him to throw some rocks to help out."

Kapros was very surprised to learn that the identity of the light balls that had flown in at the critical moment were actually rocks. He was curious about how such an attack was possible, but he missed the timing to ask as Kion-hyung immediately turned his attention back to Palton. What Palton finally handed over to Kapros, while taking Kion-hyung's punches, was a single ring. After pushing it into his inventory, Kion-hyung stepped forward.

"Well then, now we need to go... You were heading to Zagreb too, right?"

When Kapros nodded, Kion-hyung smiled very satisfactorily, as if he had expected it.

"Is there anywhere else worth going around here besides that? If it's Zagreb, we can guide you there very well. Let's talk more there. Come on, let's go!"