Vol 6 Chapter 16

"You bastard, why were you letting those pathetic guys off? With your skills, you could have sent them packing in one go."

"Well... I was hesitating because they were event NPCs..."

"Huh? Event NPCs?"

For a moment, Kion-hyung looked confused, glancing back and forth between where Hans and his friends had disappeared and Kapros. He scratched his still unchanged faded-color hair awkwardly.

"Uh... well, then did I interfere with guys you were supposed to beat up?"

Seeing Kion-hyung's face, which clearly showed thoughts like 'What should I do? Should I go catch them again?', Kapros felt like saying yes but held back. In the end, he shook his head and chuckled.

"No. It's not like that."

"That's a relief. I was shocked that I might have upset you right after meeting. Have you been doing well?"

"Hmm. Well... But how on earth did you find me?"

This was what Kapros was most curious about. He could understand Kion-hyung coming all the way here, but he couldn't figure out how he had been able to find him right away as if he knew in advance.

Hearing Kapros's question, Kion-hyung smiled contentedly for some reason and patted Kapros's shoulder.

"How did I find you, you ask?"

"..."

"Hehehe. Actually, this was a secret I kept from you in reality too, but I finally finished that hellish quest!"

The moment Kapros heard Kion-hyung's words, he suddenly remembered something Kran had told him before.

It was what Kran had said with an unusually serious face on the day Un-o, Kran, and Kapros parted ways in the northern big city of Kizalkirstum.

"Kap. Actually, I tried contacting Ju-yeol hyung-nim for three days. But you know... It seems hyung-nim has already finished the quest."

"Kion hyung?"

"Yeah, but hyung-nim didn't exactly say so. It's just my guess. Even if you happen to meet hyung-nim later, don't ever tell him I said this. I feel like I might get beaten up..."

Right... So Kran's guess back then was really correct.

"Huh? Why aren't you surprised? Aren't you happy that your hyung has finally finished that damn quest? I came to see you right after finishing it, before taking care of other business."

"No, no. Congratulations. But what does that have to do with how you were able to find me?"

As Kion-hyung looked disappointed, Kapros smiled and tried to redirect the conversation without showing that he already knew, and fortunately, Kion-hyung, who had looked slightly suspicious, turned his attention back to Kapros's question.

"It was when the quest was nearing its end. An NPC related to my quest said they would connect some of the links with those connected to me. From then on, when I opened the map window, I could see the locations of the other quest performers besides myself."

"The locations? All of them?"

"No, not all. I said some, didn't I? The ones I can see are that Palton bastard, you, and... the Knight of the Demon God."

Seeing Kion-hyung's eyes turn cold as he mentioned the Knight of the Demon God, it seemed his grudge hadn't fully subsided yet. Anyway, to think that such an amazing additional function could be obtained while progressing through the quest... This was the first time Kapros had heard of this.

"So that's how you found me."

"Yeah. When I first tried to find you, you were in the north, so I headed there, but suddenly at some point, you came down to the east again? So I chased after you again, and it showed you were near this city, but no matter how much I looked, I couldn't see you. I'm glad I found you though."

Kapros quietly closed his mouth and just smiled awkwardly. The reason Kion-hyung couldn't find him even while wandering around Torelit was probably because Kapros had flown high in the sky to get here.

'Come to think of it...'

The ability to know the locations of other quest users obtained while carrying out the quest. Was Kion-hyung the only one who had gained this function? There had been several times before when others related to the quest had found Kapros as if they knew in advance, similar to now.

Thinking back, there was the incident where Caesar found Kapros when he was going around with dyed hair and a mask in Bala Monyak using the dye Un-o had brought, and the time Caesar encountered him as if he had been waiting when Kapros was in Bistale... Somehow it all seemed related to Caesar, but anyway, things that Kapros had just thought were strange at the time now felt like they had materialized into answers the moment he heard Kion-hyung's words.

Right. When Kapros had asked Caesar how he knew him in Bala Monyak, he had said...

"I don't need to make an effort to recognize you guys. You were there, so it must have been you."

At the time, Kapros had thought it was some kind of Zen riddle, but if Caesar had an additional function to find Kapros's location just like Kion-hyung, all these questions would be resolved.

It would probably be correct to think that Caesar had known Kapros's location in advance every time they met like that.

'How could this be...'

Suddenly, Kapros felt a chill run down his spine. This meant that Caesar had been able to find his location at will at least since they were in Bala Monyak, yet he hadn't tried to hunt Kapros down to kill him.

It was a moment that shook Kapros's assumption that 'Caesar unconditionally tries to kill the other quest users.'

As Kapros fell silent with a serious face while they were talking, Kion-hyung carefully observed his expression.

"Kar. Why are you suddenly like this?"

"I wonder what he's thinking..."

"Huh? What, what?"

Passing by the confused Kion-hyung and going out of the alley, Kapros turned to look at Kion-hyung, who was standing there dumbfounded, and waved his hand.

"There's something I'd like you to think about with me in a quieter place. Let's go."

Sitting in a corner of the tavern where Kran had once brought him, treating him like a VIP, Kion-hyung listened to the ins and outs of Kapros's speculation and, with an equally serious face, tapped his chin for a long time.

"So... it seems not only me but he can also see your location, but except for the times he encountered you at will, he's just leaving you alone, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."