"What a mess..."
Chae Da-Seon clicked her tongue as she watched Son Min-Hyeok standing in the arena. Things were steadily spiraling in the worst possible direction. All three members of the Red Chasers had already lost, and now Son Min-Hyeok himself had stepped up...
And to make matters worse, Yu-Han was watching the whole thing with a smug grin, as if he'd been waiting for exactly this to happen.
'I really want to punch him.'
That pretty much summed up Chae Da-Seon's thoughts.
Meanwhile, Alice—now standing in the arena herself—was starting to feel much the same way about Yu-Han. She couldn't believe he'd actually made her fight the leader.
Yu-Han had confidently told her she could win, but could she really handle Son Min-Hyeok, the man leading those three terrifying women?
"...Son Min-Hyeok C. Can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Why are you so determined to recruit me?
Honestly, those three women look stronger than I am."
At Alice's question, Son Min-Hyeok gave her a cryptic answer.
"Ha! Because those women were never really on my side..."
Alice frowned, unsure what he meant, but before she could ask anything else, the match began.
[Match Four will now begin.]
The announcer program's dry synthesized voice faded away, and a vast open plain unfolded before them. Alice and Son Min-Hyeok were positioned fairly close to each other from the start.
"This is a battle between leaders! No outside factors, no tricks! We'll settle this with our own strength!"
His confidence put Alice on edge for a moment, but she quickly steadied herself. She was a leader too. She couldn't just panic, run away, and lose like an idiot.
Besides, she'd already promised herself that someday she would become stronger than Yu-Han.
"Here I come!"
Alice calmly sized Son Min-Hyeok up. He charged straight at her at high speed, leaving several glaring openings, but they could easily be bait.
More importantly, she still had no idea what kind of magic he used.
'For now... keep my distance and probe him until I figure out what he can do!'
Alice widened the gap and fired a weak electrical spell, intending only to disrupt his movement.
But Son Min-Hyeok saw the incoming electricity and didn't even try to dodge.
"Ow. That stings."
"?"
He took the spell head-on.
Alice couldn't make sense of it. Was this one of those spells she'd read about in an academic paper—something that converted incoming damage into physical strength or mana?
If so, this was bad.
'Then I can't afford to drag this out!'
Alice immediately went for one of the strongest attacks she could use, wrapping her fist in pure mana energy.
"Guh...!"
"???"
Son Min-Hyeok took the punch cleanly. Granted, he was using basic body reinforcement and defensive magic, but he looked so genuinely hurt that Alice almost felt guilty for hitting him.
---
Kim Ga-Eun excitedly pointed toward the arena.
"Yu-Han C! I think that guy's actually a fucking scrub!"
"...Ga-Eun.
Where the hell did your cute image go?
You sounded like some ajae just now."
At Yi Rang's criticism, Kim Ga-Eun visibly deflated.
"A... ajae...?"
Ajae is a Korean term for a man who no longer gives off a youthful impression, generally referring to an older or middle-aged man.
Meanwhile, Lee Sang-Deok raised a more serious question.
"Still, how can the leader of a global dungeon-raiding team be that weak?
He looks weaker than our tiger!"
At that, Yu-Han abruptly picked up a megaphone.
"Excellent question.
Allow me to explain..."
Meanwhile, the Red Chasers looked like they were at a funeral.
Chae Da-Seon muttered in frustration.
"That idiot...! This is exactly why I told him not to do it!"
Shim Yun-Seol pressed a hand to her forehead.
"How the hell are we supposed to spin this to the press now...?"
As the women scrambled around in panic, Yu-Han's megaphone crackled to life.
[Would anyone like to hear my theory about why Son Min-Hyeok C is so much weaker than expected?]
"That bastard... What the hell is he trying to pull now?!"
Chae Da-Seon cursed, but the color was already draining from her face.
[Once upon a time, there were three women.
And those three women wanted to become Grade 2 National Contributors so badly that... they decided to find some convenient guy and seduce him!
They pampered him, built him up as a hero, and even showered him with relics to win his favor...
But oh no!
They gave him so many relics that eventually they couldn't control him anymore!
And that's how we ended up here...]
Yu-Han's deduction sent all three women into a panic as memories from the past flashed through their minds.
What? The other two already gave you some too?>
<...Unauthorized transfer of relics? You're blackmailing us now?! If that gets out, we're all finished!
If you're going to pull this shit, give every relic back!>
Son Min-Hyeok clinging stubbornly to the relics, and the three women desperately trying to get them back.
That twisted relationship between them had dragged on all the way to the present.
If the truth came out, public humiliation would be the least of their problems. They could face criminal charges as well.
Then Chae Da-Seon saw Yi Rang sitting across from her, staring in utter disbelief, and finally snapped.
"That's defamation! I'll sue you for defamation!!"
[Chae Da-Seon C? We were just privately whispering among ourselves. That hardly counts as defamation.
Also, please specify whether you're accusing me of regular defamation or 'defamation by stating true facts.']
In Korea, a person can be sued for defamation even when what they said is true.
Surprisingly.
"You fucking little bastard!!"
Every trace of ease vanished from Chae Da-Seon's face, and right at that moment, Alice's fight with Son Min-Hyeok took a bizarre turn...
---
Alice was still pummeling Son Min-Hyeok when her fist collided with something unexpectedly hard.
It was an armor-shaped relic.
"Hey! This is supposed to be a no-relic match! You're breaking the rules!"
"Breaking the rules? What nonsense...!
These relics are part of my body!
Therefore, I have violated absolutely nothing!"
Suddenly, all kinds of relics began erupting from inside Son Min-Hyeok's body. Countless arms sprouted from him, each gripping a different relic and swinging wildly at Alice.
By this point, he barely looked human anymore.
"Mana Overdrive...!"
The moment the monstrous Son Min-Hyeok began rampaging, the barrier couldn't handle the sheer capacity of his mana and shattered, throwing them straight back into the real arena with Son Min-Hyeok still in his transformed state.
Yu-Han, naturally, wasted no time.
[When someone hoards more relics than they can handle, sometimes the mana overwhelms them and turns them into monsters!
That's exactly why unauthorized relic transfers are illegal.
I must say, I'm terribly disappointed in the Red Chasers!]
Eurel clutched her head.
"Did getting beaten up finally break him mentally...!? Why the hell did he have to go berserk during a livestream?!"
Shim Yun-Seol looked completely defeated.
"It's over...
We're finished..."
Eurel and Shim Yun-Seol had sunk into despair, but Chae Da-Seon had not given up. Her eyes had gone a little wild, yet she was still thinking.
"No! It's not over!
We kill Son Min-Hyeok ourselves, then kill every last one of those Cheong-Am bastards!
We'll say the monster killed them!"
At Chae Da-Seon's insane proposal, the other two started laughing too, their faces twitching.
Eurel let out a hollow laugh.
"Of course.
You really are good at coming up with completely insane ideas."
Chae Da-Seon immediately unleashed air magic and smashed every camera nearby. Eurel, Chae Da-Seon, and Shim Yun-Seol openly brought out their relics before Chae Da-Seon hurriedly added one condition.
"Don't kill the tiger beastkin! If either of you touches her, I'll kill you myself!"
Eurel stared at her in disbelief.
"You bitch... So when you lost earlier, you did that on purpose!?"
Chae Da-Seon snapped back.
"Is that really what matters right now?!"
Eurel immediately fired an arrow toward the Cheong-Am group, and it detonated in a spectacular explosion.
She thought she'd killed them all instantly, but the only things lying in the wreckage were shattered dolls made to look like the Cheong-Am members.
Yu-Han's mocking voice came from behind them.
"Just as expected.
Corner someone badly enough, and eventually they show their true colors."
The Cheong-Am group had already anticipated one final desperate attack and circled around behind them. Yu-Han immediately rushed Shim Yun-Seol, judging her to be the most unpredictable opponent.
"Ghk! Not so fast!!"
Chae Da-Seon summoned a shield relic and intercepted him, protecting her teammates, and just like that, the fight between the two groups exploded into chaos.
Even Son Min-Hyeok—now a monstrous mass of countless arms—was swinging relics at anything around him, friend or foe.
"What!? Why are those people attacking us too?!"
Alice shouted as attacks started flying her way as well.
Yu-Han quickly moved over to her and explained.
"I exposed their criminal activity, and now they're trying to murder us."
"YU-HAN!!"
In the middle of the chaos, Chae Da-Seon found herself facing Yi Rang.
"Yi Rang, go hide somewhere for now.
I'll at least find a way to keep you alive!"
"Chae Da-Seon, was all that stuff he said really true?
And now you're doing this too... Where the hell did your pride go?"
"Pride doesn't put food on the table!
My entire life and billions of won are riding on this!"
While the two argued, Kim Ga-Eun stepped between them.
"Yi Rang C.
I'll handle your friend."
The sudden appearance of a wolf-eared girl immediately irritated Chae Da-Seon.
"And who the hell are you supposed to be?
A wolf beastkin has no business butting into a fight between a bear and a tiger."
"Uh... Chae Da-Seon.
She's not a wolf beastkin."
"What?"
In that instant, a colossal chimera fist slammed into Chae Da-Seon with brutal force. She'd been completely caught off guard, and the hit shattered bones all over her body, leaving her in a gruesome state.
At that point, she looked less like a mighty bear and more like a fly flattened by a flyswatter.
Yi Rang looked down at her with a mix of exasperation and pity.
Meanwhile, Eurel and Shim Yun-Seol had already been subdued by the others, and Alice turned her attention to the still-rampaging Son Min-Hyeok.
"Everyone! Destroy his relics!
If we break them, he'll turn back to normal!"
One by one, the Cheong-Am members tore the relics from Son Min-Hyeok's countless hands—snapping them, burning them, smashing them, and otherwise reducing them to scrap.
Eurel screamed as one of her relics was destroyed right in front of her.
"NOOO!! My Moonshadow Bow!!"
Shim Yun-Seol cried out as her own relic was ruined.
"My Sage's Robe!!"
Eurel and Shim Yun-Seol could do nothing but scream as they watched their relics get destroyed.
Meanwhile, every single member of Cheong-Am was smiling.
'Destroying other people's stuff is surprisingly fun.'
Alice smiled brightly at the thought.
To Eurel and Shim Yun-Seol, that smile looked downright demonic.
Only after every last relic had been destroyed, with Son Min-Hyeok finally back in human form and curled up on the ground, did the whole disaster come to an end.
---
In the end, the Red Chasers were forced into a humiliating settlement with Cheong-Am.
They could hardly demand compensation for the relics that had been destroyed, and with suspicion already mounting around the Red Chasers, it was better for everyone involved if those incriminating relics simply disappeared.
Chae Da-Seon, suffering from fractures all over her body, had no choice but to take part in the settlement negotiations through a video call from her hospital room.
Her injuries were officially assessed as requiring two weeks of treatment.
"Damn it...
Damn it all..."
Chae Da-Seon lay in bed, cursing the world in general and Yu-Han in particular.
Then the hospital room door opened, and in walked the one person Chae Da-Seon had been certain would never come.
Yi Rang.
For a moment, Chae Da-Seon couldn't say anything. The moment their eyes met, she looked away without thinking; being insulted—or even punched—would have been easier.
"Yi Rang...
You came to laugh at me now that you've seen how pathetic I've become, didn't you?
And while you're at it, you're here to end our friendship too."
"What the hell are you talking about?
It's just a normal hospital visit. Because we're friends.
And you're still rich, so quit whining like your life is over."
Yi Rang stepped inside as if nothing unusual had happened, casually set the things she'd brought on the bedside table, pulled a chair over, and sat down.
That casual normality only confused Chae Da-Seon even more. She knew exactly what she'd done, and Yi Rang knew too, yet Yi Rang was acting just like she always had.
Chae Da-Seon stared at her for a long moment, opening her mouth as if to speak before closing it again, unable to find the words.
"...You still call me your friend?
Why?
After everything I did?"
"Yeah, what you did was pretty damn ugly and disgusting.
But I still wanna be friends with you.
Don't you?"
Chae Da-Seon couldn't answer right away. She lowered her gaze as her fingers tightened, then slowly relaxed.
Yi Rang didn't push her and simply leaned back in the chair, waiting for her to speak.
After a long silence, Chae Da-Seon's lips began to tremble. The emotions she'd been forcing down all this time finally became too much to hold back, and tears quietly ran down her cheeks before quickly turning into an uncontrollable flood.
"I'm sorry, Yi Rang!! I was only tryin' to protect ya, but I never once stopped to think about what ya actually wanted! I was actin' like a damn idiot, even beatin' on ya... Why the hell am I such a pathetic mess!? I swear I won't ever do that again. So please... just stay friends with me..."
Overcome with emotion, Chae Da-Seon began rambling in her thick Busan dialect.
Seeing Chae Da-Seon finally lay her heart bare, Yi Rang's eyes began to well up too.
"Ah, forget it. You've always been a mess. Ain't like I found that out yesterday.
You're still my friend.
Take loyalty away from me and I'm as good as dead. How'm I supposed to just throw ya away?"
The two women embraced and, for the first time in a long while, finally let out everything they'd been keeping buried.
For a moment, it felt as though they'd gone back to when they were children, before either of them knew much about the world.
Yi Rang suddenly remembered something Yu-Han had told her during training.
Beat the hell out of them and torture them until they confess.>
Even now, it was an unbelievably stupid piece of advice.
And yet, she had beaten Chae Da-Seon up, and afterward she'd finally learned how Chae Da-Seon truly felt.
'Thanks, Yu-Han...'
Yi Rang thought it, though she was far too embarrassed to ever say it to his face.