Jin Siwon’s words were close to the truth.
But what differed from the plan was that the general was targeting the sky squirrel.
Ham Honggi might have bad blood with Geuru, but if he was in Na Ohyeong’s grasp, shouldn’t he have even less reason to go after the sky squirrel?
‘Is something going wrong?’
Either Na Ohyeong had failed to take control of Ham Honggi.
Or Na Ohyeong was plotting something without his knowledge.
‘It’s probably closer to the latter.’
Serhi lightly clenched and unclenched his fist.
His injuries had almost healed. His mana had nearly returned as well.
‘It’s about time I went back…….’
After watching for several days, he was certain. Jin Siwon’s skill was currently blocked. He did not know that Serhi was a Gnosis.
He had been lucky.
Having gotten acquainted with the yellow Geuru had made things go smoothly. It had kept him from drawing the Gnosis hunter’s suspicion.
All he had to do was kill the unsuspecting Jin Siwon and leave.
Kill Jin Siwon, leave the yellow Geuru on the farm, take the special acorns, and set off to find the dungeon’s core……
“Seruhi oppa, are you sick?”
When Serhi kept his head lowered for a while, Geuru asked worriedly.
“Did you overdo it earlier? Do you want to go inside and rest?”
Before he knew it, both Geuru and Jin Siwon were looking at him.
“I’m fine. I was just thinking.”
“Don’t worry too much. I can handle it on my own.”
“Geuru can help too!”
“I appreciate it, but mister will just accept Geuru’s feelings.”
He doesn’t trust Geuru.
‘It can’t be helped. I have no choice but to reveal the truth…….’
Having made up her mind, Geuru looked left and right, then spoke carefully in a whisper.
“Actually, Geuru is a hidden-power loser.”
“A hidden-power loser? What’s that?”
When Siwon asked, Geuru raised her eyes and said seriously,
“A loser who hides her power.”
A snicker escaped. Serhi, who had scoffed, turned his head away.
“The loser part seems right.”
“What’s a loser?”
At Siwon’s question, Serhi gestured toward Geuru with his chin.
“Something like her.”
Deng—!
Whoosh! Geuru clenched her fists and trembled.
“Meanie! Villain! Dictater!”
Geuru protested, saying it was unfair that they did not believe her. At that, Siwon smiled awkwardly, and Serhi let out a sigh.
‘How am I supposed to leave something this small and weak behind?’
It would be nearly impossible for the yellow Geuru to survive alone against the snow leopards’ offensive.
‘Why am I hesitating?’
What does that have to do with me?
Everything has gone well, so why?
After agonizing over it, Serhi opened his mouth.
“Let’s harvest the acorns and head to the Contaminated Zone.”
For now, he would go there and sort things out.
If he took a little time, this uneasy feeling would settle too.
“That sounds all right…… But Geuru…….”
As long as someone was after Geuru, they could not leave her alone on the farm, so they had to take her with them.
But a child was different from the two of them.
To reach the Contaminated Zone, they would have to force-march for several days. There was no way she could endure that……
“Maybe we could borrow a carriage…….”
As Siwon pondered, Cheche, who had been listening from a distance, approached.
“Squeak!”
Geuru’s eyes went round.
“Cheche says we can take a train!”
“There’s a train?”
“A train?”
*
A train crossing the continent was running along the tracks.
Its final destination was the Contaminated Zone, the territory of the snow leopard tribe.
The duty of the elephant beastkin train conductor was to help passengers travel through countless stations to the final stop…… but the conductor had failed to stop the train at this station as well.
When the train passed straight through the station, the flustered beastkin stretched out their hands and ran after it, but it was no use.
At present, the only place the train was supposed to stop was the final destination.
‘How did things end up like this…….’
The conductor swallowed nervously.
If not for those wolf bastards.
The culprits who had ruined his duty were sitting leisurely right beside him.
“You see, I hate beastkin and RP Dungeons.”
That wolf beastkin seemed to have a problem with establishing his identity.
The man nonchalantly crossed his legs and lit a cigarette.
The assistant conductor, who should originally have been sitting in the man’s seat, lay unconscious at his feet.
“Everything about the conditions is a pain.”
It was not a story he wanted to hear from a train hijacker.
A pain? If anything, wasn’t he enjoying life as a wolf beastkin more enthusiastically than anyone else?
The wolf tribe, who were so free-spirited that they rejected social order and even committed antisocial and unethical acts with ease, were the problem children of the beastkin world.
The one fortunate thing was that, perhaps because of their peculiar self-awareness that refused to assimilate into society, the wolf tribe’s dwellings were near the remote mountains.
True to the word “remote,” the transportation infrastructure there was practically nonexistent.
‘Even so, I never thought they’d go so far as to hijack a train…….’
Just then, one of the wolf beastkin’s companions who had hijacked the train with him opened the door to the conductor’s room.
“Hyung, we’re done with the passenger cars.”
The boy, whose eyes looked full of mischief, turned his gaze toward the conductor.
“What about him?”
The man replied in an annoyed tone.
“He’s the conductor. Leave him alone so he can drive.”
“Yessir.”
Beside the brightly answering boy, a woman poked her face in.
“Guildmaster, what should we do with the ones who resisted? We tied them up for now.”
Mm, the man rumbled in his throat and took a deep drag of his cigarette.
Soon, he exhaled the smoke and said,
“Let the conductor decide.”
“S-should I drive harder?”
“Just leave them tied up. You’re doing great.”
“Okaaay. Let’s go, Dan.”
“Yep.”
The woman took the boy she had called Dan and closed the door.
Were all wolf beastkin that pretty and handsome? Since they hardly ever left their territory, it was the first time he had seen them in person.
As the conductor was thinking blankly, the handsome wolf suddenly asked,
“How long until the final station?”
“Well, if we keep going like this, even at the fastest, around four days……”
“Slow.”
The wolf, Jurim, checked his wristwatch. No matter how many times he looked at it, inside the RP Dungeon, the watch was dead.
Several days had already passed since he entered the RP Dungeon with the two who had insisted on following him as soon as he explained the simple circumstances involving Geuru’s scam.
He could not even check the time, and the clear deadline was twenty days.
The mission they had received was to stop the wolves, in a place far removed from Cheon Gyuri’s group, from interfering with the purification of the contamination.
[Personal Quest]
The wolves worship nature. Because of that, they believe the contamination is divine punishment created by human greed. What the wolves want is for humans to humbly accept nature’s punishment.
Outsiders must stop the ferocious wolves that are interfering with the purification work so that the purification can proceed properly!
Right now, the Brom Guild Alliance should be holding back the contamination in the Contaminated Zone.
But what they had been given was a quest to hold back madmen obsessed with naturalism out in the remote wilderness.
‘…….’
It felt like a nasty prank by a referee determined never to let them into the ring.
From that moment on, Jurim became irritated with the tiresome RP Dungeon.
The only saving grace was that there was no mana leakage inside the RP Dungeon.
The master of the 99th floor seemed to feel stable inside the RP Dungeon.
It was strange, but right now, it was urgent to wrap up the situation and leave.
Thus, Jurim’s group easily dealt with the wolves and tried to leave for the snow leopard territory.
However, this place was a remote land of naturalists. In other words, friendly signposts or maps did not exist.
“Chief, I’m asking how we get to the Contaminated Zone.”
When Nayeon grabbed the chief by the collar and shook him, the words the chief finally managed to squeeze out were, “Take the train.”
But the situation only grew more absurd.
They said wolf beastkin had to ride in a special car for the safety of other passengers, and that the special car was currently full, so they could not board.
“Is that so? Then we just have to turn this train into a special car, right?”
Jurim, sick and tired of everything, decided to hijack the train.