The necklace. Was he talking about the silver cross necklace that had been in his pocket?
To be honest, I'd pocketed it.
Was it important?
The kid in front of me looked ready to burst into tears any second.
“It's a keepsake from my mom...”
“...”
I didn't mind giving the dumb necklace back. It didn't look expensive anyway. But if I handed it over openly now, I might get branded a criminal again for stealing.
It'd be a shame to see the guard I'd worked so hard to lower go right back up.
While I was torn over whether to give it back, Cap started to sniffle.
“I definitely put it in my pocket before I slept...”
“Check one more time.”
“I checked everywhere, it's gone. I must've dropped it when I was putting my clothes on.”
...
“Then there's nothing for it. Let's go.”
Choi Haegang grabbed the kid's arm.
“Um, first...”
Feeling sheepish, I started to speak up in a small voice, but Choi Haegang didn't so much as pretend to listen and just kept walking.
“We have to find it. I want to go back.”
“Don't talk nonsense.”
Cap was ignoring me too. Did nobody hear me?
“I'll go by myself, so let me go!”
The kid twisted his caught arm and shrieked. Choi Haegang's brow creased hard. It was chaos.
What do I do.
Should I just tell him the necklace he's looking for is in my pocket?
“Look, maybe...”
I went to move my hand out of habit, then remembered it was bound. I rolled my eyes around, stuck.
Meanwhile, Cap was throwing a fit about going on his own.
...Damn it, whatever.
If Cap died here, it'd all be for nothing.
In the end, I called out to Choi Haegang.
“Hunter, would you mind checking my right pocket?”
Thrown by the sudden request, Choi Haegang paused, then let out an exasperated sigh as if he'd caught on to something.
He dragged the kid over with brisk strides.
Choi Haegang thrust a hand into my pocket. There was a rattling sound from inside.
“It's there, right?”
Even though he should have found what he was after, he dug through the other pocket too. Belatedly, it seemed he meant to do a search of my belongings.
Sorry to disappoint, but the knife I'd hidden was up my sleeve. I snorted inwardly.
But the hand that came out of my pocket held a whole bundle of jewels.
“?”
I stared, bewildered, but he paid me no mind and tucked the items in his grip into his own bag.
“I'll be taking these back.”
Choi Haegang murmured softly.
Taking them back...?
Ah.
I remembered the Atlas guild members with their bulging pockets. Was he still holding a grudge over that last incident?
“Those are mine, though...”
I lodged a small protest, but it didn't land. From the hand that had finished tidying his bag, the silver cross dangled and dropped. Seeing the necklace, the kid's eyes went wide.
“Is this silver necklace the one you were looking for?”
The kid nodded furiously. Choi Haegang handed it over to him.
“I picked it up off the ground before we set out. Glad it found its way back to its owner.”
“...”
Clutching the necklace, Cap said nothing.
Is he about to scream that I'm a thief?
If so, I'd just brazen it out and claim I picked it up. I waited quietly for the kid's reaction.
Head bowed, the child wiped his tears. Then, after some hesitation, he forced out a single word.
“Thanks.”
!
An unexpected reaction.
“It was nothing, haha.”
I'm the one who stole it, but hey, all's well that ends well.
“If the necklace means that much to you, take better care of it from now on.”
“Mm.”
“There are a lot of thieves out in the world, so watch out.”
“Mm.”
The kid nodded with a softened expression. He'd let his guard down quite a bit. Glad I'd returned it, a laugh slipped out of me.
I was basking in the warm mood for the first time in a while when I felt Choi Haegang's icy stare from a little ways off.
“...There, there, stop crying now.”
I hurried to wrap things up before Choi Haegang could spill the truth.
“Hah... if we're done, let's move.”
Choi Haegang nudged the kid's shoulder forward. I started walking, playing it cool. As my eyes kept drifting to his bag, the brat beside me chattered away.
“Really, thank you. It's the most precious thing I have.”
“Yeah, I know that feeling well.”
“Do you have something like that too?”
“To be precise, I did. Hyunwoo...”
The name slipped out on reflex, and I shut my mouth. But he'd already heard it.
“Hyunwoo?”
Hyunwoo was the name of a brooch I'd treasured.
Saying it's the name of a brooch would sound weird.
I covered it up appropriately.
“It's my little brother's name.”
I had loved that brooch like a little brother, so it wasn't a total lie.
“Ah...”
Cap trailed off. After that, for some reason, the conversation didn't pick back up.
Before long we reached a fork in the path. In one corner stood an iron-barred gate with a gatekeeper, and on the other side, a path that continued on.
“Kiyeek!”
The gatekeeper was killed. By Choi Haegang, of course.
Just as I went to head naturally toward the continuing path, Choi Haegang stopped in front of the iron bars.
“Isn't the way this direction?”
“There's no telling what's inside here.”
If there's no telling what's inside, then why open the door?
“There must be a reason the gatekeeper was guarding it. Something important might be hidden away. A treasure, say... or an artifact.”
“All I see is a lump of mud, though.”
“How would you know what's behind it?”
“Hm.”
When he put it that way, I got curious.
Had his animal instincts picked up on something?
I hurried over to Choi Haegang's side.
“Then taking a look wouldn't hurt, I suppose.”
With an unreadable expression, Choi Haegang inserted the key and turned it. The barred door opened. When I poked my head in, Choi Haegang, standing beside me, stepped aside from the doorway. His posture seemed to invite me to take a look.
I'd been so preoccupied with surviving that psycho that I'd forgotten the Boss's orders. I had to find a decent artifact before we got out.
Is there anything useful in here?
I leaned my body in through the doorway to get a better look. But no matter how I searched, there really was only mud inside. A massive clump of it was congealed in the center.
Can't see the back from here. Might as well just go all the way in and...
Smack!
“Gah!”
Out of nowhere, a foot slammed hard into my back. Naturally, I pitched forward into the barred enclosure. Sprawled on my face, I looked back to see Choi Haegang watching me, expressionless.
...From the other side of the bars.
“...”
When did the door close?
“Uh, huh?”
An ominous feeling washed over me. I forced a smile.
“Hunter, why...”
“I've thought it over. You really won't do.”
Choi Haegang moved the hand holding the key.
“Please die here.”
Clack.
I was locked inside the bars.
“Hold on, hunter!”
Seo Sinwoo scrambled to his feet. Choi Haegang tossed the key onto the ground on the far side of the bars.
The kid, frozen and blinking, took a beat to grasp the situation. Choi Haegang tugged the child's arm along.
“Wh-what, what are you doing!”
The kid shook off his hand and rushed to the bars. At that, Seo Sinwoo reacted like a ghost.
Clang!
“Cap.”
The man clung to the bars. He looked at the kid with desperate eyes.
Just then, something began to move behind Seo Sinwoo. The thing he'd taken for nothing but mud. Noticing the kid's gaze fixed behind him, Seo Sinwoo turned to look as well.
The panicked kid frantically yanked at the padlock. Naturally, the thick padlock didn't so much as budge.
“There's a monster. Hurry, you have to get him out again...!”
At the shrill cry, the hunter clicked his tongue and came over.
“Get a grip. He's the man who killed your dad. And that necklace earlier-”
“Kuagh!”
The instant Choi Haegang went to deliver his cold rebuke, Seo Sinwoo suddenly let out a scream.
“!”
On the far side of the bars, Seo Sinwoo clutched his stomach and started whimpering. It was where the kid had stabbed him. He'd seemed fine just moments ago, but it must have hurt.
As if to prove the kid's suspicion true, the man let out a sobbing sound.
“My, the place I got stabbed hurts so much. My back and my stomach hurt so much.”
“Cut the crap...”
The hunter beside him muttered something, but it didn't reach the kid's ears.
“Ugh, if I stay like this I'll really die.”
The mud crept slowly up Seo Sinwoo's legs. Watching the sight, the kid trembled. But Choi Haegang turned away coldly, as if Seo Sinwoo's words weren't even worth hearing.
“We've got something to do once we're out of here, remember?”
The words Seo Sinwoo whispered urgently lodged themselves in the ears of the kid, who could only watch helplessly.
“...”
The image of his dead father and the image of Seo Sinwoo smiling as he claimed he wasn't the culprit blurred together.
The man's name, and the fact that he'd be coming to this dungeon. He himself had told the hunter all of it. So he could be killed. And now the hunter really was trying to kill Seo Sinwoo.
So that meant...
If that man dies here... did I kill him?
His hand drifted toward the key on the ground without his realizing.
“Let's go.”
“...”
“?”
The kid walked over to the bars. Seo Sinwoo, at some point, had ended up lying on the floor, wrestling with the mud.
“You p-piece of trash, serves you right. Just die like that!”
He raised his voice on purpose to mask the rattle of metal. Then, pretending to grip the bars, he quietly slipped the key into the door and turned it.
Because I have to find out... who the real culprit is.
