TSDSE 16

Chapter 16: Change (2)

9 PM.

Yuhwa, who had returned to the guild immediately after parting ways with Kang Seoyul, was staring blankly into space.

‘So Mr. Shinwoo is a spy belonging to the Saviors of Truth…’

Yuhwa’s secretary, Kim Shinwoo.

Kang Seoyul had said he was a villain belonging to the Saviors of Truth.

Even if it was Kang Seoyul—who somehow knew information about the Doppelganger, information about the Saviors of Truth—it was still hard to believe.

Kim Shinwoo was a founding member of the Bihon Guild.

He was a man who had served as secretary since her father led the Bihon Guild, and one of the people Yuhwa trusted most.

For such a person to be a traitor—there was no way she could believe it.

However, Yuhwa’s faith was currently wavering.

‘…I don’t know.’

And for good reason—it was none other than Kang Seoyul who had said it.

Just as when he had said he would bring in the Doppelganger, he was overflowing with confidence.

—Kim Shinwoo. His real name is Pyo Ilchan.

In a clear voice, calmly and deliberately.

—To quietly siphon off confidential information from a position where no one would ever suspect him. He invested twenty years into it. The Saviors of Truth are terrifying people.

He laid out information about Kim Shinwoo and the Saviors of Truth.

—Of course, even with my track record of catching a Doppelganger, it would be hard to suspect a colleague you’ve been with for twenty years.

He spoke rapid-fire, as if to eliminate any room for rebuttal.

—If you trust what I say even a little, probe him the next time you meet. Pyo Ilchan. The Saviors of Truth. The Doppelganger sang. Give him some kind of reason like that. And if he still plays dumb, then like this…

Knock knock—

That was when Yuhwa snapped out of her thoughts.

“Lady Yuhwa. I’ve prepared the report.”

Her secretary, Kim Shinwoo, entered the guild master’s office.

Yuhwa, shaken from her reverie, looked at him with a complicated expression.

“…Lady Yuhwa?”

Kim Shinwoo, perhaps sensing something, called out to her with an subtle expression.

“Mr. Shinwoo.”

“Yes.”

Thoughts multiplied in Yuhwa’s mind. Twelve years before she became guild master. Eight years after. Twenty years of living alongside Kim Shinwoo—versus Kang Seoyul, whom she’d met three days ago.

She wanted to trust Kim Shinwoo.

‘But…’

There was definitely something about Kang Seoyul.

The intelligence network that had found the Doppelganger when no one else could even find a clue.

The drive to act immediately.

He was certainly no ordinary person.

And that man was calling Kim Shinwoo a traitor.

There must be some basis for it.

It was only natural that Yuhwa’s heart was shaken.

‘Right. I’m just probing him a little, aren’t I? There must be some misunderstanding.’

Yuhwa took a deep breath internally and steadied herself.

If she was going to probe him anyway, she should do it properly.

“Guild Master?”

Kim Shinwoo called out to her again, puzzled by her silence after having called his name.

“Mr. Shinwoo. No…”

Yuhwa’s expression sank coldly. She was putting on the cold mask she only wore when negotiating with hostile guilds.

“Pyo Ilchan.”

Yuhwa’s voice rang low.

Yet there was no change in Kim Shinwoo’s expression.

“Pyo Ilchan?”

A look and gesture that genuinely seemed to say he had no idea what she was talking about.

At that, Yuhwa felt slightly relieved.

‘See, it must have been some mistake.’

If Kim Shinwoo’s true identity was Pyo Ilchan, and he had lived as a spy for twenty years as a villain—then there was no way his expression wouldn’t have changed at such a sudden call.

But her suspicion wasn’t one hundred percent cleared yet.

To put an end to the remaining 0.1 percent of doubt, Yuhwa took action again.

“The Doppelganger confessed. That you belong to the Saviors of Truth. That you’re probably a traitor.”

The Doppelganger’s confession.

This was Kang Seoyul’s scenario.

“He seemed to believe that his absurd capture was someone’s scheme. Something about dying together.”

Yuhwa continued speaking while carefully managing her expression.

“He also said that the massacre within the Bihon Guild was preparation for slowly undermining me and taking the guild master’s seat himself. Amusing, isn’t it?”

At Yuhwa’s cold smile, Kim Shinwoo still responded with eyes full of bewilderment.

“Lady Yuhwa… are you really going to believe such nonsense?”

“……”

Eyes full of trust that had supported Yuhwa for twenty years.

Yuhwa bit her lower lip.

If that expression was an act…

‘No. It can’t be.’

Yuhwa decided to try one last thing.

“Playing dumb won’t help. The Doppelganger told me everything about how much rage he harbors toward you. Every last detail.”

The words Kang Seoyul had emphasized at the end.

“If he plays dumb, use this. Say this and he’ll give up on his own, he said… What was it again. Oh, right.”

Yuhwa spoke the words aloud.

“El Perze Enan Dorma. He said if you say this, he’ll give up. How about it?”

“……!”

In that instant, Kim Shinwoo’s expression hardened stiffly.

His pupils trembled minutely.

The corner of his mouth spasmed with shock.

“Hah.”

That was when it happened.

“That worthless piece of trash. He really spilled everything.”

Kim Shinwoo—no, Pyo Ilchan’s expression transformed completely.

“How dare he leak the organization’s information? That discarded waste who can’t do anything but change appearances?”

“Shinwoo… Mr.?”

A colleague of twenty years was making an expression she had never seen before in her life.

“Twelve years in this goddamn pathetic guild! Eight years under a snot-nosed guild master! Twenty whole years of hard work! And because of that trash!”

Yuhwa’s pupils trembled.

The moment Kang Seoyul’s words became truth.

“Fine, whatever. After I eliminate you, eliminate the Doppelganger, and eliminate everyone who knows about this.”

The gentle man’s face twisted despicably.

“I’ll just take over the guild slowly.”

Pyo Ilchan pulled a ring from his pocket.

“So then, Yuhwa. For me. For our cause. You need to die.”

The next moment, the interior of the guild master’s office was dyed in darkness.

“Anyway, even if things went according to the scenario, you were scheduled to die in six months, so don’t feel too bitter about it.”

Simultaneously, Pyo Ilchan’s form began to merge with the darkness.

“Is this your true ability?”

Caldness returned to Yuhwa’s expression.

“How about it? Impressive, right?”

“Yes. Very impressive. Visual sealing… no, there’s no tactile sense either. Fortunately, my hearing is still intact.”

Desperately steadying her mind shaken by the shock,

She raised her mana.

“It’s useless! No matter how strong you are, within this space there is no existence that can defeat me!”

A man’s howl came from behind Yuhwa.

“Kyahaha!”

And the sound was growing closer.

With sight and touch sealed, Yuhwa had no choice but to rely on hearing to fight.

“Spear.”

Yuhwa used her mana to create a single small spear.

Yuhwa’s trait was “Materialization.”

The power to create objects with mana.

Ziiing—

“Die!”

Hearing the man’s shriek from close range, Yuhwa moved the mana spear.

Fwoooosh—!

“Keuk! You, you!”

In the exact opposite direction from where the sound came.

“Ho, how?”

Yuhwa retrieved the spear leisurely and answered.

“Indeed, it’s a difficult ability to respond to on first encounter. Sealing sight and touch to make one focus on hearing. And then making the hearing itself come from the opposite direction. Quite a nasty ability.”

“…You, you!”

The man’s voice trembled with panic.

“If I hadn’t been told about this ability in advance, I would have been helpless.”

“Told… in advance?”

“Yes.”

Yuhwa’s expression twisted.

Twisted with sorrow, with anger, with betrayal.

An indescribable expression.

“There’s, there’s no way… the Doppelganger… couldn’t possibly know about my ability!”

“…I wonder. How on earth did he know even about this ability.”

The person who had told Yuhwa about Pyo Ilchan’s ability was, of course, Kang Seoyul.

“Really. How does he know all this?”

In the end, his words were right.

Yuhwa smiled bitterly and raised her mana.

“Asking why you betrayed me. Why you did this. There’s no point in asking, is there?”

“W-wait. There’s a reason for everything. I’ll explain from the beginning. Hm? Think of the years we’ve spent together…”

Yuhwa spoke as if choking back tears, her heart heavy.

“Thank you… for everything until now. Mr. Shinwoo.”

Yuhwa’s mana surged explosively.

—Thanks to you, I survived. Thank you.

Past midnight.

I was on the phone with Yuhwa.

“What about Pyo Ilchan?”

—I killed him.

Yuhwa’s voice was extremely calm.

—I couldn’t let it be known that the Bihon Guild’s top executive was a villain belonging to the Saviors of Truth.

But I know.

That she wasn’t truly calm—she was just pretending to be.

“It’ll be hard to hide a murder that happened within the guild.”

—Well, what can I do. I’ll have to accept it. It’s a hundred, thousand times better than the news spreading that Kim Shinwoo of the Bihon Guild was a Savior of Truth.

“…That’s true.”

The moment you get tangled with the Saviors of Truth, the Bihon Guild is finished.

—Anyway, I’ll handle things on this end, so don’t worry too much.

What must Yuhwa be feeling right now?

How would it feel to learn that a colleague you’d worked with for twenty years was a traitor?

I can’t even imagine.

—Well then, I’m sorry but I’ll rest now. I’m tired.

“Yes. Get some rest.”

Yuhwa probably won’t be able to sleep tonight.

She’ll lie alone in bed, clutching the teddy bear her father gave her as a child, and cry all night.

Because that’s the kind of woman Yuhwa is.

—Ah. And as for repayment for this matter, let’s decide when we meet in person soon. It doesn’t feel right to settle it over the phone.

Infinitely strong when she’s with others,

But infinitely fragile when she’s alone.

“Yes. Once things calm down a bit, let’s talk again then.”

—…Thank you. Really.

Just before the call ended,

Yuhwa’s frail voice echoed very quietly.

“…Bittersweet.”

Anyway, the bug in the lion’s heart—the worst traitor—had been dealt with safely.

That was enough.

Time passed quickly.

Before I knew it, it was Saturday.

Which meant today was the day to raid the ruins.

Shouldering the massive case containing the Fierce Tiger’s Gauntlet, I headed to the ruins on the outskirts of Seoul.

The city that had been reduced to rubble by a disaster-class monster attack five years ago.

The ruins I was looking for were here.

There was a description of the ruins’ entrance faintly revealed as buildings collapsed and sank underground.

“Wonder if I can find it today.”

I hope so.

I searched the area, focusing on building debris embedded in the ground.

Not here.

Not this either.

After about two hours of dozens of false starts.

“Found it!”

I finally found the trace. I’d found the entrance leading into the ruins.

I was lucky.

Honestly, I’d thought I’d have to spend until tomorrow just searching.

“Lucky me.”

Well now.

Things are going smoothly.

I picked up the steel carrier I’d set down in a corner and stepped into the ruins.

The structure of these ruins is very simple. Or should I say, ordinary.

Traps: present.

Monsters: present.

Guardian: present.

Treasure: present.

Very ordinary, as you can see.

The difficulty of clearing this place is roughly A-rank for a solo raid.

And I’m garbage below F-rank.

To summarize:

Step on a trap?

“I’ll die.”

Meet a monster?

“I’ll be food.”

Meet the guardian?

“Death in one minute.”

Truly fantastic.

Of course, I didn’t come into the ruins alone because I have a death wish.

Traps?

Don’t step on them.

Monsters?

Don’t encounter them.

Guardian?

Skip it.

There are ways.

Methods I can only use because I know the structure of these ruins inside and out.

“…Though it’s a method I can’t use in other ruins.”

This is a method that can only be used in this particular ruin.

The ‘Golden Sanctuary.’

Why, you ask?

Because I honestly don’t know much about other ruins.

What’s where, what monsters appear, what the boss is.

I have that level of knowledge, but I can’t remember the structure of other places the way I remember every detail of the ‘Golden Sanctuary.’

The Golden Sanctuary is the ruin that serves as the setting for the mid-portion main scenario,

And it’s a place where a lot of effort was invested in its length and description, so I just happen to remember it.

Anyway, the important thing is that clearing this ruin isn’t that difficult for me.

That’s why I didn’t ask Yuhwa for equipment support in advance.

Didn’t seem like I’d need it.

It’s kind of like a bonus stage, you could say.

“Alright, let me clear this quickly and go rest— Hm?”

Thump, thump, thump!

There was a time when I thought that too.

“Kwaaaaaaang!”

“…Excuse me?”

A massive tiger with blazing red eyes, charging straight at me.

Until I saw this ruin’s guardian.

…Why is that thing here?