Chapter 44: Tears of Kang Yu

S-something I need to do...?"

Kang SeongSoo looked at KangWoo with an expression full of fear.

KangWoo patted his back and let out a laugh.

"You don't need to be scared. First, there are some things I wanted to ask you."

"U-ugh..."

"Who ordered you to pick a fight with me?"

He didn't think that Kang SeongSoo purposely tried to pick a fight with him of his own volition.

He had no real reason for having done something like that.

"..."

As Kang SeongSoo lowered his head with his mouth closed, KangWoo kicked his head as if it were a soccer ball.

Paf-!

"Cough!!"

Kang SeongSoo's teeth broke, and blood came out of his mouth.

He placed his hands on Kang SeongSoo's shoulders once more.

"Let me ask you again... Who gave you that order?"

"K-Kim YeongHoon..."

"Kim YeongHoon?"

It was the name of the vice-leader of Mir Guild he had heard before.

'The good-looking, rich boy they talked about?'

He didn't understand why someone like that would try to pick a fight with him.

"Mr. Y-YeongHoon was once rejected by Chae YeonJoo. F-from that day, he began resenting the Red Rose Guild."

"N-not only that, but he said that we need to make sure people think that the Mir Guild is overall superior to the Red Rose Guild."

"Ha, he's someone unexpectedly pathetic."

KangWoo stood up while laughing.

He was wondering what kind of person he was since the girl with the blue robe had spoken so highly of him.

"Do you have a picture of that guy?"

"Y-yes."

SeongSoo took out his smartphone and showed KangWoo a picture of him.

There, he saw a photo of a handsome young man.

'Huh?'

KangWoo tilted his head.

Even though it was the first time seeing him, he reminded him of someone.

'Kim ShiHoon?'

The person in the photo reminded him of Kim ShiHoon.

'Is it because they're both good-looking?'

Without thinking too deeply, KangWoo returned the smartphone to Kang SeongSoo.

"So you were dragged into the middle of this pathetic guy's revenge plot?"

"I-I'm sorry! I... I was ordered, so there was nothing I could do!"

Kang SeongSoo bowed down and spoke in a desperate voice.

KangWoo burst into laughter while looking at him.

"Even taking that into consideration, you tried too hard"

"Th-that..."

"Don't worry. Life is all about helping others, right? I don't care, as long as you're able to fulfill the duty I give you."

"I-I'll do anything you ask!"

"Hahaha. Don't worry. It isn't something hard. No, it can actually be something beneficial to you."

"...?"

Kang SeongSoo looked at him with a confused expression.

KangWoo looked down at him with a big smile on his face.

* * *

Mumble-

"Everyone, quiet. Quiet, please!"

In front of the gate where the variant monster appeared...

After hearing the smell of breaking news, lots of reporters had gathered in front of it.

The soldiers shouted at them and asked for silence, but the noise didn't subside.

A new existence called a variant monster that hadn't been seen before...

And to catch it, the Red Rose and Mir guilds had joined hands!

The reporters were thirsty for breaking news, so they were intensely looking at the gate.

"Oh?"

"S-someone is coming out!!"

While waiting, they saw two people walking out of the gate.

To be more precise, it was KangWoo carrying Kang SeongSoo.

"That..."

"It's Kang SeongSoo... and that's Oh KangWoo!"

"What happened to the other party members?"

"What happened to the variant monster?"

As they saw both walk out of the gate, people began mumbling.

"Wh-what happened?" The reporters asked KangWoo.

He just ignored them and, in a hurried voice, shouted.

"C-call an ambulance, please!"

KangWoo shouted while laying Kang SeongSoo down.

"Ugh...!"

People shouted after seeing the horrible state in which Kang SeongSoo was in.

His face was covered in so much blood that it was hard to recognize him, and his body was full of wounds as if a group of people had beaten him up.

"Ah, ugh, h-help me..."

Kang SeongSoo was in agony.

He extended his hand while trembling as if asking for someone to save him.

"H-how did this...?"

* * *

People were stunned by his terrible state.

The only way to describe his state was horrifying.

While everyone was looking at him, KangWoo clenched his fist as if the situation made him angry.

"He was hurt while fighting the variant monster..."

"Th-then, the rest of the party...?"

"That's right. Only me and Mr. SeongSoo survived... Everyone else... died," KangWoo said with a stiff expression on his face.

People began mumbling after hearing that everyone except KangWoo and Kang SeongSoo had died.

"D-don't tell me... Even with the rookies of the Red Rose and Mir guilds together, they couldn't defeat it?"

"Just how strong is the variant monster...?"

"Q-quickly. Call the Hwrang Squad and ask for reinforcements!"

People began panicking after thinking that two rookies that giant guilds were supporting hadn't been able to defeat the variant monster.

Things could get troublesome if something happened and the monster got out of the gate.

KangWoo answered in a low tone.

"You don't need to worry. We eliminated the variant monster... It's just that there were lots of sacrifices."

"Oh!"

"Did Mr. KangWoo eliminate it?!"

"No. I'm not the one who killed the variant monster."

"Then..."

"The hero who killed the variant monster and saved my life is Mr. Kang SeongSoo."

"Ah...!"

The people let out a short exclamation after hearing KangWoo's words.

KangWoo placed his hands on top of Kang SeongSoo's body, who was breathing with great difficulty.

"After seeing that his entire party was wiped out while fighting against the variant monster, he shouted at me and said I should escape. He stayed behind and fought against it."

KangWoo spoke with a heavy voice.

"I couldn't escape and saw him fight until the end. He ended up winning against the variant monster—it was a heroic and desperate fight."

"..."

"After killing the variant monster, Mr. SeongSoo kept mumbling the names of his deceased party members until he lost consciousness."

They looked at Kang SeongSoo with tearful expressions while KangWoo talked.

A player who fought against a monster while risking his own life...

The story that he mumbled the names of his party members before he lost consciousness was enough to move people.

The eyes of the reporters who loved heroic stories were shining.

"Could you give us a bit more details?"

After smelling breaking news, the reporters put their microphones closer to KangWoo.

They weren't looking at Kang SeongSoo anymore.

For them, it didn't matter if Kang SeongSoo was about to die or not.

What mattered to them was the news—a story that was capable of moving people.

"When we entered the gate, we felt a very strong killing intent."

"That means...?"

"Yes, the variant monster was roaming around near the entrance."

"..."

The reporters gulped after hearing KangWoo's explanation.

"We felt a strong sense of chill when we saw that monster—it was so strong that it was hard to believe it had appeared in a B-rank gate."

"How did it look?"

"Just like the government described it—it was a monster with a lion's head and five legs. Kang SeongSoo's party was wiped out in a single attack."

"A s... single attack?"

"How could something like that..."

Even if it wasn't Kang SeongSoo, the other party members were also quite strong.

After all, they were a party of talented people gathered and supported by the Mir Guild.

"After discovering that we wouldn't be able to win against it, we tried to escape, but we figured out that, if the monster somehow escaped through the gate, there was a chance that it would hurt lots of innocent people."

"Gulp..."

KangWoo said it in a low voice. The tone in which he said it made the reporters nervous—they gulped.

While grabbing their microphones even firmer, they listened to KangWoo's story even more carefully.

"Mr. SeongSoo shouted that we had to stop that monster there, and that if we didn't do that, innocent people could be hurt."

"Ah..."

"Mr. SeongSoo and I fought against the monster with everything we had... But the wounds he received were too big. After that, everything went on as I previously mentioned. In the end, Mr. SeongSoo risked his life to give the finishing blow to the variant monster."

"Oh..."

The reporters were awed at the heroic attitude of Kang SeongSoo.

But one reporter asked KangWoo a question.

"But Mr. SeongSoo was quite aggressive toward you in the beginning. What do you think about that point?"

That question changed the atmosphere, but KangWoo naturally answered.

"Mr. SeongSoo explained to me the reason after we entered the gate. After hearing that it had been a short time since I'd begun receiving the Red Rose Guild's support, he was worried that I was entering a B-rank gate too soon. And to make things worse, I was doing so against a variant monster."

"Ah...! I see."

"At first, I didn't understand the deep meaning behind his actions..."

Tears dripped from KangWoo's eyes.

"He saved my life and this era's true hero."

* * *

[The hero who killed the variant monster!]

[A dramatic battle. The reason why he fought until the end...]

[Mir Guild's rookie Kang SeongSoo was immediately taken to the hospital. He still hasn't regained consciousness. People pledged over 10,000 dollars...]

[The hero that couldn't regain consciousness. He's in a vegetative state due to cerebral hemorrhage... The Mir Guild said they'd pay for all of Kang SeongSoo's medical bills.]

[Another star goes off!]