Level Up Machine

Chapter 98 Business Preparation (1)

“Wa, wait! What, what the hell is this?!”

Felix shouted at Yeong-sik with an expression of disbelief. In the blink of an eye, Yeong-sik had taken down three manticores, which were said to be difficult for even a level 100 summoner to handle alone.

‘That, that’s impossible!’

Felix stared at Yeong-sik with eyes filled with shock. That meant he had to be at least level 102, or even level 103!

It was already rare to find someone over level 100, and it was even rarer for someone to reach such a high level.

No, before that, if someone had reached such a high level, information should have been spread, no matter how different the region was.

There was even an intelligence department dedicated to gathering information about summoners over level 100. It didn’t make sense that a strong individual like him was completely unknown.

“W-who the hell are you?!”

Felix shouted with a trembling voice. At his reaction, Yeong-sik frowned slightly.

“Shouldn’t you keep your promise first?”

“What?”

“Kneeling is all you have to do, right? It’s not that difficult.”

Yeong-sik said with a faint smile. Felix, his face flushed red, shouted back.

“Sh-shut up! You, you cheated!”

“Cheated? What cheat? I was just standing here when you picked a fight and proposed the bet yourself.”

“Shut up! Do you even know who we are…”

“Felix. Enough!”

Forte, who had been listening to their conversation, slowly walked towards Yeong-sik. Her golden eyes turned to Felix.

“You can’t possibly not know how disgraceful your actions look right now, can you? You are dragging the honor of our Third Army through the mud.”

“Ugh. Captain… b-but.”

“We will discuss the consequences of this once the expedition is over.”

With a sharp look, Forte turned her head slowly towards Yeong-sik. She bowed deeply and spoke.

“Please forgive my subordinate’s rudeness. It was all due to my shortcomings.”

“C-captain! Why are you bowing to a mere summoner…!”

“Felix. I understand your hatred towards summoners, but it’s disgraceful to bare your fangs at a summoner who has nothing to do with that.”

With a resentful expression, Felix clenched his fists at Forte’s calm words.

Yeong-sik, listening to their conversation and sensing there was more to their situation, nodded.

“Well, kneeling and receiving an apology doesn’t really benefit me, so I’ll let it go.”

“…Thank you.”

“Instead.”

Yeong-sik approached Felix, who was glaring at him with clenched fists. His mouth twisted into a smirk.

“Take just one hit.”

“Wha-…”

Thud.

Yeong-sik’s tightly clenched fist swung. Felix, unable to react to the surprise attack, took the punch squarely on his cheek. His head snapped to the side, and his body was flung backward.

Thump!

Felix’s body, which had briefly lifted off the ground, rolled across the floor. The precise blow to his jaw caused Felix to roll his eyes back and lose consciousness.

“Sigh.”

Yeong-sik let out a breath with a satisfied smile. A sharp thrill coursed through his body from his fist.

‘Not bad.’

He regretted falling for Felix’s petty provocation, but now that he had delivered such a satisfying punch, he felt a sense of exhilaration.

“Fe-Felix was knocked out with one hit…?”

“That doesn’t even make sense…”

The soldiers, looking at the fallen Felix, murmured in disbelief.

Felix was a strong warrior who could even take on a manticore one-on-one. Even if it was a surprise attack, he shouldn’t have been knocked out with a single blow.

“…I see now why you wanted to stay in the forest alone.”

Forte, glancing at the fallen Felix, spoke with a resigned expression. Yeong-sik nodded lightly to her and turned his body.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“How about staying here for the night? As an apology for what happened, I would like to offer you a comfortable place to rest.”

“I appreciate the offer, but my guild members are waiting for me. I need to go right away.”

“Hmm… if that’s the case, there’s nothing I can do.”

Forte looked at him with a regretful expression.

“Yeong-sik… was it?”

Watching Yeong-sik’s figure growing more distant, she seemed to remember something and called out to him again.

“This is something we give to honored guests from our family. If you ever come to the south or need any help, I would be glad if you would visit us.”

She handed him a small dagger with intricate engravings on it. Yeong-sik, receiving it, smiled and nodded.

“I’ll visit if I get the chance.”

With those words, Yeong-sik turned and walked into the dark forest.

“Hoo.”

Forte let out a short sigh as she watched Yeong-sik’s figure disappear from view.

‘If he could help us…’

She clenched her fist tightly. She continued to look at the spot where he had vanished with a look of regret.

* * *

In a clearing surrounded by a dense forest that seemed to allow no human intrusion, several tents were set up. The space was dominated by two towering boulders reaching up to the sky.

A woman with short red hair, Yu-na, holding a bowl of soup, entered a tent that looked hastily assembled.

“Sister… you should eat something.”

Yu-na looked down at the woman crouched on the floor with a worried expression. The woman with radiant blonde hair stared blankly into space as if she had lost her soul.

“Tiria unni!”

No matter how much she called, the woman did not respond. Tiria showed no reaction to Yu-na’s cries.

“Sigh. Ara and unni… How long do you plan to stay like this?”

Yu-na placed the bowl on the table and clenched her fists tightly.

“I… I feel like I’m going crazy too.”

“But sitting here like this won’t bring Yeong-sik back!”

“He’s not dead!”

Bang.

Tiria, who had been staring blankly into space, suddenly slammed her fist on the floor and screamed as if having a seizure. Transparent tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Yeong-sik is not… dead.”

“Unni?”

Yu-na looked at her with pity. She felt like she was seeing the same woman whose family had all been kidnapped in the past.

She thought about Yeong-sik. It had only been about six months since they met, but he had taken a deep place in her heart. Thinking about him felt like a dagger piercing her chest.

‘Yeong-sik…’

She didn’t want to admit he was dead either. She wanted to believe he would return, that he would appear as if nothing had happened.

But the situation was too dire to hold onto such hope.

The dreadful magic that emanated from the blue giant. The massive explosion that shook the dungeon to its deepest layer. Even after the Leviathan Guild joined the search, they found no trace of Yeong-sik. Everything pointed to him being caught in the explosion, leaving not even a body behind.

“Huuh…”

Tiria’s sobs broke the silence. It hadn’t been long since she had buried the pain of losing her family deep in her heart. Yeong-sik’s absence now brought all that buried pain back to the surface.

“Unni?”

Yu-na approached the crying Tiria and embraced her.

Tiria wrapped her arms around Yu-na’s back and began to wail.

“He said… he said he would make sure nothing like this happened again! He promised me that!”

Tiria shouted, recalling something Yeong-sik had said. She clung to Yu-na like a child throwing a tantrum, tears streaming down her face.

Yu-na could not offer any words of comfort and just placed her hand on Tiria’s back. As she held Tiria, transparent tears began to flow from Yu-na’s eyes as well.

For a while, the tent was filled with the sound of their crying.

Tiria was not the only one who was living like a wreck due to the shock of Yeong-sik’s death. In another tent a bit away from where Tiria stayed, a middle-aged man with a kind impression on his face looked down at a woman with a troubled expression.

“Ara. Staying like this won’t bring Yeong-sik back.”

Gil-soo looked down at Ara, who had her face buried in her knees while squatting, and spoke.

Having miraculously survived the wound that pierced his chest, he had quickly recovered thanks to Han-seong’s meticulous care and the top-grade potions provided by the Leviathan Guild.

“Ajusshi.”

Ara called out to him in a low voice without lifting her head.

“I said terrible things to Yeong-sik. I called him a machine without emotions, said he wasn’t even human.”

“I knew he didn’t mean it that way… I knew he did it all for us, but I said those things anyway.”

She continued in a voice that sounded like she was sobbing.

“I wanted to apologize… to tell him I was sorry, to ask for his forgiveness…”

“Ara….”

Gil-soo looked at her with a sorrowful expression. Ara slowly lifted her head. Her face was smeared with tears.

“But… but…”

“Yeong-sik will understand.”

“What’s the use of him understanding now!”

She shouted, clenching her fists tightly. Gil-soo showed her his characteristic kind smile.

“Don’t worry. Yeong-sik will come back soon.”

Ara wanted to tell him that he didn’t understand the situation, that not even Yeong-sik could have survived that explosion. But she couldn’t bring herself to say it. It wasn’t because she wanted to consider Gil-soo’s feelings; it was because she wanted to believe that he was alive too.

Murmur, murmur.

At that moment, noises were heard from outside. Ara quickly stood up and ran out.

“Ye-Yeong-sik!”

She wasn’t the only one who rushed outside. Tiria, who ran out of the tent at the same time, called Yeong-sik’s name urgently.

But their faces soon filled with despair.

The source of the noise was Kang Ha-rin, Cheon Tae-hwang, and Park Cheol-tae returning from the search.

“Yeong-sik…”

“We couldn’t find him.”

Kang Ha-rin, with a bandage wrapped around one arm, shook her head with a stiff expression. Tiria staggered at her words, and Park Cheol-tae quickly approached to support her.

“…I’m sorry, Guild Master. We expanded the search area and scoured the surroundings, but…”

Tiria, with her mouth tightly shut, lowered her head. Kang Ha-rin walked up to her.

“We’re going back to the Elnote Kingdom tomorrow. We can’t provide any more search support. You need to decide whether to follow us or stay here.”

“But…”

“You’re not the only ones who lost guild members. We lost many people too.”

Kang Ha-rin spoke with a trembling voice. Deep sorrow was etched in her eyes.

“Please! Please, help us search for Yeong-sik a little longer!”

Tiria clutched Kang Ha-rin’s sleeve, her voice desperate.

Kang Ha-rin’s expression twisted. She roughly shook off Tiria’s hand.

“Are you still not thinking clearly?! The explosion shook the lowest level of the dungeon! Do you think anyone could survive that? The Yeong-sik you’re desperately searching for is already dead!”

Her words cut into Tiria’s heart like a sharp blade.

“Ah…”

Tiria staggered back in shock. Her knees gave out, and she fell to the ground.

Dense despair weighed down on her entire body.

Then it happened.

“Who did you say is dead?”

An all-too-familiar voice reached her ears.

It was Yeong-sik’s voice.