Chapter 171 – Bartender! Another round here! (3)

All Mute’s manager, Kane, was stunned. He blinked several times, eyes wide open.

The impact was so intense that his mind began to waver. “Am I dreaming?” The question barely formed, but the cold sweat running down his nose made it clear—this was very real.

He forced his gaze toward the smoke. There was All Mute, curled up with her limbs severed, while Kang Geom-Ma slowly walked toward her.

He was going to finish the unfinished duel once and for all. He approached a completely defenseless All Mute.

Seeing that, thick drops of sweat ran down Kane’s cheeks. He shouted without thinking.

“Ellie!”

As if in response to that call, Kang Geom-Ma turned his head. His cold, piercing eyes glared at him. Kane felt as if an invisible hand was crushing his heart. Kang Geom-Ma’s voice, charged with murderous intent, said:

“Calm down.”

That muted word erased Kane’s consciousness. He choked as if something were stuck in his throat.

“Gu… guh…”

With a soft groan, Kane collapsed. Just before completely blacking out, he had one final thought: So it was true—the rumor that he gave an ogre a heart attack.

Mao Lang’s face also turned pale upon seeing Kane collapse. Her legs, once crossed arrogantly, were now drawn back with humility.

She had come all the way from China to mock All Mute with laughter, to roll on the floor after the fight. But now, that urge was real. It had to happen.

Mao Lang looked at Kang Geom-Ma. Her lips were drier than dried seaweed.

‘Now… you’ve truly become a monster.’

Kang Geom-Ma hadn’t just trained. He had evolved. If it were charted, the upward slope would form a right angle.

‘If I had fought the current Kang Geom-Ma…’

A chill ran down her spine. Her pupils shrank, her lungs heaved, and her stomach growled, her throat itched.

Hiccup! Mao Lang covered her mouth. Her hands trembled. If Kang Geom-Ma so much as looked at her, she’d feel like Cain before God.

She no longer saw him as human. He was a sword in human form. A demon.

Mao Lang bit her tongue to stop the hiccups. “Should I cut it off?” Better that than be the next victim. She trembled uncontrollably.

Amid this crucible of fear, Kang Geom-Ma finally reached All Mute. He looked at the result of his work.

Her breathing was weak, unstable. She looked like a corpse in the middle of a graveyard. A complete disaster. He naturally frowned.

‘I didn’t mean to go this far…’

He had been blinded by the [Suppression Blessing]. If he had vision, he wouldn’t have been so disoriented. He felt he had gone overboard in trying to increase his mastery of the [Driving Force Blessing].

“It’s time to end this.”

Kang Geom-Ma raised his sashimi knife, determined.

That’s when All Mute barely moved her lips. Blood spilled from her sliced vocal cords.

“Save… me…”

She had forgotten this was just a duel in an artificial dimensional space. The fear had completely overtaken her, dissolving her consciousness.

She was the most powerful heroine, yes—but still human. And the mind of a person facing death breaks easily.

The sword, aimed straight at her forehead, paused. Kang Geom-Ma scratched his head with the weapon’s hilt.

“I don’t understand you. I don’t speak English.”

“….!”

“But it sounds like you’re asking me to make it quick.”

All Mute’s eyes trembled violently. She instinctively raised a hand to stop him. But she had no weapons. That sword demon had already severed all her limbs.

Panicking, terrified, All Mute writhed. Kang Geom-Ma spoke to her in a soothing tone.

“Relax. If I do it all at once, it won’t hurt.”

He said it like a dentist, but to All Mute, he seemed like a Japanese chef about to drive a kitchen knife into her gills. Then, she let out her usual scream:

“SHIT!”

Ah, right. That word was universal. Like “fuck” in Korean.

A curse word?

The reaction was immediate. Kang Geom-Ma’s face twisted into a fierce expression. Korea, land of Eastern manners, wouldn’t tolerate such rudeness. The sword, still suspended in the air, moved again.

A glistening tear rolled from All Mute’s eye. And at the moment that drop of regret hit the ground—

BAM!

The sword came down.

All five of All Mute’s senses were completely sealed.

The price of a curse word… was death.

***

“Are you regaining consciousness?”

At the sound of that voice, All Mute’s eyes opened. She looked to the side and sighed.

“…Mao Lang.”

“And you still have the energy to remember my face? After that duel, my eyes nearly rolled back. I honestly thought I died.”

Mao Lang was sitting on the hospital bed, laughing as she tapped her foot on the floor, as if recalling the memory fondly.

“So, what do you think now after facing Kang Geom-Ma?”

All Mute couldn’t answer right away. She hadn’t made up her mind yet.

She gripped the bedsheet for a long while before smoothing it out and speaking:

“He’s a monster. It’s hard to even gauge Kang Geom-Ma’s level. Before meeting him, I thought maybe I had a slight chance… but no. I couldn’t even get him to acknowledge me.”

“……”

“If I was just a little short on power, I might’ve tried to push through somehow. But the depth of that abyss… it was bottomless. Honestly, if I tried listing all the reasons I lost, I’d never finish.”

Mao Lang stared at All Mute, who was speaking calmly.

Khan had grown up without knowing defeat. Since childhood, she carried an inferiority complex, and now she had suffered a crushing loss. At the very least, she had hoped to prove she was better than her.

Mao Lang let out a soft sigh. Then, trying to sound like she had the upper hand, she said:

“See? I told you I wasn’t treated well during the festival, didn’t I? Remember the scorn I got from the hero community after that? God… now you know how it feels too. The monster was Kang Geom-Ma, not me being weak. You agree, right?”

“I agree.”

Khan nodded calmly. Mao Lang was left speechless at that emotionless response.

Khan continued with a blank expression:

“And I never thought you were weak in the first place.”

“…?”

A question mark appeared in Mao Lang’s eyes. Khan continued as if it was nothing.

“Back in our cadet days, you were ranked number two in our year. Second place at Joaquin Academy. That’s no small feat. If you had continued to train steadily, I probably couldn’t guarantee a win against you.”

Mao Lang pursed her lips. She came here to mock her, and ended up being praised.

She ran her hand through her hair forcefully, trying to shake off the uncomfortable thoughts, and opened her mouth again:

“So, have you completely given up on becoming one of the Seven Stars?”

“Yes. I lost too much to keep insisting.”

“What happened to your patriotic fervor? I thought you’d be stubborn about representing the U.S. till the end.”

“If my opponent had been someone despicable, I wouldn’t have given up. But that sword… No, Kang Geom-Ma is the hero of the Joaquin tragedy. It’s wrong to be stubborn against someone like that.”

“But won’t the White House and Lancelot Company grill you over it? I mean, even if he’s the so-called Sashimi Saint, he couldn’t beat a mere student. Don’t you think they’ll blame you for that?”

Mao Lang’s voice was full of concern. All Mute showed a slightly surprised expression. Back when they were cadets, Mao Lang only scolded her harshly. But now that they were adults, she was speaking like a friend offering advice.

Maybe it was because they both now shared the same feeling of “being defeated by Kang Geom-Ma.” It was strange. She even felt a little gratitude toward the Kang Geom-Ma who had destroyed her.

A smile crept onto Khan’s lips. Then she shrugged playfully.

“Put them in front of Kang Geom-Ma. They’ll probably faint just from making eye contact, like Kane did.”

“Ugh, why do you make such weird jokes? When someone like you, who was always so serious, says something like that, it gives me chills.”

“It’s American comedy. You should come visit me in the U.S. sometime. The food and the buildings are something else.”

“Oh yeah? We’ll see who gets addicted to food when you come to China.”

Outside the hospital room, where their conversation continued warmly, the Sword Master was about to knock on the door—but paused.

‘It’s an alumni gathering. It wouldn’t be right to interrupt.’

He simply left a fruit basket at the door.

And walked away in silence.

***

[Location of the third piece of 【???】: Secret Auction House of Pertinax.]

[Hint: As you participate in the auction, you’ll discover what the third fragment is.]

I was lying in bed when I closed the status window.

“…Why would it be in a place like that?”

The Secret Auction House of Pertinax. As a former player, I was fairly familiar with its reputation.

It was a massive marketplace operated by criminal organizations. Its scale was enormous, and they claimed it had everything—except what couldn’t be sold.

As the word “secret” implied, they didn’t offer ordinary items. The things up for auction were so vile, they couldn’t even be spoken aloud.

There were even rumors that executives of the Villain Alliance attended in disguise. A completely corrupt place.

Just thinking about going there willingly made me uncomfortable.

But if something was unpleasant, I could simply close my eyes and endure it. The real problem was something else.

The Secret Auction House of Pertinax was membership-based. In short, you needed a membership card to enter. Of course, I, a legally decent teenager, didn’t have one.

‘Damn it, I just got my Association pass, and now I need a card for this auction?’

Also, since it was an auction, it meant I’d have to bid. I didn’t have even a fraction of the money needed. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve accepted the billion-dollar offer for training in the alternate dimension without hesitation.

Two problems to solve.

First, get a membership card somehow.

Second, gather at least a minimum amount to bid.

The only positive thing was that I’d been saving up bit by bit from the money sent by that anonymous sponsor.

Of course, compared to the other auction participants, it was a laughable amount. But to me, these 500 dirty dollars meant more than the dirty money of criminals.

I stared at the ceiling and started thinking of a solution.

First, the membership card. Since I couldn’t get one on my own, I had to consider whether someone around me might have one.

“…Would someone in my circle, just a cadet, be involved in the underworld?”

As I muttered that, a jolt of electricity ran through my temple.

There was only one person. I sat up and dialed a number.

Tap—click.

A scratchy sound came from the other end, like someone answering an emergency call.

[Yes, hello! What do you need so late at night?]

“Choi Seol-ah, do you have a membership card for the Secret Auction House of Pertinax?”

I paused. Then I said:

“And if you’ve got any cash saved up, even better.”

____