Chapter 10

“I’d like to give you a small token of thanks.”

“Huh? No, it’s fine.”

At Blaine’s words, Theo frantically waved his hands. A token of thanks, seriously? When Theo firmly refused, Blaine looked flustered. His wolf ears drooped flat against his head as he mumbled timidly.

“But still… I owe you…”

Theo glanced at the wolf ears slumped on top of Blaine’s head. Plenty of costumes mimicked animal ears, but ones that actually moved with the wearer’s emotions were extremely expensive items. Pretty good stuff he’s got there.

“I really… really want to repay you somehow. I’d feel better if I could. Isn’t there a way?”

Theo couldn’t quite understand Blaine’s behavior. Sure, he had helped him in the Jain Forest, but was that really something to beg this desperately to repay?

Watching Blaine fidget so obviously, Theo narrowed his eyes with suspicion. Maybe he’d been blinded by that handsome face and missed the truth underneath? After a brief hesitation, Theo decided to cut it off here.

“Then, have you ever seen something called the Kallia Tree?”

“…What?”

“I need something called the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood right now.”

“…What?”

“The Rain-soaked Kallia Wood.”

He enunciated it clearly again. Blaine only blinked and stared at Theo blankly. Theo sneered inwardly and waved dismissively. Like you’d know anything.

“If you don’t, forget it. I’m busy, so I’ll get going.”

He opened the world map again and started walking, but a desperate hand suddenly grabbed him.

“Wait!”

“?”

“I have it. I have that!”

Blaine answered so lightly that Theo became certain on the spot—this bastard’s a scammer. Theo harshly shook off his hand and glared, irritation etched on his face.

“You little bastard, spouting bullshit that doesn’t even—”

He was about to let loose a stream of curses when something suddenly shoved right under his nose.

“…Huh?”

It was unmistakably the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood.

It took Theo a few seconds to process what he was seeing. He stared back and forth between Blaine’s face and the shimmering item in his palm, then muttered in disbelief.

“My god…”

With trembling hands, Theo clasped Blaine’s hand around the item, pulling it closer. As if it might shatter, as if it might disappear, he held it with extreme care. Blaine looked startled by the sudden touch, but quickly yielded to it without complaint.

With the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood floating between them, their distance shrank. Blaine’s cheeks turned red as he looked at Theo, leaning in slightly as he whispered.

“Is this what you needed?”

Theo couldn’t even answer. He only nodded furiously, eyes locked firmly on the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood. His honey-blonde hair brushed against Blaine’s cheek, making him smile softly, pleased.

“I’ll give it to you.”

Once again, that answer came so casually. Theo’s head jerked up, and an awkward, ugly sound burst from his mouth.

“Wha—uhh?”

“Repayment. You said you wanted it, didn’t you?”

Blaine smiled even brighter, so radiant it looked like his face was glowing. Theo instinctively raised his hand like a sunshade against it.

What is this… an angel?

With the man smiling like an angel right in front of him, Theo just opened and closed his mouth soundlessly. He had no idea what to do first. Should he thank him? No, maybe he should tell Marco first? But before that—where had he even gotten it? Did he remember the location? Or should he ask the price first?

Countless thoughts crossed his mind in just a few seconds, but he couldn’t decide what to do. In the end, throwing caution to the wind, he dragged Blaine straight to Marco’s workshop.

Before Blaine knew it, he was standing inside, looking bewildered. Marco, who suddenly found two strangers barging in, looked just as stunned. It was the first time Marco had seen Blaine, and the first time Blaine had seen Marco. Both of them stared at Theo as if asking, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’ But Theo ignored Marco completely and focused only on Blaine.

“I don’t really know the market price, so could you make the first offer?”

“…What?”

When Blaine blinked in confusion, Theo grew impatient. He hurriedly pointed at Blaine’s hand and said, “That thing.” But Blaine’s palm was empty. Marco, who had been quietly observing, also glanced at the empty hand.

Only then did Blaine realize and quickly summoned the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood back into his palm.

“Oh, this?”

“Yes! That! Please, just give me a price already!”

Marco, who had been staring blankly, gasped in shock the moment he saw the item appear. He grabbed Theo by the shoulders and shook him silently in frantic excitement, but Theo’s attention remained fixed on Blaine.

“I’m not selling it.”

“?”

Theo and Marco both froze on the spot. They whipped their heads toward Blaine, and Theo stammered in disbelief.

“W-wait, but you said you’d give it to me?”

“Yes, I said I’d give it, but I never said I’d sell it…”

“Huh?”

“I told you—it’s repayment. I’ll just give it to you.”

Blaine smiled again, looking every bit like an angel. Theo and Marco instinctively shielded their faces from the radiant glow that seemed to shine from his back. To just hand it over, without even asking what it was worth—was he out of his mind?

As Marco struggled to endure the blinding glow, he hastily put something together and plopped sunglasses onto both Theo and himself. Only then could Theo finally look at Blaine properly. Adjusting the sunglasses, he asked, suspicion still heavy in his voice.

“Wait… are you a scammer?”

“…What?”

“No, I mean, why would you just give that away for free?”

“Because… it’s repayment?”

“That wasn’t something worth receiving such a huge repayment for.”

“To me, it was…”

“…Even so, I don’t think I can just take it for free. Name your price.”

Blaine’s ears drooped, and the radiant glow faded away. Theo was finally able to take off his sunglasses. From that reaction, it seemed clear he wasn’t a scammer. After all, what kind of con artist gets dejected when someone refuses a free gift?

Blaine hesitated for a while before mumbling out a price.

“Then… a hundred gold…”

“That’s barely the price of a single potion. Are you kidding me?”

“…A thousand gold?”

“That’s only ten potions. Higher.”

“T-ten thousand gold…?”

“…Higher.”

Rejected again and again, Blaine looked at Theo with teary eyes. Then, as if making up his mind, he clenched his eyes shut and shouted,

“O-one million!”

Theo’s face twisted in disbelief. And right on cue, Marco, who had been silently watching, shouted on his behalf.

“At least say ten billion!”

Blaine turned to Marco, his face stricken as if struck by lightning. Theo looked just as horrified.

‘I don’t have ten billion, you lunatic!’

In the end, Theo compromised and bought the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood for three hundred million. Blaine seemed utterly unwilling to accept money, crying through the transaction—literally crying.

Theo immediately handed the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood over to Marco, who accepted it with trembling hands.

Since Marco was Tier 5 in forging, the full detailed description appeared for him. With a look of awe, he carefully examined the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood from every angle, then covered his mouth as if overwhelmed with emotion.

“I… I can’t believe I’m seeing this with my own eyes…”

After staring at the wood for a long time, Marco suddenly looked up at Theo, as if remembering something.

“Now we just need to get Bamia’s Spider Silk, hyung!”

Marco looked fired up, but Theo’s face was less than enthusiastic. Compared to the Kallia Wood, the Bamia’s Spider Silk was even more troublesome.

It could only be obtained in the Spiderweb Labyrinth, an instant dungeon where Bamia was the final boss. But here was the catch: it couldn’t be harvested in the normal mode that required five or more players. It could only be harvested in hard mode, which allowed four players or fewer.

Theo could clear a normal dungeon on his own—but hard mode was flat-out impossible alone.

The only people suited for the Hard Mode of the Spiderweb Labyrinth were Father, Holanghee, or Aslan, but those three couldn’t help him every time. Forming a party through auto-matching also had its limits. Most players preferred Normal Mode since the only difference in drops between Normal and Hard was Bamia Spider Silk.

And on the rare occasion he did find a Hard Mode party, they were all there to farm Bamia Spider Silk too. If the item dropped, it was obvious there’d be a brutal bidding war.

“Can’t you just use regular fiber instead? Or something easier to get…?”

This time, Marco looked displeased.

“We worked so hard to get the Kallia Wood. We have to get the Spider Silk too, hyung. It’s too much of a waste to finish with some substitute. If we add Bamia Spider Silk, we can cover both range and accuracy.”

“If it were somewhere I could solo, I wouldn’t mind farming it even if it took forever. But that dungeon’s too hard for me to solo… and it’s not easy to find a party either.”

“Can’t you ask Father or Anghee noona to help? Or maybe Aslan hyung.”

“It’s not like it’ll drop after just one or two runs.”

“Ah… true, but… it’d be such a waste.”

“Isn’t there anything else we can use?”

“I searched everywhere, but nothing compares to the Bamia Spider Silk…”

The two of them leaned in with grim faces. It was one problem after another. Honestly, Theo never expected to get the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood. He thought his luck had already run out back at Raia’s Nest.

How many times a day did he think about quitting and just going fishing instead? Still, he had done his best. If it really didn’t work out, he planned to settle for the next best thing. But then this angel of a man had suddenly handed him the Rain-soaked Kallia Wood.

“Sigh.”

Ever since obtaining the Eternal Fog, he’d been sighing more often. No matter how he looked at it, there was no answer. Of course he was greedy—when you had the best, it was only natural to want to add another best. Settling for second-best on top of the best felt like too much of a waste.

“I’ll at least tell the others and ask them to help however they can.”

Theo’s powerless reply made Marco’s face brighten. Just as he was about to encourage him, another voice suddenly cut in.

“Um… if it’s okay, would you like me to help?”