Chapter 23

With a thud, Kim Na collapsed forward onto the ground. Holanghee looked down at them and asked,

“So… how do you know them? You said their name earlier, didn’t you?”

“Blaine joined our guild, and not even a day later I got a whisper.”

“Huh?”

“Asked if I knew someone named Blaine.”

“What?”

“I said I did, and they smugly told me he was a Fourth Gen.”

“What? That’s outing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, super messed up, right? Apparently, they’ve been doing that to get people kicked from guilds or clans.”

“Wow… that’s actually evil.”

Holanghee stared at Kim Na with a look of pure disgust.

“I told them to screw off and said if they had a problem, they could come find me. After that, our guild members kept getting harassed more and more… and now we’re here.”

“What kind of trash personality is that?”

As Holanghee and Father were talking, Mr. Hana, who had been silently listening, suddenly shifted his gaze somewhere off to the side. Then he quickly pulled out a shield almost as big as himself and activated an Action.

A massive shield-shaped barrier spread out above the three of them—just in time. A barrage of attacks rained down violently on the barrier. Marco, Red Snapper, and Mandako, who were outside the barrier’s range, screamed as they were struck down.

Mr. Hana frowned slightly, glancing up at the shield. It wasn’t skill—just numbers.

Father and Holanghee tried to pinpoint where the attacks were coming from, but the constant storm of Actions made it impossible to see clearly. The bombardment continued like thunder for a while longer before finally stopping.

And when the dust settled, Kim Na—along with 1, 2, and 4—were nowhere to be seen.

The incident at Cram Ridge had been settled for now, but out of consideration for Blaine, Father chose not to expose the misdeeds of Kim Na’s guild. She simply passed the information along to Theo.

Those who had gone to Cram Ridge rejoined the search for Noquia, but since she vanished past the Polia Mountain Pass, her whereabouts had been completely unknown.

They considered the possibility she’d hidden away in a village, but with wanted posters up everywhere, and NPCs likely to report any sightings to the self-defense forces, the lack of alerts suggested she hadn’t gone into town either.

As Theo continued searching with Aslan and Blaine, he spotted three figures walking toward them from the opposite end of the path. He tilted his head. They looked vaguely familiar, but something about them felt off.

Then he remembered. Red. Green. Orange.

“…Ah.”

A sigh escaped him on instinct. Those goddamn traffic light bastards.

The Traffic Light Trio had noticed them too. They paused briefly, muttering among themselves, then waved like they were running into an old friend.

Theo nearly cursed at their bright, smiling faces, but stopped when he felt someone tug at the sleeve of his harness. He looked back to find Blaine clinging to him, face pale and trembling.

The Jain Forest incident must’ve hit Blaine harder than he’d let on. Not that it mattered to the Traffic Light bastards—they swaggered right up and surrounded them. All three were in Murderer Mode.

They glanced at Theo with wary eyes, then started chuckling.

“What are you, the Grim Reaper?”

“Shit, I almost pissed myself.”

Then Green stepped toward Blaine with a mocking tone.

“Hey, hey, I heard you got an Eternal?”

Blaine flinched and tried to hide further behind Theo. But with Theo being smaller, there was no real way to hide. Green followed around to the back and gave Blaine a couple of taps on the shoulder.

“You get something that nice and don’t even offer a cut to your seniors? Just hogging it all to yourself?”

Blaine couldn’t even lift his head. He clung to Theo’s harness sleeve like it was his last lifeline.

“Look at this little punk. Got all shy and quiet? What, did I bully you or something? Why’re you so scared?”

Green shrugged and laughed, glancing at Theo and Aslan like he was pleading innocent. Aslan looked confused. Theo just stared at him blankly.

When neither of them stepped up to defend Blaine, Green grew smug. Figures.

“Anyway, I heard you used that Eternal to enhance gravity like a dumbass?”

Right on cue, Orange chimed in. He was holding a staff—clearly a magic user. Looking absolutely sick with envy, he sneered,

“Should’ve given it to me. Right? Don’t you guys agree?”

He looked to Red and Green for validation. His jealousy was plain as day.

Green nodded, not very enthusiastically. But Red just looked at Orange with pity. Then, without warning, he stepped right up to Theo and stared at his face, jabbing at his own temple with his finger.

“Hey, I’ve got a pretty good memory, you know? Took me a second to remember the pathetic scum who picked up human garbage like it was something precious…”

He trailed off, then placed a hand on Theo’s shoulder.

“It was you, right? Back at the carriage.”

Then he looked past Theo, locking eyes with Blaine.

“Good for you, joining a guild with no standards. Am I right?”

Blaine suddenly lifted his head. Red’s cheerful mockery was an insult to both the guild and to Theo. Without thinking, Blaine grabbed Red’s hand off Theo’s shoulder and shook his head. His eyes protested, but his ears drooped like a frightened pup.

Red’s expression crumpled instantly. It wasn’t just the contact that disgusted him—it was the fact that Blaine dared to resist. He smacked Blaine’s hand away and spat out a curse, literally. The spit landed on Blaine’s shoulder.

Aslan couldn’t take it anymore and shoved Red hard with a glare.

“The hell’s your problem, bastard?”

With a harsh thud, Red stumbled back ungracefully. But he quickly composed himself, acting like nothing happened. Aslan looked at him like he couldn’t believe it.

Theo stared at Red, then tapped his foot against the ground.

Tap, tap.

“Hey.”

“…?”

“I remember you too.”

Tap, tap.

Red’s expression wavered, clearly not expecting that. But he quickly recovered, raising his brows in anticipation.

“Yeah?”

“Your eyeballs.”

Tap, tap.

“Huh?”

Red didn’t seem to catch it, so Theo sighed, like it was pathetic that he had to repeat himself, and stepped forward once more. That made seven steps.

From behind Theo, a black veil erupted like a crashing waterfall.

“Wh-what the—?!”

Startled, Red fell straight onto his ass. Green, Orange, and even Aslan were left speechless, staring at the mysterious veil. Only Blaine knew what it was.

Theo tapped Red’s leg with his foot, then stomped down hard on his thigh. That made eight.

“I remember thinking I wanted to crush you.”

The churning veil scattered like mist, then surged forward like a tidal wave—swallowing the entire Traffic Light Trio. Their screams rang out, but none of them could escape. The veil became pure darkness, blinding and merciless, until it devoured them completely.

When it finally faded, the three lay collapsed on the ground in Exhaustion, staring blankly at Theo. Aslan, too, was frozen in place.

A moment of silence passed.

Then Green suddenly screamed, furious.

“What the hell, are you a hacker or something?! How can you use an Action without even pulling out a weapon?!”

Right behind Green, Orange and Red also started yelling in outrage. Theo plugged his ears like their noise was giving him a headache, then looked at them with pure pity.

“Is that really all your brains can come up with?”

He adjusted his grip on his stabilizer and proceeded to thoroughly beat the three of them down, even though they were already in Exhaustion. Once they were knocked into full incapacitation, he spat on them for good measure, then turned and walked off with Blaine and Aslan.

The three left behind screamed after him.

“You bastard! We’re reporting you!”

Aslan, dragged along by Theo, kept glancing back and forth between the Traffic Light Trio and Theo. Finally, he stopped Theo and said, with a mix of excitement and sincerity in his voice,

“Hey, seriously. Won’t you consider joining our guild? I’m not joking.”

Theo gave him a tired look. No one had ever said crap like that before he got his Eternal. Shallow bastard.

“Piss off.”

Theo shut it down without hesitation. But Aslan kept clinging to him, begging him to join YesYesu, insisting that they really, really wanted him.

“By the way, what was that Action? Did you just learn it? That was sick. Who made it? Give me the creator’s name so I can commission one too.”

On and on the questions flowed, enough to burst Theo’s eardrums. Eventually, he explained that it was a special ability of Eternal Fog, and only then did Aslan shut up.

As the three walked—Theo expressionless, Aslan gloomy—a small, timid voice broke the silence.

“I’m sorry…”

The unexpected apology made Theo stop walking. He looked at Blaine.

“For what?”

“For… causing trouble.”

Theo stared at him for a moment, then blew a puff of air at Blaine’s bangs. He looked up at the sky once, then down at the ground, and finally opened his mouth.

“Since we’re here, might as well tell you. The ones attacking our guild right now? They’re from your old guild.”

“…Huh?”

“The day after you joined, your old guild master whispered Father. Asked if she knew you were Fourth Gen.”

Blaine couldn’t find words. His face slowly fell apart as the shock set in.

“They probably had influence in that clan you mentioned too. Same playbook—they were trying to get in here as well.”

Blaine’s eyes darted around in confusion, then slowly lowered to the ground. His gaze lost focus, like he was sinking into old memories.

Theo considered giving him time to process it all—but maybe it was better to drop it all at once.

“And now that that didn’t work out, they’re lashing out. All those random fights in towns and hunting zones the past few days? Looks like they were behind that too.”

Blaine’s face went pale. It was overwhelming—this mess had grown from something he caused, and he hadn’t even known it. Guilt flooded him. But beneath that, another emotion surfaced—fear. What if they hated him now? What if they kicked him out?

His hands trembled as he asked Theo with a wavering voice, eyes filling with tears.

“Th-then… wh-what do I… what do I do?”

“What do you mean, ‘what do you do’? If they pick a fight, fight back.”