Chapter 79

They were locked in a damp, grimy underground jail, sitting apart from one another without exchanging a single word. The guard NPC, reassured by their sudden quiet, left the dungeon—but that was a mistake. Putting them all in the same cell had been a grave error.

Once alone together again, they immediately started tearing into each other, the fight igniting almost automatically. Soon, they were tangled up in a full-blown brawl. But the cell was far too small for them to move freely. Frustrated by limbs that couldn’t swing as wildly as they wanted, all five of them tried to escape, clashing violently at the entrance.

With their jailbreak, NPCs in the guild were temporarily restricted, and the guild members, unaware that the five had been detained at all, began grumbling late. Soon, an NPC militia began gathering in Lucilvania to hunt them down.

After a while, hundreds of militia members crowded the front of the dungeon where the five were fighting. Members of Father and the Guest Guild ran to help, expecting fierce resistance—but to their surprise, the five were caught without much struggle.

Once dragged back into the dungeon, the five were placed in separate cells this time. The guards seemed to have learned not to put them together. They increased the number of guards, stationed them around, and left.

Father, sitting on a cot in the cell, brushed their disheveled hair back with a hand comb and spoke to the guild members standing outside the bars.

“Pay the bail so we can get out.”

But the guild members only stared coldly. They exchanged glances and turned, leaving the dungeon without a word. Flustered by their indifferent departure, Father stammered, then shouted in urgency.

“Guild, hey, what are you doing? You can’t just leave like that!”

[Bastard Kid: After all the trouble because of Noquia, now you all pull a stunt together?]

[Leather Flute Hip Song: Thanks to you guys, I messed up a huge trade.]

[Marco: I was mid-auction for a shop deliveryㅠㅠ]

[Yorkshire: The item I’d been waiting a month for finally hit the market…]

[If It’s You Then Me: Mastar wasn’t like this at all, such a sly tease]

[If It’s Not You Then Me: And now you drag others into trouble too?]

[Red Snapper: And yet you ask for bail? Do you even have a conscience?]

[Bastard Kid: Sit there quietly and reflect, please.]

They had no words against the cold rejection. Led by Father, the five slumped one by one onto the cots as if resigned. The dungeon was silent except for awkward stillness, as they checked to see if any other players were present.

Occasionally, the drip of water echoed, and the torch flames flickered restlessly on the walls. Their crime of escaping would add extra time—they’d be stuck for at least a week. They needed someone willing to pay bail.

While everyone racked their brains for someone who could cover the bail, Holanghee suddenly seemed to remember something. She lifted her head, grabbed the bars, and gazed in a particular direction.

“Come to think of it, I’m curious about something, separate from this mess.”

Everyone looked up, staring at Holanghee from their own cells. Questions were written all over their faces.

Holanghee stretched her hand through the bars, pointing at someone.

“You were hugging each other in the middle of the street yesterday, weren’t you?”

Her fingers pointed to Theo and Blaine. All eyes shot toward them instantly. The two blinked, bewildered, while Father scrambled up in shock, shouting.

“What did you say?!”

Holanghee looked at Theo and Blaine, as if trying to confirm the truth. Her gaze was full of distrust. She clearly didn’t believe it. But after noticing Theo’s flustered expression, she turned her eyes back toward Holanghee.

“Hey, explain it properly!”

The veins in the hands gripping the bars bulged sharply, as if he were ready to rip the bars out at a moment’s notice. Holanghee, arms crossed outside the bars, replied calmly.

“I only heard it secondhand, so I don’t know the details, but apparently they were hugging right in the middle of Ratteon yesterday. And there were more than a few people who saw it.”

When Holanghee pointed toward Theo with her chin, Father’s gaze followed instantly. Noquia and Mastar, along with everyone else, also turned to look. Theo frowned in annoyance, then casually waved it off with a nonchalant expression, acting like it was no big deal.

“I was just cheering him up because he was upset about the Territorial War.”

“Who cheers someone up by hugging them? If you hugged me to ‘cheer me up,’ I’d punch you!”

Father, face red with fury, was mid-rant when Theo suddenly jumped and shouted.

“Why would I hug you? Don’t say something ridiculous!”

“Ridiculous, huh? Did you hug Blaine then?!”

“What? Are you saying Blaine is the same as you?”

“Oh, really? So you’re saying Blaine and I are different?”

“No, Blaine is…”

“Did you two… kiss?!”

At that moment, Noquia cut Theo off and shouted. Everyone froze, turning toward her. Her face, leaning as if to poke through the bars, gleamed with expectation.

“…What?”

Theo asked slowly, unsure if he had heard correctly. But Noquia, as if waiting for the right moment, asked even louder.

“Did you kiss?!”

“Why would we kiss…?”

“You didn’t? Ah, why not~?! Isn’t it customary to plant a little lip-to-lip smack before heading straight to bed when cheering someone up~?”

“What kind of custom is that?”

“Why not? I did it that way.”

Everyone was dumbfounded by her shameless claim. They quickly looked at Blaine, silently thinking, Is she really saying this in front of a kid? Perhaps the child wouldn’t fully understand. But Blaine’s cheeks were already as red as a ripe apple.

With his cheeks still flushed, Blaine grinned innocently before dropping a bombshell that made Theo nearly lose it.

“We didn’t… kiss… but we did sleep together. So does that count as following tradition?”

“B-Blaine…!”

“What?! You slept together?!”

Everyone looked at Blaine at the first question, then at Theo at the second.

Frozen in shock, Theo immediately shook his head and waved his hands.

“No! That’s not true!”

“Not true? He just said you slept together!”

“I said no! We just slept at my place!”

“See! You slept together!”

“We just slept! I let him stay the night!”

“One night becomes two, then three!”

Theo, struggling alone against the onslaught from Father, Noquia, and Holanghee, finally buried his face in his hands and burst into an indignant cry. Blaine and Mastar, startled by this reaction, didn’t know what to do. But the trio’s assault showed no signs of stopping—they knew Theo’s tears were crocodile tears meant to escape blame.

Shouts, wails, and cries made the dungeon feel like it would collapse. Just then, someone entered, hands over their ears and frowning.

“You guys always this noisy even when locked up?”

Recognizing the voice, everyone turned. Mr. Hana stood there, hands clamped over his ears.

“What’s he doing here?”

Noquia asked.

“Father asked him to come pay the bail,” Mr. Hana replied. Holanghee and Noquia shot Father a glare, but Father only scowled even harder.

“You idiot, can’t you read the room? You came crawling in now?! I’m busy—get lost!”

“What? Weren’t you the one who asked me to come?”

“Not now! I can’t go out! Don’t go, get lost, you’re in the way!”

Confused and scolded without understanding why, Mr. Hana was sent away, standing dumbly outside the dungeon. With soulless eyes, he vowed never to help Father again.

Inside the dungeon, the counterattack against Father began immediately.

“Hey! You called him just to save yourself?!”

“Traitor! You’re a traitor! Ugh, a traitor!”

The relentless verbal assault left Father’s face turning red and purple. She had sent Mr. Hana away just to hear Theo and Blaine’s side, and yet now the arrows were pointing at her.

“Damn it…”

Muttering, Father whispered again to Mr. Hana, asking him to pay the bail. Outside, Mr. Hana, sitting idly on the flowerbed border, sighed and stood. Of course—though he resolved not to help, it was obvious he’d be called again. With a deep exhale, he straightened his shoulders and returned inside the dungeon.

Mr. Hana ended up paying the full bail for all five of them—quite a hefty sum.

A few days later, Father approached Theo, who was scanning the exchange at the central hall table.

“So, you said you bought the materials to expand the ship with public funds. Did you actually buy them?”

Without lifting his eyes from the display, Theo just nodded.

“I did. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have betrayed anyone or switched sides.”

“Wow… You take all the profit for yourself and leave the rest of us hanging.”

Theo finally looked up at Father.

“Father, life’s a solo game.”

“You’re siding with Noquia?”

“…That was just temporary. Not someone I’d trust long-term, right?”

“She would cry if she heard that.”

“Well, serves her right.”

“That’s true. But why are you staring at the exchange like that?”

“I’m checking if any new expansion materials went up.”

“Didn’t you set an alert?”

“I did. But even if the alert rings, things sell fast. So I keep checking.”

“Persistent. I could usually buy stuff even if I went by the alert… Why not just ask Blaine to buy it?”

Father glanced around the guild house. Blaine was on the second-floor railing, talking with Bastard Kid and Marco. Theo followed his gaze to Blaine, snorting in disbelief.

“Why make such a big deal? If we’re lucky we get it, if not, we don’t. Honestly, farming and crafting costs less anyway…”

“Then just farm, right? But missing a trade right in front of you is so frustrating.”

“But if I get lucky and buy it, the expansion goes faster.”

“You’re really… obsessed with fishing and the ship. You’re a total gearhead.”

“It’s still decent money. You’re not paying my maintenance every month, are you?”

“Ugh, fine… When we expand the ship, let’s all go fishing on the test run.”

“Sure.”

As they chatted, Blaine came down from the second floor with Bastard Kid and Marco, tapping the table a few times to get their attention.

When they looked, Blaine, with an innocent face, pointed to the two.

“They want to ask you something.”

“Huh? About what?”

Curious, Theo moved the display aside and focused on them. Bastard Kid and Marco exchanged nervous glances before carefully asking Theo and Blaine.

“You two… really went all the way…?”

“Noquia!”

Moments later, Theo’s enraged voice rang through the guild house. Noquia, startled in the workshop, rushed out in alarm.

“What? What happened? Why?”

Noquia arrived at the central hall and saw Theo being held by Bastard Kid, Marco, and Blaine. Her eyes widened, and she looked to Father for answers—but Theo’s shout came first.

“You little…!”

“Huh? What? Wha-what did I do?”

“Yeah, you spread that rumor, didn’t you? I said no! I said no!”

Red-faced with fury, Theo broke free from the three holding him and lunged at Noquia.

“Wait, hold on! Aaah! Theo’s going to kill me!”

A brutal scuffle erupted in the guild’s central hall. Mastar quietly bit his lip and slipped away, watching Noquia get helplessly tossed around.