Sinuiju Free Market (13)

“What’s with those people?”

“Isn’t fighting outside the arena against the rules?”

“Where the hell did the guards go…!”

Every time Hyeonseong’s group moved, the nearby onlookers glared at them with extreme wariness. Some of them even looked as though they were considering whether to attack first.

‘If the people on that side say just one word, this is going to blow up immediately.’

Hyeonseong gripped her pickaxe tightly. If the other side was not stupid, they would soon start handing out money or arena privileges to the spectators and inciting them to attack this side.

“—Attention. At this time, within this arena…”

Sure enough, after they had taken only a few more steps, an announcement rang out. The booming broadcast offered rewards and demanded that Hyeonseong’s group, who had disrupted the order of the arena, be captured.

“W-What do we do now, for real?”

As the eyes of the spectators surrounding them changed at once, Haesu asked in a frightened voice.

“What do you mean, what do we do? We just have to break through. Looks like that bastard is hiding in these stands.”

Hyeonseong answered while checking the direction Hyeonyeong was moving. Hyeonyeong had been taking a route that kept digging deeper into the spectator stands from a while ago.

That meant the manager who had given them the mission when they first arrived at this arena was hiding in there.

“These people have all gone crazy now! There wasn’t anything in the contract saying this would happen!”

Haesu screamed while hurriedly dodging the fists of spectators who had started charging in recklessly.

‘He’s dodging just fine, though.’

Hyeonseong shot Haesu a dubious sidelong glance for a moment. For all the fuss he was making, Haesu was avoiding the spectators’ attacks quite well.

That either meant the spectators were far weaker than their momentum suggested, or Haesu’s evasive ability was better than expected.

“Like I knew this was going to happen? And being that noisy isn’t going to help you survive much.”

Hyeonseong retorted as she unfolded Infinite Corridor toward the lightning bolt dropping over their heads.

“How can you even say that at a time like this…!”

“Anyway, I’m going to keep you from dying, so shut up a little. You’re driving me crazy.”

With that final answer, Hyeonseong paid no more attention to Haesu’s complaints.

‘At this rate, I don’t think we’ll catch him by moving honestly like this.’

Looking at Hyeonyeong’s back as she led the way, Hyeonseong thought that it would be better to send only Hyeonyeong ahead after all.

“Hey, just go on ahead.”

Hyeonseong said to Hyeonyeong.

“What about you, unnie?”

“I’ll manage, and this guy will manage too, so go first. If we lose that bastard like this, that’ll be even more of a headache.”

Hyeonyeong hesitated briefly at Hyeonseong’s words, then said she got it and kicked off the ground. Leaping high, she flew over people’s heads and landed far away.

“It’s already hard enough as it is, so how can you just send her off like that?”

“What do you mean, how? I’ll just have to waste some items.”

Hyeonseong pulled skill cards out of Infinite Corridor at random.

Finding a card good for pushing back the enemies around them, Hyeonseong immediately activated the skill once. People of mediocre ability were swept away in all directions in an instant.

‘It’d be better for us to get out of here.’

Swinging her pickaxe, Hyeonseong quickly surveyed the area around them.

With Hyeonyeong’s skill, she would be able to seize the manager wherever he was and drag him to wherever she wanted. So it would be better for Hyeonseong and Haesu to get out from among the crowd and take shelter somewhere relatively safe.

Once the direction of movement was decided, Hyeonseong started carving a path. Since a large portion of the onlookers gathered here were ordinary people or low-rank Awakened, Hyeonseong alone could push forward to a certain extent.

‘But it’s not like there are only ordinary people and low-rank Awakened here…’

Before long, Hyeonseong ran into an Awakened who did not dodge her pickaxe, but parried it. She could tell from his weapon and outfit. It was the ax wielder Hyeonyeong had faced first.

‘This guy was definitely estimated around C to B.’

He was the sort of skilled fighter Hyeonseong could only handle if there was no interference from those around them.

‘Should I hand a few attack skills over to Haesu?’

Dodging the continuing attacks from the ax wielder, Hyeonseong glanced sideways at Haesu. The guy was still making all kinds of panicked fuss while dodging attacks left and right.

It was not exactly a pretty sight, but at any rate, his knack for surviving on his own was quite outstanding. Hyeonseong decided to hand a few skill cards over to Haesu.

‘But to do that, I need to shake this guy off, even if just for a moment.’

Activating Mad Gatherer’s Eye, Hyeonseong stared at the ax wielder’s weapon. Several golden points appeared in spots that were relatively easy to target.

The moment she found the weapon’s weak points, Hyeonseong swung the pickaxe. The ax wielder leisurely raised his weapon and blocked it.

After exchanging two or three passes, Hyeonseong reached for the Light Spear card. Spending three uses, she summoned three spears of light.

Two of the summoned spears of light she used up as feints and distractions. Then the final spear struck one of the golden points that had appeared on the ax wielder’s weapon.

—Jjeoong—

The blade of the ax shattered into pieces and fell from the handle. In the moment the ax wielder froze in confusion, Hyeonseong handed several skill cards to Haesu.

“You handle pushing back the small fry on your side if the same thing happens again.”

Before Haesu could respond, Hyeonseong gripped her pickaxe tightly again. After forcing the ax guy back by swinging the pickaxe wildly, she pushed through the crowd once more.

“Aaagh!”

“Urgh…!”

A variety of screams burst out from somewhere a little apart from Hyeonseong. From the screams and the tearing sounds in the air, it seemed Hyeonyeong was also pushing people aside and forcing a path through.

‘Looks like she managed to catch him.’

Hyeonseong briefly turned her gaze toward the direction the sound came from. The chaos Hyeonyeong was causing was gradually drawing closer this way. That meant Hyeonyeong wanted to rejoin them.

Hyeonseong did not think Hyeonyeong could have failed. If she wanted to regroup, that had to mean she had successfully caught that bastard.

‘Unlike someone, she’s strong and competent.’

Hyeonseong once again randomly swung her pickaxe and whatever skill cards were in hand to shove back the people approaching her.

‘There are a lot fewer people still rushing in now, but…’

Hyeonseong quickly looked over the ones still holding their ground at close range. They were glaring this way without approaching carelessly. The way they were waiting for a chance to jump in meant they were definitely not ordinary civilians.

‘…Have all the actual ordinary people and ordinary-looking ones fallen back, and only the ones who’ve seen some fighting stayed behind? And if even one arena fighter gets mixed in here, then this is just…’

It was just as Hyeonseong was thinking that.

“Move!”

“What? From whe—ugh!”

A commotion broke out from the side, and someone’s body was shoved roughly aside. A masked figure dressed in martial robes charged at Hyeonseong.

‘This bastard—it’s that guy from earlier, isn’t it?’

Recognizing her opponent, Hyeonseong frowned. He had trembled so badly after the match ended, and now he had finally come looking for a fight like this.

‘And with new equipment on, too.’

On his hands were knuckles that looked like higher-grade items than before. On top of that, he was wearing all kinds of auxiliary equipment he had not been using earlier.

‘So he’s thinking of crushing me decisively from the start, risk of getting items stolen or not?’

Dodging the fist he threw, Hyeonseong clicked her tongue. Sure enough, the speed and power of his punches were even stronger than before.

‘Is it the equipment effect? At this level, he’s almost between B and A rank…’

She had only just thought that things had gotten troublesome.

Then two Light Spears shot past Hyeonseong’s head one after another. The Light Spears aimed at the head of the robed opponent.

‘Huh? That skill is…’

Then several Light Bullets were fired from behind. Once again, the target was the robed opponent.

‘No doubt about it. Those are the skills of the person I fought first.’

In other words, the mage she had fought first was now helping Hyeonseong herself. Hyeonseong thought that this was quite the unexpected development.

While the robed man retreated to avoid the magic attacks, the light mage came over to Hyeonseong’s side.

“Go.”

The mage said to Hyeonseong while casting several more Light Bullets.

“Huh?”

“I’ll handle that guy.”

“That’s good to hear, but…”

Hyeonseong looked at the mage with suspicious eyes. From her perspective, someone suddenly stepping in to help could only look suspicious.

“…You gave it back instead of looting it.”

Firing Light Bullets at the robed man, the mage let out a sigh.

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Anyway, what you took wasn’t mine to begin with. And… I kind of wanted to fight that guy once too. I never get matched against him.”

As he fired off a succession of small spells with quick casting, the mage kept speaking.

“Anyway, hurry up and go. If it bothers you that much, just remember the three characters Yeon Gang-u.”

With those last words, the mage who revealed his name as Yeon Gang-u charged toward the robed man. Yeon Gang-u soon entered close combat while using even more magic skills than he had shown in the arena.

Seeing that, Hyeonseong did not hesitate and started moving again with Haesu in tow.

‘Is not taking his equipment really something to be that grateful for?’

Hyeonseong briefly glanced sideways at Yeon Gang-u. Of course, it was true that she had returned the equipment because she wanted to avoid pointless trouble. But that was the extent of the effect she had expected—not something like this.

‘It was just returning what was originally his, so it’s honestly weird for him to act as if he owes me some huge favor. …If his intention was to make an impression, then I guess it worked.’

Hyeonseong soon guessed that Yeon Gang-u’s goal was to use Hyeonseong herself to establish a connection with Hyeonju or Hyeonyeong. If that was his goal, then approaching her while showing excessive gratitude was plausible enough.

‘That aside, where is Hyeonyeong now…’

Just as Hyeonseong tried to find Hyeonyeong again, noisy screams and tearing sounds rang out once more from not far away. Hyeonseong realized Hyeonyeong had come close.

“Oh, over there!”

Soon Haesu shouted while pointing into the air. In the direction he pointed, Hyeonyeong was leaping while holding one person by the scruff of the neck.

“Make room!”

Hyeonseong shouted while swinging her pickaxe at an Awakened trying to approach. Haesu used a wind-attribute magic skill card to push back several more enemies.

—Kwaang—

Right afterward, with a loud crash, Hyeonyeong landed in front of Hyeonseong.

“Ugh…”

The manager, dragged along by the scruff of the neck in Hyeonyeong’s grip, let out a groan. It seemed he had taken the full impact when Hyeonyeong landed.

‘He was in no state to brace himself for the impact of landing, after all.’

“I brought him.”

Hyeonyeong said while glancing at the manager.

“He’s the same bastard from before, right?”

“Yeah. It matches completely—the mana I checked earlier and the pattern of his scars too.”

“Good. Then let’s find somewhere suitable for a quiet conversation.”

Hyeonseong glared at the manager. The manager also tried to glare back at Hyeonseong, but before he could, Hyeonyeong grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and moved.

Probably because Hyeonyeong was holding the manager like a hostage, Hyeonseong’s group was able to leave the stands without any more interference.

“Where would be good?”

“For now, the office we stopped by earlier seems like the safest bet.”

Hyeonyeong immediately answered Hyeonseong’s question. Hyeonseong thought the same. The group headed toward the office where they had filled out the registration form earlier.