Editor: Cherish
— When you say 'work…' What exactly do you… — Seon Soo looked at Kang Yu with horror in his eyes.
He patted Seon Soo on the back a little, standing up again.
— Don't be so scared~ First, I'm going to ask you something.
Tears started spilling from Seon Soo's eyes, and he whimpered.
— Who told you to make fun of me? — Kang Yu didn't think that Seon Soo had any reason to pick on him.
Seon Soo, biting his lip, turned to face the ground. When Kang Yu saw that, he swiftly kicked his head like a ball.
The guy's teeth cracked and his mouth bled.
Kang Yu again put his hand on the shoulder of the trembling man.
— Well, I'll ask again. Who gave you that order?
— Ki… Kim Yeong Hoon.
— Kim Yeong Hoon? — As far as Kang Yu knew from previous conversations, that was the name of the Mir Guild's Commander.
'They said he's a handsome man with second generation wealth, and he's also talented.' Kang Yu couldn't understand why such a reputable man ordered for him to be humiliated.
— One day, Chae Young-ju hit and crippled Yeong Hoon. Since then, he's hated the Red Rose Guild.
— Is that why he ordered you to humiliate me? Because the Red Rose is helping me?
— It's because Mir needs to look better than Red Rose…
'Huh, he's dumber than I thought.' Kang Yu dropped his fake smile.
The girl in the blue dress had admired Yeong Hoon so much that Kang Yu grew an interest in him, but it turned out he was simpler than expected.
— Do you have a picture of him?
— Yes… I do. — Seon Soo pulled out his phone from his pocket and quickly found a photo.
The person in it looked very young and attractive.
'What?' Kang Yu looked at the photo again and squinted his eyes.
It was definitely the first time he saw the person in the photo, but it reminded him of someone.
'Kim Si Hoon?' For some reason, the young man resembled Si Hoon. 'Maybe it's because they're both beautiful.'
But when it comes to beauty, Si Hoon was superior.
Kang Yu didn't brood long about this, and returned the phone to Seon Soo.
— So I was just involved in that idiot's revenge, right?
— Pr… I'm sorry! I just got the order and there was nothing for me to do but follow it! — Seon Soo hurriedly said, folding into a bow on the floor.
— You say that, but you really followed that order diligently.
— It's…
— That's okay. After all, life is about helping each other. If you agree to work for me, I'll look past this matter.
— I… I'll do anything, just say the word!
— Ha-ha-ha. Don't worry about it. My request won't be difficult. It's rather quite the opposite, it may even benefit you.
Seon Soo stared at Kang Yu, confused.
Kang Yu just smiled.
***
Meanwhile, in front of the Gate's entrance.
— Shut up, everybody! Quiet, please!
The journalists, smelling a great piece for headlines, were gathered in front of the gate.
The officers had asked them many times to calm down, but to silence such a crowd was not so easy.
A creature that had never appeared at the Gate before — an unknown monster.
What's more, the Red Rose and Mir have teamed up to capture it.
The journalists' eyes were burning with curiosity, adamantly staying in front of the entrance to get as much information as possible.
— ! Аh?
— They're coming out!
Two men came out of the gate.
— That's…
— Kang Seon Soo and Oh Kang Yu!
— What happened to the other teammates?
— Did they die in the clutches of the unknown monster?
The crowd excitedly watched Kang Yu and Kang Seon Soo coming out of the gate.
— What happened? — The reporters were quick to ask Kang Yu while extending the microphone to him.
The man ignored their questions and instead shouted loudly:
— Quick… call an ambulance! — Kang Yu placed Seon Soo on the ground.
— Аh?…
The crowd collectively cried out, noticing the strange appearance of the guy.
Seon Soo's whole face was covered in blood and his body was covered in terrible wounds.
— Ahh! S… sav… — Seon Soo moaned in pain.
He stretched out a trembling hand, as if asking for help.
— It was… it was like…
They began wondering what could've happened at the gate to put Seon Soo in this state.
'Terrible.' In other words, it was impossible to describe this situation.
Kang Yu had a frightened expression, and he clenched his hands as if he was gathering his courage to speak.
— We were fighting an unknown monster… and that's when it happened.
— In that case… the other Players…
— Yes. Only Seon Soo and I survived. The other Players… they're all dead, — Kang Yu said with a serious expression, and bit his lip.
When people heard about the death of Seon Soo's party, they began to chatter amongst themselves again.
— Were… the talented newcomers of the two guilds defeated?
— How strong was that monster…
— Hurry up! We need to tell the whole Hwaran squad as soon as possible, let them send their men in there!
Knowing that even the two Players talented enough to be sponsored by the most powerful guilds could not stop the monster was enough to spark fear in their hearts.
They understood that if they did nothing about it, the monster would probably break through the Gate eventually.
Kang Yu, looking at the frightened people, continued in a low tone:
— You don't have to worry. The unknown monster has been destroyed. But… victims…
— Woah!
— Kang Yu, did you defeat him?
Kang Yu heard the crowd cheering.
A shadow clouded over his face as he bent his head down.
— No. It wasn't me who destroyed the unknown monster.
— In that case…
— The hero who destroyed the monster and saved my life is Kang Seon Soo.
— Woah! — The crowd, listening to Kang Yu, made a brief exclamation.
He sighed heavily, put his hand on Seon Soo's body, and spoke in a trembling voice:
— Seon Soo, who fought the monster, realized that the situation was critical when he saw his comrades die. So he told me to run away and was left alone with the creature. — He continued to act frightened. — However, I could not escape by myself, so I stayed until the end to help Seon Soo. Even though he was risking his life, he fought boldly to the end and won. It was a very hard and tragic fight. —
There was silence.
— After he won, Seon Soo repeated the names of his teammates until he fainted.
After hearing Kang Yu's full story, people stared at Seon Soo with looks of pity and heartbreak.
The Player who had fought bravely and saved a man's life, now unconscious.
The story of him calling out his dead teammates before he fainted tore at their hearts.
Journalists adored such stories and could already see great headlines.
— Could you tell us more? — The journalists, trying to find out more for their articles, moved their microphones closer.
They no longer showed interest in the hero lying on the floor.
It didn't matter to them at all whether he was hanging on a thread from death, in pain, or asking for help.
Now, they were only interested in the heartbreaking story that could become a great story on paper.
— When we entered the gate, we felt a spiraling breath of anger.
— That means…
— That's right. The monster was waiting for us near the gate.
The journalists, waiting for Kang Yu to continue, swallowed nervously.
— The moment we laid our eyes on the monster, it was terrifying. There was no way we expected to meet a monster that strong at the Level B Gate.
— What did it look like?
— Just like the officers described it: looks like a lion on the outside, but with five paws. Each player in the Seon Soo party died from a single blow.
— Huh? From… from a single blow?
— How is that possible…?
Everyone knew that the other players were quite strong, even if they weren't as strong as Seon Soo.
From the start, the Mir Guild sponsored groups of strong Players, so everyone thought that all Mir Players were powerful fighters.
— We realized we didn't stand a chance at winning and thought about leaving. But if we did that, the beast could have followed us from the Gate, and there could have been human casualties.
— Oh.
The more Kang Yu talked, the more tension there was among the journalists. They gripped their microphones tighter and listened carefully.
— At that moment, Seon Soo told me that we couldn't let the monster come out and ordered us to block the passage.
— Ah…
— Seon Soo and I fought hard, but the wounds made it hard to fight. I've already told you the rest. In the end, Seon Soo decided to take all the risk himself and just barely managed to defeat the unknown monster.
The reporters exclaimed in admiration when they heard of Seon Soo's heroic behavior.
Suddenly, one of the reporters asked Kang Yu a question:
— But it looked to us like Seon Soo was aggressive towards you when you met outside the Gate. What do you think about that?
Suddenly, everyone was silent waiting for his reaction, but Kang Yu continued quietly:
— After we went inside, Seon Soo told me the reasons for his behavior. He was worried about a Player who just started getting Red Rose's support, so he tried to keep me from entering the gate alone to catch the unknown monster.
— Ah… I see.
— I'm sorry that I didn't realize his intentions earlier. — A warm tear rolled down Kang Yu's cheek. — He is the savior of my life and the hero of our time.—
***
'The Appearance of a Hero who Defeated an Unknown Monster…'
'Fighting Emotions. The Reason He Fought to the End…'
'Newcomer of Mir Guild Kim Seon Soo was immediately taken to the hospital in an unconscious condition. Over 30 million won has been raised to support him.'
'A hero who has not come to his senses. Because of a brain hemorrhage, he's in a vegetative state… All the hospital bills of Kang Seon Soo have been paid.'
'Another star caught fire in the sky.'