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Chapter 3
Haroon – Vol.3, Chap.3 – A Hark, and an Outer named Nain 《A Hark, and an Outer named Nain》 The blacksmith’s workshops named ‘Smash ‘em’ was located at the center of the lane. Like in other workshops, he could see two blacksmiths with muscular arms consecutively hitting red-hot iron with their hammers. But he couldn’t see anyone else, so he just stood there in silence, and looked at them hitting the iron. “Is there anything you are looking for?” A female voice came from behind, so he turned around. There was a lady standing there, and Haroon almost gasped from looking at her.
She seemed to be the same age as him, and she had sharp-shaped eyes. She was over 2 meters tall, and her arms could be compared to his thighs. Moreover, her vast-sized breast made her body look even bigger. She was several times bigger than Haroon, a little bit smaller than a hark. “Uh-uh well, th-that’s…….” Haroon stuttered. Haroon was originally shy, so he couldn’t help but to stutter from the shock of seeing her. “Why don’t you come inside? This is our workshop and we display our items inside.” Her voice was so soft, which couldn’t be matched with her body. That made Haroon recover from the previous shock. “Do you happen to be Haeran’s twin sister?” “Oh! How did you know that na- Ah, you must be playing Beyond. My sister is inside. So you must be the one that she was expecting to come. My name is Seran, by the way.” Haroon couldn’t tell if that was her nickname from Beyond or from the black market. But he greeted her anyways. “The name’s Haroon.” “Nice to meet you. Come in! She’s waiting.” “Thanks” Haroon headed inside, pa.s.sing the two men who didn’t give attention to anything other than hitting the iron. “Holy-.” Haroon couldn’t hide his astonishment when he saw the inside. Swords, knives, spears, axes, throwing weapons…… There were various types of weapons displayed on the shelves or on the walls, s.h.i.+ning and showing off their beauty. Haroon never expected to see anything like this in the real world, and it felt like he was in Beyond. He was very glad to see this kind of scene. “May I help you sir?” There was a table and chairs in the middle of the room, which seemed like the table they used to make contracts. No one was sitting there. Haroon looked around and saw a giant desk at one corner, and the one who called was sitting there. “Haeran, I presume?” Said Haroon. She stood up and looked at Haroon. She, too, was over two meters tall like her younger sister. But unlike her sister, she had big, pure eyes, a sharp nose, small and red lips, and a slim but glamorous body. Haroon was confused to see that and tilted his head without knowing. She too, had sharp eyes but she had a soft and intelligent look overall. She was so different from her twin sister. “And you must be ‘Laugh’?” “Yeah. You can call me Haroon, though.” “Hoho, I see you are confused from seeing me! You don’t have to. Everyone who was told that I have a twin sister makes that face when they see her and I. It is not difficult to have a preconception, you know.” She found out why Haroon was surprised to see her with ease. Maybe she got used to it. “Take a sit. Would you like a cup of tea?” “Don’t mind if I do. Man, you make good weapons,” said Haroon, phatically, upon while looking at the the displayed items. “Thanks. My brothers are considered to be good blacksmiths in this lane, if I do say so myself.” Haroon took his eyes off from her and looked at the weapons. Haeran smiled from seeing his burning eyes looking at the weapons. “So you must be a swordsman?” “Yes, Well no, not really……..” “I’m a magician. My sister’s a swordswoman.” He supposed so. One’s appearance usually matches with their personality. “It was great timing how you sold that mana stone. I almost mastered circle 2.” “I see. It’s amazing how you’re mastering circle 2 already.” He wasn’t sure if that was true or not. He was just being phatic. “Not actually. I’m only level 33, when someone’s able to kill a boss monster that drops mana-stones……. What kind of monster did you kill to get this?” “I was just lucky. I got to kill an Orc Warrior.” “Wow! That’s amazing! How did you get such a monster like that? Your level must be high, right?” He realized that she thinks he is a ranker, but there was no need to fix that. “Well, about that…….” Haroon found her suspicious. Although it seemed as if they were just chatting, he realized that she was prying him for information, and she was great at it. Haroon decided to be cautious. “How about we trade first and talk about it after?” he changed the subject. “Hmm, alright.” She looked at him with ambiguous eyes for a while, seeing how he changed the subject. And nodded. “Here. it’s $7000. Since you are trading an such an expensive item, would you be so kind to ignore a small fraction, Mr. Haroon?” “…….” Haroon’s face stiffened. He didn’t know how much money she had, but that fraction was a big amount to him. “I’m sorry, but this is all I have now. Since your level is so high that you can acquire this kind of item, I didn’t think it would be much to you.” Haroon stood up without answering. He already paid $826 to BlackonMarket as a commission fee, and $462 wasn’t so much compared to the money he would receive, so he thought about it. But when she kept on haggling, he didn’t want to trade with her anymore. “That’s unfortunate. I thought I was lucky to trade with you……..” There was no need to look back. She was the one who ruined the deal. He could always make another auction, and report Haeran to BlackonMarket as a delinquent dealer, which would act as a disadvantage for her on future trades. If he set the auction time for longer than an hour, he might be able to cover the $826 he lost. He didn’t hand over the item yet, and he didn’t need to think of it as a waste of time as he had seen many new things in the black market. Moreover, he found out that he could use messenger walking in real life, so there was no reason to think that the time he spent in the black market was not worthwhile. But it would be a waste of time if he talks with someone whom he cannot trust. “Wait!” Haeran shouted. He stopped. He was almost at the door. “You have no flexibility, you know? Isn’t it a gentleman’s duty to at least hear about what a lady says?” she added. Haroon snorted. “I’m not a gentleman,” he answered. Her face was sulking from his words. She has never seen a man saying that. Not in front of her, who has a glamorous body and beauty. “Alright. That’s it. You are being so picky on a black market deal. Just know that people DO give up some portion. It’s not good to be stubborn.” Haroon frowned at her words. “Picky? Stubborn? Hey, I came here to trade, not to hear your opinion on my personality. Let’s make this clear! It was you who ruined the deal.” “Hmph! It’s a black market deal anyways. What a s.h.i.+tty guy you are.” Haeran finally revealed her true face. Her beauty was somewhat decent, and she seemed intelligent enough that she chose to be a magician. But her personality was something else. When she considered the deal to be over, her words started to get more salty. That irritated Haroon, and almost drove him out of the room. But he decided to make another opportunity out of the situation. “Alright. I’ll deal with it. But you’ll have to give me some intel for that money..” “Huhu, I like that deal. What kind of intel do you want? I’m an information dealer as well.” Another sudden change of behaviour. It was something that all merchants have; s.h.i.+ft in tone of voice when the trading is to their advantage. To Haroon, it came as a relief as it meant he didn’t need to deal with her emotionally. He was bad at dealing with people on an emotional level. “I have a list of a few things I’d like to buy. I’d like to know the general price range of these items, and the price that you would be able to get.” “No problem. There is nothing I don’t know about the Ko-1 Union black market.” She handed him the sack of money, meaning she’ll trade. Haroon put the sack in his pocket, and handed her the piece of paper with the item transaction code written on it. “And you’ll be giving me the pa.s.sword when you get your intel, right? So you do know about black-market trading,” she said. Although she was grumbling, her face was smiling. It seemed she really needed that item. Haroon handed her the list. “Alright, I’ll be back soon.” Haeran charged out of the office. It seemed she’d like to finish the deal quickly, probably being eager to go back to Beyond to try out the manastone. While waiting, Haroon took a good look at the weapons in the store. The weapons had vortex patterns that looked like water was flowing on them, probably made by the countless impacts between it and the hammers; and they were so sharp that it felt like the blade was cutting his flesh even from a distance. He thought about purchasing one, but he knew it wouldn’t be cheap as they were all hand-made. “d.a.m.n, I like these bada.s.ses,” he murmured. “You have good eyes for weapons.” It was Seran. She was entering the office. “They are no match to their grandfather, but people say our brothers are among the best blacksmiths in the Ko-1 Union.” “These weapons are indeed amazing. They’ve been drawing my attention from the moment I saw them, as if I met a lost family member.” “You’ve fallen in love with them.” “Yes. I never thought I’d see the Damascus pattern here. Honestly, I like it so much that I’d steal it if I couldn’t get it.” By the characteristic vortex pattern, Haroon could see that these blacksmiths use the Damascus steel technique, which is famous for its hardness, its lightness and its elasticity that is good enough to cut bullets in half. Haroon tore his eyes away from the swords, and naturally moved to the throwing knives and daggers as he was most interested in them. “15cm long, the weight is well balanced, hardness and lightness on its best point, and it is sharp enough to penetrate a harks’ leather,” said Seran, holding a knife up. That violently shook Haroon’s mind, which was very still even when he was arguing with Haeran, and his mind was very well reflected in his eyes. Seran handed him the knife, and Haroon took it and touched it with his fingers, then he opened his mouth. “How much is it?” “$300 per knife. $2500 if you buy 10 of them. Good price, isn’t it?” ‘f.u.c.k! Good price my a.s.s!’ 10 throwing knives were more expensive than a game capsule. Of course, by black market price. He didn’t know the price range, so he wasn’t sure if they were expensive or not, but he could trust Seran’s words. She gave off a somewhat trustworthy feeling unlike her sister. “Well, let me think about it.” “Sure. Just let me tell you that we can’t make more of those. These are our grandparent’s posthumous work, and we only got a few of them left……” The way she talked was like a talented merchant. Haroon thought that it must be something the twins both have in common; to make their customers trade in their favor. While Haroon was looking down at the knife, Haeran came back. “Got the list. By the way, there were some items that were really hard to obtain. Some are so expensive that even the herb merchants shook their heads,” she said. They probably would. There is even wild ginseng included in the list. She found Haroon touching the knife as if he was touching a girl’s body; softly and warmly, and gave him a weird look. “Well, I wrote the market price on the same list, so I guess that should be enough. Though, note that you need to give them some time to obtain wild honey and ginseng, because they have to hire herbalists. You have to pay them in prior as well.” Haroon’s eyes brightened. ‘So these items are obtainable. I thought ‘herbalist’ is a job that only exists in games. So they do obtain these medical things in the wild. Like I thought when I first entered this place, the lives of Outers must be different from what I knew,’ he thought. His thoughts were getting more complicated. A giant crack was forming in the frame of the world that he used to live in. The world he knew was not the whole world. The world, and the border of it that he learned from school, society, internet and NetTV was breaking down. “The prices of herbs like wild ginseng depends on its age, and the number of customers. Ginseng with an estimation of 50-years old are around $5000~$7000, and 100 years old ones are 15k to 20k. Tell me if you want some, and I’ll introduce you to a herb shop and I won’t charge you for that.” Listening to Haeran’s words, Haroon had a weird experience like some kind of wall in his brain was breaking down, and the border of time and s.p.a.ce was melting. When the common sense he knew got smashed into pieces, a bolt of lightning went through his head, and tons of electronic signals went through his nerve system. But he could still perceive everything that was happening around him. ‘Is that so. So the Union has been brainwas.h.i.+ng me this whole time. Huhuhu, that’s funny.’ He got a sudden urge to laugh. Something was exploding in the depths of his mind, but it was quite a refres.h.i.+ng feeling. He wanted to laugh out loud, but he couldn’t open his mouth. Instead, a large smile swept across his face. It was a very charismatic smile that gave off a feeling that couldn’t be described by words. Seeing his sudden smile, the twins felt a shudder that felt like something was s.h.i.+ning brightly in their minds. For a brief moment, they could see nothing else but his smile. Somehow, his smile gave a feeling of refreshment to others. His smile had a strong attraction, and it made other people smile too. ‘I am not so sure if I can call him handsome, but his smile is. ‘So he does look like a man.’ But his smile didn’t last long. Instead, a strong curiosity filled his face. “Excuse me…” It was the voice of a girl entering the office. She was with a man. Like if he jumped straight out from the game, he was wearing armor made with chains, and was holding a sword. The girl was wearing a black leather coat and hat. Haeran seemed glad to see her. Saeran too. “Who is-? Oh, Nain! Welcome!” said Haeran. “Glad you are out! I was kinda expecting you to be away playing games,” said the girl who was called Nain. She took her hat off. ‘Is she sick or something?’ Haroon thought. She had pale skin, and she looked to be weak and small, but it seemed she was older than she looks, seeing how friendly the girls were. “I logged out for a moment because there was an important trade I had to make.” “Then I came in at the right time. I came here to buy some items.” Haeran helped her sit on the chair. Haroon was driven away from the table. “So, how about iron ores?” “My teammates outside are trading with your brothers. Why don’t you check them out?” “2 people is enough for that. Why don’t we stay here and chat. You know what? Before we chat, I’ll help you out with buying the items you want, whatever those are.” “It’ll be great if an intel broker like you could help me.” Haroon wanted to go back to his house as he thought it wasn’t a great time for him to linger any longer, but as Haeran and Seran wasn’t giving any attention to him, he couldn’t help but to stay. When the girl who was called Nain finally became aware of him and was about to ask Haeran about him, a noise of something bas.h.i.+ng iron came from outside. “Hark! It’s a hark!” Somebody shouted. “Run! RUN!” They could hear people screaming and a giant roar. People ran out of the office, and Haroon hurriedly followed them out. He could see a hark attacking people, and it was not far from the blacksmith shop. “s.h.i.+t, it followed us. How did it manage to break the sealing of the secret pa.s.sage?” said the man with a warrior outfit. Haroon understood that these outers have a secret pa.s.sage that the Union are not aware of. Harks are a species that have mutated from humans. Growing to be over 3 meters tall and covered in smooth skin. With their muscular bodies, fingernails and toenails that are over 5 centimeters long, they can easily break any kind of cement. And their teeth are sharp enough to cut a human’s body easily. The hark grabbed a young man who seemed like the worker of a blacksmith shop, bent him in half and threw the corpse away. Harks did not kill humans primarily for food, they simply couldn’t resist the urge to kill. “They are coming this way. Haeran, go in and close the shutters!” A man who seemed like one of Haeran’s brothers shouted at the girls, and sprinted at the hark wielding a greatsword. “That hark, it lost two toenails to us. It must have chased us by our smell!” said Nain. She smacked her small fist and was shuddering in anger. His first impression of her was not so good, but he could hear that her voice had a strong power. “Three! Three of our friends got killed by that hark, and two of the warriors were gravely wounded by it. We’ve got to kill it even if casualties are to be made. Its movement must be restricted in this narrow pa.s.sage. Oseung, prepare to fight!” She added. “Got ya! Get your weapons ready!” The warrior who came into the office with her was named Oseung. When he shouted, four other warriors drew their weapons and joined him. “No! We’ve got to hide for now! The Union barrier defense troops must have moved by now, so 5 minutes of hiding is all we need! This shutter is made with steel and it can easily endure 5 minutes!” Haeran shouted, but Nain didn’t seem like she was willing to go back to the office. Hundreds of years old sirens rang in the pa.s.sage, and shops started to close their shutters. Seeing how fast people and shopkeepers reacted to the siren, Haroon could see that harks breaking into the black market happened quite often “It’s too late! Your friends and your brothers are in danger! It’s better to fight.” Like Nain said, the Hark was slowly approaching the men with weapons. It was being cautious as there were six people with swords. “Even if you do kill it, you’ll be arrested and jailed for years for breaking into the barrier if defense troops catch you during the fight!” “I don’t care! That hark has already eaten more than 10 of our fellow villagers. We have to hold it until the defense troop comes.” Nain’s will was firm. Her eyes were burning with anger. But the situation was getting very dangerous, against her wish. The hark swung its arm, and two of the warriors were knocked back, and hit the wall. “Die!” “You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” The others dashed forward, attacking the hark that were approaching the two warriors whom were still stunned by the aftershock of hitting the wall. But it simply clawed to counterattack the attackers. “Kugh!” “Huh! It’s no use! Its leather is too thick!” Two other warriors got hit by its fingernails. Haeran’s brothers were able to hit the hark, but it only made them feel miserable, and they had to back off, barely avoiding its continued attacks. “Fools!” Haroon couldn’t help but to swear. He found them so pathetic. How could they even think of making frontal, honest attacks against a monster like a hark? Their strength was simply no match for it. Two greatswords did hit the Hark, but all it did was to draw two lines on its skin. That seemed to enraged the hark, as it roared once again. “You need to join, Oppa!” “Alright.” At Nain’s order, a warrior who was standing next to her drew his moonglaive and attacked the hark. The hark swung both of its arms. It was so fast in proportion to how ma.s.sive its body was. But the warrior didn’t face it directly. With quick feet and swift moves, he seeked for an opening, and it annoyed the Hark. Haeran’s two brothers didn’t leave the warrior to deal with the hark all alone. Whenever the warrior was in danger, they made sneak attacks from the sides and back of it. Their movements too, were swift unlike how people think of blacksmiths. But making sneak attacks was not enough to kill it. The hark was smart and sneaky too. It approached the warriors still stunned by the shock, slowly but steadily, to force them to fight it so it could get a better chance to attack the warriors. “I, I gotta help!” Seran shouted. “Oh my G.o.d, no!” Haeran shouted. Seran grabbed a greatsword displayed next to the office and joined the fight. But at this rate, the flesh of the four would be torn apart by the hark before the defense troop arrived. “Seran! NO!” Haeran stamped her feet repeatedly, but there was nothing she could do. At that moment, Haroon’s eyes were burning. ‘This is strange. I’m not scared. Is that really the hark that’s been scaring me so far?’ He couldn’t understand why. Maybe it was because he dealt with a lot of monsters. Maybe it was because he had a good physical development. Harks were something that kept him awake all night from the fear even by imagination. Now he was facing it in real life, but he wasn’t fearful of it. Haroon entered the office, and grabbed a steel sword and some throwing knives. But he realized attacking it with a sword wouldn’t be effective in a narrow pa.s.sage like this. ‘It must have weak points,’ he thought. He didn’t know where those points were, but he had learned some general weak points of monsters. Among those points, exposed ones were ears, mouth and eyes. He didn’t have to know the specific weak points of harks. It was when Haroon grabbed a knife in his hand. Seran who was swinging her sword at its back, kicked off the wall behind her and made a flip to land in front of the hark. By suddenly blocking the hark’s vision for a brief moment, she was able to attack its thigh, but it was an opening on her as well. The hark swung its long arms. Seran tried to back off, but its fingernails were already heading toward her head. Haeran and Nain screamed. At that moment, Haroon saw the hark opening its mouth. Three knives cut the air. “Wha-What?” Unlike Haeran who shut her eyes, Nain could see knives being thrown at the hark over her head. Those knives exquisitely avoided Seran’s shoulder, and got sucked into the hark’s mouth. And Nain could see, vividly and in great detail as if she was looking at a painting. The hark started to make strange moans, and staggered. It opened its mouth so wide that it covered half of its head. “Seran! Quick! Back off!” While Seran recovered from the shock and backed off at Nain’s shout, two knives flew from Haroon’s hands once again. The knives struck the harks eyes which were exposed as it was trying to get the other knives out with its hands. Its eyes burst. It wanted to scream from the pain, but it couldn’t because of three knives, so it started to move violently. Then they could see the hark bleeding from its eyes and mouth, realizing why it acted so weirdly. “Did you-?” “Haroon!” Haroon nodded and swung his arm in a full arc. He couldn’t estimate how thick its skin was, so he threw the knife as hard as he could, aiming at where its heart would be located. It hit. The Hark couldn’t move anymore, and collapsed on the ground, making a strange moan. “Throwing knife, he penetrated a hark’s leather with a mere throwing knife!” Nain murmured, shocked by what she just witnessed. Haeran was stunned as well, and looked at Haroon with strange eyes without saying anything, as if she was looking at a monster. Seran and the other three approached the dead body of the hark. They repeatedly looked at the body, and then Haroon. Another siren went off. The first one who woke up from the shock was Nain, hearing the siren. She realized it was signaling that the defense troop has arrived. She shouted to Haeran. “We got to move people into the office!” Haeran understood her words quite quickly. “Oppa, Seran! Move the injured people inside, quick!” They had still not awakened from the shock of the severe fight, but they forced their bodies to move. They were strong so it didn’t take long for them to carry the people inside. Without saying anything, Haroon went to the Hark’s dead body and took out the throwing knives. Red blood spurted up like a fountain, but avoiding it was a basic skill that every mercenary learns. It was only after the people went into the office and the shutter was closed that the defense troop arrived. They were armed with armor suits, s.h.i.+elds and beam swords. Over 50 soldiers were mobilized. Some of them were even armed with flamethrowers, which was known as strongest weapon against mutated species, but all they could see was the b.l.o.o.d.y site where the fight happened, a dead hark and a dead man. People inside the Smash ‘em blacksmith shop could hear what was happening outside. “Boss, We’ve searched nearby places, but there’s no one around.” “Hmm, who could it be? Who could have killed a hark by stabbing its heart? “Seeing the wound, it seems that the hark got killed after being stabbed in its weak points by weapons of dagger sorts. And the hero got away without leaving any trace.” “Are you saying they killed a hark with a mere dagger, when its skin isn’t cut well even with beam swords? Cut the nonsense. ATTENTION! Dispose the bodies and we’ll be searching near this place again. The hark must have broke in by some kind of secret pa.s.sage connected to this underground pa.s.sage.” “Yes, sir!” They could hear the defense troop searching the place. They lingered for an hour and withdrew without finding anything at all. They knocked shutters of blacksmith shops to see if anyone was inside, but no shops opened their shutters. Shutters were strong enough to completely cut out the outside and inside from each other. Most of them even blocked out noise from the outside. Knocking the shutters only made people inside fearful as they had no idea what was going on outside. Fortunately, the injured warriors carried inside were only lightly wounded. It was only then that they fainted from the pain of their organs shaking from the shock of being slammed into the wall. When the first-aid treatment was done, the people’s eyes were naturally fixed on Haroon, who was looking down at the throwing knives. The knives had been wiped clean by Haroon. Silence lingered for a while. Haeran was the first one to open her mouth. “Haroon!” Haroon looked up and faced her. “Who ARE you?” From her words, Haroon smiled back. He kind of knew what she was asking, but there was no way to answer that question as the life he lived was not special at all. He has only changed very recently. But the others didn’t know his story, so Haroon smiling back only seemed like he was showing that he would not like to answer. Nain and the warrior she called Oppa spoke up. “I’m Nain. Thank you for helping us out. You are Haroon, right? I’ll never forget your help.” “Name’s Rosu. I, too, will repay your help. I swear on the spirit of warriors.” “My name is Haroon. I just used an opening you made, and I was just lucky that the knives. .h.i.t its weak points. You don’t have to repay me or anything.” In fact, he never thought his throwing knife skill would still work in real life. Because the situation was so dangerous,he threw the knife habitually without realizing that he was in the real world. Realizing that he is able to use Messenger Walking and throwing knives in the real world was already a big reward for him. Especially when he threw the last knife that hit the hark’s heart, he felt something being sucked out of his body as the knife left his hand. He was thinking about what that would be, so he wasn’t pleasant with getting attention from the others. He wanted to be alone to think about it. Listening to his calm voice, Nain and Rosu looked at each other and nodded. It seemed like they gave a signal to each other of some sort. Nain took her necklace off and handed it to Haroon. “Please, take this. Think of it as us repaying your kindness,” said Nain. “You don’t need to repay anything. You already did by saying thank you.” Haroon shook his head, but Nain didn’t take it back. Haroon saw her deep, pure eyes. Seeing her eyes, Haroon realized that she has a strong will, so he took the necklace from her hand. “We live in Yeongheung¹ village. Visit us whenever you wish if you have anything you want from the outside. That necklace is the symbol of warriors in our village, so everyone will know you are a welcomed guest if you show it to anyone of us.” “Thank you.” A star-shaped pendant formed out of 5 molar teeth was attached to it. The gilt has come off. Haroon hung the necklace on his neck as soon as he received it. He thought that would show Nain and Rosu that he really appreciates their gift. His guess was right. Nain and Rosu’s faces were brightened with smiles. “If you got some time, please visit our village as soon as you can,” she said. Haroon found something odd about that. He couldn’t find any traces from her smiling face and eyes, so he knew it was something about her voice. It sounded like their village was in need of help from the outside. Her pure eyes and weak body moved his mind. ‘I was going to find the outers who helped my step-father anyways. Why wouldn’t I visit them along the way?’ They wouldn’t harm the one who helped them. He had planned to go out of the barrier, and he happened to be invited. “I will. I am in need of a few things, and I have a place to visit, so I think I can make a visit in the near future. Maybe there is something I could help with.” “Whenever you come, we’ll always welcome you.” Another siren went off in the underground pa.s.sage. Probably a signal to the shopkeepers and customers that there’s no danger anymore. “Bros, it’s over,” said Haeran, opening the shutter. Nain and Rosu helped their teammates get up, and got out of the shop with haste. They were heading towards the deeper, darker part of the pa.s.sage. The secret pa.s.sage must be located somewhere there. Haroon got up as well. The trading was done, he got the intel he wanted. It was time for him to go back. It was a long, and fruitful day. “Wait, take these with you!” Haroon turned back and was surprised to see the throwing knives in Haeran’s hand. “Thank you. If it weren’t for you, my brothers and even we would have died by the hark,” said Haeran. Seran and their brothers added a few word of thank as well. They probably waited until Nain and her teammates left. “Nah. You didn’t, so that’s it. Hope we can have a good trade next time too.” “Huhu! Don’t worry about it. I won’t take any profit out from you. And these throwing knives are our gift.” “Gift?” Haeran smiled and answered. “I think these are your weapons. They’ve tasted blood, so it’s hard to sell anyways. It’d be worthwhile if you can kill bunch of harks with these.” Haroon didn’t hesitate to take them. He was really attracted to those knives from the moment he saw them. “Thanks! Then, see you again.” The black market was lively again, as if nothing really happened. Leaving four people’s gazes on his back, Haroon left the black market. Translated by Channy_,
Eddited by Tom and Kmatt. Footnotes: ¹ Yeongheung(영흥) is currently located in eastern central area of North Korea. The name basically means ‘prospering’ or ‘flouris.h.i.+ng’.
Haroon – Vol.3, Chap.3 – A Hark, and an Outer named Nain 《A Hark, and an Outer named Nain》 The blacksmith’s workshops named ‘Smash ‘em’ was located at the center of the lane. Like in other workshops, he could see two blacksmiths with muscular arms consecutively hitting red-hot iron with their hammers. But he couldn’t see anyone else, so he just stood there in silence, and looked at them hitting the iron. “Is there anything you are looking for?” A female voice came from behind, so he turned around. There was a lady standing there, and Haroon almost gasped from looking at her.
She seemed to be the same age as him, and she had sharp-shaped eyes. She was over 2 meters tall, and her arms could be compared to his thighs. Moreover, her vast-sized breast made her body look even bigger. She was several times bigger than Haroon, a little bit smaller than a hark. “Uh-uh well, th-that’s…….” Haroon stuttered. Haroon was originally shy, so he couldn’t help but to stutter from the shock of seeing her. “Why don’t you come inside? This is our workshop and we display our items inside.” Her voice was so soft, which couldn’t be matched with her body. That made Haroon recover from the previous shock. “Do you happen to be Haeran’s twin sister?” “Oh! How did you know that na- Ah, you must be playing Beyond. My sister is inside. So you must be the one that she was expecting to come. My name is Seran, by the way.” Haroon couldn’t tell if that was her nickname from Beyond or from the black market. But he greeted her anyways. “The name’s Haroon.” “Nice to meet you. Come in! She’s waiting.” “Thanks” Haroon headed inside, pa.s.sing the two men who didn’t give attention to anything other than hitting the iron. “Holy-.” Haroon couldn’t hide his astonishment when he saw the inside. Swords, knives, spears, axes, throwing weapons…… There were various types of weapons displayed on the shelves or on the walls, s.h.i.+ning and showing off their beauty. Haroon never expected to see anything like this in the real world, and it felt like he was in Beyond. He was very glad to see this kind of scene. “May I help you sir?” There was a table and chairs in the middle of the room, which seemed like the table they used to make contracts. No one was sitting there. Haroon looked around and saw a giant desk at one corner, and the one who called was sitting there. “Haeran, I presume?” Said Haroon. She stood up and looked at Haroon. She, too, was over two meters tall like her younger sister. But unlike her sister, she had big, pure eyes, a sharp nose, small and red lips, and a slim but glamorous body. Haroon was confused to see that and tilted his head without knowing. She too, had sharp eyes but she had a soft and intelligent look overall. She was so different from her twin sister. “And you must be ‘Laugh’?” “Yeah. You can call me Haroon, though.” “Hoho, I see you are confused from seeing me! You don’t have to. Everyone who was told that I have a twin sister makes that face when they see her and I. It is not difficult to have a preconception, you know.” She found out why Haroon was surprised to see her with ease. Maybe she got used to it. “Take a sit. Would you like a cup of tea?” “Don’t mind if I do. Man, you make good weapons,” said Haroon, phatically, upon while looking at the the displayed items. “Thanks. My brothers are considered to be good blacksmiths in this lane, if I do say so myself.” Haroon took his eyes off from her and looked at the weapons. Haeran smiled from seeing his burning eyes looking at the weapons. “So you must be a swordsman?” “Yes, Well no, not really……..” “I’m a magician. My sister’s a swordswoman.” He supposed so. One’s appearance usually matches with their personality. “It was great timing how you sold that mana stone. I almost mastered circle 2.” “I see. It’s amazing how you’re mastering circle 2 already.” He wasn’t sure if that was true or not. He was just being phatic. “Not actually. I’m only level 33, when someone’s able to kill a boss monster that drops mana-stones……. What kind of monster did you kill to get this?” “I was just lucky. I got to kill an Orc Warrior.” “Wow! That’s amazing! How did you get such a monster like that? Your level must be high, right?” He realized that she thinks he is a ranker, but there was no need to fix that. “Well, about that…….” Haroon found her suspicious. Although it seemed as if they were just chatting, he realized that she was prying him for information, and she was great at it. Haroon decided to be cautious. “How about we trade first and talk about it after?” he changed the subject. “Hmm, alright.” She looked at him with ambiguous eyes for a while, seeing how he changed the subject. And nodded. “Here. it’s $7000. Since you are trading an such an expensive item, would you be so kind to ignore a small fraction, Mr. Haroon?” “…….” Haroon’s face stiffened. He didn’t know how much money she had, but that fraction was a big amount to him. “I’m sorry, but this is all I have now. Since your level is so high that you can acquire this kind of item, I didn’t think it would be much to you.” Haroon stood up without answering. He already paid $826 to BlackonMarket as a commission fee, and $462 wasn’t so much compared to the money he would receive, so he thought about it. But when she kept on haggling, he didn’t want to trade with her anymore. “That’s unfortunate. I thought I was lucky to trade with you……..” There was no need to look back. She was the one who ruined the deal. He could always make another auction, and report Haeran to BlackonMarket as a delinquent dealer, which would act as a disadvantage for her on future trades. If he set the auction time for longer than an hour, he might be able to cover the $826 he lost. He didn’t hand over the item yet, and he didn’t need to think of it as a waste of time as he had seen many new things in the black market. Moreover, he found out that he could use messenger walking in real life, so there was no reason to think that the time he spent in the black market was not worthwhile. But it would be a waste of time if he talks with someone whom he cannot trust. “Wait!” Haeran shouted. He stopped. He was almost at the door. “You have no flexibility, you know? Isn’t it a gentleman’s duty to at least hear about what a lady says?” she added. Haroon snorted. “I’m not a gentleman,” he answered. Her face was sulking from his words. She has never seen a man saying that. Not in front of her, who has a glamorous body and beauty. “Alright. That’s it. You are being so picky on a black market deal. Just know that people DO give up some portion. It’s not good to be stubborn.” Haroon frowned at her words. “Picky? Stubborn? Hey, I came here to trade, not to hear your opinion on my personality. Let’s make this clear! It was you who ruined the deal.” “Hmph! It’s a black market deal anyways. What a s.h.i.+tty guy you are.” Haeran finally revealed her true face. Her beauty was somewhat decent, and she seemed intelligent enough that she chose to be a magician. But her personality was something else. When she considered the deal to be over, her words started to get more salty. That irritated Haroon, and almost drove him out of the room. But he decided to make another opportunity out of the situation. “Alright. I’ll deal with it. But you’ll have to give me some intel for that money..” “Huhu, I like that deal. What kind of intel do you want? I’m an information dealer as well.” Another sudden change of behaviour. It was something that all merchants have; s.h.i.+ft in tone of voice when the trading is to their advantage. To Haroon, it came as a relief as it meant he didn’t need to deal with her emotionally. He was bad at dealing with people on an emotional level. “I have a list of a few things I’d like to buy. I’d like to know the general price range of these items, and the price that you would be able to get.” “No problem. There is nothing I don’t know about the Ko-1 Union black market.” She handed him the sack of money, meaning she’ll trade. Haroon put the sack in his pocket, and handed her the piece of paper with the item transaction code written on it. “And you’ll be giving me the pa.s.sword when you get your intel, right? So you do know about black-market trading,” she said. Although she was grumbling, her face was smiling. It seemed she really needed that item. Haroon handed her the list. “Alright, I’ll be back soon.” Haeran charged out of the office. It seemed she’d like to finish the deal quickly, probably being eager to go back to Beyond to try out the manastone. While waiting, Haroon took a good look at the weapons in the store. The weapons had vortex patterns that looked like water was flowing on them, probably made by the countless impacts between it and the hammers; and they were so sharp that it felt like the blade was cutting his flesh even from a distance. He thought about purchasing one, but he knew it wouldn’t be cheap as they were all hand-made. “d.a.m.n, I like these bada.s.ses,” he murmured. “You have good eyes for weapons.” It was Seran. She was entering the office. “They are no match to their grandfather, but people say our brothers are among the best blacksmiths in the Ko-1 Union.” “These weapons are indeed amazing. They’ve been drawing my attention from the moment I saw them, as if I met a lost family member.” “You’ve fallen in love with them.” “Yes. I never thought I’d see the Damascus pattern here. Honestly, I like it so much that I’d steal it if I couldn’t get it.” By the characteristic vortex pattern, Haroon could see that these blacksmiths use the Damascus steel technique, which is famous for its hardness, its lightness and its elasticity that is good enough to cut bullets in half. Haroon tore his eyes away from the swords, and naturally moved to the throwing knives and daggers as he was most interested in them. “15cm long, the weight is well balanced, hardness and lightness on its best point, and it is sharp enough to penetrate a harks’ leather,” said Seran, holding a knife up. That violently shook Haroon’s mind, which was very still even when he was arguing with Haeran, and his mind was very well reflected in his eyes. Seran handed him the knife, and Haroon took it and touched it with his fingers, then he opened his mouth. “How much is it?” “$300 per knife. $2500 if you buy 10 of them. Good price, isn’t it?” ‘f.u.c.k! Good price my a.s.s!’ 10 throwing knives were more expensive than a game capsule. Of course, by black market price. He didn’t know the price range, so he wasn’t sure if they were expensive or not, but he could trust Seran’s words. She gave off a somewhat trustworthy feeling unlike her sister. “Well, let me think about it.” “Sure. Just let me tell you that we can’t make more of those. These are our grandparent’s posthumous work, and we only got a few of them left……” The way she talked was like a talented merchant. Haroon thought that it must be something the twins both have in common; to make their customers trade in their favor. While Haroon was looking down at the knife, Haeran came back. “Got the list. By the way, there were some items that were really hard to obtain. Some are so expensive that even the herb merchants shook their heads,” she said. They probably would. There is even wild ginseng included in the list. She found Haroon touching the knife as if he was touching a girl’s body; softly and warmly, and gave him a weird look. “Well, I wrote the market price on the same list, so I guess that should be enough. Though, note that you need to give them some time to obtain wild honey and ginseng, because they have to hire herbalists. You have to pay them in prior as well.” Haroon’s eyes brightened. ‘So these items are obtainable. I thought ‘herbalist’ is a job that only exists in games. So they do obtain these medical things in the wild. Like I thought when I first entered this place, the lives of Outers must be different from what I knew,’ he thought. His thoughts were getting more complicated. A giant crack was forming in the frame of the world that he used to live in. The world he knew was not the whole world. The world, and the border of it that he learned from school, society, internet and NetTV was breaking down. “The prices of herbs like wild ginseng depends on its age, and the number of customers. Ginseng with an estimation of 50-years old are around $5000~$7000, and 100 years old ones are 15k to 20k. Tell me if you want some, and I’ll introduce you to a herb shop and I won’t charge you for that.” Listening to Haeran’s words, Haroon had a weird experience like some kind of wall in his brain was breaking down, and the border of time and s.p.a.ce was melting. When the common sense he knew got smashed into pieces, a bolt of lightning went through his head, and tons of electronic signals went through his nerve system. But he could still perceive everything that was happening around him. ‘Is that so. So the Union has been brainwas.h.i.+ng me this whole time. Huhuhu, that’s funny.’ He got a sudden urge to laugh. Something was exploding in the depths of his mind, but it was quite a refres.h.i.+ng feeling. He wanted to laugh out loud, but he couldn’t open his mouth. Instead, a large smile swept across his face. It was a very charismatic smile that gave off a feeling that couldn’t be described by words. Seeing his sudden smile, the twins felt a shudder that felt like something was s.h.i.+ning brightly in their minds. For a brief moment, they could see nothing else but his smile. Somehow, his smile gave a feeling of refreshment to others. His smile had a strong attraction, and it made other people smile too. ‘I am not so sure if I can call him handsome, but his smile is. ‘So he does look like a man.’ But his smile didn’t last long. Instead, a strong curiosity filled his face. “Excuse me…” It was the voice of a girl entering the office. She was with a man. Like if he jumped straight out from the game, he was wearing armor made with chains, and was holding a sword. The girl was wearing a black leather coat and hat. Haeran seemed glad to see her. Saeran too. “Who is-? Oh, Nain! Welcome!” said Haeran. “Glad you are out! I was kinda expecting you to be away playing games,” said the girl who was called Nain. She took her hat off. ‘Is she sick or something?’ Haroon thought. She had pale skin, and she looked to be weak and small, but it seemed she was older than she looks, seeing how friendly the girls were. “I logged out for a moment because there was an important trade I had to make.” “Then I came in at the right time. I came here to buy some items.” Haeran helped her sit on the chair. Haroon was driven away from the table. “So, how about iron ores?” “My teammates outside are trading with your brothers. Why don’t you check them out?” “2 people is enough for that. Why don’t we stay here and chat. You know what? Before we chat, I’ll help you out with buying the items you want, whatever those are.” “It’ll be great if an intel broker like you could help me.” Haroon wanted to go back to his house as he thought it wasn’t a great time for him to linger any longer, but as Haeran and Seran wasn’t giving any attention to him, he couldn’t help but to stay. When the girl who was called Nain finally became aware of him and was about to ask Haeran about him, a noise of something bas.h.i.+ng iron came from outside. “Hark! It’s a hark!” Somebody shouted. “Run! RUN!” They could hear people screaming and a giant roar. People ran out of the office, and Haroon hurriedly followed them out. He could see a hark attacking people, and it was not far from the blacksmith shop. “s.h.i.+t, it followed us. How did it manage to break the sealing of the secret pa.s.sage?” said the man with a warrior outfit. Haroon understood that these outers have a secret pa.s.sage that the Union are not aware of. Harks are a species that have mutated from humans. Growing to be over 3 meters tall and covered in smooth skin. With their muscular bodies, fingernails and toenails that are over 5 centimeters long, they can easily break any kind of cement. And their teeth are sharp enough to cut a human’s body easily. The hark grabbed a young man who seemed like the worker of a blacksmith shop, bent him in half and threw the corpse away. Harks did not kill humans primarily for food, they simply couldn’t resist the urge to kill. “They are coming this way. Haeran, go in and close the shutters!” A man who seemed like one of Haeran’s brothers shouted at the girls, and sprinted at the hark wielding a greatsword. “That hark, it lost two toenails to us. It must have chased us by our smell!” said Nain. She smacked her small fist and was shuddering in anger. His first impression of her was not so good, but he could hear that her voice had a strong power. “Three! Three of our friends got killed by that hark, and two of the warriors were gravely wounded by it. We’ve got to kill it even if casualties are to be made. Its movement must be restricted in this narrow pa.s.sage. Oseung, prepare to fight!” She added. “Got ya! Get your weapons ready!” The warrior who came into the office with her was named Oseung. When he shouted, four other warriors drew their weapons and joined him. “No! We’ve got to hide for now! The Union barrier defense troops must have moved by now, so 5 minutes of hiding is all we need! This shutter is made with steel and it can easily endure 5 minutes!” Haeran shouted, but Nain didn’t seem like she was willing to go back to the office. Hundreds of years old sirens rang in the pa.s.sage, and shops started to close their shutters. Seeing how fast people and shopkeepers reacted to the siren, Haroon could see that harks breaking into the black market happened quite often “It’s too late! Your friends and your brothers are in danger! It’s better to fight.” Like Nain said, the Hark was slowly approaching the men with weapons. It was being cautious as there were six people with swords. “Even if you do kill it, you’ll be arrested and jailed for years for breaking into the barrier if defense troops catch you during the fight!” “I don’t care! That hark has already eaten more than 10 of our fellow villagers. We have to hold it until the defense troop comes.” Nain’s will was firm. Her eyes were burning with anger. But the situation was getting very dangerous, against her wish. The hark swung its arm, and two of the warriors were knocked back, and hit the wall. “Die!” “You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” The others dashed forward, attacking the hark that were approaching the two warriors whom were still stunned by the aftershock of hitting the wall. But it simply clawed to counterattack the attackers. “Kugh!” “Huh! It’s no use! Its leather is too thick!” Two other warriors got hit by its fingernails. Haeran’s brothers were able to hit the hark, but it only made them feel miserable, and they had to back off, barely avoiding its continued attacks. “Fools!” Haroon couldn’t help but to swear. He found them so pathetic. How could they even think of making frontal, honest attacks against a monster like a hark? Their strength was simply no match for it. Two greatswords did hit the Hark, but all it did was to draw two lines on its skin. That seemed to enraged the hark, as it roared once again. “You need to join, Oppa!” “Alright.” At Nain’s order, a warrior who was standing next to her drew his moonglaive and attacked the hark. The hark swung both of its arms. It was so fast in proportion to how ma.s.sive its body was. But the warrior didn’t face it directly. With quick feet and swift moves, he seeked for an opening, and it annoyed the Hark. Haeran’s two brothers didn’t leave the warrior to deal with the hark all alone. Whenever the warrior was in danger, they made sneak attacks from the sides and back of it. Their movements too, were swift unlike how people think of blacksmiths. But making sneak attacks was not enough to kill it. The hark was smart and sneaky too. It approached the warriors still stunned by the shock, slowly but steadily, to force them to fight it so it could get a better chance to attack the warriors. “I, I gotta help!” Seran shouted. “Oh my G.o.d, no!” Haeran shouted. Seran grabbed a greatsword displayed next to the office and joined the fight. But at this rate, the flesh of the four would be torn apart by the hark before the defense troop arrived. “Seran! NO!” Haeran stamped her feet repeatedly, but there was nothing she could do. At that moment, Haroon’s eyes were burning. ‘This is strange. I’m not scared. Is that really the hark that’s been scaring me so far?’ He couldn’t understand why. Maybe it was because he dealt with a lot of monsters. Maybe it was because he had a good physical development. Harks were something that kept him awake all night from the fear even by imagination. Now he was facing it in real life, but he wasn’t fearful of it. Haroon entered the office, and grabbed a steel sword and some throwing knives. But he realized attacking it with a sword wouldn’t be effective in a narrow pa.s.sage like this. ‘It must have weak points,’ he thought. He didn’t know where those points were, but he had learned some general weak points of monsters. Among those points, exposed ones were ears, mouth and eyes. He didn’t have to know the specific weak points of harks. It was when Haroon grabbed a knife in his hand. Seran who was swinging her sword at its back, kicked off the wall behind her and made a flip to land in front of the hark. By suddenly blocking the hark’s vision for a brief moment, she was able to attack its thigh, but it was an opening on her as well. The hark swung its long arms. Seran tried to back off, but its fingernails were already heading toward her head. Haeran and Nain screamed. At that moment, Haroon saw the hark opening its mouth. Three knives cut the air. “Wha-What?” Unlike Haeran who shut her eyes, Nain could see knives being thrown at the hark over her head. Those knives exquisitely avoided Seran’s shoulder, and got sucked into the hark’s mouth. And Nain could see, vividly and in great detail as if she was looking at a painting. The hark started to make strange moans, and staggered. It opened its mouth so wide that it covered half of its head. “Seran! Quick! Back off!” While Seran recovered from the shock and backed off at Nain’s shout, two knives flew from Haroon’s hands once again. The knives struck the harks eyes which were exposed as it was trying to get the other knives out with its hands. Its eyes burst. It wanted to scream from the pain, but it couldn’t because of three knives, so it started to move violently. Then they could see the hark bleeding from its eyes and mouth, realizing why it acted so weirdly. “Did you-?” “Haroon!” Haroon nodded and swung his arm in a full arc. He couldn’t estimate how thick its skin was, so he threw the knife as hard as he could, aiming at where its heart would be located. It hit. The Hark couldn’t move anymore, and collapsed on the ground, making a strange moan. “Throwing knife, he penetrated a hark’s leather with a mere throwing knife!” Nain murmured, shocked by what she just witnessed. Haeran was stunned as well, and looked at Haroon with strange eyes without saying anything, as if she was looking at a monster. Seran and the other three approached the dead body of the hark. They repeatedly looked at the body, and then Haroon. Another siren went off. The first one who woke up from the shock was Nain, hearing the siren. She realized it was signaling that the defense troop has arrived. She shouted to Haeran. “We got to move people into the office!” Haeran understood her words quite quickly. “Oppa, Seran! Move the injured people inside, quick!” They had still not awakened from the shock of the severe fight, but they forced their bodies to move. They were strong so it didn’t take long for them to carry the people inside. Without saying anything, Haroon went to the Hark’s dead body and took out the throwing knives. Red blood spurted up like a fountain, but avoiding it was a basic skill that every mercenary learns. It was only after the people went into the office and the shutter was closed that the defense troop arrived. They were armed with armor suits, s.h.i.+elds and beam swords. Over 50 soldiers were mobilized. Some of them were even armed with flamethrowers, which was known as strongest weapon against mutated species, but all they could see was the b.l.o.o.d.y site where the fight happened, a dead hark and a dead man. People inside the Smash ‘em blacksmith shop could hear what was happening outside. “Boss, We’ve searched nearby places, but there’s no one around.” “Hmm, who could it be? Who could have killed a hark by stabbing its heart? “Seeing the wound, it seems that the hark got killed after being stabbed in its weak points by weapons of dagger sorts. And the hero got away without leaving any trace.” “Are you saying they killed a hark with a mere dagger, when its skin isn’t cut well even with beam swords? Cut the nonsense. ATTENTION! Dispose the bodies and we’ll be searching near this place again. The hark must have broke in by some kind of secret pa.s.sage connected to this underground pa.s.sage.” “Yes, sir!” They could hear the defense troop searching the place. They lingered for an hour and withdrew without finding anything at all. They knocked shutters of blacksmith shops to see if anyone was inside, but no shops opened their shutters. Shutters were strong enough to completely cut out the outside and inside from each other. Most of them even blocked out noise from the outside. Knocking the shutters only made people inside fearful as they had no idea what was going on outside. Fortunately, the injured warriors carried inside were only lightly wounded. It was only then that they fainted from the pain of their organs shaking from the shock of being slammed into the wall. When the first-aid treatment was done, the people’s eyes were naturally fixed on Haroon, who was looking down at the throwing knives. The knives had been wiped clean by Haroon. Silence lingered for a while. Haeran was the first one to open her mouth. “Haroon!” Haroon looked up and faced her. “Who ARE you?” From her words, Haroon smiled back. He kind of knew what she was asking, but there was no way to answer that question as the life he lived was not special at all. He has only changed very recently. But the others didn’t know his story, so Haroon smiling back only seemed like he was showing that he would not like to answer. Nain and the warrior she called Oppa spoke up. “I’m Nain. Thank you for helping us out. You are Haroon, right? I’ll never forget your help.” “Name’s Rosu. I, too, will repay your help. I swear on the spirit of warriors.” “My name is Haroon. I just used an opening you made, and I was just lucky that the knives. .h.i.t its weak points. You don’t have to repay me or anything.” In fact, he never thought his throwing knife skill would still work in real life. Because the situation was so dangerous,he threw the knife habitually without realizing that he was in the real world. Realizing that he is able to use Messenger Walking and throwing knives in the real world was already a big reward for him. Especially when he threw the last knife that hit the hark’s heart, he felt something being sucked out of his body as the knife left his hand. He was thinking about what that would be, so he wasn’t pleasant with getting attention from the others. He wanted to be alone to think about it. Listening to his calm voice, Nain and Rosu looked at each other and nodded. It seemed like they gave a signal to each other of some sort. Nain took her necklace off and handed it to Haroon. “Please, take this. Think of it as us repaying your kindness,” said Nain. “You don’t need to repay anything. You already did by saying thank you.” Haroon shook his head, but Nain didn’t take it back. Haroon saw her deep, pure eyes. Seeing her eyes, Haroon realized that she has a strong will, so he took the necklace from her hand. “We live in Yeongheung¹ village. Visit us whenever you wish if you have anything you want from the outside. That necklace is the symbol of warriors in our village, so everyone will know you are a welcomed guest if you show it to anyone of us.” “Thank you.” A star-shaped pendant formed out of 5 molar teeth was attached to it. The gilt has come off. Haroon hung the necklace on his neck as soon as he received it. He thought that would show Nain and Rosu that he really appreciates their gift. His guess was right. Nain and Rosu’s faces were brightened with smiles. “If you got some time, please visit our village as soon as you can,” she said. Haroon found something odd about that. He couldn’t find any traces from her smiling face and eyes, so he knew it was something about her voice. It sounded like their village was in need of help from the outside. Her pure eyes and weak body moved his mind. ‘I was going to find the outers who helped my step-father anyways. Why wouldn’t I visit them along the way?’ They wouldn’t harm the one who helped them. He had planned to go out of the barrier, and he happened to be invited. “I will. I am in need of a few things, and I have a place to visit, so I think I can make a visit in the near future. Maybe there is something I could help with.” “Whenever you come, we’ll always welcome you.” Another siren went off in the underground pa.s.sage. Probably a signal to the shopkeepers and customers that there’s no danger anymore. “Bros, it’s over,” said Haeran, opening the shutter. Nain and Rosu helped their teammates get up, and got out of the shop with haste. They were heading towards the deeper, darker part of the pa.s.sage. The secret pa.s.sage must be located somewhere there. Haroon got up as well. The trading was done, he got the intel he wanted. It was time for him to go back. It was a long, and fruitful day. “Wait, take these with you!” Haroon turned back and was surprised to see the throwing knives in Haeran’s hand. “Thank you. If it weren’t for you, my brothers and even we would have died by the hark,” said Haeran. Seran and their brothers added a few word of thank as well. They probably waited until Nain and her teammates left. “Nah. You didn’t, so that’s it. Hope we can have a good trade next time too.” “Huhu! Don’t worry about it. I won’t take any profit out from you. And these throwing knives are our gift.” “Gift?” Haeran smiled and answered. “I think these are your weapons. They’ve tasted blood, so it’s hard to sell anyways. It’d be worthwhile if you can kill bunch of harks with these.” Haroon didn’t hesitate to take them. He was really attracted to those knives from the moment he saw them. “Thanks! Then, see you again.” The black market was lively again, as if nothing really happened. Leaving four people’s gazes on his back, Haroon left the black market. Translated by Channy_,
Eddited by Tom and Kmatt. Footnotes: ¹ Yeongheung(영흥) is currently located in eastern central area of North Korea. The name basically means ‘prospering’ or ‘flouris.h.i.+ng’.
