The NPC Looking for a Sibling
〈The 1st Sequence of ‘Main Quest: Prologue’ has ended.〉
〈Rewards will be distributed to each Player who participated in the 1st Sequence based on their contribution.〉
The moment the Minotaur Lord died, the announcement that the 1st Sequence had ended appeared before every Player’s eyes. The monsters that had still been alive seemed to sense the disappearance of the raid boss as well — the momentum with which they had been charging at the Players dropped all at once.
The once-coordinated monster attacks quickly fell apart, and a look of bewilderment crept over the faces of the beasts that had been reveling in the slaughter.
In the end, half of the monsters that had been converging on the Great Tree were killed, and the other half scattered and retreated.
The monsters that had been positioned around the Great Tree suffered even greater losses, as the moment they slipped out from under the Minotaur Lord’s control, they were little more than a disorganized rabble.
But no matter how chaotic the situation had been, every Player had already known that the monsters around the Great Tree were far higher in level than the ones at the individual points.
“And yet barely over 120 people stood against 500 of those things…….”
“I knew Eclipse was a den of incredible fighters, but I honestly didn’t think they’d actually pull it off.”
The coalition members returning from the various points were busy whispering among themselves. Their gazes drifted toward the Eclipse members who had come back after collecting the bodies of their fallen allies.
As the story went, the total casualties among Eclipse members had been a mere seven.
Apparently they had been the ones reckless enough to barge in on their own trying to get a piece of the boss kill — and they had died gruesome deaths for it.
If not for that pointless blunder, there might not have been a single casualty among the Eclipse members at all.
The coalition members took note of Heo Yunji as she led the Eclipse members inside the villa. She had given off this impression ever since she stepped up to the platform and calmly briefed the coalition — for someone barely in her twenties, she carried an undeniable charisma and command that was impossible to dismiss.
But there was someone else who drew the most eyes.
“He’s here.”
The arrival of one person was enough to silence the villa and everything around it in an instant, despite the crowd of coalition members gathered there.
Jeong Euijin.
The first advanced-tier Player in Zone 2 to clear the 3rd Awakening Quest.
Eclipse’s strongest fighter — the man rumored to have come out victorious even in one-against-a-hundred battles with monsters.
A deranged killer who spent the better part of each day slaughtering monsters, and a ruthless outlaw who allegedly cut down even fellow Players first and asked questions later if they got in his way.
There was naturally some exaggeration baked into the rumors that had been passed around and inflated over time.
But the single fact that he had subjugated the Minotaur Lord alone was more than enough to accept every one of those stories as truth.
Not a single person present could have done what he did — faced a raid boss monster one-on-one, let alone brought it down.
In this world, level is law.
And the number of Awakening Quests cleared was also the number of unique skills one possessed.
Even a gap of just one or two levels decided the hierarchy of power and immediately established who stood above and who stood below. The difference in the variety and versatility of skills only made that gap all the more irreversible.
In that sense, Jeong Euijin — level 60, with his 3rd Awakening complete — was an outright monster of a different class entirely to the Players gathered here.
Perhaps for that reason, rumor had it that even within Eclipse, Jeong Euijin spoke to almost no one besides the leader and Heo Yunji — a thorough believer in the supremacy of ability. Stories of him being an extremely cold and indifferent person to those around him were equally widespread. The first impression the coalition members had of Jeong Euijin was no different from that.
And yet……
“I should have just carried you as we moved.”
“Carrying me on your back isn’t an option?”
“Then I wouldn’t be able to see your face.”
“So you’re absolutely determined to see me looking humiliated, is that it? Forget it. I’d rather walk on my own two feet even if I end up with sore muscles.”
“Then at least on the stairs……”
“Be quiet. I’m out of breath and it’s hard to answer.”
“…Yes.”
It was, to say the least, a conversation that was difficult to believe Jeong Euijin was a part of.
Naturally, everyone’s full attention turned to Jeong Euijin and the young man walking beside him.
He was a handsome young man — slightly lean but with a balanced build. His expressionless face held a strange coexistence of fragility and sharpness that made it oddly difficult to look away from once you’d noticed it.
The young man walked alongside Jeong Euijin, visibly struggling to catch his breath. He didn’t seem to have the presence of mind to register the stares being directed at him — he wiped the sweat from his pale face and walked into the villa without any sign of hesitation.
On Jeong Euijin’s face as he entered the villa alongside the young man was a worry and restlessness that even Eclipse members rarely got to see from him.
The people who witnessed this exchanged looks of surprise.
“Wait, who is that?”
“Isn’t Jeong Euijin the one being ignored here, not the other way around?”
“Isn’t that the decoy? The Monster Tamer!”
“Oh! The decoy!”
At that, people let out one short gasp of recognition after another as they turned to look at the villa entrance. They could see the young man gripping the railing and laboring up the stairs, and Jeong Euijin’s back as he supported him.
“He’s level 9, I heard — just how bad is his stamina for him to be like that……”
“Apparently all his stats are at level 1 standards. Makes sense for someone with a skill strong enough to lure even a boss.”
“So that’s why Jeong Euijin’s doting on him like that? Because his skill is that good?”
“Without him, it would’ve been impossible for Jeong Euijin to face the boss one-on-one without interference to begin with.”
Every Player murmuring among themselves already understood.
If they’d had to deal with the monsters and the boss simultaneously, even Eclipse would have taken staggering casualties. There was a good chance Jeong Euijin himself wouldn’t have gotten out unscathed either.
And that wasn’t all.
If Eclipse alone had been unable to handle the monster horde around the Great Tree and the boss at the same time, they would have had no choice but to pull people from each point to reinforce the central force.
The mission at each point wasn’t only about defeating monsters — more than anything, it was about buying time until the boss could be taken down.
If things had played out that way, the reduction in headcount at each point and the prolonged battle around the Great Tree would have resulted in no small number of casualties among the coalition members as well. A clean sweep with as little damage as they’d gotten away with today would have been too much to hope for.
In that regard, the existence of the Monster Tamer who had appeared like a comet was nothing short of absolute. With just that one person joining them, separating the boss and the monster horde from each other had been effortlessly achievable — and the mission had been completed far faster and with far fewer casualties than anticipated.
Now that the 1st Sequence had ended.
Not a single coalition member regarded the Monster Tamer with suspicion, or resented him for his low level.
If anything, they hoped he would stay — that he wouldn’t go anywhere and would continue to take part in the Main Quest alongside them from here on.
But contrary to their wishes, Monster Tamer Lee Jaea had already begun preparing to leave Zone 2.
***
“You’re going to Zone 1?!”
At the words Lee Jaea spoke after stepping out of the shower in good spirits, Kim Seokju and three other members reacted with expressions of pure shock.
Jeong Iseul and Woo Jaekyung each immediately grabbed one of Jaea’s arms.
“No way! Where do you think you’re going! You can’t go!”
“P, please don’t go…! We’ll do better…! Hyung…!”
The two of them knew all too well that I had terrible stamina and the durability of glass, so they didn’t grip hard enough to hurt or shake me too roughly.
But they held on with the tenacity of leeches, and it wasn’t until Seo Wonil pried them off that I could finally slip free.
“Everyone, calm down for now.”
While Seo Wonil kept Jeong Iseul and Woo Jaekyung held back —
Kim Seokju asked with an awkward smile:
“Can I ask why you’re going?”
“I need to find my sibling.”
“Your sibling?”
I could feel everyone’s ears prick up at my words.
“They were living in a university dormitory up until two years ago. I’ve been in hiding this whole time, so I had no idea whether they were alive or dead — but Jeong Euijin said he thinks he might have seen them recently in Zone 1.”
“Ah, your sibling…….”
The mood turned heavy in an instant.
I know, too.
That it’s close to a miracle that the Players alive today survived that Cleansing two years ago.
That most people’s parents and siblings — whether they had been together or apart at the time of The Cleansing — didn’t make it.
That’s why no one can bring themselves to cheer me on without hesitation.
They know that building up false hope only risks a fall just as hard, which is why even words like “I’m sure they’re doing fine” or “I’m sure they’re safe” can’t be thrown around carelessly.
I wasn’t certain about my sibling’s survival either.
Alive, or dead.
A simple fifty-fifty — I was only moving to turn whichever side it was into a hundred.
Not letting the weight of expectation fall on either side until I could confirm it with my own eyes.
That was something my Trait: Mental Stability, which had taken root in me two years ago, had been keeping at bay as its top priority.
I reassured the members with an unbothered expression.
“Don’t look at me like that. If I go and it turns out to be a dead end, I’ll come straight back.”
Jeong Iseul, whose expression had still been dark even at my words, quietly tugged at the hem of my shirt.
“Even if you do find your sibling… you’ll still come back, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
Only then did Jeong Iseul’s face brighten a little.
In truth, if I found my sibling, there would be no particular reason to stay in Zone 2 anymore — but I did have to come back at least once.
I have no choice if I want to give Jeong Euijin his quest reward.
Why on earth was the quest reward paid in installments after the fact.
If I had my way, I would have immediately looked up whatever quest Jeong Euijin wanted and handed over the reward upfront. Then the moment the quest was completed in Zone 1, we could each go our separate ways without the hassle.
But the moment the system read my intent, it put up a warning message: Please deliver the reward after the quest has been completed. What a pain.
After that, when I mentioned that Jeong Euijin would be coming along to Zone 1 as a guide and escort, Jeong Iseul and Woo Jaekyung visibly relaxed.
They made a fuss about how Zone 2’s top Player personally stepping in as a bodyguard proved just how much he recognized the true value of the 1st Sequence’s MVP. Kim Seokju also seemed quietly pleased.
For some reason, Seo Wonil looked thoroughly disgruntled. He let out several sighs before patting my head with a strange, worried expression.
“Be careful not to get eaten alive.”
For some reason, Seo Wonil seemed to be more wary of Jeong Euijin than of any monster.
***
The next morning, in front of the boundary line leading to Zone 1.
In my eyes, the boundary still glowed with a soft red light.
Still not working?
The anticipation slowly drained away.
Red meant rejection, refusal, warning, prohibition.
Even though I was standing alongside the very Player who had created the quest and assigned it to me — in my eyes, the boundary line was still red.
The emotions threatening to stir inside me were just beginning to settle under Trait: Mental Stability when —
“It’ll be alright.”
A gentle voice from beside me quietly smoothed over my feelings.
Jeong Euijin stepped forward first toward Zone 1. As if the boundary dividing the zones had never existed to begin with, he crossed to the other side with effortless ease.
Jeong Euijin stopped and turned to look back at me. Wearing his usual beautiful smile, he reached out his hand toward me.
Jeong Euijin’s large, firm hand crossed the red boundary, reaching unmistakably toward me.
“Come on.”
The moment I found myself gripping Jeong Euijin’s hand without even thinking —
The red boundary before my eyes transformed in an instant into a breathtaking blue.
