“I don’t even know what’s what anymore…”
Han-cheol let out a sigh and looked at Yujin with eyes full of confusion, but Yujin ignored that gaze and spoke.
“Well, anyway, shall we sort out the situation a bit? We’ll be facing the members of Hugo’s party soon, and it’ll be easier if we’re on the same page beforehand.”
“Haa… Yeah, let’s do that.”
Han-cheol was aware that it was about time for Hugo’s party to return. He nodded, and Yujin asked him a question.
“First… let’s figure out how the two of us know each other. As for me, the story is that I’ve been living away from the world, completely ignorant of how things work, and arrived at the labyrinth city without knowing anything. That’s why I said I didn’t know anyone. What about you, squad leader?”
“I said… I was just a nobody doing mercenary work, got totally drunk, blacked out, and when I woke up the next day, I was in the labyrinth.”
“And the reason for going with that story?”
“Honestly, it just seemed like the best cover… When I first met Hugo’s party, I didn’t know what was going on and acted kind of crazy. I also reacted like someone who had just realized he was in a labyrinth. So I figured it would sound more believable if I played the part of a fool who stumbled into the labyrinth without even knowing what it was. Compared to that, the whole ‘got drunk and woke up here’ setup felt more convincing.”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t all that believable. Waking up in a fully armed state inside a labyrinth just because you drank too much the night before? What kind of person gets blackout drunk and ends up in a dungeon like that?
“But surprisingly, Crom actually believed it… Said he’s had moments like that too.”
“…I see.”
Still, it was hard to argue when someone actually bought the story. Anyway, Han-cheol continued.
“Anyway, that’s how I glossed over who I am… but the important part comes next. Honestly, the reason I ended up joining Hugo’s party is kind of because of you.”
“Are you talking about me?”
At Han-cheol’s claim that he joined Hugo’s party because of Yujin, Yujin tilted his head slightly. Han-cheol nodded.
“Yeah, I overheard the people in Hugo’s party talking about you and realized you were here too. At first, I was planning to find my way out of the labyrinth on my own, but once I knew you were here, I changed my mind a bit and decided to go along with Hugo’s group.”
“I see. So, what’s the important part?”
Up to this point, it simply sounded like the story of how Han-cheol ended up joining Hugo’s party. It was hard to say it was anything particularly important.
However, Yujin had already started to pick up on the context. After all, the topic they had originally been discussing was…
“It’s nothing big, really. Hugo, the party leader, just asked how I came to know you. That’s when I actually heard about your backstory too. That you came here alone, having left the secular world behind with no ties or acquaintances. So he was curious how we ended up knowing each other.”
It was all about how Yujin and Han-cheol would explain the circumstances of their acquaintance.
Yujin asked,
“So how did you respond?”
“I just glossed over it and said we helped each other out a bit. Of course, considering how much I freaked out when I realized you were here, I don’t think he fully bought that story.”
“Then I suppose we’ll need to set the story straight now.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. It’s not like we can go around saying we’re from another world.”
Even if they did say they came from another world, who would believe it? And even if someone did believe it, that could be an even bigger problem. Once word got out, attention would start coming in from all sorts of directions.
That kind of attention would be very different from what Yujin was receiving as a public figure now. The current attention Yujin received came from a place of admiration as someone who had achieved a legendary feat. But interest in an otherworlder would more likely be mixed with fear, curiosity, and even hostility.
It could easily spiral into political or religious complications. Neither of them wanted anything to do with that.
“Let’s do it like this. You were out on some external subjugation mission when you happened to run into me on my way to the labyrinth city. I helped you out, and from there, we got to know each other. That should be good enough, don’t you think?”
“Hmm… There’s a little snag, but maybe it’ll work?”
“What’s the snag?”
“Well… when I realized you were here, I kind of screamed in front of Hugo’s party, asking why you were here…like you were someone who absolutely shouldn’t be. And then when we actually met here, I made a big fuss again, asking what you were doing here. If we’re just casual acquaintances, that kind of reaction doesn’t make much sense, does it?”
“Let’s just brush that off casually. Say it was something personal. That shouldn’t be too hard to sell, right?”
“Mm… yeah, okay. Let’s go with that.”
Han-cheol nodded, agreeing to the suggestion…
Knock knock.
“Hey! Sorry to interrupt, but Hugo’s group just got here! If you’re still talking, make sure you pass the word along!”
Marry soon let them know that Hugo’s party had arrived.
***
“Ah, you’re here!”
Yujin and Han-cheol came down to the first floor. There, they came face to face with Hugo’s party, who had already settled in.
“Did you two have a good talk?”
“Thanks to your consideration, everything wrapped up well. I really appreciate it.”
Yujin responded warmly to Hugo’s question and took a seat, with Han-cheol sitting down beside him. Crom spoke up.
“So what were you two talking about? You both look like you’re from the East. Were you reminiscing about your hometowns or something?”
“It wasn’t anything special. Since we already knew each other, we just caught up a bit.”
“Is that so? Now that you mention it, you said you two knew each other from before. How did that happen? To be honest, last time you made it sound like you didn’t know anyone, so I was confused. But now it seems like that’s not the case.”
“Well… to be exact, it’s not like we’ve known each other for a long time. I met Mr. Han-cheol while I was on my way to the labyrinth city, and he was out on an external request. Since we’re from the same region, we naturally hit it off and became close.”
Given the current situation, Yujin deliberately avoided calling Han-cheol “Squad Leader” and referred to him as “Mr. Han-cheol” instead.
Hugo spoke.
“When you say ‘hit it off’…”
“…If I had to explain, it’s more like we became close because I received help from him.”
Han-cheol also felt it would be awkward to stay silent, so he added a few words. Hugo replied.
“Help, huh… Come to think of it, you mentioned before that you helped each other out.”
“Yes. So…”
Han-cheol paused for a moment in thought. Now that he considered it, he hadn’t clearly established what kind of external request he had been on when he met Yujin, according to their story. That caused him to momentarily lose his words, but…
“…It was because of a dark mage.”
He quickly searched his memory for some in-game lore, thinking about what would make a mercenary turn down the safer, more profitable labyrinth jobs in favor of an external request. That’s the phrase he came up with.
“!”
At those words, Mirien flinched slightly, but since the others were also looking at him with mild surprise, no one noticed her reaction.
“A dark mage, you say?”
“Yes. As you know, external requests aren’t usually handled by guilds; they’re more like favors done through personal connections, right? I got such a request from someone I knew. They said there was some strange curse going around their village and asked me to look into it… It was someone I trusted, so I went ahead and took the job.”
“Ah…”
“But there really was a curse spreading in the village. From what I investigated, it didn’t seem like it was the lingering grudge of someone who died unjustly or anything like that… so I suspected it might be the work of a dark mage and looked into it. And it turned out to be true.”
“Weren’t you in danger?”
“Well, dark mages are inherently sinister by nature, so of course it was dangerous. But just then, Yujin happened to show up in the village, apparently passing through and looking for a place to stay… and he ended up helping me as I was preparing to take down the dark mage. In the end, we drove the mage out, completed the request… and since Yujin was also from the same continent, we became somewhat close.”
“That’s fortunate.”
“Very fortunate, indeed. I never expected we’d run into each other again in a labyrinth like this. When I first heard he was in a place like this even though he always claimed to live by the motto of ‘safety and comfort first’, I was honestly speechless.”
“Hahaha.”
Yujin just laughed awkwardly and shrugged his shoulders.
“I heard labyrinths aren’t as dangerous as people think, though.”
“That depends on the person. Weren’t you always going on about retiring before thirty and living a peaceful life?”
“Hahaha, the two of you really do seem quite close.”
Watching the two of them, Hugo laughed and gave a nod as if he now had a general understanding.
“At first, I thought there might be some complicated backstory. When I asked Han-cheol how he came to know Yujin back then, he kind of dodged the question. So when I asked again this time, I wondered if I’d made a mistake…”
“Ah, it’s just… it felt a little awkward at the time, so I sort of mumbled my way through it.”
“I see.”
Hugo nodded, but Yujin looked at him for a moment before discreetly sending a telepathic message to Han-cheol.
[It seems like the squad leader’s brief moment of hesitation just now, and the way Hugo reacted….he doesn’t seem to fully believe what you said.]
Whoa! What was that?!
Of course, Han-cheol had been momentarily startled. Naturally, though, he didn’t show it.
[Well, don’t be too surprised. You know telepathy, right?]
Since when did you learn something like that…? No, never mind. More importantly, you think he doesn’t believe us?
[Well, you handled it pretty smoothly, but it’s not like the lie was completely undetectable. Hugo’s surprisingly perceptive, so it wouldn’t be strange if he picked up on something.]
Ugh…
[Still, he didn’t really seem like he was trying to dig deeper. He may have sensed that we meant no harm. Anyway, squad leader.]
At that point, Yujin seemed to want to steer the conversation elsewhere and asked Han-cheol a question.
[Your explanation about the external request came out much more naturally than I expected. Did you really make it up?]
Yujin was honestly quite surprised. Even though it was clear they were lying, Han-cheol’s explanation about the external request had been surprisingly detailed and flowed without hesitation. Did Han-cheol have a hidden talent for lying?
But Han-cheol gave an unexpected answer.
Oh, that? It’s not exactly a lie. That’s actually from a real quest in the game.
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