Go Hyeonwoo, Han Somi, and Hong Yeonhwa looked back and forth between Seo Ye-in and hologram Seo Ye-in with fascinated eyes.
“They really are exactly the same.”
“There are two of her! Two of her!”
“Wow......”
Dang Gyu-young and I had been seeing this all through winter break, so we were used to it by now, but those three had only heard rough explanations.
This was their first time seeing it in person.
So I said to hologram Seo Ye-in,
“Could we please get a self-introduction?”
— Sure.
Fast-Luckless nodded readily.
Then she struck a pose in front of the three of them.
— I’m actually the original.
“Huh.”
“Hm?”
“!?”
— I was sealed away, and now I’ve been released.
At that, everyone’s eyes turned to Seo Ye-in.
As if demanding an explanation.
But judging by the way she kept tilting her head, she looked just as bewildered herself.
“......? No.”
— Actually, she’s the clone.
“......? That is not true.”
Looks like Fast-Luckless had come out after a long time and was spouting nonsense for fun.
But it was funny, so obviously we had to hear more.
I raised a fist to my mouth like a microphone.
“You’ve suddenly claimed you’re the original. What’s your evidence?”
— I talk more.
“That by itself is a little weak.”
— The clone is low on energy. She can’t talk much.
“So what you’re saying is that because you’re the original, you have lots of energy and can talk well?”
— Exactly.
“Very good, thank you for your answer.”
I slowly nodded, then this time held the fist-mic out to Seo Ye-in.
“Now let’s hear the rebuttal.”
“Slander.”
“So all of this is nothing but slander?”
“I feel wronged.”
“I get that, but this isn’t something you can solve by appealing to emotion, you know? Your evidence is weak. Weak.”
At that, Seo Ye-in reached out with both hands, grabbed my face, and forced me to look straight at her.
Then, with her gray eyes shining brightly, she said,
“Truthful eyes.”
“You can tell by looking into the eyes?”
“Bond with butler.”
Sure enough, a strong sense of trust was coming through from her gaze.
So I fell silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.
And then I said with a completely serious face,
“I can’t tell at all, though.”
“???”
“I said give evidence. Why do you keep dodging the question? Are you the clone?”
“Feeling hurt.......”
Seo Ye-in was showing signs of evolving into Gloomy Sloth, and Dang Gyu-ri, who had been watching with great interest, clicked their tongue at me.
“Stop teasing her already.”
“I lost control again.”
But what was I supposed to do when it was this fun?
Still holding Seo Ye-in’s hands, I said,
“Of course my lady is the real one. I knew that from the start.”
“......I almost got hurt.”
“We’ve been together for how long now? The butler bond, right?”
“Right.”
Seo Ye-in gave a satisfied little nod of her chin.
Next, I formally introduced hologram Fast-Luckless to the group.
“As you can see, she’s not an ordinary clone. She’s fairly independent, and her specs are almost identical.”
“Independent, and with strength comparable to Miss Seo...... If I had to face both of them at once, I imagine it would be quite difficult.”
“Probably, yeah. But for now, she only comes out during the quest.”
Maybe someday I’d be able to summon her directly.
Meanwhile, Han Somi was inching toward Fast-Luckless with the body language of a predator that had just spotted prey.
She already liked sticking close to Seo Ye-in, and now that a hologram version had appeared, her interest seemed to be in overdrive.
Once the distance closed enough, she made a sudden dash and tried to hook arms with her, but—
— Stay back.
Fast-Luckless took a slight backstep and shoved Han Somi away.
“Hm?”
— Don’t cling to me.
“Why can’t I cling to you?”
— Drains my energy. Makes me tired.
Han Somi tilted her head.
Then she pointed at me and asked again,
“But you’re always clinging to Kim Ho.”
— Kim Ho is fine.
“Why?”
— Because he’s Kim Ho.
“Then I’m not okay?”
— No. Don’t cling to me.
Han Somi looked genuinely shocked by the firm answer.
In contrast, Seo Ye-in gave a deeply satisfied nod.
“......That feels refreshing.”
*****
After the somewhat chaotic Fast-Luckless introduction time ended,
we left the private house and started moving.
After walking for a while, a familiar marketplace spread out before us.
There were many people, yet it was strangely quiet, and the air hanging over the market was heavy too.
Because people had been disappearing in the area at all hours.
Which, naturally, was Black Serpent Fang’s doing.
We stared at the pavilion standing in the distance.
Then Hong Yeonhwa glanced sideways at me and asked,
“That one?”
“Yeah. Burn the whole place down later.”
Not now.
We could storm it anytime, but if we brought down Black Serpent Fang like that, we’d achieve the clear objective, and the dungeon would reset.
Before that, it was better to collect all the extra benefits we could.
Last year we waited at the duck stew place.
If you did that, two low-ranking martial artists would come by.
To drag away the waiter and use him as a living sacrifice.
If you beat them down, you could get a Dharma statue from the owner as a reward, and if you stripped the uniforms off the low-ranking martial artists, you could use them as disguises too.
The problem is that we have more people this time.
Back then, the ones who infiltrated were just Go Hyeonwoo and Shin Byeongcheol, so the numbers matched the low-ranking collection squad martial artists.
This time, though, it was me, Go Hyeonwoo, and Han Somi. Three people.
Which meant we needed one extra uniform.
So Go Hyeonwoo changed direction with Han Somi.
“We shall return.”
“Right. If anything comes up, join us immediately.”
“Of course.”
They were going to find some other low-ranking martial artists, beat them down, and strip off their clothes.
And while they were at it, I had sent them on ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) a local-specialties errand too.
After sending the two of them off, the rest of us kept walking through the marketplace.
Before long, a small and shabby inn came into view.
Written on the faded signboard were the words:
<Spicy Duck Stew>
In front of the inn, Black Serpent Fang martial artists, a waiter, and a middle-aged man who looked to be the cook were in the middle of an argument.
Looks like we had arrived a little late.
That was because we had wasted time making hologram Seo Ye-in do self-introductions.
The middle-aged man was desperately trying to stop the martial artists from dragging the waiter away.
“M-My son can’t go. P-Please—”
— THUD!
One of the Black Serpent Fang martial artists kicked him hard.
The martial artist watched the middle-aged man go flying, then said to the waiter,
“Come with us.”
“......”
“If you keep dawdling, I’ll cut you down.”
He stroked the sword at his waist in a threatening way, so for the waiter, there was no choice but to follow if he wanted to protect the middle-aged man.
But his steps were as heavy as iron.
Meanwhile, I walked up to the middle-aged man and casually made him an offer.
“Want us to stop them?”
“I-If you do that for us......”
“If we do?”
“I’ll give you anything. Anything.”
“No changing your story later.”
I grinned and looked at the Black Serpent Fang martial artists, who had already turned their heads this way.
Even if they were low-ranking, they were still martial artists, so it looked like our conversation had reached their ears.
One of them looked at me and recited a very familiar line.
“Trying to play the hero?”
“I just can’t stand seeing injustice.”
And I can stand hidden pieces even less.
Dang Gyu-ri stepped up beside me and added a comment.
With a glance at the waiter, they said,
“We need to make a living too. If you take him away, who’s going to carry out the duck stew? You?”
Hong Yeonhwa nodded too, as if that made perfect sense.
Because Spicy Duck Stew was a serious matter.
Naturally, from the Black Serpent Fang martial artists’ perspective, that was not a logic they could possibly understand.
They let out dry laughs and spoke one by one.
“So I thought you were heroes.”
“You’re just a pair of lunatics.”
“At least their bones and muscles look decent. Want to drag them too?”
“Sure.”
But before the two of them could even fully take their fighting stance—
— THUD!
A dull impact struck one of them in the back of the head.
Dang Gyu-ri had taken position behind him with [Shadow Leap] and swung a club.
As his companion dropped in an instant, the remaining one’s eyes nearly split wide open.
“What—”
— THUD!
Of course, he soon ended up in the exact same state.
The gap in skill was so enormous that a fight never even formed.
We tossed the two into a corner of an alley, stripped off only their uniforms, and took them.
Then we brought the waiter back to the inn.
“My son!”
“Father!”
The waiter and the cook threw themselves into each other’s arms and had a touching family reunion.
I gave them a little time, then said,
“You said you’d give me anything, right?”
“Ah, yes! Wh-What can I do for you......?”
The cook watched me with slight tension as I strode over to one corner of the inn and came back carrying a small Dharma statue.
“I’ll take this.”
“......Ah, yes. Go right ahead.”
From the innkeeper’s point of view, he probably didn’t know its exact use, so he just thought he was giving away a decorative item.
He was probably also thinking it was surprisingly cheap, considering we had saved his son’s life.
But in reality, this is the most important thing here.
It had the effect of breaking certain formations.
Even the one I had gotten before had been extremely useful in places like [Seizing the Demon Seal] and [Gathering of Villains].
And it also contains insight.
It had been carved in a single breath by some unknown master.
Just studying the traces left by the sword energy would give any martial artist a lot to realize.
In fact, Go Hyeonwoo had already benefited from it quite a bit, and still was.
I don’t need two of them, though.
If so, I could just trade it with the Swordsmanship Club.
Martial artist types always went crazy whenever a fortuitous encounter was involved.
So I carefully stored the Dharma statue in my inventory.
Then, in an everyday tone, I asked the cook and the waiter,
“You can do duck stew, right? And dumplings?”
“Of course we can.”
“Would it be possible to make one of them not spicy?”
That question was for Seo Ye-in, weakest of weaklings when it came to spicy food, but the middle-aged man answered with an awkward look.
“I’m sorry, but that would be difficult. We simmer the broth spicy from the start......”
“Can’t be helped. Then can you make one very spicy?”
That question, of course, was for Hong Yeonhwa, strongest of the strong when it came to spicy food.
This time the middle-aged man’s face stiffened as he gave a warning.
“Customer, it’ll already be spicy even as it is.”
“I’ve heard the rumors. But this friend of mine is no ordinary case either.”
“Then how spicy would you like it?”
“Let’s test the limits of human endurance.”
“......Understood.”
The cook and the waiter glanced at Hong Yeonhwa, then headed into the kitchen with their fighting spirit ignited.
We sat around a table and waited, and before long Go Hyeonwoo and Han Somi came through the inn door.
With Black Serpent Fang uniforms and an armful of local specialties.
“Brother Kim.”
“We’re back!”
Looks like they had handled everything properly and finished the errand too.
But then, the next moment, Han Somi looked at me, and her eyes sharpened.
“A fact I just discovered!”
“What is it?”
“This!”
Then she pointed at several of the local products.
Pancakes and taffy, among others.
“Didn’t you give these to me before?”
“Yep. Those.”
Back in first year, Go Hyeonwoo’s skill had lagged pretty far behind.
So to set up a friendly spar between him and Han Somi, I had asked Song Cheonhye for a favor and handed over some local specialties.
“So they were from Black Serpent Fang!”
“Exactly. That means you were already an accomplice from back then.”
Once again I started up the brainwashing engine with complete nonsense, and Han Somi’s eyes went round.
“Hm? But I didn’t know that.”
“But now you do, right? And now you’ve entered Black Serpent Fang, right?”
“Was I tricked?”
“And now that you’ve also bought local specialties, you’re an accomplice beyond all denial, right?”
“Is that true?”
“If we get caught, you’ll get disciplined and rack up a huge pile of demerits, right?”
“That can’t happen though?”
“So we’ll have to aim for the perfect crime, right?”
“......Is that true? Is it? It is?”
Han Somi’s eyes spun in confused little circles.
