Chapter 44

— Were… the talented newcomers of the two guilds defeated?

— How strong was that monster…

— Hurry up! We need to tell the whole Hwaran squad as soon as possible, let them send their men in there!

Knowing that even the two Players talented enough to be sponsored by the most powerful guilds could not stop the monster was enough to spark fear in their hearts.

They understood that if they did nothing about it, the monster would probably break through the Gate eventually.

Kang Yu, looking at the frightened people, continued in a low tone:

— You don’t have to worry. The unknown monster has been destroyed. But… victims…

— Woah!

— Kang Yu, did you defeat him?

Kang Yu heard the crowd cheering.

A shadow clouded over his face as he bent his head down.

— No. It wasn’t me who destroyed the unknown monster.

— In that case…

— The hero who destroyed the monster and saved my life is Kang Seon Soo.

— Woah! — The crowd, listening to Kang Yu, made a brief exclamation.

He sighed heavily, put his hand on Seon Soo’s body, and spoke in a trembling voice:

— Seon Soo, who fought the monster, realized that the situation was critical when he saw his comrades die. So he told me to run away and was left alone with the creature. — He continued to act frightened. — However, I could not escape by myself, so I stayed until the end to help Seon Soo. Even though he was risking his life, he fought boldly to the end and won. It was a very hard and tragic fight. —

There was silence.

— After he won, Seon Soo repeated the names of his teammates until he fainted.

After hearing Kang Yu’s full story, people stared at Seon Soo with looks of pity and heartbreak.

The Player who had fought bravely and saved a man’s life, now unconscious.

The story of him calling out his dead teammates before he fainted tore at their hearts.

Journalists adored such stories and could already see great headlines.

— Could you tell us more? — The journalists, trying to find out more for their articles, moved their microphones closer.

They no longer showed interest in the hero lying on the floor.

It didn’t matter to them at all whether he was hanging on a thread from death, in pain, or asking for help.

Now, they were only interested in the heartbreaking story that could become a great story on paper.

— When we entered the gate, we felt a spiraling breath of anger.

— That means…

— That’s right. The monster was waiting for us near the gate.

The journalists, waiting for Kang Yu to continue, swallowed nervously.

— The moment we laid our eyes on the monster, it was terrifying. There was no way we expected to meet a monster that strong at the Level B Gate.

— What did it look like?

— Just like the officers described it: looks like a lion on the outside, but with five paws. Each player in the Seon Soo party died from a single blow.

— Huh? From… from a single blow?

— How is that possible…?

Everyone knew that the other players were quite strong, even if they weren’t as strong as Seon Soo.

From the start, the Mir Guild sponsored groups of strong Players, so everyone thought that all Mir Players were powerful fighters.

— We realized we didn’t stand a chance at winning and thought about leaving. But if we did that, the beast could have followed us from the Gate, and there could have been human casualties.

— Oh.

The more Kang Yu talked, the more tension there was among the journalists. They gripped their microphones tighter and listened carefully.

— At that moment, Seon Soo told me that we couldn’t let the monster come out and ordered us to block the passage.

— Ah…

— Seon Soo and I fought hard, but the wounds made it hard to fight. I’ve already told you the rest. In the end, Seon Soo decided to take all the risk himself and just barely managed to defeat the unknown monster.

The reporters exclaimed in admiration when they heard of Seon Soo’s heroic behavior.

Suddenly, one of the reporters asked Kang Yu a question:

— But it looked to us like Seon Soo was aggressive towards you when you met outside the Gate. What do you think about that?

Suddenly, everyone was silent waiting for his reaction, but Kang Yu continued quietly:

— After we went inside, Seon Soo told me the reasons for his behavior. He was worried about a Player who just started getting Red Rose’s support, so he tried to keep me from entering the gate alone to catch the unknown monster.

— Ah… I see.

— I’m sorry that I didn’t realize his intentions earlier. — A warm tear rolled down Kang Yu’s cheek. — He is the savior of my life and the hero of our time.—

***

‘The Appearance of a Hero who Defeated an Unknown Monster…’

‘Fighting Emotions. The Reason He Fought to the End…’

‘Newcomer of Mir Guild Kim Seon Soo was immediately taken to the hospital in an unconscious condition. Over 30 million won has been raised to support him.’

‘A hero who has not come to his senses. Because of a brain hemorrhage, he’s in a vegetative state… All the hospital bills of Kang Seon Soo have been paid.’

‘Another star caught fire in the sky.’