Chapter 126

…I returned to the Clan House.

“Uh, what? You said you had something to do, but you’re back already?”

“…Yeah.”

Luckily, it wasn’t Yoo Ju I ran into, but Kang I-seo.

It was a relief not to run into Yoo Ju as soon as I got back.

‘It’s dangerous to meet Yoo Ju in this state.’

My emotions hadn’t settled yet. It was just that shocking.

“…Hey, what’s with your face? Did something happen?”

‘Damn it…’

“…It’s nothing.”

“Hey, wait…!”

Suddenly, Kang I-seo grabbed my wrist as I was about to head to my room.

“You… something’s wrong, isn’t it? Your face looks off right now.”

At her words, I unconsciously touched my face. It seemed like I couldn’t control my expression right now.

‘Shit…’

“No, no. I’m just tired, so I’ll head up first…”

“Ah, Yoon Seong?”

“Ah…”

‘Crap.’

“I-seo is here too. By the way, have you both had dinner? If not, let’s eat together…”

“Sorry, I’ll head up first.”

Just as I was trying to avoid eye contact and go up, Yoo Ju grabbed me.

“Uh… w-wait a second. Yoon Seong, are you okay?”

“……”

“Yoon Seong, your complexion… why does it look so bad? Did something happen…”

*Thud!*

“Huh?”

“Ah… um…”

Without realizing it, I slapped Yoo Ju’s hand away.

Yoo Ju looked at me with a completely flustered expression. My current state probably didn’t look much different from hers.

“Uh… sorry. I’m not feeling well today… so I’ll just…”

“Ah…”

Yoo Ju weakly reached out to me, but I ignored it. No, more accurately, I didn’t have the energy to care.

*Creak—* *Bang.*

“Damn it…”

As soon as I entered my room, I pushed the door shut with my body and slid down.

‘…I can’t look Yoo Ju in the eye.’

The doubt kept lingering.

From the tutorial, Yoo Ju had always been expressing her feelings toward me, so I guessed that Yoo Ju and I had some kind of relationship in the first round.

But given Yoo Ju’s actions, it was practically a given that we were lovers, but I couldn’t help but keep doubting it.

Because, given my personality, there’s no way I could’ve been her lover.

“Sigh… so the answer lies in the heart and logic?”

I sat like that for a while.

******

“Uh… Yoon Seong-nim.”

“Ah, yes. Ho-yeon.”

Wi Ho-yeon cautiously asked while watching my reaction.

“Um… this might be an intrusive question, but did something happen between you and the Master?”

At Ho-yeon’s question, I couldn’t help but stop reading the documents.

“It’s just… I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but lately, Yoon Seong-nim seems a bit cold toward the Master…”

‘…I’m going crazy.’

I’ve been avoiding Yoo Ju on purpose for the past few days because it’s been hard to face her.

Even when I had to meet her, I kept the conversations to a minimum, but it seems those actions came off differently to Yoo Ju and the people around her.

“…No. Nothing happened.”

Ho-yeon didn’t seem to believe my words.

‘…Even I wouldn’t believe it.’

I know better than anyone that I’m acting strange. From others’ perspectives, it’s bound to look weird.

Ho-yeon hesitated for a moment before speaking to me.

“Um… actually, the Master has summoned you, Yoon Seong-nim.”

‘Sigh…’

It seems Yoo Ju had reached her limit after enduring this situation for days.

“…I see. Then I’ll go see her.”

For a moment, I considered using Clone Clay to get out of this situation in front of Yoo Ju’s office, but…

‘…No, that’s not it.’

I decided to just go in. It was a problem I had to face anyway, and I just needed to act like I used to.

“….Yoo Ju, I heard you summoned me.”

“Ah, Yoon Seong…”

Yoo Ju spoke to me with a cautious expression.

“Um… did I… do something wrong to you?”

‘No, you didn’t do anything wrong…’

If anyone’s at fault, it’s me.

“Lately, you’ve been acting cold toward me… if I did something wrong, please tell me…”

The roles were reversed. Originally, I should’ve been the one asking for her forgiveness.

“No, it’s not that. I’m sorry. I’ve just been feeling a bit off lately… you didn’t do anything wrong, Yoo Ju.”

“But…”

“Really. So… please don’t say you did something wrong in front of me. You really didn’t do anything wrong. If anything…”

“…?”

I almost said it was my fault, but I held it back.

From Yoo Ju’s perspective, she wouldn’t understand.

“…Anyway, it’s really nothing. See, we’re talking just fine now, aren’t we?”

“…Alright. I’m glad to hear that.”

“Then I’ll head back now, Yoo Ju.”

******

Still, after a few days of treating Yoo Ju like I used to, her expression brightened up.

She must’ve been going through a lot emotionally.

‘Honestly, I thought about confessing the truth to Yoo Ju, but…’

I still didn’t have the courage. Honestly, I couldn’t predict how Yoo Ju would react if she heard the truth.

‘In the worst-case scenario… she might try to kill me.’

Given what I’ve done, expecting a positive outcome is nonsense.

No matter my personal circumstances or the fact that Eras was destined to be destroyed, that doesn’t justify me manipulating Yoo Ju’s life.

‘…For now, I’ll just treat her well.’

It’s an irresponsible thought, but I also need time to think.

‘Now, the next thing to deal with is Ha Yu-ri.’

Honestly, this shouldn’t have been delayed this long, but with everything going on, it got pushed back.

I’ve only roughly thought about how to handle Ha Yu-ri.

For the past few days, I’ve been…



Various investigations have been conducted, and there is also information from when Ha Yu-ri was attached to a chimera for about a month in the past.

The Mardan Clan is in a position to supply goods to various clans.

As far as I know, they also have exchanges with large clans on the Japanese side.

‘Representatively, artifacts and potions.’

Artifacts are a pass; what I’m interested in are the potions.

‘To make them drug offenders… drugs must be detected in the potions from the Mardan Clan.’

There are two methods for this.

The first is a risky method of directly ordering Ruska to infiltrate.

The second is a method where a key member of the potion business in the Mardan Clan directly mixes drugs into the potions.

‘And… just mixing drugs doesn’t make them drug offenders. Of course, evidence and traces must be arranged to make the Mardan Clan suspicious.’

When this incident breaks out in the royal palace and is analyzed, it must appear to anyone that the Mardan Clan was investigating drug routes or receiving drugs.

Of course, even if drugs are simply detected, bad rumors about the Mardan Clan will circulate, but that level makes me uneasy.

‘… Well, since I’ve given Ruska the authority to command the chimera, it should be progressing well.’

I wanted to use the second method as safely as possible.

And there is a way to use the fact that Ruska’s clan, the Acacia Clan, has a branch in the Eastern Alliance.

‘It’s troublesome because there’s a guard… It would be more accurate to meet and talk directly.’

Since Wi Ho-yeon is my guard, the opportunity to give orders or receive reports from Ruska is during rest time in my room after work.

I infused magic into the crystal sphere.

Click.

– Ah, Master.

“Ruska, so? Did you check out the guy I mentioned?”

– … I checked. The target is Ha Yu-ri, that woman’s adjutant, right?”

“Right. That man, he must have a wife.”

“As you said, Master, he has a wife. Her golden hair looks quite good, are you planning to use her?”

When I briefly attached the chimera to Ha Yu-ri, I also learned about her adjutant.

The fact that he has a wife was also mentioned.

‘He’s called an adjutant, but he just goes crazy whenever that woman throws a tantrum.’

If it’s Ha Yu-ri’s adjutant, there must be many things he can directly involve the Mardan Clan in, and I was thinking of using him in various ways when dealing with Ha Yu-ri.

‘Above all, he has a family.’

From what I’ve felt since Earth, people with families are really easy to use.

When family is taken hostage, humans can become infinitely stronger, but conversely, they can also become weaker.

‘That must be even more true in a society centered on military power.’

Frankly, even if you go all the way on Earth, the concept of human rights exists.

But Eras is a place where the concept of human rights is scarce.

“Ha Yu-ri’s adjutant, what was his name?”

– It’s Park Chan-seok, Master.

“Right, how about Park Chan-seok? Any past that could be problematic? Corruption, criminal records, things like that.”

– … Surprisingly, he’s a clean person. There was no corruption or criminal record.

“Huh… Then his wife? His wife doesn’t have anything like that?”

– His wife was a player from another clan, an adventurer. Her name was probably… Miura Kaoru. His wife is also clean. In fact, they both sponsor orphanages and regularly participate in volunteer activities.

‘…. I feel a bit guilty about this.’

I don’t actually plan to directly harm Park Chan-seok or his wife, but I feel guilty about dragging them into unnecessary trouble.

‘I didn’t expect someone in that position to be so clean.’

This is something I didn’t anticipate.

Honestly, I thought there would be one or two problematic past events.

‘Or maybe we just couldn’t find them.’

But even with my chimera’s help, if we couldn’t find anything, it’s safe to assume there’s nothing.

– If you’re thinking of targeting his wife… it’s timely, Master. They don’t live in the Mardan Clan house but have their own place outside.

“This feels like messing with a promising couple for no reason, I feel a bit guilty.”

– … Then are you going to stop?

“No, I can’t stop. Unless there’s a better method than this.”

– Then I’ll proceed.

“Be gentle. Don’t hurt the kind lady unnecessarily.”

– If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better not to touch her at all?

“… Anyway, be careful not to let things get out of hand already.”

– Understood.

I ended the communication with Ruska.

‘… Come to think of it, is Yoo Ju okay?’

I’m not talking about what happened over the past few days.

It’s just that I’m worried that when Ha Yu-ri is framed as a drug offender, Yoo Ju might become suspicious.

‘First of all, Yoo Ju and Ha Yu-ri don’t seem to have a good relationship…’

Of course, the reason is probably because of me, but if Yoo Ju had a friendship with Ha Yu-ri in the first round, even if Ha Yu-ri was hostile to me, Yoo Ju’s reaction wouldn’t have been like that.

‘Let’s put that aside for now, it’s better to proceed as quickly as possible, right?’

From my side, fully prepared, there’s no need to give Ha Yu-ri time to prepare.

Even though Ha Yu-ri seems like a woman who’s been shot in the head, she’s still a woman who rose to be the master of one of the three great clans.

‘Don’t let your guard down. And even if it’s not Ha Yu-ri, there might be capable people around her.’