Chapter 10: What People Live By (2)
“Did something good happen?”
“No, does it look that way?”
“Yes, you keep smiling. Did you get a boyfriend?”
Ji Ha-Yeon just smiled at her secretary’s questioning.
“See, you’re smiling again.”
“Nothing is going on.”
Ji Ha-Yeon looked at her phone screen. There was an unsaved number in her call history. She stared at it and then pressed the save button.
She began typing ‘Raven’ but deleted it. Instead, she repeated in her mind the unfamiliar name that had come out of his mouth—Yi-An.
Jung Yi-An—that was his name. She had met him a long time ago.
Years ago, Ji Ha-Yeon was kidnapped by a national terrorist organization when she visited the Middle East for a business meeting. The terrorist organization believed that holding an heir to one of the world’s leading companies as a hostage would be a useful bargaining tool for them.
Ji Ha-Yeon was confined to an abandoned house for several days with her eyes covered and limbs bound. All she heard was the unfamiliar Arabic language and gunshots in the background.
She barely survived with a small amount of water and a piece of bread. Her throat burned with thirst.
Just when she was about to let go of hope, she heard an unfamiliar voice, “Are you Ji Ha-Yeon?”
To her disbelief, what came through the door amid the barrage of gunshots was someone who spoke Korean.
The cloth that had covered her eyes was pulled off. Even though her eyes were blinded from not having seen light for so long, she tried to look the owner of the voice straight in the face.
It was a man who was holding a rifle and concealed in black tactical gear.
“I came to rescue you,” he said.
Then he spoke into the radio, “Hostage secured.”
As Ji Ha-Yeon listened in on the radio calls being exchanged back and forth, she discovered the man’s code name—Raven.
The man was referred to as ‘Raven’.
After getting rescued, Ji Ha-Yeon was surrounded by foreigners. She trembled in fear even as she was being escorted on the tactical helicopter. She doubted whether these people had truly come to rescue her and wondered if they were actually another criminal organization. The painful experiences of being held hostage incited this compulsive fear.
Below the helicopter was a battlefield.
Seeing Ji Ha-Yeon’s anxious demeanor, a member of the troop called the attention of Raven, who looked at Ji Ha-Yeon as if he didn’t quite know what to do.
Then Raven took off his hood and goggles. From that point on, Ji Ha-Yeon could never forget him.
After getting a clear view of Raven’s face, Ji Ha-Yeon couldn’t believe he was the fierce soldier who had rescued her. He had a surprisingly gentle appearance and looked at her with a soft expression. Even though his clothes were dirtied by the enemy’s blood, his kind eyes sought to reassure her.
“It’s all right. You are safe now.” He smiled at her. “We are going to protect you from now on.”
Those words comforted her.
Feeling relieved, she burst into tears, and Raven’s peers booed him as if it was his fault. He then slowly approached her and awkwardly patted her shoulders.
Once they arrived at the base camp, the mercenaries and personnel that the Myeongsong Group had dispatched were waiting for her.
Ji Ha-Yeon tried to express her gratitude to the soldiers, but they had vanished out of sight. There was no one who knew their exact whereabouts or had any information about them. Her father, Chairman Ji Eun-Chul, said they were top-tier agents he had managed to hire, albeit with difficulty.
There was a rumor that they were a special unit from the UN or a foreign unit run by the United States. Some said they were private forces of an international organization with huge capital. There were only speculations on who they could be.
People avoided talking about Raven in particular. Raven was treated as a mysterious entity like a demon or a ghost, and they said anyone who became his target would have a bullet engraved in their head without a sound or trace.
Even Chairman Ji Eun-Chul did not know the truth.
Ji Ha-Yeon strongly requested a meeting with the man who had rescued her, so she was able to meet him briefly before returning to South Korea.
She handed a piece of paper with her phone number to Raven, who was coolly standing in front of her.
Ji Ha-Yeon said, “Please contact me if you come to Korea. I want to repay you for rescuing me.”
Raven responded with an ambiguous smile.
Since then, she had not forgotten that face even for a second.
Time passed by. She lived a busy life as the heir of the Myeongsong Group, but on particularly rough days, she thought of him. Was he still fighting in foreign lands? Was he saving someone from their plight in the same way he had rescued her?
However, she received a call from an unfamiliar number on her personal phone today. Very few people knew her personal number, so she thought about ignoring it, but she was overcome with an unknown hunch.
When she picked up the call, she heard a gentle voice that revived her old memories.
“Hello.”
She immediately knew who it was.
It was him.
“Is this Ji Ha-Yeon?”
It was Raven.
Ji Ha-Yeon couldn’t imagine what he could have possibly called her about, but it was about a trivial matter. It was so trivial that it seemed more work to step on an ant. At least an ant would leave a trace with its corpse stuck to her shoe.
“What have you been doing lately?” she asked.
“I run a café.”
Ji Ha-Yeon couldn’t help but exclaim. A café suited him perfectly; it was quiet and warm like him.
He apologized to Ha-Yeon for the inconvenience of the request. She wanted to reassure him that it was nothing and wanted to thank him for reaching out to her, but she stopped in her tracks.
Ji Ha-Yeon was a woman who always kept a man on his toes.
Suppressing the joy in her voice, she assumed a calm tone and said, “If you are sorry, you should pay me back.”
“How?”
“By…” she said before pausing. She tried to sound indifferent as she posed the question, “Where is your café?”
Thus, Ji Ha-Yeon was able to discover the location of his café and that his name was Yi-An, not Raven. Jung Yi-An—it was such an ordinary name. He had a pretty sister who was attending university. It was because of her that a matter had emerged with an old rich guy who was of no importance.
Jung Yi-An lived a normal life. Knowing this, Ji Ha-Yeon felt as if she had grown closer to him.
Ji Ha-Yeon wrote down the words that she collected from the phone conversation on a memo pad and handed it to her secretary.
“This is…?” her secretary asked.
Café Reason, Jung Yi-An, Jung Yi-Yoo, Myeongsong University—these words were haphazardly written on the piece of paper. Her secretary stared at her puzzledly.
“Find out everything related to the information I gave you.”
“Yes, madam.”
“Find out how the café is doing, how his sister’s grades are, where they live, their childhood, and their family relationships—everything,” Ji Ha-Yeon said. Then she added as if it was merely an afterthought, “Ah, and the name written at the bottom. That man’s just a nobody. Just some rich guy. Get rid of him.”
“Yes.”
“Make sure there is no harm done to Jung Yi-An.”
“Very well. Understood.” The secretary smiled. “This is my expertise.”
Ji Ha-Yeon walked toward the window that overlooked the whole city. She was looking out from the headquarters of Korea’s best company, which was now also the world’s best—Myeongsong Group. It was the company that launched Elder Lord.
With crossed arms, Ji Ha-Yeon appreciated the scenery and smiled quietly.
***
“Hey, you don’t look so good,” Hoyt said.
Yi-An’s eyes widened at Hoyt’s words.
Hoyt continued, “Maintain your composure. Disturbance of the mind is manifested in the body.”
Hoyt was a warrior that Lenox had introduced. Grom had said that he had some business to attend to and wouldn’t be able to log on for a while, so Yi-An sought Lenox on his own and received a new quest from Lenox. Yi-An was to help warrior Hoyt.
He found Hoyt at Orcrox’s entrance. Hoyt only had one eye. He was bald with a huge scar and tattoos across his face, and he covered one eye with a black eyepatch. Yi-An was intimidated by the appearance of Hoyt, who also carried a huge hammer as his weapon.
However, after exchanging a few words, Yi-An could tell Hoyt was a composed warrior.
“Are you regretting something you wish you hadn’t done?” Hoyt asked.
“How did you know?”
“Inexperienced warriors reveal their emotions on their faces.”
Hoyt came to a halt, pausing their tread east through the sea of trees. He stooped to quench his thirst at a small creek.
“Don’t reveal your weaknesses. Right now, your mind can easily lead you to recklessness. If I were your enemy, I would provoke you, and you would charge at me like a riled bull. Then it would be so easy…” He made a slashing motion at his neck.
“Yes, sir.” Yi-An nodded.
Hoyt splashed water on his face and grinned. “One day, you will meet an enemy stronger than you, but never show that you are doubting your own victory or that you wish to flee.”
“Why?”
“Your fear will strengthen the enemy. It’s the same with animals. The second you hesitate due to fear, you will become the prey, and your enemy will become the predator. Once your enemy sees your weakness, they will gain more strength and trample you.”
Yi-An nodded. Elder Lord was a truly mysterious game; each NPC had their own philosophy. It felt even more real to Yi-An than reality. Yi-An had learned way more from Lenox, Grant, and Hoyt than from actual people.
“Then, how about this expression?” Yi-An made a mock confident face.
“That’s even worse.”
“How so?”
“You are just asking for a beating.”
Both of them erupted in laughter.
Yi-An hadn’t been feeling his best lately due to the incident involving Yi-Yoo. He’d had to ask an old acquaintance for a favor because the middle-aged man had connections, so he felt he wasn’t any better than that man. After all, he had done the same thing and appealed to those more powerful than him for help. However, he could forget about those feelings when he was hanging out with the free-spirited orc warriors.
“What kind of work are we going to do?” Yi-An asked.
Lenox’s quest for Yi-An had been to simply help Hoyt.
“That… I will let you know once we arrive,” Hoyt replied.
The two journeyed together and encountered monsters along the way. Yi-An faced goblins and dire wolves for the first time, but he was able to handle them easily.
Meanwhile, Hoyt defeated them like they were nothing.
Even Grant, who had defeated the werewolf, wouldn’t be a match for Hoyt. Hoyt was a great warrior and a high-ranker. He critiqued Yi-An’s technique, “Your swordsmanship is aimed toward dealing with humans or elves, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You will have to act differently when dealing with monsters instead of human-like creatures. You need to move freely and trust your intuition.
[You have been instructed by the experienced warrior Hoyt.]
[With your combined fighting experience and Hoyt’s teaching, your Greatsword Technique (Common) has evolved.]
[Greatsword Technique (Common) has been upgraded to Orc’s Greatsword Technique (Uncommon).]
[You have leveled up.]
[Status Window
Yi-An, Orc Apprentice Warrior
Title: Friend of Farmers
Level: 4
Achievement Points: 80
Assimilation: 55%
Orc’s Strength (Common)
Orc’s Recovery (Common)
Orc’s Greatsword Technique (Uncommon)
Warrior’s Fighting Spirit (Uncommon)]
Yi-An’s technique evolved, and he even leveled up. His greatsword now felt lighter. The huge sword yielded to his will and moved with ease.
While watching Yi-An, Hoyt smiled and said, “Always remember that repeating a movement is not training. Think about what is efficient and effective as you move.”
Yi-An had heard the same advice from martial arts instructor Baek Han-Ho. ‘Did the creator of Elder Lord consult martial arts experts for advice?’
Yi-An energetically nodded. “Thank you for your teachings.”
“Not at all. It’s a duty of a warrior to lead young orcs.”
As they walked, the lush trees that had blocked their range of vision began to disappear. They were no longer in the forest, and they could now see the walls of a city.
[Anail, the city of freedom and the home of winds—all are welcome here.]
[You have exited orc territory and ventured into new land for the first time. You have gained 10 achievement points.]
“Is this your first time?” asked Hoyt.
“Yes.”
“You are a country bum orc.” Hoyt chuckled. “This the city of freedom, Anail. It’s a neutral city where all species can come and go.”
“Other species are here too?”
“Of course.”
Yi-An had never seen other species in Elder Lord as he had only roamed Orcrox so far. Yi-An’s footsteps quickened enthusiastically as he wondered if there were other players and what humans, elves, and dwarves looked like.
The guard at the entrance of Anail was human.
“Hello,” greeted the guards.
“Are you alive?” responded Yi-An.
He was disappointed. The guards he’d seen at Orcrox stood nobly like stone statues. They were watchmen who intimidated those who tried to approach the fortress with their glares. The guards of Anail, however, looked like scoundrels. One was leaning against the wall with hastily worn leather armor. He scanned down Hoyt and Yi-An and made a displeased face before raising his chin toward the open door.
The guard said, “Well, you can go in. Don’t cause any trouble though, you orc folks.”
“Thank you. Stay alive.”
“It sounds like you are telling me to go die. Orc greetings are so weird.”
The guards snickered among themselves while talking shit about orcs. Yi-An’s face crumpled, but Hoyt’s expression remained unchanged.
Thus, they entered the city of freedom, Anail. Yi-An was surprised. The structure of the city was paltry in comparison to Orcrox Fortress. It was small in scale, and there were shabby houses that looked as if they would crumble soon. He also saw beggars in the streets. The log cabins built by orc farmers would look like mansions here.
Hoyt saw Yi-An’s expression and laughed, “You still can’t control the emotions on your face.”
“Ah…”
“Anail pales in comparison to Ocrox. It was originally a place where fugitives of different species gathered.”
On the way to their unknown destination, Yi-An saw humans, dwarves, and gnomes. They didn’t look as cool as he had expected and instead reminded him of commoners from movies set in the Middle Ages. However, the elves he saw occasionally were stunning.
“Follow me.”
Although this was the city of freedom, Yi-An didn’t see any orcs around. Yi-An and Hoyt even received looks from other species as they headed toward a house in a corner of the city. It was a small, dilapidated house.
When they arrived, Hoyt straightened his posture.
“This is…” Yi-An started to say.
“Wait.” Hoyt scowled. “There’s something.”
“What…?”
Hoyt raised his hammer. “Get your sword ready.”
“Huh?”
Hoyt kicked the door open and stormed in. They could hear screams coming from inside. Yi-An held onto his sword and entered as well.
The situation was resolved in an instant without any help from Yi-An though.
There was a woman and two children trembling inside, and the three humans who had been threatening them were on the floor after being overpowered by Hoyt.
While stepping on the chest of one of the men, Hoyt questioned, “Did Derek send you?
“Ugh… Yes.”
“Didn’t you say you were going to wait?”
“The promised time passed a long time ago! Thompson ran away!”
One of the kids screamed, “No! Father did not run away!”
Hoyt kicked the men out of the house, and they glared at him while scrambling away.
“Fucking orc… interrupting us again…”
“You think you will still be safe after this? Derek will kill you!”
Hoyt nodded. “Sure thing.”
“You will pay for this, you filthy orc!”
The men fled.
The children ran up to Hoyt and hugged him. It was uncommon to see human children being held by an orc, but it was endearing.
The woman, who seemed to be the children’s mother, approached Yi-An.
“Are you Hoyt’s friend…?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for helping us.” She bowed deeply.
Yi-An didn’t understand what was happening, so he just looked at Hoyt.
Hoyt gave a bitter smile and called Yi-An outside.
He said, “You must be curious about what’s going on.”
“Yes. What is your relationship with these folks?” Yi-An asked.
Hoyt then explained the situation.
A long time ago, he suffered a fatal injury after struggling to defeat a group of human bandits. He later managed to arrive at Anail with the last bit of his strength, but no one helped him because he was an orc. However, Thompson stepped out to help him. He sprayed an expensive potion on him and took him home to treat him. A sword had pierced Hoyt’s intestines, so it took him a while to heal, but Thompson and his family nursed him back to health.
Hoyt owed Thompson his life. That’s how they became friends.
“Thompson was a merchant and the owner of a successful trading company at one point, but he was scammed by a partner and ended up all the way here. His trusting nature made him like that, but I was able to survive because of that very nature,” Hoyt said.
Thompson later aimed for a comeback, and he was able to gain opportunities from old clients who remembered him. However, the problem was money. To get the funds he needed, he borrowed money from a man named Derek. He initially thought Derek was just a regular investor, but he turned out to be a vicious loan shark.
Hoyt continued, “Thompson was able to close a deal, but Derek turned the tables on him and demanded higher interest. Thompson had no choice but to comply and left for a distant land to find a solution. The promised payment date was in three months. Before he left, he asked me for a favor. He asked me to protect his family while he’s gone and to trust and wait for him. He said he will be back no matter what.”
“…When was that?”
Hoyt laughed bitterly. “Four months ago. It’s already a month past the due date. Derek and his servants began harassing Thompson’s family even before the deadline. They threatened to make his wife into a whore and sell his kids as slaves.”
“Filthy… humans.”
“I was in Orcrox briefly to see Lenox, but this happened again while I was gone.”
At that moment, a girl ran out to them. “Hoyt ahjussi! Stranger! Come eat!”
The kid seemed to really like Hoyt and refused to let go of his sleeve. Hoyt smiled at her. Even though it was a scary orc smile, the child smiled along with him.
“Go ahead and eat.”
“Okay! Come soon! Let’s eat together!”
Yi-An smiled as he watched the child go back inside. It reminded him of when his sister was young.
“Is there a possibility Thompson had an accident?” asked Yi-An.
“That could have happened. He needed to pass through a dangerous place on the way.”
“If he is unable to return, what will you do?”
“…It doesn’t matter whether or not Thompson returns.”
Hoyt pointed at his face covered in tattoos. It was customary for an orc to get a tattoo once he was recognized as a warrior. Tattoos represented a warrior’s principles and strengthened them.
“Thompson was my savior and friend, and he entrusted me with his family. A warrior never forsakes those who have faith in him,” said Hoyt fiercely.
Faith—how long had it been since Yi-An had heard this word? And when was the last time he had seen someone utter it?
Compared to this orc, humans were disgraceful.
“So, young orc, will you help me?” Hoyt asked.
Yi-An nodded as he looked into Hoyt’s eyes. “Yes, I will help you to my utmost ability.”
Yi-An and Hoyt firmly bumped their firsts.
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