Side Story 03
Bear
Shango had resigned from his job recently.
The company he worked for was a fairly well-known mercenary company in the United States, where Shango had learned many things about this world. Especially the world’s unique warfare methods and commonly used weapons.
Of course, no matter how accomplished a fighter Shango had been in the other world, getting a job at a mercenary company without any experience wasn’t easy. Never having been a soldier, nor having graduated from a security studies program, Shango had no career history or qualifications to speak of when he went straight to the mercenary company for an interview.
And, as unbelievable as it sounds, he passed the interview.
Apophis and Isquis couldn’t hide their surprise when they heard Shango’s story. At that time, even Apophis and Isquis hadn’t yet settled down, so they could hardly believe the news that Shango had been the first to secure employment.
‘Wait, how on earth did you pass the interview?!’
‘…I fought everyone there.’
‘Ah, you had sparring matches with the other candidates?’
‘No.’
Shango replied to Apophis’s curious question in a blunt voice.
‘With the interviewer.’
‘What? You fought with the interviewer?’
‘Yes.’
‘…Did you win?’
‘…Yeah.’
At those words, Apophis and Isquis quickly understood. Though they hadn’t witnessed the interview themselves, if the interviewers had confirmed Shango’s combat abilities, it was entirely plausible.
So from the next day, Shango started working at the mercenary company and was immediately pushed out to a battlefield in the Middle East. It was only much later that he realized sending a rookie to the battlefield was their way of hazing. There was no way they would go easy on a newcomer who had fought with the interviewer from the start.
The problem was that Shango was all too familiar with battlefields. Though he initially struggled in the modern battlefield filled with firearms and explosives, Shango quickly adapted. His beast-like instincts and physique played a major role in that.
The reason Shango resigned from the company where he had adapted so well wasn’t just because of the persistent hazing or simple ostracism. It was because Apophis had asked him to return and take the position of Head of Security.
‘Damn it, what am I supposed to do if the people coming in as Head of Security are weaker than me?’
‘…For a normal person to defeat a magician…’
‘I didn’t use any magic at all! Weak bastards, is graduating from a prestigious sports department all that matters?’
Shango closed his mouth at Apophis’s bitter voice. In truth, although Apophis was the weakest in the Gorgon Knights in combat without magic due to being a magician, he was still a knight who trained his body daily.
For a magician to handle mana required delicate mana control, and for that purpose, Apophis practiced meditation and physical training every day. For an ordinary person to defeat Apophis, they would need to be at least a mercenary from the company where Shango had worked.
‘So, Shango, please come and do it. I’m begging you. I don’t have time to worry about these trivial matters right now.’
‘…The salary…’
‘A 200% increase from what you’re currently earning!’
At those words, Shango didn’t ask any more questions and went straight to the company to submit his resignation. His team leader was shocked and tried to stop him, but Shango left the company without saying a word.
And now, before departing for the company in New York, he had returned briefly to Korea. It was practically like home to Shango.
“Ji…”
Standing in front of Yeon Ji-ho’s pension, Shango started to speak but then looked around at the strangely quiet atmosphere of the house. Soon, even Shango noticed something was off.
Normally, this would be the busiest time for the pension. Three in the afternoon was when guests arrived to check in.
Although Shango hadn’t been able to visit Korea often while traveling around battlefields, whenever he used his vacation time, he always returned to Sancheon City and had a general sense of the pension’s atmosphere.
The pension that Yeon Ji-ho had quietly operated alone had somehow gained a reputation, attracting more guests without any advertising. The problem was that these guests brought in more guests, causing the numbers to increase by multiples, then exponentially, and then seemingly infinitely.
“…Are you home?”
After looking around, Shango quietly knocked on the door of the house where Yeon Ji-ho stayed.
A few months ago, when Yeon Ji-ho had designated a separate reception area for the pension, only those who personally knew him would come to the house. And since Yeon Ji-ho knew that Shango was the only one who would visit so quietly and knock on the door, Shango expected the door to open soon.
But even after waiting for a long time, the door of the house didn’t open. Finally, unable to wait any longer, instead of forcing the door open, Shango went through the wall of the house and headed to the backyard.
There was a large window there that provided a clear view of the living room. It was also a place where the Gorgon Knights used to gather and talk long ago.
“…!”
As he looked into the living room, Shango’s eyes widened at what he discovered. He approached the window and began knocking on it with just enough force not to break the glass.
“Ji-ho nim!”
In the middle of the living room, Yeon Ji-ho had collapsed. Seeing this and judging it to be a dangerous situation, Shango prepared to break the glass. Although the house windows were made of tempered glass, they would eventually break if Shango properly struck them with his axe.
Just as Shango took out his dwarf axe for the first time in a long while, Yeon Ji-ho, who had been collapsed on the floor, staggered to his feet. Then he turned his head and looked toward the window where Shango was standing.
“Ji-ho…nim?”
Upon discovering Shango, Yeon Ji-ho faintly smiled. At that moment, Shango tightly closed his mouth.
The kind Yeon Ji-ho might seem to smile often at first glance, but in reality, his smiles were extremely rare. At least to Shango. Even though Yeon Ji-ho himself might not have realized it, his smiles only existed when Set was present.
-Shan go.
Soon, a weak vibration was felt from inside. Yeon Ji-ho was looking this way and opening his mouth wide to say something. The glass was too thick for Shango to hear Yeon Ji-ho’s voice, but he could understand his words well enough just from the large mouth movements.
-Wait
At Yeon Ji-ho’s command that wasn’t quite a command, Shango stared at him with a blank face and found himself nodding unconsciously.
Leaving behind only the instruction to wait, Yeon Ji-ho soon stood up and went into his room for a moment. His gait was so normal that it was hard to believe he had been collapsed in the middle of the living room like a dead person just moments ago.
After waiting for who knows how long, Shango closed his eyes tightly and then opened them again at the strange sensation that swept through his head. But before he could dwell on that sensation, Yeon Ji-ho came out of the room.
Silently approaching the window, Yeon Ji-ho unlocked it and opened the glass door so Shango could enter. After taking off his shoes and stepping inside for the first time in a long while, Shango, uncharacteristically, hastily opened his mouth.
“…Are you okay?”
“What? What do you mean, Shango?”
Yeon Ji-ho smiled and instead threw a question at Shango. As Shango hesitated, missing his timing while mulling over what to say, Yeon Ji-ho chuckled and said:
“I’m fine.”
No, to Shango, that didn’t seem true at all. Yeon Ji-ho had been collapsed in the middle of the living room, and his dark expression now as he faced Shango suggested otherwise. But Shango, still awkward with conversations with others, could only hesitate.
“What’s wrong?”
Fortunately, Yeon Ji-ho asked the question first, saving Shango. Stealing a glance at Yeon Ji-ho, Shango painfully parted his lips.
“Just now…”
“Ah, that.”
“…”
“It’s nothing, Shango.”
Yeon Ji-ho simply answered like that. Shango looked at him with lowered eyes.
A long silence fell between the two. Shango, more familiar with silence than anyone, quietly waited for Yeon Ji-ho to speak. In the end, Yeon Ji-ho was the first to surrender.
With a low sigh, Yeon Ji-ho said to Shango:
“Actually, I’m not okay.”
“…Ji-ho nim.”
“Shango, I think I’m in big trouble.”
Now that Yeon Ji-ho was finally speaking honestly, Shango no longer hid his concerned eyes. Even to Shango, the current state of Yeon Ji-ho was alarming. Because…
“I can’t control my power.”
Just moments ago, when Yeon Ji-ho went into his room.
It was because a whirlwind of mana had engulfed the entire house. Although Shango was neither a magician nor a knight who could handle sword energy, he had one ability that surpassed everyone else’s.
His instincts.
To Shango, the mana energy surrounding the house just now had been frighteningly immense. And it had undoubtedly come from the room Yeon Ji-ho had entered.
“What… does that mean?”
“Would you like to come see?”
Yeon Ji-ho smiled bitterly at Shango and then turned around, going back into his room. Quietly following him, Shango soon couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“It’s not just the wardrobe anymore.”
When Yeon Ji-ho opened his bedroom door, Shango’s hair was violently blown back. And this was just from opening a door to a room of barely 10 pyeong, not even a window.
Of course, that was to be expected. What appeared when the door opened wasn’t the inside of Yeon Ji-ho’s room, but the otherworld… specifically, the forest of Asterra.
“…What should I do now?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
