A charred old man came into our sight. Like a drunkard, he staggered as he walked in a zigzag towards our direction. Upon seeing us, he stopped and changed directions.

“Stop!" I did what any soldier would do. "Did you come from there?”

My finger pointed at the subsiding pillar of fire. The old man didn’t answer. Instead, he continued to walk without giving me the slightest bit of attention.

“O-o-old man, w-we asked you a question.”

Wonhi threatened the old man as he shakily lifted his sword.

“T-there’s a man inside the forest that we have to catch. H-have you seen the man called the-”

I felt something amiss. My reader’s knowledge told me that any injured old man inside a deep forest is surely a master of some sort. He could be from our side or from the criminal's side, whatever side he was in, I didn't know. Although I was sure of one thing. If he wanted to ignore us, then we better let him pass. One rule of surviving in another world is not to piss the elderly.

So I changed my mind.

“Yonhi, let him go.”

“Hyung,” Yonhi whispered, “I think he’s the one we're looking for. If we catch him, you can finally get promoted.”

'Promoted...'

The thing I needed the most. My eyes slowly loomed over to the old man that couldn't even walk properly. If he still had strength, wouldn't he have killed us by now?

And so, my balls grew.

“Old man, stop right there.”

I pointed my spear at him and summoned my goblin. Now that there were three of us, we definitely had the number advantage.

“One more step and I would use force on you.”

“Shibal.”

The old man muttered under his breath.

‘Did he say shibal?’

I looked at the old man. During the past seven years of my life in this world, I have never once heard any other man say that except for me.

“Old man, what did you just say?”

The old man ignored me and continued to walk.

“Shibal. Did you really say shibal?”

Only then did old man look at me.

“I’m letting you off because I don't want to waste mana on bugs. Fuck off if you want to live.”

“Wait!”

I approached the old man but Wong Yonhi grabbed my arm.

“Hyung, I think you're right. We should let him go.”

A pungent smell came from Wonhi’s pants. He pissed himself. However, I badly needed to hear the old man’s answer so I screamed.

“Shibal saekki!”

The old man paused. And so I asked another question.

“Do you know Korean?”

“Are you-“

The old man suddenly stopped in the middle of talking and summoned a wall of fire. With a hiss, a dagger got stuck inside the barrier of fire and evaporated.

“Fuck!”

A horrifying man stepped out from the forest. Half his body was severely burned, but worse than that was his half burned face that revealed the tissue within.

‘Snake-eyed bastard?’

I easily recognized the man. It was the same man who was with the Heavenly Demon entourage, the one who called my act cute, Shin Myongah.

“Grab him!”

"The old man opened his mouth to tell me something but when another dagger flew his way, he ran away.

"Old man, wait ack-"

My head throbbed then I fell on one knee.

'Please, not now.'

Then blood oozed out of my nose like a waterfall.

“Fuck. I told you to grab him!”

Shin Myongah chased after the old man and disappeared into the thickets of the forest.

***

The very same day, all of us went home. The mission was announced as a failure and staying there longer was meaningless. The target could no longer be found.

“Yonhi, never tell anyone that we met the Madman.”

“Why?”

“Do you think it makes sense that we’re alive after meeting him?”

“N-no.”

“Good. Nothing happened, alright?”

“Yes, senior.”

The next morning, a burial ceremony was held for the dead Yoo Jaemyung and the other Supreme Warriors. According to the City Head's burial speech, at the very last moment of the Chief Strategist's life, he used a martial art that would exchange his life to protect another.

As for me, I was lying in the barracks like nothing happened.

‘That old man, did he also come from earth? Damn it! Out of all times, why the hell did my body act up.’

I met with Dahyun that afternoon as per usual routine. Unlike the silent me, she had a lot of stories to tell, especially about the different monsters they hunted.

“Do you remember Wang Jihu? He was crying so much when the Chief Strategist was buried.”

“Mm."

“The rumor about him being a disciple of the Chief Strategist is actually true.”

"I see."

"Dear, you look out of it. Is something bothering you?'

'Can I tell her that I met the Madman?'

"I..."

'No. Never. For both of our sake, I shouldn't tell her.'

"It's nothing. You should be tired. I'll bring you home."

That night, I wasn't in the mood to talk so I guided her back to her dormitory and went to prepare for the night shift.

As I walked back to the barracks, I passed by Park Bohyun who was posting a piece of paper on a commission board.

“What’s that?”

“Kim Sheon! I’m so happy to see you.”

Park Bohyun giggled and continued.

“This is my first mission as part of the Intelligence Squad.”

“You got promoted?”

“Yes I am! I told you, I can do it.”

“Your sneaking around finally paid off. Congratulations.”

“Thank you so much. Hey, have you ever heard anything called Tower of Wishes?”

On the same piece of paper that he posted, a query about the Tower of Wishes was written.

“Not really.”

“My boss ordered us to gather any information about this. Anyway, I still have lots to post around. I’ll treat you to a meal next time.”

With that, Park Bohyun walked away, leaving me behind. Curiously, I looked at the other notices posted on the board.

[Gloriam is looking for new members to explore Dungeons.]

High risk, high reward. It’s something that transmigrators would like, that is, except for me. It’s so unfair how they were given overpowered traits while I had none.

[Looking for a new blacksmith apprentice.]

I tried my hands on it once just to see if I had an overpowered ability related to smithing. To cut it short, I had none.

[Have a weird awakened skill? You could be the next member of our Circus Troupe.]

Play as a circus clown with my goblin? Nope.

[Mercenaries for Festina Lente trading caravan urgently needed.]

Also high risk, high reward. It could have been an awesome job if not for the bandits. Last I heard, they were into eating the ass of their handsome captives.

Uninterested, I left and went home. The streets were void of people. The old beggar was not there too. Nothing in particular happened, just the same mundane things. Honestly, this kind of life was comfortable and personally, the best.

‘Life is good.’

The next afternoon, the remaining cultists from the Heavenly Demon Sect left. Compared to their arrogant arrival, they now looked like defeated dogs. Only one Supreme Warrior survived and the rest were just injured Peak Warriors.

“I want you to bring me the heads of those two warriors.”

Shin Myongah grabbed the collar of a third rate warrior.

“They wore the same lousy uniform as you. Tell me, where are they?”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Tch. Bring me to where others like you gather.”

"Yes, follow me."

***

Today was a special day. It was me and Dahyun's anniversary. Since the concept of celebrating romantic anniversaries in this world didn't exist, she loved the fact that we were the only ones to have it.

I wore the fanciest clothes that I had and with a big smile on my face, stepped out of the dirty barracks.

"It's here. The person you're looking for is here."

The first thing that I saw was a man beaten up black and blue. One of his eye was shut and some of his teeth were missing. The second thing that I saw was a man whose face was heavily wrapped in bandages.

“It’s you.”

The man with a bandaged face pointed at me.

"Do I know you, sir?"

Looking at the insignia on his clothes, I realized they were from the Heavenly Demon Sect.

"Know you? Do I fucking know you?"

The man walked towards me. While he did, he took the time to unfurl the bandages. When he finished, a half burned face greeted me.

"How are you!"

"Alive?"

A small scoff came out of Shin Myongah's mouth.

"You think I would die to that bastard? This little shit.”

I didn't know what happened next but when I opened my eyes, the world looked wavy. Next thing I realized, I was coughing blood.

“It’s because of you.”

Shin Myongah grabbed me by the collar, and so our eyes met again. He was scary enough with an uninjured face but his burnt face made it more terrifying.

“Because of you, he escaped.”

I couldn't understand what he said.

"That shitty old man who did this to my face fucking escaped."

Not one word registered to my ears but I knew what I had to do.

“I-I’m swori.”

I couldn’t speak properly.

“Sorry? Fuck, what can your sorry fucking do.”

Then my body slammed onto the floor. Ironically, that cleared my mind.

“Pwis fowgif me.”

“I’ll kill you, but not too quickly.”

“N-n-no, pwis.”

I grabbed his leg to ask for forgiveness. I should never have done that.

“This little shit.”

He stepped on my hands. For every word he uttered, a finger was crushed.

“Get. Your. Dirty. Hands. Off. Me.”

Unsatisfied, he pulled out his sword.

“I’ll kill you.”

"I'm sowi. It's my fauwt, pwis don't kiw me."

Before the sword chopped my head, another sword met with his.

“Please do not cause any more trouble.”

The Wall Chief arrived. The news of the Heavenly Demon cultists causing trouble had reached his ears.

“I’ll leave peacefully if you give him to me.”

“You are in OUR territory. Please leave.”

“Fuck off before I kill you too.”

Shin Myongah stared into the Wall Chief’s eyes. Perhaps an imaginary battle was held between the two. A few seconds later, Shin Myongah sheathed his sword.

'I can't beat him but I can't go like this.'

“I’ll kill you if I fucking see you again.”

Saying that, he sheathed his sword and went away.

"Let's go. I don't want to stay a second longer in this shitty Dragon City."

Thank god I’ll get to live another day. I didn’t know what happened next. When I woke up, all I saw was a dilapidated ceiling.