Chapter 105: Reward and Regret
On the far side of the island, where he'd first crawled ashore, the blood mark smeared across the side of Seo-jin's boat began to boil.
It hissed, bubbled, then burst, erupting like a diseased geyser. Chunks of meat splattered across the hull as bone, pus, and sinew poured out, slapping wet against the sand. The mess convulsed, twitching, reshaping until it pulled itself into a body.
Seo-jin.
He hit the beach gasping, then seized up. His eyes snapped open, pupils flaring wide before his mouth stretched in a silent scream. No air escaped him, only the raw soundless strain of something beyond human. His back arched, tendons snapped like cables about to break.
The pain didn't just live in his flesh, it tore through his soul.
It felt like his essence had been flayed, nerves stripped bare and set ablaze. Each heartbeat punched jagged heat through every vein, boiling his blood to sludge. His skin crawled from the inside, his muscles locking and twisting as if invisible hooks dragged him in all directions at once.
The roar still lingered. That impossible, ocean-deep sound had followed him back, etched into his marrow, echoing through the hollow of his spirit. It scraped against his skull, gnawed behind his eyes, grinding through the very shape of who he was.
He clawed at his chest. Skin tore under his nails. His throat flexed in mute defiance, but the noise refused to leave him. His jaw locked. His teeth cracked. His body jerked like a marionette with cut strings.
Then, at last, silence.
He collapsed, twitching once before going limp. The only sound left was the wet hiss of steam rising from his cooling flesh.
The first light of morning crawled across the beach, brushing the blackened sand near his feet. His body lay still, but deep beneath the skin, something continued to tremble.
Slowly, his senses clawed their way back. The first thing he felt was the cold grit of sand pressed against his skin, blessed relief after the nightmare. The second came like a hammer to the skull. A headache straight out of hell.
"Uhhhnn… fuck me… what the hell was that?"
He didn't dare move, half-expecting another strike. His own voice sounded far away, distorted, carrying a hollow echo like it came from inside a tunnel.
[No idea. But whatever it was nearly shattered your soul with one roar. I suggest we don't swim again.]
"Agreed."
He twitched a finger, then another, testing for damage. The motion triggered another blow of pain that slammed behind his eyes.
His hand shot to his head.
"Feels like my brain's leaking out. You sure I'm not dead?"
[Stop whining. You just need to eat something.]
The word eat flipped a switch. His gut growled loud and hollow, a noise he hadn't heard in what felt like forever. The hunger hit so fast it made him dizzy.
[Your body's burned out, but it's your soul that took the real hit. A hit that barely touched you. If you'd triggered Rotmark any later, you'd be dead. Check your last notification when you can move. You really are the dumbest kind of lucky.]
"Shut up already. Your voice sounds like thunder."
He leaned forward, gripping sand through his claws, every breath dragging fire down his throat.
"Just… give me a second."
Thumb jammed against one temple, index pressed into the other, Seo-jin held his skull together like it might split apart. He cracked his eyes open, light stabbed through him like knives. His lids slammed shut, teeth grinding in pain.
But the ache was giving way to anger. He could hear the slow lap of waves, smell salt and felt sand. He knew the beach, but staying blind wasn't an option. With a low growl, he pried his eyes open again, hand still shielding them from the glare.
"Bleeding hell—that hurts. Yeah. Fuck the ocean. Fuck this whole place."
He blinked hard, forcing his vision to focus. Tears leaked down his face, blurring everything until it steadied. The word hangover crawled through his head uninvited, then a flash of memory followed: the original Seo-jin, face buried in Gregor's boot.
He took a deep breath and staggered to his feet, balance swaying like driftwood. The beach was empty, quiet except for the crash of the tide and his own ragged breathing, but he didn't have time to relax. He needed food. He needed information. But first, he needed to read the notification the system mentioned.
His panel flickered into view with a thought. He squinted through the pulsing in his skull as the words struggled to stay still.
[System // Notification]
[Network Special Achievement // Inconceivable! — Unlocked]
[Unlock Condition // Survive an S+ Rank attack while below A Rank]
[Reward Calculation // Based on User Rank]
[!! Congratulations !!]
[+10,000 DP Awarded]
[+1 S+ Rank Weapon Gacha Awarded]
The pain vanished. His eyes widened, a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth.
"Well, shit. Didn't think I'd cash in this fast. Should've linked sooner."
He scrolled through the panel again, disbelief bleeding into a quiet laugh. A Network achievement, he hadn't even known that was possible. Checking his inventory, he spotted the glimmering gacha token waiting. It felt wrong, though, like something unseen was watching back from the other side of the connection.
Didn't matter. The rewards were real.
His mind reached for the token, then stopped when his stomach twisted and growled loud enough to echo.
"Priorities."
The gacha could wait.
Pushing the thoughts and his panel away, he turned toward the treeline. The air was thick with morning damp, the sand cooling underfoot as he started walking.
'Panic. Where are you?'
Panic's voice hit him like a spike in the ear.
'Broodfather! I did good! Really good! No art, just business—smart business! I even—'
Seo-jin's patience burned out before the sentence finished.
'Quiet. Report later. Get to my position—now.'
He pressed a hand to his temple, leaning against a tree. His eyes swept the treeline for movement, for anything alive enough to eat.
'I think being smart means I should stay, Broodfather. If I move, the angry human will die.'
Seo-jin froze. His jaw clenched. Angry human? It took half a second for it to click.
"Shit—"
Pain tore through his skull as he pushed off the tree and broke into a sprint.
'Stay where you are. I'm coming.'
'Yes, Broodfather! I was smart to stay?'
He could feel the broodling's fear trembling through the link.
'Very smart, Panic.'
The praise hit like a jolt through the connection...warm, unrestrained joy washing back at him as he tore through the underbrush. The ground blurred beneath his feet. His head pounded like something alive was crawling behind his eyes, but he kept going.
Then movement. Shapes ahead.
He skidded to a stop, dirt spraying from his heels, barely catching himself before crashing forward. Six figures stood in his path—spiderlings, their limbs shifting restlessly.
"Move aside. I don't have time—"
One stepped forward, its voice unmistakable.
"One asks that you make time, Broodfather. Many things have happened. Doubts spread. Where have you been? Why are you alone out here?"
He cursed under his breath. Time was a blade at his throat, and this was a waste. But two things eased the tension in his shoulders: he could control this, and he finally had something to eat.
"The dwarves were attacked by the Snake Tribe. With my help they avoided real losses. Anything more than that is trivial, and most likely already known to you."
He stepped forward and seized the speaking spiderling by the throat. Up close it was almost human, small and soft where its skin showed, spider legs sprouting like a second ribcage. It squirmed, slippery and damp, feeling like a sodden sack of lint.
"For doubting me, this one will do. Next time you question me without evidence, you won't be able to pay the price. Understood?"
Lilid's fury bled through the creature; her voice came thin and strained through the thrashing body.
"We understand. Know this, Broodfather — my army stands ready. Our time to move has come. Keep your word, and we both get what we want. Otherwise, one will make sure we both lose."
He didn't waste words. He bit the spiderling's skull off. It tasted like chalk and sour pus, a stink that stung his eyes. He swallowed it whole while the others watched, silent and jerking.
[+43Exp]
[+4SM]
Feed didn't trigger, his HP was full, but the act steadied him, nourished his worn body. He crunched the last leg, swallowing the final bit and then spoke to the twitching brood.
"I'll contact you soon. Give the dwarves time to recover. I'll make sure it's quick."
No answer needed. He launched off like a fired bolt, leaving the spiderlings behind and pinged the broodlink.
'Still alive?'
'It breathes. Blood thins. Soon it will stop.'
'Do whatever you can to keep him alive.'
He tore through the forest like a blade through cloth. Branches snapped, leaves scattered. His mind stayed fixed on one thought. Brundar. If the dwarf was dead, the chance to claim a golem potentially died with him. He didn't know enough about dwarves to gamble that loss.
The entrance to the fortress blurred past. His pace didn't falter. The air grew thick with burnt meat and ash. The place where the Snake Tribe hid beneath their Curse magic was little more than scorched earth now, charred trunks, pools of blood, the reek of cooked flesh.
When the beach came into view, his eyes locked on the hulking mass of metal sitting motionless in the sand. Brundar's golem, cold now, the liquid metal that once coursed through it hardened to still iron.
Beside it knelt Panic. The broodling's eyes flared the instant he saw his Broodfather, face bright with pride. Beneath him lay a torn, blood-soaked shape—Brundar.
Seo-jin's steps slowed. The smell hit him first, iron, smoke, and the stench of opened organs. When he reached them, his sneer came without thought.
Panic looked up, voice eager.
"I kept him alive for you, Broodfather. He got really angry, but you told me to stay hidden unless his life was in danger. Stupid human tried to die so many times."
"For the last time—"
Brundar coughed, blood spilling from his lips as he jerked upright.
"Don't call me human, you inbred piss pot."
Seo-jin crouched beside him. The dwarf's skin had gone gray-blue, lips split and dark with dried blood. His beard was matted to his chest, glued there by what leaked from the open wound that split him from shoulder to stomach. Burned flesh ringed the hole where Panic's arm was buried, each movement sending out a dull wet squelch. Chunks of muscle and shattered bone shifted with every breath that scraped through his throat. He didn't need the system to tell him what that meant. Panic's forearm was buried to the elbow in the dwarf's chest, fingers gripping and releasing in a crude rhythm, forcing the heart to beat by hand.
"Stop making that face..."
Brundar rasped, the sounds of gurgling blood in his lungs unmistakable.
"Someone might think you give a damn."
Seo-jin said nothing. The dwarf didn't need to know his grief was only for the machine that would possibly die with him.
"What do you want me to do?"
Brundar barked a laugh that tore itself into a wet cough.
"Unless you can turn back time, not much. Do me one favor, though—kill every last snake and spider on this cursed rock."
Something twisted inside Seo-jin—not sorrow, not pity, but a pressure that made him want to move, to break something. His throat tightened.
"Don't worry. Their deaths are certain."
Their eyes met. His claws extended, slick and black. The dwarf saw it and grinned through his blood.
"End it fast. And tell Thragdur I'm sorry."
Seo-jin nodded once. He didn't wait for Panic to pull back. Two claws drove through Brundar's skull. The body convulsed once and went still.
Silence took the beach.
Seo-jin stood over the corpse, blood running down his hands, cooling in the morning air. For a moment...a brief, unfamiliar moment...he felt it.
Regret.