ALL NOVEL Chapter 234
Chapter 234. Kabuum (3)
Those who entered the inn all stared fiercely at Yoo Ji-han’s party.
The glares were unmistakably unfriendly.
It felt as if they were facing an enemy on the battlefield.
“Step back.”
“Yes!”
Sensing the troubling atmosphere, Lee Mi-a nudged the woman who had delivered the news to step aside.
Creeeak!
Pushing her chair back, she clenched her fists, ready for battle.
If any harm came to her companions, she would retaliate without hesitation.
“Wait.”
Yoo Ji-han stretched out his arm to restrain Mi-a.
If these outsiders caused chaos within Kabuum, Yogo Guild’s plans could be thrown into disarray.
To stabilize the situation, dialogue was essential.
“What do you want?”
“Capture them!”
“……!”
However, the other party seemed to have entirely different thoughts.
The Kabuum warriors who burst into the inn charged at Yoo Ji-han’s party.
“Squeak! Watch out!”
Wham!
Ignoring Chilla’s warning, Mi-a landed a punch squarely on the approaching man’s jaw.
Knocked out cold from the uppercut, the man’s face jerked back.
Two more warriors swung their swords at her.
Clang!
But Mi-a snatched both blades with her aura-clad hands.
As she infused strength into her fingers, the apparently sturdy swords began to crack.
Snap!
The broken shards of the swords fell to the ground.
The warriors who lost their weapons were thrown into panic and fell back.
Frightened by Mi-a’s incredible strength and aura, the Kabuum warriors nervously exclaimed,
“An aura user!”
“Don’t underestimate them! Use all your strength!”
Fueled by their desire not to lose momentum, the warriors displayed their own auras.
Mi-a shook off the metal shavings from her hands and clenched her fists anew.
As the tense standoff continued, Tuta, biting his lower lip, shouted.
“This… this is wrong!”
“What?”
“What do you mean it’s wrong?”
“They can’t be that bad; they shared a meal with me!”
His hesitation to confront Yoo Ji-han’s group was evident.
At that moment, a man beside him handed him a small object he’d been holding.
“What’s this?”
“It’s something our mage gave us. If you put it in your eyes, you can discern the wicked.”
“A mage…?”
“If you don’t believe it, see for yourself.”
Tuta hesitated for a moment before applying a drop of the eye potion to each eye.
When he looked at Yoo Ji-han’s party, they stood out, highlighted in red.
The effect of the potion had triggered, sensing that they were not part of Kallem.
“Tuta.”
Just then, Yoo Ji-han spoke as he observed the situation.
“I’m very disappointed in you, Tuta.”
“What?”
“We willingly handed over the chaos we defeated at your request.”
“……”
“We shared a meal with you, showing kindness. And you repay that kindness with betrayal!”
At Yoo Ji-han’s shout, Tuta’s eyes wobbled in realization.
Indeed, Tuta’s group owed him a debt.
Yet, rather than repaying it, they had turned to attack.
Flustered, Tuta waved his hands quickly.
“No! This is not at all my intention!”
“An honorable warrior of Kabuum should know how to repay kindness, yet it turns out you’re nothing but a coward abandoning favors?”
“That’s not true!”
“How dare you disgrace a Kabuum warrior…!”
“Don’t think you’re leaving here alive!”
At that moment, the other warriors, not fully understanding the situation, were merely angered by the perceived insult.
Just then, Tuta stepped forward between his allies and Yoo Ji-han’s party.
“What are you doing, Tuta?”
“This is my decision.”
Tuta turned his back to Yoo Ji-han’s party and spread his arms wide to block the Kabuum warriors.
He was indicating he would not allow any further attacks.
Stunned, the Kabuum warriors said to him,
“Have you lost your mind?”
“You’re not in your right mind.”
“I’ll take responsibility for this.”
“What do you mean you’ll take responsibility?”
“……”
After closing his eyes for a moment, Tuta struck his chest and declared, “I, Tuta, a warrior of Kabuum, request an audience with the King.”
*
Due to Tuta’s unexpected actions, both Yoo Ji-han’s party and the Kabuum warriors halted their standoff.
It was the Kabuum warriors who ceased their assault first and retreated.
“Tuta, you are quite the exceptional warrior among us.”
“I don’t understand why you would take on this risk.”
“I only hope this isn’t a foolish act.”
The warriors leaving the inn threw comments at the silent Tuta as they departed.
In the end, only Yoo Ji-han’s party and the Kabuum warrior Tuta remained in the inn.
“Squeak….”
Realizing the situation had concluded, Chilla lowered his shield.
Then, Yoo Ji-han approached Tuta.
“Tuta.”
“I apologize for showing a disappointing side of myself.”
Tuta turned back and bowed to Yoo Ji-han.
Yoo Ji-han waited for him to straighten up before asking,
“What exactly is going on?”
“Recently, Kabuum warriors have been given eye potion from the mage. I hear it can distinguish the wicked.”
“And we fell under its spell.”
“Right now, you all appear red in my vision.”
“Only us?”
“Yes. Only you.”
Yoo Ji-han narrowed his eyes, glancing at the empty potion bottle in Tuta’s hand.
‘A potion that detects people from another world.’
It was a near-certain assumption.
Given the variety of hair colors and appearances among the people of this world,
aside from the equipment they wore, the humans of Kallem and those from Earth were not all that different.
“But I can’t accept that you all are wicked.”
“Thank you for believing us.”
“But what do you mean by requesting an audience with the King?”
“That’s….”
Tuta trailed off, hesitating to answer.
“It’s a privilege granted only to recognized warriors of Kabuum.”
“A privilege?”
“When the opinions of many warriors diverge from an individual, they can seek an audience with the king to leave the judgment to him. It’s not something one can use at any time, but….”
“Hm….”
It’s a right that can only be claimed in truly incomprehensible situations.
Tuta decided to use that right for Yoo Ji-han’s party.
“And depending on that judgment, my life will be at stake.”
“What?!”
The sudden mention of his life caused Min Yu-ri to frown.
But Tuta spoke with a calm expression.
“If the king opposes the opinion of the individual who raised the objection, the one who used that privilege will be executed.”
“Executed? For real?!”
“You can’t waste the king’s time unless you’re willing to take significant risks.”
“Such a foolish…!”
“That’s the rule of Kabuum.”
A crisis where one could be executed based on the king’s personal opinion.
Tuta had risked that danger.
“If I am wrong, I will surely kill you all before I am executed.”
Tuta gazed at Yoo Ji-han’s party with a fierce glare.
If he were to die, he intended to take them all with him to the grave.
“Are you saying you’ll leave your fate in the hands of the king?”
“Our king is wise and strong. Once he speaks with you, he will know what kind of people you are.”
“And if the king makes a wrong judgment?”
“That’ll never happen.”
An absolute trust in the king he serves.
The warriors of Kabuum were a group bound by such beliefs.
*
Yoo Ji-han’s party decided to spend the night at the inn.
It seemed the king had personal matters to attend to, so they couldn’t meet him immediately.
“The preparations for the ritual are underway.”
Kim Si-hu observed the hustle outside the inn, even in the night.
The carts loaded with supplies and the items on people’s backs were all necessary tools for the ritual on the night of the red moon.
In front of the inn were piles of candles too.
“Wicked ones are mingling; that’ll bring corruption to the ritual.”
“Are you talking about us?”
“……”
The warrior watching over them fell silent at Mi-a’s words.
It was a wordless confirmation.
—Ugh!
At that moment, Sylph slipped out from Yoo Ji-han’s arms.
Seeing the floating orb, Sylph yelled at the startled warrior.
—Hey! You idiot! Who do you think you are, messing with us?!
“Idiot? Are you talking to me?!”
—Yeah, you idiot! Hurry and go lick your precious king’s boots!
“Seriously? Lick boots?! What a vulgar little thing!”
—Idiot! Idiot!
With each of Sylph’s insults, the warrior’s face turned redder and redder.
Before the situation escalated further, Yoo Ji-han grabbed Sylph and tucked him away.
He then addressed the angry Kabuum warrior.
“Don’t touch us until a conclusion is reached tomorrow.”
“Hah! The king will surely punish you.”
“This is not a joke; it’s a warning.”
Yoo Ji-han stamped his foot on the ground.
Shhh—!
A cold, ominous wind spread in a circle around his foot.
That wind swept over the whole warrior who had mocked Yoo Ji-han.
“……Huh!”
The Kabuum warrior felt a killing intent from the chilling wind that brushed against his skin.
Rather than cooling him down, it drew cold sweat from his back.
He understood without Yoo Ji-han saying a word.
[I can kill you any time.]
The short and intense message carried by the wind.
“Huff!”
In a moment of panic, the warrior instinctively grabbed his throat.
It felt as though his head might be severed at any moment.
“Why are you acting like that?”
“……!”
Yoo Ji-han casually addressed him.
He wore a genuinely clueless expression.
“It’s… it’s nothing!”
“Good. I hope it’s nothing.”
“Cough.”
Even after the wind had subsided, the warrior remained breathless, and seeing something troubled, he hurriedly left.
Mi-a muttered as she watched his retreating figure.
“He’s changed a lot.”
“Well, it’s that kind of world.”
Yoo Ji-han smiled bitterly.
In a world where one can’t obtain what they desire by simply going with the flow.
Whether on Earth or Kallem, things were merely slightly different.
If you look closely, the world wasn’t all that different.
*
The next day.
Yoo Ji-han’s party was guided by the warriors across the Kabuum district.
Only districts 11, 12, and 13 were originally allowed for outsiders to enter.
However, they were passing through district 10 to reach district 9.
“Which district does the king reside in?”
“District 7.”
“Not district 1?”
“The previous king was in district 1, but the current king moved to district 7.”
The king of Kabuum moved his residence simply because he preferred the number 7.
Considering that 7 is thought to be a lucky number on Earth, it was amusing.
‘Is it a coincidence?’
In Kallem, the number 7 holds no special significance.
If he sought the number 7 specifically, there must have been a reason.
“Could it be them?”
After a day of traveling from morning till night, they arrived at the king’s palace located in district 7.
A wizard in a pointed hat scrutinized Yoo Ji-han from top to bottom.
Yoo Ji-han met his gaze and said,
“I heard there were people captured before us.”
“……there were.”
“Where are they now?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“No, I need to know.”
The wizard, who seemed to know something about the three teams that had visited Kabuum, stood still, engaging in a staring contest with Yoo Ji-han.
The other warriors beside him tried to forcibly drag Yoo Ji-han, but he refused to budge from the ground.
‘This guy….’
The wizard felt something strange from Yoo Ji-han, whose whole being appeared red.
It was a sensation one usually gets from touching plants or animals that should not be disturbed.
At that moment, a low but commanding voice echoed from inside the gem-adorned door.
“Let them in.”
“……!”
From the very top of Kabuum, the man looming over them.
It was the voice of the king who rules Kabuum.