Chapter 44: Bound by the Scales

With Seo Ji-hyuk’s proposal for an agreement, chains shot out from the Scales.

I tilted my head, watching the chains stop right in front of me.

So what am I supposed to do?

As I gazed on with doubt, he spoke.

“I’m proposing a ‘fair agreement’ to you. If you accept, we become ‘contractors.’”

“Contractors?”

“It means we keep adding and removing proposals until the gains and losses balance out.”

He then explained about the agreement.

If you decide to make an agreement but drag it out too long, you receive a penalty.

The penalty is that the weight of your proposal lessens, so you’ll need to make a greater offer than your opponent to balance the Scales.

If you break the contract, depending on the contents of the agreement, you’ll suffer a loss of body parts, or in severe cases, death.

The power of the Scales is akin to a curse; no amount of regeneration or healing will let your arm grow back.

After the brief explanation, he nodded.

“I acknowledge you might doubt the fairness. If you don’t like it, you can refuse even now.”

“I could refuse?”

“If it’s forced from the start, is that even an agreement?”

“……”

“I’d like to say that, in my name, it will be fair, but I doubt that’s a claim you’d trust.”

He was right.

Seo Ji-hyuk was the leader of a guild that accepted assassination requests.

It’s not like his name was honored or renowned, so even if he staked it, I couldn’t believe it would ensure fairness.

Even so, my gut was urging me to make the agreement with him.

As if agreeing with him was the best choice.

“Hm…”

“If you want to agree, all you have to do is grab the chain. Think carefully.”

He warned me as I was about to reach for the chain.

“Once you grab the chain and start the agreement, you can’t break it halfway through.”

“You can’t break it? That means—”

“Yeah. You’ll be bound together by the chain, forced to stay together forever until the agreement ends.”

“……”

“Of course, that’ll never happen, but still.”

Living with Seo Ji-hyuk forever?

That would be terrible.

Even so, I grabbed the chain, trusting my instinct.

There was also some curiosity; it was a fascinating power and I wanted to experience it myself.

“Scales Guild will not attack Baek Do-woon.”

Seo Ji-hyuk made the first proposal.

“Nor will we accept any requests to attack Baekwooncheon Guild.”

With that, the Scales tilted toward him.

His proposal was a small added weight, tipping the balance in his favor.

“But, except for requests made by Baekwooncheon itself.”

Then, the Scales rose a little.

It seemed the weight of the offer had become lighter.

Looks like conditions can be attached.

I should try it myself.

“I will not attack Scales Guild first without just cause. However, if I do not recognize the opponent as Scales Guild, that shouldn’t count as a problem.”

The Scales tilted toward me, but with my condition, they went up a bit again.

Seo Ji-hyuk looked mildly surprised, his eyes widening before returning to normal.

“Not bad.”

“Huh?”

“Most people, when making their first agreement, don’t immediately attach conditions. They get caught up in just making a proposal.”

He then looked at the Scales.

The Scales weren’t balanced.

They were still tilted slightly in my favor.

It seemed the Scales judged my proposal as heavier than Seo Ji-hyuk’s.

We both suggested not attacking each other, so it should have been even, but it wasn’t.

Honestly, since it was Seo Ji-hyuk’s summoned Scales, I thought he might have rigged it in his favor.

I was sure the whole ‘fair agreement’ thing was a lie.

Maybe I was being needlessly suspicious.

Judging by how the Scales tipped toward me, it really was fair, just like he said.

“Hm…”

Seo Ji-hyuk rubbed his lower lip with his thumb, pondering.

From his expression, it looked like he hadn’t considered his proposal might be lacking.

He didn’t seem shocked or incredulous, just thoughtful.

For some reason, he accepted it.

There’s a difference between one person agreeing not to attack a whole guild and an entire guild agreeing not to attack one person.

How did the Scales end up in my favor?

Even I didn’t understand, so why did he?

“I, Seo Ji-hyuk, will lend Baek Do-woon a ‘Small Scales’ for making fair agreements.”

With this new proposal, the Scales finally balanced.

He’d lend me a Small Scales?

“Good, it’s balanced. Shall we finalize the agreement?”

“I have a question.”

“You want to know what the Small Scales are?”

He answered before I even asked.

He must have lent the Small Scales out several times before.

Other contractors must have asked about them, too.

“The Small Scales are for making agreements, just like we’re doing now.”

He proceeded to explain about the Small Scales.

The Scales currently floating between us could be used for large agreements.

But the Small Scales were different.

Much smaller than the one currently hovering, they could only handle lighter proposals.

The penalties weren’t as severe, either.

No matter how bad it got, it was limited to permanent loss of an arm.

Of course, no amount of regeneration or healing would let an arm grow back.

“You could add more proposals, but I advise you to stop here. For your own sake.”

He recommended it in his usual, simple manner.

He seemed like someone who’d achieved his purpose.

As if his whole goal had been to keep me from attacking the Scales Guild.

“Fine, I accept your proposal to end the agreement.”

Whatever his aim, it seemed best to finish this up.

Even if this agreement was fair, it would still put restrictions on my actions.

And with restrictions, there’d be less I could do.

“I declare the fair agreement complete.”

As we both voiced our intent to finish, the chains of the Scales snapped apart.

They wound around my arm like a snake and then vanished transparently.

Even when I touched my arm, I couldn’t feel the chain at all.

According to the agreement, he then summoned the Small Scales.

He stretched out his hand, and I received the Small Scales as they floated toward me.

“I have one question.”

“What is it?”

“What happens if you don’t teach someone the rules before agreeing?”

“……”

Seo Ji-hyuk only smiled in response.

Seeing that smile, I realized that he didn’t have to explain the rules at all.

I wondered what had happened to people who never learned the rules.

They must have received a penalty and paid the price for it.

Did he only explain it to me on a whim?

I was about to ask, but he turned and left, as if to say the conversation was over.

“Seo Ji-hyuk…”

*****

“Why are you here?”

Seo Ji-hyuk was waiting for me with his subordinate.

Judging by how he just stood there with his arms crossed even after seeing me, he didn’t seem to have any intention to attack.

Well, we did agree not to attack each other, after all.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t; otherwise, he’d face a penalty.

He was an ability user, so maybe he had some trick to avoid the penalty.

He introduced his subordinate standing beside him.

“This is Choi Ki-jung. The subordinate I mentioned before, the one who kept pushing me.”

He’d said before that some subordinate of his kept pushing him to come find me.

Choi Ki-jung was shrouded completely in a black robe, only the area below his chin visible.

He didn’t even show his face, just bowed his head in greeting.

Judging by the staff he leaned on, he was probably a mage.

“So?”

I didn’t feel obligated to return the greeting.

I looked away from him and went straight to the point with Seo Ji-hyuk.

“So why did you suddenly come to find me?”

“You’re the one who made me come, but now you ask that?”

Seo Ji-hyuk laughed dryly, as if dumbfounded, and continued.

“Why did you impersonate me?”

“What are you talking about? Why would I impersonate—oh.”

“Remember now? Because of that, I got into a fight with those Crowed bastards.”

Now I remembered.

The reason Seo Ji-hyuk had come looking for me was because of what I did.

I had told those Crowed guys that I was Seo Ji-hyuk.

That’s why he’d come for me.

Crowed must have kept an eye on the Scales Guild, thinking I was Seo Ji-hyuk.

Caught off guard by the sudden attention from an A-class terror group, the Scales Guild must have scrambled to find out why.

It probably wasn’t hard for them to find out I was the cause.

“I’m innocent.”

“Innocent? After deceiving them into thinking you were me?”

“I didn’t deceive them. They just misunderstood on their own.”

“Misunderstood on their own? What does that mean?”

I explained what happened.

I was just wearing a mask and took out the Small Scales.

That’s all it took for those Crowed bastards to get scared and assume I was Seo Ji-hyuk.

Of course, it’s true I didn’t bother to deny it, thinking it’d be easier for me.

“No wonder they started spouting weird stuff like, ‘If you want to protect that woman, be careful.’”

“That woman?”

“The blacksmith woman.”

“Yu Jae-yi? Why bring her up?”

“They seemed to think I secretly visited her because I was in love with her or something.”

“……”

What kind of dumb conclusion is that?

I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.

Of all the misunderstandings possible, why that one?

Seeing my exasperated face, Seo Ji-hyuk nodded.

“Yeah, I had that exact expression too. I was so shocked by their nonsense, I didn’t even think to kill them.”

“Sorry you had to deal with that because of me.”

“Then—”

“Hold on. That’s not really my fault, is it? I never actually said I was Seo Ji-hyuk.”

All I did was not bother to correct them.

He let out a deep sigh.

“Fine, let’s move on.”

“Huh?”

He’s letting it go that easily?

Wasn’t that the reason he came to see me in the first place?

“What’s your current relationship with Crowed?”

“Of course we’re enemies. I can’t stand what they do.”

[The World Tree’s Sprout agrees with Baek Do-woon’s statement.]

So far, I’ve met two of the Demon Clan’s minions.

One was a hunter killer who preyed on rookie Hunters for money.

Another was garbage who used family as an excuse to take people away.

Both of them were totally unlikable.

“…Did I come too late?”

“Come too late?”

“I wanted to warn you that Crowed are dangerous.”

“A warning? From you?”

“Well, not for your sake, but for your younger sibling and Lee Tae-cheon’s sake.”

Yeah, I figured as much.

But isn’t it way too late for that?

You took the assassination request for me, and now you want to look good?

Unless you hand over Jeon Myung-hwan’s head, that’ll never happen.

“They didn’t seem that dangerous to me.”

At my muttered comment, they both shook their heads at the same time.

As if I was some clueless amateur, which rubbed me the wrong way.

“What’s with those reactions? That’s really annoying, you know?”

“You might not believe it, but they’re not human. They’re those demon clan—”

“Their minions, right? I already know.”

“…!”

Seo Ji-hyuk’s eyes went wide with surprise.

Choi Ki-jung next to him also looked like he hadn’t expected me to know.

So that’s why they acted like I was clueless.

“You knew all along?”

“What’s to know? I’ve already killed two of them.”

“Well, that’s unexpected.”

Apparently, they thought I’d never faced them before.

Maybe they thought I was just being reckless without any real experience.

If that’s the case, they’ve really misjudged me.

“Actually, that works out better.”

With that, Seo Ji-hyuk looked at his subordinate.

Choi Ki-jung nodded.

Thanks to his hood, I couldn’t see his eyes, but he was definitely exchanging glances.

“Let’s form an alliance, Baek Do-woon.”

“Alliance? You’re not telling me you want an alliance between me and the Scales Guild, are you?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“You were trying to kill me not that long ago.”

“Well, they say yesterday’s enemy is today’s comrade.”

“Do you even have a conscience?”

“If I did, would I be taking assassination requests?”

…He’s got a point.

He’s right, but why do I feel like punching him in the jaw?

[The Sprout fully agrees with the Administrator’s opinion.]

Yeah, Sprout.

You think so too, right?