Chapter 103: Blood at the Threshold

“Finally it’s D-Day.”

Soo Hyuk opened his status window and smiled while looking at his quest.

〈Preparation Period〉

Romian never thought you’d bring the key so quickly. He assumed it would take at least a week. But Romian needed a week’s time. This is because he needed to restore his physical condition to normal. So, visit Romian in a week!

[Kelta’s Secret Key to the Cave: 1 / 1]

[Time Remaining: 0 Days]

[Quest Rewards: Cave Exploration]

The time had finally arrived for him to complete the quest 〈Preparation Period〉requested by Romain.

‘How long would it take?’

As he looked at the quest, Soo Hyuk wondered how long a quest that took an entire week to prepare for would take.

‘Huh, there’s this quest as well?’

Soo Hyuk was looking out his window which confirmed another quest.

〈Special Quest – Kelta’s Legacy〉

The Great Thief Kelta, who had no blood relatives, hid her lifelong treasures at a secret location. Find the treasures!

[Quest Rewards: ???]

The window said it was a special quest named ‘Kelta’s Legacy’.

‘It would be nice if the cave was that secret place.’

The cave he was about to explore was a secret cave that belonged to the great thief Kelta. So, he wondered if the ‘secret place’ mentioned in 〈Kelta’s Legacy〉was the same cave he was about to explore. If so, then he would be able to complete two quests at the same time.
Still absorbed in his thoughts, Soo Hyuk left the library and closed his quest window, then opened his inventory taking out a map. With the map’s direction, he headed for the outskirts of Hadrac, where Romian’s secret residence was located.

‘Seems to be really complicated.’

Following the map, he continued to walk. Same as the week prior, Soo Hyuk felt that this outskirt is really complicated. He finally realised that without the map he would have taken a few more hours while getting lost.

Jing!

Soon, he arrived at the secret residence, Soo Hyuk closed the map, putting it in his inventory. Then, he knocked on the door that stood in front of him, patiently waiting for Romian to answer.
“…?”

After waiting for a minute, he got no response from inside. So, Soo Hyuk in reply to the silence knocked on the door again.

However, this time too, he got no response, so he looked at the door thinking.

‘Looks like there is no one in there?’

‘Is Romian not in the house?’

‘But he knows I will be coming today.’

It was strange that Romian would have left despite knowing that Soo Hyuk was coming.

‘Did something happen?’

Though a week might seem to be quite a short period of time, it could be quite long for some. There might be a possibility that something happened these past few days.

To confirm his suspicions, Soo Hyuk reached out for the doorknob. Grabbing the cool metal for a while, he used a bit of his strength and opened the door.

Answering his doubts, the door was naturally opened.

As soon as the door opened, Soo Hyuk stepped inside.

At that exact moment.

[Quest ‘Preparation Period’ has been changed to ‘Mysterious Bloodstains and the disappearance of Romian’]

A message appeared as he shifted his weight onto his foot.
Looking at the notification in front, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but frown.

‘Damn, the quest really changed, I was worried it would.’

“Haa…”

Soo Hyuk let out a deep sigh, then closing the door, he proceeded to open the quest window.

〈Mysterious Bloodstains and the disappearance of Romian〉

On the day of the meeting, Romian disappeared. But someone’s blood remained in the living room. Was it Romian’s blood or Haccid’s blood or someone entirely different? Search the house for clues!

[Clue A : 0 / 1]

[Clue B : 0 / 1]

[Clue C : 0 / 1]

[Quest Reward: Quest – Another secret place of Roiman]

Soo Hyuk was deep in his thoughts.

‘Did he get caught?’

Was he attacked then got kidnapped?

‘Or perhaps a fight?’

Did a fight break out between Romian and Haccid?

Soo Hyuk was thinking while he looked at his surroundings looking for clues.
‘A clue, anything…’

There must have been some traces left behind. If he could find them, then they might be able to help him with what had actually happened.

‘Is that a bloodstain?’

A bloodstain entered Soo Hyuk’s sight. He looked at the quest details and thought,
“Do I need to find three… ”

Suddenly the quest window had closed.

‘‘…?”

Looking at the quest, Soo Hyuk was startled.

‘Why did it close?’

He remembered, he hadn’t closed the window, so why had it closed?

‘Wait, is the quest changing?’

Just as the idea crossed his mind, Soo Hyuk reopened his quest window to check. He had the basic knowledge that whenever a quest closed by itself, that meant it was updating.

[Quest ‘Mysterious Bloodstains and the disappearance of Romian’ has changed to Quest ‘Unidentified Men’.]

As he saw the update, he knew he was right, the quest had been changed. So he read the newly updated quest.

〈Unidentified Men 〉

As soon as you entered, you could sense the presence of a few unknown men that had previously entered the house. Clearly, they were behind the disappearance of Romian and Haccid. Find the clues and get rid of those unidentified men!

[Clue A : 0 / 1]

[Clue B : 0 / 1]

[ClueC : 0 / 1]

[Quest Rewards: Quest – Another Secret place of Roman]
[Quest – Kidnapped Haccid.]

Once he found the clues, then he would have to find and get rid of those unidentified men as the quest included. Otherwise, the quest wouldn’t be completed.

Considering the quest, Soo Hyuk was able to find four new pieces of information.

First, Romian and Haccid didn’t fight.

Second, this secret residence was discovered.

Third, there might still be enemies lurking around the house.

Fourth, Haccid was kidnapped.

After his thorough analysis, Soo Hyuk closed his window

‘Let’s start with the first clue.’

Right now, the first thing to do was to find the three clues hidden somewhere inside the house.

‘Will they shine just like the other time?’

When he had searched the former house of Ketan, a green glow had come from within the wall, and there was an item there. So, would the clues glow like previous times?

‘Well, there is nothing in the living room.’

There were no glowy lights hovering in the living room. So, Soo Hyuk entered the left room. As he entered the room, he couldn’t help but smile.

‘Ah, there are two of them.’

There were two places that emitted the subtle glows. Soo Hyuk moved close toward the wall, then, pressed against the softly shining light and touched the wall. Though, the wall didn’t move like last time.
[Obtained Clue A.]

Instead, the light disappeared and a notification appeared.

‘What, I just needed to touch them?’

He thought he needed to find something but everything was solved just by being in contact with those lights. After looking at the message, Soo Hyuk moved towards the left corner of the room. Then proceeded to touch the floor, as it was emitting the same light as the wall.

[Obtained Clue C.]

Just as Clue A, as soon as he touched the light faded and a message appeared in front of him. So, just like that he acquired the two clues and left and headed towards the right room. Having obtained two clues, Su-hyuk left the room. And there too he saw a single light emitting from the room.

[Obtained Clue B.]

Soo Hyuk touched the table that was emitting the familiar light, and as soon as it disappeared, a message appeared. And so after obtaining all the three clues, Soo Hyuk came out and entered the living room.

‘Now, one more condition left.’

As the criteria given for the quest, he had to complete one more condition before completing the quest. That is to find those unidentified men surrounding the house and annihilate them.

‘Let’s get started.’

Soo Hyuk came out of the house.

‘Where could they be?’

leaving the house, Soo Hyuk stood still and looked around the surroundings of the house.
‘They are good at hiding themselves.’

Those unidentified men that surrounded the house, their numbers were unknown but not a single person to be seen.

‘I know they will come out.’

And so he waited.

He would complete the quest if he could get rid of those unidentified men. In other words, it’s fine if he didn’t hunt them down.

‘When will they come out?’

He didn’t want to chase them nor did he want to run away. Soo Hyuk intended to take care of those people here, in front of the house.

And soon after.

People started to show up from all over the place because they felt strange when they saw him standing still.

‘They’re NPCs.’

That thought came into Soo Hyuk’s mind as soon as he saw those mysterious men approaching him. Those men were wearing clothes with the same pattern gold dragon painted on them. Even if the pattern of the organisation was clear, no guild mark was hovering on their head. So it was clear that they were NPCs.

Those men stopped walking and kept a moderate distance from Soo Hyuk. They didn’t stick together in one place, scattering themselves covering the whole area. It seems that they were prepared for any unforeseen events, and stayed alert among themselves.

“Hello.”

The man who stopped in front of Su-hyuk said.

“Ah-yes, hello.”

Mirroring, Soo Hyuk too greeted his company.

“We are just looking for the owner of the house.”

“Okay.”

“Do you happen to know where he is?”

“No.”

Soo Hyuk didn’t hesitate with his answer. Where was Romian? Well, he didn’t know either. Don’t they know he wanted that answer as well?

At Soo Hyuk’s mannerism, the man frowned.

“Look, we don’t have time.”

He continued while glaring at Soo Hyuk with his fierce eyes.

“I’ll be blunt. Show me where Romian is. And if you don’t cooperate…”

That man, emphasizing his last words, said, “You can see those men beside me, right?”

“You might not have a good ending.” And as soon as he stated those words as if they were commanded more men appeared.
“Not a good ending?”

Looking at those newcomers, Soo Hyuk repeated the same words as the man stated.

‘At this rate…’

Looking at the location.

‘It’ll be perfect for a Poison Storm.’

If he cast the spell those men would be wiped out in no time.

‘The problem was those criminals.’

He wanted to try ‘Poison Storm’ at such a big scale but he couldn’t. And the reason being the spell is being reported as the most used spell among the criminals.

“Yes, not good. Don’t pretend as if you don’t know.”

“I really don’t know. What could happen?”

Right now, what Soo Hyuk needed was for them to attack first.

“This is crazy …”

The man shook his head and as if replying to him, Soo Hyuk smiled back.

Seeing the smile, the man’s face turned ugly.

“Let’s see if you can hold on.”

Frowned, the man told Su-hyuk. And those words were a declaration from the man.

‘It’s starting!’

An alert message appeared, stating a great presence of hostility.

‘…Huh?’

Despite the notification he was waiting for appearing, Soo Hyuk was surprised and the reason was the message itself. [You’ve become hostile with Parville Merchants’ Corps armed group, the Red Wolf Gang]

‘Parville?’