Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 347

Hidden (2)

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Magitech engineer, Yurben Havelion.

The head of a mage school and a mage respected by numerous craftsmen and mages.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

It was not an easy task.

Interfering with the laws of the spiritual world.

“Damn it.”

The robed man muttered as he looked at the gem placed on the workbench.

The gem on the workbench was something he received from an old man he met shortly after arriving in this world.

Now, he had named it “Ghostbusters,” a server and system of the spiritual world.

“What the hell went wrong?”

Inside the small gem, an almost infinite number of magical circuits were intertwined, both large and small.

The man analyzed, researched, and improved his skills by modifying these circuits, one by one, ultimately creating the current Ghostbusters.

But…

“…So, this method is impossible after all.”

After continuing to inject magic into the gem and modify its circuits for a while, the man sighed deeply, as if he had given up.

In fact, feeling regret was somewhat ridiculous.

There was no way he could suddenly achieve something in a few days that he hadn’t been able to accomplish for decades.

The most recent major achievement was updating the system so that he could secretly view the nicknames of players in the anonymous chat room using admin privileges.

Bzzzzzzz.

At that moment, his personal pager vibrated.

There was no need to check who had contacted him.

“Yes, Soul Queens. Any issues regarding me?”

[No… No one seems to be talking about Havelion anywhere yet.]

“…I see.”

The man felt both irritation and relief.

His identity, which had been well hidden for nearly 20 years, had suddenly been exposed from an unexpected source.

“Please keep monitoring that. These kinds of rumors must be nipped in the bud before they grow. I will continue looking for ways to uncover the identities of the other members.”

[Yes, and… I’m sorry.]

“……”

The man fell silent at the woman’s apology from within the crystal orb.

He couldn’t bring himself to say something like “There’s no need to apologize,” even as a formality.

“Well then… Contact me again if any issues arise.”

[Yes, rest well.]

After finishing the call, the man returned to the workbench.

And…

‘If I can modify the circuits so that the location when logging in is stored on the server, it might be possible to trace him..”

The man continued analyzing the complex internal circuits of the gem.

As always, the answer would be within this gem.

****

Knock knock.

The moment I heard the knocking, I jumped to my feet.

‘…Who could it be?’

I had no idea.

It couldn’t be Erwin, so it must have been an outsider…

But why would someone knock on the front door instead of the gate?

‘Shit.’

I held my breath, lowered my stance, and approached the door as quietly as possible.

And at that moment—

Click, clack.

I heard the doorknob rattle, and soon the lock disengaged.

Creeeeak.

The door slowly opened.

I tightened my fist, ready to subdue whoever it was, but froze when I saw who it was.

“…Good thing you’re home.”

“Amelia…!”

“I told you not to jump on me all of a sudden…!”

I was just happy to see her, that’s all.

Talk about ruining the mood.

“…Come in.”

“Excuse me…”

Amelia clearly disliked reunion hugs, so I skipped that and hurried her inside.

I had a lot of questions.

But for now, let’s ask them one by one…

“How did you know I was here?”

“…I waited outside the bank, then followed that fairy when I saw her.”

“Huh? Then why only now…”

“There wasn’t an opening to approach.”

Huh?

But she goes out to the sanctuary during the day?

When I told her this, Amelia shook her head.

“No. That woman was always near the house.”

A chill ran down my spine.

“…Wait, so she hasn’t been going to the sanctuary at all?”

“Didn’t you know?”

“……”

“But recently, she’s had a change of heart or something and has been leaving the house. I was worried it might be a trap, so I watched for a few days before coming.”

That relieved me a bit.

If it was a change of heart, it was probably related to the conversation we had not long ago.

“So… how did it go with the Blood Spirit Queen? I can’t imagine it was easy for her to accept that you’re alive. Not to mention the evil spirit situation.

“Oh, that was resolved.”

I gave Amelia a brief summary of what had happened with Erwin, focusing on the important parts.

She seemed a little surprised.

“To not care whether it’s an evil spirit or not… That’s quite an unusual perspective for someone from the surface world.”

“She’s changed a bit. A while ago, she wouldn’t have thought that way.”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

“Hm?”

“The woman who didn’t stop her quest for revenge even after you were declared an evil spirit? She must have come to terms with it long ago. Your identity wouldn’t matter to her.”

Hmm, that could be true.

“In any case, I made it clear that I’m not an evil spirit. Who knows what might happen later.”

Amelia chuckled.

“So, I’m the only one in this world who knows your true identity?”

“No, there’s one more.”

“…Misha Karlstein doesn’t know you’re an evil spirit, does she?”

“No, it’s someone else. And he’s not from this world. He’s someone from my homeland.”

Since there was no reason to hide it, and it could become a factor later, I told her about Lee Baek-ho.

But her reaction was a bit strange.

“Lee Baek-ho…? You mean that person is from your homeland?”

It was as if she recognized the name.

Come to think of it, several people at the Round Table also seemed familiar with Lee Baek-ho.

Originally, I was going to ask Erwin subtly, but it seemed better to ask Amelia directly.

“Do you know that name?”

“…I do.”

“Well, you did come to this timeline much earlier than me, so you might have heard of him. By the way, how long has it been since you returned?”

“Two years ago.”

“Oh, so the time flowed 1:1 between here and there—”

“But the timing of my return doesn’t matter. I knew him long before.”

Huh?

She knew Lee Baek-ho from before?

I stared at her, hoping for more explanation, and eventually, Amelia spoke.

“Do you remember when I mentioned that I worked as part of a team with an evil spirit for over a year?”

Oh…

“That evil spirit was Lee Baek-ho.”

What the hell.

This guy is everywhere.

****

Amelia met Lee Baek-ho about five years ago.

She approached him intentionally on orders from the lord.

At the time, there were suspicions that he might be an evil spirit, and her mission was to confirm it.

After all, if he was an evil spirit, they could attempt to bring him over to their side.

“Explorers who could use aura were rare, so joining his team wasn’t difficult. I spent about a year with his team.”

Amelia explained that during that time, she obtained [Self-Replication] in the Doppelgänger Forest and cleared the White Temple on the third floor.

No wonder she knew about all the hidden secrets.

If she was traveling with Lee Baek-ho, that makes sense.

“So? What happened then?”

“Nothing much. After a year passed without finding any solid clues, the lord lost his interest, and I left the team, citing other missions. And… later, I heard the news.”

“What news?”

“I don’t know the full details. The royal family covered the incident thoroughly. All I found out through some backchannel investigation was that his identity was exposed through a comrade’s betrayal, and many people died in the labyrinth that day.”

Afterward, Amelia said that the royal family erased all records of Lee Baek-ho and controlled information for years, making sure his presence was forgotten by the city.

This raised a question in my mind.

“Then how do you know the name Lee Baek-ho?”

“That’s a more recent development. Apparently, he’s been openly introducing himself as Lee Baek-ho lately, showing up in various places, as if he’s completely severed ties with the royal family. Before, he always used an alias or was simply referred to as ‘that guy.’”

I see…

I didn’t expect someone so close to me to know about Lee Baek-ho’s past.

“What was he like back then?”

“Honestly, I didn’t like him much. His lighthearted manner annoyed me. But, aside from me, he had very close relationships with the others.”

“Close relationships?”

“Yes, like the teams you form.”

The more I heard stories about Lee Baek-ho, the more I felt an odd sense of discomfort.

“What? All his team members were women? And he dated all of them? Wow, did this guy set up a harem in the labyrinth or something…?”

“A harem? I’m not sure what that is, but didn’t you also have a team entirely of women?”

What is she talking about?

Mr. Bear is still proudly holding his place in the team.

Plus, back when the team was in its early stages, aside from Misha, it was all men.

“Well, in that case, sure.”

“It wasn’t intentional. I picked members based purely on their skills and compatibility, and it just turned out that way. It’s not like I saw them as romantic interests—”

“There’s no need to explain. I’m not bothered.”

“…?”

“Isn’t your country, Korea, similar to the aristocratic culture here? I’m assuming that’s how things work there as well.”

Uh, no, Korea is a normal monogamous society…

What exactly does she think Korea is like?

I had a feeling both Lee Baek-ho and I had completely ruined Korea’s image, but I decided to stop explaining.

It wasn’t that important anyway.

I’d heard enough stories for now, so it was time to change the subject.

“Amelia, what was the note you left at the bank about?”

“…What do you mean? I wrote it exactly as it was.”

“Well, the letter Erwin gave me had the last part torn off. It ended at ‘The Demon Crusher is…,’ and I couldn’t read the rest.”

“…I see.”

When the conversation shifted to my precious hammer, Amelia’s expression noticeably stiffened.

“No wonder you didn’t mention it… So you didn’t read that part…”

“Well, that makes me even more anxious. Just tell me what happened to the hammer. Is it okay—”

“The hammer is fine.”

Amelia firmly cut me off.

Then…

Sigh.

Avoiding my gaze, she quietly spoke.

“It’s in the collateral vault of the Alminus Trading Company…”

Sigh…

***

A heavy silence hung between Amelia and me.

Even the always confident Amelia seemed to know she was at fault, as she avoided my gaze.

In the end, I was the first to break the silence.

“…So why did you pawn it off?”

There had to be a good reason.

It’s Amelia, after all—

“I need to correct you.”

“…Huh?”

“I didn’t sell it. I used it as collateral for a loan.”

Oh, really now.

I gave her a hard look, and Amelia cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Still, it’s important to get the facts right to avoid future misunderstandings—”

“Never mind that. Just answer the question. Why did you pawn off—no, why did you use my hammer as collateral? What for?”

“…To protect you when you returned.”

Sigh, I knew it. There must have been a compelling reason—

“…I bought an essence at an auction.”

“…What?”

After a long pause, I finally regained my composure and opened my mouth. Amelia hurriedly continued, sensing the need to explain herself.

“Don’t worry. As long as we pay the money back by the due date, we can get it back.”

That eased my mind a little.

I mean, it’s understandable to need quick cash.

It was obvious she’d used the money to acquire the Twin Hydra’s [Dual Sovereignty]. It was an essence well worth buying if available.

But I needed to clarify some things.

“…When’s the due date?”

“Two months from now.”

“…And the money?”

“I don’t have it right now.”

“So, do you have a plan to gather the money?”

“…I did.”

Ah, so it’s past tense.

As if I didn’t have enough on my plate, now I had another quest to deal with.