Praise the Orc

Chapter 158: Alliance of Evil

The shattering of glass echoed throughout the street.

Startled passersby gasped, and a crowd quickly formed around the man and the child as onlookers flocked to the chaotic scene.

“O-over there...”

“Retard,” said Kim Hyun-Chul, who had been looking down on the scene from the second floor of a café. “Tsk. Why would he do that? Retard.”

Park Han-Shik’s face stiffened. He was sitting across from Kim Hyun-Chul. Despite the alarming incident that had happened right in front of their eyes, Kim Hyun-Chul didn’t seem to feel anything.

“Did he think he could rescue the kid? The kid still got hurt. What was he thinking?”

“Hey.”

“Why, it’s the truth.”

Kim Hyun-Chul didn’t use to be like this. He was timid, caring, and kind. He was a man worth his time. They had spent many hours having deep talks over drinks.

But after he became engrossed in the game, Kim Hyun-Chul changed.

“Why are you talking like this? He was just trying to rescue the kid.”

“Why can’t I be honest? It’s the truth. If he had died, then it would have been his loss.”

“Dude...that kind of attitude will come right back at you.”

“That’s just self-consolation. There’s no such thing as karma. That’s what victims masturbate to in order to console themselves.”

“Let’s stop talking about this.”

“Anyway, how is work going these days?”

“It’s tough.”

Park Han-Shik took a sip of his coffee and shifted his attention to the scene outside the window.

Pedestrians surrounded the site of the incident.

A woman was hugging and comforting the kid without minding her clothes getting bloody. Others tried to give medical attention to the man covering the child. They ended up only looking at him, not knowing what to do. The man’s entire body was covered in blood with shards of glass sticking out all over.

Thankfully, the man was moving. He wasn’t dead.

He could hear the sound of the ambulance in the distance.

Kim Hyun-Chul suddenly asked, “Is work really tough?”

Park Han-Shik glanced at him. “Why? Are you going to help?”

“Of course. Friends should help each other during times of need.”

“No thanks. I can handle things on my own.”

“Let me know if things don’t work out and get too tough. You don’t need to hide it from me. I will let you in on a sweet deal.”

“A deal?”

“Yeah.”

Kim Hyun-Chul chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. “I will help you earn money that would take you many years to earn in just one go.”

Park Han-Shik silently stared at Kim Hyun-Chul. Even though it was the same face he knew, he looked completely different because of his expression. Han-Shik took another sip of his coffee.

“Is it about your game thing?”

“Yeah, if you are interested...”

“Do you do that thing called role-play or something?”

“Role-play? That’s what nerds do.”

“Is that so...”

Park Han-Shik laughed. It was funny hearing Kim Hyun-Chul call someone else a nerd when people called him a nerd his whole life.

Kim Hyun-Chul sat up straight. “Why are you laughing?”

“What?”

“Why are you laughing? It’s annoying. I’m not just playing a game. It’s a business.”

Park Han-Shik stopped laughing and furrowed his eyebrows. Kim Hyun-Chul grew nervous at Han Shik’s sullen look.

“...”

Suddenly, Park Han-Shik smirked and shook his head.

“I’m not laughing at you. Calm down, dude.”

Seeing Kim Hyun-Chul pridefully take offense at trivial matters gave Han-Shik the urge to smack his head. If it were the school days, he would have already struck Hyun Chul’s head multiple times.

But now they were adults, and he could no longer sustain their relationship by forcibly shaking sense into him.

Han-Shik was no longer the boy from the past. He had grown to make expressions befitting an older man who had experienced the hardships of life.

When Park Han-Shik smirked and shook his head, it meant he had resigned himself to something. And each time he did that, he distanced himself from someone he used to consider a friend.

In the background, the radio was playing an old song.

Seasons come and go

But where did my love go?

I didn’t send it away

Nor did I leave [1]

“This song is nice,” said Park Han-Shik as he got up from his seat.

“I have to get going. I’m busy. It was nice seeing you.”

“Already heading out?”

“I told you I have a lot going on lately. I don’t have time to take a break.”

“Okay, understood. Don’t overdo it though. Hit me up if you need anything.”

Kim Hyun-Chul took out a business card and handed it to Park Han-Shik.

“It’s like working on a ship, but much easier and more profitable. You just have to lie down for a few months—no, a year. I will ask the hyungs to treat you well...”

Park Han-Shik skimmed over the business card. It mentioned things like Elder Lord clan or Luin. Park Han-Shik looked up at his old friend.

Kim Hyun-Chul, who used to look like any ordinary Joe, was now wearing an expensive watch and clothes. On top of that, Park Han-Shik couldn’t recognize the look in Kim Hyun-Chul’s eyes anymore.

But he could read the negative emotions in his eyes.

He couldn’t help but smirk again.

“Yeah, take care.”

Park Han-Shik smiled and bid farewell as he turned away.

They were probably never going to hang out together again.

“You too.”

Kim Hyun-Chul leaned against his chair as he observed Park Han-Shik grow farther away.

He imitated Park Han-Shik’s smirk. He wrinkled his nose and muttered, “Does he still think we are in middle school or high school? He can’t smack me in the head anymore...Smirking like that. So annoying.”

He grumbled and took a sip of his coffee.

He glanced outside the window and saw the guy from earlier being transported into an ambulance. His life didn’t seem to be in danger as he was conversing with the paramedics while lying down in the back compartment.

The back door closed, and the ambulance departed.

There was a large puddle of blood where the man used to be.

He didn’t feel any emotions because he had seen much more gory sights in Elder Lord. These days, the bloody world of Elder Lord felt more familiar to him as if that was the world he truly belonged in.

Hyun-Chul experienced a strange sense of joy as he observed the scattered blood on the floor. It felt as if he was encountering a familiar face in an unfamiliar setting.

Suddenly, he heard a song playing in the café.

Little by little, it fades away

I thought it was a lingering love,

But it drifts farther away each day.

Living every day apart.

“Yeah, the song is nice.”

Kim Hyun-Chul closed his eyes.

People say they grow nostalgic when they hear Kim Kwang-Seok’s songs because it evokes old memories. But Kim Hyun-Chul could only remember the face of the hyung who changed his life and his words.

‘The world is the survival of the fittest.’

He was right. The past him, na?ve and compassionate, had always been timid. But now, his current self who mocked the man who jumped in to save a child, wore expensive clothes and drove a high-end foreign car.

Park Han-Shik, who sympathized with the man, ran a small pub and struggled with loans and rent.

The world was unfair. When people realize that truth, they learn they should act unfairly as well. If they do that to people in worse situations than them, the unfairness would accumulate and eventually work in their favor.

‘Live kindly? What a joke. Look at me. I’m successful. Look at you. You’ve followed me, and now you drive a foreign car. Don’t pay attention to what the losers are saying and just follow me.’

“Everything you said was right, hyung.”

Kim Hyun-Chul checked his phone. He received a message from Cainz, who made him who he was now.

It was time to work.

Kim Hyun-Chul got up from his seat.

When he stepped outside, an old lady was sweeping the glass shards and blood from the scene. Her broom was stained red. Based on her apron, she seemed to work at the small restaurant next to the café.

Kim Hyun-Chul quietly watched her and asked, “Why are you cleaning even though it’s not your restaurant?”

She replied, “That’s not important. It’s in the same neighborhood, so it’s like my home. It’s unsightly. Rather than waiting to see who will clean it or not, isn’t it better to do it myself? Don’t you think so?”

“Yeah...”

Kim Hyun-Chul lit a cigarette.

There were so many kind people in the world. That’s why he and his hyung could succeed.

“Take care.”

Kim Hyun-Chul spat on the ground and walked away as the cigarette smoke trailed behind him.

***

Emperor Akantore was looking down at them from his throne.

Luin was always nervous about meeting him, but Cainz and Rommel didn’t seem to mind at all. Cainz always treated it like a game, and nothing fazed Rommel.

They had to learn various formalities to meet Akantore when he was a king, and now, after he became the emperor, they had to abide by even stricter rules.

Luin should have been used to it by now, yet he was still uncomfortable with getting down on one knee and bowing. He was a modern man unaccustomed to hierarchical systems.

Of course, while playing Elder Lord, he realized that invisible hierarchies existed in the modern world.

“Can I trust you?”

When Akantore was a king, he was a quiet man who always wore a smile on his face. He seemed more like a down-to-earth young noble than a king.

But now, he looked down at them with an arrogant face and no longer concealed his emotions. That was the right that came with the power.

“If you fail, it’s over. I will make sure all of you will never escape the star of the abyss.”

Luin wrinkled his nose.

The emperor told them he planned to execute the concrete method on them if they failed.

It instilled a strange sense of fear in Luin that NPCs knew the weakness of those cursed by the stars, or players. It was similar to the feeling he got when he watched movies where robots conquered humanity.

But they had gained wealth and honor by treading the fine line between risk and reward with calculated determination.

“Is there room for doubt?” asked Cainz.

Cainz was talented in winning the favor of NPCs.

“Kindly recall that we played a role in securing this throne for Your Majesty. We always offer our loyalty to Your Majesty.”

“Of course, I know full well. But this is the first step for the empire. You must not fail.”

“When Your Majesty speaks of failure, what is Your Majesty referring to?”

Cainz raised his head. “The current tide is in favor of the empire. A pebble cannot stop a river. Espada will be in ruins.”

“The failure I speak of...” The emperor clasped his armrest. “...is not being able to kill that orc.”

Cainz replied with a serious look on his face. “Crockta.”

“Yes. I will execute that filthy orc and hang his corpse at the gate. No, it will be nice to capture him and dump sewage on him and make him watch maggots and insects eat him alive.”

The emperor’s rage was at its peak.

Everything was going according to the emperor’s plan. No, everything was going according to the blueprint Cainz and Rommel had presented to the emperor.

Except for Crockta.

The emperor wasn’t the only one who wanted to kill him. Cainz felt the same way.

Crockta was an unpredictable variable. He wanted to get rid of Crockta immediately and eliminate any chance of failure, but...

“Your Majesty, don’t waste your energy on him. He’s just an individual. An individual cannot defeat an army. In the grand scheme of things, he will be trampled and disappear under the army’s feet.”

Crockta was definitely a hindrance to Cainz, but he understood how foolish it was to burn down a house to capture a bug.

Luin nodded along with the conversation.

Cainz would tell Luin, ‘He’s annoying, but the moment we expend our military resources on him, we lose. He’s by himself. He's quite strong and hard to catch, but he’s not lethal. He’s just like an annoying mosquito. It’s better to ignore him and carry on with our tasks. When winter comes, mosquitoes will naturally freeze to death.’

Considering how much Crockta had been hindering them, Luin was in awe of Cainz’ cold judgment. Luin thought they should mobilize all forces to kill Crockta.

But Cainz was right. Crockta was a monster who had defeated Adantadore. If he wanted to get away, he would always find a way.

They just had to focus on their jobs, and eventually, Crockta would be found as a corpse somewhere on the battlefield.

“I want his head,” said the emperor.

Cainz bowed. “If Your Majesty wishes...”

“But you have always given me sound advice. Even regarding this matter, others would have vowed to kill Crockta immediately.”

Luin was smiling inwardly. Cainz was probably laughing inside as well. Everything was as Cainz had said.

The young emperor was just a child who wanted to play the part of a wise and virtuous leader. He wanted to exhibit the authority of an emperor while seeking counsel. He wanted to be praised as a sensible emperor while maintaining the fa?ade of a supreme ruler. It was a childish ambition.

Right then, the guard outside the throne room shouted, “Your Majesty, the palace administrator wishes to see you.”

The emperor replied, “Tell him to come in.”

The door opened. An officer scurried inside and kneeled toward the emperor. “Your Majesty, I’m Gaspel, the administrator of Western Palace Communications.”

“Yes, what brings you here?”

“I humbly beg your pardon for bringing such news, but I felt Your Majesty needed to know...”

He extended a piece of paper.

It was a letter.

“Such things are being sent all over the empire.”

“What is this...”

The emperor accepted it.

The officer closed his eyes tightly as he backed away and then bowed deeply. He made the right decision because the emperor started tossing anything he could get his hands on.

“Rommel! Cainz!”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Immediately capture that trash orc Crockta and make him kneel before me! Take Adantadore and the White Lion Knights! Immediately!”

The emperor’s face twisted into a furious scowl.

“Bring me Crockta!”

1. Song is called Around Thirty by Kim Kwang-Seok ?