“There’s no one else here, Hana.” It was an invitation more than a statement. The knights were only there to accompany Seah. And with her leave, the knights followed as she exited the train. It stung more than a little that she could leave without so much as a word to him. Even though she reviled everything Seah had become, even Hana was surprised by how coldly Seah had treated her brother.

“Hana.”

Willow had long since sought refuge in another car. It wasn’t wise to split up, but the awkward silence was too much for the recent graduate to bear. That left Hana and Jinyoung in the car alone with the weight of Hana’s marital revelations pressing down on them.

At 36, Hana hadn’t felt the need to explain herself or her actions to anyone else in a long time. But it was impossible not to feel the guilt at having kept this from Jinyoung.

“We got married when I was 28,” Hana said. She may as well start from the beginning. “We’d been dating for a few years. It’s difficult keeping up a relationship when you’re both constantly being called away, but we made it work.”

“So he’s a player, too?”

“A pathfinder.”

For a moment, Hana thought that Jinyoung was so angry he couldn’t speak. But when she looked up at him, he met her gaze with a confused look.

Right, she remembered. “Pathfinders are an archer class, they’re one of the next progressions from rangers.”

Jinyoung nodded. Before he went into the Black Shrone, there was only one progression class after rangers. So this was yet another discovery made during his absence. A constant reminder of how much he had missed while he was gone.

“So you’re married?”

“Divorced, actually.” A memory bubbled to the surface of her mind. “We were only married about three years before we’d grown so far apart that there wasn’t a relationship left. A few months later, I called dad and told him. He was so pissed.”

The memory made her smile. “He’d never liked Seunghyo, so when this all happened… Well, Seunghyo kept his head down for a year two just to avoid the chance of running into dad.”

A pained look drew across Jinyoung’s face.

“Are you mad, oppa?”

She hadn’t called him that since she was a child. Jinyoung still remembered a day when she was 12. He asked her why she didn’t call him “oppa” anymore. She’d responded by telling him she wanted to be seen as a colleague, not a little sister.

“No, Hana. I could never be mad at you,” he heard himself say. He smiled, but the ache inside would be something he’d never forget. “Hana, I need to know what happened with you, Seah and Cyrus.”

“We grew apart,” Hana replied after a moment. “Cyrus’ grandfather funded the Phoenix at first and everything was fine. Until it wasn’t.”

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Hana grimaced at the memory. For a time, the Phoenix had been everything they’d envisioned. The four of them focused on quests that would serve the greater good and give back to the community.

“We focused a lot on outbreaks, clearing dungeons that were close to residential areas and, occasionally, more high-profile quests.”

Jinyoung took a guess. “Like the Seokrak Outbreak.”

Hana nodded. “At first we took requests from anyone in need, but Cyrus’ grandfather started to impose more jobs on our schedule. Less of people in need and more of protecting his interests like private mining operations, satellite offices, and warehouses under his control. So the four of us agreed to take on more quests from the Player Society. That led to more ‘safe’ quests and eventually Seah took on a position at the Society.”

It had taken some effort to convince Cyrus, but in the end he had agreed. Partly thanks to Seah’s efforts to convince him at the time. But even that had been a temporary measure.

“Eventually, we realized that the Society quests were the same. People like Cyrus’ grandfather amassed influence until there was no escaping their clutches,” Hana said bitterly, “After a year, Cyrus decided to work closer with his grandfather and Seah left to devote her efforts to the greater good at the Society.”

“They left,” Jinyoung said simply.

“Yeah. I didn’t see them for a few years, but when I saw them again, they’d started the Pegasus clan. They say it’s a joint venture between the Player Society and the Paladin Guild, but it’s really just owned by Gigan Corp.”

Jinyoung grunted. Gigan Corp was headed by Grisham Kim, a relentless industrialist who’d rebuilt his company after the Break through ruthless means. There were even rumors of Player Killings carried out on his competitors. After the stories Cyrus had shared of his grandfather, Jinyoung believed them.

“I’m sorry, oppa. I know they’re your friends, but-”

“Screw them.”

Hana’s surprise was written on her face and she opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t find the words.

“If they chose to align themselves with Grisham, then screw them,” he said. “But from here on in, no more secret husbands, got it?”

Hana met Jinyoung’s eyes and nodded.

“No more secret husbands,” she replied with a grin.

***

It stung that Seah had left without a word to Jinyoung. It’d been two decades and she’d treated him as if he were a stranger. But, based on everything Hana had just told him, she might well be. Thankfully, there was plenty to take his mind off his situation.

“If we’re going north, we’ll need specialized gear,” Willow explained. After the sibling’s heart-to-heart, Willow magically appeared at the entrance to the carriage. Not at all as if she’d been listening from outside. “The temperature is a balmy 5oC during the day and it drops to a blistering -23oC at night.”

“Fire stones,” Jinyoung said.

“Exactly,” Willow answered.

Elemental stones like fire stones weren’t actually stones. They were, in fact, crystals imbued with fire that could be found in dungeon mines. Mages routinely drew out the mana in elemental stones to increase the efficiency and power of their spells. And, likewise, they could take emptied elemental stones and imbue them again.

“We’ll also need jackets, endurance armor, and maybe some agility gear,” Hana rattled off. “The northlands have some treacherous terrain so anything to give us a leg up while we’re there.”

“You’re not coming with us, sunbae?”

Hana shook her head. “Show her, Jinyoung.”

The onion reached into his pocket and revealed their reward from the hidden quest.

The Dragon's Hidden Scale

Category: ???

Description:

Must be carried in battle.