#mercenary!yjh

[asyor]

the lone mercenary and his demon companion🗡️🩸

[lee-hakhyun]

as promised!

kdj sits in the lobby of a hotel casino, waiting while christina provides refreshments and assures him that anna will come soon. honestly, lhh had expected kdj to make a scene. this is how dkos operates. and as sponsorships rain down, he knows that this world rewards scenes like these. but... when martinez had asked for a name, and kdj said 'cheon inho', martinez's reaction was odd. his expression changed, and he left shortly after. which is weird. there's no way his name would have spread to las vegas? there's plently of more famous koreans than cheon inho.

people begin bringing in the 4th grade dragon's parts, and eventually selena kim starts talking with kdj. it's still a little messy, and selena mentions that she only recently moved from the washington dome. when kdj asks about the situation in the washington dome, selena's expression is dark. did something happen..? lhh asks kdj if the las vegas dome is usually open. more domes are opened or extra incarnations are summoned in based on population, so the dome itself isn't a problem, but the restriction on movement between countries was lifted, which isn't normal.

originally, the domes are only released after the 10th scenario, but something about the united states' 7th scenario was so hard that the bureau judged that the american incarnations alone couldn't beat it, and mercenaries from other countries had to be brought in... apparently, yjh and his party are in the washington dome.

after kdj asks about yjh's whereabouts, selena is curious and asks if he's close with yjh. his response?

"we were companions separated by life and death."

(the original tl of this line isn't the best, it's more like "we are companions have been through life and death separately", but the big thing is the change from present to past tense. kim dokja...)

selena takes kdj on a tour of the hotel. i've talked about it already here

now, about those plants. looking at the yanaspleta being grown there, the soil it's growing on isn't from earth. it's soil from the 5th scenario, when other worlds invaded the earth. which is odd... the soil should have disappeared after the 5th scenario was cleared. so why is that dirt still there? kdj looks at the 4th grade monster's organs, and starts talking.

it's weird. this '4th grade earth dragon' isn't cost effective to buy. the material is hard to process, and its sharpness is inferior. it's much better to buy the bones of a '5th grade fire dragon', even if it's technically lesser. but anna would have known that. so, knowingly buying this, there should have been a reason. kim dokja picks up some powder that fell during the processing the of the monster parts. and sprinkles it on the otherworldly soil, as it purifies. everyone in the hall stops then, and some incarnations reach for their weapons.

kdj's eyes are cold. he still considers selena kim a good person, and tells her so. if she answers his questions, nothing will happen here. anna's not here, is she? selena confirms it, and apologizes. where's anna right now? and... did they really clear the 5th scenario normally?

right then, there's noise from the hotel's entrance. constellations from asgard enter the channel. a portal opens, and as they move to the portal, anna croft arrives, her left arm bleeding. as selena prepares a tourniquet, anna asks if selena bought the dragon parts. selena affirms, but anna shakes her head. and says it's too late. that the operation was a failure. lee hakhyun organizes everything in his head. the 4th grade species with its purification properties, the washington dome, the scenario, and... his companions. why did anna croft return alone? it couldn't be..?

and lee hakhyun wasn't the only one to piece it together.

"Anna Croft." Anna Croft's expression hardened the moment she heard that voice. Her neck stiff, she slowly turned this way. "You... how are you here?" "Where is Yoo Joonghyuk right now?" So far, the 'Demon King of Salvation' that I knew felt more like a jobless neighborhood hyung than a constellation. A hyung who doesn't like boring things and never takes anything seriously, who's busy teasing someone whenever he has time. Right now, that hyung, "I'm asking. What happened to Yoo Joonghyuk." was genuinely angry.