WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

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◈ Damned Transmigration

Chapter 37

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Logos

The fortnight-long journey to Logos stretched into three weeks.

Unlike the desperate flight from Oldor, this was a journey of leisure, not survival. They ambled from one town to the next, trading the chill of a sleeping bag for the comfort of a proper bed, the grit of campfire-cooked beast for the warmth of a tavern meal.

Yuri couldn't complain. The summer heat provided a convenient excuse for their relaxed pace, and he found he much preferred a privy to a hastily dug hole in the woods.

“To think we have finally arrived,” Haryeong heaved a theatrical sigh from the driver’s seat.

Yuri held the reins. He knew that after this, he would be on his own, with no one to manage a carriage for him.

On their travels, he’d had Haryeong teach him how to drive and maintain the vehicle, just in case. He’d also been reacquainted with the profound misery of riding a horse.

He’d ridden once before, as Lee Su-hyeok, on a solitary trip to Jeju Island, a trip he’d taken to reclaim the school excursions his poverty had stolen from him.

He now realised the horses at that tourist trap must have been half-sedated saints. A real horse was an instrument of torture designed specifically for a man’s backside. He now understood with perfect clarity why light body techniques were invented.

“Since we’re already late, what’s a little more delay?” Haryeong mused, her voice laced with feigned weariness.

“Come to think of it, I believe I left something of great sentimental value in the last village.”

She had been openly opposed to this excursion from the start. Her workload, she knew, was about to increase exponentially. Even the weakest monster was still a threat.

“No,” Elena’s voice came, crisp and immediate, from the carriage window.

“We are here. There will be no more delays.”

“But my lady, it was a gift from my mother.”

“Haryeong, you told me you have no family.”

“A memento is still a gift.”

Haryeong’s expression was so grave that Elena faltered. As an orphan herself, she was acutely sensitive to the topic.

“If… if you truly left something, we should go back.”

“Your earnest reply softens my cold heart, my lady. In truth, I left nothing. I am not so careless.”

“Were you an orphan, Haryeong-nim?” Yuri asked, unable to help himself.

“I said I have no family. I did not say I was an orphan.”

‘Aren’t they the same thing?’ he thought, puzzled.

“Don’t tell me you felt a sudden kinship, Sir Yuri?” Haryeong asked, her eyes finding his in the reflection.

“I didn’t say a word.”

“Your face is a billboard.”

“If you’re not an orphan, then why…?”

“Everyone has circumstances they cannot speak of,” she cut in smoothly, her tone light but the warning clear.

“I am certain you have one or two of your own.”

The remark was just part of their usual banter, but it landed with a quiet thud. Thankfully, his expression didn't betray him.

“You two are really close,” Elena observed, propping her chin on the windowsill.

“Lady Elena, please do not utter such horrors,” Haryeong replied instantly.

“Is it that bad?”

“Sir Yuri, I have not forgotten the auction house. It was you who put up a wall between us. You rejected our friendship.”

He hadn’t put up that much of a wall, but he let it slide. The carriage rolled on, finally passing through the gates of Logos.

In the game, Logos had been nothing but a sprawling hunting ground. The reality was a rugged, sprawling settlement born of necessity and sustained by violence.

For decades, the Rift had bled monsters into the world.

At first, it was a desperate battle for survival. But where monsters gathered, so did adventurers. And where adventurers gathered, commerce bloomed.

Leaving the carriage at a stable, Yuri looked past the village towards the mountain that gave the place its name.

A malignant, crimson-black vapor clung to its peaks, a wound in the sky that perpetually seeped into the world below. Seeing it in person, he understood the name ‘Rift’. It looked like a physical scar on the fabric of reality.

“Couldn’t we have just bought our gear here?” Yuri asked as they walked into the bustling main street.

“Gear from a frontier town versus gear from the metropolis of Rutlan,” Elena stated.

“Which do you imagine is superior?”

The point was unassailable.

Haryeong, having been here before, took the lead.

The hawkers and touts that swarmed other newcomers seemed to melt away before her, an invisible wall of menace clearing their path.

“First, we hire a guide.”

“Weren’t you going to guide us?” Elena asked, reluctant to add a stranger to their group.

“My lady, I was a child when I was last here. And the training I underwent was not in the art of cartography.”

A mountain infested with monsters spawned from a tear in reality was not a place for amateurs. The chaotic energy of the Rift warped the terrain, turning flat ground into a disorienting maze.

“Hiring a guide is the sensible choice,” Haryeong continued.

“We wouldn’t die if we went in alone, but we would certainly suffer.”

Elena’s reluctance was plain.

She was a fortress, generous to those within her walls but cold and wary of outsiders. It was only their shared history that had allowed Yuri past her defenses.

‘Her MBTI must be…’

He tried to recall the personality tests from his old world, but the memory wouldn’t surface. Lee Su-hyeok had considered such things foolish.

“Where do we hire one?” Yuri asked.

“The Adventurer’s Guild is the safest bet. Unless we require a guide for illicit activities, which we do not.”

Their needs were simple: a man who knew the mountain and could keep them from walking in circles. Before that, however, they checked into a respectable-looking inn.

As Elena was paying, Haryeong leaned in close to Yuri.

“Were you hoping we would have to share a room?”

“I am this close to reporting you for something.”

“Even so, you mustn’t sneak into our room at night. I will be sharing with Lady Elena. If you feel you absolutely must, please give me advance notice.”

“We lived in the same house for six months, Haryeong.”

“Good heavens. You’ve already done it, then?”

He hadn’t. He’d never once set foot in her room.

“Our room is next door,” Haryeong said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper as Elena returned.

“If anything dangerous or strange happens, be sure to scream.”

“I’ll be placing a ward on the rooms,” Elena announced, overhearing the last part.

“And I’ve arranged for them to be cleaned only when we are present.”

“Are you feeling warm?” Yuri asked, noticing the high colour in her cheeks.

“I-it’s summer,” she stammered.

Haryeong’s lips twitched.

The Adventurer’s Guild was a large, noisy hall filled with the scent of stale ale, sweat, and steel.

“Let’s register first,” Elena said, pulling him towards a counter.

To make a living as an adventurer, one needed to be in the guild. He wasn’t thrilled about using the name ‘Yuri’, but for now, he had no choice.

The process was surprisingly simple. In a world without computers, background checks were a matter of presenting an ID and filling out a form. For his Circle, he wrote 2nd. For his weapon, he wrote Fists.

The clerk took his form and his expression soured.

“A martial fighter?”

He grumbled, not bothering to look up.

“You’ll have a hard time finding a party at the 2nd Circle. I assume you know that.”

So that was it. Just as Bakerd had warned him, a low-Circle martial fighter was a liability: not enough damage, not enough defense. In a party of adventurers who primarily hunted monsters, a specialist in anti-personnel combat was utterly useless.

“What kind of requests do they usually take?”

“Porters, if they’re strong. Some strap on armour and try to be a meat shield. Bounty hunting, bandit subjugation… but the survival rate for those isn’t high.”

“Don’t do anything dangerous on your own,” Elena whispered, her eyes narrowed.

His adventurer tag felt strange in his hand.

A small metal plate inscribed with his name, 1st-Grade, 2nd-Circle Martial Fighter. The dead boy’s dream.

An hour later, a man approached their table.

He was in his forties, with a scruffy beard and a constellation of old scars across his face, scars that told stories of either vast experience or profound incompetence.

“The name’s Jake,” he said, his voice raspy.

“Heard you were looking for a guide for a 3rd-grade request.”

He was a 3rd-Circle, 4th-grade adventurer who had been working this mountain for a decade, a man who had hit his ceiling and made a career of it.

His eyes swept over their party, his gaze lingering on Yuri’s entry on the form. It held the same weary pity as the clerk’s.

“And Sir Yuri is 2nd-Circle… a martial fighter. Aren’t you hiring a separate vanguard?”

“We don’t need one,” Elena said, her voice turning to ice.

Her demeanor had shifted the moment Jake arrived.

The guide seemed used to it. He simply smiled a tired, professional smile.

“Understood. Then Miss Haryeong and I will take the vanguard, and Sir Yuri will be the porter, correct?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

The conflicting answers came out at the same time.

“Why would you be the porter?” Elena demanded, turning to Yuri.

“I have to do something.”

“You will do nothing but stay by my side and observe. If a suitable monster appears, you may test yourself against it.”

“It’s not much luggage. I can carry it.”

“If we require a porter, we will hire one,” she said, her tone final.

She turned back to Jake.

“We have no interest in monster carcasses. Subjugation requests only. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am. In that case, would it be alright if I gather some materials for myself? In return, I’ll take only half my fee.”

“At that rate, your personal profit seems excessive,” Elena countered without missing a beat.

“A third, then?”

“Fine. But if your guidance is unsatisfactory, the contract is terminated immediately.”

“Understood.”

Jake bowed his head again, the picture of weary deference. After agreeing to meet the next morning, he took his leave.

“Wasn’t it rude to be so prickly with him?” Yuri asked.

“He’s old enough to be your father.”

“I am the employer. I am the higher Circle. I will be the one doing the fighting. My attitude was perfectly professional.”

Elena puffed out her chest, a queen in her own mind.

He was just glad she hadn’t been born on Earth; she’d have been a nightmare of a corporate manager.

“A 2nd-grade request monster that Sir Yuri can handle…” Haryeong mused, tapping her chin.

“Humanoid-types would be a good match. Goblins, perhaps. I must say, I am very much looking forward to tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Because I will be there to witness the grand, decisive battle between Sir Yuri of Rutlan and a single goblin.”

She paused, her face a mask of utter seriousness.

“I have no doubt… that you will be victorious.”

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