Chapter 158

 

“We saw the news that you had returned, but we never imagined we’d meet again here…”

“We felt like we didn’t properly thank you back then.”

“Thank you so much for what…”

Of course, that team back then had made me incredibly tired by following along despite being told to go back, but they weren’t incompetent to begin with. They just got caught up in trouble because the dungeon’s difficulty changed due to a sudden shift in the wave patterns.

I glanced at the hunters visible behind them. They were the same guys from before. I gestured toward them with my chin and asked.

“You said you joined Acorn, so why are you still traveling with them?”

“We’re doing a quest together. Our guild is still small-scale, so we ended up working together…”

Perhaps remembering the earlier friction, Hyo-young smiled awkwardly. Lee Jae-ah also whispered “sorry” in a small voice.

“Well, it doesn’t matter to me. Just be careful here.”

“Don’t worry! Ever since that incident, I’ve been carrying my inventory full of survival items.”

“We even bought a lot of good potions by pushing our budget. There’s this famous one these days, an emergency potion set of 12 types…”

“What? Potion set?”

“Oh, of course I’m not saying it’s as good as your potions, Eui-jin nim…”

Even if they bundled the same types together, a potion set would take up several inventory slots. And carrying around multiple emergency potions that they might not even use, not for daily use—they’re complete suckers, aren’t they?

When I looked at them with an uncomfortable expression, both of them became restless. After thinking for a moment, I plopped down and said.

“Do you have any materials you gathered from the dungeon?”

“Huh? We do, but why…”

“Take them all out.”

When I gestured with my hand, Hyo-young and Lee Jae-ah hesitantly pulled out various materials from their inventories and laid them out in front of me. Their eyes, which had been looking at me with incomprehension, bulged as if they would pop out when I took out and spread my portable crafting tools.

“Why are you… Don’t tell me.”

“This is all? It’s too little—I can’t even make a few.”

I grumbled as I picked out a few necessary materials from those in front of me.

Since this is a dangerous place, there’s no need for trivial options. Those two are weak, so I’ll add some Swalon spores to their potions…

It wasn’t difficult, so I roughly added ingredients and stirred, then used the ‘Golden Cauldron.’ Before long, two types of potions were completed—three bottles each.

When I slid three to Hyo-young and two to Lee Jae-ah, the two who hadn’t been able to take their eyes off me until now looked at me with bewildered expressions.

“You’re giving all of these to us?”

“You get these two, and the other two go to Lee Jae-ah… But how old are you two?”

I’m usually good at guessing ages, but this time I was particularly uncertain, so I asked with curiosity. Lee Jae-ah smiled softly and answered.

“Thirty-three. Hyo-young and I have been friends since we were twelve.”

“…These two are for noonas then.”

“Oh my.”

***

After Hyo-young and Lee Jae-ah left and I sat back down on the rock, a paper crane flew over. When I reached out toward the fluttering thing, it landed on my palm and stopped moving. When I unfolded it with curiosity, there was a creepy message written inside.

「I’m also thirty-three ^^ Hehehe…」

“Ah, fuck.”

I crumpled up the paper in my hand and threw it on the ground. I thought I could hear a pitiful sigh coming from the darkness.

Anyway, thinking that I was with Zero and Seong San-ha, even that pitch-black darkness didn’t feel unsettling. I played around by throwing my dagger into the air and catching it repeatedly, and before I knew it, it was time for the shift change as two hunters came up.

After greeting them and going down below, I could see Seong San-ha sleeping soundly. I thought about leaving him there, but feeling responsible for having put him to sleep, I hoisted him up on my back. Though calling it “hoisting” might be generous since his feet were dragging…

“…Ugh, he’s fucking heavy.”

I roughly pushed aside the people I was stepping on with my foot as I returned to our original spot. Someone had come and gone, leaving the blankets on the ground all wrinkled. I propped Seong San-ha up against the side, tidied up below, and went next to him.

There were only a few hours left until wake-up time. Maybe because I had been on watch duty, I felt like I could fall asleep even on this hard ground now. I let out a long yawn and closed my eyes when I felt weight on my shoulder.

“Haaaah… Huh?”

When I opened my eyes, Seong San-ha was sleeping with his head resting on my shoulder. Looking down at him from my angle, I could clearly see his particularly high nose bridge and his closely-set, light-colored eyelashes.

Without realizing it, I raised my trembling hand and carefully touched his eyelashes with my fingertip. Startled by my own action, I quickly pulled my hand back, but seeing that the deeply sleeping guy didn’t wake up, I reached out again.

“…Seong San-ha.”

I muttered so quietly it was barely audible, like a whisper, as I lowered my hand. Past his straight, high nose bridge, my fingertip touched his lips that were pressed together in a line.

This was the first time I was looking at him this closely. Even though we had kissed…

Fuck, what am I even thinking right now?

I was so bewildered by myself that I let out a hollow laugh. This is all because I was entranced by Seong San-ha’s face—Sa-na’s face. I turned my gaze away from his smooth face.

I need to stop overlapping Sana with Seong San-ha now. I had decided this after going through a series of events. I decided not to reveal the orphanage incident to Seong San-ha. Instead, I planned to hear that answer from Tae Jae-heon.

Someday I’ll strip away everything from that bastard, make him kneel at my feet, and ask him why he did that to the kids. Well, I haven’t decided how to get my revenge yet, but that bastard won’t die and will live until he’s 100, so there was plenty of time.

‘I really should sleep now.’

Just as I was about to pull my hand away, my wrist was grabbed firmly. At this unexpected situation, I turned around and my eyes met with Seong San-ha, who was staring straight at me.

“Keep going. Why did you stop?”

“…What, what kind of bullshit? How long have you been awake?”

“Well, from the beginning? This type of drug hardly affects me.”

Seong San-ha lightly stretched his neck and said,

“Still, I almost fell asleep for a moment. The Master title isn’t attached for nothing.”

“Fuck, if you were awake, why did you pretend to be sleeping?”

What did I do again? I didn’t call him Sa-na, did I?

I was shouting while looking at Seong San-ha with shaking pupils, and perhaps because it was noisy, the hunters around us began waking up one by one.

“Guild Master? Why aren’t you sleeping… Is something wrong?”

Seong San-ha waved his hand saying nothing was wrong, then covered my head with a blanket and leaned down to say,

“Let’s talk when we get back.”

“Damn it, when we get back you’re banned from the workshop. You’ll have to get tickets too…”

My grumbling voice couldn’t continue as lips briefly touched and pulled away from the corner of my mouth, swallowing the rest of my words. Seongsan-ha’s eyes sparkled in the darkness. His lips, curved in an arc, whispered as if mocking me.

“Let’s see when we get back.”

***

Spending several days inside a cave where sunlight never entered was an extremely irritating and exhausting ordeal. My head was filled with nothing but thoughts of finishing quickly and returning to my cozy workshop. Perhaps everyone felt the same way, as the hunters’ movements while hunting monsters became much rougher than before.

Not only was the distance between warps short, but thanks to everyone picking up the pace, we were able to reach the end of the 19th floor a day earlier than expected.

“Don’t move carelessly! If we make another mistake, we’ll have to start from the beginning again!”

Perhaps having experienced it once before, the hunters who feared a dungeon reset hesitated and only watched nervously.

At the end of the 19th floor, a massive stone door blocked our path—so huge that even craning my neck back couldn’t take it all in at once. The stone door was densely covered with incomprehensible characters. It looked like a magic circle, but it gave off no waves and didn’t glow, resembling the sealed warps we had discovered several times during our journey.

I narrowed my eyes and glared at the characters. I didn’t have any special skills, so why did those letters feel familiar? Was I simply just that smart?

“This is supposed to be a warp? Does it actually work?”

“Look over there.”

When I asked suspiciously, Seong San-ha raised his hand and pointed somewhere. Where his fingertip pointed, I could see Hamal’s symbol faintly carved among the strange patterns. If Seong San-ha hadn’t pointed it out, I would never have found it.

“Wow… How did you find that?”

“I have pretty good night vision.”

Seong San-ha shrugged his shoulders. After that, we spent a long time searching for symbols of Castor or other constellations before giving up. Well, if there had been any, sharp-eyed Seong San-ha would have found them.

We confirmed that Hamal’s symbol was there, but we didn’t know what or how we were supposed to do anything. Was I supposed to open the door?

When I asked Seong San-ha about the method, he could only shake his head as well.

“I brought some scholars and explorers who specialize in interpreting ancient languages. Let’s see if there are any hidden quests or other methods… If not, you’ll have to try opening it.”

“What? But what if we get kicked out again?”

“There’s no other way.”

It had taken almost three weeks to reach the 20th floor. Just thinking about doing that all over again made my vision blur.

‘Please let there be an entry quest, please…’

I glared at the guys carefully searching around the door with the desperate feeling of clasping my hands in prayer, but even after several hours there was no news.

“Guild Master. We don’t sense any waves at all. It seems like…”

Hunter Kim Yeo-jin, who had come to report, glanced at me. Understanding what that meant, I swallowed my curses and got up from my seat. The gazes of the hunters who had been scattered and waiting in front of the warp followed me.

“Damn it… This is fucking nerve-wracking.”

“Don’t feel pressured. We can just do it again if needed.”

“Is that supposed to be consolation? Having to come back would be fucking awful.”

With a face like I’d eaten shit, I approached the door. I resolved not to be surprised even if I opened and closed my eyes to find myself outside the dungeon, and reached out my hand, when I felt a soft sensation near my legs.

“Huh?”

When I looked down, Cloud was looking up at me with clear eyes.