Chapter 119
I faltered at the sight before me. About 10 meters ahead, beyond the carelessly set up control line, red aura was billowing from the gate.
In that moment, I stiffened without realizing it until the Team Leader brought me back to awareness.
“Su-hyeon.”
I quickly came to my senses and turned my head. Everyone, including the Team Leader, was looking at me with solemn faces. Then the Team Leader’s hands patted my shoulders.
“Don’t worry and just trust us.”
Thanks to his words and gaze that conveyed absolute trust, I was finally able to recover a faint smile.
That’s right, being scared only hurts me. Since I have to do this anyway, I should take on the challenge boldly.
“Thank you, Team Leader. I’ll treat you to a nice meal soon. Thank you so much to all the senior members as well.”
The other Awakeners who had willingly made time for me didn’t hold back their encouraging words. Finally, I made my last request to Team Leader Yoon.
“Please take care of Ji-hyeok for me.”
“Sure. Don’t worry.”
Having said everything I needed to say, it was finally time to enter the dungeon.
The red energy undulating from the gate remained intense. It was eerie and chilling, as if it would devour me the moment I entered, but there was no turning back now.
‘Let’s go.’
Boldly casting aside fear and tension, and filling that space with only confidence, I took firm steps toward the dungeon.
“——-!!!”
The flying monster that had lost one wing to a scorching attack let out an ear-splitting roar. Poison sprayed from its pores like a thick fog, but before it could even reach the ground, the monster’s neck was severed.
Boom-!
The severed body and head crashed to the ground, creating a tremendous explosion. Only after the earthquake-like tremors subsided did Kim Gitae open his mouth.
“Whew, I thought I was saying goodbye to this world.”
“For someone who thought that, you were flying around like a fish in water?”
“When someone rolls out the red carpet for you, it’s only proper to give a good show. Right?”
The person who had rolled out the red carpet for Kim Gitae was Song Ji-hyeok. Sometime recently, whenever Song Ji-hyeok was part of a raid, he naturally took care of the boss mob or delivered the final kill, but today was different. Wanting to conserve energy if possible, Song Ji-hyeok had made an implicit request to team leader Kim Gitae to handle the boss mob.
There was only one reason for his uncharacteristic caution despite growing fame for his aggressive tendencies: if he met Lee Su-hyeon with bloodshot eyes, Su-hyeon would feel terribly awkward.
Moreover, though it’s unclear how the information leaked, Su-hyeon had also found out that he had received guiding from Ham Seo-ryul. While to him, Ham Seo-ryul was merely a means to deliver a big slap to Song Tae-hyeok and a disposable card, he had foolishly only recently realized that this wasn’t the case from Su-hyeon’s perspective. Putting himself in Su-hyeon’s shoes, if his Esper grade had suddenly dropped and Su-hyeon provided guiding to another Esper claiming better compatibility, he would feel an unbearable sense of betrayal.
In conclusion, since he had essentially done something no different, he had no excuses to make. So for the time being, at least until Su-hyeon’s guiding side effects disappeared, he planned to moderate himself in dungeons.
Suddenly, Song Ji-hyeok’s mood plummeted. The reason was that he remembered the only way to eliminate the guiding side effects.
Even now, he was skeptical about Su-hyeon’s attempt at re-awakening. Even if the success rate were 99 percent rather than 80 percent, there was no guarantee that the 1 percent failure probability wouldn’t become reality.
Above all, the risk in case of failure was too fatal. If he couldn’t control the surging unfit energy to the end and got consumed by it, what would remain was only “death.”
Rather than taking such a risk, he would prefer Su-hyeon to remain by his side as a C-class Dual Awakener like now, but he couldn’t change Su-hyeon’s all too resolute mind. No matter how much he threw tantrums or remained stubborn, the fact that there was no room for compromise in this matter made him occasionally feel unjustified irritation.
Anyway, the atmosphere was quite good thanks to everyone clearing the dungeon without major injuries. As soon as Song Ji-hyeok got into the car, he grabbed his phone. It was to send a message to Lee Su-hyeon.
[Just got in the car. What are you doing?]
Should I suggest ordering seasoned chicken for dinner after a long time? Despite looking like he would have an adult’s palate, how could he love chicken covered in sweet cream so much?
Thinking of him, a faint smile spread across his face as if he had never been irritated. He expected an immediate reply, but even after 5 minutes, the “unread” indicator next to the message didn’t disappear. Calling him yielded the same result—no contact.
‘Did he set it to vibrate?’
Except for unavoidable situations like dungeon expeditions, Lee Su-hyeon always carried his device and phone on his person. Since he was still only doing guiding duties, he wouldn’t have entered a dungeon, and given the time, he should be in the office, so he probably set it to vibrate or silent mode.
[Please reply when you see this message]
After sending one more message, he turned his phone volume to the maximum. Although he kept checking his phone afterwards, the status bar remained clean with nothing showing.
After 30 minutes passed, and then over an hour, anxiety began to creep in. Just in case, he sent a message to Su-hyeon’s device this time, but again, no reply came.
Unable to bear it any longer, Song Ji-hyeok shook Kim Gitae, who was sitting in front of him, to wake him up.
“Senior.”
“Hmm, what’s up?”
Despite having been in deep sleep, snoring loudly, Kim Gitae opened his eyes immediately.
“Is there something happening with the team? Senior Su-hyeon isn’t answering his phone.”
“No. I haven’t heard anything like that. There’s no notification either.”
Judging by his attitude of immediately checking his device and his expression, he didn’t seem to be lying. While there are many Awakeners who act selfishly or calmly deceive others, Kim Gitae was far from that type.
While it was a relief that nothing unusual was happening with the team, Song Ji-hyeok couldn’t shake off a strange anxiety. Until then, there had been no contact from Lee Su-hyeon.
About an hour later, as soon as the car stopped in front of the guild building, Song Ji-hyeok jumped out. As he was bounding up the stairs several steps at a time and opening the entrance door, unexpectedly, someone blocked his way.
“S-Song Ji-hyeok Esper!”
The messy, unkempt hair and the crutch tucked under his armpit caught his eye. Recognizing who it was, Song Ji-hyeok slightly frowned.
“What is it?”
At a moment when every second counted, and with someone for whom he had no particularly good feelings suddenly blocking his way, he couldn’t say anything nice. If the man had used a term like “Excuse me” instead of his name, he would have walked past without even a glance.
Despite his obvious display of annoyance, the man wasn’t intimidated. Rather, unusually, he made eye contact and moved his lips, which had white peeling skin.
“I-I have something urgent to tell you.”
At another time, he might have felt curious about what this person wanted to talk to him about. But now, the timing wasn’t good. Meeting Lee Su-hyeon was far more important than talking to an Esper whose name he barely remembered.
“Later…”
He was about to say “Let’s talk later” in an annoyed tone. But at the man’s desperate shout, Song Ji-hyeok unknowingly paused.
“It’s related to S-Su-hyeon! It’s im-important!”
“…”
“You’ll re-regret it if you just walk by.”
His voice seemed to be whispered, perhaps conscious of the surroundings. But it clearly registered in Song Ji-hyeok’s ears.
While it was absurd that someone of his position dared to make a threatening statement, that’s precisely why he couldn’t simply ignore it. Having made his decision, Song Ji-hyeok quickly moved his lips and replied rapidly.
“If it’s trivial, you won’t find it amusing.”
The underground parking lot on the third floor was quiet. Although cars were packed with hardly any empty spots, no vehicles were entering or leaving.
Jeon Hyeon-wook briefly put his crutch down on the ground and sat only his body in the passenger seat. As soon as he closed the car door, Song Ji-hyeok, who was already in the driver’s seat, opened his mouth with a stern face.
“Go ahead and speak.”
He had absolutely no desire to have a man other than Lee Su-hyeon in his car, but there was a reason he reluctantly chose his vehicle as the place for conversation. It was because Jeon Hyeon-wook had said that “high-performance CCTVs are installed throughout the guild building, making it dangerous.”
Even as he reluctantly took the elevator down to the basement, he was inwardly curious. He wondered what kind of story it could be that would make someone mention Su-hyeon’s name and seek a secure location.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
