Chapter 86
It took me a couple of moments to grasp the meaning behind his words.
So he’s saying that he’ll take care of things, so I shouldn’t worry? Is that what he means?
As soon as I realized it, I was touched. To think that reassuring words would come from Song Ji-hyeok’s mouth first—living long enough, I get to see days like this too.
“Are you going to protect me?”
Despite my half-serious, half-joking question, Song Ji-hyeok responded seriously without getting annoyed.
“You need to stay at the base camp, right?”
“That’s right.”
Since I’ll be accompanying him as a Guide.
“Then even if I can’t protect you directly, if I crush the monsters in advance, that would effectively accomplish the same thing, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
His tone and expression reminded me of a proud little kid, making me laugh without realizing it. Song Ji-hyeok seemed to interpret my reaction differently.
“Are you being too happy about this?”
“Of course I’m happy. My Esper is saying he’ll protect me.”
If no one was watching, I would have patted Song Ji-hyeok’s head. He had finally accepted me as his pair Guide, and seeing him recognize this and trying to be good to me couldn’t have looked more endearing.
“Let’s order raw fish and beer and eat until we burst. It’s on me.”
“Before that.”
Song Ji-hyeok paused briefly and lowered his head to bring his lips near my ear. His breath tickled my ear as he spoke.
“In the dungeon, make sure to feed me well first. You know you need to guide me intensely, right?”
When he raised his head, there was a mischievous smile spread across his face. It would have been nice if I hadn’t understood what he just said, but I immediately understood and was taken aback.
‘It seems like he’s planning to sweep through everything at the front line. Am I digging my own grave here?’
Just thinking about him coming to seek guiding every evening already made me dizzy. Still, I decided not to worry about side effects.
This time, I brought plenty of medicine as a precaution, along with suitable painkillers, a few packs of convenience food, and lots of chocolate bars to maintain my sugar levels. After continuously pondering why guiding was particularly difficult during our last dungeon trip, I thought that an unbalanced nutritional state might have been the cause.
It’s going to be very chaotic, and I’ll likely have no appetite… but even if I have to force it down, I’ll make sure to eat well and endure somehow with determination.
“I know. I’ll do my best.”
I tapped Song Ji-hyeok’s chest and smiled to indicate he shouldn’t worry. In truth, I was the one who should be worried. Certainly not about his skills, but there were undeniable external factors.
As mentioned, this raid was a large-scale battle conducted as a guild alliance, but the problem was that the Moonlight Guild was also on the participant list. They say today’s enemy can be tomorrow’s ally, and that guilds can temporarily unite against a common enemy despite having grudges, but I questioned whether Song Ji-hyeok would think the same way.
As a renowned A-rank Esper, Song Tae-hyeok would definitely participate in this battle, and just imagining the two of them meeting made me anxious. The atmosphere was so frigid when they met at the restaurant last time…
‘The higher-ups must have considered all this when making the assignments, right?’
I had no choice but to trust the Guild Master on this matter.
And if Song Ji-hyeok had any sense, he wouldn’t fight with his brother at a perilous site where numerous lives are at stake… would he…?
‘Would he?’
The atmosphere was seriously no joke.
I glanced at Song Ji-hyeok. While I was worrying to myself, afraid that bringing it up might spoil his mood before we even left, amazingly, Gitae hyung suddenly lit the fuse. He casually brought it up to Song Ji-hyeok as if it had just occurred to him.
“Your brother is Song Tae-hyeok, right? Do you keep in touch with him often? You’ll soon be reuniting at the dungeon entrance.”
Crazy. Read the room, Gitae hyung. You could have at least asked when I wasn’t around. Why bring this up now, of all times?
I tried to signal with my eyes, but Gitae hyung didn’t seem to get it at all. As I was about to say something to salvage the situation, Song Ji-hyeok’s voice came first.
“I suppose so. But I’d prefer if you didn’t bring that person up in front of me.”
“…Huh?”
“Our relationship is worse than a rock on the ground.”
Gitae hyung appeared quite flustered by the unexpected direct response. His expression openly revealed his emotions, and he immediately apologized.
“I’m sorry, Ji-hyeok. I didn’t know.”
“It’s fine.”
“Really sorry. Um, I’ll go to the bathroom for a bit. Haha.”
After apologizing repeatedly, Gitae hyung left with an awkward laugh. I also looked up at Song Ji-hyeok with surprised eyes, but with a different meaning than Gitae hyung’s.
Is he just going to let this slide so calmly? I thought he would at least show signs of being upset, even if he couldn’t grab him by the collar.
“What?”
“Huh? Nothing…”
I mumbled my words and then cautiously asked again after a moment.
“Are you okay?”
Though there was no subject or object in my question, Song Ji-hyeok seemed to understand perfectly.
“Yes. Just like you don’t pay attention to ants crawling on the ground.”
I immediately understood his meaning. Comparing his own brother—especially someone quite well-known as an Esper—to an ant was shocking, but his reaction was much more mild than I had expected.
‘Has he moved on from his trauma, even a little? If so, that’s really fortunate…’
Meanwhile, the team leaders also appeared at the assembly point. At the instruction to board, everyone got on the vehicles in an orderly fashion.
One of the advantages of fixed dungeons is that since they regenerate at the same place on the same date, we can calculate the time and arrive accordingly. In other words, at least when heading to the site, there was no need for Espers with teleportation abilities to use their powers.
During the journey, I couldn’t hide my strange tension. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, but in the name of thorough preparation, I had learned too much information. No dungeon is easy for me, but knowing that even the elite members selected struggle year after year made my chest feel tight already.
The atmosphere at our destination was also different from usual. As we got out of the car, I could see that people from other guilds—easily a hundred or more—had already arrived.
Seeing so many awakened individuals from different affiliations gathered in one place was a sight typically only witnessed when visiting the Awakened Association. However, the atmosphere was completely different. At the Awakened Association building, everyone is noisy, showing off and raising their voices, but now there was a chaotic yet strangely subdued feeling.
Of course, there were still some lively people among them. Some were greeting each other as if they already knew each other, and some Espers approached Song Ji-hyeok first to talk to him. Though they were strangers to me, Song Ji-hyeok didn’t ignore them but at least acknowledged them with a slight nod.
After several people had come and gone like that, I spoke to him.
“You’re greeting them nicely?”
“I don’t want them blaming me for ruining the battle because I put them in a bad mood.”
“Yeah, good job.”
I smiled gently at his grumbling. His handling of Gitae hyung’s remark earlier and his attitude toward unfamiliar Espers now—he seems to have matured a lot over the past few months.
‘At first, he was really like an unruly kid…’
Although I hadn’t contributed to it and didn’t have children or even nephews or nieces, I wondered if this was how parents felt watching their children grow up well.
“What’s with that look?”
“Hm? What?”
“You look so damn drowsy.”
“…”
“You know that sleepy otter meme? That’s exactly your expression.”
“…I don’t know. Show me later. No, you don’t have to show me.”
As I was responding indifferently, I finally noticed the strange atmosphere flowing around us. More precisely, I could feel awakened individuals from other guilds watching us as if we were some kind of spectacle, and then subtly averting their gaze when I turned my head.
‘Oh, right.’
I had forgotten for a while. While our team members have now grown accustomed to Song Ji-hyeok’s presence, to people from other guilds, he was still an object of admiration and curiosity.
Despite his reputation as a precious S-rank Esper, Song Ji-hyeok had relatively few official activities. This was due to the Guild Master’s policy that he should focus solely on gaining experience and building his career for at least three years. If I were in their shoes, I would probably also keep staring out of curiosity if the Song Ji-hyeok I had only heard about was right in front of me.
My name was occasionally mixed in their whispers. This kind of attention was neither familiar nor comfortable, but I couldn’t openly show it, so I pretended not to notice. Instead, I focused my mind elsewhere.
‘I need to be careful with both words and actions.’
In fact, I had already received advice with a different meaning from the team leader. He said it would be nice if there were only good people in the world, but there are more who aren’t, making things uneasy. I don’t want to needlessly suspect people, but… just in case, never let your guard down, and be wary first if people from other guilds approach you at the base camp.
Anyway, among the gazes directed our way was also Song Tae-hyeok’s. Feeling a peculiarly piercing gaze, I turned my head to find Song Tae-hyeok standing some distance away, looking in our direction.
