Toward the End (9)
A Guide glancing from afar at the distinctly private scene of Sa Hae-geon embracing Chae Do-min and sulking shook his head and muttered:
“See? There’s no way those two aren’t involved. Do-min is such a bad liar.”
“Maybe he just doesn’t want to be found out. He might not want unnecessary misunderstandings.”
“While being that obvious?”
“What’s Do-min doing that’s so obvious? Espers and Guides who are close do that kind of thing all the time. It’s too much to misunderstand just based on that.”
“That’s different for Chae Do-min. He only does distance guiding. So for him to embrace someone like that just because they’re close doesn’t make sense. Not unless they have some special relationship.”
“Hmm, is that so? Now that you mention it, I think you might be right.”
The Guides who had been whispering together gave meaningful looks at Chae Do-min and Sa Hae-geon before turning away, pretending they hadn’t been watching. Sa Hae-geon continued to hold Chae Do-min as if to make a point, and despite knowing this, Chae Do-min remained nestled in Sa Hae-geon’s arms.
* * *
Sa Hae-geon, Esper Lee Cheol-min, and I headed to a restaurant near the Central Center after completing the dungeon conquest. Esper Yoon Seon-hoo, who had shown great interest in our destination until we returned to the Central Center after finishing our report at the Ability Department headquarters, simply shrugged and went his own way after Esper Lee Cheol-min’s firm rejection.
The restaurant was bustling with many customers. Sa Hae-geon, despite his mysophobia, showed no signs of discomfort. Esper Lee Cheol-min, after briefly scanning the crowded interior, skillfully headed toward a private room. A man, presumably the owner, waved at him in greeting, suggesting this wasn’t Lee Cheol-min’s first visit.
“Hey, it’s been a while. Fortunately, there’s a room available!”
“I figured as much. I’ve got a sense for these things. Give us five portions of fresh ribs and three bottles of soju.”
“Okay. Go wait in the room! I’ll bring it right over.”
The owner, wearing a thick gold bracelet on his wrist, disappeared toward the kitchen after saying this. We followed Esper Lee Cheol-min and took our seats in the private room. I glanced at Sa Hae-geon, who naturally sat beside me, then quietly unfolded a wet towel to wipe my hands.
I couldn’t figure out why Esper Lee Cheol-min had suddenly arranged this gathering. Was it because of Sa Hae-geon and me? Or had something happened in the dungeon? Given how strangely the dungeon boss had behaved, the experienced Esper Lee Cheol-min might have noticed something.
I wiped every corner of my hands while looking at Esper Lee Cheol-min with tense eyes. Just as Esper Lee Cheol-min, who had been fiddling with a wet towel, seemed about to speak after a pause, the closed door flung open, and the owner appeared.
“Heave-ho! Fire coming in. Everyone step back if you don’t want to get burned!”
With these spirited words, the owner filled the brazier with hot charcoal, placed meat on the heated grill, and asked:
“Shall I grill it for you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Is this my first time eating meat here? We’ll grill it to our taste, so you can go now.”
“Right? I knew you’d say that. That’s why I like having you as a customer. Well then, enjoy your meal.”
The owner, smiling broadly, placed various side dishes on the table and disappeared like the wind. As the room became quiet again, Esper Lee Cheol-min exhaled softly and grabbed the tongs. Sa Hae-geon looked at the tongs in Esper Lee Cheol-min’s hand with wistful eyes, then, becoming aware of me, lowered his gaze discreetly.
Esper Lee Cheol-min flipped the well-done pork ribs, filled an empty glass with alcohol, and spoke:
“Forget toasts and formalities; let’s just drink comfortably. That’s more comfortable for you too, right, Guide Do-min? And Sa Hae-geon, you don’t need to turn away. Let’s just drink comfortably, like we would at home.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Yes.”
Satisfied with our responses, Esper Lee Cheol-min lifted his glass and drank.
“Ah… That’s good. Guide Do-min and Sa Hae-geon, you two should eat something before drinking.”
“You should eat something too, Esper. Otherwise, you’ll upset your stomach.”
“Come on, Guide Do-min. What do you take Espers for? Our insides, our insides are strong, I tell you!”
I watched Esper Lee Cheol-min energetically thumping his chest as he spoke, then shook my head. Seeming to realize he might have overdone it, Esper Lee Cheol-min laughed awkwardly before letting out a deep sigh.
“Guide Do-min.”
“Yes.”
“The people at the base camp also saw it, right? The boss roaming around freely.”
“…Ah, yes.”
“And what else did they say? That they made eye contact with it?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
At my answer, Esper Lee Cheol-min appeared to be deeply contemplating something. He refilled his empty glass with alcohol, then drank again. Then, furrowing his brow, he continued:
“I entered an S-grade dungeon about 11 years ago. Well, my memory’s a bit fuzzy now. But it wasn’t much different from now. As the S-grade dungeon manifestation date approached, dungeons increased, and monsters became trickier to deal with.”
Esper Lee Cheol-min’s gaze drifted into space. He blinked slowly, as if tracing his past. Meanwhile, Sa Hae-geon’s eyes trembled slightly as he alternately stared at the cooking pork ribs and the tongs in Esper Lee Cheol-min’s hand.
I discreetly took the tongs from Esper Lee Cheol-min’s hand, passed them to Sa Hae-geon, and asked:
“Have you ever experienced something like today?”
As if his mind had just returned, Esper Lee Cheol-min looked at me with suddenly clearer eyes and answered directly:
“No. I don’t know about others, but at least I’ve never experienced this. This is a first. I’ve never even heard of something like this.”
“So… something unexpected by anyone has occurred.”
“Yes. And there’s something else that bothers me even more, which is the problem.”
“What?”
Something else that bothers him? Could there be anything more troubling than a dungeon boss that passes by humans invading its dungeon without attacking, that comes to find the intruders who have come to kill it, prostrates itself before them, and then suddenly dies?
When I widened my eyes and waited for his answer, Esper Lee Cheol-min scratched his forehead as if pondering.
At that moment, Sa Hae-geon, who had been grilling the ribs with focused eyes, placed appropriately sized pieces of meat on my plate and said affectionately:
“Hyung, the meat is done.”
“Oh? Oh, thank you. Esper, please eat too.”
When I nudged Sa Hae-geon’s side, gesturing towards Esper Lee Cheol-min, Sa Hae-geon twitched his eyebrows in displeasure but placed meat on his plate too. How could he only think of me even in a situation like this, no matter how much I was all he saw?
I couldn’t decide whether to admire or lament Sa Hae-geon’s unwavering devotion.
Esper Lee Cheol-min stared at the meat on his plate, then picked it up with his chopsticks. He dipped it in salt, stuffed it into his mouth, and said:
“It looked like it was entranced by something. That definitely wasn’t the look of someone seeing intruders. Sa Hae-geon, you saw it too, right?”
Sa Hae-geon, who was meticulously wrapping meat in lettuce, responded casually:
“Yes, I saw it.”
“So only you and I noticed? That the monster had strange eyes?”
“I think that person Woo Jae-dam noticed too.”
“Woo Jae-dam?”
Esper Lee Cheol-min blinked at the unexpected name from Sa Hae-geon’s mouth, then nodded.
“Right. Woo Jae-dam might have noticed. But Sa Hae-geon, did you really not see anything else?”
Esper Lee Cheol-min’s eyes gleamed sharply. Not knowing what situation they had experienced, I could only silently observe the two. Sa Hae-geon, who had been steadfastly wrapping lettuce despite Esper Lee Cheol-min’s gaze, finally placed it on his plate and spoke:
“Did you see something?”
“I asked you first, you disrespectful kid.”
Even to me, Sa Hae-geon’s attitude seemed suspicious. It seemed like he knew something. If even I, not particularly perceptive, had noticed, there was no way the sharp-sensed Esper Lee Cheol-min would miss it.
As both Esper Lee Cheol-min and I stared at him, Sa Hae-geon moistened his throat with water and said quietly:
“I did see something… but it’s just a speculation.”
“That’s fine. Tell me even if it’s speculation. Somehow, I think what you saw might be right.”
After a brief pause, Sa Hae-geon put down his water glass and continued:
“…It seemed like the monster was looking at Esper Yoon Seon-hoo.”
“Yoon Seon-hoo?”
“Yes. It seemed to be watching him from the beginning.”
The dungeon boss was watching Esper Yoon Seon-hoo? How should we interpret this? That the purpose of the monster’s movement outside its habitat was Esper Yoon Seon-hoo? The whole thing was full of strange points.
Why specifically Esper Yoon Seon-hoo? It’s a completely absurd thought, but even if Esper Yoon Seon-hoo, a mental-type Esper, had mentally controlled it, they hadn’t even met face-to-face before, so how…? As Esper Lee Cheol-min and I furrowed our brows, Sa Hae-geon spoke as if he had expected this reaction:
“Even to me, who doesn’t know much about dungeons, it seems strange, so it must sound even stranger to others.”
Sa Hae-geon finished wrapping the lettuce wrap with an expressionless face and held it up to my mouth. Despite my bewildered stare, Sa Hae-geon didn’t care and insisted. The only fortunate thing was that Esper Lee Cheol-min, deep in thought after hearing Sa Hae-geon’s words, didn’t see this display.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
