21
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Yeoun Guild’s main dealer Bright Sol. Real name Kim Chansol. With his long straight hair tied up high, he examined the notifications that appeared before his eyes one by one.
[Alert: Your alliance has successfully conquered the 45th floor.]
This was an expected notification. The 45th floor was easy, so it would be abnormal if this notification didn’t appear. The problem started with this notification.
[Time taken after entry: 2 hours 7 minutes 20 seconds.]
‘What the hell.’
The so-called ‘Magnetic High-Pass Awesome Group’. Led by guild master Slope Kyung Samin, consisting of main dealer Bright Sol Kim Chansol, Rain Work Do Hyeonwoo, Cooler Kim Siwon, supporter Reject Hong Chan, healer Detroit Seong Suyeon, and collection specialist Ppomi Kim Minhyeok, they had estimated the 45th floor conquest time at 4 hours.
‘4 hours my ass, it’s almost half that.’
To be honest, unlike the initial plan, from the middle of the conquest, the number of magical beasts yielded to allow Doun to observe skills had gradually increased as they couldn’t hide their fan feelings toward him. From about halfway through, they had proceeded with Doun in the main dealer position.
‘I did think it was strange how well we meshed together, but a new record?’
Of course, Kim Chansol wasn’t the only one feeling puzzled. The hunters standing here after fierce behind-the-scenes maneuvering and winning rock-paper-scissors to help ‘that Magnetic’ conquer the tower were also just rolling their eyes at the abnormal situation.
‘This feels almost like we got carried instead.’
Attack magic cast as if it had been waiting when they subtly yielded magical beasts under the pretext of watching skills, clean follow-up processing that couldn’t tolerate even a drop of blood, and backup that came in like a ghost at the needed timing.
Magnetic even helped the collection specialist Ppomi Kim Minhyeok, who was in charge of collecting magic stones from the corpses of processed magical beasts. Sometimes he even displayed the skill of collecting more accurately and quickly than him, who was sometimes called a collection machine.
A situation where one person was doing the work of three or more.
At some point, the thought of needing to prepare for contingencies when Doun took the lead disappeared.
The attacks would succeed anyway, and not a drop of blood would splash on their clothes.
It was overwhelming trust from hunters who needed to respond agilely to possible variables.
Unaware that he had earned such trust from people he was working with for the first time today, Doun gripped his staff tightly in anxiety.
‘I have too much mana left.’
No matter how properly composed the party was with dealers, supporters, healers, and collection specialists, it was the first time he had this much mana remaining. He took a breath without even being able to check all the notification windows stacked dizzyingly before his eyes.
His heartbeat was so loud that he couldn’t hear words like ‘new record’ that Rain Work Do Hyeonwoo muttered.
‘Even if I’m getting help, I should have done my share.’
Due to the pressure of conquering new floors in the tower he’d returned to after so long, Doun didn’t realize how much time had passed inside or that the clear time had been much shorter than the guild members expected.
He was just unfamiliar with the position of his nickname written in the contribution ranking that appeared at the end.
“Wow. This actually worked?”
Yeoun Guild’s main dealer Kim Chansol stood with one leg cocked while sheathing his two-handed sword. He checked several times whether the system had gone crazy due to the unbelievable record reduction.
But the notification he was looking at didn’t change. As if to prove it, the phone in his pocket had been ringing like crazy since a while ago.
Unless it was the first unlock of the highest tower floor by country, new record conquests of already unlocked floors weren’t announced to all hunters. Still, considering that the previous shortest conquest time for the 45th floor had been around 4 hours, it was a tremendous time reduction.
Surely sighting reports of Yeoun Guild would have spread from the tower entrance, and jobless hunters with nothing to do would have refreshed the conquest tab and shared this record on anonymous boards as soon as it appeared.
‘The boards are going to go crazy.’
While he, who enjoyed receiving attention, grinned, and the other guild members were too embarrassed to continue speaking carelessly.
“This is fucking crazy… What did I do…!”
Yeoun’s guild master, Kyung Samin, was pulling his hair and writhing. Whether he was truly distressed, his squeezed-out wails made Doun beside him startle and look at Samin.
“Why. What’s wrong?”
Since it was routine to hear fault-finding disguised as feedback every time he conquered floors, Doun had particularly low self-esteem. Just as his fingertips were about to turn cold thinking that maybe Samin regretted bringing him to the guild for nothing.
“I was showing off processing small magical beasts for nothing… so hyung didn’t get 1st place in contribution. Someone like me daring to be 1st? Kyung Samin, this shameful bastard of the Kyung family…!”
At Samin’s roar, Doun just blinked blankly.
‘What kind of pattern is this again?’
Just when he was getting used to it, a curveball of nonsense would fly at him. Doun glanced at the guild members gradually gathering around the agonizing Samin.
They all had faint smiles on their lips, but Doun couldn’t understand the reason at all.
“Ah, guild master… I really told you to tone down the showing off.”
“Min-i hyung has never been able to distinguish where to butt in and where not to since the old days, and he’s clueless too.”
Listening to the nagging from Yeoun’s main dealer Bright Sol Kim Chansol and Rain Work Do Hyeonwoo, Samin took a deep breath.
“Wow. Our hyung is really the best. This is crazy…”
When a person gets overly excited, their language abilities seem to deteriorate. Samin kept repeating “the best” and “crazy” while trying to hug Doun.
“Why are you clinging again…!”
Doun was busy dodging in shock, and the guild members contentedly watched the two people’s game of tag. Collection specialist Ppomi, who had to collect magic stones from the floor boss rolling on the dirt ground, was also busy scratching his head.
“Wow. We can really buy Ppomi a lot of snacks.”
A main dealer who even possessed amazing collection abilities. If Doun hadn’t been there, he would still be frantically collecting in the back. He definitely had to become friends with him. Even though Doun had maxed out even the collection specialist’s favorability, the person himself was busy running around avoiding Samin, who had half-lost his mind, without knowing this fact.
Finally caught by Samin and back-hugged, Doun dismissed his staff summon with a tired expression.
“You really are crazy…”
“It’s good that you came to a guild with a crazy person as guild master, right? You feel the best, right?”
Doun, who was completely drained from running away from Samin, slumped his body with a “whatever happens, happens” attitude. He wanted to sit down on the ground, but couldn’t because of the firm forearms hugging him from behind.
‘Do I feel the best?’
Not at all. Compared to situations where he always had to take responsibility for everything, it was so easy that fear came first instead.
‘Conquests were always fun but deadly difficult. Now they’re just fun… and difficult in a different way.’
It wasn’t physically difficult from being exhausted after pouring out all his energy. He was afraid of disappointing everyone’s expectations, of making them think they brought him for nothing, of being treated as washed up.
He had said he would try trusting the guild members of Yeoun Guild that Samin was proud of, but he was actually afraid.
He was terribly sick of seeing himself living alone cooped up in a quiet house again, with no one to contact and increasing soliloquies.
“…I don’t even know if I did my share.”
At Doun’s quiet mumble, Samin widened his eyes and chattered.
“What are you saying? Hyung. Normal conquest parties are all like this. What do you mean your share? You did the work of three people alone. It’s not that we carried you on the bus, but rather you carried us.”
“……”
Doun closed his mouth, and Samin spoke to him like coaxing a stray puppy.
“Why are you thinking like that again? Just tell me. I’m a complete icon of tight-lipped humans, you know?”
While thinking it was really an untrustworthy modifier, Doun, intoxicated by the stability provided by the solid support-like body holding him, mumbled in an ant-crawling voice.
“I just feel like I did less work…”
Samin narrowed his eyes while listening to Doun in his arms.
‘What… is he talking about?’
Spinning his head quickly, he reached one conclusion.
Maybe the scope of “one’s share” that Magnetic knew and the scope that other hunters knew were different.
“Hyung. I’m not saying this to give you a hard time. You know that conquest teams are originally composed of dealers, supporters, healers, and collection specialists, right?”
“I know… but originally, except for heals and buffs, I did almost everything.”
‘Fucking hell.’
When Samin momentarily put strength in his arms, Doun, who was suddenly hugged tightly, struggled in shock.
“Hey, I can’t breathe…!”
“Gasp, sorry! Hyung. But you know what? Can’t I bury that crazy bastard Timer somewhere in the mountains? I’m really good at digging.”
His voice was gentle but the content was brutal. Doun couldn’t help but gulp.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
