28
* * *
After Doun coughed up blood, the 46th floor conquest that had been temporarily halted soon resumed.
Although their reaction had been slower than Doun’s to the unexpected emergency situation, it was originally a power composition that could conquer the 46th floor very easily. The problem was that Doun had withdrawn from the main dealer position due to Samin and the guild members’ restraint.
‘Hyung, you even coughed up blood earlier.’
‘I still have enough mana. Earlier was just because too much mana went out at once and there was a backlash reaction for a moment, but Suyeon-ssi healed me so I’m fine now. I’ve never used that skill on so many entities before…’
Despite Doun’s explanation, Samin just narrowed his eyes without answering.
The skill Lee Doun had cast just before.
Annihilation 沒殺.
It was a skill Samin had also seen with his own eyes. Since magical beasts generated in training floors don’t leave magic stones anyway, Samin had simply admired the spectacular sight, but after witnessing its actual power in the field, his impression changed.
Not only does it damage targets to make their forms vanish, it’s complete annihilation that doesn’t even leave magic stones behind.
He probably paid a price far exceeding the mana needed for ordinary skills. Moreover, having felt Doun’s mindset that had permeated his skin, Samin could only think that he shouldn’t continue leaving everything to Doun.
‘What should I do?’
The party was waiting for his choice as guild master. Although Doun had explained his condition and expressed his will to continue, all the guild members who could gauge his state just by looking at his expression after long conquests had worried expressions about Doun’s condition.
Samin fell into contemplation. If he trusted Doun here and the party backed him up again, his self-esteem and pride would be protected. But suddenly this question arose.
Is it the right long-term choice to always burden one person with everything like this?
After joining that shitty guild, Doun was someone who had already become accustomed to a routine of being exploited by them for dozens of months. Even though his performance was nothing but amazing to ordinary people, he himself felt inadequate and anxious. It was abnormal by anyone’s standards.
Samin couldn’t demand that Doun handle everything alone again under the flimsy pretext of protecting his self-esteem and pride. He had desperately contacted him wanting to become Magnetic’s colleague, not wanting to become his employer or manager.
After finishing his contemplation, he didn’t accept Doun’s opinion that he could continue fighting. However, his refusal took the form of a very gentle request.
‘Hmm. That’s troublesome. We have ranker guild pride. To make up for our slow reaction earlier, we’ll conquer this floor mainly by ourselves. Hyung, just help us from behind if we do something strange or look dangerous.’
‘Still…’
‘From what I can see, hyung seems to try to shoulder everything alone too much. All our guild members are people desperate for attention, so they really hate having their attention stolen, you know?’
‘…’
‘Hyung saw Kim Chansol refreshing his SNS like count too.’
‘…That’s true, but.’
Doun couldn’t bring himself to argue that Kim Chansol didn’t enjoy attention. Although they hadn’t known each other long, his SNS addiction was serious enough for even Doun to notice.
‘Take this opportunity to look after our kids, hyung. Especially Siwon and Hyeonwoo. Hyeonwoo would be really happy if hyung just gave him one word of advice about skills or mana management, you know? Hyung knows there’s no hunter at a level to give them advice among magic-type hunters besides you.’
It wasn’t saying Doun’s abilities were lacking so he should step back, but a gentle refusal asking him to yield his position so they could also prove their abilities. Even Doun, who was quite oblivious, wasn’t so much so that he couldn’t detect the kind and considerate meaning hidden in Samin’s words.
‘…Okay. I understand.’
Despite receiving treatment, Doun forcibly suppressed his still queasy stomach and stood in the rear. Watching the resumed conquest from behind, Doun seemed to gradually emerge from his gloomy expression.
‘Now that I’m watching from behind once more, I can see. Everyone… is serious about combat.’
His guild members were very reliable veteran hunters. They didn’t clumsily use his mana, and their sense of knowing which skills to use at the right time and place was excellent. And they didn’t take others’ support for granted.
They were conscientious enough to give grateful eye contact during intense combat even when he only dealt with magical beasts that appeared when skills got tangled or gaps occurred.
‘Chansol-ssi changes weapons too frequently, so there seem to be many openings. That looks like a habit… Hyeonwoo seems to have poor timing for mana recovery, so he seems to improvise more often…’
Doun’s eyes analyzing the guild members were consistently dyed blue.
“Doun hyung. My buff skills. Do they help in combat? They don’t have poor compatibility or make no difference, do they?”
Twenty years old this year. Yeoun Guild’s supporter, the guild’s youngest Hong Chan who used the Veritas nickname Reject, quietly approached Doun who was watching the battle taking place in the swirling heavy snow.
Only then did Doun’s head slowly turn to the side.
“The buffs… were really good.”
“In what way?”
“…Well. Just that the buffs didn’t break and continued? In the past, mana management was a bit tricky when there were no buffs in the middle, but last time there was none of that so it was really comfortable.”
For a moment Hong Chan was speechless. When conquering towers, a supporter’s main role is buff management for dealers’ damage increase and attribute negation, plus some rear support. Especially for Yeoun’s style that recklessly pushes through relying only on dealers’ damage, supporters just need to manage buffs well.
‘…Maybe in his previous guild there were often times without buffs during conquests?’
Confusion crossed Hong Chan’s young face, just twenty years old. He belatedly composed his expression and continued speaking warmly.
“Then what points need improvement?”
“Hmm…”
Doun looked at Hong Chan as if pondering for a moment, then turned his head to look at the guild members whose intense battle was nearing its end. His blue pupils reflecting the pure white snowfield seemed to shine particularly coldly.
“I really can’t think of any. Can I tell you later if I think of something?”
Doun muttered while hiding his troubled expression. He really had nothing more to wish for from Hong Chan as a supporter. Just unbroken buffs were enough.
“Yes!”
Hearing Hong Chan’s spirited answer, Doun finally smiled a little. Then the healer Seong Suyeon, who had been gauging the timing to speak, quietly approached.
“Doun-ssi. Are you feeling better?”
The sight of him dripping bright red blood in the white snowfield was still vivid in his eyes. Suyeon kept worrying about Doun, who said he was fine despite his insides being completely messed up from mana backflow.
It was clearly visible that despite not being fine at all, he had developed a habit of forcing himself to say he was okay because he didn’t want to betray the burden and expectations of those around him.
“…Yes. Thanks to you. I was grateful earlier.”
Doun scratched the back of his neck with an awkward expression. His personality was gentle and plain to the point of being docile. Suyeon considerately nodded slightly at his embarrassment and turned his gaze away by talking to Minhyeok, who was in charge of collection.
Thud.
The sound of an ice golem towering over the snowy plain soaked in blood losing its form and collapsing to the ground echoed. It was when Doun was slowly waiting for the snowstorm to clear.
Glittering notification windows began appearing in layers.
[Your alliance has successfully conquered the 46th floor.]
[Time taken after entry: 3 hours 37 minutes 8 seconds.]
[Notice: This record is a new South Korean record for Veritas Tower’s 46th floor.]
[Sorting by highest contribution calculated by the Veritas System.]
[Loading information…]
[Calculation complete.]
[1. Rain Work]
[2. Slope]
[3. Bright Sol]
.
.
Doun narrowed his eyes looking at the contribution rankings. Since it was snowy terrain, Rain Work Do Hyeonwoo, who mainly used fire attribute magic, had his share calculated highly, with his nickname at the top of the contributions.
‘It’s been really long since I’ve seen another nickname in that position.’
His nickname was always at the top. Doun newly realized that he had rested for quite a while and was now a latecomer busy chasing after others.
The anxiety that he couldn’t fall further behind, the self-blame for not meeting expectations, and the feeling of becoming a used item with decreased utility value that no one would seek while doing nothing and just watching from behind all mixed together and eventually converged into one emotion.
‘This is more miserable than I thought…’
Samin’s consideration was appreciated, but this wasn’t why he decided to join a guild and return to towers. He came here to prove his worth and enjoy what he liked again, but he couldn’t do anything and only watched from behind. Doun’s expression began to grow increasingly dark.
While Minhyeok collected the floor boss’s magic stone, Samin, who had treated minor injuries and replenished consumed mana, quietly approached Doun.
“Hyung. How was watching us fight?”
“…You fought well.”
Somehow his answer was rough. Sensing something strange, Samin quietly looked down at Doun standing in front of him.
Blue eyes shining under eyelashes where dazzling light reflected from white snow had settled. It was still proof that Lee Doun’s mind was boiling with all sorts of thoughts.
“Hyung.”
“…What.”
Though usually blunt, his answers were particularly sharp today.
‘Was my judgment wrong?’
His consideration to make Doun’s combat routine, which had required him to shoulder and be responsible for everything alone for so long, a bit more comfortable seemed to have caused side effects instead. He instantly felt he shouldn’t leave Doun like this.
“Doun hyung.”
“…Why do you keep calling me.”
“I’m too tired today, so I don’t think I can clear the 47th floor consecutively.”
“…What?”
Doun looked Samin over with slightly irritated eyes.
His skin was just slightly reddened from the cold, and he didn’t even look tired at all. Too tired to conquer?
Anyone could see it was said to consider him, who had disgracefully coughed up blood and stepped back just before. Eventually Doun frowned and muttered.
“Hey. I have something to say to you.”
“Me too. I have something serious to say to hyung.”
The two continued a subtle confrontation. One side had sharp gazes, but the other’s gaze was just warm. Watching the confrontation between the 1st and 2nd ranked domestically, the guild members remained silent.
“Let’s talk somewhere quiet after leaving the tower.”
At Samin’s words, Doun nodded and opened his mouth.
“Where are we going to talk.”
“…If it’s okay, how about my place?”
The location was unexpected. Why should he go to that idiot’s house for a serious conversation? Doun was in a state of great resistance to being excluded from combat and being of no help except for the beginning.
‘Who are you to judge me? I clearly said I was fine earlier… Just big and scary-looking but younger than me… How dare you order your hyung around.’
With erratic emotional ups and downs and the sorrow of being ignored, plus the intuition that no matter how prickly he acted, at least Samin would be gentle with him, Lee Doun eventually spat out a childish retort he would never normally voice.
“Why should I go to your house? If you’re coming, you should come to my house.”
“…Really?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
The moment Doun looked up at Samin with sharp eyes and a snappy voice, he became flustered. Samin’s face looking at him was completely filled with joy.
‘…Why is he happy?’
Before he could detect something strange, Samin drove the point home.
“No taking back what you just said.”
Samin muttered with gleaming eyes, and Doun, slightly overwhelmed by his momentum, found himself nodding.
“…Huh? Yeah. Of course.”
As soon as the answer came out, watching Samin’s grinning smile made him feel like he was definitely caught up in something.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
