93
* * *
To conclude, the Yeoun group did not obtain the movement skill. As if merely breaking the record on Floor 53 once wasn’t enough, today’s sparkling conquest completion notification seemed more mundane than expected.
Kim Siwon, who had scattered the notification window and sat down on the floor, let out a deep sigh.
“What if we still can’t get it even after breaking records again from Floor 45?”
“If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to think about whether there are other conditions.”
Samin’s answer, which swept away Kim Siwon’s minor anxiety, was clean. Kim Siwon chuckled and thought:
‘I’m really sticking around here because of that guild master bastard’s attitude.’
Kyung Samin was frivolous and lacked seriousness, but when he was in the tower as hunter Slope, he was a leader they could rely on. He knew how to appropriately cut off members’ anxieties and create atmosphere, and his judgment was accurate and quick.
“Ah, then won’t we get criticized on the bulletin board for delaying the skill reveal?”
Seo Subin, who had been in the rear the whole time due to few injuries, spoke unconsciously, then glanced at Doun. In fact, all the hunters here had suffered from malicious posts and comments on the Veritas anonymous bulletin board, but among them, the one who suffered the most damage was undoubtedly Magnetic Lee Doun.
Though he had never told them the detailed circumstances himself, no one here thought that excessive cyberbullying wasn’t among the reasons he had disappeared for a year.
‘I misspoke…’
Seo Subin felt unnecessarily anxious. Fortunately, Doun seemed not to have heard, as he was wiping his face with the wet towel Samin had handed him. He kept his mouth tightly shut. Even Do Hyeonwoo, standing next to Seo Subin, poked his waist with his index finger to give him a hint.
Yeoun Guild basically operated under the principle of not being influenced by the Veritas system’s internal bulletin board. Since it was public opinion that didn’t help with guild management or tower conquest at all, and posting or looking at posts was each guild member’s individual choice. However, their policy was to avoid obviously being swayed by such public opinion.
Just as Seo Subin slightly bowed his head to Samin, whose eyes he had accidentally met, asking for just one look of understanding:
“You know the bulletin board.”
Doun, whose face had been cleaned after wiping off the monster bodily fluids with the wet towel, spoke up. Everyone stopped what they were doing and waited for Doun’s next words with awkward expressions, except for Dong Jiwon who was collecting magic stones from the floor boss corpse.
“Are they still saying a lot of bad things about me there?”
“Th-that, hyung. That place originally only has kids who write that kind of stuff all the time…”
As Seo Subin stammered trying to somehow manage the situation, Samin cut him off.
“Should I be honest?”
Unexpectedly, rather than hushing up the atmosphere of the Veritas community bulletin board, Samin gave such an answer.
“Yeah.”
“It’s fucked up there. ‘Why aren’t they revealing the skill?’, ‘It’s nothing special but they’re too embarrassed to say anything because of the system-wide notification.’ Roughly summarized, that’s the atmosphere?”
At Samin’s statement, Choi Jiyoon, who had been organizing support supplies, opened her mouth.
‘That, that crazy bastard! He knows Doun-ssi was severely cyberbullied!’
Everyone here knew about the criticism, contempt, and ridicule Doun had endured. Though they had never participated, it was definitely not at a level one person could handle.
Recalling the atmosphere at that time, it was surprising that Doun hadn’t died and had returned as a hunter. That’s how much most of the posts on the bulletin board had an atmosphere of hoping Magnetic would die.
But to openly convey such words. Though everyone didn’t show it, they knew that Doun became noticeably tense and anxious when he went to crowded places. However, this was somewhat difficult to consider an area that could be improved by surrounding help.
While they could hold his hand or encourage him whenever he felt anxious, overcoming such environments was ultimately an area that individuals had to overcome themselves. That’s why everyone had been helping by looking after Doun, talking to him, and making him walk on the inside.
Samin had bluntly revealed the current state of the place suspected to be the biggest reason Magnetic had disappeared.
‘What if Doun-ssi starts blaming himself again unnecessarily…’
Choi Jiyoon looked at the two while forcibly hiding her anxious expression. However, the words that came out of Doun’s mouth were unexpectedly calm.
“That place is still the same.”
“Exactly. Hyung, how do you feel inside?”
Samin poked Doun’s cheek, which looked moist with remaining moisture. Since the conquest was over and it was time that wouldn’t be recorded on video, he was acting comfortably.
“I’m fine. You know what you told me about reconsidering mana distribution?”
“Yes. Mana distribution is also a habit, so it seems like it would be hard to change.”
“No, I’ve been leaving too much spare mana aside, so if I recalculate this, I think I can clear it faster than now.”
“Then what about the strain on your body…”
“That’s why I want to consult with you a bit…”
Doun was talking about conquest matters nonchalantly after leaving only a brief impression about the Veritas community: “That place is still the same.”
‘What? He’s more okay than I thought?’
‘Hmm, the guild master guy and Doun-ssi seem to have gotten closer somehow. What is it?’
‘As expected of Doun hyung. I guess he’s not going to care about weird kids anymore! Cool!’
The watching guild members were surprised at different points. When Dong Jiwon, who had extracted a large magic stone from the floor boss corpse, joined the group, they had already confirmed the next conquest schedule.
“Then let’s try breaking the shortest records again starting from Floor 45? Since Doun hyung says he can increase efficiency more by redistributing mana, everyone else prepare accordingly. Tomorrow morning we’ll do Floors 45 and 46.”
“Samin, are we going straight to Floor 45 today?”
When Jang Hyeonseong asked, wanting to acquire and practice the movement skill even a day sooner, Samin pointed at Dong Jiwon with his chin and answered.
“Jiwon’s parents are coming up today. They should have arrived an hour ago, so it would be a bit much to make them wait longer.”
“Ah.”
“I’m sorry. Since my parents are coming up after a long time, it was difficult to make time.”
“No, no. You should spend today happily with your parents. But do you have time tomorrow?”
“Yes. Today my father is coming to inspect my studio apartment, and tomorrow he has plans with his friends, so I can make time.”
Dong Jiwon’s father was a career soldier, a former major general. He was also a strict parent who periodically inspected his son’s studio apartment where he lived alone.
“Okay. We can do it tomorrow. It’s not urgent. We don’t even know if this is the right acquisition condition anyway.”
Jang Hyeonseong nodded. No matter how seriously they approached the hunter profession, they didn’t want to be so absorbed that they abandoned their daily lives.
“Doun hyung, what do you want to do about practice today?”
“Want to go to the training floor with me?”
“Sounds good. I roughly prepared.”
“What kind of preparation?”
“Chocolate bars for you to eat and wet wipes, stuff like that?”
“Nothing for you to use?”
“We can share.”
“Yeah. That’s true.”
The guild members listened to the conversation between Samin and Doun and tilted their heads. They definitely felt that the two had somehow gotten closer. More precisely, Doun was acting more friendly toward Samin.
Doun, who used to shake his head at Samin’s actions and not hide his annoyance, was naturally accepting all those behaviors today. They seemed to be sitting side by side in their own world, and while it couldn’t be explained precisely, they had definitely become much closer.
‘Doun hyung finally adapted to Samin hyung’s pace. Twenty days is a bit late, but considering the atmosphere of his previous guild, it might be fast.’
Park Sangyeon thought this while fiddling with Kim Siwon’s hair sitting next to him. He had conquered a tower with Doun for the first time today. His impression of conquering as part of the same team as the undisputed ranking 1st place Magnetic was…
‘I want to beat up that Timer bastard…’
It was anger toward Timer.
In today’s conquest, Doun often acted as if he had forgotten about Park Sangyeon, the hunter in the tanker position. As if he had also taken on the tanker role himself.
Three years since the Veritas Tower appeared. Two years since Magnetic had been active as a hunter. Tower conquest methods and team composition styles were bound to follow trends.
After the Veritas Tower appeared, in the early days when people were intoxicated with superiority over ordinary civilians, they excluded defense-type hunters with tanker positions and formed groups only with attack-type hunters. Then multiple casualties began appearing in succession, raising safety issues.
Later, they pursued extreme safety by forming groups with defense-type hunters and a few attack-type hunters. Gradually, attack-type hunters responsible for attacks, supporters responsible for buffs and backup, and healers and collectors responsible for treatment and collection respectively became essential members.
Certainly, even when Doun was conquering Floor 44, it was a normal composition, and Doun knew that composition was basic. Yet Doun couldn’t hide his awkwardness whenever Park Sangyeon used shield skills or defended attacks for him.
‘Hyung! Into the shield!’
‘…Yeah!’
He would join exactly one beat late, or sometimes take attacks with his body when focused on combat. Though he hadn’t thought deeply about it, there was only one reason.
‘That Timer bastard made the tankers freeload…’
Magnetic was famous as a hunter who specialized in attacks at the front lines. This was also why his ‘Special Immunity’ skill became famous. However, other hunters believed that conquest team members other than Magnetic also did their part.
The frantically switching perspective Veritas automatic recording videos couldn’t capture what actions many people were taking. While multi-angle videos had advantages, their disadvantages were clearer.
The limitations of the Veritas system had contributed to concealing Doun’s overwork.
‘Still, after conquering together a few times, hyung will adapt quickly. Samin hyung is taking good care of him.’
Park Sangyeon thought this while looking at Doun smiling at Samin. He looked much more comfortable than before. He guessed that Doun had been influenced by Samin’s bright atmosphere.
It was a conclusion close to half wrong, but that’s how it looked to most people, including him.
* * *
After the conquest ended, Samin and Doun exchanged discussions about movement skills on the training floor.
Doun was very satisfied that he could get better tips from Samin than expected. Enough to smile and readily kiss his cheek at the bold request for a kiss if his tips were helpful.
The two who returned home after pushing through the bustling crowds ordered dinner intimately and lay on the bed.
“Hey hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“That day I left while eating because it was my grandmother’s birthday. Can you tell me if anything happened that day?”
Samin stroked the hair of Doun, who was lying on his side facing him. Doun blinked for a moment, then recalled the day Samin mentioned.
‘Ah. The day I was pathetically upset about forgetting my family’s death anniversary…’
Since it had been 12 years, it was possible to forget family death anniversaries once while living busily. He had just been unable to overcome depression and became excessively gloomy on that day when he forgot the death anniversary.
‘Still, if Samin is curious, I should tell him. Samin is my boyfriend…’
Doun took a breath and said:
“Actually, the day after tomorrow is my family’s death anniversary, and I had been forgetting about it all this time, but it happened to occur to me that day. I just cried a bit because I was pathetic. It really wasn’t a big deal. I was just being pathetic by myself.”
At the words delivered in a casual tone, the hand that had been touching Doun’s hair stopped abruptly.
“The day after tomorrow is your family’s… death anniversary?”
Confusion crossed Samin’s face as he asked again.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
