For a moment, my pride was hurt by Do Wonjin’s attitude, which treated me like a child, but on the other hand, something hot welled up inside me.
“It’s not like that.”
I clenched my fist, then called Yang Garam who was standing quietly beside me like a puppy waiting for its owner.
“Garam, let’s go.”
Ignoring Do Wonjin, I gathered my luggage and followed the path where people had already walked ahead.
Do Wonjin followed leisurely behind us, whistling lightly. Only the stars in the sky, looking as if they might pour down, illuminated us.
After passing the sandy beach, we reached the entrance of the island where trees grew thick. There, we joined the other party members who were waiting for us and entered Quardo Island. The trees at the entrance seemed to block the sea breeze, as we soon came upon houses.
“This is…”
As I looked around at the desolate surroundings where no signs of human presence could be felt at first glance, the Center Director briefly resolved my doubts.
“There are no original inhabitants living here anymore, and the houses are being used as accommodation or convenience facilities for researchers dispatched to Quardo Island. Since it’s an island where outsiders are extremely restricted, rather than building new structures, they’ve repaired and are using the existing houses from before dungeons appeared on Quardo Island.”
“Then where will we, who came from outside, stay?”
“If we go a bit further in, there’s a hotel.”
As the Center Director had said, shortly after, we came upon a decent-looking hotel. The sign had been torn off somewhere, and the exterior was shabby, making me slightly worried, but once we entered, it was well-repaired, clean, and gave a cozy feeling.
“Welcome.”
A man at the counter greeted us. The man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, flipped through the guest book, asked “Are you the reserved guests?” and immediately handed over the keys.
Although there were six of us, the man only gave us three keys. Soon, the reason came from the Center Director’s mouth.
“The rooms are for two people, so it seems we’ll have to pair up and share rooms.”
My gaze naturally turned toward Do Wonjin. If I had to share a room with someone, I thought he would be the best since he knew about my insomnia that plagued me every night.
“How about the guides sharing rooms in pairs, and Esper Woo Jeongjae sharing with me?”
But at the Center Director’s voice that followed, my head turned sharply.
“No.”
“Not allowed.”
“No way.”
I was about to say it wasn’t okay, but as if resonating with my thoughts, everyone rejected the Center Director’s suggestion with one heart and one mind.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen guides guarding like this.”
The Center Director seemed to be making a joke, but everyone gathered here only felt the age difference between him and us. The Center Director looked at Joo Seolhyeon, who was the only one who hadn’t answered, with an embarrassed face, and Joo Seolhyeon extended his hand to the Center Director.
“I don’t mind.”
“Then I’ll share a room with Guide Joo Seolhyeon. Esper Woo Jeongjae, please distribute the remaining keys well.”
The Center Director handed me the remaining two keys and disappeared across the hallway alongside Joo Seolhyeon. After watching their backs, which seemed unlikely to match but surprisingly looked good together, I turned to the others.
“Then who…”
I had only started the introduction, but I swallowed dry at the gazes that gathered on me. They were all looking at me with fierce eyes.
Sweat gathered in my hand holding the keys.
“Shall we play rock-paper-scissors fairly? The winner shares a room with me, and the remaining two share a room together.”
It was a childish method and I felt awkward suggesting it, but when everyone nodded without complaint, I felt even more embarrassed.
‘They don’t have to respect something like this.’
Three grown men with large builds seriously playing rock-paper-scissors.
It was fortunate that there was no one else here but us.
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
Feeling like I should do something as the one who brought it up, I called out for rock-paper-scissors, and the three hands gathered. Two fists and one paper.
The final winner of rock-paper-scissors was Yang Garam. Avoiding Yang Garam who tried to hug me while cheering, I put down one of the two keys in front of Do Wonjin and Jeong Seyeon.
“Hyung, let’s go quickly.”
Yang Garam, already very excited, acted as if it didn’t matter that I had avoided his hug, and now wrapped his arm around my shoulder, leading me. Before heading to the room, I glanced and saw Do Wonjin with an expression like he had lost his country and Jeong Seyeon staring intensely at his own fist without any expression, creating a stark contrast.
Turning my head back to look at Yang Garam, I saw his mouth corners reaching his ears as he hummed a tune.
“Garam seems to be in a good mood?”
“Yes.”
Yang Garam smiled brightly as he opened the door with the key he had taken from me. His appearance reminded me of my own elementary school days, jumping up and down after becoming desk partners with someone I liked, giving me a fresh feeling.
“Are you happy to sleep with me?”
“Of course…”
Yang Garam, who was opening the door and entering, suddenly turned his head to look at me.
“Hyung.”
“Yes?”
Following behind, I hesitated for a moment. Yang Garam, with a serious face, grabbed my shoulder and brought his face close to mine. As I tried to lean back, I felt the door I had just closed behind me.
“Shall we sleep together?”
The hand on my shoulder was hot, and Yang Garam’s gaze was even hotter. I nodded slightly with a slightly dubious expression.
“We’re sharing a room, is it possible to sleep separately?”
At my answer, Yang Garam’s face reddened as if embarrassed. He released his hand that was gripping my shoulder and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Y-yes, that’s true.”
Yang Garam fidgeted, then quickly grabbed the luggage he had momentarily let go of to grab my shoulder, and entered the room as if escaping. He went into the bathroom first, saying he would shower, and I also unpacked my bag and looked around the room. Even though it was a double room, the interior wasn’t very large, giving a feeling that it was already full just with the two beds. It was a structure with a bathroom attached to a room with only beds, and although there was a closet cum storage near the entrance, it wasn’t large, so it didn’t seem very useful.
‘I can really only sleep here.’
I sprawled on the bed to check its performance, tossing and turning my body. The hard mattress was one thing, but the creaking sound was quite annoying.
“Hmm, not good.”
After confirming that not only the building but also the bed was inadequate, I felt a bit deflated. Before my regression, I had undertaken several overseas dispatch missions, and each time I was treated as a VIP. Perhaps due to the title of the nation’s only S-class Esper being established as an external image, no country treated me poorly. No country wanted to provide a pretext that could potentially escalate into a diplomatic issue.
As a result, my body was comfortable, but being subtly observed was quite tiring, even for someone as indifferent to surroundings as me.
“Rather than that, this is more comfortable and better for my mind.”
The country didn’t want to reveal that I was an Esper who couldn’t receive guiding, so I avoided all positions where I had to show myself externally and went on overseas dispatches focusing on dungeons. Since the ownership of a dungeon could be claimed according to the order of high contribution, the higher-grade Espers were advantageous to deploy.
As the saying goes, “the bear does the work, but the trainer takes the money,” naturally, I crushed the dungeons, and the benefits generated from there went directly to the country. Occasionally, when artifacts necessary for Espers appeared, they would hand one to me as if being generous, but since most artifacts would cause my abilities to go berserk, I rarely had use for them.
‘Come to think of it, they said there are artifacts with the blessing of life among them.’
The face of my only remaining family member, my younger sibling, naturally came to mind.
‘I might be able to prevent Woo Jeonghyun’s death with that.’
S-class dungeons opened steadily, one or two every year. This year, one will probably burst somewhere soon. The 22-year-old me of the past had no connection with overseas dispatch and lacked field experience to be deployed to an S-class dungeon. But now, I was certainly up for the challenge.
Of course, it would be great if an artifact with the blessing of life appeared right away, but it might not. I wasn’t unaware of that fact, but this was all I could do for now.
‘I should talk to the Center Director separately tomorrow. He’s already gauging my abilities through Song Songi, so he should be able to fully understand my participation in an S-class dungeon.’
This was the Center Director who had thrown me into an A-class dungeon for my first mission. It didn’t seem like he would refuse my proposal.
‘I need to conserve my strength as much as possible right now.’
By having temporary guides, the probability of my future self going berserk had decreased, but among the futures that needed to be changed, my younger sibling’s death remained. It would be best to obtain an artifact with the blessing of life, but even if not, there was nothing to lose. If I conserved my strength, it could be useful in saving my sibling’s life someday.
“Are you done showering?”
While envisioning future plans in my head, I realized quite some time had passed when I saw Yang Garam coming out of the bathroom.
“Yes. You’re going to shower right away, right, hyung?”
“I should.”
I got up from the bed where I had been lying. I felt a bit uncomfortable with Yang Garam’s gaze persistently following me until the moment I entered the bathroom, but I lightly dismissed it, thinking it could be because the room was small.
Perhaps because I had spent a day and a half traveling by plane and suffered from seasickness, I became rapidly tired after showering. After drying my wet hair using my ability, I went straight to bed and lay down.
“Are you very tired? Still, let’s eat dinner before sleeping, hyung.”
I heard Yang Garam’s voice above my head, but as my consciousness faded, his voice gradually diminished. My heavy eyelids closed, and I fell into a deep sleep.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
