#83
Seo Yi-young rubbed his hands together and asked Choi Do-jun, who was sitting at the edge of the sofa.
“Aren’t you scared?”
“Scared? Well. I’m not sure.”
“Couldn’t you refuse if you didn’t want to do it?”
“I don’t think that applies only to me.”
Choi Do-jun said without taking his eyes off Seo Yi-young. His words were certainly correct.
Even if they failed the dungeon raid and a dungeon break occurred with monsters pouring out, those monsters would need to be dealt with. Not only that, but people would be needed to raid the next dungeon, and the one after that too. The implication was that even Choi Do-jun could avoid going in if he really wanted to.
“No, I mean you could just not go in if you said you wouldn’t.”
“The same goes for you.”
“…You really are, just…”
A guy who never admits defeat.
Seo Yi-young looked at Choi Do-jun in disbelief. Choi Do-jun was already turning his gaze elsewhere, ignoring Seo Yi-young’s reaction.
“What can a combat hunter do alone?”
Though it was muttered quietly, Choi Do-jun clearly heard it. Seo Yi-young tilted his head to one side while still looking at him.
“What?”
“It’s true, isn’t it? Even an S-Class hunter couldn’t conquer a Disaster-class dungeon without a healer, right?”
Seo Yi-young said with a shrug. But something felt off. At this point, Choi Do-jun should have fired back with something. Instead, he just stared at Seo Yi-young without saying a word. Seo Yi-young was a bit flustered that his prediction of Choi Do-jun’s reaction had been wrong. Just as he was about to brush it off as a casual remark…
“Don’t do any self-healing.”
Choi Do-jun gruffly spat out the words, then crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
What is this? Is he quoting movie lines? But those thoughts didn’t make it past Seo Yi-young’s lips. For some reason, he felt a tightness around his solar plexus and unconsciously rubbed near his collarbone.
Sitting still, he felt like sweat was forming on his back. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, the door opened and S-Class combat hunter Lee Chung-mo appeared.
Perhaps because of Jo Tae-su’s instructions he’d seen in his dream, S-Class combat hunters made him uncomfortable. He could infer from the circumstances that he’d had that kind of relationship with Lee Chung-mo too. He lowered his gaze briefly before looking up again. He’d been acting fine until now, hadn’t he? There was no need to be intimidated by the man. Seo Yi-young raised his head and straightened his shoulders.
At least in this setting, there was no need to feel intimidated. What Seo Yi-young needed to apologize for wasn’t the act itself.
“You two are sitting so quietly?”
Lee Chung-mo, in his early thirties, expressed his amusement at the sight of the two without hiding his thoughts. Basically, S-Class hunters tended to be unrestrained. The right way to put it was that they didn’t need to be conscious of others’ reactions, so they didn’t filter themselves. Lee Chung-mo was that type.
Glancing at Choi Do-jun, Seo Yi-young saw he looked surprised that Lee Chung-mo had volunteered.
“Hey, Choi Do-jun. If you have something to say, say it.”
“…”
“Aren’t you curious about what conditions I volunteered under?”
His tone and attitude were irritating enough to make one’s eyes narrow. It was puzzling why he was picking a fight out of nowhere. It was enough to get on Seo Yi-young’s nerves as he watched from the side. Although Choi Do-jun was known for doing things his own way, he wasn’t the type to speak rudely to others, so why was Lee Chung-mo taunting him like this?
That thought made Seo Yi-young clear his throat awkwardly as he recalled meeting Choi Do-jun right after arriving in this dimension. He felt his earlobes getting hot at the thought that he might have acted similarly at first.
“Choi Do-jun, I got permission to fight you.”
What? Is he insane?
The idea of two S-Class hunters fighting was shocking enough, but the fact that the government had authorized it was even more outrageous.
Is Choi Do-jun okay with this? Seo Yi-young looked over at him. He stood there without a change in expression even after hearing those words, as if he had expected this.
“Everyone says how amazing you are, but I don’t see it. Later, let’s go into a C-Class dungeon, just the two of us, and have a one-on-one before we start the raid.”
It was something that couldn’t be ignored.
Setting aside the outdated slang ‘dai-dai,’ the idea of dueling inside a dungeon was absurd. Even in such an urgent situation, how could something like this be authorized? Were they that desperate for volunteers? It seemed like they were making decisions as if there would be no future. The fact that they accepted such an insane proposal was evidence of how desperately they needed volunteers. Surely they would have proper safety measures in place, but it was hard to imagine whose idea this authorization had been.
Seo Yi-young, who had been listening, finally couldn’t hold back and interrupted Lee Chung-mo.
“Wait a minute. Shouldn’t Choi Do-jun’s consent be obtained as well?”
“Oh? Then I’ll just drop out. It doesn’t matter to me whether I join this raid or not. But I didn’t know Seo Yi-young was Choi Do-jun’s spokesperson. When did you two get so close? I had no idea. …Or what? Is it Choi Do-jun this time?”
Lee Chung-mo responded sarcastically to Seo Yi-young’s intervention. There was no way Seo Yi-young couldn’t understand what his aggressive mockery implied. Cunningly, he was leaving out key words that would make it strange if Seo Yi-young tried to refute him.
Lee Chung-mo’s words were probably intended to provoke Seo Yi-young, but they had no effect.
Is he an idiot?
He thought the man was crazy, but it turned out he was just plain stupid. Did he think Seo Yi-young would cower and shut up after hearing such words? Seo Yi-young didn’t bother trying to hide his expression. He opened his mouth, openly displaying his disbelief on his face. There was no need to be polite to someone like this.
“Ah. Is that so? I see.”
“What? …Huh. What’s this? You’re suddenly changing your attitude?”
While Seo Yi-young was thinking about how to respond, he heard Choi Do-jun sigh.
“If that’s what you want, fine. Let’s set a date after this dungeon raid.”
His quietly uttered voice carried a definite presence. The timing was as if he had cut in before Seo Yi-young could speak. Whatever Choi Do-jun’s intended purpose was, it worked perfectly. Lee Chung-mo’s attention clearly shifted to Choi Do-jun.
“Oh. Yeah. Good. A man doesn’t go back on his word. Let’s talk properly later with a specific date. Surely Choi Do-jun won’t go back on his word, right?”
Lee Chung-mo repeatedly pressed, as if securing a promise.
“That’s not what’s important right now, so let’s focus on the dungeon raid.”
At Choi Do-jun’s words, a brief look of embarrassment crossed Lee Chung-mo’s face, as if he’d been caught off guard. But he quickly erased that expression and shrugged.
“Yeah, yeah. Got it. This dungeon raid is the most important thing.”
Lee Chung-mo sat on the sofa and put his feet up on the table.
How detestable he looked. I hope he gets a herniated disc. While mentally cursing, Seo Yi-young felt Choi Do-jun’s gaze on him and turned away. Choi Do-jun looked at Seo Yi-young, furrowed his brow, and slowly shook his head from side to side. He looked like someone trying to dissuade him.
Although Seo Yi-young felt somewhat wronged since Lee Chung-mo had started it, it was right to let it go at this point, since they would be entering the dungeon as part of the same raid team.
The sound of the door opening was heard, and someone entered the room.
It took about another hour to organize the raid team. The final lineup consisted of 12 people: 5 S-Class hunters and 7 A-Class hunters. The one fortunate thing was that among the S-Class hunters, the biggest psycho was Lee Chung-mo.
A strange silence hung in the waiting room. The person in charge opened the door and entered, giving a brief greeting to the hunters.
“Now, I’ll proceed with a simple briefing.”
The person in charge acted as if even taking time for other words was a waste.
They predicted it would take about 10 hours until the dungeon formed. Of course, it could be shorter or longer. A delay would be manageable, but an earlier appearance would be problematic because there wasn’t enough time to evacuate citizens as it was.
Support teams from other countries would arrive in about 3 hours.
In fact, although it was called a briefing, there wasn’t really any useful information, so everyone was only half-listening. Before leaving the waiting room, the person in charge called Seo Yi-young out.
Once in the hallway, he offered a handshake.
“We’re grateful to Hunter Seo Yi-young. Your company had already expressed your intention to participate, but we appreciate you stepping forward at the scene as well. It encouraged other hunters to volunteer.”
“Pardon?”
What was he talking about? Seo Yi-young blinked.
They had decided and notified his participation in this dungeon raid? From Hayan? This was the first Seo Yi-young had heard of it. Although he had already made up his mind to join the raid team, so the outcome wouldn’t change, the issue was that the decision had been made by Hayan, not by Seo Yi-young himself.
They couldn’t proceed this way without seeking Seo Yi-young’s consent or even informing him in advance.
…No. That’s not right. There is one person. One decision-maker who could make such an arbitrary decision.
Jo Tae-su.
“Not at all. Dungeon raiding is the most important task.”
But he couldn’t make an issue of it. It would only cause unnecessary discord.
For now, he had to let it slide.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
