#101
“…Team Leader.”
The espers standing behind quietly approached and called out to Shin Haejun.
Shin Haejun, who had been splattered with blood while trying to save Kim Sehyun but missing the timing, gave a bitter smile as he attacked the boss in the form of a statue.
After they all attacked together to defeat the boss and roughly cleaned up the gruesome scene, the deputy team leader of the esper team took the lead and spoke to Shin Haejun.
“…Team Leader, are you alright?”
Shin Haejun was staring at the ground with an expressionless face. He looked somewhat tired.
“It’s all my fault. I didn’t expect him to run away like that just from being questioned a little.”
His tone was uncharacteristically regretful. However, the deputy team leader and other espers didn’t agree with Shin Haejun’s words.
“That’s not true. You approached carefully from the start, worried that Guide Kim Sehyun might get agitated and cause a bigger incident. You even told him to stop midway and warned him to be careful. Who could have known the boss would appear there?”
“Still, if I had moved a bit… faster and saved him…”
“He was a criminal anyway. There’s nothing worse than trying to harm another guide inside a dungeon. It was just an unfortunate accident.”
Other espers joined in to support the deputy team leader’s consolation. Comments poured out like a waterfall, saying things like ‘It’s sad that he died, but I’m worried about our reputation since it happened during Team 1’s conquest’ and ‘I heard that it was Kim Sehyun who initially asked to move far away carelessly.’
“To think we can’t even recover his body…”
“It really couldn’t be helped. You even warned him not to turn his head.”
“I just… feel a bit bitter. Let’s just inform the guides about the cause of death appropriately so they don’t get too shaken.”
Shin Haejun’s words were certainly convincing. Being crushed to death while being questioned through dialogue was indeed a terrible end. It would undoubtedly be doubly shocking, especially after the incident where Shin Serim was nearly killed.
“It’s sad that he died by such a narrow margin when there were so many people who could have helped. Even if he was a criminal, it should have been resolved through a trial.”
“Since he was your former pair guide, I’m sure you must be very concerned.”
The deputy team leader sighed softly. Just before Shin Haejun left the base camp, he had secretly ordered them to follow if he didn’t return within 20 minutes, but they hadn’t expected this outcome. If only Kim Sehyun hadn’t run away on his own, unable to endure being questioned, this wouldn’t have happened.
Honestly, given how severe his crimes were, the deputy team leader thought Kim Sehyun had brought it upon himself, but it was very upsetting that he had caused such widespread trouble before dying.
“We’ll have a hard time when we get out.”
“It can’t be helped.”
Shin Haejun smiled bitterly, looking somewhat apologetic. Since he wasn’t the type to diligently respond to interviews in the first place, the deputy team leader was in charge of Team 1’s public actions. With a person, and an S-class guide at that, dying during Team 1’s conquest, the media would surely go wild.
“Um… just in case, let’s get help from Guide Shin Serim.”
“Pardon?”
“Guide Shin Serim might have evidence about the assault situation. I called Kim Sehyun for procedural reasons, but he might have held a grudge after I ended our partnership, so I gave her recording equipment in case he might harm the guide team when no espers were around.”
“Ah… I see. Since you even ended your partnership, you must have already known his true nature.”
From his personality flaws to his insane criminal acts. Kim Sehyun was not a person to be pitied for dying.
“That’s foresight. It’s fortunate. Even if our team saw the assault scene, if the media doesn’t believe us, it’s useless, but having concrete evidence makes it easier to respond.”
The deputy team leader thought it was incredibly fortunate that they had time to figure out how to deal with the media together with Shin Serim before leaving the dungeon.
***
I had woken up late and was playing on my laptop, leaving Hyun Dowoon to work from home in the study, when suddenly a loud shout came from the room, startling me to my feet.
As I stood up clumsily, blinking my eyes, I heard Hyun Dowoon regaining his composure and giving instructions over the phone.
‘It must be center business, I shouldn’t listen.’
There must be a reason for someone usually so calm to act like this. Although I was curious about the reason, I thought it wasn’t good to eavesdrop and sat back down.
A moment later, Hyun Dowoon burst out of the study with an urgent look on his face, then was taken aback when he saw me.
“Uh… um… Jaeha.”
“Did something happen?”
When I tilted my head and asked, he ruffled the back of his hair, messing it up, and sighed.
“I think I need to go to the center urgently.”
“Then you should go quickly.”
“No, I can’t leave Jaeha alone… Ah, but it wouldn’t be good to take you to the center…”
He muttered with an uncharacteristically confused face. Worried about why he was suddenly acting like this, I approached to check on him when I heard the sound of the front door lock beeping.
And what appeared before my eyes was Shin Haejun. He had a somewhat tired face and was covered in blood.
“Hae… Haejun.”
I was so shocked that I froze for a moment, then immediately ran to Shin Haejun to check his condition, but Hyun Dowoon got there first, taking large strides.
“How could you come here without cleaning up the situation?”
“The Center Director can take care of the cleanup. I’ll protect Jaeha, so you go.”
“What exactly happened? Why are there casualties in Team 1?”
Surprised by those words, I covered my mouth with a gasp. I became worried that someone I knew might have died, and at the same time, I wondered how badly Shin Haejun was hurt and how strong the dungeon must have been for him to be in this state.
“It’s okay, I’m not hurt.”
Shin Haejun shook his head and approached, ignoring Hyun Dowoon. Unlike usual, the atmosphere was very heavy and subdued. I was so worried about him that I slightly extended my hand to Hyun Dowoon, asking him to wait a moment.
“What’s all this blood then? What’s this talk about casualties? Hm?”
“Don’t touch, it’s dirty.”
As I tried to get close and check his body, Shin Haejun took a step back.
“Well… there was an unfortunate accident in the dungeon.”
“Did something happen to someone I know? What happened, tell me quickly!”
Unlike me, who was anxiously pacing back and forth, Shin Haejun didn’t open his mouth readily. When I glared at him impatiently, he suddenly just pointed at the TV.
“It’s hard to explain everything myself… You’ll understand the general situation if you watch the news first.”
“Esper Shin Haejun, are you saying we should just believe what you’ve announced? Why didn’t you report this to the center first…!”
“If we report first, when will the center announce that this happened? Don’t all citizens need to see what happened to Jaeha for his stigma to be washed away?”
Why am I being mentioned here?
I was listening to their conversation with bated breath, then couldn’t hold back and ran to the living room to turn on the TV. Immediately, breaking news popped up.
[S-class Guide Kim Sehyun dies after causing an assault incident in dungeon]
The broadcast showed panelists discussing the unexpected content.
The content about Kim Sehyun pretending to be an S-class guide by stealing someone else’s power…
“He… died?”
“Yes. The casualty is Kim Sehyun.”
As I collapsed onto the sofa in shock, Shin Haejun wrapped his arm around my shoulders and whispered soothingly.
More than what the panelists were saying, I was shocked by the sudden news of Kim Sehyun’s death.
‘The protagonist suddenly died?’
Why? And why is this being so openly reported on the news?
As I turned my head with a confused face, I saw Shin Haejun’s red eyes gleaming with a strange light. When our eyes met, with him looking so subdued, I felt chills run down my spine for some reason.
“What… what happened?”
I couldn’t properly hear what was being said on the news. As I stumbled like a broken robot at the unexpected news, Shin Haejun smiled bitterly.
“Exactly as it says, Kim Sehyun died. Killed by the boss.”
“How… why…? What reason would a guide have to encounter a boss?”
Based on the conquest procedures I knew, there was no way Kim Sehyun should have died to a boss monster, so I couldn’t understand what had happened. Confused, I held one side of my head, and Hyun Dowoon patted Shin Haejun’s shoulder and said,
“If you leave it like this, Jaeha will be confused. It would be better to explain from the beginning.”
Then Hyun Dowoon also sat on the sofa.
“Don’t you need to go to the center?”
“It would be better to hear from you first.”
When Hyun Dowoon firmly insisted on staying, Shin Haejun shook his head slightly and gripped my hand tightly.
“Today, I personally called Kim Sehyun to the dungeon.”
“…Why?”
“Well, although our partnership was terminated, Kim Sehyun was still part of Team 1, and he naturally had to participate in dungeon conquests.”
At his words, I thought for a moment with my arms crossed, then shook my head.
“You’re quite persistent, so you wouldn’t have left him in the team when you ended the partnership. You did it on purpose, didn’t you? Why?”
“Can’t we just let it go?”
“No, we can’t. What happened?”
At my pressing, Shin Haejun hesitated as if recalling something he didn’t want to remember, then carefully answered.
“To be honest… I had to call him to the dungeon.”
“…Why?”
“I thought he was a threat to your safety, and in reality, his very existence was very irritating.”
What’s the connection between my safety and Kim Sehyun having to enter the dungeon…? As I was wondering about this, a sudden thought struck me, and my eyes widened in shock.
“You don’t mean…?”
When I asked with a trembling voice, he nodded.
“I went and killed that annoying bastard.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
