#063
“Uh… uh…”
I did briefly think it might not be Shin Haejun, but I also felt uneasy… I only said “I thought it was you” because it was awkward to explain, but somehow the atmosphere turned strange.
“Well, that… Where are you putting your hand!”
Shin Haejun, with a grinning face, slipped his hand inside my open robe. I bit my lip hard and struggled to pull out Shin Haejun’s hand.
“Why are you so strong…!”
“All S-rank Espers are like this.”
“Don’t use your strength for things like this!”
“If not for this, what else should I use it for?”
His hand touched my spine. As I flinched for a moment, Shin Haejun’s red jewel-like eyes sparkled even more brightly.
“I was just planning to tease you a bit…”
“No, no! Don’t get serious!”
I closed my eyes tightly and groaned. Then, his hand quickly withdrew.
“If you don’t like it, I won’t do it. Don’t make that face.”
“We were in a serious situation just now! And you’re playing around…”
As I grumbled with complaints, Shin Haejun chuckled and pinched my cheek. Then he planted kisses on the pinched cheek.
“You’re cute.”
“Being cute isn’t the issue…!”
Pecks and kisses are fine, but… what comes next is somehow scary.
I’ve never liked anyone before, so I don’t have this kind of experience… It’s sudden…
“Aren’t you too natural at this?”
“It’s the result of image training. Do you know how much I think about this every day?”
At Shin Haejun’s brazen words, I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. Then Shin Haejun shrugged and picked me up again.
“Ah…!”
“No, wait.”
Saying that, Shin Haejun climbed onto the bed, leaned against the headboard, placed me on his lap, and hugged me tightly.
“I’ll just hold you like this.”
“Don’t you dare try anything funny.”
I glanced at Shin Haejun and relaxed my body.
As he said, for a while, Shin Haejun just held me without saying anything.
Listening to the beating of his chest rising and falling, I felt drowsy again. As the adrenaline that had surged due to the absurd situation disappeared, my body, relaxed from the bath, returned.
“Didn’t you do guiding with Kim Sehyun?”
“Since you helped me, my condition has been good, so there was no need.”
Even though I didn’t fully unravel the tangled power… How bad must the guiding have been recently for him to be satisfied with that?
I sighed and fiddled with Shin Haejun’s hand. Perhaps because I had no will to do guiding, the mercenary system window didn’t appear.
“He said his power disappeared… Don’t you suspect me?”
“Well, not really. It doesn’t seem possible.”
After saying that, Shin Haejun suddenly burst into laughter.
“But if it were possible, I think that would be good in its own way.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t care what happens to Kim Sehyun. It’s good if your power grows.”
Ah right, he was originally this kind of person. I had forgotten because he had been acting kindly towards me recently, but he was famous for his terrible personality.
But I didn’t feel particularly bad about it. It’s a strange thought that I’m not upset about my lover having a terrible personality…
It’s a thoroughly selfish statement, but somehow it feels reassuring that he’s acting this way towards my enemy, not me.
“What’s that. You should think nice thoughts.”
Although I scolded him, Shin Haejun just smiled as if he knew what I was thinking.
“Anyway… thank you. Are you doing this to comfort me in case I get depressed again?”
Shin Haejun thinks I like Kim Sehyun as a friend. Maybe he’s doing this to try to offset the shock I might receive. Thinking that way made me feel grateful, and I whispered softly.
Then Shin Haejun let out a long groan and hugged me so tightly I thought I might be crushed.
“Ah, I can’t take this.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll just kiss you. Okay?”
Somehow… I thought the area around my bottom felt uncomfortable…
“You… you…!”
“It’s okay, right, hyung?”
“Don’t call me hyung only at times like this!”
I protested hard, but it was impossible to overcome the strength of an S-rank Esper. I voiced various complaints, but in the end, they all disappeared into Shin Haejun’s mouth.
***
Finally, the day of the decisive battle arrived.
The dungeon verification to create a new team was approved. Though he didn’t say it, it was clear that Hyun Dowoon had put in tremendous effort. There had been a lot of talk about it in the Awakened community as well.
In the meantime, I had diligently studied the file Hyun Dowoon gave me and made all the preparations I could.
Just in case, I even put the file into my inventory.
‘First… to be fully prepared.’
I woke up early in the morning and decided to visit the author’s Twitter with a solemn heart. Although it’s my initiative, it would be a big problem if the author turned this into an episode in the way they wanted.
(Personal account) … @Green_baby02
[Is it because it’s being serialized in real-time?
I have no idea what I’m writing ㅠ]
│
(Personal account) … @Green_baby02
[It’s better this way. A chance to make up for it]
Hmm, as expected, they left some ominous messages…
I’m not sure how they plan to make up for things in the dungeon, but it was clear they had set some kind of trap that wouldn’t be good for me.
‘Kim Sehyun said he’s coming today too.’
There were many people interested in my dungeon conquest. It seems like at least one person from each team is definitely coming to watch, and there are also some people from the Center… Anyway, there were more people who applied to observe than I had expected.
Basically, since many more people than the usual dungeon conquering team were planning to enter, the risk of failure had become enormous.
Of course, I absolutely won’t fail. With my gaming experience so far and the level of character I’ve raised, there’s no way I couldn’t conquer a dungeon. Honestly, although it’s a game, in terms of the number of dungeon conquests, I’ve probably done far more than the people here.
“I’ve come to pick you up.”
I was about to close Twitter as nothing else was coming up, when Shin Haejun entered the house. It was time to go.
“Your face is pale. I told you to go to bed early.”
On the way to the parking lot after leaving the house, Shin Haejun worried about my condition. I feel fine though…
“Will it take long to get there?”
“You’ll be there when you wake up.”
He knew I had gone to bed very late yesterday. Honestly, it wasn’t because of nervousness but excitement, but he seemed to think I was very nervous.
“It’s all mountains around and not many houses anyway. Even if you make a mistake and the dungeon bursts, it can be managed sufficiently.”
Today’s dungeon was a B-rank mirror dungeon that appeared in Hwaseong.
It was a maze dungeon full of mirrors, and when Shin Haejun first heard about it, he was furious. He was certain they had given this dungeon deliberately to make me fail.
‘They said that while the rank is important, the difficulty can also vary depending on the dungeon’s attributes.’
It was clear that I had been assigned to a not-so-good dungeon. For fairness, teams across the country decided through voting, but even Hyun Dowoon, who delivered the news, was livid.
“The dungeon won’t burst.”
“That’s why I’m saying, even if you fail by any chance, it’s okay, so don’t worry.”
It seems like he’s more nervous and worried than I am…
“Even if I look like I’m in danger, don’t intervene.”
“Why? I’m going in to resolve any problems that might occur to you in case of an emergency.”
“Just watch.”
Because of Shin Haejun’s reaction, I felt anew that what I was doing was truly unprecedented.
Even guides believed it was impossible for them, and some Espers were calling it a guide rebellion.
Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible for guides to act like me either. I’m not able to perform in dungeons because I’m a guide in the first place.
‘So it’s natural for them to worry… but honestly, I’m not worried about anything except the author’s interference.’
I shook my head and got into Shin Haejun’s car.
I didn’t think I was very tired, but as soon as I sat in the car, I was overwhelmed with sleep. I finally woke up when we arrived at the dungeon.
“…Are we here?”
“Your throat sounds hoarse. Drink some water.”
After drinking the water Shin Haejun handed me, I took a deep breath. As I came out, I heard people whispering, “What kind of relationship does he have with Shin Haejun?”, “Why is he making his guide come separately?”
When I turned my head to look, I saw Kim Sehyun standing among the people with his eyes downcast.
‘He’s pretending to be pitiful again.’
I shook my head and looked at the large dungeon entrance in front of me.
Honestly, I couldn’t answer that I was dating Shin Haejun, and since there was nothing to explain anyway, I was planning to just ignore it.
‘No one’s approaching me.’
I expected this, but most people were looking at me as if I was some kind of rebel instigator.
No one came near me, and only gazes poured in from a distance as if observing me. Thanks to this, I was left alone despite being surrounded by so many people.
“Jaeha, how’s your condition?”
As I was glaring at the dungeon entrance, Hyun Dowoon came beside me very naturally and asked. Startled by the sudden words, I looked up at him, and he said with a worried face.
“Your face is a bit red.”
Then soon, a cool hand touched my forehead. And just as Hyun Dowoon was about to speak, Shin Haejun, who had rushed over after parking the car, glared at Hyun Dowoon.
“Don’t touch him as you please.”
“Jaeha, did you know you have a fever?”
Hyun Dowoon asked with a hardened face in response to Shin Haejun’s cold words.
I thought it felt cool, even cold, but was I actually running a fever?
‘My condition was fine just this morning.’
I tilted my head. Why did my physical condition suddenly worsen?
“…That’s why I told you to go to bed early. Were you that worried?”
Shin Haejun asked me with a worried face. No, I was really fine just this morning…
Comments (33)
Sk****: It would be better to fail even when trying your hardest at your healthiest…
Rh****: Ah, so annoyingㅋㅋ If he fails, he’ll make excuses that he failed because he was sick
As soon as I saw the comment window that suddenly appeared, I realized.
It seems the author must have written a sentence like ‘Lee Jaeha has caught a cold and is running a fever’. They can’t kill me due to plausibility, but that level of interference would be possible.
‘They seem pretty determined to make me fail.’
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
