#067
: *Crisis Approaches*
Quest Rank: Sub
The author has decided to eliminate the character ruining the story.
The guillotine approaches you! You must escape immediately.
Mission Impossible! Use a special skill!
TIP:
1. The boss itself cannot be attacked from the inside.
2.It cannot be used unless the minimum skill level is over 20.
3.When the ‘Summoning Skill’ reaches Lv. 30, you can summon important objects.
4.If you give up this quest, you will be trapped in here forever.
Reward: ???
A tip longer than the main text appeared. As soon as I finished reading it, I couldn’t help but think the author was being a jerk.
I glared at the screen, frozen stiff. If it couldn’t be attacked from the inside, it meant no matter how much I struggled inside, there was no way out.
From the start, what the quest wanted was just one thing: to raise Hyun Dowoon’s skill. The specifically mentioned ‘Summoning Skill’ was Hyun Dowoon’s, after all.
‘I don’t know what the important object is, but…’
It’s probably the solution to overcome this situation. Quests always open paths like that.
But to raise Hyun Dowoon’s skill, I had to make a mercenary contract with him again. Something I had sworn never to do…
‘There might be another way.’
This time, I felt I couldn’t just follow Nine’s hint as it was. Of course, I had no intention of meekly being trapped and dying here as the author wanted, but I had to try to struggle in some other way.
Ah, damn, I’m going crazy…! I thought I should probably search through my inventory.
After some consideration, I took out a Blink Scroll. I felt the paper-like texture of the item in both hands. It was a magic scroll that allowed movement of about 1m in any direction.
‘It’s not working.’
I tried tearing it, but I didn’t feel my body move at all. It seemed movement items were blocked.
A thought flashed through my mind and I tried opening the map, but the map screen was full of noise and I couldn’t see any information. It seemed all information about movement was completely blocked in this space.
Next, I took out a dagger with an additional effect that “cuts anything with a 1% probability”. As it was in dagger form, I hadn’t used it much since I wasn’t a combat class, but it had been useful when it occasionally completely cut through even the armor when killing enemies.
It was a battle between ‘anything’ and ‘absolute’.
“What are you doing? I hear a slicing sound.”
“I’m trying to cut around with a dagger.”
“Let me do it. Give it here.”
As I started slicing the jelly-like surroundings, Hyun Dowoon, who had been watching quietly, reached out his hand to me.
“I can do it myself.”
“Your hand will hurt if you keep going. Let’s share the task.”
“Hmm…”
As I hesitated for a moment, Hyun Dowoon sighed softly and said, “Excuse me,” as he reached out his hand. His cool fingertips touched my cheek.
“Ah…!”
I screamed reflexively in surprise. Hyun Dowoon’s hand stopped abruptly.
“What did I touch?”
“My cheek…”
Then he hesitated slightly and very carefully lowered his hand.
“And here?”
“That’s… my chest.”
I was startled as his hand touched near my heart. More precisely, near my nipple, which I had forgotten even existed. What I felt nothing when scrubbing in the shower suddenly gave me a strange feeling when someone else’s hand touched it. Forgetting my principles, my heart fluttered for a moment, and I cupped my cheek with the hand not holding the dagger. Hyun Dowoon whispered softly.
“Then this must be your arm.”
He slightly moved his hand to grasp my forearm, then slid it down. His touch moving from the soft flesh of my forearm to my elbow, and then to my wrist made my face suddenly flush.
I was worried about getting stabbed by the dagger as his hand moved lower, but fortunately, Hyun Dowoon found my hand well. My hand holding the dagger fit snugly into his large grip.
“I’ll hold it for a moment.”
He whispered as he gripped it firmly so it wouldn’t slip. Although I couldn’t see anything, I could tell he had lowered his head as the sound and breath were much closer to my face.
“Uh…”
“Let’s forget about Esper Shin Haejun. We need to get out first.”
Hyun Dowoon said in a very matter-of-fact tone. His voice was so clean that I couldn’t help but think, ‘I guess so.’
“Of course, I do hope your heart fluttered a bit.”
“…Center Director.”
Confused about whether he was serious or not, I called out to Hyun Dowoon, and he burst out laughing, “Hahaha,” in a nonchalant voice.
“I’m joking. I just thought it would be better to do it together than you stabbing alone. If you insist on doing it yourself, I can’t help it.”
Then he gripped my hand tightly. And while holding my hand, he swung the dagger.
“Swinging like this puts less strain on your wrist.”
“I… see.”
Hyun Dowoon’s solid body touched my back, my hand was held, and his breath poured into my ear.
With nothing visible, the stimulation was even stronger.
‘I should think about Shin Haejun, even if I take out my anger later.’
I was uncertain, but was I actually the type to waver so quickly? Was I always this quick to fall in love? The thought suddenly struck me that maybe I hadn’t liked anyone before coming to this world simply because there weren’t any handsome, pretty, or attractive people around.
‘Maybe this is the virtue of being a villain.’
While trying to slice through the air with the dagger, useless thoughts flashed through my mind.
Like the thought that maybe wavering between the protagonists was the proper role of a villain.
“Hmm…?”
As I was swinging with my eyes tightly closed, feeling like I was possessed by a perverted demon, Hyun Dowoon suddenly exclaimed in surprise from behind me. So when I opened my eyes, I could see that the space had really been cut.
“Huh?”
The space that was supposed to be ‘absolutely’ unattackable was cut away, and as if it were the result of a battle between spear and shield, the dagger also crumbled into dust. Through the gap in the cut space, a space that somehow ‘couldn’t be recognized’ was visible.
“What could this be?”
Clearly something was visible, but I couldn’t tell what it was. I couldn’t distinguish if it was white, gray, or black, whether something was there or not, whether it was space or an object, whether it was alive or dead – ‘something’ that my brain couldn’t recognize at all had appeared.
But I could feel that something was there. I tilted my head and asked Hyun Dowoon.
“Center Director?”
I called Hyun Dowoon several times, but there was no response from him.
“…Hyun Dowoon? Hello? Hey, can’t you hear me?”
“Huh…!”
When I called out louder, suddenly there was a violent, long breath, like someone who had been submerged in water and just had their airway cleared.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah…”
When I reflexively turned my head, I could see Hyun Dowoon’s face. The gap must be brighter than this current space, as a faint light shone on his face. Hyun Dowoon, whose focus disappeared and returned several times, hugged me tightly.
“Just now, something… passed by, but I don’t know what it was.”
“What was it… Oh, you said you don’t know. Are you okay?”
“Did you not feel anything, Jaeha?”
“I’m not sure. But I don’t know what that is.”
I whispered, pointing at the gap. Hyun Dowoon nodded.
“As soon as I saw that, I felt like I had sensed something… very important. But it disappeared immediately.”
“Hmm…”
What could that space be to cause such a reaction? Actually, I thought I would see the dungeon when I cut the space. But nothing like that was visible, only an unknown ‘something’ appeared.
‘The dagger just broke.’
I wanted to collect all the pieces and take them out to reforge, but I couldn’t see any fallen pieces. It seemed I would have to give up on this dagger.
I let out a small sigh. Items weren’t completely useless, but they couldn’t produce meaningful results. Now I had no more items I could think of, so I was in a situation where I had to be trapped here helplessly.
‘I really don’t want to use the method suggested in the tip…’
I bit my lip hard. I was already full of apologetic feelings towards Hyun Dowoon. It was because he was suffering from side effects due to the mercenary contract.
The thought of making another mercenary contract with him for my own convenience without any warning filled me with guilt. Even if I couldn’t give him accurate information, shouldn’t I at least give him some kind of hint so he could make his own choice?
‘Am I overthinking this?’
It’s just a world in a book, after all. But I had come to like Shin Haejun, and this world felt too much like the real world. The longer I stayed, the less I could feel the difference from the real world. Except for the existence of dungeons, Espers, and guides, it was an incredibly similar world.
So I couldn’t think of people as mere characters. If it had just been a game, I would have proceeded without a second thought, but I strongly felt like I was deceiving the ‘person named Hyun Dowoon’ in front of me, so I couldn’t bring myself to make the choice.
But I couldn’t guarantee whether Hyun Dowoon would understand properly, or if I could convey only the appropriate information adequately. Wouldn’t it just cause more confusion?
“You’re worrying about something, aren’t you?”
While I was hesitating, Hyun Dowoon asked me. There was a gentle smile on his face. Although the surroundings weren’t bright, his features were so distinct that the shadows on his face seemed to contrast strongly. It made him seem even more mature.
“Well, you see…”
“You can speak comfortably.”
“Um… There might be a way to escape from here. But to use that method, I need your consent, Center Director.”
“I consent to anything.”
Hyun Dowoon answered without hesitation.
“Please think carefully before answering. I’m going to explain what it is now…!”
“My thoughts haven’t changed about consenting to anything.”
“No, why…!”
“I’ve been regretting it all along. For not properly listening when you kept trying to talk and asked me to share my true feelings…”
As I cried out in frustration, Hyun Dowoon said something unexpected.
“I can’t see anything else now. I’ve realized that I need to prioritize you above everything else.”
“What?”
“Whatever you want, that’s my wish.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
