“ShutUp, party with us.”
At that moment, a Guide who looked pretty even at a glance approached and spoke to him. Her outfit and staff both looked far better than mine.
There were three people grouped around her already. A party could have up to four members. If ShutUp joined them, I’d be left alone just like this.
But ShutUp ignored the question entirely. Turning his back on her, he sent me a trade request instead. When I accepted it, he placed several high-grade potions inside. There was also a small scroll tucked in with them.
“What’s this?”
I asked in confusion, but the Guide standing next to ShutUp kept going, “Huh? Let’s play together, ShutUp,” her tone sweet and clingy.
ShutUp glanced at her briefly, then raised his hand toward her and tapped the air a few times. Suddenly, she burst out angrily.
“Ah! What the hell! Did you just mute my voice? Wow, unbelievable!”
Ah… so you can just mute someone’s voice right in front of them. Learned something new.
As he walked, ShutUp explained the scroll briefly.
“If you feel like you’re gonna die, just bail.”
It must be a return scroll. Usually, the ones you can use in boss rooms were paid items. It was definitely more efficient than dropping items after dying.
I nodded and followed him. The earlier team of two Psychics and one Guide seemed unable to handle the boss with their current setup—they were just waiting beside the stone gate.
As ShutUp went to open the gate, the Guide who’d approached earlier muttered that he was seriously rude and that guys like him were probably impotent. The sound only reached me, and I let out a quiet snort of laughter. ShutUp glanced at me, then frowned as he noticed the Guide’s lips still moving silently.
“Stop grinning.”
What an asshole.
The moment ShutUp pushed the stone gate open, even though we were still inside the castle, the ground split apart and lava erupted upward. The blazing flames gave off a faint warmth.
Of course, if I’d actually felt the real temperature of that lava, I’d have burned to death instantly. The red glow made my vision slightly blurry, the air warping like heat haze rising from the ground.
Unbothered by the lava, ShutUp walked forward smoothly like before. Thinking I could do the same, I followed—only for my foot to touch the lava with a sharp sizzle. My HP started draining immediately. ShutUp raised a hand to stop me.
“Stay there. You don’t even have fire resistance.”
He probably brought me along because you earned more experience if you stayed within the same area. I nodded and moved as close to the stone gate as possible where there wasn’t any lava.
That’s when I saw something massive moving in the distance. The boss’s body was as enormous as the wide chamber itself. It seemed to be sitting on a throne, but the moment ShutUp approached, it let out a shriek and shot to its feet.
“Huh? Wh-what is that!”
It was huge even sitting down, but standing up, its head nearly vanished into the flames. As it moved toward the center, its shape became clearer.
Above the monster’s head was the name [Amon Lv.70]. An owl’s head, a wolf’s body, and a snake’s tail… it looked like every random creature had been stitched together.
And most importantly, fire spewed from its mouth. I’d never thought owls were scary before, but the way its head rotated 360 degrees while staring made it terrifying.
Even watching from far away, its overwhelming presence made my heart drop—but ShutUp didn’t look fazed at all. He walked forward at the same steady pace as when we first entered. In both hands, he held lightning he’d summoned with electricity.
Wrapped in crackling energy, ShutUp shone even brighter within the flames. The moment red light and blue light clashed—
BOOM!
A thunderous roar exploded through the air.
He leapt into the air and hurled a massive bolt of lightning at the monster. It struck the ground nearby, sounding just like thunder during the monsoon season.
No—far stronger than that. The deafening blast felt like it would tear my ears apart. I covered them and squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t even think about lowering the sound settings—I was too busy panicking at the overwhelming noise and flashes.
I’d once read a review saying Psychics felt like gods, and it was true. He moved freely above the monster’s head, lightly dodging the flames it spewed while driving lightning down into it—as if he’d been waiting for the exact moment it opened its mouth to breathe fire.
The lightning that had been thrown so casually began taking shape like a sharp spear in ShutUp’s hands. Fragments scattered everywhere and smoke from the flames rose thickly as he shot into the air in an instant.
Once the blue spear grew large enough, he pulled his shoulder back and hurled it with all his strength. A fierce wind whipped around it as it flew. The smoke that had clouded the area split cleanly apart the moment the spear launched forward.
“KRAAAH—!”
Amon screamed as it watched the attack approach. The blue spear split into hundreds of needles midair, raining down like a flash of light onto the monster. Electric spikes pierced the ground, and at the same time, red blood burst from Amon’s entire body like fountains.
But it wasn’t over yet. ShutUp began forming a massive sphere of electricity above his head. The surrounding air whipped into a storm as it grew larger in an instant.
Just as I thought it might burst like a balloon, he slammed it down onto the monster’s head. The impact was so powerful that nearby structures shattered, fragments flying everywhere. Even near the stone gate where I was crouched, a huge stone pillar crashed down with a thud! right beside me.
Wow, what the hell… he doesn’t give a damn about me!
Just in case, I pulled out the return scroll, ready to use it.
While I stayed hunched among the debris trying not to get crushed, ShutUp stood calmly within an electric barrier. Whether pillars collapsed or the ground split further to spew more lava, he didn’t seem to care at all.
The monster was already in Faint Mode, so he could’ve just walked over and finished it with a few skills—but ShutUp started forming another electric sphere above his head. The area was already a complete mess, and if he threw that too, the remaining pillars might all collapse.
Panicking, I shouted at him.
“Hey! Stop it! I’m gonna get buried alive! I said stop!”
He didn’t stop. If anything, he was making it even bigger than before.
Seeing that pissed me off. I should’ve spoken nicely since he was clearly worked up, but I didn’t have the luxury. Since he couldn’t hear me anyway, I figured I might as well curse him out.
“You bastard! I’m suffering like this because I got stuck with you! What’s so hard about just giving me a clean carry? Seriously, what’s with your personality! I’m so damn glad I don’t have to deal with someone like you in real life! Take this!”
As I shouted, I flipped him off.
The moment I did, ShutUp suddenly snapped his head toward me. Embarrassed, I quickly straightened my hand and pretended to fix my hair. Meeting his gaze—his eyes glowing blue—sent chills down my spine.
No way… he didn’t hear that, right?
I lowered my head, then slowly raised it again. ShutUp was still glaring at me, electric sphere hovering above his hand. Amid the chaos, his voice slid into my ears as clearly as ASMR.
“What? Bastard?”
…He heard.
During combat, voices apparently switched to whisper mode so partners could hear each other clearly. How was I supposed to know when he barely spoke?
Wait… what?
“You wanna see what a real bastard is?”
ShutUp made a motion like he was about to throw the electric sphere at me. If that hit, wouldn’t I die instantly? I stared at him with a terrified expression. When he swung his arm widely, I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Ah! Don’t!”
I threw my arm forward instinctively—even though there was no way I could actually stop it. Maybe my terrified reaction looked ridiculous, because I heard a faint chuckle near my ear.
Huh? What? Did he just laugh at me?
A thunderous crash echoed from far away as something slammed into the ground. Seems like he didn’t throw it at me after all.
<<You have defeated ‘Amon’.>>
The battle-end message appeared at the center of the screen. My experience shot up instantly, and my body kept flashing nonstop.
And then I saw ShutUp walking toward me slowly. He tapped the air, probably checking the loot.
“Trash drops.”
Even if he was disappointed, I felt amazing as my character kept glowing. When I checked my status window, I’d reached level 28. Wow… thirteen levels from a single boss fight.
As I sat crouched on the ground, ShutUp’s boots came into view in front of me. The electricity had faded from his body, and he looked the same as usual.
“Thanks. I leveled up a lot.”
I looked up at him with a bright smile, but his expression was still sour. He was probably still annoyed about the “bastard” comment.
“Get up.”
I sprang to my feet at his words, brushing dust off myself as I stood. While I was shaking dirt from one sleeve, ShutUp suddenly grabbed both my forearms tightly.
“Huh?”
“Shouldn’t you lower my PG?”
I expected him to grab my hand like before—but instead he stepped closer, pressing his chest against mine. It felt way too close, and just as I tried to lean back, he moved in faster.
Huh?
And then, without warning, he sucked on my lower lip.
Wait… am I being kissed? Before I could even process it, my upper lip was already being claimed too. My body couldn’t move at all, held firmly in ShutUp’s grip like a prisoner tied up. The only thing I could do was try to tilt my head back, but even that reached its limit, leaving me no choice but to give in.
If this were real, my lips would’ve swollen by now. Only after pulling at them relentlessly did ShutUp tilt his head and slide his tongue between my lips. It was my first time feeling another man’s tongue.
Suddenly, I remembered my girlfriend from my early twenties who’d waited for me during enlistment. Back then, we’d shared plenty of passionate kisses like this… and recalling those memories only made me more flustered.
Even as his tongue wrapped around mine, I couldn’t properly resist, frozen like something broken. It felt like only a brief kiss, but suddenly a warning sound rang in my ears.
<<GG has exceeded 95%. Stop the link.>>
The alert snapped me back to my senses. I pushed against ShutUp’s chest to shove him away, but he didn’t budge at all. Instead, he grabbed my cheeks with both hands and pushed his tongue even deeper inside.
