Chapter 69

I felt Joo Seowon’s lips, tense and rigid with nerves, under mine. Obviously this wasn’t a stunt—once I confirmed with my tongue that I’d passed him the Stealth Orb, I pulled back.

At some point his hand had clamped hard around my arm.

I turned my head, found his ear—the rest of him was only an outline thanks to the stealth item—and spoke there.

“Since it’s a stealth item, keep it in your mouth. Don’t swallow.”

“......”

“I need a status report, but you can’t talk right now, so I’m going to touch you a bit.”

“......”

“So don’t freak out and give away our position—or I’ll kill you. Got it?”

I felt his head nod against the hand holding his cheek in place while I whispered at his ear.

The skill would last about seven minutes and thirty seconds. With visibility this bad, it was better to conserve mana for defense instead of wasting it on attacks.

'Song Hwayoung will find us long before then.'

I did have that much faith in an A-rank hunter.

First priority was checking whether Seowon was hurt. My damned covenant felt like it was about to squeeze my heart to death....

I ran my hands up from his shin, feeling along his leg as he sat curled on the floor.

'Legs are fine. Guess he just lost strength and sank down.'

Abdomen was fine, and if he understood me, it wasn’t a concussion.

'So the standard really is psychological.'

And thankfully, seeing me seemed to have eased him a little; the fear strangling his chest gradually ebbed. When I laid my hand over his heart to check, it was pounding on the edge but within normal range.

As soon as I checked his heartbeat, he grabbed my forearm with shaking fingers and violently shook his head. I stared at him, not following—and his heart, which had been calming, started racing again.

'Fuck, is he spooked by me?'

I was briefly dumbfounded and whispered to him again.

“Seowon. I’m on your side—are you kidding me?”

He just pried my hand off and curled up tighter.

...What did he expect me to do.

Not that I had time to keep being annoyed.

Flaaash!

The world went white in an instant—A-rank hunter, approaching fast.

—KIEEEEEK!!!

Thump! Roll...

The space washed over with white light. A hideous scream and the heavy thud of something tumbling followed immediately. The answer was obvious.

As my vision returned, I pushed up and turned my head—of course, there was Song Hwayoung.

“Damn, that one’s on me....”

Wearing a faintly embarrassed look, she had a foot planted on the gargoyle’s head, staring our way.

“D-rank dungeon, huh.... I got complacent. Didn’t think the temple would crumble this easily.”

Like she was punting a soccer ball, she booted the gargoyle’s head outward, then drove a blade into its back where it lay.

Her weapon shifted freely between staff and sword; she switched between suppression and killing as she pleased. Splitting the gargoyle’s back with the sword, she fished out an item, studied it for a second, then tucked it into her coat.

“I’ll have it appraised outside and compensate you properly.”

When she swept her hair back, her face showed zero guile. I’d wondered if she’d engineered this situation somehow, but apparently not.

'Right—she’s not as much of a psycho as Im Haekyung.'

I stood and offered a hand to Seowon. He looked up at me, then gripped my hand hard. As I pulled him to his feet, the Stealth Orb’s effect was crystal clear to my eyes.

'Neat.'

Sensing something off, Hwayoung glanced toward Seowon and narrowed her eyes slightly.

“An item?”

“Yes.”

While I answered, Seowon spat the orb into his palm and brushed dust from his filthy pants.

I kept filling in for him.

“It’s a stealth-type item.”

“That sounds like something you should be using, Hunter Seo.”

“I trusted you, Guildmaster.”

At my casual reply, Seowon’s eyes flicked to me. Instead of handing the orb back, he slipped it into the space-saving box strapped to his thigh.

“Hunter Joo, you okay?”

“...Yes.”

He gave a short answer and took a short, shaky breath.

He didn’t look great in several ways—but physically, he was fine, regardless of whatever was going on in his head.

I glanced at the Status Window hovering in front of me.

D-rank Gate – Desolate Garden

Clear Complete

As expected: cleared.

Hwayoung must have felt it too, because she gave us an order.

“Let’s head out.”

“Yes.”

Following her toward the Gate, I took one last look around the dungeon. The chill in the air from earlier had vanished completely with the monsters’ deaths.

'So that wasn’t just an aura—it was mana.'

Seowon trailed behind in silence, face hovering somewhere between pale and faintly flushed.

Finally, outside the Gate, a couple of cops and two reporters waited for us.

“Go wait in the car. Use some potion if you’re injured.”

“Yes, Guildmaster.”

While Hwayoung stepped away for a quick interview, Seowon and I headed for the car.

The moment we hit the back seat, he handed the Stealth Orb back to me.

“Here.”

I pocketed it and gave him a once-over. He looked fine on the surface, but he’d never stayed this quiet for this long, so it was hard to be objective.

I pulled a potion from the back and passed him one, then took one myself. No major trauma—just bruises and scrapes. The potion would be enough.

We knocked them back in tandem and sat for a bit, when he suddenly spoke.

“I... this whole—like... life-or-death thing? Dungeons? I hate them.”

“There’s life-or-death outside, too.”

“......”

So the trauma was the dungeon itself? He turned to me at that, then suddenly shoved me hard.

'What the—?'

Face twisted, he fired off words like a machine gun.

“I really don’t get you, fuck. Just say what you’re thinking, for once—please.... You bastard!”

“You finally lost it....”

Save his life and get cursed out—nice.

I let the swearing go in one ear and out the other and cut straight in.

“Do you have dungeon trauma?”

“......”

“Doesn’t seem like the problem is mortal danger. You deal with that all the time outside. You just don’t want to enter a dungeon, right?”

If he’d told me ahead of time, I wouldn’t have wasted effort. I cracked my stiff neck and just stared at him.

He met my eyes, flinched slightly, but kept his mouth shut. I watched him like that for about ten seconds, then looped an arm around his neck and squeezed, eyes locked on his.

“Urgh!”

He let out a short groan, but I pressed harder.

Even if I wanted to cooperate nicely, if he clammed up about his own issues and kept everything secret, situations would spiral out of control later—just like this.

The vague irritation I’d been holding since yesterday spiked all at once.

“Hey, you little shit... Seowon.”

“Kh—ugh....”

“Fuck, how was I supposed to know the covenant worked like that? If you don’t feel safe, it clamps down immediately.”

I stared into his eyes, then shut mine briefly and opened them again. With us pressed so close, every reaction was obvious.

The bloodshot eyes from lack of air. The flushed face. But his hands clutching my torso weren’t putting much strength into it.

'Still spooked.'

Shouldn’t have written the covenant that way.... No—before that, I need to know what his problem actually is.

In the original, he went into dungeons just fine with Kwon Taehan. So what’s snagging him at this timing? Or was he just as scared back then?

'No clue.'

I looked straight at him and asked,

“Seowon. What are you afraid of? The dungeon? Why?”

“Haah—ugh—kh...!”

“And you still won’t tell me why Damyeon and Cape Prime are after you? The info flow is completely lopsided here.”

I loosened my arm—not enough to make him pass out, just enough to coax an answer.

He burst into coughing.

I watched him hack and turned my eyes out the window. Still mid-interview.

“You fucking bastard!”

Eyes watering from reflex, he glared at me and spat the curse. Goddamn.

Rubbing his red neck, he stared straight at me.

“You’re the one with the weird info. That ice skill—seriously? How many skills do you have?”

“So what if someone has multiple skills?”

“It’s not common to have ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) several from different types! And your goals—fuck. They don’t add up.... You’re the one who won’t tell me anything!”

“Didn’t we already cover that? There are things I can’t say.”

There wasn’t a covenant on it, but the penalty hit harder than one. I shoved my messy hair back, annoyed—and he suddenly grabbed my collar and yanked me close.

“You little—”

“Fuck... you—psychopath!”

“You’re out of your mind.”

His hand on my collar trembled as he demanded,

“Why are you okay letting Guildmaster Song Hwayoung die?”

“What do you think? The future I know is limited. If I change too many big beats, it becomes hard to manage. And let go.”

“That makes it more suspicious! So joining SH was just for some short-term safety? Who the hell told you to stop the apocalypse? Why would anyone pick you? None of this lines up.”

“For fuck’s sake, Seowon!”

The constant demands for explanations I couldn’t give made irritation claw up my throat. I pried his hand off by force and clamped his jaw.

His gaze, which had been locked on mine, dropped.

'Should I just eat the penalty and spill it? He’s not going to let this go.'

When my grip tightened and he winced, he grabbed my wrist hard and tore it away.

“Seowon. Why are you so obsessed with my motives? You weren’t like this at first.”

“......”

“Whether it’s conviction or someone ordering me, what’s it to you? And didn’t we already say it back then? I can’t—”

“Seo Jehyun.”

He cut me off cleanly and spoke.

“I’ll break your covenant for you.”

I honestly... didn’t expect him to be the one to say that.