Chapter 20
[SYSTEM] Sub Quest-2 [Monster Returning the Favor]
▸There’s an injured monster in front of you, surely you’re not going to leave it behind? Let’s take care of the monster for two days. It might repay the favor.
…Should I call this uncanny?
It was a quest that seemed to read my mind. And why was the reward listed like that?
[SYSTEM] Do you accept ‘Sub Quest-2’? (Y/N)
As I stared blankly at the blue window, Baek Doha frowned.
“Aren’t you getting up?”
It seemed like he would leave me behind if I didn’t get up immediately.
Looking at the white bundle curled up weakly, I turned to Baek Doha.
“Can we take it with us?”
“What?”
“We can’t just leave it alone in this harsh dungeon, can we?”
Baek Doha blinked, then spoke as if realizing he hadn’t misheard.
“It seems stronger than you, Yi-joo-ssi.”
That hit the nail on the head.
Of course, it was a baby wolf, but… I scratched my cheek, looking at the pile of spider monster corpses.
“Still, it seems weaker right now.”
It looked like it was struggling to move due to its injured leg.
Muttering softly, I reached out towards the creature curled up.
“I don’t know what foolish thoughts you’re having, but monsters aren’t meant to be handled by humans—”
Baek Doha stopped mid-sentence when he saw me.
More precisely, when he saw my hand that the wolf had bitten with a “chomp”.
“……”
“……”
“I-It’s okay. It didn’t bite hard, maybe because it’s exhausted.”
Perhaps I tried to touch it too abruptly, and it bit me without warning. Luckily, when I gently pulled my hand away, it came out easily.
However, saliva was dripping from my fingertips.
‘My fingers…’
Looking at my hand glistening with saliva, I just shook it vigorously.
Watching this scene a bit pitifully, Baek Doha spoke.
“You can’t even protect yourself, and you want to take it with you?”
“Ah, what I mean is just for a moment-“
“It’s unnecessary compassion.”
I stopped as I was about to speak to persuade him.
‘What?’
For a moment, I wondered if I had misheard and turned my head. Baek Doha’s expression, as I looked up, was a bit colder than before.
Somehow, that look felt unfamiliar. After a moment of hesitation, I carefully spoke.
“Can I ask you something?”
“…What?”
“Why did you avoid me?”
It was a question I had wanted to ask for a while.
I wanted to ask why he was talking to me as if nothing had happened after avoiding me so much, but I held back.
If Baek Doha avoided me again, there was nothing I, an F-grade, could do until he chose to appear himself.
Nevertheless, the reason I deliberately asked this, and at this timing, was because I hoped this unfamiliar feeling I had about him was a misunderstanding.
“…Instead of asking such things, get up.”
This wasn’t the answer I was hoping for.
“Answer me.”
“Yoo Yi-joo.”
He called my name at my persistence. In the past, I might have flinched, but,
“What do you mean by ‘such things’?”
“Get up.”
“Just answer my question.”
Now, Baek Doha didn’t seem so frightening to me.
Seeing that I showed no signs of listening, Baek Doha finally frowned.
Rather than feeling intimidated by this, I just felt dejected.
‘Why am I picking a fight?’
Thinking about it, it wasn’t unfamiliar at all.
“If you can’t save it, don’t stay here out of useless compassion. That’s what I mean.”
‘Don’t try anything foolish.’
Maybe I had forgotten because he had become comfortable with me.
Baek Doha clearly warned me sternly and with a cold expression on the day we first met.
Yes, come to think of it, now it was very similar to then.
‘Why?’
After that, he had drawn a line but hadn’t been sharp. So why was he so angry now?
I understood there was no need to take the monster with us at the cost of our safety, but I didn’t think he was the type to speak so harshly, so it was hard to understand.
‘Does he dislike the idea of taking the monster that much?’
Of course, I knew too. Taking this child with us was purely my selfish desire.
If we left it here, it would die, and that would be the end. But still…
“I survived because of that compassion too, you know.”
Maybe because our situations were similar, such shallow emotions held me back.
After all, if they hadn’t shown compassion, I wouldn’t be here either.
“Are you going to take it as a pet? Can you even raise it in the first place?”
“What if I can?”
I didn’t plan to keep it for long anyway. It’s a monster after all, and it probably wouldn’t want to stay with me forever either.
“Ha. A rookie with no fighting experience, in this dangerous dungeon where anything could jump out at any time?”
He sneered. Feeling unnecessarily upset, I stood up abruptly.
“……?”
And I couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Why are your eyes……”
Baek Doha’s eyes, which I faced, were a different color. Not the usual green hue, but an utterly ordinary black.
The eyes I had thought were dazzling now bore a completely common color.
At my surprised mumble, Baek Doha’s eyes slowly widened, then he hesitated and stepped back. Like someone frightened.
But what was even stranger was that Baek Doha’s face showed a truly noticeable expression of bewilderment.
No, beyond bewilderment, it was a face of dismay.
‘……Why?’
I couldn’t understand. At his reaction, as if he had exposed his bare face, I stood frozen, staring at him.
Baek Doha’s lips moved, but he couldn’t utter any words.
Instead, he turned his back to me, as if fleeing. It was then that I reflexively reached out to Baek Doha.
“What are you two doing there?”
Lim Yuchan was watching us from the opposite side.
“I came out because I couldn’t see you, and……”
Lim Yuchan looked at Baek Doha once, then at me, and said,
“What are you both doing here?”
He seemed to have just come out of the cave.
Should I say it’s fortunate?
“Baek Doha, why are you covering your face since earlier?”
“Ah……”
“Did something happen?”
Well. That wasn’t the important thing right now.
I almost reflexively reached out and grasped Baek Doha’s face.
His lips, which had been moving in a state of complete confusion, closed. Instead, his eyes grew larger.
“Ah, something got in his eye, so I was helping him. Are you okay? Not yet? Let me see.”
Baek Doha clearly seemed reluctant to reveal his changed eye color.
Since it seemed he was hiding it from Lim Yuchan too, I blurted out whatever came to mind, pretending to help.
Meanwhile, I pretended to blow on his eyes, as if to help.
The eyes I saw up close were clearly confirming that I hadn’t seen wrong.
“Oh my, I’m not sure if it’s okay. Go wash it with water quickly.”
Speaking as if worried, I forcibly pushed the back of the seemingly extremely flustered Baek Doha.
I didn’t know what was going on, but this was the best I could do.
“……Okay.”
Whether Baek Doha thought the same, or was just following my words, he hesitated for a moment before moving his feet.
As I was watching his retreating figure, Lim Yuchan’s voice was heard.
“You say something got in his eye?”
As I turned my head, Cha Si-hyeon was making an expression as if he had heard something unbelievable.
“……Why, can’t something get in a person’s eye?”
“He’s the kind of guy who wouldn’t even blink if dirt got in his eye.”
Is that possible? I was puzzled by Lim Yuchan’s cool assessment.
If anything, he seemed more like that kind of person himself.
Swallowing those words for fear of being nitpicked, I turned my head. Baek Doha had already moved and was no longer visible.
‘……I wonder if he’s okay?’
That was something I couldn’t know. We just met after a long time, and now we’re fighting?
“It’s unnecessary sympathy.”
As I was messing up my hair, feeling unnecessarily complicated, Lim Yuchan’s voice softly resonated.
“But what’s this monster?”
Following his gaze to the ground, I saw the wolf still there with its injured leg. Ah, right, it was here……
Realizing belatedly and sighing, Lim Yuchan asked.
“Are you going to eat it?”
……What is there to eat on this thing?
“That’s not it……”
As I was about to refute immediately with disgust, I looked at the wolf cub. As Baek Doha said, I am weak. But.
“That’s not it?”
“I’m going to take it with us.”
[SYSTEM] You have accepted ‘Sub Quest-2’.
I should be able to protect at least this one, right?
💎
“What the hell is that dog?”
As soon as I brought the monster, Cha Si-hyeon’s expression became very sour.
“Don’t say ‘dog’ in front of the kid. And it’s not a dog, it’s a wolf.”
After a brief rebuke, he asked in a tone of utter incomprehension.
“Why did you bring it? To eat it? It doesn’t even have much meat.”
“No, that’s not it!”
I denied it in shock at Cha Si-hyeon’s outrageous question.
Why do both Lim Yuchan and Cha Si-hyeon only think of it as food?
“It hurt its leg, so I was thinking of just treating it and letting it go.”
Cha Si-hyeon’s expression became subtle. It was a reaction as if he had heard something unbelievable.
‘Is it that strange to bring in an injured animal?’
Should I be happy or sad that my only ally is the quest?
Scratching my cheek, I looked down at the white bundle. At first it was resisting, but now it seemed exhausted and was lying limp.
In its current state, it doesn’t seem like it could harm anyone, so can’t we just keep it until it gets better?
‘Since I’ve already accepted the quest, I can’t give up anyway.’
Passing by Cha Si-hyeon and Lim Yuchan, I entered the cave and first took out my old clothes from the inventory.
Ripping a part that wasn’t stained with blood, a small piece of cloth was created. But it was enough to bind the small monster’s leg.
‘Good thing I kept it.’
Actually, I had just kept it because there was nowhere to throw it away, but I didn’t know it would be useful like this.
After finishing the hemostasis, I turned my gaze to the wolf’s nape. As I was staring intently at the strange pattern embedded on its back, a voice came from behind.
“Are you going to name it?”
“……A name?”
It was Cha Si-hyeon.
I was a bit surprised because he approached without making any sound, but perhaps because I’ve gotten used to this too, I didn’t add any words.
“I thought it might need a name since you brought it.”
“I’m only keeping it for two days……”
I hesitated unnecessarily at his nonchalant words.
▸47:42:23 until ‘Sub Quest-2’ ends
I glanced at the system window and then looked down at the wolf.
‘Well, maybe it would be more convenient to have a name.’
Come to think of it, nothing is sadder than being nameless. With the mindset of giving it a temporary name, I started to rack my brain.
Since the kid looks like a cotton ball……
‘Ah.’
A light bulb lit up in my head.
“How about Mungchi?”
Cha Si-hyeon gave me a look that said, “Are you serious?” Why, what? Got a problem with that?
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
