Chapter 22
Feeling like his circuits had stopped.
Baek Doha felt exactly that way.
‘Why on earth are you here?’
In front of him was Yoo Yi-joo. It was the first time he’d seen her face since they’d fought and parted ways.
This must surely be a deep place…
“Why are you here?”
Yoo Yi-joo asked, looking flustered. Baek Doha wanted to ask the same, but Yoo Yi-joo spoke first.
Yoo Yi-joo silently looked at the quiet Baek Doha and reached out her hand.
“Let’s go back together.”
Her face was stiff as she said this.
“Go alone.”
“…Why?”
Yoo Yi-joo’s eyes wavered at the immediate response.
Baek Doha neither looked at those eyes nor answered. Instead, he stood up, staggering.
“Wait a moment!”
“Don’t come.”
As Baek Doha stepped back warily, Yoo Yi-joo’s hand stopped in mid-air.
In fact, even the S-rank Baek Doha didn’t have the strength to go far at this moment.
“You can’t catch me anyway.”
Fortunately, Yoo Yi-joo didn’t know this fact.
“So go back first.”
“…Can’t we go together?”
Yoo Yi-joo asked, taking a step closer.
Baek Doha turned away from that question, which seemed almost desperate.
As he tried to take a step, Yoo Yi-joo’s expression became urgent.
“Okay. I won’t do anything.”
She took a step back and raised both arms as if to show she wouldn’t do anything.
It seemed like he had seen such a gesture from her once before. When was that? Baek Doha’s thoughts, which had been traveling far back in time, were interrupted then.
Kuguugu—!
“…?”
The ground where Yoo Yi-joo was standing suddenly began to shake.
Kuguugu—!
The ground rumbled low, sending a warning.
“Ah.”
Yu I-ju turned around, seeing her shadow on the ground being completely covered.
‘A serpent…’
A serpent that had been buried in the ground revealed itself.
Seeing the serpent’s head tilting, Baek Doha reached out his hand.
“Yoo Yi-joo!”
Puk!
But his hand couldn’t quite reach Yoo Yi-joo.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Before he could even feel the strangeness, his arm was grabbed and pulled by another hand.
In front of his frozen eyes stood an unharmed Yoo Yi-joo.
“Got you.”
💎
I firmly grasped Baek Doha’s wrist and inwardly caught my breath.
‘It’s damn hard to catch an S-rank.’
Looking up, I saw Baek Doha in a dumbfounded state.
“H-how……”
He seemed truly bewildered, just staring blankly at the corpse sprawled on the floor.
Did he think I couldn’t defeat such a serpent when I’ve killed swarms of them before?
“Let’s go back together.”
He underestimated me too much.
I spoke seriously while holding Baek Doha’s hand.
‘Whatever it is, going back is the right thing to do.’
Rather than being alone in that state like before, it would be better to call Lim Yuchan or Cha Si-hyeon to stay by his side.
Baek Doha’s gaze, looking into my eyes, trembled very slightly.
“I can’t go.”
But his answer was nothing if not firm.
I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly before asking.
“Is it because of your eyes?”
Baek Doha’s black eyes wavered again, as if disturbed.
Judging by Baek Doha’s reaction, it seemed like his changed eye color might be a weakness, but I had no intention of prying into that.
The problem was that Baek Doha looked like he might die right in front of me.
“Hide your eyes. I’ll help you since I’ve already found out anyway. So don’t be stubborn-“
“That’s not it.”
Baek Doha dropped his head.
“I can’t move.”
“……”
“I don’t have the strength to move.”
I could only freeze at his words. To that extent? If his body was that bad…
“It would be faster if you go and call either of the two.”
Baek Doha spoke calmly even while gasping for breath.
I stood up, becoming calm along with him.
“I’ll call them.”
“Okay.”
“You’ll really be here, right?”
But a strange anxiety gripped my ankle.
The anxiety clung to my ankle, making my steps progressively slower.
‘Can he hold out until I call for help?’
Finally, unable to shake off the anxiety, I stopped in my tracks.
And turning back, I ran again to Baek Doha, who was burying his head in the ground, groaning in pain.
Hearing my footsteps, Baek Doha raised his head, saw me, and frowned.
“Why did you come back……”
“Can I ask you one thing?”
I cut off his words and asked. There was no answer.
I couldn’t tell if he lacked the energy to respond or was just ignoring me, but I just opened my mouth.
“By any chance, that S-class potion you said you used on me. Were you carrying it to use here?”
“……”
Again, there were no words, but I could tell that the meaning of this silence was different from before.
“I see.”
You were going to use that S-grade recovery potion here.
‘Right, I thought it was too lucky.’
I finally understood. It wasn’t mere coincidence that he had it; he had originally intended to use it on himself.
And despite that, he used it on me…
“Are you crazy?”
Haha. Baek Doha laughed out loud at being cursed at.
“I’ve never heard that except from Cha Si-hyeon.”
“Liar.”
Anyone can see you’re crazy.
For one thing, the fact that you don’t feel out of place between Cha Si-hyeon and Lim Yuchan proves it even more.
“…Why did you save me at your own expense?”
I could have survived without the S-grade potion. I had a sub-quest, after all.
Of course, maybe I recovered faster thanks to the S-class potion.
But enduring a few more hours in the darkness where I couldn’t see was nothing compared to Baek Doha’s condition.
But why…
“You asked for help for a month.”
At his answer, I could only freeze.
The memory of my first meeting with Baek Doha flashed through my mind.
I remembered that day when he raised both hands, saying he wouldn’t be harmful, so please accept him.
‘I…’
It feels a bit miserable. If this is the price for begging to live while knowing I’d be a burden, isn’t it disgustingly expensive?
“You don’t need to make that face.”
“……”
“I’ll be fine in a week.”
He said as if to comfort me. But with a heart that couldn’t be happy at all, I stared into space.
‘A week…’
He said it would be fine in a week. The blue window, more spiteful than ever, filled my vision.
▸Time limit: 12 hours
▸Failure: Death
I tried to raise my head, which was gradually drooping.
The system window sparkled in the air, urging me to save Baek Doha.
Maybe it was because I was annoyed by the letters imposing on me, I spoke to the system even though I knew it wouldn’t listen.
“I would have done it even without the quest.”
“What?”
Without answering his question, I clasped his hand.
“I clearly told you to go first-!”
“Didn’t you know? I don’t usually listen well.”
Seemingly flustered by my sudden words, Baek Doha tried to shout something but choked.
“Baek Doha, I have one request.”
I could see blood flowing through the gaps in his fingers. I raised his hand over my neck. Baek Doha’s eyes slowly widened.
“Hit me until I’m about to die.”
“What?”
“If you can’t, knock me out or something.”
He frowned deeply.
“What are you saying now……”
I wanted to get an answer, but such luxury was long gone. I slowly knelt down and closed my eyes.
He clearly said he could take everything. Then…
[Using unique skill, ‘What’s Yours is Mine (-)’]
“Yoo Yi-joo…?”
[Successfully stolen the abnormal status of target, Baek Doha (S)!]
💎
[SYSTEM] Your physical condition has drastically deteriorated!
‘How did you endure this?’
That was my first thought after stealing his abnormal status with my skill.
If the pain from nearly dying by the monster was like having a knife stabbed into my heart, this was like being slashed all over my body to the brink of death.
I couldn’t tell which was worse, but both were damn painful.
My head went numb with pain that felt like stabbing and scratching all over my body.
Amidst the pain, I coughed, and blood burst out.
Worried that the blood would soak Baek Doha’s clothes, I quickly covered my mouth. But even that action seemed too much, and the blood I tried to contain kept flowing through the gaps in my fingers.
‘Crazy bastard.’
My hands trembled. I don’t know what he was thinking, feeding me the S-grade potion.
Indeed, Baek Doha is quite the madman too.
Meanwhile, my vision kept blurring and clearing. I gritted my teeth and endured.
‘The sub-quest should appear…’
I had to go to the black zone where I could recover my physical condition.
The reason was obvious.
In that dark space, there were no skill restrictions, and I didn’t get tired.
That was my only means of protecting Baek Doha.
The problem was that the dungeon guide seemed to activate only when the body was injured beyond a certain level, and now it didn’t seem to meet that criteria.
The time I could steal the abnormal status with my skill was 15 minutes.
‘I need the sub-quest to come within that time to completely take away the abnormal status.’
My physical condition needs to worsen to the brink of death right now. Slowly deteriorating like this was of no use.
And the only being who could finish me off here was…
“Baek, Doha.”
Only Baek Doha.
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
