IF Chapter 40

Chapter 40

 

“Yi-joo-ssi!”

Immediately after the situation was resolved and I changed back into my original clothes, Gi Da-in welcomed me as I came out of the bedroom. 

“Are you hurt anywhere? Nothing strange happened to you, right? Did you take the sword with you earlier?”

“I’m fine, so calm down.”

As she grabbed my body and scrutinized me as if looking for injuries, making me break out in a sweat, Cha Si-hyeon, who had just followed, frowned.

“Who’s this?”

Ah, Cha Si-hyeon doesn’t know. Just as I was about to explain, another voice was heard from afar.

“Noona!!”

When I turned around, Lee Cheong-sin was running towards us and…

“…Are you alright?”

Du Mansik was there. No, is this person really worried about me?

Of course, it was a situation to be worried about, but I was a bit surprised thinking there would be someone with a normal mindset in this faction.

However, the one who seemed more perplexed than me here was…

“Why did you gather so many things while I was gone?”

“Haha…”

It seemed to be Cha Si-hyeon, who was making an expression of disbelief.

“Noona, you’re not hurt? Your body’s okay? That bastard didn’t do anything weird, right?”

Even though I wanted to explain something to Cha Si-hyeon, Lee Cheong-sin came close, asking questions.

“Uh…”

As you can see, I’m fine, and the guy with the pattern ripped off is unconscious.

I glanced at the guy who collapsed on the floor behind the open bedroom door and awkwardly turned my gaze away.

But Lee Cheong-sin seemed to take that strangely and looked at me again with worried eyes.

“Noona, I think we should go to a healer first—”

“Get lost.”

The one who interrupted his words was none other than Cha Si-hyeon. Cha Si-hyeon grabbed Lee Cheong-sin’s nape, who was getting close to my face, dragged him, and then threw him back.

“Ugh!”

“Hey! How can you throw a kid like that!”

“Kid? That guy who’s twice your size? He’s a B-rank hunter, what’s there to worry about.”

“What, you know Lee Cheong-sin?”

“Of course. He’s that rich family’s young master. He’s famous for making his father faint when he gave up inheriting the company to become a hunter.”

Why is he famous for something like that…?

“More importantly…”

Cha Si-hyeon exhaled and smiled slightly crookedly.

“Instead of worrying about him, I think it would be better to explain this situation to me.”

From his smile, I could sense Baek Doha’s presence…

Feeling momentarily afraid, I stared blankly at his handsome face and carefully opened my mouth.

“So… I heard that I had to form a faction to survive…”

I brought Gi Da-in, got involved in a fight and entered the 5th rank faction, then got trapped in the 1st rank faction, leading to this current situation.

It didn’t take long to explain all of that.

“Okay, I get it roughly.”

Fortunately, the quick-witted Cha Si-hyeon seemed to let it slide.

“Then let me do that too.”

I tilted my head at Cha Si-hyeon’s sudden incomprehensible words, thinking he was going to let it go.

“Do what?”

“I’m joining your faction too.”

“Ah. My faction… What?”

I blinked blankly. Did I just hear wrong?

“Why. Am I not allowed to join?”

He asked playfully before I could ask back. That’s not it…

It’s just, somehow, I couldn’t believe it.

After moving my lips silently for a while, I asked with difficulty.

“You want to… stay with me?”

“That’s why I came all this way to find you.”

The answer came without a moment’s hesitation. Should I be happy?

[‘Cha Si-hyeon’ has joined the White Moon faction!]

I stared at the unbelievable sentence for a while and then smiled slightly.

“It’s good to see you again.”

Cha Si-hyeon gazed at me for a moment and then turned his head towards one direction. And he jerked his chin towards that place.

“If you’re done, look at that now.”

When I looked at where he pointed, there was a white ball of fur…

“Woof!”

Huh?

“…Mungchi?!”

As soon as I called the name, the large ball of fur sprang from the ground and rushed to hug me as if it had been waiting. As I felt someone catch me from behind when I almost fell backward, I felt warmth while being buried in what seemed to be fur.

[Finding scattered companions (2/4)]

Mungchi was originally a monster living in the previous dungeon, that is, the first dungeon.

I had been deliberately trying not to think about Mungchi after hearing that we had completely moved to the next dungeon…

“It fell into the same space as me, and we’ve been together all this time.”

So you came together.

‘I didn’t know if we could meet again.’

I smiled looking at Mungchi, who seemed to have grown even bigger since I last saw it.

“Have you been doing well?”

Mungchi licked my cheek with its tongue. …It’s wet.

Maybe because it’s been a while since I’ve seen it, the feeling of happiness was greater than the discomfort. I was smiling faintly, letting Mungchi lick various parts of my face, when it happened.

“If you two are done, can you pay attention to me now?”

Another familiar voice was heard from behind. Oh, this voice… I awkwardly raised my head with a creak and blinked a couple of times at the face that came into view.

“Ah…”

And as I blankly exclaimed, he said with a familiar smile.

“It’s been a while.”

[You have reunited with your companion, ‘Baek Doha’!]

[Finding scattered companions (3/4)]

💎

“So, you became the leader of the 1st rank faction?”

We, who met again excluding Lim Yuchan, toured various parts of the 1st rank faction.

At least until we clear this dungeon, we’ll have to survive in this faction, so shouldn’t we memorize the geography? Fortunately, Du Mansik, who had been in the 1st rank faction from the beginning, guided us.

And while doing so, I told Baek Doha about what had happened so far, and he let out a bitter laugh.

“Didn’t you think it was dangerous at all? How could you enter there in place of someone else?”

“But sending in a child under 10 years old is a bit…”

“…..”

Haa… Soon after, a sigh was heard. As I was sneaking a glance, Mungchi stuck close to my side.

“Hey, it’s fine. I’ve already scolded her.”

Cha Si-hyeon surprisingly took my side. As Baek Doha frowned as if he was quite displeased, Cha Si-hyeon added.

“How can you talk so much when you’re late?”

“Someone might think you were incredibly fast. There was barely any time difference between us, you know.”

“You’re late because you couldn’t come faster than me in that small time difference?”

Ah, why are they fighting again when things were going well?

I chuckled as I watched the two of them, always having to have the last word with each other. Maybe it’s because it’s been a while since I’ve heard them bickering so loudly next to me, but I was just glad.

‘By the way…’

I raised my head, using their voices as background.

[Condition for rank advancement: Become number 1 in this dungeon.]

The condition for rank advancement to become number 1 still exists. I thought it meant becoming the top faction, but it doesn’t seem so. What does it mean to be number 1 in this dungeon?

If I think about the strongest person in this dungeon…

‘Baek Doha, Cha Si-hyeon, and Lim Yuchan.’

The terrifying S-ranks who fell into the dungeon with me at the very beginning.

‘Surely it doesn’t mean to surpass those three people and become number 1, right?’

The skills of the three people briefly flashed through my mind.

If I really have to surpass those three, I have no chance of advancing to D-rank.

How could an E-rank beat three S-ranks?

As I was deep in thought, I suddenly felt a hand patting my shoulder. When I turned my head, it was Lee Cheong-sin.

“Hm?”

He had been awkwardly looking around the area from behind, is he uncomfortable about something? I glanced at the two S-ranks and one wolf monster, which I suspected might be the cause of discomfort, then turned back to Lee Cheong-sin.

“Is there a problem?”

“It’s not that… I think I should go now.”

After hesitating, what he said was nothing but a farewell.

‘Ah, I see.’

There was no reason for him to stay here anymore.

I belatedly realized that I didn’t have any kind of relationship with Lee Cheong-sin. After a moment of silence, feeling the others walking ahead, I quietly asked.

“Where are you going?”

“I thought I was going to die for sure, but since I’m alive… I should try to live on.”

“…Do you remember what I said?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked if you wanted to join hands with me, didn’t I?”

Lee Cheong-sin blinked blankly as if wondering why I was saying this.

As I hesitated for a moment, holding back my next words, a fleeting look of ‘could it be?’ passed through his eyes.

“That offer is still valid.”

And at that moment, I opened my mouth.

“Do you want to join hands?”

It was the same question asked in a different place, a different situation.

Will the answer this time be the same, or…

[‘Lee Cheong-sin’ has joined the White Moon faction!]

Will it be different?

💎

Things were quite busy after I became the leader of the 1st rank faction.

First, I had to release the trapped people and deal with the existing members of this faction who came at us.

I brought one person into my faction from the existing faction members, Du Mansik.

Surprisingly, he knew a lot of information about this dungeon itself.

From what I heard, he was working as the head of the education department in the Hunter government in the original world, which I understood to mean he was some kind of government person.

Thanks to his unexpectedly ready agreement when I asked if he would join the faction, there were now five people in my faction, including Gi Da-in.

When that was finished, there was something else to do…

“You say the 2nd rank faction leader contacted us?”

It was then that we received contact from the 2nd rank faction leader.

💎

Thank you for reading! ♡