Chapter 6
“You’re back?”
As we emerged from the forest, Baek Doha and Cha Si-hyeon came into view.
Baek Doha looked at Lim Yuchan once, then at me, and after a moment, smiled faintly.
“Looks like something happened.”
…Something happened?
‘Yeah, something like me almost dying.’
Lim Yuchan helped me.
Very gratefully, he personally pulled me out of the water and saved my life.
If he had helped before I fell into the water, I would have been really grateful, but I decided to forget about that.
It was my choice to go into the forest, and my carelessness that got me caught.
Behind Baek Doha, I could see Cha Si-hyeon’s back moving busily.
“What are you doing?”
“We caught a deer that was wandering nearby. We need to eat too.”
Baek Doha explained on behalf of Cha Si-hyeon, who was busy preparing the dead deer.
“I see.”
Come to think of it, we haven’t eaten anything since we fell here.
“Sit down. It’ll be done soon, just need to grill it.”
I was about to ask who would handle the grilling when I noticed Lim Yuchan rolling up his sleeves, so I held my tongue.
Well, who else would grill it when we have a living fire here.
I suddenly realized that to survive here, I had no choice but to stick with them.
Although I’m annoyed at Lim Yuchan for watching me struggle despite being able to help…
‘I guess we’re even since I cursed at him.’
I was surprised at my own sincerity for a moment.
Fortunately, Lim Yuchan didn’t say anything.
He even smiled.
Perhaps because I was staring too intently, Lim Yuchan turned his head.
Our eyes met, and as I was about to look away in embarrassment, Lim Yuchan asked first.
“Aren’t you going to sit?”
A calm question, as if everything that just happened was a lie.
I hesitated for a moment before answering.
“…I’ll sit.”
Let’s take a breather for now.
But why has he been speaking informally since earlier?
I desperately wanted to confront him about it, but feeling guilty, I didn’t.
“C-rank, you look terrible.”
Instead, I responded dryly to Cha Si-hyeon’s provocation.
“I know.”
How could I look fine after all that?
Of course, Lim Yuchan had completely dried my wet clothes, but even an S-rank like him couldn’t do anything about my haggard face.
“Hyung-nim, that’s burned.”
“It won’t kill you to eat it.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
See? How could I be in my right mind with all this?
I sighed as I watched the S-rank burning, no, grilling the deer.
Fortunately or unfortunately, only half of it was burned, so there was still something to eat.
Baek Doha approached me and offered some meat that wasn’t deboned, saying,
“We’ll have to walk soon, so it’s better to eat a lot.”
Walk?
Before I could ask what he meant, Baek Doha turned to Lim Yuchan.
“Hyung-nim, stop burning it and eat.”
“I’m not burning it, I’m grilling it.”
“If it’s grilled until it’s black, that’s just burned.”
‘I’ll ask later.’
Thinking there was no need to ask right away, I stuffed my mouth with deer meat.
“…!”
Was it because I was hungry?
It was surprisingly delicious.
The feeling was really strange. To think I’d be eating meat here that I rarely ate because it was expensive. As I chewed the deer meat with a troubled mind, Cha Si-hyeon patted my shoulder.
“By the way, where did you go?”
He sure asks quickly.
Lim Yuchan shrugged as he peeled off the burned surface of the meat.
“When I woke up and you were gone, I thought you had left me behind, so I went to look for you.”
“You thought we abandoned you?”
“Didn’t you?”
“I don’t know about them, but I’m not that inconsiderate.”
That’s funny.
You’re all the same.
Seeing my expression, Cha Si-hyeon let out a dry laugh.
“It’s true. I was actually surprised when you disappeared while I was killing some monsters nearby.”
“…You were nearby?”
“Yeah. I feel wronged, you know.”
It was so dark then that I didn’t think to look far.
‘Well, at least they didn’t abandon me.’
I guess they wouldn’t just leave me behind like that.
“I misunderstood the situation earlier. I’m sorry. But is there any water around?”
“Water?”
“My throat is dry from eating only meat…”
Would it be strange if there was?
I was about to say never mind when Lim Yuchan, looking around, pointed at something.
“Drink that.”
That…
“Isn’t that monster venom?”
It was the corpse of the snake monster we killed on the first day.
That’s not a drink… Is he serious?
“Ah, Hyung-nim! She’s C-rank! She’s weak, remember?”
“That’s right, venom is dangerous for a C-rank.”
Baek Doha nodded, unusually agreeing with Cha Si-hyeon. At least these two some common sense…
“Should we give her blood instead?”
Common sense my foot. Give me what?
“Yeah, give her that at least.”
Cha Si-hyeon held out his hand.
“……”
These three are all out of their minds.
‘Can I… really survive with these lunatics?’
I felt truly at a loss.
💎
We finished eating and all moved into the forest together.
This was because Baek Doha and Lim Yuchan said they had found a cave and suggested moving our quarters there.
‘So this is what walking means.’
Early yesterday morning, it was not only dark but I was also disoriented, so I couldn’t look around carefully. But as we entered deeper into the forest, the air felt open and clear.
Although this place was said to be a dungeon, walking leisurely like this felt like, how should I put it, a forest path you’d visit on the weekend for healing. As we passed between the grand, towering trees, a question arose in my mind.
“By the way, are there no monsters in this cave?”
In response to my question, Lim Yuchan silently nodded.
His confident nod rather increased my suspicion.
Then Baek Doha spoke as if to reassure me.
“There shouldn’t be any monsters, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Although it’s a cave, actually…”
He suddenly trailed off. He looked like he realized his mistake a beat too late.
“You know it’s really too much to leave sentences hanging, right?”
I asked with squinted eyes, but Baek Doha just smiled silently.
Maybe it was because of the sunlight, but my eyes felt a bit dazzled. Damn.
I couldn’t press further and turned my head away.
“More importantly, have you found a way out?”
Cha Si-hyeon, who had been trudging along, looked back just then. Baek Doha shook his head.
“There was no escape gate, nor anything else that stood out. I’m guessing we might have to find and kill the final boss…”
“How can you find the final boss when you don’t know what it is?”
“We’ll just keep killing everything until it shows up.”
Lim Yuchan, who had been listening quietly, suggested such a method.
How many monsters does he think are in this dungeon that he’s talking about killing them all?
“Oh, that’s not bad?”
“Then let’s just kill everything for now.”
“What do you mean it’s not bad?”
But these two guys are agreeing that it’s a good idea.
Is this what all S-ranks are like?
Feeling a sudden distance, I asked a more realistic question.
“What if there is no boss?”
“Then we can’t get out for life.”
…I didn’t ask expecting such an extreme answer.
Is killing everything or living here forever really the only solution these three men could come up with?
I don’t know who dropped me in this kind of place, but…
‘Just wait till I meet you. I’ll definitely kill you.’
As I was walking, inwardly burning with anger, suddenly something hard hit my forehead.
“…?”
When I looked up, there was a broad back.
Lim Yuchan, who had been walking ahead, had suddenly stopped.
“We’ve arrived.”
“What?”
“The cave.”
He gestured with his chin towards a spot.
There really was a cave.
It was not only straight through but also just the right size, enough not to get lost.
‘It really is nice, but…’
Looking around the cave, I couldn’t help but think.
‘What on earth happened here?’
All the trees around here were half blown away, and the grass had scorch marks.
There was even a monster’s corpse, but it was so blackened that it was hard to make out its proper form.
As if it had been engulfed in tremendous flames…
I looked at Baek Doha with eyes, asking for an explanation. When our eyes met, he just smiled innocently.
Seeing that, I thought.
‘Let’s not try to understand.’
It seemed better to give up.
“Let’s go in quickly.”
I just nodded and followed Baek Doha’s steps.
Lim Yuchan was so fast that he was already inside the cave.
‘It’s certainly better than an open space.’
Just as I was heading towards the cave, thinking I might finally be able to rest a bit…
[SYSTEM] ‘Main Quest-3’ triggered!
What?
[SYSTEM] Main Quest-3 [Protect Your New Base]
▸Monsters are targeting your base. Eliminate the threats for your peace of mind.
▸Time limit: None.
▸Failure: Death.
▸Reward: C-rank Skill Selection Ticket (1)
‘Monsters?’
Here?
I stared blankly at the quest with my mouth open.
Didn’t Baek Doha say there weren’t any?
Either Baek Doha’s words were wrong or the quest was wrong, but honestly, if we’re talking about credibility…
“…”
I hurriedly grabbed Cha Si-hyeon, who was stepping into the cave.
“What? Why?”
He looked puzzled.
“That’s what I want to ask…”
I swallowed hard and looked at the cave.
Is it just my imagination that the cave, which looked so comfortable until just a moment ago, now seems eerie?
“Are you sure there are no monsters here?”
“Of course…”
Of course?
“I don’t know, actually.”
I almost stumbled for a moment. Are you kidding me?
“You’re S-rank and you don’t even know that?”
“I usually can sense them, but I can’t feel anything here. So there shouldn’t be any, right?”
Cha Si-hyeon shrugged with a face that didn’t seem to care at all.
‘Can’t feel anything?’
That can’t be right?
Seeing my confused expression, Cha Si-hyeon moved his lips and then sighed.
“Anyway, this dungeon is complicated. Why are you asking that? Do you think there’s something in there?”
“It’s not exactly that…”
The quest told me so.
I bit my lip hard, looking at the window floating in the air.
“If something appears, we’ll just kill it. What’s there to worry about?”
…Ah, so this is the S-rank way of thinking.
Having understood something I didn’t want to understand, I felt my energy draining.
Looking at the eerie cave, I let out a sigh.
‘It’ll be fine, right?’
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
