Chapter 89

< Calm Down (2) >

Crack!

Something broke, and I instinctively opened my eyes. It was Blue, I thought, about to ask what he broke again, but then I saw the table and remembered I was at Yuhwan's house. The TV was on, playing the 9 o'clock news.

...9 o'clock? That brat Yuhwan said he wouldn't sleep when he came home, but he must have fallen asleep eventually. I should have set an alarm instead of just letting him sleep.

I quickly got up and saw Yuhwan sitting on the sofa. He hadn't slept.

“Hey, why didn't you-!”

The words about not waking me up didn't come out. His eyes were pitch black and cold. I could hear the faint growling of the piece on his lap. His hand was crushing a phone.

“Is your hand okay, or of course it's fine...”

I first calmed the piece, which I couldn't feel well, but it seemed to be in a pretty bad state. I didn't know why.

...Actually, there were too many reasons to be angry, so I couldn't tell. What was bothering him? It seemed serious, like Noah.

“Um...”

“I don’t want to hear it from you.”

Yuhwan said firmly and stood up. He threw the broken phone on the table and opened a cabinet. It seemed he hadn't controlled his strength, as the handle broke. Inside were unopened phone boxes.

“What are those?”

“They break easily.”

His voice was far from normal. He seemed to be planning to swap the SIM card, but would it still work? Then, the piece growled again.

Thud

The broken phone and box fell at Yuhwan's feet.

“...Hey.”

“It’s hard to open the packaging.”

He crushed the second phone. A small sigh was heard. He wasn't doing it on purpose, but I felt worried.

“Yuhwan.”

“Just a moment.”

His voice had been flat the whole time. The third phone was taken out unharmed, but the SIM card slot was inserted in the wrong place. His hand holding the slot was trembling slightly. He gritted his teeth at the cracked phone.

“...Do you want me to do it?”

“No.”

And the last phone broke. A heavy silence fell. Yuhwan stared at the crushed phone in his hand, motionless like a wound-up doll.

“Yuhwan, Yuhwan.”

“...”

His reaction was definitely strange. I put the piece on the sofa and stood up. Yuhwan didn't move until I took a step closer.

“Even if you say you don’t want to hear it, I’ll still listen. I didn’t plan to hide it. It would have been obvious anyway, so why hide it? I just forgot. After hearing about you and the piece, I couldn’t stop thinking about you two.”

I had completely forgotten. If I had remembered, I would have prepared an explanation before this happened.

“...You forgot?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what you found out, but it wasn’t a big deal.”

Yuhwan's eyes finally met mine. They were hard with anger, but there was a faint hint of fear.

“How is it not a big deal? The only reason I could relax was because I thought you wouldn’t be in life-threatening danger. At least the higher-level hunters would consider your value and let you live.”

It must be about Noah.

“I didn’t attack you.”

“...You didn’t?”

“No. I wanted to attack someone else.”

The problem is that he sees me as that other person, Riet. Yuhwan exhaled and put the broken phone back in the cabinet.

“Who was it?”

“Did you break the phone without listening? Noah Ruhir. He’s not from our country but the leader of a guild called Arc from overseas.”

He seemed to not know. He frowned and asked me again.

“Are you sure? Did he say anything strange?”

“Strange things?”

“...Like something about a cult.”

Suddenly, a cult? He probably wasn’t talking about a regular cult but one that worships the dungeon system. But that’s not likely to have grown so much yet.

“I don’t know what you mean, but no. It was just a sibling quarrel. I was unlucky to get involved, but Yelim protected me, so I didn’t get hurt much. I got proper treatment. Look.”

There’s no trace now. It wasn’t a serious injury to begin with. Yelim was hurt much more.

“More importantly, what’s this about a cult? Weren’t you worried about other guilds or hunters?”

“I don’t know exactly. ...Like Confucianism?”

“No, that’s not a cult.”

Confucius would be disappointed. Before that, is there anything serious about Confucianism? From Yuhwan’s reaction, it seemed like an SSS-grade monster had appeared.

I was about to ask more, but Yuhwan beat me to it.

“So, is Noah dead?”

“...He’s just restrained, all limbs intact.”

“Not escaped, but intact?”

Yuhwan tilted his head in confusion.

“He was caught without resistance, no deaths, and no unawakened victims. Don’t bother with him, Yuhwan. He’s a pitiful person.”

“Did the Seung guild leader enter the dungeon again?”

“No, he brought a healer.”

“But nothing happened? Are you related to him?”

...Does keeping someone alive mean you’re related? What a stretch.

“He offered to subdue him, but I refused. Anyway, it was a mistake, and he’s behaving now, so leave it alone.”

“See. But what about the bruises on your neck?”

...You noticed that too. At least Yuhwan knew I had the fear resistance skill, so it was easier to explain. I relayed what Song Tae-won said, and though he didn’t look happy, he seemed to understand.

“So, you’ll turn off the fear resistance at home. You’ll face many high-level hunters, so it’s better to keep it on usually.”

“...Try it once.”

“Now?”

It might work. I nodded and turned off the fear resistance skill. There was no immediate difference, just a slightly stronger presence of Yuhwan and the piece. Like the difference between a cat and a civet.

Yuhwan, who was staring at me to gauge my reaction, smiled slightly.

“Nothing seems different.”

“Of course. Just in case, nothing happened in the hospital. It was just a goblin playing around. Even Piyak wasn’t hurt.”

I picked up the piece, who was loitering at my feet. It was almost ten o'clock. Blue must be asleep by now.

“I need to go home. Do you have any more questions?”

“I’ll take you.”

He held out his palm.

“What?”

“Keys.”

He asked as if it was obvious. I placed one of the two remaining front door keys on his palm.

Since it was the building next door, we decided to walk. With Yuhwan and the piece, there was no need to worry about safety.

With the fear resistance off, I felt a slight pressure from an A-grade hunter we met on the way. It was unbalanced to have an S-grade hunter and an A-grade hunter, but it was like that even before the regression. I was more afraid of Kim Sung-han and Seok Si-myeong than Yuhwan.

The SIM card was still working, and there was a phone shop nearby, so Yuhwan bought a new phone and we continued walking. The night air was pleasantly cool.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Just walking together normally. It must have been a while for Yuhwan too, but for me, it’s been an incredibly long time. Maybe because we were near the Hyeyeon guild, no one approached, which made me think of the past even more.

“If the world was the same as before, it wouldn’t have been a while.”

Why did it come to this? I didn’t ask the system administrators. Even if I did, I doubt I would get a proper answer.

“Do you prefer a world without dungeons?”

“Of course. It’s dangerous, after all.”

“People with good skills and stats usually think the opposite. As long as they don’t suffer direct harm.”

That’s true. If I had been A-grade from the start, I might have thought my life was sweet. Now, whether A-grade or S-grade, it’s all tiring.

I was already quite tired and worried about the future. Would everything be fine as the system administrators said, just by gathering 50 people? I was skeptical.

...Suddenly, the future seems bleak. Is this the effect of turning off the fear resistance? All my worries, which I had pushed to the back of my mind, are flooding in.

“Did you get any special rewards from the dungeon?”

I quickly changed the topic. With just two people, and the piece, clearing an S-grade dungeon, the rewards should have been better than usual. Did he get any titles?

Yuhwan hesitated for a moment and took something out of his inventory.

“I got something new, but I don’t know what it’s for.”

In his hand was a small red egg.

“A red egg, an SSS-grade item with only a name.”

“That...”

I’ve seen it before. Before the regression. A series of mysterious eggs that rarely appeared. Red, blue, green, and a few others, but nothing was known about them. They were so hard that nothing could break them, and they were deemed useless.

“I don’t know either. Let me see.”

I took the egg and tried my baby skill, but the keyword didn’t even appear. It didn’t work. Even if growth skills worked, they couldn’t apply to an egg without ears.

I tried the leaf skill, but nothing happened.

“It doesn’t seem to be a regular monster egg. Is it just an item?”

If it were alive, the leaf skill should have worked, but it didn’t.

“Maybe give it to Myungwoo. It might be useful as material.”

“Do as you please.”

As I was about to put the egg in my inventory, the piece showed interest. I held it out, and the piece bit and gnawed at it. It didn’t leave a mark, though. An egg that even S-grade hunters with better stats than now couldn’t damage.

“Don’t drop it.”

-Grind

Even though it was the building next door, the breeding facility was large, and we had to go around the front building, so it took a while. I was worried about Piyak, who hadn’t fallen asleep, and Comet, who would soon wake up, but my steps were slow.

While chatting, we arrived at the breeding facility. Should I ask him to stay? But Comet would be a problem. Maybe I could leave him at the breeding facility for a day. A day should be fine.

Then my phone rang. I checked and saw a message from Song Tae-won.

[Noah Ruhir has disappeared again. Please confirm.]

Again? Why does he keep escaping?

‘...Could he be sitting in front of the mini portal again?’

I felt a chill down my spine. I turned my head to the side. Yuhwan smiled when our eyes met. I turned the fear resistance skill back on. Once I calmed down, I smiled back as if nothing was wrong.

“Yuhwan. Can we go back to the Hyeyeon guild for a day?”

“Huh? Why suddenly?”

“I just want to rest for a day. I’m tired thinking about taking care of the kids if I go in now.”

My brother looked puzzled.

“There’s a breeding facility. There are responsible hunters. Didn’t you leave him there anyway?”

“That’s true, but...”

Damn, what should I do? If I go in and meet Noah, who knows what might happen. Yuhwan might just pass by with a greeting, but I can’t be sure Noah won’t think of his sister when he sees me.

...To face a crisis for two consecutive days, poor my home. How long have we been here?

“Let’s go in.”

“Wait, wait-.”

Yuhwan opened the glass door at the entrance. He didn’t listen to my protests and walked a few steps, then stopped. He tilted his head slightly.

“Unfamiliar presence.”

“My friend... No, an acquaintance’s younger brother!”

“A person with an S-grade hunter as a younger brother? I don’t remember that.”

“Recently, we became friends through social media.”

We became a little closer and then drifted apart. ...Should I mention Riet? Many people heard the call, so it’s pointless to hide it. Why so many things in just a few days?

“Why is he here, especially at night?”

“He visited for monster breeding, um, to show respect...”

How do I explain this? While I was organizing my thoughts, Yuhwan started moving again. Ah, really!

< Calm Down (2) > End

ⓒ Geunseo