"Be careful, hyung."
Yoohyun said, grabbing and pulling my arm. A small flame was wavering in front of my boot. Peace stomped on it with his front paw, and put the flame out.
The undead army was melted with Yoohyun's flames. As expected, fire was the best against undead. The black golems that had fire tolerance were broken by Moon Hyuna.
Did it take about ten minutes to massacre them? Since they were gathered together, it ended even faster. If it was an A-Rank team, they would've needed prep work to disperse the army in order to avoid a melee, but in the face of an overwhelming fire power, the headcount was pointless.
"What kind of statue could this have been?"
I tapped the statue that only had the stand left, with my foot. Even the engraved words were damaged, so I couldn't recognize it.
The 2nd floor gate had appeared, but debtor Yerim needed time to pick up magic stones. And the surroundings needed to be safely handled before I could go to the 2nd floor.
Moon Hyuna and Sung Hyunjae had gone up first, and I went inside the castle with the remaining three. It was because I had wanted to look around while there was time.
"There's nothing that I can recognize."
The outside was a normal castle, but the inside was completely empty. There were only a few traces of murals, ceiling decorations, and various sculptures.
"That's why I said there's not much to see."
"Are all the other places like this?"
"All of the places I've been to."
I had wondered just in case, but it was an expected answer. Then again, if there was something there, talk would have come out in the 5 years before the regression.
'The system people's story was like that too, and just looking at Myeongwoo's sunbae, it's obvious that there are other worlds.'
Inside the dungeon, a collapsed city unrelated to our world. I didn't think much of it before. But now, it felt ominous.
It couldn't be that if that certain identity-unknown somebody wasn't blocked, our world would become like this, right?
'Is it really okay with gathering just 50 S-Ranks? Can I trust the system people, seriously?'
Water Droplet and Tree were still okay, but the other people, especially Deer, were completely... But as the current me, I couldn't do anything otherwise. For now, I could only trust and follow them.
I had to trust and follow them, but suddenly I came back to reality.
...I mean, I had just wanted to regress and live comfortably. Why was I in an A-Rank dungeon crowded with S-Ranks? If I had just been 'yeah, okay' when Yoohyun told me to live for just 3 years locked up, um… would that be a ruined world ending after 5 years?
Wasn't there someone else to do it besides me? I should've asked that. Right now was little difficult, and I should ask after going into a suitable F-Rank dungeon with Peace. It shouldn't be nobody but me.
"Hyung, what's the matter?"
"Are you possibly tired?"
When I stared blankly at a heavily damaged mural for a long time, Yoohyun and Kim Sunghan spoke to me worriedly.
"No, I was just… um, well I am a little tired."
Where was my life flowing away to? Would it get easier after gathering the 50 S-Ranks? And I could be through with the special skill Awakening after the system disappears in 10 years.
That's right, let's just endure for 10 years. I just had to be worked to the bone for 10 years.
"Your complexion does not look good – can you walk?"
"Let's stop looking around and go out and rest. Go up on Peace. No, should I lift you up?"
-Geureureung
What were they talking about? I was a stat F-Rank, not an invalid who could die any day.
"I am fine. I'm fine, I can walk."
I looked up at the high remote ceiling one last time.
The decoration that would've been attached had disappeared and the lonely rusted remaining chains rustled from time to time. Would there have been stained glass in that large and open empty space? Or something unusual that you couldn't even imagine could have been installed there.
And at some point, somebody else could come out and have similar thoughts, seeing the rectangular buildings and the damaged billboards.
…Let's stop with the useless delusions.
"I picked all of them up!"
When we went outside, Yerim yelled cheerfully. Of course her hands, but even her face was stained here and there with soot. I thought of a young girl breadwinner who was in debt and was doing manual labor, so I felt a little sad. Though in reality, she was in the middle of getting extra income in units of one hundred million.
"You don't have something like a hand towel?"
"Why would I pack something like that? Even if I brought a box of towels, there would be a lot of times where that wouldn't be enough while going around a dungeon."
That was true. Should I have brought over wet wipes at least?
We passed through the gate and went to the 2nd floor. Under the darkened sky, a city about twice the size of the 1st floor below was in the middle of a desolate location. Unlike the 1st floor, the city wall and the city buildings were relatively fine on the 2nd floor. There were golems swarming outside of the city walls and undead in the city, so if you went by the book, it would also serve as a place for street fights.
'They broke it all.'
One side of the high and durable city wall was collapsed like a sand castle. Past that, there were traces of buildings and monsters shoved away.
"The pickup group is going out!"
Yerim shot one hand up and flew around like she was bouncing.
Moon Hyuna and Sung Hyunaje, who had gone up to the 2nd floor first, came over. When the two came closer, a sigh came out by itself.
'Those two went one round in that time.'
Those damn people. The clothes of Moon Hyuna's left arm was burnt black. Sung Hyunjae's hair was roughly disheveled.
Since they were people who couldn't even be grazed by a low grade A-Rank dungeon's normal monsters, there was no doubt that the two of them had fought. Maybe Yoohyun had realized that too, because his eyes narrowed. The tips of his fingers unconsciously twitching seemed like his body was heating up with 'I want to pick a fight too'.
"Hyuna-ssi, it seems like your clothes are burnt?"
When I asked pretending I didn't know, Moon Hyuna smoothed down her exposed forearm.
"It's a mistake, a mistake."
A mistake, yeah right.
"I had thought that there would not be any monsters that could ruin the Breaker Guild Leader's clothes, but it seems I was wrong. Please be careful. You came here on my request, so if you pointlessly get injured, I will lose face."
At the words asking if she was hurt by an A-Rank monster, Moon Hyuna's eyebrows slanted a little.
"Hyung-nim, you're too much. Could mere little A-Ranks have burned my clothes? Of course it was that guy who did it. That guy."
At her confessing at once, I put on an expression that was a dumbfounded as possible.
"You were picking a fight even before coming into the dungeon, and finally you have really fought? In the first place, you have come here in the same team, so it is quite a boast to have fought. You are not even a child, and are old enough, so you should keep to at least the basics."
"No, hyung-nim. Listen. Hyung-nim probably doesn't know because your stats are low but-."
"Stats do not matter. If you want to have a contest of strength, please set aside another place accordingly. Haven't you gathered here on my request today?"
Let's quickly end this without any trouble and go home, yes?
Moon Hyuna glared at Sung Hyunjae as if feeling wronged, but Sung Hyunjae completely feigned ignorance and smoothed down his hair.
"Hyung-nim, aren't you disliking only me too much?"
"Would it be so – you must have made a mistake. Do you know how much I like Hyuna-ssi? I love you, Moon Hyuna-ssi."
"You speak well! Say something to that guy Sung Hyunjae, too!"
"Ah, yes. I love you, Sung Hyunjae-ssi."
"Not that!"
"Ahjussi, me too!"
"Did you pick up all the magic stones already? That's right, I love you, too, Yerim. Our Yoohyun, too, and Sunghan-ssi, too. Of course, I love Peace, too."
Yerim clung right to my arm and sent me a mischievous look.
"Then who is the person you love the most?"
Look at this punk.
"The person who doesn't make trouble and listens well."
"I think I was good today!"
A good child doesn't pick fights with others. And Yoohyun, why were you looking expectant. The ones who made the least trouble and listened the best were definitely Peace and Kim Sunghan-ssi.
The sun set. While we hadn't yet attacked even a quarter of the wide city.
Of course, for an A-Rank dungeon attack, the speed was extremely fast. I thought it would end by the middle of tomorrow, so it probably wouldn't take even two days. If all the S-Ranks that were here had kiseungsu, I thought that the attack could have finished within one day.
Hwareureuk
A blaze that was about as big as a person's head rose up. It wasn't a campfire. But it wasn't a gas or electric fire either. It was a little dungeon item. Openly setting up a bright fire like that in the middle of an attack was taboo because it was easy to become the monsters' target, but with the current members, even if we loudly turned on music through speakers, set up a spotlight and a disco ball, and set off firecrackers, there wouldn't be a problem.
On top of that, we set up a tent. It was made of dungeon byproducts so it could be put into an inventory. But Hunters didn't use it often. Tents blocked your senses and it was inconvenient to get out of right away, so unless it was a harsh environment, people just used sleeping bags.
"You should be tired, so go inside and sleep."
Yoohyun said, placing the smaller Peace into my arms.
"That's right, ahjussi should quickly go to sleep."
"Please do not mind what happens outside and get a lot of rest."
I mean, I didn't need to sleep.
"I can stay up the night for one day. I stayed up while training Peace, so why would I suddenly lie down and sleep in a dungeon? It's better to just quickly finish and go out."
"We're going to keep on attacking. We're going to take turns with two going out to hunt and then coming back."
Thinking of the distance going and coming back, it would be better for me to follow. And why two people each of all things? These guys didn't seem like they would simply catch monsters and come back.
"Still, it would be faster for me to come along."
"It's dark so it's dangerous. Just rest comfortably, okay?"
That guy Yoohyun said with an excessively gentle tone and expression. When I looked to the side, Yerim's eyes were gleaming and she was fidgeting with the Ice Wood Spear. Moon Hyuna had changed her split top in the meantime and Sung Hyunjae had also changed his gloves.
They had made up their minds.
Truthfully, they were amazing people for considering me this much. Putting aside Yoohyun and Yerim, the remaining two wouldn't have paid attention to other's gazes after Awakening. That those strong-willed people would be well-behaved in front of me was impressive. However.
"Alright, I'll sleep. But, you know."
I tried to not go so far as to use this method.
"Just catch monsters. Don't do anything else. Yerim, you too. It is the same for you two people as well. If I happen to see evidence that the team members have fought each other."
I swallowed a sigh and continued.
"I will tell Hunter Yoo Myeongwoo. That I told you not to fight over and over again and yet you ignored it, so I could not sleep and my stomach hurt and I even felt like I would cry from the stress. I will hold my head and bemoan that thanks to that, I became sick from the anger, and that I felt like I would die because of those people. Then there really will be absolutely nothing for you. You have all seen the broadcast, right? And you have heard of the matter inside the waiting room?"
The faces that were like 'what joke is this' at first slowly stiffened. The kiseungsu were already in contracts, but Myeongwoo was different. Myeongwoo, I'm sorry, but let me borrow your strength for a moment.
"No, ahjussi. I haven't even been properly equipped with equipment yet. I just have one spear."
"Then you just don't have to fight. Get along well with your team members."
"It's just lightly competing; we wouldn't go so far as to fight."
"There's no exception just because you're my younger brother."
What did you mean 'lightly'. I haven't seen the ranking competitions just once or twice, and the people who were impatient because they couldn't go all the way to the end were the S-Ranks. Leaving two alone for exactly 10 minutes ended with clothes being burnt, so my head hurt just imagining how far they would go if they were far away.
"Ah, and I will extend good will toward the good-willed informer. Enough to be satisfied."
They could collude and destroy evidence, so I added this and then went into the tent.
-Gyareureung
"Right, right. Peace. Let's sleep together for the first time in a while."
Our Peace really was the most good-hearted.
I had slept better than I would've thought, and when I opened my eyes,
[SS-Rank skill, 'Terrifying Hatchling Class Teacher', acquired!>ㅁ<]
A message window was popped up. I mean, what was this… but this...
'It must've been the Deer bastard.'
Please stop the Deer bastard from naming the title skills.
***
-Chirp
The □□□□□□□ cried softly. It didn't see dad for a long time. Actually, it was just the second day, but for the young □□□, it felt extremely long.
-Kkyaa! Kkyaa!
"Blue, no! You're a good girl, right, come here!"
Haeyeon's A-Rank Hunter stretched out a hand toward the young gryphon who was hanging on the ceiling lights. They had received the owner's token from Han Yoojin, but maybe because she was still young, no matter how much she was soothed, she couldn't be still.
The Hunter, who had grabbed Blue and pulled her off the ceiling, turned to look at the sullenly drooping ball of feathers.
"Chirpie, what's wrong? Are you hungry?"
-Cheeep
The □□□ flapped and jumped down from the sofa. The place it was trudging to slowly was none other than Han Yoojin's bedroom.
-Chirp chirp!
"Should I open the door for you?"
The □□□ that had gone through the opened door, tilted its small head and looked up at the bed. When it flapped and jumped, the Hunter raised the □□□ and placed it on the bed.
"Your dad isn't here. He should be back around tomorrow."
-Chirp
The □□□ collapsed on the empty bed. The Hunter looked at that baby bird, feeling sorry, and then left the room. The 'kkyak kkyak' sounds started up again noisily.
-Cheep cheep cheep
He wasn't there.
-Chirp cheep!
He wasn't there. He didn't come even when it called. The □□□ flapped and stood up again. If he wasn't there, then it should find him.
-Chirp!
Dad! The □□□ yelled with all its might. And it dragged out it's lacking strength and exerted itself. If Han Yoojin had checked the □□□'s status window right now in this place, he would've been able to see a surprising change.
The '□□□□□□ Achieve after growth',
Switched into 'Ruler of Space(L)'.
-Chirp!!
And,
-…Chirp
It failed. As expected, it was lacking. It had also gotten hungry. Extremely so.
-Chirp… chirp chirp chirp!!
The status window went back to how it was originally, and the □□□ started to cry sadly.