"Ahjussi."
My chest trembled weakly at the voice that rang heavily out. When a myth rank's strength appeared, even the fear resistance didn't have much of an effect. When I quickly turned off the Teacher skill, it became a little better.
"I said to not use the skill."
The one standing in front of me was obviously Yerim, but she felt completely different from normal. Like it was veil, she was wrapped in a feeling of pressure that brought the mermaid queen to mind, and it was hard to treat her easily as usual.
But the duration time for the Ruler of Water skill item was quite long.
"I'm not using it now. Hey, Yerim."
"Yes."
"It looks like you can still use the skill, so don't be like this, and get more familiar with it-."
A giant wave came rushing over. I imagined it was like that. So she actually wasn't that angry just before, huh. It was merely that the corners of Yerim's eyes twitched slightly, but my heart skipped a beat.
"N-no…"
Unconsciously, I grabbed Yoohyun's arm and stuttered. Calm down. It ended well, so why was she like hat?
"Before using the Teacher skill, you knew that the strain would be big on you, right?"
"I did, know. But usually everyone puts up with that kind of strain. Would there be anyone who would think of avoiding getting even a single hair hurt when they step into a dungeon? And I even slept for a few days last time when we caught the toad."
Compared to that, I had both eyes open fine this time.
"It's different from something like that."
Yerim said firmly. The piercing gaze was still heavy and scary. I hadn't felt this chilly feeling of fear in a long time, huh.
"It wasn't a situation where you absolutely had to use it, like with the toad. There was no need to purposely use it. Since I would've won even if you had just left it alone."
"But if you could understand and grasp even a little bit more about the Ruler of Water…"
"Ahjussi."
…I didn't know that 'ahjussi' could sound this terrifying. I wanted to tell her to use this time to study the Ruler skill more, but if I did, she would probably get angrier. But it was a waste.
"Hey, come on, stop her."
I was anxious, asking my brother to mediate. But teh reply was a chilly gaze that wasn't inferior to Yerim's.
"For this time, I'm on Hunter Bak Yerim's side."
Uh, um. So you were angry, too, huh. But did Yoohyun not feel the oppressive feeling from Yerim? Or was Yerim adjusting it well? Considering Yoohyun's rank, the latter was probably correct. Our Yerim was already very skilled in adjusting her abilities, huh.
Though it was agonizing that she was using that control to suppress me.
"I know full well that you did that for me. But this method is wrong. Thankfully, there wasn't much trouble, but I can still feel how immense of a skill the Ruler of Water is. But trying to suddenly accept this kind of sensation without even being the item user? On top of that, if it felt difficult, you should have turned the skill off, but far from doing that, you even accepted the Seseong Guild Leader. Are you really crazy?"
"Calm, down a little…"
You were seriously scary right now. It was a feeling like standing at the edge of a cliff and staring at fiercely storming sea. The waves were shooting up to my eyes and a bit away a large boat was sinking, well something like that.
I thought it wouldn't do for this to go on, so while feeling like I was grasping at straws[1], I turned to look at Sung Hyunjae.
"Excuse-."
"I'm also on the little mistress' side."
I mean why you, too? When I felt wronged and glared at him, asking for the reason, a shameless reply came back.
"It's my loss if you overdo things uselessly and break. Not only have I not received the interest from the debt, you agreeing to help me three times is still remaining as it is. I have a lot to receive."
"Ahjussi, you're in debt? How much is it?"
"And what's this about you helping three times?"
Yerim and Yoohyun interrogated one after the other. I knew that person wouldn't be purely worrying about me, but why would you talk about that now of all times? There was no doubt he was trying to screw me over.
"That, it's not money. It's nothing big."
"If it is nothing big, then what is it?"
"There's no way it's nothing big."
Shit, so there wasn't anybody on my side, huh. No, should I say they were on my side but they weren't listening to my side? The gate should've already opened, so should I just run off? Searching their expressions, I slowly stepped back, but the water wrapped around my legs, grabbing them. The air, the moisture in the air, supported me from falling over, like a comfy sofa.
Wow, look at Yerim's skill in handling water. It was impressive, but why was she using it on me? …Was it a relief that she was practicing like this at least?
"I think that you need to take a break, ahjussi. It hasn't been long since you Awakened, but you have gone through too many dangerous things. That might be why you have less of a sense of crisis."
"It hasn't been long for you either."
"I'm stat S-Rank. My Mental stat is also high? But you're a semi-ordinary person, a normal person!"
My work experience was almost 5 years, so I felt wronged. At Yerim's nagging, Yoohyun also spoke up.
"Hunter Bak Yerim is right. What about resting for a long time?"
"What do you mean, rest? Do you know how many things I have to do? There's the monsters, but the Association side is also pressuring me, and there is contact coming from overseas, and I said I would go around a dungeon with Myeongwoo…"
I had to look at Yoohyun's skills and elemental, prepare for the zombie guy, take a hold of the dungeon with the stamina potion materials that would appear soon, go around some S-Rank dungeons since Newcomer promised to give personalized rewards, grow Moon Hyuna and Kim Sunghan and Noah too, and there was the problem of Riette, and I had to look for the other born S-Ranks, and I had to poke Song Taewon to see if he could become the Association Head… right, and I had to handle MKC's Choi Sukwon. I had to bring Do Hamin over, and it felt like there was somebody else, too.
Anyways, there was a lot to do. ...Why was there so much?
"I'll block the Association for you."
"Then they might increase the restriction on the number of people for the Awakening Center, saying I broke the promise."
"If they have brains, they wouldn't do that. If you said you wanted to rest, Hunter Yoo Myeongwoo would also assist, and Seseong and Breaker probably wouldn't refuse either. Since this is also a type of protection."
"Even if it wasn't for Han Yoojin-gun's matter, putting pressure on the Association is a fun leisure activity."
If that was leisure activity, then exactly what did he do normally? Anyways, if they blocked them for me, then it was welcome. There was still quite some time left until the Awakening Center opening, so without the Association's whining, I would be able to progress slowly. The amount of work decreased. I was happy.
"Do it slowly, ahjussi. Is someone coming after you or something?"
Yerim's voice became slightly softer. I felt something like a cool hand stroking around my forehead region.
"I'll try to do that."
"Don't try, and take care of yourself first, ahjussi. Things like that a while ago, I'm not grateful for that."
"Okay. I'm sorry."
I was even more sorry because if a similar thing happened again, I would do something similar again. But I wanted Yerim to become stronger and become at least a little bit safer. It was my greed.
Maybe the effect of the item was dropping, because the falling rain became weaker. Then, the rain completely stopped, and the feeling of coercion that was wrapping around Yerim's body also disappeared. Maybe she was still a little angry, but her complaining was cute rather than scary.
"How was it, handling water? Do you feel like you got a lot out of it?"
"I'm not sure. I think I should try practicing before the sensation fully disappears. I might have to shut myself in a dungeon with a lot of water."
"Don't overdo it."
Yerim nicely rolled her eyes[2].
"Is that something you should say?"
I mean, I was an adult. As I spoke reasonably vaguely in answer to the interrogation asking what the debt I had with Sung Hyunjae was, and what me agreeing to help was about, we went out of the dungeon. I saw a desolate sight where the lake had disappeared and only a large pit was remaining. And Song Taewon's shadowed face, too.
The special isolation center had disappeared without a trace, so he was probably incredibly at a loss. Really, what kind of bolt out of the blue was this? Still, thanks to it, Yoohyun running wild probably would be quietly buried.
"It seems you have safely attacked the dungeon."
"Yes. That was an unusual dungeon, so I will separately explain the attack method."
I answered, wiping my face with a dry towel. As long as the method was known, it wouldn't be hard to attack… or no. If other Hunters went in, wouldn't Yoohyun or Sung Hyunjae pop out in the last stretch? How would you beat that? At a loss, I turned to look at the gate, when the gate's blue light faintly trembled and soon disappeared.
"…The need to explain disappeared."
It was a relief though. At the abnormal phenomenon, Song Taewon couldn't hold it back and let out a long sigh.
"As it burst as soon as it was created, and continuing, the dungeon abruptly disappeared, it seems like it will be a hassle for a long time."
"Still, that dungeon was disgustingly difficult, so it is probably much better that it disappeared. Or you could just cover it up, saying that water welled up through the ground and seeped out. There are no traces anyways."
"That cannot be done."
Song Taewon replied, smiling bitterly. Then he stared at Yoohyun and Sung Hyunjae, who had each gotten towels from the people from their guilds and were drying themselves off.
"Was there nothing in particular inside? I am speaking of people, instead of monsters."
"Yes. There was no trouble."
I was just scolded a little. Song Taewon nodded his head slightly to say we worked hard, and left in order to clean things up. He was busy. He would probably become busier for a long time. Compared to Song Taewon, wasn't I on the freer side?
'It really seems better in various ways for that person to be put above instead of running around below."
If the Association was made to be something like a guild with an S-Rank Hunter as guild leader, it would also be easier to resolve the lack of manpower. Right now, an ordinary person was acting as the head, so high rank Hunters were unwilling to be associated.
After watching Song Taewon's back, I called Yoohyun and Sung Hyunjae.
"Choi Sukwon needs to be handled. At the least, he needs to be decursed."
I briefly explained to Sung Hyunjae why this dungeon had appeared. With the contract with the filial duty addicts continuing, Choi Sukwon couldn't just be left alone.
"It'll be hard to touch him openly outside of a dungeon. And it's right after the young master made trouble."
"Yoohyun made trouble, you say. Do you have proof? I only see mud dampened by water with my eyes."
I said that, but it was obvious that the wariness from Choi Sukwon's side would be strengthened with this matter. It would probably be hard to quietly cut his throat.
"Then I will request a visit and decurse-."
"Hyung is in the middle of vacation."
Yoohyun cut me off.
"We'll monitor him, so don't worry about things like that for a long time."
Would I be able to not worry? But because Yerim also came over and asked what was going on with slanted eyes, I nodded for now. I should pretend to quietly rest for a few days.
-Whiing
The round and flat Roomba[3] let out whirling noises as it wandered the living room. Sitting on top of that, Chirpie chirped as if urging the Roomba on. I couldn't use it when Blue was here because she smacked it around as if catching flies.
'How cute.'
I uploaded a video of Chirpie playing and riding on the Roomba on social media. The number of followers that had increased in the meantime was no joke. Comments and messages had piled up a lot, but I didn't check them. I just steadily uploaded things.
When I stretched out on the sofa, Peace jumped onto my lap as if he was waiting. When I scratched his neck, he purred, satisfied, and flopped onto his back. The slowly swishing tail seemed pleased.
A broadcast about yesterday's lake dungeon was on the TV that was turned on. An Association person with a serious face was uselessly droning on blah blah. I flipped through the channels, but there weren't any programs that interested me.
'At any rate, I already watched all the fun ones.'
It was a drawback of the regression. Around this time, I was far from a cultured life, but regardless, when I actually looked through things, the famous ones were mostly all things I had seen. Since I had been close to my TV when my Hunter life had stabilized. I had seen them by buying them through VOD.
Now what should I do? Should I read a book? Yerim had gone into a dungeon to train her skills, and Yoohyun was busy because of yesterday's matter. Should I have followed Myeongwoo when he went shopping? Though I didn't know what he was buying so much for two days in a row.
"This won't work; let's take a walk at least."
I held Peace and called Chirpie. I picked it up when it cheeped and fell off, trying to come down from the Roomba, and then placed it on Peace's back.
When I went outside of my house, the Hunter who was standing guard looked at me. Before, they didn't guard up to here, but the security had increased.
"I am going on a walk on the roof."
After I informed them of my destination, I went up to the roof garden. It was still the morning, so putting aside that it was summer, the sunlight was soft. Though it would probably get hot soon.
-Kkyaaa!
I hadn't even gone a few steps when Blue spread her wings out and came flying over. Peace slightly bared his teeth toward Blue who was about to rush over as is. When he did, she startled and quietly landed in front of me.
-Kkyaoo
"Alright, were you well? It wasn't uncomfortable?"
When I raised my head, I saw Blue's house that was awesomely built on one side of the garden. Wasn't it lonely living outside alone? I really did want to find a suitable Hunter for Blue, too. For the case of my safety, she could leave and take turns with Peace if I paired her with a Hunter within the country. And there was Noah.
Should I hint at it toward Moon Hyuna? It would definitely be welcomed. And if she came to work with Yerim later, it would be better for her to have a flight type monster.
While I had thought of it, I called Moon Hyuna. As soon as it rang, an unfamiliar voice came out.
[Han Yoojin-nim, do you have some business?]
"Excuse me…? Is this not the Breaker Guild Leader's phone?"
[For a while, your phone is connected to the security room. And calls your receive are made to go though the security room. As you are on leave.]
...Oh crap? Exactly what did they do with my number? Was business through phone also prohibited?
"Uh, I would like to request being connected to the Breaker Guild Leader. It is just to ask her to come over to hang out if she has time, since I am bored."
Along with the reply saying they understood, I heard the ringing again. This time, Moon Hyuna properly answered. I thought it might be bugged, so I only briefly asked if she would come over to hang out. When I hung up after hearing the willing reply that she would come over, I got a headache.
'Was it Yoohyun or Yerim or both of them?'
And somehow there might've been another collaborator besides them. They really didn't trust me.
Not much time passed before Moon Hyuna arrived. After sending a gaze filled with greed and affection toward Peace and Blue, she suddenly spoke.
"Hyung-nim, do you know that your brother's reputation is really not good lately?"
…What was this now?