I quietly addressed Min Ah-rin, who was next to me, "Min Ah-rin-ssi."
"Yes?"
"Can't you walk a little further away from me?"
"Oh my, you're so mean."
How was that being mean.
"But Min Ah-rin-ssi, you're treating me like a child, which is even meaner…"
"Treating you like a child? That's disappointing to hear. I'm just afraid that you'll go somewhere without saying a word."
"I won't. I'm not going. And you, you let go of me as well."
Kim Woo-jin, who was clinging to my right arm, looked at me with dagger eyes. What, you punk?
"Everyone's giving us weird looks."
"I know you don't care."
Well, that was true.
In the end, I gave up on freeing my arms and looked ahead. The close-ranged team was killing the monsters blocking the stairs that went up to the second floor.
The ratings, which were barely maintaining a B-grade previously, fell sharply, so the monsters were C-grade. Not even challenged by B-grade monsters, the guild members dealt with the C-grade monsters swiftly with bored expressions.
"I'll be right back."
When the battle was over, Min Ah-rin left with the other healers to take care of the close-ranged team. Taking advantage of the fact that there was one less watcher, I diligently looked around and tried to find out where the hidden path that Park Geon-ho mentioned was.
Even if I couldn't go this time, I might be able to come alone with Cheon Sa-yeon's permission later. It would be beneficial to know.
"…Han Yi-gyeol."
Kim Woo-jin, who had fixed his gaze on me, said my name in a suspicious voice. Maybe because there were only quick-witted people around, Kim Woo-jin was getting better with each passing day.
"Don't do something unnecessary."
"What? What did I do?"
I pretended to be innocent and avoided his gaze. Then, thinking he had to change his method, Kim Woo-jin gently lowered his sharply raised eyebrows and said in a sad voice, "You told me to never fall behind when we entered the gate. And now you're thinking of going somewhere alone…"
"Well—"
I didn't know the difficulty would be lowered. If the rating was falling this quickly, there was a high probability that A-grade monsters would not appear on the second floor.
"Even if the monster's grade has dropped, it's still dangerous because I'm a C-rank."
"That's right. Even others think so, so you should always be careful."
"Right. So don't go anywhere without me. It's scary, okay?"
Kim Woo-jin grabbed my arm tightly. There was an uneasy look on his face. I guess he really was scared.
'Did I only think about myself too much?'
Kim Woo-jin must have believed in me and followed me into the gate. At first, I was against it, but in the end, it was me who gave him permission and said that I would protect him.
"…okay, let go of my arm. I'm not going anywhere."
"Don't ever say that you're going to go around the gate alone again."
That was a bit…
I sighed and said quietly, "It's true that it's usually dangerous, but in this case, my plan isn't that bad either. Due to the nature of my ability, I can run away even if I run into a monster. To be honest, I don't understand why everyone is against it."
"You…" Kim Woo-jin twisted his face and made a pained expression. "Why are you talking like that?"
"What?"
"You only think about efficiency. I know that the gate risk has dropped a lot because the rating dropped. But that doesn't guarantee that where you're going is safe."
"I know that. So if it's dangerous, I'll run away…"
"Han Yi-gyeol," Kim Woo-jin said in a bitter voice, "why do you care so much about the gate?"
I frowned at the unexpected question.
"If it had nothing to do with you, you wouldn't have gotten this involved. Am I wrong?"
"..."
I couldn't say anything right away. Kim Woo-jin made a face that said he knew it would be like this.
"Gathering data from gates with confirmed anomalies and endangering yourself… Of course I have no choice but to notice it. I'm sticking right by you."
Kim Woo-jin bluntly criticized me for not caring about him at all. There was no excuse. Because what Kim Woo-jin said was true.
"I can do anything you want."
"..."
"I don't want to help you throw your life away like this. I will stop it somehow."
I sighed and lowered my gaze. I knew what Kim Woo-jin was talking about. But it wasn't the time to relax.
Even at this moment, the gates were broken, and as a result, the victim count continued to rise. Fortunately, no deaths had been reported so far, but that was only a matter of quick response and luck.
As it became more difficult to predict the difficulty because of the gate anomalies, more and more ability users felt the burden of gate clearing.
When I looked at each of these facts one by one, my heart became frustrated. Of course, that didn't mean I was going to just jump into a dangerous situation.
Even if it was a little cumbersome and even a close call, wouldn't it be good for the future to just dig out as much information as possible? Even if you got hurt in the process, you would get better soon if you got treatment anyway.
…unless I explained that I might be the cause of the gate anomaly, Kim Woo-jin wouldn't understand.
「It's fun for me, so I don't care what the cause is. But I don't know if others will take it that way.」
Cheon Sa-yeon's words ran through my mind. I bit my lips several times, but in the end, I turned away from Kim Woo-jin without saying anything.
At the gesture of refusal, Kim Woo-jin shut his mouth.
* * *
After dealing with the monsters, Park Geon-ho decided to rest now and move tomorrow. Min Ah-rin approached me as I sat, looking at the bonfire.
"Yi-gyeol-ssi, did you fight with Woo-jin-ssi again?"
"…um, rather than fighting…"
"The atmosphere is quite something."
I glanced at Kim Woo-jin's back, who was helping the guild members organize their surroundings.
After that uncomfortable conversation, Kim Woo-jin was still by my side, but he didn't say this or that or grab my arm as usual.
It was a difficult situation for me as well. Kim Woo-jin wanted an explanation, but I couldn't give him one.
"I think I said something that offended him."
"I can understand what's upsetting him even if I don't listen to the explanation."
"..." I asked cautiously at her pointed words, "That, is Min Ah-rin-ssi also…?"
"Am I what? I don't know since Yi-gyeol-ssi is stubborn, but you said you wouldn't go."
I was thinking of coming back later, but I felt guilty for no reason and only smiled awkwardly. Just imagining Min Ah-rin's anger was quite frightening.
"The situation seems much more serious than last time, so I can't intervene."
"It's okay. It will be resolved in time."
"Then that would be a relief… I don't think Woo-jin-ssi has a personality where you could just wait for things to simmer down."
"If it doesn't work out, there's nothing I can do about it."
I couldn't stop doing what I had to do just because of Kim Woo-jin. Even if he became disappointed with me and left me because of this.
"If Woo-jin-ssi heard what you just said, he'd be very sad."
"It's not that I change my mind easily… But doesn't one's thinking change through others' efforts*?"
Min Ah-rin smiled at me with a complicated expression. The sound of a burning bonfire resounded between me and Min Ah-rin as silence fell upon us. I looked at the blazing yellow light and added, meaning to soothe her worries, "Anyway, for as long as it worries other people, I won't act alone. About Kim Woo-jin… I'll try to resolve things."
"Hmm. That's good. I will believe you," Min Ah-rin, who answered playfully, stood up. "Have a nice dream, Yi-gyeol-ssi."
"You too, Min Ah-rin-ssi."
When Min Ah-rin left me, Kim Woo-jin, who had been wandering for no reason even after finishing organizing, returned.
"Kim Woo-jin."
The look on Kim Woo-jin's face, as he sat next to me, didn't look right.
"You look tired. Get some sleep."
"A little later…"
Kim Woo-jin, who was quietly looking at the bonfire, hesitantly said, "What we talked about earlier…"
"Mh."
"…it's not like I'm trying to force you to hear the things you don't want to hear. To be honest, even if you don't like me very much, I understand…"
"Don't overthink it. I can't explain things because there are other circumstances."
It was a sincere statement, but Kim Woo-jin didn't really believe it.
"I know that my life is important. More than you think. So, don't worry about useless things and just go to sleep."
Kim Woo-jin, who had moved his lips to say something more, apparently changed his mind, nodded his head without saying anything, and went to where the beds were prepared.
We woke up early in the morning and walked around the gate all day, so it must have been quite a daunting schedule for Kim Woo-jin, who was a C-rank. As expected, Kim Woo-jin fell asleep shortly after lying down, breathing evenly.
When there were only a few awake, including me, a quiet silence came. Looking at the glimmering bonfire, I remembered the gates I had experienced one after another.
'It seems that every gate I enter has a problem.'
There was a 50% chance that an anomaly would occur in the gate. Though not all problematic gates were actually problematic, it was true they were unusual.
'To find a solution, we have to investigate the gates…'
Since I couldn't figure out how much influence I had on the gates, I wasn't sure if I could directly go inside the gate and investigate it myself like I did until now.
A bitter laugh came out. The original plan was to raise Ha Tae-heon as quickly as possible and then try to run away while Cheon Sa-yeon wasn't paying attention.
Instead of hiding and running away, I had a cooperative relationship with Cheon Sa-yeon and went back and forth between gates… Ha Tae-heon even seemed to hate me.
I felt absurd for thinking I could wield the future at will by using the novel.
'What should I do in the future?'
There was a high probability that things would go wrong if I made plans, but it was still better to think about it roughly than to move recklessly.
I remembered the information that Kim Woo-jin brought. Most of it was memorized, so it was easy to remember only the information I wanted.
'Jayna Guild.'
Compared to the Requiem Guild and the Roheon Guild, it was the guild with the fewest anomaly gates. After clearing this gate, it didn't look like a bad idea to go to the Jayna Guild's gates.
If I asked Cheon Sa-yeon, he would arrange a place for me. I was thinking about which gate I should go to, but someone approached me.
"Woo Seo-hyuk-ssi."
"Aren't you tired?"
When I lightly shrugged to signify that it was okay, Woo Seo-hyuk pulled something out of his inventory and held it out to me with a blunt expression.