'Chaeyoon-ah, it's okay.'
At that moment, Revenger's leader, Lee Kangjin, held me and spoke softly.
'I saw it too. I saw everything with
'But—'
'It'll all be fine. Get some rest now. Don't you trust me?'
My vision was blurry, so I couldn't even see what kind of expression Lee Kangjin had.
Yoon Seo tried to stay awake somehow, but he couldn't hold on any longer and lost consciousness.
And when he woke up, they were already out of the Great Dungeon, and the number of survivors had gone from five to four.
'Damn….'
Soo Jaehee was chattering about something while holding the 'Charred Branch', but Yoon Seo couldn't hear properly because of the ringing in his ears. The activation of
'Ha, shit.'
Cursing inwardly, Yoon Seo pulled out a sedative and took it.
As he was looking through the items, his face suddenly turned pale, and when he took the medication, Soo Jaehee and the staff widened their eyes in shock.
"Hyung, are you okay? Have some water too."
Soo Jaehee quickly handed over a cup of water from the table.
Yoon Seo took the cup and slowly drank it all.
"I'm fine. Sorry about that."
"What are you sorry for? Do you want to lie down for a bit? There's a break room over there—"
"There's a lounge for VVIP guests. Would you like to rest there for a moment?"
"I'm really fine. It was just for a moment, so don't worry and let's keep choosing."
Feeling embarrassed, Yoon Seo quickly tried to shift his attention back to the items.
Then, his eyes met Kwon Jihan's.
Kwon Jihan had a vague expression, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. He almost looked like he was observing something, which made Yoon Seo wonder if he was being suspected of faking it.
After the little back-and-forth between Soo Jaehee, who wanted him to rest, and Yoon Seo, who insisted he was fine, they refocused on selecting items.
"I still think swords suit me best. Don't you think I'd look really cool carrying this sword? I've always preferred longswords over daggers, and I love the scorched color."
"Aren't you interested in this fruit?"
"'Heavenly Sea' is, of course, tempting. It's an item that grants a flying skill. But there's only one left, and it can't be restored."
"Well, everything else here will probably get destroyed faster than they can be repaired anyway. If it's just a one-time use, like Hunter Jaehee said, the flying enhancement might be the better choice. Do you have many summons that can fly?"
"Hmm."
Soo Jaehee stroked his chin.
Among his summons, the ones that could fly were the demons from
"If you give 'Heavenly Sea' to your strongest summon, that summon would become the most powerful, capable of dominating even aerial battles. Even an S-rank Yellow Boss would be a piece of cake."
Yoon Seo's sweet temptation made Soo Jaehee think of
Would there even be a monster that could counter a gravity-defying cat?
Most S-rank dungeon bosses had wings, so if things got desperate, giving the cat wings could make him a hero.
Originally, they had come to choose weapons, but now that flying-related items had entered the discussion, Soo Jaehee groaned loudly and messed up his hair.
"Hyung, now that you've said all that, I want it even more. This looks good, but so does that, ugh, I'm going crazy. What about you, Han hyung?"
Soo Jaehee turned to Kwon Jihan for help.
Kwon Jihan glanced at 'Heavenly Sea' briefly before smirking.
"That's funny."
"Huh?"
"The fact that you're recommending this insignificant fruit means, Yoon Seo, you've seen it too, haven't you?"
Yoon Seo's eyebrow twitched.
There was no way Kwon Jihan, who possessed
"What do you mean by 'Did you see it?' I don't quite understand. I'm recommending this flying item because I genuinely think it's great."
"You're fucking terrible at lying."
"Why would I lie? This is unfair. Hunter Jaehee, if you don't want 'Heavenly Sea,' then just buy the longsword."
"Why are you guys acting like this all of a sudden?"
Soo Jaehee looked back and forth between them, confused. The staff, thinking there might be something they had missed about the item, began reassessing it.
Even as Yoon Seo feigned ignorance, his gaze locked onto Kwon Jihan's.
'You know what I know. Stop this silent battle and just recommend 'Heavenly Sea' too.'
Kwon Jihan met his stare, lowering the arm he had resting on the back of his chair. Propping his chin up with one hand, he spoke lightly.
"A weapon that can potentially be restored is better than a fruit you can only eat once."
Yoon Seo's mouth fell open. Meanwhile, Soo Jaehee clapped his hands, delighted.
"Right? Hyung, you really get me. Yoon Seo hyung must not understand how important weapons are since he's only been to a dungeon once. He keeps saying weapon items aren't necessary."
Yoon Seo had indeed gone to fewer dungeons than Soo Jaehee, but he knew perfectly well how crucial weapons were.
One of the staff members, realizing the decision was nearly finalized, asked politely.
"Will you be going with 'Charred Branch'?"
"Yes, I'll take this one."
Soo Jaehee answered cheerfully. Yoon Seo glared at Kwon Jihan.
Is now really the time for us to be playing mind games?
You're also a 'Chosen One.' If you saw the 'Final Gate' in the description, then make Soo Jaehee buy 'Heavenly Sea.'
Quit standing by and stop him already.
"I'll go prepare the contract."
"Got it."
The staff member left to fetch the standard item market contract. Other employees began storing away the unchosen items. 'Heavenly Sea' was placed back into storage. Yoon Seo's eyes wavered.
Thinking he should be the one to stop this, Yoon Seo was about to speak, until he saw Kwon Jihan's expression.
It was the face of someone watching an amusing movie.
That's when Yoon Seo realized, Kwon Jihan had been standing by just to observe his reaction. And now that he had seen enough, he would finally step in to resolve things.
"Hyungs… this is a public place…."
Soo Jaehee whispered cautiously to the two, who were locked in an intense staring contest.
"Don't tell me… Another 'Flaming Dumbass Couple' is about to be born besides those foreign freaks? I seriously need to reconsider staying in Perfect…."
He muttered to himself.
Just then, Kwon Jihan was the first to break eye contact with Yoon Seo.
"Soo Jaehee."
"Yes?"
Soo Jaehee instinctively straightened his posture as he responded. Kwon Jihan spoke in a clipped but firm tone.
"Buy 'Heavenly Sea.' You can use it as a weapon too."
"Huh?"
Soo Jaehee shot up from his seat. The staff, who had been closing the storage case, froze and looked up in surprise.
"If you use the last fruit, the remaining branch can be processed into a sword. Seems like a damn strong bound item, would be a waste to pass it up."
"How… how do you know, hyung?"
"There's no description window that can fool me. …Unless it's the system profile of an S-rank hunter hiding his identity."
"Wooow."
Soo Jaehee's eyes sparkled with admiration as he gasped. He immediately decided to buy 'Heavenly Sea.'
Since the buyer was Kwon Jihan from Seokyoung and Soo Jaehee, there was no way the staff could suddenly raise the price now. Though reluctant, they had no choice but to proceed with the sale.
Meanwhile, Yoon Seo seethed in frustration. If this was how it was going to end anyway, why drag it out and make him anxious? Making him wait just to gauge his reaction? He really didn't like it.
***
They had planned to grab a coffee after purchasing the item, but the café was so packed there were no available seats. In the end, they settled by the fountain in the plaza, sipping their drinks while listening to Soo Jaehee chatter away.
"Ah, I can't wait to enter the dungeon. I wanna see how good Heavenly Sea really is. It'd be amazing to ride Haechi and fly through the sky. And since it turns into a weapon after use, that's a total win. Way better than some twig. Haechi's fire-attribute, so why would I waste money on something with overlapping effects?"
Clearly thrilled about getting a new S-rank item, Soo Jaehee talked even more than usual. Yoon Seo found his childish excitement endearing and smiled to himself.
"Hyungs, I'm gonna run to the bathroom real quick. Don't go anywhere, okay?"
"Okay."
"Oh, and since we're in a public plaza… um, don't, like… do any skinship or anything weird, okay?"
"…? Got it. Go on."
Leaving behind those cryptic words, Soo Jaehee hurried off to the restroom. Yoon Seo stretched his arms behind him, leaning back on the fountain's edge as he gazed up at the sky.
The sight of the scattered white clouds against the blue sky reminded him of a will he had to take care of. Fixating on one cloud as he mulled over it, Kwon Jihan suddenly spoke.
"Yoon Seo, what exactly is your diagnosis?"
Yoon Seo turned to look at him. Kwon Jihan's expression was as relaxed as the drifting clouds above.
"I don't have any illnesses."
"Not physically. I mean mentally. You take a lot of sedatives."
"Oh, panic disorder, PTSD, insomnia, depression… stuff like that. Why do you ask?"
"You seem to be taking too much medication."
"I don't even take that much. Everyone who went through the Cataclysm carries meds with them. Don't you, Hunter Kwon Jihan?"
"I guess I'm fine since the world changed when I was really young. I was ten when the Cataclysm happened…."
"Ten?"
"Yeah, I'm twenty-two now."
Ten was young, but not so young that he should have come out of it completely unscathed.
After a brief moment of thought, Yoon Seo asked.
"You don't have insomnia?"
"Nope."
"No sudden depressive episodes? No feelings of emptiness or persistent fatigue?"
"None at all."
"Have you ever gotten proper counseling?"