NOVEL NEXT #104
#104
As he walked straight towards Yoon Pa-ran, all the surrounding hunters lowered their gazes and slowly moved away. Even as everyone glanced this way, Yoon Pa-ran kept looking down at the rations in his hand.
“Mr. Yoon Pa-ran.”
Absent-mindedly fiddling with his rations, Yoon Pa-ran was snapped back to reality by the familiar voice.
Slowly raising his head, he found a large shadow had already covered him. Dan Joo-hyuk was looking down at him with his brow slightly furrowed, which was unusual.
“What?”
It was a somewhat familiar scene, except for Dan Joo-hyuk’s unsmiling face. However, Yoon Pa-ran was puzzled, as it didn’t seem like Dan Joo-hyuk was going to pick a fight with him again.
He suddenly held out what he had been holding in his hand.
“Eat this.”
“What is it?”
“I have extras. Throw that away.”
“…”
The large hand that had suddenly approached placed a combat ration in Yoon Pa-ran’s palm.
Looking down in bewilderment, he saw it was quite a famous product.
It was a top-grade hunter combat ration for gates, expensive but worth every penny. Compared to the cost-effective product he had brought, it had more quantity, better taste, and decent calories.
Even so, he had wondered who would buy and eat such an expensive thing, and now he knew it was Dan Joo-hyuk.
It was a kind gesture, but Yoon Pa-ran held out the item placed in his hand with a troubled expression.
“It’s fine.”
“Why? Are you afraid I might have poisoned it?”
“Huh? I didn’t think that…”
“…”
Dan Joo-hyuk often said funny things with such a serious face. Lightly denying it, Yoon Pa-ran awkwardly scratched his cheek.
“It’s not that, I just don’t usually eat much inside gates.”
“…Why?”
“It’s hard to run when you’re full.”
“…”
“So you eat it.”
Kim Sin-cheol watched the two conversing from a distance, feeling anxious.
They were quite far away, so he could only faintly hear their conversation. Kim Sin-cheol focused, ready to rush over if the argument intensified.
However, contrary to expectations, Dan Joo-hyuk retreated surprisingly quickly. Although he seemed to be in an even worse mood than before, as if he had taken a solid hit from Yoon Pa-ran.
As Dan Joo-hyuk returned to his side, Kim Sin-cheol gathered his courage to reproach him.
“Give it a rest. He’s having a hard time adjusting to the new attacker position, tsk.”
“…”
After speaking naturally, he felt slightly confused. He had seen Dan Joo-hyuk offering his combat ration to Yoon Pa-ran earlier.
Was he trying to share his food? While he thought Dan Joo-hyuk might not have picked a fight, it was still strange as Dan Joo-hyuk had no reason to give food to others.
Anyway, Kim Sin-cheol casually held out his hand to Dan Joo-hyuk.
“You have extras? I haven’t seen that flavor before, let me have some too.”
“No.”
“What?”
Could this guy have just gone to tease Yoon Pa-ran?
Hoping his friend wasn’t that childish, Kim Sin-cheol sighed. After all, he had a good opinion of Yoon Pa-ran, who was quite skilled and fought diligently.
“…”
“…”
For a while, the two continued eating in silence, like old friends.
However, Dan Joo-hyuk, who had been quietly silent beside him, suddenly raised his gaze again. His gaze was so fierce, as if facing a boss monster, that Kim Sin-cheol also tensed up and raised his head.
Following Dan Joo-hyuk’s gaze, he saw Hunter Park Jung-hoon approaching Hunter Yoon Pa-ran and striking up a conversation.
Hunter Park Jung-hoon had just recovered from his injury aftereffects. Is that why Dan Joo-hyuk is watching him? He seemed to have been particularly attentive to Park Jung-hoon’s movements earlier.
…But his gaze seemed to be oddly focused on Hunter Yoon Pa-ran?
As Kim Sin-cheol pondered Dan Joo-hyuk’s consecutive strange behaviors, Yoon Pa-ran looked at Park Jung-hoon approaching him.
“Hmm?”
“You’re eating that product. It’s good for quickly meeting minimum calorie needs.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Inside the gate, nothing really sits well in my stomach.”
“Same here.”
“This gate is even worse because of the heat.”
Yoon Pa-ran responded just enough to avoid a fight. There were too many people trying to talk to him while eating today.
He desperately wanted to rest alone because he was tired. However, Park Jung-hoon kept talking beside him, to the point where it was becoming a bit annoying.
When Dan Joo-hyuk talked to him, it wasn’t this bad.
“What do you usually do on your days off?”
“Well, I look after my siblings.”
“Oh, you have siblings?”
“Yeah.”
The sudden sentiment evaporated with the continuous questions. While answering slowly one by one, Yoon Pa-ran looked at Park Jung-hoon somewhat quizzically. He couldn’t quite understand why he kept making small talk.
Maybe Park Jung-hoon also needed information from him?
Anyway, after a few more bites, Yoon Pa-ran put down his rations. This gate required a lot of movement besides combat. This should be enough food for now.
Having finished eating, Yoon Pa-ran naturally moved to change his position.
Suddenly, Park Jung-hoon, who was beside him, spoke with a tense voice.
“Hunter Yoon Pa-ran, if you have time later…”
“Mr. Yoon Pa-ran.”
Simultaneously, Dan Joo-hyuk, who had approached again, spoke up.
“I have something to talk to you about.”
“Something to talk about?”
“Yes.”
Unlike before, Dan Joo-hyuk had a faint smile on his face. In that state, he lightly gestured with his chin towards the exit where the safe zone statue was.
Seeing his usual demeanor, Yoon Pa-ran followed him without much suspicion.
Not realizing that behind his trudging back, Dan Joo-hyuk and Park Jung-hoon’s gazes briefly clashed.
“What did you want to talk about?”
As soon as they left the safe zone, Yoon Pa-ran asked about the matter. After passing the statue, the scorching heat of the lava could be felt again as if by magic.
Seeing how he had been called out like this, there must be something that needed to be discussed away from the other hunters’ eyes. Thinking it might be related to the accelerated progress of the attack team, Yoon Pa-ran was inwardly tense.
Dan Joo-hyuk slowly walked along the path to a place where the hunters were completely out of sight.
“Is this your first time in a volcanic terrain?”
“Yeah.”
Yoon Pa-ran naturally followed behind him and answered. Then Dan Joo-hyuk slowly reached out his hand.
As Yoon Pa-ran stood there blankly wondering what was happening, hot fingertips briefly brushed his cheek and then disappeared.
What was that?
“Then you probably don’t know about the hidden passages.”
Dan Joo-hyuk soon brought up an interesting topic. Yoon Pa-ran’s eyes widened as he moved a bit closer to him and asked eagerly.
“There are such things?”
“Come this way.”
Dan Joo-hyuk, with a long smile, lightly tugged on Yoon Pa-ran’s forearm. Yoon Pa-ran obediently followed his lead towards the space outside the safe zone.
The place Dan Joo-hyuk was heading was the path they had already cleared. Monster remains that were useless and hadn’t been collected were scattered here and there.
Normally, even if the area had been cleared, it wasn’t a good choice to leave the safe zone. However, Yoon Pa-ran glanced once at Dan Joo-hyuk’s back and relaxed.
Still, walking around in this volcanic terrain feels quite peculiar.
“…”
Looking up, an endless darkness stretched far above. Although there should be sky at the top of the volcano’s crater, it was all pitch black.
That place, which couldn’t be seen beyond even with an S-rank hunter’s vision, is usually called the end of the gate. Even when reaching the end of the path the attack team was walking on, they would eventually be blocked by an invisible barrier and unable to proceed further.
The boss room was located just below that end of the gate.
“This way.”
While Yoon Pa-ran was absent-mindedly looking up at the silent crater above, devoid of both the attack team and monsters, Dan Joo-hyuk pointed to a side wall.
It looked like just a normal wall at first glance.
As Yoon Pa-ran looked at it quizzically, Dan Joo-hyuk smiled cryptically. Then, tapping the wall as if knocking, he explained.
“In volcanic terrains, sometimes there are secret spaces like this about 50 meters before reaching the safe zone.”
“Really?”
“If you focus your mind a bit, you’ll probably feel a place where the flow is oddly blocked. I noticed earlier during the battle that this gate has one too.”
“…”
How do you do that?
Although he couldn’t relate to the explanation at all, Yoon Pa-ran remained silent for now. Soon, as if finding what he wanted, Dan Joo-hyuk abruptly stopped his hand. Watching him while holding his breath, Yoon Pa-ran saw Dan Joo-hyuk apply force to the hand touching the wall.
Then, with a rumbling sound, what had appeared to be just a stone wall opened wide to the side.
“Wow…”
It was like a huge boulder blocking a cave entrance had been opened. Although the space that appeared was much smaller than the earlier safe zone, Yoon Pa-ran was startled.
Because from this place, cool air was flowing out.
“…”
Dan Joo-hyuk, who had entered the space first, checked the inside and then beckoned with a flutter of his hand. Following that gesture, Yoon Pa-ran entered after him as if entranced.