How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

The shocking and terrifying original destruction interview has concluded, and the “Gate Treasure Exploration Club” has successfully exceeded the required number of members, allowing us to officially open the club.

A few days later, the day of our first club activity finally arrived.

All the members gathered in the clubroom on time without incident.

“Nya haha~ hello!”

“…hello.”

As expected, Choi Soo-jung was clinging to Lee Ha-na.

Considering their relationship, it was not surprising. After all, Lee Ha-na was Choi Soo-jung’s only friend and best buddy. They were involved in many incidents together in the original story as well.

The con artist and I exchanged glances with the members, but since this was their first time gathering as a group, a slightly awkward atmosphere lingered.

The con artist clapped his hands to grab everyone’s attention.

“Alright, our club’s activity goal today is to explore the gates!”

“Wait, explore the gates? We don’t have the authority to access the gates around the tower yet!”

“Haha, I have a plan. Before that, I’d like everyone to fill this out.”

What Nayu-han handed out to the members was none other than the same contract he had given me before.

However, this contract differed from the one I had signed previously.

The con artist pulled out the earlier version of my contract and tore it up as he spoke.

“Na-hyun, let’s renew our contracts. The previous one was a bit lacking in many ways.”

“Ah, okay!”

I had expected that the original contract would also apply to me.

He had a tendency to equally distribute resources among the members of his party, after all.

So the newly revised clauses were as follows:

As part of the activities of the Gate Treasure Exploration Club, if we go on a mission to conquer a stationary gate together, do not disclose the fact that anyone outside the club is going to that gate.

Any byproducts obtained through the activities of the Gate Treasure Exploration Club must be distributed and settled through the president.

Before the distribution of byproducts from the Gate Treasure Exploration Club, all storage must be entrusted to the president.

Although Nayu-ri and the con artist had a brief argument in between, in the end, all the members signed the golden contract.

Only then did the con artist begin to explain.

“We’re going to a hidden stationary gate.”

“You know about such a place?”

“Well, it’s no surprise at this point, is it? You have too many secrets~!”

“Hey, no idle chatter. Anyway, that gate… Let’s call it the ‘Ice Cave.’ It’s a bit unique.”

At that, Lee Ha-na, who had been silent the whole time, reacted for the first time.

“…Ice Cave.”

“Yeah, it’s a dungeon made of ice. In any case, you can’t level up there, but it has a lot of ice attribute items and cores dropping.”

An “item dungeon” that doesn’t provide experience points for leveling up but drops items in abundance.

It was an obvious attempt to choose a dungeon that catered to Lee Ha-na. Knowing the truth, it was clear that this was the con artist’s tearful appeal to score points with her.

“How nice! Right, Ha-na~?”

“Yeah.”

The reason the con artist was so attached to Lee Ha-na was simple.

She was truly strong.

Due to certain circumstances, she had repeated a year, so now the top two spots in the first year were held by other students, but if we ranked the students in the school based on strength, she would definitely be among the top.

The strong repeaters were also a characteristic of Choi Soo-jung, but her source of strength was her high level. She had unintentionally leveled up quickly due to her unique hybrid lineage being exploited.

Thus, when it came to potential at maximum growth, Lee Ha-na was overwhelming.

“Entering the dungeon could be a bit dangerous, shouldn’t we prepare something?”

“I’ve packed everything we need, so don’t worry!”

“Yeah, Nayu-han is great at preparing! It was impressive last time too!”

“Well, that’s good, but…”

Dum-dum seemed to nod in understanding.

The con artist’s preparation was probably to minimize time loss.

I didn’t mind his readiness.

The potions he provided during the last dungeon exploration were the same; since he wouldn’t ask for them back, they were effectively extra income for me.

I felt a warmth in my heart when I thought about the mana potions and other status effect potions still remaining in my inventory.

This was a good point for the con artist.

After the con artist’s brief briefing, we submitted our club activity approval letter and headed toward a mountain located in the midlands.

“Wow~ it’s real!”

After passing through the hiking trail and emerging from a rugged mountain path, we found a beautifully distorted blue cave concealed behind rocks, a gate shimmering there.

“Shall we go?”

Wearing the winter gear prepared by the con artist, we stepped into the gate.

True to its name, the Ice Cave was filled with a chilly atmosphere.

Watching my breath turn white, we carefully walked on without relaxing our tension.

I observed Lee Ha-na closely. Though she seemed tense, she appeared somewhat comfortable in the cave’s environment.

It must be because of that curse she has been unable to resolve for a long time.

According to the novel, Lee Ha-na was suffering from a ‘curse of fire’ due to some circumstance.

Since she possessed ice attribute magic, the fire curse was particularly deadly for her. That’s why ice attribute items that suppressed the curse were extremely necessary for her.

So, of course, she bit the bait offered by the con artist. Anyway, she had a tough time.

Thinking of my orphanage sister suffering due to magical power, I couldn’t help but be concerned about her.

We lined up according to our prearranged positions.

In the front were the melee dealers, Nayu-ri and Park Si-woo; in the center were the commander, the con artist, and the magician, Choi Soo-jung; and in the back were the ranged dealers, myself and Lee Ha-na, who was also going to act as a ranged dealer this time.

How much time passed?

Tap, tap, the sound of stones colliding echoed.

The con artist shouted immediately.

“Prepare for battle!”

As soon as those words fell, sounds of rumbling echoed, and stones of various sizes began to move. Soon, they formed a massive stone tower.

“Moving Rock type, specifically Ice Moving Rock. Nayu-ri! Park Si-woo!”

“I know!”

“Got it.”

Nayu-ri quickly wrapped flames around her fist and delivered a blow to the Moving Rock.

With a powerful punch, the ice melted and shattered, causing the center of the stone tower to collapse partially. The core inside the tower revealed itself.

Then Park Si-woo’s old sword struck the core in one swift motion.

As the palm-sized blue core inside the stone tower split in two, the tower, which had been struggling to maintain its shape, collapsed with a rumble. The stones scattered everywhere.

The con artist covered his head and shouted.

“Choi Soo-jung, protect with wind!”

“Roger that.”

Choi Soo-jung conjured a wall of fierce wind to deflect the stones flying toward us.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

How many chilling sounds echoed? As the noise faded, the wall of wind soon dissipated.

“I’ll collect the monster remains and core now. Ha-na, can you help with the collection?”

“Sure.”

As Lee Ha-na reached for the monster’s remains, the magical stones of the monster and its core started to gather toward her as if pulled by a magnet. Oh, she truly is an ice user.

And among the byproducts, there was a bracelet lying there. Is this what they call item drops?

“Thank you.”

The con artist said while putting the items and monster byproducts into his bag.

“As I briefed earlier, inside this cave, there are many large monsters that drop cores and items instead of small monsters, so we need to proceed carefully.”

“Okay!”

Nonetheless, the materials from the large monsters would sell for a high price. I heard that just the appearance of a large raid monster in protruding gates causes hunters to cheer, right?

We moved forward.

From time to time, more Moving Rocks appeared like before, but there were no significant problems. Thanks to Lee Ha-na, the collection didn’t take long.

As she collected, Lee Ha-na’s complexion improved significantly compared to when we entered the cave, likely because she was absorbing the chill.

That’s a relief. Seeing someone in pain is a hardship in many ways.

Along the way, there were ice attribute magical stones embedded in the ice, and the con artist took out a pickaxe and began to distribute them one by one as if he had been waiting for this moment. His readiness was thorough.

Anyway, after thoroughly gathering everything in the Ice Cave, we finally reached the last chamber.

“Do you all remember the plan I mentioned earlier?”

“Yep!”

“Of course~.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Just don’t forget, okay?”

“Kid, I’m the one who planned this operation!”

Lee Ha-na kept silent and simply nodded her head.

“Then I’ll leave it to you, Ha-na.”

“Okay.”

Soon, Lee Ha-na’s chilling magical power enveloped us.

We held our breaths and moved to our respective positions.

Lee Ha-na, Nayu-ri, and Park Si-woo went closer to the massive furry creature, the yeti. The rest of us stayed back.

I was searching for a suitable high point to sit and find a sniping spot.

At that moment, the con artist tapped my shoulder and said,

“Look out, Na-hyun.”

“…what?”

“Behind you.”

Startled, I quickly turned around. It was a massive creature. Its hair was frozen blue, and it was approaching us, but its demeanor seemed rather tame.

Perhaps a low-level yeti.

“Yeti!”

“I’ve got it!”

The con artist quickly dashed forward and swung his dagger at the yeti.

The sound of battle echoed, and Nayu-ri and Park Si-woo followed suit.

“Let’s go!”

As we engaged the yeti, I could see that it was a fight to capture rather than to kill.

What the con artist mentioned before was a tactical maneuver.

“Get ready to collect the drops!”

As we fought against the yeti, I quickly looked for the frozen magical stones and other valuable items around.

Among them, I found a round ball that emitted a soft blue light.

Wow! That looks valuable!

I carefully wrapped it in my clothes and put it in my inventory.

We were practically swimming in the spoils of the Ice Cave.