NOVEL NEXT #010
#010
It felt like something had grabbed my ankle and made me fall face-first.
I had felt this sensation before. It was when I felt a ‘thump!’ towards Shin Haejun, regardless of my intention.
“Aaaargh!”
Kim Sehyun let out a terrible scream. It was a scream that made even me flinch. The Silent Whatchamacallit had swung its knife at Kim Sehyun’s back instead of me. As a result, a long gash appeared on Kim Sehyun’s back.
‘It was clearly aiming at me while following…’
Is this also author’s allowance?!
I cried out to the author I had only briefly seen in the introduction and rushed towards Kim Sehyun. My body trembled involuntarily. At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if Shin Haejun sliced me up.
“Help! Over here!”
The base camp is just a little further. Maybe someone will hear my voice and come to help. I shouted earnestly with that hope, but sadly, no one came running.
‘Two guides with no power whatsoever trying to catch an S-rank dungeon monster…?’
This is nonsense. If the author wanted us to survive on our own, they would have made us Espers, not guides!
‘Item… is there no item?’
As I hurriedly wrapped my arms around Kim Sehyun and scrolled through my inventory, I unexpectedly saw a ‘Shout’ item. It was an item that, when used, could display a desired message across all channels in the game.
‘Maybe…’
I hastily selected the Shout item to use and shouted loudly.
“Help! Please help us!”
Then, my voice really echoed all around as if resonating everywhere. Looking at the map, I could see the green dots flying towards us.
“Ja-Jaeha, be careful!”
Kim Sehyun trembled in my arms. From behind, I could hear the whooshing sound of a blade as the monster tried to attack us.
‘This… there’s no choice. I have to take the hit.’
If only Kim Sehyun is found with a scratched back, I might be blamed unnecessarily. I closed my eyes tightly, bracing for the pain on my back.
“No!”
At that moment, Kim Sehyun suddenly pushed me down with superhuman strength. Suddenly thrown to the ground, I blinked in confusion.
“Kim Sehyun!”
Something whooshed past my forehead. And almost simultaneously, the monster made a screeching sound.
It was Shin Haejun. Having just arrived from the base camp, he had taken down the monster just before its blade could fall on us. He called Kim Sehyun’s name.
“Ah… hic…”
Perhaps feeling relieved at the sight of Shin Haejun, tears fell from Kim Sehyun’s eyes drop by drop. Shin Haejun frowned as he examined Kim Sehyun and saw the wound on his back.
“Guide Kim Sehyun!”
Soon, the people who had followed Shin Haejun all called Kim Sehyun’s name and surrounded us in a circle.
“Oh my, look at that wound!”
“What on earth happened here?”
People asked in shock. It was understandable to be surprised when an S-rank guide suddenly got stabbed.
And it wasn’t just the people who were shocked by this situation. The comment section was in chaos too. All the commenters were worried solely about Kim Sehyun.
Comments (48)
Xp****: Oh no, our poor Sehyun got hurt!
└Look at how shamelessly Lee Jaeha is just standing there
To****: Wow, Lee Jaeha brought the monster and got Sehyun hurt
Ql****: So this is why it felt uneasy
Even just skimming through, it was full of comments cursing at me.
I thought fewer people were watching because fewer comments were posted on uneventful chapters, but as soon as Kim Sehyun got hurt, the comments started flooding in.
GG****: But isn’t it the Espers’ fault for missing it in the first place?
└Of course, I’m angry that Sehyun got hurt, but still
└└They could have missed it by accident lol But don’t you see how he brought it over even though he clearly saw his friend?????
└└└If Lee Jaeha had looked around carefully in the first place, he could have gone around it
There were very rare instances of people saying sensible things, but the readers’ love-tinted glasses for the protagonists weren’t coming off. The power of those glasses that only appear when looking at main characters was very strong.
With the original comment getting beaten up by replies, no one even bothered to post opposing comments anymore.
I had to try hard to suppress my boiling insides at Shin Haejun’s careless conquest and the author’s obvious intentions.
“It seems Jaeha somehow attracted the monster’s aggro. As I was going to help Jaeha, he brought it towards me… I got hurt while trying to protect Jaeha.”
Hearing Kim Sehyun’s explanation amidst all this, the anger that was about to subside rose up like mad. When did you get hurt trying to protect me! I was about to argue, but the Esper who had teamed up with Shin Haejun earlier spoke sharply with a frown.
“No wonder Guide Kim Sehyun was shielding with his whole body…”
“…No, just before that, I was the one shielding him!”
I finally shouted after holding back. Aren’t you guys treating me too harshly just because I’m a villain and a side character?
I apologized to all the villain characters I had ever seen in novels, dramas, and movies. They might have had their circumstances too. My past self who blindly cursed at them was no different from these ignorant people.
“Jaeha, are you hurt anywhere?”
However, my timid cry was swept away by Kim Sehyun’s kind words of concern. People whispered about how kind Kim Sehyun was for worrying about me even in this situation.
“But honestly… as expected of an F-rank guide, it seems it was difficult to respond quickly.”
While everyone was worrying about Kim Sehyun, Shin Serim spoke softly with a dark expression.
“At the very least, if it had been a guide with some dungeon experience, they would have been careful not to catch the monster’s eye.”
“That could be true.”
“Certainly…”
People nodded at Shin Serim’s words. It really seemed like everyone thought the problem occurred because of me.
“Guide Kim Sehyun, let me be honest. Didn’t you care unnecessarily because you were previously an F-rank just like Guide Lee Jaeha? You almost got in danger because of that. There shouldn’t be any mistakes in dungeon conquest. I hope this doesn’t happen again.”
When Shin Serim spoke bluntly, Kim Sehyun’s face turned red, then blue.
He quietly rebutted, “What does my being F-rank before becoming S-rank have to do with this?” Then, with a pale face, he trembled and shrank back.
People’s unnecessary gossip had ruined the team atmosphere for nothing.
‘Anyway, no one will listen to what I have to say.’
I gathered courage to get angry earlier, but in the end, I was ignored. Even if I said Shin Haejun made a mistake, it was clear that everyone would attack me to avoid catching the eye of the S-rank Esper.
I sighed softly and looked at Kim Sehyun. If only you had run well earlier, this could have ended without anyone getting hurt…
“Enough. Anyway, there’s also the responsibility of not checking that a last monster remained in my team. Above all, I won’t forgive any more rudeness towards my guide.”
My guide. Kim Sehyun is lucky to have someone unconditionally on his side. I pursed my lips as I watched Shin Haejun acknowledge his mistake while still protecting Kim Sehyun.
Shin Haejun, who had quelled the awakened ones that were about to split, confirmed that Kim Sehyun was getting up hesitantly, then looked at me intently for some reason before turning around.
***
The subsequent conquest was very comfortable. Perhaps they didn’t have the courage to enter my tent after criticizing me so much, everyone left me alone, so it was a repetition of comfortably resting and then harvesting by-products and returning. Shin Haejun must have checked especially thoroughly, as there were no monsters suddenly popping out.
However, the team atmosphere itself had become a bit gloomy, and I ended up walking on eggshells to the point where I never wanted to enter a dungeon again.
Even Kim Sehyun, who seemed to care about me so much, only looked at me pitifully when I became isolated again. As if this was a trial I had to endure to be in this group.
‘I’m really tired…’
I sighed softly and came out of the dungeon with everyone else.
Just before coming out, I took out the house contract and other items, just in case, and quickly put them in the bag I had left at the dungeon entrance.
Seeing that the contract went in but the game items bounced off, it seemed that I could only take out items that were put into the inventory outside the dungeon.
After that, I sat quietly and waited for someone from the dungeon management department. It was to receive the reward, and when the administrator actually held his terminal to my phone, a notification popped up on the awakened management app.
‘One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand… twenty million won?’
I’m rich.
I gaped at the dungeon conquest reward amount that had entered the awakened management app. I had heard that we would receive a certain percentage of the dungeon contribution and by-products, but 20 million for entering once…
‘That’s half of my annual salary!’
Is it because it’s an S-rank dungeon? The reward is insane. Honestly, the astronomical amount in my inventory doesn’t feel real because it’s game money, but thinking that this is money I can actually use to live here, my hands trembled.
Kim Sehyun, who had seemed unlikable throughout the dungeon, now looked like a true friend.
‘I need to stick to him like glue. There’s no other choice.’
To me, who was prepared to even work part-time at a convenience store, this neighborhood’s generous reward was no different from an eye-opening stimulant.
I hope Kim Sehyun brings another S-rank dungeon. In front of money, I could eat my fill of walking on eggshells.
“Jaeha, are you okay? Today must have been tough?”
Kim Sehyun approached me and asked carefully. Feeling good about my fully packed balance, I shook my head vigorously.
“No, it was great!”
“I… I see. You’re so energetic, haha… Haejun and I are going back now, but Haejun doesn’t really… want to ride in the car with other people. So we’ll have to go separately.”
“Oh, is that so? Alright!”
Right now, I’m in a very generous mood. Even if Kim Sehyun hugged me and rolled around three times, spreading strange rumors about me to people, I could forgive him.
Compared to that, telling me to go home alone was nothing. It might take some time to get from Namyangju to my home in Seoul, but since I earned 20 million in a day, I can take a taxi. Normally, I would have been a bit reluctant about the taxi fare, but today my wallet was wide open.
‘It’s better this way, it would have been awkward riding with them. I should buy something delicious to take home!’
As I was smiling, feeling excited for various reasons, suddenly there was a ding! sound of a quest notification.
‘A sudden quest at this timing?’
No, what is it this time! What are you making me do now!