NOVEL NEXT #015
#015
“What’s that?”
Hyun Dowoon asked, pointing at the control stick. The large, round, bright red joystick was so intuitive that you could tell its use just by looking at it… Has he never been to an arcade?
“This is used to control movement. So, where are we going?”
I moved the stick to the left as a demonstration. The palanquin turned smoothly while quickly moving in the left direction. Honestly, it was only slightly faster than a person running, but it was perfect for our goal of catching all the monsters.
“Let’s go in that direction for now…. Where on earth did you get something like this?”
“Well…”
I laughed sheepishly and shrugged. There was really no way to explain it.
“By the way, Center Director. What attack skills do you have?”
“You can just call me Dowoon. I can summon any monster I’ve killed before.”
“Center Director. Can you summon monsters that attack from a distance too? Like archers or something?”
He told me to call him Dowoon, but if I really did, I might get marked. In the working world, if you believe your boss when they say “It’s okay to do this~”, you’re just asking to get backstabbed.
“Well, well. I came in to check on Jaeha, but it looks like I’m the one being put to use.”
Hyun Dowoon muttered with a slight eye smile. Then he summoned a strange monster with arms that were bows, just as I wanted. Seeing that he summoned one in each direction, he clearly knew what he was doing.
Things were going as I wanted, but Hyun Dowoon seemed too relaxed, which made me feel like I was being led along.
“What are we going to do about the by-products?”
“About that, um… I won’t be dissected or interrogated because of what I showed you today, right?”
Hyun Dowoon shrugged at my question.
“Do I look that barbaric to you?”
“No, you don’t give that impression, but… my constellation is a bit special.”
Hyun Dowoon’s eyebrows raised slightly at my words. He didn’t expect the topic of constellations to come up.
‘To explain my items… I guess I have no choice but to use the constellation as an excuse.’
There’s no real way to show your constellation to others anyway. That’s why Kim Sehyun can operate just fine even with such a strange constellation.
I racked my brain and told Hyun Dowoon:
“It’s a secret, but my constellation is ‘The Inventor of the Universe’. It’s A-grade.”
“It’s the first time I’ve heard of an F-grade awakened having a constellation, and it’s A-grade at that. After what you’ve shown, I can’t not believe it.”
“My constellation gives me a few things I need in dungeons. I discovered this when I went to the dungeon with Sehyun recently.”
“So it only activates in dungeons?”
I nodded at Hyun Dowoon’s question. I had debated whether to call the constellation ‘God of Inventory’ or something else, but I chose a grandiose name thinking it would be more believable.
He seemed to think about something for a moment after my words, then gently took the joystick I was holding. Our hands brushed briefly.
“I’ll control it, you just relax. Ah, back to the question… what are you planning to do with the by-products?”
“Well, if I use this…”
I used the item magnet again. This time for an hour.
“All by-products recognized as items will go into my inventory. I’ll take them out for you when we leave the dungeon.”
“Ah… So the inventory function is amazing, but you can’t open it outside?”
Hyun Dowoon was quick on the uptake. I awkwardly moved away from the control stick and sat uneasily on the chair, watching Hyun Dowoon drive.
“I wonder why Jaeha is F-grade? Looking at you, it seems like it’s not just about guiding ability.”
While the monsters Hyun Dowoon summoned were shooting arrows, ground monsters were dying, and by-products were being sucked into my inventory. As we continued this process, touring the dungeon as if on a safari bus, Hyun Dowoon smiled lightly and whispered:
“Is your guiding ability really F-grade?”
“The center’s test can’t be wrong, right?”
“Well, that’s true, but… can I test you a bit at the dungeon entrance later?”
“Sure…”
I slowly accepted Hyun Dowoon’s words. I was in a position where I had to do what the center director said anyway, but Hyun Dowoon kept asking for my opinion as if it mattered. It was clearly a good thing, but it made me realize how terribly Shin Haejun and Kim Sehyun had treated me, which made me feel bad.
“By the way, I was planning to show Jaeha the power of an S-grade, but unexpectedly, I’m getting a free ride. It feels like I’m freeloading on a group project.”
“But your summons are doing all the work, Center Director.”
When I retorted softly, Hyun Dowoon smiled faintly.
“Well, honestly… They say there aren’t many S-grade Espers in Korea. But globally, there’s probably quite a distribution, right? In that sense, Jaeha’s constellation is more special.”
“Is… that so?”
“Espers all have their own unique abilities. But items specialized for dungeons like this… that’s something we never thought of.”
I showed it to him so he wouldn’t treat me too strangely, but Hyun Dowoon treated me even more specially than I expected. I nodded awkwardly.
“To be honest, I understand why you brought up scary things like dissection or interrogation earlier. Let’s not disclose this carelessly for now. Be careful, they might really bring you in from overseas and use you like a factory to produce items.”
I nodded with clenched fists at Hyun Dowoon’s words. That would be the worst.
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to treat you extraordinarily well. You probably wouldn’t believe me if I said that now, right?”
“That’s… true.”
“I have something in mind… but let’s talk about that later.”
He said that and then pushed the joystick output to the maximum. As he pushed it forward, the well-shaped muscles of his forearm tensed. I sat quietly holding the armrest of the chair, racking my brain to figure out what Hyun Dowoon was thinking.
Even riding the palanquin, it took a long time before the dungeon interior was almost completely devastated. I suddenly became curious again about why he thought of conquering with just the two of us. Of course, there wouldn’t have been any difficulty in conquering, but wouldn’t it have been annoying to spend so much time?
“What were you planning to do without my palanquin? It takes a long time, especially in a desert.”
“I would have spent a long time with Jaeha. Isn’t that an enjoyable option?”
“I know you’re joking.”
I relaxed a bit and glared at Hyun Dowoon. He waved one hand and sighed briefly.
“My other ability is teleportation. I can teleport anywhere within a 10km radius. I was planning to use that skill to move around, but this is like sightseeing and it’s pleasantly relaxed.”
“Ah… so you didn’t really need my palanquin.”
I guess I spoke up unnecessarily. I should have conquered with a different item. As I fidgeted with my fingers, feeling a bit deflated, Hyun Dowoon leaned forward and made eye contact with me.
“I said it’s relaxing and nice, didn’t I? Watching Lee Jaeha is quite interesting.”
“It’s… the first time I’ve heard someone say I’m interesting.”
Everyone else found me frustrating and hated me, but he says I’m interesting?
Hearing Hyun Dowoon’s words, I felt a pressure in my chest. I regretted not going to the psychiatry department at the Medical Center before coming to the dungeon. Hyun Dowoon was probably just saying this to tease me anyway. Hearing things like this unnecessarily gives me hope.
“No, really. Just looking at your face is interesting.”
“They say the more you look at beautiful people, the more interesting their faces become,” Hyun Dowoon whispered playfully with a refreshing smile.
I instinctively felt that Hyun Dowoon was dangerous. Shin Haejun was okay because his intention to hurt me was obvious. But Hyun Dowoon was older than me and seemed to hide his expressions well… I couldn’t understand why he was saying these things.
“Ah… you’re on guard, right?”
When I fixed my gaze on Hyun Dowoon’s hand and clenched my mouth shut, he shook his head. It seemed like a “I knew it would be like this” kind of action, which made my heart sharp again.
“It’s not like that.”
“Look at me. Let’s stop for a moment.”
As I bit my lip, Hyun Dowoon’s large hand came and lightly touched my shoulder. As he let go of the joystick and stopped driving, only the swooshing sound of the desert could be heard.
Hyun Dowoon looked into my eyes for a moment, then ran his hand through his hair once and sighed.
“Can I hold your hand?”
“My hand?”
I hesitated as I looked at the hand he held out. His long, clean hands were open in front of me, palms up.
“I’m saying let’s try guiding.”
“I’m an F-grade guide.”
And Hyun Dowoon is an S-grade Esper. According to the Awakened Guide Book, only other S-grades can guide S-grade Espers, and even A-grades can only do it in urgent situations, like a blood transfusion.
From the start, if awakened ones with completely different grades try to guide each other, the lower-grade one would be severely damaged internally, while the higher-grade one wouldn’t feel the guiding effect at all.
Of course, in cases of extremely high matching rates, guiding is possible due to compatibility satisfaction. Even then, with such a grade difference, it would only be at the level of guiding 5% bit by bit, compared to an S-grade guide solving 50% in one go.
“I know, F-grade guide Lee Jaeha. Still, I want you to try guiding. You can let go immediately if it hurts.”
Hyun Dowoon persuaded me with calm eyes. I don’t understand why we need to do guiding at all.
“It won’t work anyway.”
As I muttered softly and overlapped my hands, Hyun Dowoon gently stroked the back of my hand with his thumb.
Even though I know it won’t work, he says we should try. It’s inefficient, but… Anyway, I can’t ignore what the center director is saying.
‘I shouldn’t expect anything.’
I’m aware that I’ve been adding “anyway” to everything for a while now.
But isn’t Hyun Dowoon a character reserved for Kim Sehyun? Whether he’s the main protagonist or a sub-protagonist, he’s a character for Kim Sehyun, not for me.
Anyway, he’ll probably match much better with Kim Sehyun.
‘When he realizes that, he’ll end up with Kim Sehyun.’
I had no expectation that the man in front of me would treat me well forever just because he’s being nice to me now.
But because he’s telling me to. So I’m trying, that’s all.
‘But guiding… how do you do it?’
This is my first time doing practical guiding… I don’t know how to do it.
As I held Hyun Dowoon’s hand blankly and shouted internally ‘How do I guide?’
An amazing screen appeared before my eyes.