NOVEL NEXT #019
#019
“Why are you crying every time I see you?”
Shin Haejun muttered, looking at me with a strange gaze.
For a moment, I heard a siren sound in my head.
‘I don’t know what it is, but it seems I’m screwed.’
A main character ignores another main character and throws such a weird line at a supporting character?
The story has completely gone off track.
I don’t care where the author’s writing goes as long as I’m okay, but in this case, I’m the one being targeted!
‘I don’t know what kind of shitty fate the author will throw me into.’
I widened my eyes and quickly wiped under them. Then I spread my hand wide and held it up in front of Shin Haejun.
“He’s the one crying. I didn’t cry. And as promised, I’m leaving now.”
There’s nothing on my hands. No tears welling up or anything like that happened to me. Kim Sehyun is the one you should be looking at.
As I spoke clearly, Shin Haejun’s expression became strange.
I carefully moved past the two of them and quickly headed for the door.
‘That was close.’
It seemed Shin Haejun wasn’t chasing after me, as if he hadn’t been thinking anything too serious either. Now they can sort things out between themselves.
I escaped. It was truly fortunate.
‘Why do I keep running into Shin Haejun…!’
I have no desire to meet him, but I keep encountering Shin Haejun. Is this the author’s intention too? Am I supposed to play the role of annoying him by lingering in front of him, beyond just being a bridge?
‘Does this author have no other character to use but me?’
Unless they have some grudge against me, how can they dump all the roles on me!
Fuming, I returned to the original conference room where Hyun Dowoon leaned towards me and asked,
“Did something happen? You look a bit pale.”
“It’s nothing. But what is this meeting for?”
“For an S-grade Red Dungeon, we plan the strategy in advance. It’s not a dungeon that ends in a day or two.”
Hmm, I see. I nodded and cautiously asked Hyun Dowoon,
“But didn’t you finish this month’s quota with me? Why are you going to the dungeon again?”
At my words, Hyun Dowoon paused for a moment and tilted his head.
“Well, I’m not sure. For some reason, I feel like I have to go.”
“The dungeon isn’t extremely difficult, is it? Do you have some kind of premonition?”
I frowned and thought I should memorize the plan without missing a single detail.
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect my guide.”
“I haven’t agreed to be your pair yet, Center Director.”
As I whispered softly, Hyun Dowoon chuckled instead of answering. He seemed very confident, as if he thought I would eventually become his pair guide.
***
[S-grade Red Dungeon – 21 people entering / Special: Poison & Fog / BOSS ???]
Due to the special terrain, the Espers entered first in this dungeon. In a world filled with poisonous mist, ordinary humans couldn’t breathe, so the Espers had to go in even a second earlier to create a safe zone before the guides could enter.
As we entered the dungeon entrance, our vision turned white. The fog was so thick that visibility was poor.
“Jaeha, are you alright?”
Hyun Dowoon had somehow approached my side and asked. Looking around, Shin Haejun seemed to be concentrating on eliminating the poison far away. I nodded to Hyun Dowoon while keeping an eye on the person to watch out for.
“The fog is really thick.”
“The wind-type Esper will move soon.”
Indeed, as Team 1’s wind-type Esper continuously shot out wind in all directions, the fog seemed to dissipate for a moment. However, the scattered fog soon surged back, starting to fight against the wind.
‘They said we can’t make a base camp in this kind of terrain.’
Even if we made a base camp, unless you could see the location on a map like me, it would be easy to get lost.
So in reality, the guides had carabiners and ropes tied around their waists, connecting their bodies to each other.
“It’ll be difficult to attack in this state.”
People’s faces were full of irritation. It’s very tiring to be constantly tense while connected to each other, not like a relay race. I understood why this method was necessary, as guides couldn’t see anything, unlike Espers who could at least sense each other’s positions using their abilities.
‘Still… it’s surprisingly primitive.’
The history of the awakened in the guidebook was very short. It says enough that Hyun Dowoon, who awakened 7 years ago, is now the Awakened Center Director.
Even so, I didn’t expect such an old-fashioned method in modern times. I’m not sure if it’s because the author didn’t imagine this area or if they deliberately set it up this way.
“Um, Jaeha. It’s your turn here.”
Kim Sehyun approached me and whispered. Since I yelled at him during the last meeting, Kim Sehyun had been constantly watching my reactions.
I have to tie my waist to him?
I looked at the rope and carabiner Kim Sehyun held out with an uneasy gaze.
“Is there a problem?”
Shin Serim, who still didn’t seem to think highly of me, carefully approached to prevent the rope from tangling and asked. There’s no problem… but such a stifling battle. I frowned and searched my inventory.
‘Here it is, the sky lantern!’
To be precise, it was a floating light decoration that hovered above the head, a miscellaneous item that came out when Limitless Nine sold ‘Mysterious Surprise Random Boxes’ for a Halloween event two years ago.
Honestly, it was pretty, and I had kept it well in a corner of my inventory because it was good for releasing sky lanterns with people to welcome the new year every year.
Since it constantly floats above the head, there’s no chance of losing it… and although the light is soft, it should be fine if we each float the right number.
‘If I had known this would happen, I should have brought an industrial lantern.’
You really only know when you experience it. Honestly, if it weren’t for having to tie my waist to Kim Sehyun, I wouldn’t have volunteered, but the thought suddenly struck me that being close to him could lead to unpredictable situations.
“Here, take this.”
I handed the sky lantern to Hyun Dowoon, who was next to me. He tilted his head and asked,
“Is this a light?”
“Try floating it slightly above your head.”
“What… Oh. That’s interesting.”
As Hyun Dowoon released it himself, the sky lantern rose smoothly to the air above his head and floated well. It was an item that moved according to Hyun Dowoon’s movements, so it wouldn’t be a problem even if an Esper wore it.
“With this, we can see each other’s positions, so we don’t really need to be connected by ropes, do we?”
At my question, people approached with interest.
“You brought something amazing last time, and now you’ve brought something else interesting?”
Kang Sodam muttered, looking at the sky lantern with round eyes. I placed a sky lantern in Kang Sodam’s arms as she glanced at it, seemingly wanting to touch it.
As the two threw the sky lanterns and they emitted a soft light, people seemed to recognize that the sky lanterns were quite useful items. I distributed the sky lanterns and floated one above my head as well.
“We can certainly recognize each other well.”
“It seems not bad, since it’s annoying to keep using abilities.”
The Espers whispered and glanced at me. Somehow, I had become like Doraemon to them, pulling out interesting items, but I was satisfied enough just by avoiding being next to Kim Sehyun.
‘Ah… Shin Haejun.’
Now, the only person who hadn’t received a sky lantern was Shin Haejun. He was clearly looking at me as I awkwardly held the sky lantern. Shin Haejun’s ruby-like eyes kept shining brightly and rippling. He seemed to be maintaining his power to eliminate the surrounding poison.
‘Somehow, it feels like he’s waiting.’
Looking at his body directed towards me, it clearly seemed like he was waiting for me to hand over the sky lantern. It would probably be fine to just give it to him like this, but… having learned the eternal truth that ‘getting entangled with main characters is troublesome,’ I had no desire to approach him closely.
“Here, Kim Sehyun. Give this to your Esper.”
Instead, I handed the sky lantern to the more approachable Kim Sehyun and turned my body completely. I could hear Kim Sehyun approaching Shin Haejun behind me to hand over the sky lantern and speak to him.
“Haejun, here-“
“I don’t need this crap.”
“Ouch…!”
With a sound of a hand being swatted away, there was a crashing sound of the lantern breaking on the floor.
Wasn’t he looking at me earlier, wanting the sky lantern? I thought so because he was staring at me clearly, but it seems that wasn’t the case at all.
Shin Haejun, upset about something again, threw the sky lantern to the floor. He’s not a sunfish, but he keeps breaking and bursting things every time he touches them. I glanced at the debris on the floor, making a firmer resolve not to go near Shin Haejun.
“…Ahem. Let’s move.”
Hyun Dowoon, who had been watching Shin Haejun causing trouble from the start, clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.
“We don’t know what might appear, so let’s be careful. Fortunately, we’ve secured visibility, so let’s all move together until we find a suitable place for a base camp.”
Hyun Dowoon led the people instead of Shin Haejun, who had his mouth tightly shut like a clam.
We all kept our mouths shut to avoid attracting enemy attention and moved towards the visible front.
‘If we go in this direction, we’ll soon encounter a swarm.’
I frowned inwardly as I checked the monsters’ positions through the map. Somehow, I felt an eerie sensation around us.
“Wait, I sense about 15 monsters ahead.”
Shin Haejun said, squinting his eyes. It was almost simultaneous with Hyun Dowoon glancing at me once.
The monsters that appeared in front had a cubic shape. These square objects, like dice, were floating while repeatedly stretching and shrinking like rice cakes.
“What are those?”
“It’s a form I’ve never seen before.”
The Espers whispered as they saw the new form of monsters that suddenly appeared. Just as the history of the awakened is short, not all dungeons have been fully identified. As the system showed a question mark for this dungeon’s boss, there were still quite a few undiscovered monsters.
“Esper Shin Haejun, how about touching it with telekinesis?”
Shin Haejun nodded, twisting his lips at Hyun Dowoon’s suggestion. Although Shin Haejun had been using his skill to decompose the poison substance all along, it didn’t seem to be a big burden to use one more skill.
‘…What?’
Shin Haejun waved his hand to touch the monster with telekinesis. He clearly touched the monster, but…
‘Why is my vision flipping?’