38.
‘I feel agitated.’
The spider demon taking advantage of my memory of my younger sister had left my emotions somewhat a mess inside. Still, I had no regrets. I felt cold outside as a feeling of refreshment. At that moment, Hyeon-woo, who was standing in a corner, came into Do-jin’s line of sight. Seeing him, a bitter smile came to his lips.
Just like A-yun did, Hyeon-woo seemed to avoid me. I probably wouldn’t be able to protect him anymore. Hearing the news of my younger sister’s death, I acted impulsively out of a desperation to hold onto what I could of her, and it had been a rewarding experience keeping Hyeon-woo safe.
Do-jin patted his chest with his hands, swirling with emotion.
They hadn’t been around each other for a long time, but it seemed like there was a connection between his unknown emotions and Hyeon-woo. Then, he turned his head and saw Ye-won’s face right in front of him.
‘I thought the illusion was broken already!’
When he closed his eyes in panic and opened them again, the illusion of Ye-won faded away and Hyeon-woo’s face looked on from where Ye-won’s had been.
“Are you okay?”
“That’s what I was going to say. Are you okay?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you see me fighting?”
“Aah.”
At Do-jin’s response, Hyeon-woo raised his lips and smiled.
“What you did doesn’t scare me.”
“That might not be true for others.”
“Are you going to fight me like how you just were?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then, that’s good enough.”
Was that really the end of the matter? Do-jin asked again with a bewildered expression on his face.
“Wasn’t it scary?”
“What do you mean?”
He tore apart monsters. Unlike A-yun was still shivering and avoiding Do-jin, Hyeon-woo seemed unaffected.
‘Well, I’m not fully innocent either.’
Hyeon-woo’s time in the Demon Realm was not short. It was decades. About the lifespan of a normal human being from birth to death. There were times when he was living alone and doing crazy things during his time there. He has done far more and worse than anything Do-jin could probably imagine. So he really was not bothered. But Do-jin couldn’t have know that.
“This looks like it was a boss monster.”
A-yun, who had been watching the monsters with Junichi as her escort from a distance, got up.
“But this is not the boss room, is it?”
“No. Usually, bosses rarely come out of the boss room. So, I’m actually not too sure what the situation is.”
“Don’t we have to kill the boss?”
“Yes. For most dungeon portals, the clear condition is killing the boss. We won’t be able to take it out alive to study it.”
As soon as the words fell, Seon-woo immediately threw a large piece of ice into the monster’s head. When his weak breath came to an end and he died, a change began to occur in the dungeon. The intricately entangled maze disappeared, and the roads began to merge. The boss room appeared towards the place where the portal, which opens to the outside, was located.
“Now we just have to escape. We’ll look for others as we head out.”
“Let’s go.”
The first person they came across was Ja-yun. He was with a few other Unawakened, who seemed to be the ones, who were saved by him.
“A-yun-ah!”
After running up to A-yun, Ja-yun checked her condition.
“I’m okay. I didn’t get hurt. Really.”
A-yun stopped her Oppa from continuing his assessment and explained what had happened. Only then did Ja-yun put on a relieved expression.
And as they headed to the boss room, they found the body of a familiar person.
“It’s bomber.”
“He doesn’t look like he was killed by a monster either.”
If a dungeon monster had killed the bomber, there would be no way the body would have stayed in relatively good shape.
“Oppa?”
When A-yun looked at Ja-yun with suspicious eyes, he hurriedly shook his head.
“It wasn’t me!”
Seon-woo, Do-jin, and Junichi also denied their involvement. So, who killed the bomber? Ja-yun looked around with suspicion and someone approached the group from the other side. They had looked everywhere checking for survivors. Where did he come from?
Ja-yun narrowed his eyes. At that moment, Junichi, who was quietly standing next to him, frowned and spit out a name.
“Siegfried.”
“Aha, have you all gathered here? And Junichi. Didn’t I ask you to call me by my first name? My name is Leon.”
At that, Junichi had a disgusted expression on his face.
“You’re here too?”
“Somehow. I was coming to be treated at a famous restaurant, but I guess I got caught up in this dungeon.”
Leon calmly explained, but that didn’t erase Junichi’s doubts.
“Then you killed that villain?”
“Who? Villain? Was there such a person here? If I had come across him, I would’ve taken care of him, but I had no part in this incident unfortunately.”
Everyone claimed they didn’t kill the bomber. But there was no way the villain would have died on his own.
“Let’s see. Looks like the killer tried to cut his throat with a sharp blade in one movement. They did a pretty good job at it. But I can’t figure out whose style this is. I don’t see anything that could identify the killer. Interesting.”
Leon rummaged through the body and spoke to himself. However, those present consisted of S-class Awakened that all heard everything clearly, Hyeon-woo being no exception.
‘He seems very calm right now.’
Hyeon-woo had met Junichi and Leon when he snuck out. I don't know if it was because of that, but these two were very suspicious.
There were too many S-Class Awakened in one place. They came there to keep their promise with A-yun, but why were Junichi and Leon there? Was it really an appointment?
A number of suspicions arose, including the bomber that was hired to take someone out. Above all, it was also known that Do-jin, despite being an S-class Awakened, was weak against mental attacks.
‘The monster was definitely dangerous, but it wasn’t enough to beat Do-jin.’
There was some kind of scheme afoot. Thinking this, Hyeon-woo turned and met Do-jin’s eyes. His stiff eyes said his thoughts were on the same wavelength.
Meanwhile, Leon removed his hand from the body.
“Well, for now, that’s about it. I’d like to know more about what’s happened, but first we should evacuate the innocent civilians, right?”
They all agreed with Leon’s words. So, after leaving the body of the bomber behind and continuing on, they arrived at the boss room.
The huge door that was closed was now wide open on both sides, and no sign of life was felt inside. As expected, the giant spider monster seemed to have been the boss.
Ja-yun was the first to pass through the portal leading to the outside, followed by A-yun, Hyeon-woo, and the general public. The rest of the Awakened were last.
As soon as he came out of the portal, the first person he Ja-yun saw was Moo-hyuk. He probably moved to the location quickly because of the sudden portal, but that didn’t make him feel any better. The relationship between the Guilds and the Hunter Administration was like water and oil, so only the non-awakened ordinary people would welcome them.
“Hello.”
Ja-yun returned the greeting with a reluctant expression and held A-yun’s hand.
“What?”
A-yun also saw Moo-hyuk and frowned slightly.
“Why has the Hunter Administration appeared?”
“I came here after receiving a report on the occurrence of non-symptomatic portals.”
“Ah, that’s right. You came very quickly. Okay, has the portal problem been resolved?”
“Well, I’d say it’s just been resolved.”
Moo-hyuk responded, calmly accepting A-yun’s sarcastic remarks. Then, when Hyeon-woo and the others appeared, the people dispatched from the Hunter Administration began to mobilize.
They took the civilians aside to ask questions about the newly opened portal. Internally, Moo-hyuk wanted to hold on to the Awakened and ask them as well, but these particular ones were worse than normal. The Guild Leader or Deputy Guild Leader of each of the most prominent guilds. There was no way they would obey the orders of the Hunter Administration.
“Wait, wait. Where are you taking them?”
A-yun didn’t miss the Hunter Administration’s movements.
“Excuse me!”
At the same time, guild members dispatched from the guilds took their place at the site. Among them, A-yun called out the ghost-like Yoram guild members.
‘Are you trying to put a spoon on it without doing anything?’
(EN: The phrase is often used to describe people who try to take credit for something they did not do or who try to benefit from someone else’s hard work without putting in any effort themselves. It is also used to describe people who try to take advantage of a situation without doing anything to help.)
A-yun cleaned up her messy clothes and approached the others who had just come out. And it wasn’t just them. As the Yoram guild moved, other guilds did as well.
“Guild Leader!”
Chan-young ran to Seon-woo once he spotted him. It didn’t take long for the guild leader to observe and understand the situation.
“What will happen to the poor civilians that just escaped?”
Although he was speaking with a smile, Moo-hyuk knew a sword was hidden in his words. As a result, the Hunter Administration’s staff shrank unknowingly.
‘Whatever.’
Moo-hyuk sighed as he watched the Hunter Administration staff lean back. Recently, someone had been taking away his trusted subordinates. After that, it was too difficult to take on the fresh newcomers that joined the management office.
If you don’t do what you’re asked to do, you’ll get scolded. The intention to tame Moo-hyuk was clearly visible. I wasn’t one that could be tamed, but I was getting tired of dealing with this crap all the time.
“We’ll give up on the investigation for now. May I ask you to share the information later instead?”
“I’ll think about it.”
Seon-woo said so while making eye contact with Moo-hyuk. He was verbally saying no, but since he had already reached an agreement with Moo-hyuk, he would hand over the information privately. Moo-hyuk understood and left.
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: YaagRabRag
YRR: So …. Who killed the bomber? O.O
HM: shiranaiwayoo~
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