I brought up the topic of the magic stone that Shin Sooha had promised to give me, in order to divert my anxious gaze. “Are you really going to give this to me?”
It was then that Shin Sooha, who had been focused on Salt, nodded his head, “Yes. Please take it.”
“Thank you,” I promptly expressed my gratitude.
There was no need to reject what he was willingly giving, and I thought that if I accepted the stone, he might leave. But contrary to my expectations, even after I accepted the magic stone and put it in my bag, he just stood there nonchalantly.
“…Aren’t you leaving?”
“Are you planning to explore more?”
“Yes.”
‘You’re done here, so go on your way.’
Contrary to my wish for him to quickly exit the dungeon, he stared at me intently and said, “Let’s leave together.”
“No, you must be busy. Go ahead. There’s no danger since the boss monster is dead. I’ll explore a bit more and then leave,” I replied, forcing a smile and pointed to the exit gate.
“That’s not possible.”
“Pardon?”
The man smiled again. I squinted reflexively at his smile, which was brighter than when he first smiled.
“Even if the boss monster is dead, there may be cases where the minions regenerate. You said you’re a D-rank right? So I’ll protect you.”
‘What kind of nonsense is he saying? In a state where unless the boss monster regenerates first, how can its minions regenerate beforehand? It’s clearly written that the boss monster creates the minions. After all, I’ve read the novel with my own eyes.’
I stared at him, who was lying without batting an eye. The shameless man was even sporting a bright smile.
“I have this item and, as you said, although I’m a D-rank, I’m still a hunter, so I can handle the monsters. So, don’t worry and go ahead.”
“You don’t have to feel burdened. I have guild work to do after I leave, so it would be good for me to rest here for a while.”
He looked as if he had no intention of leaving until I did, and I sighed, “Do as you wish.”
Shin Sooha was so busy that I even believed we wouldn’t meet until the cradle appeared, other than the coincidence of running into each other today.
“Then I’ll take a look around.” I cautiously moved toward where the boss monster was, while watching him.
At the whereabouts where the boss monster felled which was rooted to the ground, the item I was looking for was actually deep in its root’s nest.
“What’s this?”
Even to my own ears, my voice sounded awkward.
‘Now I understand why the squad leader told me not to even dream of involving myself in stakeout investigation. I really have no talent for acting.’
I glanced at Shin Sooha with a sense of defeat. I expected him to give me a strange look, but his expression was unchanged, as if my acting was not as awkward as I thought.
“Should we explore here too?” I jumped into the Death Tree’s pit. Inside the pit, as gigantic as its body, there were several holes dug out, as if they were where its roots had once been.
‘The novel said it’s in the moistest soil, didn’t it?’ I reached out and felt all the dirt in front of the holes.
I touched it trusting the description of it being inside the moistest soil, but I had a slight feeling of unease.
‘This isn’t moist, it’s sticky?’
Feeling the muddiest soil in the dugout hole, I plucked Salt from above my head. If I were alone, I would have left Salt behind and gone back, but there was Shin Sooha, a high-level hunter who it could purify, so I had no choice.
“I have to go in there, so stay in the bag for a while.”
“Ppi.”
“Just for a moment. I have to crawl in there.”
Pointing at the hole with my finger, Salt reluctantly flew into the bag.
It’s fortunate that Salt was able to understand me. Otherwise, it would have been quite a hassle to persuade him.
Once Salt settled in the bag, I crawled into the hole without hesitation. As I went further in, the light was blocked and I couldn’t see ahead, but I kept crawling, feeling my way with one hand. And when I touched the hard wall, I sat down and dug through the soil. After a few minutes of crumbling and digging through the falling dirt, I finally felt something hard in my hand.
And then the Truth skill activated automatically.
[The passive skill ‘Truth’ is activated.] [Blue Cloud]
Description: A stone with the power of water. It’s about to crumble from being forcefully drained by Death Tree.
※ There is additional information that can be confirmed through the possessed skill.
“Found it.”
According to the verification provided by ‘Truth,’ the object I discovered was undoubtedly the ‘Blue Cloud,’ an item of SS-grade quality capable of summoning water. Thanks to the water-summoning ability of the Blue Cloud, even the Fire Golem would not present a challenge.
I turned around in the narrow space, clutching the Blue Cloud, which was cool to the touch, and crawled toward the light. The distance felt very long when I entered this dark place, but it felt very brief when I departed the space.
As soon as I crawled out of the hole and jumped down into the pit, I heard a voice from above.
“Are you done looking around?”
“Yes.”
“I will help you up.”
Seeing Shin Sooha reaching out, I was about to extend my hands but soon stopped myself for doing so. After crawling inside the slimy hole and digging through the dirt, my hands were a mess.
“No, I’ll climb up on my own.”
“Hmm.”
As Shin Sooha made a small noise in his throat and moved his hand, I felt my body floating up.
‘This crazy bast*rd.’
“You could have chosen other methods, you know.”
“Is that so? You seemed to be having a hard time. Be careful next time.”
Even though we were out of the pit, my feet still didn’t touch the ground. In the midst of this, Salt, startled by my shout, flew out of the bag, circling around, chirping noisily.
It might have been my imagination, but it sounded like Salt was screaming to save me.
I quickly waved my hand, “It’s okay. I’m fine, so don’t worry.”
“Ppi ppi?”
“No, I’m really okay.”
Salt’s eyes stared straight at me.
I’m not sure how this tiny creature could save me, but the moment Salt behaves differently than a normal bird, Shin Sooha would become curious about Salt. Given that I had to hide Salt’s identity as a bird of purification, he had to appear as a normal sparrow to others.
“Guild Master Shin Sooha. Please put me down now.”
But my voice, trembling slightly with humiliation, must have sounded strange because Salt tilted its head.
“Ppi ppi. Ppi.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m not mad at you.”
Unlike the swift ascent I experienced earlier, the descent towards the ground was noticeably slow. Salt, who had been observing me with a quizzical expression, seemed to sense my well-being and eventually settled on my head. Simultaneously, my feet reached the solid ground, taking me by surprise and causing a slight wobble in my body upon contact.
Then Shin Sooha wrapped his arm around my waist to support me.
“This is a bit humiliating.”
At the moment of humiliation, as if I had turned into a baby, his expression was strange while he tried to control the color of his face. On top of that, the message window kept appearing in front of me.
But if I read the messages here, Shin Sooha would sense something strange, so instead of reading the messages, I asked him, “Why? Is it your first time seeing someone feel humiliated and powerless?”
“…No. Are you okay?”
“Will I be okay? What do you expect when you suddenly lift someone up like that?”
“I apologize. I thought you didn’t like holding hands.”
“It’s not that I don’t like holding hands, it’s just that my hands…”
As I lost strength in my legs, Shin Sooha and I were pushed close together as he held me.
Worried that Salt and Shin Sooha might touch, I hastily shook off his hand and took a step back. “I didn’t want to because my hands were dirty… but it seems you’re already dirty.”
However, as I stepped back, I could see Shin Sooha’s suit, had already become a mess due to the mud.
“Guild Master Shin Sooha, your clothes are worse off than mine. I intentionally didn’t touch you because of the mud.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay for me.”
Despite my efforts to remove the mud from the suit using my hand, the result was a suit even more soiled than before. Frustrated by this, I relinquished my attempt and proceeded to retrieve my crossbody bag.
I knew that to find the Blue Cloud, I had to go inside the cave, so I had prepared something.
“A cleaner?”
“Yes.”
What I extracted from the crossbody bag was, without a doubt, a ‘cleaner,’ exactly as he had described. It proved to be a disposable item imbued with the power of water, proficient in removing grime from both the body and garments. Notably, it was also a product commonly employed by regular individuals, and of all the items I had procured, it held the highest price tag.
Seo Go-woon, who didn’t have a driver’s license, had to take a taxi to and from the dungeon. Knowing that I would definitely be refused service if my clothes were dirty, I had no choice but to buy the cleaner.
‘What a waste, my one million won.’
With a tear in my eye, I handed him the cleaner, “Please use it.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, please use it, it got dirty because of me.”
He replied with a smile, “I can’t because it’s a non-washable suit.”
Ah, right.
Suits require dry cleaning. I was so flustered that I forgot about such an obvious fact.
“Then let me at least pay for the cleaning.”
“It’s fine. I’ll wash it at home, so you don’t need to worry.”
“How can you wash it at home… oh.”
I must have really been flustered. I had forgotten again that Shin Sooha was from a wealthy family. Being from a wealthy family, he could certainly afford to do dry cleaning at home.
‘But still, it got dirty because of me….’
“You don’t need to worry about it. It’s my fault for using my psychic powers without your consent.”
That’s true. I could have climbed out of the pit myself, but he pulled me out with his psychic powers, so it wasn’t my fault. Still, I felt uneasy. I hope this won’t lead to a misunderstanding later.
“Have you finished looking around?”
“Yes, it’s time to leave.”
“You need to take this with you.”
“Huh?”
Shin Sooha picked up the ‘Blue Cloud’ from the ground and offered it to me.
“Uh…”
I couldn’t say whether it was mine or not, and just awkwardly held my mouth open. ‘Why did I overlook that? And why isn’t he asking about it?’
I stared at him with trembling eyes.
Without any hesitation, he handed me the Blue Cloud and gently pushed my waist.
“We’re running out of time, we should get going quickly.”
As he pushed me onto the escape gate, a blinding light appeared and disappeared, revealing the forest dungeon entrance gate I had entered from.
“Shin Sooha-ssi?”
‘We definitely stepped onto the escape gate together. Where did he go?’
I called his name, looking around, but there was no response.
“Did he leave already?”
When I told him to go, he wouldn’t, but as soon as we got out, he disappeared. I shook my head and cleaned myself up with a cleansing wipe I was carrying. The cool water wiped away the dirt and mud that had stained my clothes. After making sure I was perfectly clean, I slowly walked and called a taxi.
Dungeons always maintained a safe distance due to the risk of explosions. Once I got out of the safety zone and took a taxi that was waiting, I arrived home to see Seo Taeju getting out of his car.
As our eyes met, his face twisted in displeasure.
‘That’s also a talent.’
It took energy to hate someone. So instead of hating, I usually chose to ignore, but he always expressing ‘I dislike you’, ‘I hate you’.
[Using the passive skill ‘Diagnosis’.] [Seo Taeju – Contamination 0%]
‘Seeing that his contamination level hasn’t changed, it seems like he didn’t go to the dungeon, but why does he go to the guild if he doesn’t go to the dungeon? The novel said he only went to the guild when he had to the dungeon. Could it be because I’m at home?’
While I was contemplating whether to greet him or not, Seo Taeju went into the house first.
“Fine. I don’t want to get along with you anymore, you bast*rd.”
Even unrequited kindness had its limits.
