# Chapter 84
Sangjun looked at Dohyuk with disgusted eyes and tossed his handkerchief to him. Dohyuk gratefully accepted the handkerchief, meticulously wiped the blade clean, and only after putting the dagger back into his leg holster did he begin wiping his palm. Junseo pulled Dohyuk’s palm toward him, where the bleeding had already stopped and pink new flesh had begun to form.
“We’ve got a lover’s quarrel here,” Jaesik snickered, but Dohyuk ignored him. Junseo’s reaction was more concerning. But Dohyuk couldn’t bear to see even the tips of Junseo’s fingers get hurt.
To name the wooden doll’s head, he would need to cut his finger again. Then, since Junseo was a Guide, it would take at least three days to see that tiny wound heal. No matter how he thought about it, it was more efficient for him to do it himself. For Dohyuk, efficiency meant not letting his precious person get hurt, not even a hair.
Dohyuk moved his lips to smoothly articulate words that would maturely persuade Junseo.
“Guide Yu Junseo. If you look at the self-healing abilities of Espers and Guides…”
But before Dohyuk could finish, Junseo cut him off. A pale blue gaze turned toward Dohyuk. It seemed like the first time Junseo had looked at Dohyuk with such an icy stare. He was so surprised that he could only blink. He was stunned enough to be easily overwhelmed in that brief moment.
“Hyung.”
It seemed even the patience to pretend to address him as “Esper” had disappeared.
“Yes?”
“I wish I could get hurt every time you get hurt.”
It was an incredibly gentle voice. “Then you wouldn’t throw your body around so carelessly. Right?” As Dohyuk listened to Junseo whisper softly, he slightly lowered his eyes. It seemed he was much angrier than expected.
The wound had almost healed, showing only a slight crack. As if even that faint trace was unsatisfactory, Junseo firmly held Dohyuk’s hand after slathering it with first aid ointment. The applied medicine stuck messily to Junseo’s own palm, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Dohyuk hesitantly approached Junseo and bent down to lightly rest his forehead on Junseo’s straight shoulder. He selfishly hoped that even with just that much contact, Junseo would understand. I did it because I didn’t want you to get hurt.
“That bastard, look at him. His expression has already softened. Esper Choi Dohyuk! That’s cheating!” Sangjun shouted. Dohyuk looked at Junseo, but his cool expression remained unchanged. Disappointed, Dohyuk lowered his gaze, and Sangjun fumed, “That fox-like bastard.”
Dohyuk gently pushed against the hand holding his. He just thought that when someone doesn’t want to see you, you should give them space.
What he had done earlier was truly just for efficiency. He hadn’t known Junseo would disapprove so much. He wondered if the foundation of his thinking was wrong. Now he was even having such thoughts. If these small incidents accumulated one after another and eventually led to a day of great disappointment… His blood ran cold just imagining Junseo’s deeply disappointed expression.
Just as his palm was halfway separated, Junseo grabbed his retreating hand. As if questioning when a gap had formed between them, their palms locked together again.
“Is your reflection already over? That’s too much.”
Junseo muttered quietly that not even 10 minutes had passed.
“Are you disappointed?”
Junseo remained silent for a moment, rubbing Dohyuk’s palm with his thumb. The sticky sensation of the ointment made a squishing sound. The fleeting, slippery sensation kept lingering in his mind. When Dohyuk curled his fingers as if uncomfortable with Junseo’s movements, Junseo finally smiled.
“You thought I was disappointed?”
Adding that he wasn’t, Junseo continued.
“I was worried. Not disappointed, but worried.”
It felt as if ointment had been applied to the festering wound in his chest. Considering how the stinging pain suddenly felt better.
Every time he realized how much he changed and staggered in Junseo’s presence, he felt both afraid and excited. He wanted to settle there forever.
***
Due to its unique structure, they had always used the mobility abilities of support-type Espers to enter the Underground Nation, but thanks to Sangjun, that was no longer necessary. Sangjun effortlessly lifted everyone into the air and gently landed them at the bottom of the deep pit. It was an impressive level of control.
Upon entering the dungeon, they first took out the wooden doll they had kept in a box. The blue wooden doll’s eyes gleamed brilliantly even in the darkness. Dohyuk frowned momentarily at the strangely intense color, but after observing it for a long time without noticing anything else unusual, he suppressed his uneasy feeling.
Jaesik took charge of carrying the wooden doll. Since it wasn’t an obstructively large size, it wasn’t a particularly difficult task.
Dohyuk looked around. For ordinary people, it was pitch-dark to the point where they would barely see their feet even with a light on, and massive stone walls blocked all directions. As an Esper, Dohyuk’s eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, and he looked to the side. Four paths stretched in the cardinal directions.
It was literally a maze. Because of the darkness, all four paths looked like the gaping jaws of a monster.
Dohyuk stared quietly into the pitch-black distance. Was it an illusion? Something seemed to be anxiously calling him. His head ached for no reason, and he pressed on his brow bone. No matter how he thought about it, he felt they needed to take the southern path right now, but he couldn’t speak up because he had no basis for this feeling.
That’s when it happened. With a rumbling sound, something collapsed in the distance. It was an ominous sound coming from so far away that the support-type Esper Minseok and the other Guides probably couldn’t hear it.
“Esper Ji Sangjun.”
When Dohyuk hurriedly turned to Sangjun, he saw that Sangjun had apparently heard the sound too and was shining a standard-issue flashlight in the direction where the sound seemed to originate.
It felt as if God had placed an enormous black curtain right in front of their eyes. The feeble light didn’t dare attempt to pierce through the path. Despite holding their breath and straining their ears for any other signs for a long while, no further noise occurred. What was about to happen? Without realizing it, Dohyuk reached into the darkness and grabbed Junseo’s wrist. Only after pulling him close to his side did he feel somewhat stabilized.
“Esper Kim Minseok. If you start scanning the dungeon interior now, what’s the estimated time required?”
Sangjun, who had dropped his usual polite speech, quickly began giving instructions as the header.
“It will take about 20 minutes! However, considering the characteristics of labyrinth dungeons, we need to keep in mind that the maze’s shape might change in the meantime!”
“We plan to stabilize before the maze changes. I hope you’ll complete the scanning as quickly as possible.”
Sangjun roughly patted Minseok’s head, who had answered intelligently, and then easily found Jaesik’s position even in that darkness.
“Now, Esper Choi Dohyuk and Esper Seo Jaesik. This dungeon is a labyrinth-type, different from the Forest of Hochwang. Esper Choi Dohyuk has been deployed here before, so you should know well.”
Sangjun, glancing briefly at Dohyuk, made an Esper hand signal. Understanding his meaning, Dohyuk released Junseo’s wrist, and immediately an opaque barrier enveloped Sangjun, Dohyuk, and Jaesik. Instinctively, Jaesik stepped back half a step, but a solid barrier blocked his back.
Dohyuk turned to look at Junseo in surprise. Junseo, beyond the barrier, briefly showed an unpleasant expression but didn’t look particularly surprised. Unlike Dohyuk and Jaesik, he seemed to already know that this barrier was Sangjun’s ability and what role it played.
“No need to be too tense. It’s just a thin vacuum layer. Consider it a courtesy. Being warned about past incidents in front of Guides or new faces doesn’t look good, does it?”
Sangjun, speaking casually as if receiving a cup of water to drink, checked his earpiece. His slender body in a black Esper combat uniform looked like a carnivorous animal. Having chosen to adapt to the darkness rather than relying on inadequate light, he finally turned off his flashlight and tucked it into his kit as he continued speaking.
With a click of a button, everything around them was dyed in darkness. There was a chilling sensation as if a nonexistent wind brushed against the back of the neck. Dohyuk tried to suppress the strangely sharp feeling while staring at Sangjun.
“Esper Seo Jaesik, I hear this is your first labyrinth-type dungeon. The strategy for labyrinth-type dungeons is exactly as described in the reports. We don’t establish a base. We escort non-combat personnel all day while solving the maze together. When hunting monsters, I’ll place a barrier around the Guide side, so there’s not much to worry about. Let me emphasize the following: The most important thing in a labyrinth-type dungeon is cooperation. If cooperation breaks down, your life is at risk first. Therefore, if a situation like before occurs again, it won’t end with just a warning. Any objections?”
The last part was added out of concern that Jaesik might say something using Dohyuk as an excuse again. Fortunately, until now, both Jaesik and Dohyuk had tended to ignore each other, but Sangjun wanted to warn against any unnecessary conflict that might arise from the beginning.
In response to Sangjun’s words, Jaesik replied amicably:
“Yes, understood. Don’t worry. The conversation is already over.”
Dohyuk, who had never had a separate conversation with the always distant Jaesik, finally turned to look at him. Jaesik, standing at an angle facing Dohyuk, twisted the corner of his mouth.
“With your Guide.”
With Junseo? When on earth? What conversation?
