# Chapter 53
I was slowly getting used to days with nothing to do. After eating lunch and sipping a cup of coffee while sitting in a daze, I ironically felt uneasy about enjoying such luxury.
It was all because the Riska dungeon hadn’t appeared.
It would be nice if it had suddenly vanished, but other countries were still fighting the Riska dungeon. Only Korea had been quiet for two weeks.
“How’s your body feeling?”
“Light.”
“I suppose so. You’ve been maintaining a stable condition.”
Well, thanks to that, I’ve been spending all day at home with Suhyun. The Association had made it clear that neither Suhyun nor Jiwon needed to participate in dungeons unless it was the Riska dungeon.
S-class or higher dungeons would need Suhyun, but otherwise, it didn’t matter if they just rested. They probably didn’t expect the Riska dungeon to stay away for this long.
“At this point, you’d think it would have appeared by now…”
Suhyun seemed to agree as he slowly nodded. Jiwon smiled with satisfaction.
In truth, if the American Association hadn’t intervened once in between, this comfortable atmosphere would have been unimaginable.
It was clear that Jiwon would have been fretting anxiously, afraid that his feelings would be discovered. But thanks to a small misunderstanding that caused a bit of commotion, Jiwon was able to escape that discomfort.
It was rude, but… let bygones be bygones. Jiwon didn’t pay much attention to them anymore. Though he wasn’t sure how Suhyun felt about it.
“Has the Association said anything else?”
“No, nothing in particular. I think they’ll check first if the Esper-nim is in a stable condition as planned.”
After Adam swept through, they say heated discussions began at the Association. They found Adam’s claim that Jiwon had special abilities equally plausible.
There was even a ridiculous suggestion about having Jiwon face the Riska dungeon with another Esper. Jiwon was furious at such a stupid idea.
Fortunately, not everyone was empty-headed, so that opinion was dismissed. Instead, they agreed to add one more Esper to the next Riska dungeon operation.
Since Suhyun had only avoided being enchanted by the Riska dungeon once, it was too early to determine if he had completely escaped its influence, so they would observe the situation a bit more.
“Surprisingly, they’re being patient.”
If the Riska dungeon had appeared immediately, that would be one thing. But it was a bit surprising that the opinion to check on Suhyun’s condition hadn’t prevailed even after two uneventful weeks had passed.
Well, people like Jo Wooyeon must be working hard behind the scenes.
“…Will it be okay?”
Even if the Association ordered it, Jiwon had no intention of listening. He was anxious himself. It was uncertain whether Suhyun would be able to avoid mind control the next time.
Lately, Jiwon had been focusing more during guiding, hoping to find something unusual in his technique. He was trying to understand more precisely how he guided Espers.
That was the only way to dispel, even momentarily, the anxiety that Suhyun’s maintenance of sanity might have been mere coincidence.
It was impossible to know how intelligent Riska was. But the fact that it kept making changes to achieve its goals—not just causing people to lose their minds and go berserk, but ordering them to kill guides or luring them into the dungeon—was not a good sign.
What if Riska had only refrained from affecting Suhyun that time to make them let their guard down? What if Suhyun became enchanted in the next dungeon?
“It will be fine.”
Despite all these worries, Suhyun answered nonchalantly. Jiwon was about to ask how he could be so sure, but barely restrained himself.
Would Suhyun really be certain? He was probably just trying to believe it.
“Yes.”
If he didn’t want to add more worries to Suhyun, it was time to escape this swamp of negative thoughts.
“Well then… what shall we do today?”
Jiwon asked with the brightest expression he could manage.
In reality, resting was fine for a day or two. But now that it had been over two weeks, he was starting to get antsy. If he still found Suhyun awkward and uncomfortable in this situation, it would have been pure torture.
Feeling slightly grateful to the American Association for barging in, Jiwon looked around for something to do.
“Hmm…”
But no matter how much he looked, nothing suitable came to mind. Jiwon moistened his lips as he pondered. At this rate, another mishap could occur where Suhyun would say he was going out for exercise, or retreat to his room to rest.
While he wasn’t expecting things to go perfectly, he didn’t want to completely miss the chance to spend more time together. Since they were resting anyway, Jiwon wanted to spend time with Suhyun as efficiently as possible. Well, judging by the fact that nothing caught his eye, today seemed destined for failure as well.
If Suhyun said he was going to exercise, should he insist on going along this time? But wouldn’t that make it too obvious that he wanted to be together?
“Nearby…”
While Jiwon was lost in these thoughts, Suhyun suddenly spoke. His gaze was fixed on his phone, which couldn’t have seemed more ominous.
“A dungeon entrance has appeared.”
Bad premonitions never seemed to miss.
“…I guess it’s not the Riska dungeon.”
Jiwon remarked after checking both his phone and watch alternately. If it had been the Riska dungeon, he would have received a notification too.
“No. It’s a regular dungeon, A-class, they say.”
“…I see.”
Jiwon’s reaction was ambiguous. In truth… from the moment Suhyun specifically mentioned it was A-class, Jiwon gave up on trying to prevent him from going to the dungeon.
Even for an A-class dungeon, multiple B-class Espers could clear it if they went together. Of course, it would be difficult, but S-class Espers needed to stand by for the Riska dungeon, so in the current situation where A-class Espers had died, the others had to manage somehow.
That’s why the Association had only asked him to participate in S-class dungeons or higher.
“I have to go.”
But after playing around for two whole weeks, there was no way Suhyun would ignore an A-class dungeon.
He was definitely not the type to comfortably rest at home after hearing this news. Whoever it was, they were quite shrewd—whoever had secretly contacted him via phone.
“Yes… let’s do that.”
Jiwon, who had suddenly lost all energy, got up from his seat unsteadily. He probably wouldn’t have found anything to do together anyway, and they would have ended up spending time separately, but still.
“If it’s difficult for you, I can go by myself.”
Jiwon laughed incredulously.
“I was wondering why you haven’t said that lately.”
“You didn’t seem to want to go.”
“I’m not thrilled, but I have no intention of letting you go alone, Esper-nim.”
Who would enjoy going to work? Of course, Jiwon living at Suhyun’s house was work in itself… but still, the meaning was clearly different.
“Wouldn’t it be better if I just went alone since it’s nearby?”
“Ha, that’s forbidden from now on. You might be tired of sticking with me for so long, but it can’t be helped.”
Jiwon answered indifferently, then suddenly hesitated. After saying it, he realized it wasn’t the kind of complaint he should make to Suhyun.
“…That’s not what I meant.”
Fortunately, Suhyun prioritized denying Jiwon’s words. Jiwon quickly changed the subject as if he had never said such a thing.
“As an S-class Esper, does an A-class dungeon feel like nothing to you?”
“That’s not it eith—”
“But a dedicated Guide has to follow even if the Esper-nim enters an E-class dungeon. Did you forget? If you go without your Guide, you have to submit a written explanation.”
“Ah.”
Suhyun sighed at Jiwon’s rapid-fire words, which were meant to avoid making his slip-up the topic of conversation. He really seemed to have forgotten.
Fair enough. They had been together every day and even entered dungeons together, so it made sense he would forget.
“I’ll get ready and come out.”
Jiwon stretched and smiled lightly as he turned around. Just until a moment ago, he had been uncomfortable because he didn’t want to go out, but thinking about it now, it didn’t seem like a bad situation.
It seemed like he was the one underestimating the A-class dungeon. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be smirking like this.
When had he become so reckless? He was secretly grinning at the thought that he might be able to do guiding longer this time—guiding that he had only done at an adequate level because Suhyun’s wavelength had stabilized from not going to dungeons often.
‘Pull yourself together… It’s an A-class dungeon.’
Jiwon shook his head vigorously to restrain himself. It wasn’t exactly a good thing. Given the generally low ranks of Korean Espers, A-class or higher dungeons rarely appeared in this country.
So whenever a dungeon seemed even slightly higher-ranked, Suhyun had to participate each time. Since Suhyun always cleared dungeons on his own, there was a high possibility that he would have to struggle alone this time as well.
Other Espers should take this opportunity to adapt to stronger dungeons. There was no guarantee they wouldn’t have to enter A-class dungeons without Suhyun in the future.
“…”
Surely, he doesn’t intend to go to both the Riska dungeon and all A-class or higher dungeons?
Thinking that this was something Suhyun might consider, Jiwon shuddered. A moderate disruption in his wavelength was fine, but he didn’t want Suhyun to suffer.
The smile completely disappeared from Jiwon’s face. Still… he wanted to stop him.
