Although the afterimage of light was fading, it still remained, preventing Raon from opening his eyes. Feeling the warm touch covering his eyes, he bit down firmly on the index finger he’d been holding against his lips.
“Hyung.”
When Jaehwi’s hand covered his eyes, his eyes felt much more comfortable. And hearing that low voice calling him, his wildly unstable senses settled down calmly. While blocking one sense usually makes other senses more sensitive, in Jaehwi’s embrace, Raon was instead finding stability.
Feeling the warmth coming from Jaehwi, his familiar voice, and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, Raon slowly released his energy. It wasn’t violent guiding that poured out randomly and scraped away.
Raon’s energy, like a small spring, gradually seeped into Jaehwi. Since they’d been together for such a long time, excessive guiding wasn’t necessary for the stable Jaehwi. Because there existed a natural guiding between them, as natural as breathing.
The energy that became over-guiding wasn’t absorbed by Jaehwi and didn’t flow away and dissipate, but instead returned to Raon again.
“Yeah.”
Though he hadn’t deliberately tried to answer slowly, Raon, who had continued biting his index finger even while knowing Jaehwi was calling him, finally released the finger to respond to his words.
“You need to answer honestly to what I’m about to ask you now.”
“Yeah.”
“When you followed me in that dungeon where we met the golem, what exactly happened?”
“Why that all of a sudden?”
“Because we need to know exactly in order to get out of here alive.”
At Jaehwi’s calm words, Raon pulled down his hand that had been covering his eyes.
“I followed the path you cleared.”
“There were monsters left.”
Raon, who had been looking at his own face reflected in Jaehwi’s black eyes, brought up what he’d been thinking about alone.
“Bbobbo is a monster from the same dungeon, so I don’t think it considered me an intruder. I’m not exactly sure, but I don’t think I was treated as an intruder either.”
“……”
“There were even individuals whose eyes met mine, and there were things close enough that I could reach them with just my hand, but they just did their own thing. They didn’t block the path either. It was like they couldn’t see me. Anyway, I was able to get to you without receiving even a bit of attack or threat.”
“What about when you went to the golem?”
“I told you then too. The golem was alone, and it called for me because it was scared of you. It said it liked me and wanted to leave together. Ah… The monsters in that dungeon not attacking me was the golem’s will. All the monsters inside a dungeon listen to their master.”
Raon, who had been speaking while carefully retracing his memories, turned his head to stare at the darkness visible beyond Jaehwi. What if this dungeon master was also favorable toward him? And he looked at Jaehwi again. It might be favorable toward him, but it wouldn’t be toward Jaehwi.
Himself, who couldn’t pose any threat to the dungeon, and an existence that could shatter the dungeon to pieces in one blow. It was natural for the dungeon to take him and discard Jaehwi. Because the dungeon’s very ability to exist depended on Jaehwi’s hands.
But…
“Still, it’s strange. Bbobbo and the golem were favorable toward me, but that sand stream back then. If you’d been even a little late then, I would have died.”
Words poured rapidly from Raon’s mouth as he carefully recalled the dungeon he’d entered. Just remembering it made his ankle, which had been gripped, seem to ache, and when he was thrown, it felt as if that impact and the heat of the sand came back to life.
“That dungeon had no master. And what attacked hyung… It didn’t even have proper reason, so it moved by instinct.”
At the heavy emotion contained in Jaehwi’s lowered tone, Raon smiled broadly. He’d been held in Jaehwi’s embrace and the flash of light was all he’d felt, but he knew the impact of what had happened at the dungeon entrance just moments ago was by no means small.
The dungeon floor was trembling faintly after all. Jaehwi hadn’t spared any strength to get out, and the impact that started at the dungeon entrance, which received that force directly, had probably been transmitted all the way to the dungeon master.
“I’ll go.”
“Are you insane?”
“It’ll be fine.”
Looking at the bright green line on the tablet, Raon tried to distance himself from Jaehwi. Since the entrance was blocked like this, the only remaining method was to enter all the way to the end of the dungeon while thoroughly destroying it. To do that, Jaehwi would have to use all his abilities, and whether he wanted to or not, he’d have to be prepared for injuries large and small.
On the other hand… If this dungeon master was friendly toward him, he could enter all the way to the end of the dungeon like someone going out for a stroll, regardless of this green line. And he’d meet the dungeon master. Whether it would follow him unconditionally like Bbobbo, express its desire to leave together like the golem, or have some other ulterior motive was unknown.
As much as he pushed away with both arms, distance gradually formed between him and Jaehwi, who had been surrounding him like a massive wall. And after enough distance formed that Raon could reach him with outstretched arms, Raon opened his mouth.
“I’ll take Bbobbo with me.”
“You think I’ll allow that?”
“What other master could there be in a metal-type dungeon besides the golem? I hope it’s an existence we can communicate with like the golem.”
Even while knowing Jaehwi was looking at him, Raon deliberately didn’t acknowledge him and opened his hip sack. Then he took out the emergency call button.
“He’ll foam at the mouth and throw a fit again, but I should call Hyukjin first, right?”
“Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
Raon looked at Jaehwi, who was holding his wrist with the button and shaking his head slightly. Someone entering this unstable dungeon would only create another variable.
At least it’s not an illusion dungeon.
Even if its rank couldn’t be measured and monsters were packed densely, as long as it wasn’t an illusion dungeon, he was confident he could somehow break through it. Of course, keeping Raon from getting hurt was most important, but dealing with visible physical things was much easier than being trapped wandering endlessly in illusions. He just had to give up bone and flesh and take their lives. Lastly, as long as he could protect Raon, giving up his life was also nothing. Jaehwi had in fact died countless times inside illusion dungeons.
“There’s no more going first or following behind. Even if we get trapped in an illusion, we need to fall into the same illusion to make it easier to get out, understand?”
Raon pressed down firmly on the words he’d wanted to say at Jaehwi’s lips touching his head. The strongest existence one could meet in a dungeon. There was only one existence that could make the dungeon itself become ‘?’ rank. If it was that, there would be no difficulty filling an empty dungeon with tremendous ores, encompassing all attributes, and freely creating illusions.
Had Jaehwi, who had wandered through countless dungeons, ever met that?
Though he’d joked that becoming a dungeon master collector might be nice, it didn’t make sense for that existence—which wasn’t a cute Gem Kitten or a strong and steadfast(?) golem, but something that seemed to require respectful reverence—to become part of his collection.
“Then. Make this one thing clear. If we fall into an illusion, the one who dies is me. Not you.”
“……”
There was no need to check Jaehwi’s condition with the tablet or watch. Since he could now fully feel him, there was no need to obsess over these mechanical numbers. And he could also clearly tell that Jaehwi’s mood, which had been fine until just now, had hit rock bottom.
“You died dozens of times. But we regressed and opened our eyes that one time when I died.”
Raon, who spoke while hiding his shaking emotions as much as possible, took out drinks and snacks from Jaehwi’s backpack. After all, even Mt. Geumgang is appreciated after a meal, so he planned to eat heartily and at least fill his stomach.
“I’m going to have orange flavor. What about you?”
The beverage bottle he’d been holding passed into Jaehwi’s hands, and when it returned to Raon’s hands, the cap had disappeared. The chocolate snacks he’d taken out together also went into Jaehwi’s hands, and when they came out, they were torn open conveniently. After looking around and surveying the area, Raon perched on a fairly wide and flat rock and lightly patted the seat next to him with his hand.
Raon, who leaned against Jaehwi who sat down next to him with a sigh, stretched out his legs. Dungeon date or whatever, nothing was easy. Still, he had to at least get the feeling of a date like this. They’d done holding hands and swinging them while walking, and though he couldn’t say the atmosphere was good, they’d done taking out snacks they’d packed in a bag outdoors(?) and eating them.
Before that, they’d done shopping and watched a movie together. They’d eaten at a fancy restaurant, but they hadn’t cooked together. Between himself, whose cooking skills were entirely limited to boiling ramen or heating things in the microwave, and Jaehwi, who’d probably entered a kitchen space only a countable number of times, it was questionable what kind of food they could make together. Even if they somehow managed to make something, he didn’t know if they could guarantee it would be something fit for human consumption.
They’d done sleeping together and waking up together, and they’d done bathing and playing together in the bathtub.
Raon thought about things they’d done together and things they hadn’t done, one by one, while eating snacks.
“Hyung. Did I say I love you?”
Into the space filled only with the crunching sound of Raon eating snacks, Jaehwi’s voice dropped in. And the snack Raon had been holding fell to the floor with a thud.
