“Guiding is done. Go find my cell phone, and isn’t there something like a hangover cure?”
Raon moved his hand that had been placed on Jaehwi’s firm thigh and stroked the soft belly of Bbobbo lying sprawled on his lap. However, the hand that had been caressing Bbobbo was soon led by Jaehwi’s hand and placed on top of his head.
“If you’re okay, let’s go out and have breakfast together. I was going to go out and buy some, but I didn’t want to leave hyung alone and go out.”
Raon, who stroked Jaehwi’s hair with a different feel from Bbobbo’s fur, received the cell phone Jaehwi handed him. Sure enough, after checking Jay’s call and the short call time of 10 seconds, he stared at Jaehwi.
“He contacted me about going to work in the morning, so I said I was here. I said we’d go into the company together around lunch.”
“Even if I black out from drinking, take me home on your own. Change me into comfortable clothes and put me to bed, bring water as soon as I open my eyes. Tell me what happened last night. Adjust my entire schedule. Just be my bodyguard and manager.”
“If hyung wants.”
“……”
What really happened when he was drunk? Looking at his current condition, it didn’t seem like they spent the night together. He couldn’t gauge at all whether something happened with Hajun or whether something happened with those Jaehwi had accompanied.
“Hwi.”
“Yes.”
“But why have you been going in and out of dungeons as you please lately without listening to me?”
“Because going through a dungeon once is better than training 100 times in the center’s training room. Plus, I get performance bonuses every time I enter a dungeon.”
“Is this rebellion?”
“Why would I rebel over something like that? Me.”
“That is rebellion, what else is rebellion? I gave you a hefty signing bonus, and you get a monthly salary even without entering dungeons. I bought you a house and a car, what more money do you need?”
“Ah, someone told me to buy and wear clothes other than black ones…”
He almost burst out shouting at his appearance of smoothly slipping away even when trying to probe his intentions, but Raon recalled what Jaehwi had said.
The words that if he gave up one thing, he should also give up one thing.
Although he still couldn’t know Jaehwi’s exact intentions, he had become able to give him guiding anytime depending on the situation, whether radiative guiding or contact guiding. So rather than grilling him with questions and cornering him, it was a moment when he too should take a step back.
“So what are you eating for breakfast?”
“Whatever hyung wants.”
Watching Jaehwi trying to match everything to him, Raon laughed helplessly. At least he wasn’t avoiding him, so for now he had to be satisfied with that.
* * *
“Team Leader Kang Raon?”
Raon, who had been sitting in the meeting room inside MK Center, nodded slightly at Team Leader Lee’s words as she entered the meeting room. Not only her startled expression, but the expressions of all the Espers and Guides sitting across the table from him from a moment ago were all not good.
“Please come in. You’ll be late if you hesitate. But I don’t see Esper Min. Isn’t this a mandatory meeting for dungeon teams? I’m sure I know you’re going together.”
When a dungeon occurrence report was created, various departments within the center moved quickly. First, they divided the danger level according to the dungeon’s grade and decided which team would enter the dungeons that needed to be conquered first. After the team was decided, the time to enter the dungeon was set and all the team members who would enter the assigned dungeon gathered for a brief meeting.
Rather than dealing with serious and difficult content as a meeting, it was about briefly devising strategies with information discovered by the dungeon prediction team. Although there were always variables, they needed time to check basic matters related to the dungeon and prepare each person’s protective gear and weapons accordingly.
Although he knew all of these sequential processes, this was the first time Raon had directly attended this meeting. His job was only up to selecting a team suitable for the dungeon and issuing dungeon entry permission. Even if there were matters to reverse regarding dungeon entry, it wasn’t Raon who moved directly, but the people in charge who came to Raon’s office.
“Esper Min isn’t an official team member, and although he accompanies us, he acts independently a lot. If there’s really important information to convey, we send a phone call or message, and if we meet before entering the dungeon, we talk then.”
“Is that even possible? Esper Min is also a team member from the moment he decided to accompany. And what do you mean by meeting before entering the dungeon?”
“Sometimes he arrives at the dungeon before us, but usually he enters the dungeon a bit later than us.”
Minji, the leader of Alpha Team, first distributed the files she had brought to the team members and faithfully answered Raon’s words.
“I’ll be attending the dungeon we’re going to now, so I came to the meeting. Ah, Bbobbo the Gem Kitten too. Since it’s metal-type, Bbobbo will be of great help.”
Bbobbo, who had been tucked inside Raon’s shirt pocket until now, escaped from the pocket as if casting magic with a bborong as soon as she heard the sound introducing herself and spun around in the air.
“Ah… Are you saying that Team Leader Kang will directly enter inside the dungeon instead of the situation room?”
Since the files were prepared to match the number of team members, Raon didn’t receive anything, but he calmly stood up from his seat and sat next to the combat Guide across from him.
“Yes. Since Esper Min said he won’t accompany us to the dungeon, that’s really fortunate. It seems like it’ll be fine to meet inside the dungeon though. I won’t be taking the lead either, and I’ll be with Bbobbo at the very back of the team members, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
Raon, who smiled brightly at the Alpha Team members who couldn’t escape from emotions between bewilderment and absurdity, confidently showed his C-grade Guide license.
“The grade is a bit low, but please take good care of me.”
Power exists to be used at times like this. And looking at Team Leader Lee, who seemed about to say it still wouldn’t work or it would be difficult, he tapped his own shoulder. He was already wearing expensive protective gear most suitable for a metal-type dungeon from head to toe. Money also exists to be used at times like this.
And there was no one here to stop him now.
Hwi. You told me to absolutely not enter dungeons, but I should raise my ability level a bit too, shouldn’t I? That’s why I’m tagging along with Alpha Team. Besides, you’ll come soon too. Let’s meet inside the dungeon~
Looking at Alpha Team’s faces whose expression management wasn’t working properly, Raon smiled brightly.
“Team Leader. This doesn’t seem right.”
At Nayeon’s words, who approached and whispered softly to her side, Minji blinked her eyes very slowly to convey her agreement. The place they were entering now was an A+ grade dungeon. So it was natural for this place to be assigned to Alpha Team, composed of 4 A-grade Espers and 1 A-grade combat Guide.
Depending on the situation, it might be composed of only Alpha Team or B Team to assist from behind, but this time, Esper Min, who was worth a hundred men, was assigned instead of B Team. And at the words of going with Esper Min, all of Alpha Team had shown awkward reactions.
Going with B Team was a bit troublesome, had a lot of work, and took a lot of time. On the other hand, going with Esper Min… they all became supporting roles. If he arrived before them, he had often already swept through the entire dungeon or it was at the final stage. Conversely, if he came late, he would leisurely enter the dungeon they had already cleaned up and take away the finale of monsters whose strength had been drained.
No manners, no courtesy, arrogant beyond measure. The king of doing as he pleased was Esper Min.
Thinking of physical comfort, it was better for Esper Min to accompany them, and thinking of mental comfort, it was better to go with B Team, should he say?
But this time, one more lump was attached. A C-grade Guide. How could a C-grade Guide, not even an Esper, accompany an A-grade dungeon? Besides, they weren’t even a combat Guide. No, leaving all that aside. Those who confirmed the grade of Team Leader Kang Raon, which had only been rampant as rumors, were feeling indescribable emotions.
He was known as a legendary unicorn, but it turned out… should they say he was a pony? But that pony wore fraud-level equipment and took around a legendary-grade monster as a pet. Even this didn’t make sense, but the biggest problem was related to Kang Raon’s safety.
Inside a dungeon, everyone could be said to be equal. They would help each other as much as possible, but one’s own safety had to be taken care of first by oneself. There were so many dangerous and urgent situations. But now they had to prioritize MK Center’s youngest son over their own lives.
What would happen if he got even slightly hurt? Even if grades were similar, it wasn’t easy to even enter a dungeon with someone who had virtually no practical ability. But the situation had become one where they had to safely escort a master like no other master, who was also low in grade.
Everyone just couldn’t speak, but the inside of the car heading to the dungeon was literally no different from sitting on a bed of nails.
“When did you manifest, Guide Jeong?”
“Ah, yes… I… um, at twenty-one…”
“You could live as an ordinary Guide, so why did you become a difficult combat Guide? Looking at Guide Jeong’s file, your radiative ability is excellent, but your ability is at its best during one-on-one guiding.”
“Well, you see. I originally wanted to become an Esper who beats up monsters inside dungeons, but I manifested as a Guide… But as Team Leader Kang said, my grade is decent and I’m excellent at radiative guiding, so they said I could become a combat Guide supporting Espers inside dungeons…”
But the one suffering the most ordeal inside the car was Jeong Taehyun, Alpha Team’s youngest and combat Guide.
