# Chapter 13
“Dohyuk. Let’s catch them as quickly as possible, return to base, and call it a day.”
“Who’s on night watch tonight?”
“Let’s make Minseok do it.”
“Cut it out. I’ll take tonight’s shift, and you take tomorrow’s.”
“Fair enough. We wouldn’t be able to sleep leaving our necks to a B-class anyway.”
In dungeons like this where it was difficult to sense the passage of time, it was important to rest according to predetermined schedules. Dungeon conquest was a long-term mission after all.
While chatting, Dohyuk abruptly stopped his busy footsteps. As if by agreement, Seungmin also closed his mouth.
Dohyuk, having dismissed the map, raised his eyes to look at Seungmin.
The surroundings, which should have been pitch black inside the cave, had been consistently bright thanks to the round light source created by Seungmin. As soon as Dohyuk signaled with his eyes, Seungmin removed the floating light orb.
Blackout.
Though their vision was dyed completely black, the two, who became accustomed to the darkness with a speed unimaginable to ordinary people, began to move as if they could see ahead. Between their carefully silenced footsteps, they heard something rustling. A foul odor mixed with the wind blowing from somewhere.
“Now.”
Dohyuk whispered in a low voice, and the two, who had coordinated many times since their days at headquarters, quickly jumped out and began hunting without any further coordination.
Seungmin’s sword flashed brilliantly white. In that instant, Dohyuk, who had rapidly run up to the blue-red monster with its face all scrunched up, immediately melted the loose wing-like appendages that resembled a worn robe.
Peeaaak!
Its mouth, filled with pointed teeth, opened wide and screamed a high-pitched shriek like an ultrasonic wave. The elderly-like wrinkled face revealed its sharp teeth and dug toward Dohyuk’s shoulder area. Dohyuk kicked the monster away, then, while the Chwiak was staggering off balance, precisely stabbed between its eyebrows with the dagger he had drawn in advance.
The Chwiak’s screams grew louder and its struggles intensified, but Dohyuk endured while firmly keeping strength in both arms. The stench intensified with each twitch of the Chwiak. The horrendously foul smell made him feel like vomiting.
How much time had passed? Gradually, the struggling subsided, and soon it began to lose strength and collapse. Dohyuk pulled the dagger out of the Chwiak’s brow, then quickly stabbed both of the monster’s eyeballs to check for any reaction. There was no additional movement.
“Park Seungmin.”
At Dohyuk’s call, Seungmin, who had cleanly cut the other Chwiak in half, created a light source again. Dohyuk, who had deliberately restrained his killing intent as much as possible to collect by-products, frowned at the faint smell of blood while searching the corpse and gathering by-products. Such a smell never came from monster body fluids in any situation.
“…Are you hurt?”
“Nooo. Just got scratched a bit. Ah shit, how embarrassing.”
“Park Seungmin is past his prime.”
Despite his indifferent tone, Dohyuk left the corpse and approached Seungmin to look down at his wound. Chwiak teeth contained poison. The shoulder part of his black combat suit was melted, as if scratched by them. Dohyuk took disinfectant from his inner pocket and sprayed it on Seungmin’s wound to sterilize it. Though it was truly just a small wound caused by a moment of carelessness as Seungmin had said, they would have to stay in the dungeon for at least two more days. It was right to eliminate any risk of infection from the start.
We should apply emergency medicine and wrap a bandage when we return to base, Dohyuk thought as he put away the used disinfectant.
“This is annoying.”
Though Seungmin frowned every time he moved his arm after being disinfected, he soon began diligently collecting by-products from his prey. It was just like him to be serious about money. Dohyuk, following Seungmin’s lead and gathering the by-products from the Chwiak he had killed, used the radio.
“Both targets eliminated, now returning to base.”
[Copy, over.]
Their chokers flashed with yellow light. They were in fairly good condition considering they had hunted for nearly six hours. Dohyuk and Seungmin moved their steps diligently.
Though his eyes trembled at the headache that was already like a daily occurrence, Dohyuk habitually ignored it and hurriedly moved his heavy body.
Since the location they had designated as base was not far from their current position, the two returned quickly. Kim Minseok, who had been scanning around the base and maintaining vigilance, was the first to notice their return and greeted them.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Did you guard well?”
Minseok was a younger brother cherished by Seungmin. He was also a guy who was spending his first year as an official headquarters-affiliated Esper after turning twenty this year.
Espers typically complete their first missions in dungeons below their own class, accompanied by higher-class Espers. No matter how many simulations they run or how many tests they pass, it couldn’t compare to actual combat. Naturally, incidents often occurred during first missions, and Minseok was also a case where he received significant help from Seungmin at that time. Since then, he had consistently followed Seungmin around, shooting him looks of admiration. Though Seungmin complained it was annoying and embarrassing.
“Of course!”
His brightly smiling face, like a boy hoping for praise, looked young.
Soon, Kwon Jihun, an A-class Guide, also came out of the barracks that had been set up as a base. Unlike the Espers who were lightly dressed in only combat suits, Jihun was heavily armored with a gray thermal outfit over his clothes, as if he found it difficult to endure the cool temperature of the cave-type dungeon.
At twenty-five years old this year, Jihun was already an acquaintance of Dohyuk’s. Although they weren’t close enough to contact each other privately, before Dohyuk suddenly left headquarters and was assigned to a branch, they occasionally conquered dungeons together, perhaps due to their decent matching rate.
Two A-class Espers, one B-class Esper, and one A-class Guide. It was a generous class combination for a B-class dungeon dispatch. This was because Esper Kim Minseok was a rookie, and this dungeon was considered a challenging cave-type dungeon.
In cave-type dungeons, without Seungmin, who had light abilities, or other illumination, monsters had to be hunted and the dungeon’s interior investigated in complete darkness. Moreover, if power control failed during hunting, parts of the dungeon would often collapse. It was a dungeon with many aspects to worry about.
“Have you arrived?”
Dohyuk nodded and signaled to Seungmin with his eyes.
“Please guide Esper Park Seungmin first.”
“Yes. Esper Park Seungmin, would it be alright if I guide you now?”
Jihun asked as he settled into position.
“Yeah. My bones are aching. My head’s spinning too. I desperately need guiding right now.”
Seungmin groaned and exaggerated, then took Jihun’s hand.
“Esper Kim Minseok, could you bring some emergency medicine and bandages?”
“Are you injured somewhere?”
“Esper Park Seungmin is injured.”
“What? Oh my, Esper Park Seungmin!”
“No, no. It’s just a small scratch, I’m telling you!”
Minseok, who rushed over saying “let me see,” sighed at the sight of Seungmin’s melted combat suit and quickly brought emergency medicine. Despite the wound having been disinfected, the area was darkened. It was because of the poison. In cases of monster poisoning, it was best to cut away the rotting flesh and let new flesh grow. Dohyuk disinfected his dagger, and Seungmin bit on a bundle of cloth with a frown. Dohyuk quickly cut away the wounded area and treated it with the emergency medicine Minseok brought, causing Seungmin to groan. Although Espers’ recovery abilities were incomparably better than ordinary people, the pain they felt was similar.
“Ack! Minseok! You do it! It seems more painful when Choi Dohyuk does it! His touch isn’t gentle at all!”
Seungmin, who seemed to endure well when the rotting flesh was cut away, finally opened his mouth and yelped when the bandage was being wrapped. Dohyuk, who had been sharply on edge due to his injury, could not hold back and coldly rebuked him.
“Are you going to keep talking nonsense, Esper Park Seungmin?”
“Argh you gongh thu keepf talkhing nongsense?”
Dohyuk, who was wrapping the bandage, stared intensely at the mocking Seungmin and applied pressure with his hand.
Seungmin screamed as if he were dying, but even Minseok, who sincerely respected Seungmin, couldn’t stop Dohyuk. It was because Seungmin was truly insufferable.
Having received guiding while being treated, Seungmin sprawled inside the barracks with a half-dead expression. He seemed to be acting overly dramatic to avoid bringing down the mood due to his injury, but he was probably reaching his limit now.
Dohyuk, also receiving guiding from Jihun, shook his head as he felt his eyes involuntarily growing drowsy. The feeling of depression that threatened to drown him becoming somewhat lighter just from guiding was always strange.
“It’s fine if you want to sleep if you’re tired!”
At Minseok’s brisk exclamation, Dohyuk rubbed his sticky eyes and smiled slightly. Looking at that soft, youthful face, he couldn’t understand why he was reminded of that fragile-looking Guide. Yu Junseo was gentle, but he didn’t give off the completely green feeling that Minseok did.
As that pretty face came into focus more clearly, his smile deepened. As they say, those who have tasted meat know how to eat well; Jihun’s guiding, which Dohyuk had been receiving without any thought until now, felt subtly lacking and unsatisfactory. Although Jihun was a Guide with a matching rate of about 33% with Dohyuk—not a bad compatibility for Dohyuk, who boasted an extremely poor affinity with headquarters Guides—it was embarrassingly inferior compared to Yu Junseo.
