# Chapter 54
“He did bully me, but I’m okay. I’m used to it anyway.”
Junseo pretended to be well-behaved with nonchalance. His snow-white hand bound Dohyuk’s even more tightly. The pinching sensation of guiding remained the same. The tantalizing feeling, like raindrops falling on his tongue, made Dohyuk unconsciously breathe heavily.
Was it because of the guiding? Words that he wouldn’t normally say rushed to the tip of Dohyuk’s tongue.
“Come to think of it, you two seem to have gotten a bit closer…”
The moment he heard his own words, Dohyuk bit his lip with a sudden realization. Even to his own ears, his tone was full of resentment.
His tongue instantly went dry. He was afraid Junseo might detect the emotional turmoil brewing in his throat. What a petty feeling this was—he wasn’t even a nine-year-old child. By what right did he feel this way?
Feeling sweat collecting in their tightly clasped palms, he moved his fingers. However, as if to prevent his hesitantly withdrawing hand from escaping, the elegant hand firmly applied pressure. Though only his hand was caught, he felt as if his entire body was bound. He couldn’t break free.
It was both distant and cozy.
“Wait a moment. What I just said was nonsense!”
Dohyuk stammered, trying to recover. The flush that had reddened his nape seemed to have spread upward, as his naturally rosy face was half-flushed.
“That’s mean.”
Despite expressing complaint, his tone was extremely gentle. Dohyuk furtively raised his gaze through their joined palms.
“You shouldn’t take back a gift you’ve given. I was looking forward to it.”
“…What are you looking forward to?”
“You told me not to let even the fingertips of other Espers touch me.”
The brightly smiling face didn’t allow even a hint of thought. Dohyuk could only gulp. As if reading all of Dohyuk’s surging emotions thoroughly, Junseo’s energy flowed from his hand to the depths of his chest. Afraid that even emotions too embarrassing to reveal might be completely exposed, Dohyuk shook his head like a child.
“Th-that’s…”
“But you touched a little.”
Something familiar to his fingertips touched with a soft sound. The pitch-black gaze never fell away, looking only at Dohyuk. All sounds at his ear grew distant. What was that other sound, entangled with his heartbeat?
When the alarm finally rang, Dohyuk sighed.
Too late.
“Aren’t you going to scold me?”
Junseo already seemed to have settled within his boundary.
***
The small commotion was over.
When Dohyuk with his complex expression and Junseo with his full bloom appeared, Sangjun first delivered fresh hot news he had just discovered.
Rolling up the right sleeve of his combat uniform and grinning broadly, Sangjun’s expression was nothing but mischievous. Whether he had received proper guiding from Hayeon or not, all of his stickily clinging fatigue had completely disappeared.
“That pig—I mean, the cat’s claws and teeth don’t seem to have any toxin.”
Sangjun’s arm was covered with fierce scratch marks. True to an Esper with tremendous recovery power, new flesh seemed to be growing already, but the scratched marks were still bright red. It was a wound that made viewers feel more pain, but when Dohyuk asked if he had applied medicine, Sangjun simply replied, “How could I use medicine for such a minor injury?”
The cat, still full of anger and expressing its displeasure by biting Sangjun’s hand, must have sensed Dohyuk’s presence. Without any lingering attachment, it left Sangjun, dashed to Dohyuk, and urged him to pick it up. Dohyuk, already accustomed to its spoiled behavior, naturally picked it up, causing Sangjun to click his tongue.
“Don’t get too attached. You’ll have to send it away eventually.”
Dohyuk’s hand, which had been stroking the cat, paused momentarily. Junseo, who glanced at Dohyuk, asked Sangjun:
“Ignore that. Just tell us what you need to report. Did you find the nest?”
“Ah, right. That’s what I was waiting to tell you. First, we hunted Iol with Esper Seo Jaesik.”
At those words, Dohyuk’s face brightened.
“Where was the nest?”
“Well, about that… We didn’t find the nest.”
Dohyuk unconsciously narrowed his brow. It didn’t make sense to him.
The nests of monsters existing in the dungeon are literally places where monsters stay. Monsters that settle near the core rest in their nests for long periods or heal their wounds. The reason for releasing monsters after inflicting near-fatal wounds is to track those nests. Monsters with severe injuries instinctively return to their nests where the core is located.
“You hunted Iol without finding the nest? Was it an emergency?”
Sangjun shook his head.
“Hmm. How should I explain this? First, Esper Choi Dohyuk already knows that monsters in dungeons move based on their nests, but because of that guy Yu Junseo, I’ll start with the most basic explanation of dungeons.”
After asking Dohyuk for understanding, Sangjun threw a glance at Junseo. Junseo merely glanced at Sangjun with an expression completely void of curiosity, quietly sticking close to Dohyuk. Sangjun’s eyebrow twitched at the listless eyes that seemed to say “do as you please.”
“Forget it if you don’t need it.”
Somehow misunderstanding Sangjun’s irritated words, Dohyuk voiced his confusion.
“I definitely think a more detailed explanation is necessary. This is Guide Yu Junseo’s first dungeon experience.”
“It’s okay, that person always ignores me and finds me annoying. Bullies me.”
At that natural-born-innocent remark, Sangjun snorted. But the moment he met Dohyuk’s slightly narrowed gaze, Sangjun finally realized what kind of misunderstanding Dohyuk had about him.
‘No, the one who always ignores and finds annoying is you, Yu Junseo! I’m the one who’s suffering!’
The wronged Sangjun tried to gape, but Dohyuk’s mind had already overlapped the image of Sangjun bullying Junseo with the image of Sangjun bullying the cat. Looking at Dohyuk, who was slightly stepping forward as if to protect Junseo in front of Sangjun, an S-class despite being an A-class himself, Sangjun could only sigh heavily enough to sink the ground.
“…Fine. I’ll just deliver the message and go rest myself. Generally, monsters don’t stray far from their nests unless combat is their purpose. This is known to be because of the energy they can obtain from the core. After combat, they unconditionally return to their nests to replenish energy.”
Sangjun added that when they found Iol during today’s search, they inflicted enough damage to the monster without killing it under a meticulous plan. They intended to track Iol to discover the nest.
“But Iol fled toward the base, so we had no choice but to hunt it.”
No matter how important dungeon stabilization was, the top priority was still the safety of ability users, especially non-combat types like Guides. Therefore, hunting Iol, which was running toward the base where Guides would be, was the right decision. Unable to dispute the search team’s decision, Dohyuk let out a small groan.
“So only Gulkak remains now.”
“That’s right. We must find the nest through Gulkak. Because we’ve wasted so much time in Milrim’s jungle, public opinion outside is already in uproar, saying that government-affiliated ability users are incompetent and negligent. It seems citizens have become sensitive due to fear as issues of dungeon rampages continue recently. If we face another situation where we have to wait for reorganization, there will be more irritating articles.”
How strange. Clearly, it was the ability users who were working tirelessly to maintain safety, yet there were so many predators who drooled and pounced on their small mistakes. Moreover, if articles were published, the one who would be at the forefront taking the blame would be S-class Esper Ji Sangjun, not the headquarters. Those with the authority to take responsibility would hide, readily sacrificing their subordinates as shields. It was a familiar affair.
“Esper Ji Sangjun-nim, based on today’s hunting experience, what were Iol’s abilities like?”
“Ah, Esper Choi Dohyuk would have felt it yesterday too, but it was superior to ordinary Changgwi. I still don’t understand the cause. Instead, we’ve collected Iol’s corpse and plan to send it to the lab after dungeon stabilization.”
Monsters growing stronger.
Dohyuk, still with narrowed brows, asked Sangjun again.
“Who’s scheduled for tomorrow’s search team?”
“Hmm. Honestly, today’s members weren’t bad. Actually, when hunting Gulkak, Esper Choi Dohyuk with poison attributes might be better than Esper Seo Jaesik with water attributes, but Esper Choi Dohyuk has two creatures to take care of. And frankly, Gulkak isn’t a monster picky enough to strictly consider attributes.”
Two creatures?
The cat he was holding in his arms was just one. Dohyuk was puzzled, but he thought Sangjun had simply misspoken.
“Then I’ll stand watch tonight and guard the base tomorrow.”
“Yes. By the way, seeing that Esper Seo Jaesik ended up receiving guiding from Guide Kwon Jihun, I guess the winner was Esper Choi Dohyuk after all. Well, it was unexpected fighting spirit. It’s true that normally quiet people are scary when they get angry.”
Once the serious explanation ended, Sangjun immediately spouted jokes with a slimy smile.
I was wondering when this topic would come up. Due to the shameful memory of his completely immature behavior just moments ago, Dohyuk felt his nape burning hot again. Only the cat, snuggled tightly in Dohyuk’s arms, purred and pressed against his arm.
Had he not noticed that Sangjun was teasing him? Junseo smiled smoothly while looking at Dohyuk’s flushed nape. He placed his hand lightly on Dohyuk’s shoulder and began whispering in his ear playfully.
“Hyung, why are you embarrassed again? It’s okay. They say courageous people win the beautiful ones.”
