# Chapter 77
After walking for dozens more minutes, they finally arrived near their starting point. They chose a rest area that was a bit away from the initial fall point and somewhat chilly. The place was damp and humid from flowing water, making it difficult to stay for long.
Lee Hwan roughly leveled the ground, put down his luggage on the dry land, and slumped against the cave wall. He still felt a chill in his body. Though this temperature wasn’t unbearable, perhaps from enduring the harsh cold for so long, his trembling wouldn’t stop.
Only when Taesung lit a fire in front of him did warmth seem to heat his chest. But realizing that even that fire was maintained by Taesung’s goodwill and ability made him somewhat gloomy.
From what they observed while circling this area, there didn’t seem to be any monsters or hazards to watch out for. If so, there was no need to take turns keeping watch, and they could get some sleep.
‘I should sleep now since it’ll be cold when the fire goes out.’
It wasn’t a fire lit on firewood, but one that would extinguish along with Taesung if he fell asleep. It was physically better in many ways to fall asleep when there was still some warmth.
Perhaps due to fatigue, or because there were no monsters to attack and someone to protect him if needed, Lee Hwan leaned against the wall and fell asleep as if passing out the moment he closed his eyes.
Since it wasn’t a comfortable bed, he kept falling into a light sleep and waking up. He couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but whenever he slightly opened his eyes, the crimson fire was still flickering in front of him.
Blink. Blink. Each time he became conscious, the warmth from the fire provided deep comfort. It was as if it was watching over him.
Taesung’s jacket, which he had been wearing until just earlier, had somehow slipped halfway over his face as his body tilted.
‘…’
Strange. The fact that this hardship didn’t feel entirely bad—was it because the familiar and missed scent brushed his nose? Come to think of it, this was the first time since the regression that he had stayed with Taesung for so long.
Between inhales and exhales, a soft, fluffy satisfaction hazily bloomed and then faded. Lee Hwan buried his face in the soft lining of the jacket, nuzzling against it before falling back into a shallow sleep.
Three hours that felt both long and short passed like the wind. When Lee Hwan got up, the flames that had been flickering in front of him just moments ago extinguished abruptly and disappeared like a mirage, as if hiding from someone’s eyes.
Yet a faint warmth still remained. Lee Hwan gathered the little water and provisions that remained with his body now softly relaxed.
Taesung never ate the provisions Lee Hwan offered. Since he had eaten large pieces right in front of him, he probably didn’t think there was anything inedible, and before the regression, he had eaten just fine, so it wasn’t like he was picky about jerky or biscuits.
Thinking it wasn’t bad that he got to eat a bit more because of this, Lee Hwan took off the jacket he had been wearing and handed it to Taesung.
He seemed to have noticed his stubbornness this time. Taesung silently accepted it and slipped his arms into the sleeves.
“I plan to enter the crevice I mentioned yesterday. If that place is also blocked, we’ll return to this spot and hold out as best we can until rescue.”
“If just one more day passes, Kang Dongha will be foaming at the mouth looking for us, so we don’t have to worry about dying.”
Lee Hwan answered without much thought, checked the signal device, and put it back in his bag. Strapping it close to his side and shouldering the Dolpeung, preparations were completed in no time.
“You call him by name?”
Suddenly, Taesung asked. Lee Hwan was about to nod when he snapped to his senses. Oh crap. That bastard Kang Dongha, come to think of it, was supposed to be “esteemed employer sir” in front of others.
Thinking about it, even Jade, while speaking casually with Taesung normally, would always call him “young master” in front of others. He should not have forgotten that. Even if Lee Hwan looked down on Kang Dongha or was wary of him, he was still a direct member of Naru and lived in a completely different world.
A slight displeasure was evident on Taesung’s face as he turned to look at him. Lee Hwan kept his mouth tightly shut and deliberately avoided his gaze. Damn it. Last time, he had talked about dogs in reference to him, so now he probably thought of him as some ill-mannered dog.
“Ah… well, they say even the king gets badmouthed when he’s not around.”
After saying that, he nibbled on his lips. He realized it anew: Taesung, like Kang Dongha, was a person far away and above him.
S-grade Hunter. A member of the Naru Group. His skills that had secured him a place in Exploration Team 1 at such a young age, and probably wealth and influence beyond his imagination.
Moreover, looking at his neat face and posture that showed no distortion even in fatigue, he seemed like someone who didn’t match with him in any way. Perhaps the position of “friend” that he had cherished was only possible due to his kindness and interest.
As proof, he was now nothing to him. The only possible encounters were when he provoked Taesung and caused trouble, and Taesung followed to punish him.
His heart felt icily frozen. Lee Hwan inhaled the gradually cooling air and put strength into his toes, quietly recalling how he had become friends with Taesung in the past.
‘I… was good at fighting.’
He always approached battles in sync with his companions. With versatile tactics and unique supporting, he had quickly become an essential talent for Exploration Team 1. In his own words, he was multi-talented.
‘But that was when we were on the same team.’
Now that there were more occasions to fight against each other than to coordinate, he probably didn’t think much of him. Judging this way, Lee Hwan glanced at Taesung, who was somehow walking ahead again.
‘Does it mean… I should at least be able to stand up to him?’
If so, he should have become stronger in a different direction. And yet he should have grown more than expected. But despite being given a new opportunity, he hadn’t progressed as much as he thought. He had been complacent, thinking that with memories of the future, he could achieve greater results with less effort.
“I’m going to melt all the ice ahead to make a path, so stay back and wait.”
Until they reached their target location, Lee Hwan was lost in such thoughts and didn’t notice the time passing. After getting out of here, he would train until his body broke. By running more diligently, he would truly use the opportunity given by this damn regression skill properly this time.
To do that, he needed to focus on escaping this gate now.
Whoooosh!
From far away, blue flames soared up, and the sound of flowing water began to be heard. The ice that had been frozen all over the walls and ceiling was melting and dripping. The piercing cold air that had made his lungs ache with each breath was now filled with damp heat.
He’s amazing indeed. Taesung was someone who always stood at the center of cheers and attention, both before the regression and now. Lee Hwan not only liked his kind personality but also admired his outstanding abilities immensely.
Perhaps they had been able to dig so deeply into each other’s lives because their relationship was based on a kind of respect and admiration. Even though he interacted with him casually, it didn’t mean he let go of everything and behaved recklessly.
‘He’s really cool. Truly.’
All relationships are formed when there’s a match. If so, maybe the past Taesung who had remained by his side had liked him that much too.
Though he knew it was just a wishful thought, thinking about it gave him strength even in this challenging situation. Lee Hwan gazed mesmerized at the brilliant flames that were melting the air and heating the walls, putting strength into his entire hand.
After Taesung melted all the ice blocking the crevice, the next step would be his responsibility. He needed to designate spaces in advance to prepare for any accidents and examine the surroundings thoroughly.
As the heat ahead gradually subsided, Lee Hwan resumed his halted steps and walked forward. For whatever reason, the heat Taesung had emitted was cooling rapidly and had already begun to disappear.
“Let’s go.”
Taesung was waiting for him in front of a crevice that had opened just enough for one person to pass through. Lee Hwan unknowingly smirked and nodded.
“I have all the miscellaneous equipment, so I’ll take the lead this time. Follow me.”
* * *
The crevice path was winding and twisted, but it did continue steadily in one direction. This too, rather than being a path, was closer to traces of cracks from water repeatedly freezing and thawing.
In such a narrow space, one couldn’t recklessly spew fire, so Lee Hwan advanced by simply breaking thin ice using gravity and a combat knife.
The jacket he was wearing, caught and grazed by cold, hard rocks in all directions, quickly became like a rag. Lee Hwan rotated his bag to the front, secured it, and just walked and walked.
A space of about five pyeong appeared after about 10 minutes. As soon as he broke the ice blocking the path and stepped in, he was enveloped by a severe chill, as if he had become an Ice Age dinosaur.
“Wow, what is this…?”
The place he entered, trembling violently, had ice of a color so blue it was almost azure, layered as if it were a geological stratum.
Clang! When he struck it with his combat knife, a strange friction sound like striking against steel echoed. Unfortunately, the blade’s edge got slightly chipped, but thanks to that, he broke a part of the incredibly hard ice.
Inside the cracked ice was a massive and solid mineral that emitted such a strong cold that even Lee Hwan found it hard to endure.
“This is…”
As Lee Hwan turned his head with a dazed face, Taesung, who had just followed him in, examined the mineral with a hardened expression. When he brought a small flame near it, a slight hissing sound was heard.
“It seems to be an attribute mineral.”
It was a headache to have his suspicions confirmed. Lee Hwan clenched and unclenched his cold hands, sighing deeply.
He had thought something was strange, but to actually see this… Grumbling internally, thick vapor rose vigorously with each exhale, as if a fire had broken out.
Attribute minerals were rare materials even globally. They were substances very rarely found inside gates, minerals as hard as diamonds that contained fire or cold energy.
They were not only precious, but the ones occasionally found did not easily regenerate after being mined once, and their quantity was absolutely small, so they were usually attributed to the state.
‘Son of a…’
So this was why Naru had quietly buried the section where accidents could happen. Excluding attribute minerals, the gate didn’t provide much profit, so by law, they should have sold the gate to the state in exchange for valuable opportunities or physical assets.
But these guys seemed to have been too greedy to be satisfied with such compensation. Ignoring all laws, they had swallowed the attribute mineral whole and then periodically sent exploration teams and support teams for surveys as if nothing had happened.
As expected, befitting of Naru, a cesspool of dirty bourgeoisie and a leader in human experimentation.
“No wonder it was disgustingly cold…”
Lee Hwan muttered as he dusted his hands. With this level of cold, it was surely top grade, even without extracting and testing it. This cold energy would have continuously frozen the groundwater, breaking the inside of the gate and creating paths for people to pass through.
