The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C13
$13
“Why are we moving so hastily? It’s not like you really think I might run away, right?”
I asked Seo-heon while doing a final check of the equipment I had hurriedly prepared yesterday. Reorganizing the luggage I had set up for the business trip and changing it for contaminated area exploration was more troublesome than I thought, so I was worried I might have forgotten to pack something by mistake.
“We need to start preparing for next month’s S-rank dungeon conquest soon. A big shot is coming to Korea, so we need to time it right.”
If Seo-heon called someone a big shot, they must be a world-renowned figure, but I couldn’t quite grasp who it might be. I went through the list of named hunters in my head, but they were all people with packed schedules every month.
“Who?”
“The Prophet.”
“What?”
Since the awakenings began, many hunters had emerged, but those called ‘Prophet’ were few and far between. Among them, only three were highly valued, and even then, one had already passed away, and another never left their country for religious reasons.
“Halo is coming to Korea?”
He was a prophet who would refuse no matter how much money was offered or how important the person calling him was if it didn’t suit his taste. He possessed not only prophetic skills but also attack skills, so he had the ability to protect himself. This meant he was a prophet capable of combat, and his value was difficult to quantify in monetary terms.
Some called Halo’s prophecies ‘oracles’ because, although there were many restrictions, he was known to be able to read quite far into the future. I had heard rumors that many crises had been overcome thanks to these oracles.
“Yes. He’ll enter the country around the end of next month.”
“Are you going to ask Halo for a prophecy related to dungeon subjugation? That’ll be difficult. They say he doesn’t give prophecies to just anyone.”
“I have no intention of using the prophet’s abilities. I find it unpleasant to have my future read.”
“Then?”
“I plan to utilize another ability. I’ve already finished negotiating.”
As always, Seo-heon didn’t fully explain his plans. Seeing his subtle smile made me lose the desire to ask more.
“Don’t do anything dangerous.”
That was all I wished for.
“Of course. I know how important life is.”
Seo-heon’s lips stiffened.
“Unlike you.”
The words that came out, crushed and tattered, seemed to have burst out unable to be held back.
He couldn’t know about my secret, could he?
Wondering if he might be upset, I examined his expression, but he had already returned to normal. Was it my imagination? Having something to hide makes me unnecessarily anxious.
I stood up, shouldering my backpack. The final check was done.
“Shall we go?”
Seo-heon, who had finished preparing long ago and was waiting for me, asked. We moved in the car we had prepared. We decided to travel by car up to just before the contaminated area and then enter on foot from the entrance. This was because we might detect dangers too late if we were in the car, and leaving it nearby might risk damage.
We could have used a teleporter, but it seemed wasteful to use such valuable personnel for this distance.
Seo-heon said to think of it as a drive since it would only take about an hour by car. Since I didn’t know how to drive, Seo-heon took the wheel. He was skilled at driving, so the car moved smoothly without shaking, but the speed was by no means slow.
“The average exploration period for contaminated areas by other guilds is 3 days.”
“Should we finish it in a day?”
Seo-heon said if that’s what I wanted, we could do that, and pressed the accelerator even more. The speed shot up to almost racing car levels.
“No. Why invite criticism? We’re going to definitively settle various controversies, so we should fulfill the full time. Have there been any reports of monster appearances in the area we’re going to?”
“Yes. Last month, a B-rank incubus appeared, and some idiots got hurt while curiously watching.”
Incubi intervened in dreams while people slept to possess their bodies or used aphrodisiac-like abilities similar to poison to render their opponents unable to fight.
Some people would cause accidents by secretly entering appearance areas, wanting to see succubi or incubi that appeared attractively in the media. Most of them ended up coming out with severe mental damage or their corpses were found with all their energy drained, unable to end their arousal.
We have some resistance to poison, and we have plenty of other skills to defend ourselves, so there shouldn’t be any danger.
I let my guard down, relaxing into the seat.
***
As we approached our destination, the forest grew thicker. Areas designated as danger zones, where human footprints had ceased, often had abnormally lush vegetation that blocked out sunlight. The contaminated area, being one of these danger zones, was no exception. This created an environment that nocturnal monsters particularly liked. Seo-heon, who had been driving silently, glanced at the passenger seat and asked.
“Why did you take off the bracelet?”
It was an unexpected question. It was difficult to answer honestly, so I tried to think of how to explain it naturally.
“I’m not used to having something on my arm. I was planning to wear it only when entering underwater dungeons.”
Even I thought it was a flimsy answer. Fortunately for me, Seo-heon didn’t probe further. However, the slight twist of his lips indicated that it clearly wasn’t a satisfactory answer.
“If you’re concerned about Ho-jun…”
An uncomfortable topic I wanted to avoid came up.
[Unable to identify route. Redownloading information.]
Fortunately, a notification came that the navigation had stopped working due to signal interference. Seo-heon looked like he wanted to say more, but I hurriedly unbuckled my seatbelt, expressing with my whole body that I had no intention of continuing the conversation.
“Let’s stop chatting and start walking soon.”
I suggested to Seo-heon, who had been driving at nearly top speed since leaving the city, having accelerated excessively. Even though we wouldn’t be injured by a mere traffic accident, I didn’t want to ride this runaway train in an area with unknown terrain.
“So cautious.”
Seo-heon, reading my inner thoughts, gently applied the brakes. His gaze was still fixed on my arm. I pretended not to notice and jumped out of the car.
“The grass comes up to my knees. It must be considerable around the dungeon.”
I hurriedly brought up a different topic. The grass was indeed thick, and it was slightly uncomfortable to walk. It would have been easy to burn the surroundings a bit with fire to make a path, but I didn’t want to harm nature to that extent.
“Woo-hyun is good at everything except changing the subject.”
Seo-heon muttered. It wasn’t a comment that particularly required an answer, but rather an expression of disappointment. It seems he doesn’t like me lying, even if he’s not that curious about the reason.
“Then pretend you don’t notice.”
“That’s what I’m doing.”
We looked each other in the eye. Seo-heon had a serious expression, unlike someone who had been chatting just moments ago. My face probably looked the same.
“Let’s just finish the job well.”
After that, there was no need for us to speak.
We simultaneously started running at a brisk pace towards where the dungeon had been. The wind hitting our faces felt good. For the first time in a long while, I had the illusion that we were the only two left in the world, free from the reality that had been constricting me until just now. Even though I knew it was impossible.
“There it is.”
The location of the dungeon wasn’t far. After running quickly for about two hours, the edge of the collapsed dungeon appeared at the tip of Seo-heon’s pointing finger. I felt a bit disappointed at the thought that reality was approaching again.
“Rarely do you have an expression of not wanting to work.”
While I had found it difficult to read Seo-heon’s thoughts for some time now, he still seemed to know my emotions and thoughts thoroughly. Except for my feelings beyond friendship for him, there might not be any emotion of mine that he couldn’t read.
“When did I ever?”
But I pretended otherwise and started running again.
The balance of our emotions had tilted long ago. Naturally, the time I spent looking at Seo-heon was longer than the time he spent looking at me. Yet, it felt somehow unfair that I didn’t understand Seo-heon’s thoughts at all. My one-sided love was so unproductive.
“Wait.”
Seo-heon grabbed my shoulder and stopped me just as we were about to reach the dungeon.
“Why suddenly…”
I stopped speaking as I examined the dungeon. The shape of the dungeon entrance, which should have been completely collapsed, remained intact.
“This can hardly be considered remaining. There are traces of previous collapse. This is…”
“Right. It’s closer to being restored.”
Seo-heon completed the sentence for me as I trailed off. It wasn’t unheard of for a failed dungeon to be restored. What was surprising, however, was that this exploded dungeon was at best B-rank.
“Until now, the cases of dungeon restoration were only for A-rank dungeons at minimum, weren’t they?”
Is my memory wrong? But even as I searched through the materials I had reviewed in my mind, there had never been such an occurrence with dungeons below B-rank. Seo-heon also didn’t open his mouth easily, perhaps trying to figure out what was going on.
Despite the serious situation, I could still clearly feel the hand on my shoulder. I tried to twist my body to avoid it, but the grip holding me only tightened.