VSP 11

“Uh, well.”

Dohun scratched the back of his head, only then remembering Seo Sejun’s existence. He had genuinely forgotten until just now.

He figured Sejun must have fallen behind as always.

“Maybe he knew he couldn’t keep up and went back to the entrance on his own.”

Shouldn’t that kind of guy be cut out of even ten percent of the dungeon byproducts? Dohun grumbled. Dogyeong, as usual, gave no reaction.

This bastard, I’m trying so hard to get close to him.

Dohun forced down his irritation. Dogyeong never let anyone close.

He was the world’s only EX-rank hunter, someone he would keep seeing often, so Dohun had been trying to build some relationship. But Dogyeong always bounced him away like a wall, never letting it go further.

The only small comfort was that at least this ill-tempered guy didn’t curse at him or push him away. Buy Dohun, who was treated with respect as an S-rank hunter anywhere else, always felt small whenever he stood in front of Dogyeong.

Even so, he was a year older. Always calling him “Lee Dohun” by full name, wasn’t that unfriendly and rude?

Of course, he had completely forgotten how just a little while ago he had said to Sejun, who was also a year apart from him, “Why make such a fuss over a one-year difference.”

The two of them soon returned to the dungeon entrance. It would have been nice if, like in a game, a shortcut exit appeared where the boss was defeated, but unfortunately there was no such benefit.

“……”

Dogyeong scanned the area. They had clearly entered together, but Sejun was nowhere to be seen. His gaze turned once toward the dense jungle, then back toward the entrance. No way.

With the distinctive refreshing sensation of leaving a dungeon, they stepped outside. It was spring weather outside, far cooler than the stifling jungle.

Feeling his sweat-soaked body cool, Dohun let out a satisfied sigh.

“Thank you for your work!”

One of the waiting Association staff offered bottled water. Dohun naturally accepted and gulped it down. Dogyeong, who declined, looked around instead.

“……”

Not here.

He quickly assessed the situation, then grabbed a staff member just in case.

“Did Seo Sejun come out?”

“Excuse me? No.”

“……”

“You two are the first to come out after the clear.”

Dogyeong sighed. No wonder he had a bad feeling, and it turned out as expected.

If Sejun had just been standing blankly at the entrance, he could have brought him out. But since he wasn’t there, he must have walked alone into the jungle and run into something.

When a dungeon is cleared, the hostile atmosphere inside changes instantly, so Sejun would know it had been cleared. The fact he still hadn’t come out meant…

“He’ll come out on his own. He’s still S-rank, what could possibly happen to him in there?”

Dohun downed the entire 500ml water bottle in one go, showing he didn’t care much about Sejun not coming out.

His words were correct. Even if someone had no ability, as long as they had the body of an S-rank hunter, like Choi Hangyeol, who was mental-type, or Jung Siwoo, who hated moving, it was hard to imagine anything happening to them in an A-rank dungeon. The physical difference was too great.

“……”

But Dogyeong thought differently. The only reason he and Dohun had cleared safely was because they had flown above the forest. How could they know what dangers were inside that jungle?

Even if they were S-rank, there was a reason international law required two or more people to form a team starting from B-rank dungeons.

It’s a safety rule written in blood.

“……I’ll go.”

He couldn’t shake the feeling.

“Uh, Dogyeong?”

Dohun called out in surprise, but Dogyeong turned his body back toward the dungeon without answering.

In an instant, his figure disappeared back into the dungeon. Left alone, Dohun stared blankly at his back, then crushed the empty bottle in his hand and tossed it irritably into a nearby trash bin.

I really don’t like this team.

Not being able to act freely because Dogyeong was here. The fact that Sejun was included. And the discord in this team, which was hard to put into words but deeply irritating.

Of course, he knew more than half of that discord was his own doing.

“Why does it matter if Seo Sejun dies or not?”

He asked the Association staff like he was seeking agreement, but the staff only gave him an awkward smile and did not agree.

•••

Once a dungeon is cleared, it closes on its own in about three hours, and once it closes, getting out is almost impossible.

When dungeons first appeared, countless hunters who didn’t know that fact lost their lives because of it.

It was considered such a pointless way to die, and many lamented how important information really was.

It didn’t look like Dohun was going to move. Even if the dungeon was cleared, they couldn’t send civilians inside. In the end, the only one who could move was Dogyeong himself, who had already been slightly irritated by Seo Sejun.

Dogyeong thought and entered the forest. The air was still stifling. The killing intent had lessened, but the place still carried hostility against humans intruding on its space. It was not pleasant.

On top of that, Dogyeong disliked the heat. Even if he was an EX-rank hunter not much affected by outside temperature, this level of heat was hard to bear.

“Haa.”

What should I do with this nuisance?

Dogyeong ran his hand roughly through his hair, messing it up, then stepped deeper into the jungle.

Seo Sejun was strange.

He was an S-rank hunter, yet he wasn’t reliable. Always worrying others, always needing to be watched. Always criticized, whether on TV news or by fellow hunters.

Always with a wounded face, yet stepping forward stubbornly. Always claiming he could do better than Cha Dogyeong, making a scene, then getting retired instantly, then causing trouble. And always saying he was older than Cha Dogyeong.

An idiot.

What made it even more idiotic was that Dogyeong himself always ended up looking after that idiot. The problem was that he didn’t know why he did, and Sejun didn’t even realize Dogyeong was looking after him.

In the meantime, Dogyeong got closer to where Sejun was.

Sejun’s presence was familiar. Not because they were close, but because of time. Since awakening, they had clashed as S-rank hunters for five years. Because of that, Dogyeong soon found Sejun.

“……Ha.”

But for some reason, Sejun was hanging in the air, his legs bound by the tendrils of a plant monster.

And in that state, his pants and underwear half pulled down, exposing his pale butt.

•••

Seo Sejun was a comedy character.

That was the truth Sejun had come to know after peeking into the author’s true intention.

But Sejun swore he had never once tried to become a comedy character on purpose. He was just an unlucky character who had recently swallowed the bitter red pill of truth, that he was forced by fate, plot and by the author’s manipulations into being one.

The novel was already finished! So from now on, there shouldn’t be any more unfair treatment like that, right? He had been secretly hoping.

But as he wandered through the jungle, the moment his foot stepped on the soft stem of a plant, and the plant monster coiled around his leg like it had been waiting. Sejun realized that the unfair treatment wasn’t over. He was undeniably a comedy character.

Thinking back now, he had screamed loudly, “Ahhh!” but neither Cha Dogyeong nor Dohun had reacted, like they hadn’t heard. That was when he should have called Hoya without hesitation.

But Dohun’s earlier words, “You don’t do anything and still take dungeon rewards,” kept lingering in his mind. So he hesitated, thinking maybe he could shake it off quickly and rejoin them. That was the problem.

Who could have guessed the plant monster would drain his already lacking mana dry?

By the time he realized, he had only about five percent of his mana left. He couldn’t summon Hoya, not even a single spirit. His mana was completely drained.

“Ah, fuck, seriously……”

Even if he could summon spirits, that was a problem. Unlike Hoya, spirits were only useful for scouting and investigation, not for this kind of situation.

In other words, what he needed now was Hoya. But with only five percent mana left, he couldn’t even summon one of Hoya’s claws.

[Sejun-nim…….]

When the system called his name, unable to hold back, with a pitiful tone, Sejun had to admit it.

I’m really hopeless.

An S-class hunter drained of mana and left useless not even by a boss but to some random mob. He couldn’t tell anyone without dying of shame.