VSP 135

“Damn it, fuck.”

Unfortunately, his leg hit the ground first. It wasn’t a fatal injury, but the pain radiating from his leg felt far from ordinary. The bigger problem was that he couldn’t move. His leg was broken.

Had it not been for the resilient physique of an S-rank hunter, the height could have been fatal, so a leg fracture was actually the better outcome. 

The real problem was the excruciating pain that made his mind go blank and, fatally, the complete loss of mobility.

Tears welled up and a scream threatened to escape, but Sejun gritted his teeth and held it back, afraid of drawing unnecessary attention from the surrounding enemies.

This was bad. He couldn’t move. It’s broke clean off. He knew he couldn’t even walk, let alone run.

Given this situation, getting out of the dungeon with Jeong Siwoo was impossible.

But what the hell was that blue light just now? It felt similar to when Hoya was summoned, Sejun thought, then shook his head. Now was not the time for that.

“Seo Sejun! Wait! I’ll be down soon!”

Jeong Siwoo yelled from above that he was coming down, but Sejun immediately raised his hand and waved it frantically. It meant not to come down.

“Don’t come down!”

“What? What are you going to do then?!”

Even as they argued, a rustling, creepy sound echoed. Snakes were swarming in.

[Grrr.]

Hoya came over the moment he saw Sejun fall. His large frame loomed over Sejun, and somehow, his pacing looked terribly anxious.

Sejun checked his remaining mana. Thanks to the mana potion he’d just drunk, he could still hold out. He could probably drink one more potion.

If the system had been present, he would have been nagging him by now, saying it was impossible. But without any distractions, Sejun steeled his resolve.

“I’ll hold out as long as I can, so go get reinforcements!”

As the summoner, Sejun knew that simply staying conscious and holding out counted as doing his part. Even immobilized, he could endure as long as Hoya was there.

Jeong Siwoo’s eyes widened in shock at Sejun’s demand to abandon him and escape.

“What are you talking about? If you do that…!”

“Are you going to carry me and run?”

“……”

“You can’t do it.”

That was true. Jeong Siwoo was physically weak to begin with. The dungeon interior wasn’t an environment where he could easily carry someone as big as Sejun and run to escape. Plus, he’d already expended considerable mana maintaining the mind control, leaving his stamina depleted.

He couldn’t possibly be confident he could support Sejun and run all the way to the entrance.

If he could summon spirits, he might have used combat tactics to move to the entrance, but unfortunately, all the spirits had been counter-summoned while fighting alongside Hoya and were unusable.

Everything had gone wrong, one thing after another. It was as if someone had deliberately set things up to prevent Sejun from leaving this dungeon.

“I’ll be fine, so hurry up and go. There’s no time.”

Of course, Sejun wasn’t saying this without any confidence.

He was a summoner, not a hunter who relied on direct physical movement. Even with a broken leg, it didn’t immediately hinder his ability to strategize.

Of course, no matter how cleanly the leg was broken, it was still a serious injury with broken bones. Dragging things out wouldn’t be good… But the important thing was that he could hold out.

Plus, the dungeon had opened in Jamsil. It wasn’t far from Gangnam, where the Association was located.

Numerous A-rank hunters would be stationed nearby, and S-rank hunters wouldn’t be too far either. 

It wouldn’t take too long for reinforcements to arrive.

Perhaps Cha Dogyeong, who wasn’t too far away, would hear the news and rush over. If he could just hold out until then.

Then it would be okay. Clinging to that single possibility, Sejun tried desperately to think as positively as possible.

Even in the worst situations, even when he couldn’t rush over immediately, Cha Dogyeong had always come. So, so this time too.

…It was miserable to realize he needed someone else’s help rather than solving this himself, but he comforted himself thinking that anyone would be helpless with an injury like this.

After agonizing for a long time, wondering if this was really okay, Jeong Siwoo finally nodded, perhaps realizing that stalling was only making things worse.

“…Alright. Just hang on a little longer.”

Jeong Siwoo’s footsteps faded away.

“Haa.”

Sejun leaned his back against the building debris. For now, it was crucial not to put any weight on his broken leg.

Hoya, who had been anxiously pacing around Sejun, began dealing with the moving snakes near him one by one.

Staring at the scene, all sorts of random thoughts floated through Sejun’s mind.

Why am I an S-rank hunter yet always end up waiting for others’ help? If I had at least one outstanding skill like Jeong Siwoo, maybe it would be different. But I don’t. I’m just an ordinary combat agent who can’t do anything every single time.

Held back by mana. Getting cursed at. If they retreat from an A-rank dungeon again, no matter the circumstances, he’d get a mountain of abuse for being “typical Sejun.”

Even the slightly more positive evaluations he’d gained from the Busan incident and the Taesong Department Store case would plummet back into the abyss.

He claimed not to care, but he couldn’t really ignore it. Sejun felt sad and depressed about people’s judgments, their insults, and how his family had to gauge his emotions because of it.

That fact made Sejun gloomy.

Sejun lifted his head to check the mission window.

<Calculating Reward>

The mission window, which had been stuck displaying “Calculating Reward” the entire time, making him wonder if it was lagging, was still the same.

He wondered what kind of incredible reward it was preparing to justify this delay. But then he disliked himself for harboring the expectation that, since sub-mission rewards always gave mana, maybe this time it’d be generous and give a large amount of mana instead of the usual small increments of 10.

But even now, if only he had a little more mana… If only.

…or if I had just one more combat-related skill besides summoning ones.

He’d felt uncomfortable thinking about the rewards gained by relying on Cha Dogyeong, yet here he was, inevitably getting greedy, wondering if the reward might be mana after all.

He’d suffered for so long from mana shortages, and even now, if he had more mana, he might not be going through this ordeal.

So, I don’t want some grand reward. Just let me reach the S-rank average. If that happens, anything else is fine.

-Really? Anything is fine?

Someone asked that question then. Sejun nodded. It hurt and was exhausting. If he could just break free from this situation somehow, anything else seemed fine.

-Really?

Sejun answered. Anything is fine. Without mana, I’ll die here.

-Alright, then. It can’t be helped.

Only then did Sejun realize that voice was all too familiar.

My voice?

But there was no time to ponder the situation. Hoya was fighting far away. Somehow, that image grew increasingly blurry.

Just as Sejun couldn’t resist his heavy eyelids and was about to close his eyes, the long-awaited sound finally reached him one last time.

[Rewards have been calculated!]

But Sejun never got to check the rewards. His consciousness faded away.

***

Unaware of what was happening to Sejun, Jeong Siwoo ran relentlessly toward the entrance.

Fortunately, thanks to their diligent movement after deciding to retreat, the exit wasn’t too far. Even with his stamina completely depleted, he still had enough left to somehow keep running.

“Haa, ha.”

Almost at the exit, Jeong Siwoo squeezed every last bit of mana he had to cast a mental domination spell around Sejun to help him hold on. This way, Sejun might last a little longer…

But just as the exit came into view, something whispered inside his mind.

What if things go wrong here?

“..…..”

Because of one thought that suddenly took root in his mind, Jeong Siwoo’s feet, which had been running hard toward the exit, came to an abrupt halt.

What if Sejun died here?

…What if the reinforcements arrived ‘a little’ late, and Sejun died ‘by accident’?

Wouldn’t that change the situation a little… no, a lot?

Jeong Siwoo swallowed dryly. Just moments ago, he had genuinely wanted to save Sejun. It was only natural.

His legs trembled from running so hard, his lungs ached as if pierced by something sharp, but he had run desperately to save Sejun.

But now he was rooted to the spot, biting his lip.

Sejun had fallen because he’d been trying so desperately to save him, only to be thrown off balance by the recoil. Naturally, Siwoo had to do everything in his power to call for reinforcements, if only to repay him.

He had to.

And yet, his feet refused to move.

If only you weren’t here, everyone would return to normal. Just like before, like when you weren’t among us, everyone would center around me and look out for me.

Even Sehyun-hyung…