VSP 33

“I’m scared.”

“What?”

Cha Dogyeong turned his head with surprise at Sejun’s unusually honest answer. Sejun shouted with a choked voice.

“I said I’m scared, you bastard!”

Normally Sejun would have bluffed. If it were any dungeon but this.

But what if he acted tough here and Dogyeong abandoned him to go ahead first? Sejun knew he would faint right away.

Sejun could not bring himself to look at Dogyeong’s face, nor at the darkness ahead where he had no idea what might be hiding in. He only lowered his eyes. He did not even check what kind of expression Dogyeong was making as he looked at him.

Instead, he quietly stretched out his hand and held Dogyeong’s sleeve tightly.

Because he had said he was scared, he felt strangely sure Dogyeong would not abandon him while he trembled. It was surprising but Dogyeong never truly made Sejun suffer.

Just like in the last dungeon, when he had come to find Sejun in the end.

Sejun knew at least that much.

He did not want to admit it, but Sejun was very sensitive to others. A person like him had an uncanny ability to judge whether or not it was safe to stretch out his foot in a place. In his eyes, this was completely a safe place to reach out.

Cha Dogyeong would not abandon Seo Sejun.

He did not want him dead.

He did not enjoy watching him struggle.

So he could be trusted.

With that thought, Sejun gripped Dogyeong’s sleeve tightly. As if he would never let go.

“…….”

Dogyeong’s eyes went to Sejun’s hand that held his sleeve.

Honestly he was speechless, he admitted so frankly that he was scared, and then hold onto his sleeve like he had received a permit to use Cha Dogyeong.

His gesture said, I admitted it honestly, so I can expect a little, right? He believed that Dogyeong would not push him away if he asked like this.

He was over 180cm tall, an S-rank hunter, only a little shorter than Dogyeong, and yet he was holding his sleeve because of a haunted house. If it were someone else, it would have been disgusting to see.

But…

Normally Dogyeong would have gotten annoyed and shaken off anyone. Yet Seo Sejun, with those timid eyes full of fear and just holding his sleeve tightly, was somehow…

A little…

“Not going?”

Dogyeong let out a sigh as he looked at Sejun’s face, which seemed reassured only by holding his sleeve, then asked as if wondering when he would start walking.

“Of course we’re going.”

He really could not understand Seo Sejun. There had been times he felt like he understood him completely, that he could read exactly what was in that small head.

But lately, he truly could not.

And lately, Seo Sejun was kind of…

“Hhuuung.”

When Dogyeong finally moved, Sejun, who had just been the one to say let’s go, let out a strange sound and pressed himself right against Dogyeong’s back.

If it were someone else, an annoying guy who stuck close just because of a cheap word, he would have kicked him away. But strangely, he did not think that way at all.

He had to admit it.

Cha Dogyeong, lately, felt that Seo Sejun was kind of…arousing.

Of course, not that much.

•••

Thud!

The evil spirit that was struck by Dohun’s hand turned into dust and vanished instantly.

With its skull crushed and its organs literally spilling out, the appearance of the evil spirits was to the level that if it were a game, one would suspect the intentions of the developer.

But this was reality.

“Tsk.”

Dohun shook off his bloody hand. The rotten blood sticking to him was disgusting, but he could not wash it off here.

It felt like he had gone deep inside already, but there was no sign of the dungeon ending.

At first the dungeon had looked relatively normal, but soon it showed its real face and pushed Dohun harder. The monsters that first seemed like typical haunted house characters grew more grotesque.

Cha Dogyeong would be breaking through the other side. By the time they met, maybe the dungeon’s boss would appear.

An assimilated dungeon was a little troublesome, but after all, it was only an A-rank dungeon. There was no worry that hunters of their level could not clear it.

No, to be exact, one EX-rank hunter, one S-rank hunter, and one guy whose S-rank was embarrassing.

When Dohun thought of Seo Sejun, unpleasant emotions filled his head, like they were twins bound together.

Idiot. Slow fool. Lacking moron. Dumbass.

His harsh judgments followed with his dislike.

Lee Dohun hated Seo Sejun.

He hated him too much.

From the first time he saw him, a hatred that boiled up deep in his chest without reason became the driving force that made Dohun constantly hate Sejun.

Of course, there were reasons.

Always stepping to the front and showing off, only to retire weakly. Waking up dungeon bosses that were asleep. Even making a dungeon boss stronger. How many accidents had Sejun caused?

He had only been lucky that the damage was small, but every one of his accidents was serious enough to risk increasing everyone else’s danger.

Yet he never got tired of trolling every time, and he never apologized. Instead he puffed his chest and bragged about his ridiculous summoned beast. How could anyone like that?

Fortunately, no one ever died or got hurt because of Sejun’s accidents. It almost seemed like it was forbidden to happen.

And at some point, Sejun caused fewer and fewer accidents, so naturally the harm to other hunters also decreased.

He was still a dangerous person to watch, but…

So Dohun hated Sejun.

Too much.

Even if these days Seo Sejun caused no accidents, he still hated him.

He hated him.

That was the most obvious truth.

Lee Dohun: Hates Seo Sejun.

It was as if such a formula was written somewhere. But lately, Dohun started to feel something strange. It was true he hated Seo Sejun.

But the intense hatred that used to make his chest boil had faded a little. At some point, the source of that feeling had suddenly been cut off.

It was like a pot that always boiled had lost its fire and was slowly cooling. There were still traces of the heat that had once bubbled, but it was clearly weaker compared to the past.

So Dohun hated and disliked Sejun out of habit, but he knew inside himself that the severe hatred had thinned.

When had it exactly started?

……Probably since the time they defeated the former Association president and Cha Dogyeong became an EX-rank hunter.

Why all of a sudden?

Dohun frowned in displeasure, he felt like his emotions were being controlled by someone else. Then evil spirits crawled out from the ground again and began to surround him.

Of course, Dohun did not panic. It only annoyed and irritated him. Just like Seo Sejun’s existence irritated Lee Dohun.

Dohun’s frown deepened.

“Disgusting things.”

He would just destroy them all.

Dohun cracked his muscles loose. Then his body began to swell huge as it transformed. With snapping sounds, his bones and muscles twisted and his size expanded in an instant.

S-rank hunter Lee Dohun.

The only beast-type and close combat S-rank hunter of the present was powering up for a full dungeon assault.

•••

He had already guessed from the name “Super Horror House,” that it was a haunted house, so ghosts and spirits would pop out, and since a dungeon was hostile to humans, they would appear in even more grotesque forms.

That itself did not matter. Dogyeong was not the type to be scared of such things.

“Kyaaaa!”

So if there was a variable, it was nothing but Seo Sejun, who had followed him inside.

Sejun screamed at the cold hand grabbing his ankle. Dogyeong clicked his tongue at his shrill cries and swung his hand instantly vaporizing the evil spirit that had risen from the ground.

Sejun jumped like he was tap-dancing, trying to shake off the spirit, then with a “hng,” he stuck himself to Dogyeong’s back.

“Cha Dogyeong, Cha Dogyeong, Cha Dogyeong.”

He repeated his name like it was a prayer. Having already been through this several times, Dogyeong asked with a flat voice.

“What?”

“Cha Dogyeooong…….”

Seo Sejun, who only mumbled his name, clearly did not hear Dogyeong asking.

It did not sound bad. Sejun’s voice was decent enough.

He had thought it before several times, but honestly, Sejun’s looks were not bad either.

Dogyeong, who rarely admitted anything about others, nodded inwardly.

It was Sejun’s inner self that ruined everything, not his appearance.

And that not-bad-looking Seo Sejun now looked on the verge of crying.

The hand that had only been holding his sleeve had boldly latched onto Dogyeong’s back and wrapped around his waist. As if he would never let go.