VSP 71

“Ubbbbb!”

Jeong Siwoo tried hard to call out to Na Yookyung, but shouting underwater couldn’t be heard clearly, and she was already too far away for his voice to reach. Damn it, this is why offensive-type hunters drive him crazy. He was completely appalled.

Regardless, Na Yookyung kicked through the water without hesitation. From Jeong Siwoo’s perspective, it was strange to the point of absurdity. How could she stomp water like solid ground? She cut down the dungeon’s trash mobs that approached without stopping and pressed forward.

“Ubbb.”

Even if Na Yookyung was strong, as a psychic-type hunter he couldn’t avoid providing at least some support. Jeong Siwoo, who struggled behind her, opened his eyes wide and activated his ability.

[Skill ‘Brand’ is activated.]

Monsters that were rushing at Na Yookyung to attack her were suddenly branded, and their movements froze.

Na Yookyung waved her hand without turning back. That meant thanks.

Jeong Siwoo hurried to chase after her, and he branded the nearby mobs to immobilize them because he worried his help might fall short. Brand was a technique that brainwashed enemies, but when the number increased this much, even Jeong Siwoo couldn’t turn them into allies.

While he focused on stopping the movements of random monsters, Na Yookyung continued moving without slowing down, and a moment later she found the boss’s lair.

A gigantic seashell came into view.

It was beautiful, but both Na Yookyung and Jeong Siwoo knew. No such beautiful seashell could exist in the world. As it slowly opened like something straight out of The Little Mermaid…

Guoooorrrgh.

Something too rotten and grotesque to even call clam meat jumped out from inside and tried to smash Na Yookyung with its arm.

But that was nothing more than the boss’s petty thrash.

Something flashed at Na Yookyung’s waist. She had drawn her sword before anyone noticed, and she severed the boss’s arm in one swing.

Guoooorrrgh!

The boss screamed horribly and writhed, but Na Yookyung had no thought of dragging this out. She cut down the boss’s other arm and then stomped the water again and began to slice the boss’s entire body to pieces.

“……”

Jeong Siwoo, who was watching from afar, gasped for breath, and his whole body shuddered with awe.

Whenever people debated who was second only to Cha Dogyeong between Ryu Sehyun, Lee Dohun, and Na Yookyung, Jeong Siwoo always chose Na Yookyung without hesitation. She wasn’t an ordinary human.

Cha Dogyeong was overwhelming, but Na Yookyung’s strength was overwhelming in her own right.

She ripped the boss apart in an instant, and the boss kept shrieking death cries until it fell silent.

Soon the dungeon cleared with a refreshing sensation that could be felt even underwater.

Only then did Na Yookyung turn back. She sliced through the water current and came closer. She grabbed Jeong Siwoo, whose breathing was at its limit, and she swiftly pulled him all the way to land.

“Pwah!”

“Pwah, cough cough!”

Jeong Siwoo, who truly reached his limit, barely caught his breath with spinning eyes. Unlike him, who had moved little, Na Yookyung had flown here and there and fought the boss far more intensely, but she laughed heartily as if she felt refreshed.

“Ah, that feels good. Right, Siwoo?”

“……”

Good my ass. It’s cold, noona…

“Ah, was this how that HXPotter felt in that TwXWizard match? Pulling you out of the water felt amazing.”

“Good for you……”

She headed toward the dungeon’s exit without concern. She set Jeong Siwoo down at the bank like dropping a bundle and shook out her long hair as she looked at the blue gate.

“Hm.”

Her refreshed face looked like she had finished a swim. She scanned the surroundings and squinted her eyes at the crashing waves inside the dungeon.

As expected… the difficulty felt a little higher.

It wasn’t high enough for S-rank hunters to notice when running an A-rank dungeon, but it wasn’t the usual level of an A-rank dungeon either. Should it be said that it felt about 1.3 times harder than normal?

It was vague to declare, “The difficulty definitely increased!” so only a few of the more sensitive S-rank hunters noticed. Reports said injuries among low-rank hunters had been increasing, so this was certainly not a small change that could be ignored.

If one thought a great calamity like in the past was about to strike the world again, would that be a rash guess?

“Anyway, you worked hard. Let’s go, Siwoo.”

But such worries and doubts were burdens for seniors like her and Ryu Sehyun, and for the EX-rank hunter Cha Dogyeong. It wasn’t something to tell other hunters and make them worry beforehand when it wasn’t even certain.

With that judgment, she almost dragged Jeong Siwoo, whose body was limp from exhaustion, all the way onto land.

“With this, Team 1’s mission is over. I won’t see you for a while, Siwoo?”

Because of the endless complaints, Ryu Sehyun announced he would join the strike force himself and make the team into pairs, while rotating the other members.

Thanks to that, once a pair was set, quite some time would pass before they were teamed up again, so it seemed they wouldn’t see each other for a while, and when she said goodbye to Jeong Siwoo, he shook his wet hair hard and grumbled.

“Exactly.”

His tone sounded like he had some complaint. Na Yookyung tilted her head.

“Siwoo, do you maybe have a complaint?”

“Ah damn, noona, don’t ask me like that. It sounds scary.”

Na Yookyung was an S-rank hunter, but she was also the guild leader of one guild. Since she had spent so much time as the head of a group, some guild members called her noona or mother, and when they tried to consult her about worries, they said it felt like getting scolded by their mother, and some hunters got flustered.

This time it was Jeong Siwoo.

“I don’t have a complaint.”

“Mm, mm. You don’t?”

“…Since I don’t know when I’ll be teamed with Sehyun-hyung.”

Even with a sulky face, he eventually revealed his honest feelings. Ah, Na Yookyung squinted her eyes.

“So that crush is still ongoing.”

“…Did you think I’d give up that easily?”

Jeong Siwoo did not deny her words.

It was only by coincidence that Na Yookyung learned that Jeong Siwoo a have crush on Ryu Sehyun. She was strangely oblivious at times, but when it came to matters between people, she had an uncanny intuition.

Whenever Jeong Siwoo saw Ryu Sehyun, he couldn’t hide his emotions and only blushed, so to her he was a very interesting target, and she easily picked up on his feelings.

‘You like Sehyun, right?’

And she revealed what she noticed directly to Jeong Siwoo. She felt she would never forget Jeong Siwoo’s face that day when he looked like his jaw would fall off in shock.

“For someone who has feelings, it doesn’t look like you’re making a move on Sehyun.”

“……”

“So I thought you gave up.”

Jeong Siwoo bit his lip. It seemed like a part he didn’t want pointed out.

“What’s the problem? Sehyun is single.”

Since Na Yookyung always charged forward headfirst without hesitation, she couldn’t understand why Jeong Siwoo only circled around Ryu Sehyun.

“What if he’s single. He’s not interested in me.”

“But you said Sehyun goes for men too.”

“That’s because…”

Jeong Siwoo ground his teeth together.

“Because he has Seo Sejun in his heart…”

Oh my.

Seeing his sorrowful face, Na Yookyung realized she had carelessly poked a sensitive spot. Jeong Siwoo already had a delicate nature.

How does it feel for someone in unrequited love to realize the person he loved had his own unrequited love for another, and that was how he realized the man liked men too? Hope, or despair? Na Yookyung couldn’t know.

Seo Sejun.

She pictured Sejun in her mind.

Tall and well-built, good-looking, and when you saw him long enough you thought he was just a funny kid, so she herself didn’t hold any ill feelings toward him.

But when she thought of the countless accidents and mistakes he had made, it was hard to say clearly whether he was fine as a hunter.

That was exactly how Na Yookyung saw Seo Sejun.

But these days, why did it feel like Seo Sejun was becoming the center of a storm among S-rank hunters? Was that just her oversensitivity?

Cha Dogyeong, who was famous for never giving attention to anyone, was like that. Ryu Sehyun, who couldn’t confess and just circled endlessly with a crush, was like that. Even Choi Hangyeol, who was uninterested in others in a different way from Cha Dogyeong, had lately been talking often about Seo Sejun.

Even Lee Dohun…

‘Seo Sejun, that bastard.’

In her mind she saw Lee Dohun, who had recently written a mission report while closing his eyes.