VSP 80

The dungeon that Cha Dogyeong and Lee Dohun entered together was a desert.

Hot and dry sand wind kept blowing, and the air was sticky and rough. For an ordinary person, this place would make it hard to breathe because of the sandstorm, and that was their target for today.

It was not a place with boiling lava or a freezing storm that drove people mad, but the sinking sand piles that swallowed their feet and the sand that scratched their throats were irritating all the same.

Also, the atmosphere between the two who entered together was just as dry as the desert.

When people talked about Cha Dogyeong and Lee Dohun, they usually said that they were not that close, but they didn’t have a bad relationship either, and they acknowledged each other in their own way and got along fine. That had been true until now.

But during this raid, it did not seem to be the case, because both of them barely spoke to each other. Normally, Lee Dohun would start a meaningless conversation, or Dogyeong would talk about dungeon information, and they could exchange words to some extent, but today every path for that felt completely blocked.

Both of them knew it. Even without saying it, they both knew that neither of them was in a good mood. Because they had no reason or space to talk to each other, the mood of the raid team was unpleasant from the start.

Lee Dohun had been feeling down ever since the raid with Seo Sejun, and Dogyeong was in a bad mood for a different reason.

That unstable state, like water trembling right before spilling, finally exploded when they reached the boss of the dungeon.

Cha Dogyeong called Lee Dohun first.

“Lee Dohun.”

“Yeah.”

When Dohun answered lazily while cracking his knuckles, Dogyeong closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again, then he spoke.

“Don’t bother him.”

“What?”

The sudden start of that unexpected topic made Dohun, whose face had been downcast, frown as if he did not understand what Dogyeong meant, then soon frowned deeper as he guessed what the talk was about.

“You mean Seo Sejun?”

Dogyeong did not answer. But what else could it mean? Dohun snorted briefly and replied.

“Bother him? What are you talking about? What? Did that bastard go crying to you saying I kissed him?”

“……”

“He didn’t cut out the part before and after, right? We got trapped together in an escape room. I had no choice.”

Then Dohun thought, “Now that I think about it, why did Seo Sejun tell this to Cha Dogyeong? Were they that close?” but he did not think further. He scratched the back of his head roughly.

“You should know the whole thing before talking. I saved that bastard. Anyway, that bastard can’t survive an A-rank Antlion Hell.”

“That’s not for you to decide. Antlion Hell rarely kills hunters.”

Antlion Hell was a battle of endurance. Seo Sejun did not seem to have that much stamina, but his body was still that of an S-rank hunter, so whether he could hold on or not could only be known by trying. It was true that it was dangerous.

But what Dogyeong was pointing out was not the Antlion Hell itself, but that Dohun made the judgment alone, decided alone, and forced it without Sejun’s consent.

“……”

Dohun looked strange, as if he had not expected Cha Dogyeong to bring up that point.

If someone had to choose who tried harder to be closer between the two, that would be Lee Dohun. He was a year younger, but he was an arrogant guy who never called Dogyeong hyung, even though Dogyeong was older, but his skills were certain.

During the days when they went into dangerous dungeons as easily as eating meals, Dohun had relied on Dogyeong’s back several times, and he knew he had been safer because Dogyeong had stepped in and acted in dangerous moments many times.

That was why Dohun felt some fondness for Dogyeong, enough to overlook most things.

But right now, Cha Dogyeong’s attitude was far from something he could overlook.

“So, what are you trying to say, Cha Dogyeong?”

Puhwak!

At that moment, since the two did not move closer to the boss room, the giant centipede-like boss that had been hiding inside a sand pillar jumped out, maybe because it grew impatient. The scattered sand made their vision blur. The boss charged straight at them.

Kieek!

But Cha Dogyeong did not even look that way.

Dogyeong raised his hand as if it was annoying and hit the boss that came near him.

Puhk! The sound of something exploding resonated as the boss screamed and was thrown far away. Sand scattered in every direction, but neither of them cared.

Light flashed from his hand. The boss, which screeched and tried to rise again, had its torso pierced and died instantly, and inside the dungeon, a wind that meant a successful clear started to blow, separate from the swirling sand and the dry feeling between them.

For a boss of an A-rank dungeon, it was a ridiculous end, but neither of them cared.

“Don’t treat Seo Sejun like that.”

“Ha.”

Dogyeong finished speaking after completing the mission. Of course, Dohun’s reaction was not friendly at all.

“Yeah, you didn’t really bother Seo Sejun or anything. But, Cha Dogyeong….”

“……”

“No matter what kind of bullshit Seo Sejun pulls, you always ignored him like a barking dog, so why are you suddenly being so nice to him?”

Huh? His voice was full of irritation. It was probably the first time since they met that Cha Dogyeong and Lee Dohun showed negative feelings toward each other like this.

The two were silent for a while and looked at each other. While staring at Dogyeong’s face, Dohun suddenly realized something and asked.

“Is it because of that effect?”

That effect. It referred to the invisible pressure that all S-rank hunters had felt and that had disappeared at a certain point. It was the feeling that they were free from every restriction, as if a hero who finished all the main stories in a game had been granted a free and happy life afterward.

That feeling was especially strong around Seo Sejun. Should one say a layer had been peeled off? No, it was closer to saying that a thick shell had been stripped away.

“I can’t say it’s not. Everyone feels it.”

Of course, Dogyeong felt it too. He knew that a lot had been released around Seo Sejun.

“But if you were affected too, isn’t it time to stop?”

If Dohun’s strong hatred toward Sejun had been caused by that shell, then he meant that Dohun did not need to treat Sejun like that anymore.

Lee Dohun frowned.

“It’s none of your business.”

“It is. Don’t bother him. You’re annoying me.”

A heavy silence fell, thicker and longer than any silence that had existed between them until now.

Both Lee Dohun and Cha Dogyeong knew this was not just at the level of “I’m close with him, so I hate seeing you act like that.” Dohun was not dense enough to miss that meaning.

He moved his eyebrows slightly and wondered for a moment if he had misunderstood, then decided that he had not.

“Cha Dogyeong, are you tired of women? Now you’re doing gay stuff? With Seo Sejun of all people?”

Lee Dohun asked as if he truly could not understand. How could that be possible?

Cha Dogyeong did not reply. Dohun expected him to deny it and get angry saying it was nonsense, but he did not, and that shocked him even more.

A man liking another man was something he could not understand, but since it was not his life, he did not care.

But Cha Dogyeong? Of all people, Cha Dogyeong? And with Seo Sejun?

How many years had they spent together? Lee Dohun even roughly knew what type of woman Cha Dogyeong liked.

He liked someone tall, slim, confident, and outspoken.

Except for the tall part, Seo Sejun did not match in gender, appearance, or personality at all.

But that was not Dohun’s concern. What mattered to him now was that Cha Dogyeong was saying this nonsense to him, out of his mind, because of Seo Sejun.

“Cha Dogyeong, are you interested in Seo Sejun?”

Cha Dogyeong sighed.

“I’m just doing what I want, like I always do.”

“And this time what you want is gay stuff? With Seo Sejun?”

“I still can’t define what my condition is, and I don’t think I can explain it to you. I don’t need to either.”

“Heh.”

“Anyway, it annoys me when you mess with Seo Sejun, so don’t.”

When he added that, Lee Dohun finally realized that he was feeling very, extremely unpleasant.

He did not know why. What was certain was that it was not just because Cha Dogyeong, a third party, was interfering with his problem with Seo Sejun. But finding out the reason was not urgent right now.

“He does look pretty decent.”

So Lee Dohun spoke mockingly. If that guy just kept his mouth shut, he looked good. He just could not understand why every time that guy opened his mouth or tried to act, he ended up like that.