Dungeon & Commander (33)
They'd prepared diligently.
They'd banded together and given it their all.
All to pass the second test.
But why on earth is she paying attention to Kim Jun?
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't figure it out.
Of course, Kim Jun was impressive enough. But he was still just a carrier...
Sigh, whatever.
She couldn't even guess why Teacher Yang Hee-seon was so interested in him.
"Let's pass together this time too."
"Get lost."
An Seong-ho grinned shamelessly even as Yoo Min-jeong ground her teeth, then returned to his seat.
The drawing ceremony soon began.
Guild Management Director Lee Wan-yeol stepped onto the stage with a microphone. Voices rose from the crowd of Raiders: "Another bald guy?" "No pretty girls?" loud enough to hear clearly.
Lee Wan-yeol flashed an exaggerated smile and announced the start of the drawing. Two staff members soon brought out an opaque box and placed it on the table onstage.
"Inside this box are small plastic beads containing the details of the second test. Come up in the order called and draw one. An Seong-ho of the Gwanpo Guild, please come forward."
An Seong-ho stood awkwardly and climbed onto the stage.
Following Lee Wan-yeol's instructions, he reached into the box and pulled out a clear plastic bead.
As An Seong-ho started to open the bead to check the paper inside, Lee Wan-yeol stopped him.
"Go backstage to see it."
"Backstage?"
"Yes, a Dungeon Association staff member there will explain."
"...Alright, fine."
An Seong-ho made a reluctant face and headed in the direction Lee Wan-yeol pointed. Sure enough, a staffer led him behind the stage.
Lee Wan-yeol called the next person, who also drew a bead and vanished backstage.
Yoo Min-jeong thought of Kim Jun.
She'd learned two surprising facts recently.
He was good enough in fights to dominate even nearby schools. And the Crazy Buffer was interested in him.
Come to think of it, Kim Jun was definitely unusual.
A carrier was supposed to wait safely and collect cores after Raiders killed monsters, but Kim Jun threw himself into the fray when needed. She'd never seen a carrier move so aggressively in all her dungeon runs.
Was it because of that?
For some reason, he kept catching her eye.
Yoo Min-jeong couldn't deny it.
Even at the guildhouse, Kim Jun stood out the most. Choi Muhyun had the bigger build, Yeom Sang-taek the flashier gear, but Kim Jun always entered her vision first.
"Uramata Guild? Yoo Min-jeong of Uramata Guild?"
Lee Wan-yeol, hosting the drawing, called out.
Yoo Min-jeong snapped out of it and jumped up, heading onstage.
An opaque box sat on the long table. Drawing one bead would determine the specifics of her second test.
"Choose carefully."
Lee Wan-yeol said it with a broad smile, his bald pate gleaming.
Yoo Min-jeong reached into the box.
They all felt the same to her fingertips. Her luck had been bad in the first drawing, so she couldn't pick carelessly.
This one? No, that one might be better.
She finally drew one.
"Check it backstage."
Lee Wan-yeol kindly pointed the way out for her.
Only after reaching backstage, where a guide waited, could Yoo Min-jeong open the bead.
C.
Just a single uppercase letter.
The one person she didn't want to team up with approached.
An Seong-ho! That bastard!
"Don't wanna talk."
"What? It's on the bead. Mine's C too. Found out here—the second test requires multiple teams to unite."
"......"
Yoo Min-jeong nearly crushed the bead.
If she ground it to powder, maybe they'd invalidate the draw.
"C, huh? Figures."
"...Yeah."
"Water under the bridge. You and I both want higher-grade dungeon licenses."
You bastard, spouting that crap from your gaping mouth.
She wanted to slap his face, but thinking of Uramata, Yoo Min-jeong barely held back.
"Pull that shit one more time, and I'll kill you."
"Whoa, scary."
Thwack.
Her knee slammed into his solar plexus.
An Seong-ho's face twisted in pain.
"Not joking."
Yoo Min-jeong turned and walked away.
The explanation ended, and an uncomfortable mood settled in. No one had imagined teaming up with An Seong-ho's group for the test.
Yoo Min-jeong quietly eyed her teammates.
Choi Muhyun radiating open hostility.
Yeom Sang-taek even more anxious than before the news.
Kim Jun, whose thoughts were impossible to read.
"Whatever it is, it's still a test. Give it our best, and the results will follow."
"What if we talk to Association staff? Explain the situation—maybe they'll switch teams?"
It was Choi Muhyun.
Yoo Min-jeong bit her lip. She'd already gone to Lee Wan-yeol.
He'd seemed to listen attentively with his slippery demeanor, but she'd gotten nothing from it.
Lee Wan-yeol said granting one team's request would lead to ten others nitpicking.
"Don't wanna go that far. What do you think?"
Yoo Min-jeong shifted her gaze to Yeom Sang-taek.
"...If that's the team leader's call, then yeah."
Still passive as ever, Yeom Sang-taek.
Kim Jun just nodded silently.
"Second test starts in an hour. Get ready."
She raised her voice for a fighting cheer, but the mood barely lifted.
It felt like she was dragging a truck loaded with heavy cargo all by herself.
Kim Jun stepped forward.
"Alright, let's do a team fighting cheer."
He held out his hand, looking at Choi Muhyun, Yeom Sang-taek, and Yoo Min-jeong in turn.
Choi Muhyun sighed and placed his hand on top. Yeom Sang-taek's trembled as he added his. Yoo Min-jeong hesitated, then laid hers on.
With a playful grin, Kim Jun continued.
"If those bastards pull any funny business again, I'll stomp 'em flat. So let's just focus on the test today. Okay?"
Choi Muhyun, Yeom Sang-taek, and Yoo Min-jeong stared at him with wide eyes and baffled faces.
"We've got the ultimate all-in-one dealer and a buffer with a 99.9% success rate. A genius dealer from Jushin Guild and the universe's strongest carrier to boot. Who can stop us? Come on, let's pump it up. On three—fighting! One, two, three—FIGHTING!"
Kim Jun rapped it out breathlessly, then bellowed.
"FIGHTING!"
Everyone got swept up and yelled at the top of their lungs.
"Ah, gotta hit the bathroom. Been holding it."
Kim Jun pulled his hand away first and headed into the hallway.
Choi Muhyun broke the brief silence.
"Hey! Kim Jun! If those bastards die, I'm the one killing 'em!"
Seated Yeom Sang-taek mulled over Kim Jun's words in his head.
99.9% success rate? Me?
The lingering anxiety vanished.
Confidence surged instead!
Yoo Min-jeong could hardly believe the change even seeing it.
Fighting spirit in this situation! She'd thought it idiotic, but that idiotic act had completely turned Yeom Sang-taek around.
Never learned this in academy or guild!
Yoo Min-jeong bit her lip.
Feeling unsettled, she headed to the bathroom—and bumped right into Kim Jun. He spotted her and started waving energetically.
"Get me a canned coffee."
"...Sure."
She'd never seen or heard of a carrier this bold. Most wouldn't even meet the team leader's eyes.
Am I too lax with authority?
Yoo Min-jeong led Kim Jun to the break room.
She fed bills into the machine, got two canned coffees, and handed one to him.
Kim Jun cracked his open, took a sip, and whispered.
"Sorry."
"For what?"
"Overstepped my place."
"...No, you didn't."
A beat-late denial, hitting too close to home.
Kim Jun, knowing it, smiled faintly.
"How'd you do that?"
Yoo Min-jeong wanted that answer. She'd need it to pull off a similar turnaround later.
"Do what?"
"That situation earlier..."
Yoo Min-jeong paused, then rephrased.
"You flipped the mood right away."
Kim Jun blinked blankly, then nodded.
"Just tell them what they wanna hear."
"What they wanna hear?"
"Muhyun's pissed from that last incident—ready to explode. If trouble hits, he'll jump in first anyway. Tell him you're stepping up, and he'll insist on doing it himself, bouncing off the walls. Sang-taek loves praise. Even straight-up flattery works."
Right. That's how those two are... Why didn't I see it?
Yoo Min-jeong glared at Kim Jun and voiced the question in her mind.
"And me? What do I wanna hear?"
"Dunno. Beats me."
Kim Jun tilted his head.
Hmph, of course. I'm not as simple as Choi Muhyun or Yeom Sang-taek.
"Anyway, morale's up. Thanks for that. Raids depend on the day's condition and mood, no matter how skilled you are."
"Glad I could help."
Kim Jun finished his coffee and tossed the can.
It bounced off the trash bin rim, clattered loudly, and rolled across the floor.
Grimacing, Kim Jun picked it up and properly binned it.
"Let's go. Leave those two alone, who knows what'll happen."
Yoo Min-jeong casually flicked her empty can—it sailed perfectly into the center.
Kim Jun's eyes widened.
Yoo Min-jeong strutted back to the waiting room like a model, feeling great.
Following, Kim Jun sighed with a faint smile.
The moment he logged into the virtual space, darkness engulfed Kim Jun.
So thick he couldn't see his outstretched hand. When buffer Yeom Sang-taek fired up a globe of light, the teammates around him came into view.
An Seong-ho's team appeared too.
Kim Jun felt sharp glares.
One person stared especially at him.
That must be Baek Seung-tae.
He deliberately ignored it.
He'd have to watch that guy throughout the test—where he was, what he did. It'd be hard to finish without incident.
"Triangle Tanker Formation (TTF)!"
Yoo Min-jeong shouted.
The three tankers moved to the vertices of an equilateral triangle, each deploying their signature defense skill.
A barrier soon enveloped both teams.
The rest took positions inside it.
An Seong-ho approached Yoo Min-jeong.
"Heard from A Group—second test is catching a really strong monster."
"...Yeah?"
Yoo Min-jeong hated even looking at him, but she had to admire his info-gathering knack.
"It'll show soon."
An Seong-ho scanned the darkness beyond.
Time dragged. Everyone glared into the dark from their posts.
"Huh?"
Yoo Min-jeong.
"What?"
An Seong-ho asked.
"Log-out option's enabled. Means we can leave without dying."
"True. We can quit. Starting to get scared. What the hell's coming?"
Silence resumed.
About ten minutes later, Yeom Sang-taek pointed.
"Coming from the west. Huge."
An Seong-ho's buffer, Lee Seung-jin, hadn't detected it yet—stayed quiet.
Soon, heavy thuds: boom, boom. From the direction Yeom Sang-taek indicated.
"...It's really big."
Yeom Sang-taek, awestruck.
"Buffer, expand the light."
At An Seong-ho's order, Lee Seung-jin launched another light globe.
With two lights, the darkness receded, revealing a monster's claw glinting at the edge.
"Whoa."
An Seong-ho. With claws like that... how big was the body?
The monster pierced the dark.
Mouths agape, they looked up, higher still.
It resembled the massive Wyresi-saurus among dungeon monsters, but twice—no, three times the size.
Like an apartment building walking.
"...Wyresi Rex."
Yoo Min-jeong muttered.
Dungeons were a world without rules.
In chaotic ones like grade disturbances, 'Rex'-named monsters existed—usually freakishly huge and powerful.
"It's coming!"
An Seong-ho.
The Wyresi Rex lowered its solid forehead and charged: boom boom boom.
BAM!