The Antidote's Temptation
A chilling wind howled outside the cave, like the wail of a ghost who died harboring deep resentment. The daytime sandstorms were bad enough, and now the razor-sharp gusts at night sounded like ghostly screams. Deserts and wind really didn't mix well.
An awkward silence hung heavy inside the cave. The atmosphere felt oppressive, like a massive boulder pressing down from above. And I was the one creating it.
“......”
Jang Hana kept glancing at me nervously while tending to Seonuk. Her pitiful expression, fidgeting anxiously as she cared for her lover, made her look like a criminal agonizing over whether to turn herself in at the police station.
The outside had gone pitch black, and the temperature plummeted. The desert's whimsy reached even us huddled in the cave. The cave walls blocked much of the biting wind, but they couldn't fully fend off the dropping chill.
I pulled a lantern and a one-person tent set from my backpack. Essentials for any dungeon hunter. I lit the lantern to illuminate the dim cave and pitched the tent in short order.
“Get inside and rest.”
I broke the silence. Jang Hana snapped to attention at my voice.
“Ah.... It's okay.”
“No, it's not. You don't look well at all, Hana.”
“That's....”
She started to say something but trailed off, closing her mouth awkwardly. She knew why her face looked so bad—we'd dumped our last water. I knew it too, but I didn't point it out directly.
The basics of training are carrot and stick. Just stick would drive anyone but a hardcore masochist like Yeonji insane, and just carrot breeds rebellion and laziness.
Mastering the delicate balance of carrot and stick—that's where training begins. Now was time for the carrot.
“Let's forget what happened. Dwelling on it won't get us anywhere constructive. Right now, escaping this dungeon comes first. Your boyfriend... he's in real danger.”
At my words, Jang Hana clasped her hands over her chest and turned to her boyfriend.
I wasn't lying. Seonuk's face looked awful at a glance, and his actual condition was far from good. If he weren't a dungeon hunter, he'd probably be dead already. The poison I'd neutralized was reviving, draining his stamina and mana.
“W-what do we do?”
Jang Hana's voice trembled violently. Her shaky eyes on Seonuk made it seem like she'd burst into tears at the slightest touch.
“Probably two days at most. Worst case....”
I trailed off deliberately. She seemed to get the implication, biting her lip hard. She held back tears admirably. I wanted to see her cry, though.
“For now, get inside and rest.”
“Y-yes....”
Her voice was even weaker than before. She laid her boyfriend in the tent. It was one-person sized, but could fit two.
What a devoted girlfriend. Was this Seonuk guy really that great? Suddenly, a urge welled up to wreck their relationship.
A weak male can't protect his female. Seonuk was utterly inadequate for the job. All he did now was burden Jang Hana like dead weight. Any pain or shock he got was self-inflicted karma from his own incompetence.
Time wasn't on my side, but I was confident I could fuck Jang Hana within that crunch. Her mind was already full of holes like a sponge. Slipping in would be easy.
The key is how I fuck her.
Results without substance are meaningless; substance without results is boring.
I pulled an item from my inventory.
◈ Water infused with sacred power. Drinking or applying it immediately removes status ailments.
◈ ※ Water that repels unclean forces, but countless blood has been forged into it.
An item I'd gotten ages ago. If I remembered right, it dropped alongside the Surveillance Eye.
Virente's Holy Water was exactly what Jang Hana needed most right now. She'd trade her own blood for its effects. To get it from me, she'd have to offer something equally precious.
*-*-*
Sleep wouldn't come. How could it in this situation? Jang Hana gazed at her precious boyfriend lying beside her with half-lidded eyes.
Her boyfriend, Kim Seonuk, lay collapsed like the dead. He looked lifeless, like a withered tree branch. Only his faint breathing proved he was still alive.
Even without medical knowledge, anyone could see his life flickering like a dying candle. And that candle wouldn't burn much longer.
The zombies from the previous room had been tricky monsters. Then Jang Hana's party made the worst mistake in a dungeon: they let their guard down. After three days of exploration, their minds had loosened. They rested without posting watch, and Seonuk got bit.
His body was covered in black, necrotic wounds—the poison eating away at his life. As a healer, he couldn't treat or even alleviate it himself.
Meeting Baek Jaesung's party had been sheer luck. It delayed Seonuk's death. Jang Hana felt like a sturdy rope had descended from heaven. But that feeling didn't last.
“Seonuk....”
She gazed down at his closed-eyed face with a heavy heart. Half his face was gone now, unrecognizable from the man she remembered. She could feel his vitality draining in real time.
His mana was weakening rapidly too. Could he really hold out two days? She wanted to ask Jaesung for more details on his condition but lacked the courage to face the truth.
She shook her head. Worrying wouldn't change reality. Her focus now: escape the dungeon ASAP. To do that, find the lost party members.
Staying put might be slower than us searching for them.
She racked her brain for ways to find the others. Nothing came. She was truly cornered.
Water and food are problems too. I have no gear. And Jaesung's water....
She recalled the earlier fiasco. Why had she made such a stupid mistake? Spilling their precious last water. She wanted to kill her past self—no exaggeration.
Jaesung barely drank any.
She felt deepest sorry toward him. Without her, he wouldn't be in this mess. She'd begged him to join, and she'd made a bad situation worse.
Her idiocy warranted a slap from even the most patient person. Yet Jaesung stayed silent, even yielding the tent to her and Seonuk.
Gratitude mixed with guilt in a messy knot—not pleasant. She'd rather he just slapped her outright.
Hoo.... Is this how we die?
She tried to stay positive, but the mind doesn't always obey.
The colder she assessed things, the deeper she sank into despair.
News of dead hunters always felt distant. Sure, she'd faced dangers climbing to 8-rank.
But those were situations she could control. This uncontrollable chaos was new.
Just sleep.
Staying awake would only breed more anxiety. She forced her eyes shut.
Wish she had her usual sleeping pills—left with the others. Pure grit was all she had.
“Hmm.... Should I use it? If I do....”
Jaesung's voice drifted from outside the tent, jarring her attempt at sleep.
The small cave amplified it into an echo off the walls. He didn't seem to care, assuming she was asleep.
“Seonuk's poison. I can't fully cure it with my power, but this antidote would do it. Yeah, this thing's expensive.”
She couldn't ignore that. It felt said for her ears.
Normally she'd sense something off, but she had no room for suspicion. Her mind was cornered.
Goosebumps prickled her skin—not imagination. Chicken skin rose on her arms. She swallowed, waiting for his next words.
“No. Can't waste my only antidote on a stranger. Who knows what dangers lurk here. In a dungeon like this, a good antidote's worth more than a fortune.”
She shifted stealthily. The tent had a zippered flap—open.
She peeked carefully, using muscles she rarely did to avoid detection.
Like a sniper crawling on the battlefield, she inched her head up with superhuman patience.
There was Jaesung, holding a small glass vial fitting in one hand. Angel-shaped, more art than practical. Clear liquid inside.
“Save this antidote. Just in case. Yeah, my nose is to the grindstone—don't play good Samaritan.”
He pocketed it in his backpack.
“Gotta pull night watch.”
Night watch was dungeon essential, even in safe zones. She'd forgotten. She'd dumped it on him. More guilt.
But it faded fast. His words looped in her head.
—Seonuk's poison. I can't fully cure it with my power, but this antidote would do it. Yeah, this thing's expensive.
—Can't waste my only antidote on a stranger. Who knows what dangers lurk here. In a dungeon like this, a good antidote's worth more than a fortune.
—Save this antidote. Just in case.
Helping distressed parties mid-dungeon was unwritten rule. But not self-sacrifice. Minimal aid: rations or low potions max.
Jaesung's party could've refused escort. Entering a dungeon means accepting death risk. Prep is never overkill.
She had no right to demand his antidote. He had no duty to give it. She knew—and it tormented her.
Offer money?
Her only realistic option. But would he bite?
Probably not....
Value shifts with context. On a deserted island, one meal trumps equal-weight gold. All Earth's gold couldn't sway them—life's paramount.
As he said, special consumables like antidotes were irreplaceable treasures here, worth billions. Could money buy it? She doubted.
Appeal to pity....
She was a woman. Tears were weapons. She knew her looks worked on men.
But she'd screwed up too much: spilled water, forgot watch. No way his fondness was high.
Her eyes fixed on his backpack. She'd memorized the vial's shape. He was outside on watch now.
Now's the chance....
A wicked impulse bloomed in her heart.
If she'd thought harder, she'd suspect the situation egging her on. But she didn't.