Tightening Chains (3)

The goblins fell into chaos the moment their shamans died in a single stroke. Seizing that opening, they leaped toward us. For all their talk of being tanks, they seemed utterly unfazed even from that height. But the burns from the explosion were unavoidable—patches of their skin glowed an angry red.

"Ugh… Seonghyun, are you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠okay? Your skin…"

"It's healing slowly. Anyway, how's your mana? Can you hold out?"

"I'm totally fine!"

"What about you?"

"Around ten percent."

"That's enough."

Enough? What the hell does that even mean? There were roughly sixty monsters left. The biggest headache—the shamans—had been taken care of, but I doubted Seonghyun joining us would change much.

"I'll throw them to you two. Just finish them off. Okay?"

"Uh… sure."

Choi ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ahyeon looked like she had no idea what he was talking about, and I wasn't thrilled about him suddenly barking orders either. Still, whether we followed his lead or not, we'd die all the same. Might as well listen.

It didn't take long for both of us to understand exactly what he meant.

"These bastards hit pretty damn hard."

With a calm expression, he waded straight into the wave of monsters. Even as blades grazed his entire body, he casually hurled goblins into the air or tossed them toward Choi Ahyeon. All we had to do was deliver the killing blows. He set the table, and we just picked up the spoons.

This is…

A completely unfamiliar style of tanking. Hell, could you even call this tanking? Evasion tank. Those words fit perfectly. He danced on the razor's edge, protecting only his vital points while mercilessly abusing the rest of his body. Whether cut by blades or pierced by poisoned needles, he simply kept doing his job in silence.

Of course, his aggro wasn't perfect.

"Mom! That scared me!"

Whenever a goblin slipped past his pull and tried to attack Choi Ahyeon—

"Where do you think you're going!"

A dead goblin corpse would fly in and knock it away. And always at the exact moment she was about to cast Meteor.

Coincidence… right?

The idea that he was reading her thoughts, her flow, was ridiculous. But once, twice—the same thing kept happening. Sometimes he covered mistakes she missed. Other times he killed the goblins she was aiming for first.

It can't be…

Yet the longer the battle dragged on, the more certain I became.

He's on my level… or maybe even above it.

I had given up. The only person who could ever understand me was my father. I repeated that to myself, enduring the suffocating frustration that no one else seemed to notice. I told myself that once I reached S-rank like him, I could finally share this burden. But every time, Father would just brush it off with, "Someday someone who understands you will appear." I thought it was nothing but an excuse. I believed he only said it because he worried about his grown daughter still clinging only to him.

But now…

"Why does it have to be you…"

The man who had torn my body apart with killing intent from the very first day. Even after clearing up the misunderstanding, I'd never wanted to get close to him again.

Why do you have to be the one who understands me?!

Seonghyun stomped on the last goblin's neck, snapping it, then approached me with a refreshed smile.

"This much doesn't count as baggage, right?"

The acceptance announcement was nerve-wracking. Standing in front of Han Yuri, who looked strangely conflicted, I waited for her answer. Honestly, I never doubted she would accept us. No way she'd abandon us after we worked our asses off like that.

But then—

"Don't get cocky just because you did something any dog or cow could manage. If it had been anyone else, we'd have finished the hunt and gone home already."

Her cold face drove the dagger in deep. Fuck. Another failure. I was grinding my teeth when she suddenly looked away, mumbling.

"Still… well. I guess you're useful enough as pack mules…"

"Huh? Yuri, does that mean you're going to party with us now?!"

"We'll see. It's not definite yet… kyaa!"

"Thank you! I'll work really hard!"

"It's hot! Get off!"

Choi Ahyeon was hugging Han Yuri tightly. Watching the two of them, it seemed like things had wrapped up well enough. It would take time, and we probably wouldn't get the Academy-exclusive skill, but… we could just squeeze everything we could out of Yuri from now on.

As I comforted my stinging pride, a message appeared.

"…!"

An unexpected gift. Receiving a reward I'd half given up on felt incredibly good.

"Holy shit…"

"Wow. Special reward probability increase and a proficiency buff on top of it…"

Han Yuri was speechless at the insane reward, while Choi Ahyeon kept rereading the message to confirm it was real. I walked over to them.

"Looks like all that effort paid off."

"Seonghyun. Did you know about this?"

"No way. If I had, I would've left you behind."

"…"

Normally she would've snapped back with something like "You son of a bitch," but she stayed quiet. What the hell? Her expression looked somehow displeased. Did I do something wrong?

"Anyway, we got this because Seonghyun told us to come early, right? Doesn't that mean we should treat him?"

"You don't have to go that far."

"Come on. No one lives by only taking. Put it away, put it away. We'll treat you to a proper breakfast today, right, Yuri?"

"Sure. Imagining you bragging about this every day is disgusting. Let's hurry up, get some grease in our stomachs, and call it a win."

"Okay! Let's gooo!"

I thought it would end smoothly with a morning get-together…

Fuck. I shouldn't have come.

"Seonghyun, the meat's done here. Eat up."

"…"

Lee Seol was grilling meat right beside me.

Here's how it happened.

Right after we cleared the assignment and came out, Team 1 had also finished theirs. While we were chatting about this and that, the topic of an after-party came up. Our clothes were torn and we were injured, so I suggested doing it next time—but Lee Seol brought spare clothes and potions, shooting down my opinion.

In the end, six of us ended up at a barbecue restaurant at this ungodly hour of the morning.

Lee Seol sat to my left. Choi Ahyeon to my right. And Han Yuri?

Poor bastard.

She was stuck next to Kim Jihun. Maybe she was really pissed—she kept radiating cold air nonstop. Thanks to that, Kim Jihun looked like he couldn't tell if the meat was going down his throat or up his nose.

"Alright! A toast to Teams 1 and 2 for clearing our first assignment!"

"Cheers!"

Glasses clinked, and the conversation bloomed again. I tried to turn toward Choi Ahyeon to block any conversation with Lee Seol, but I was a step too slow.

Lee Seol placed a piece of meat on my plate and asked,

"How was fighting with Yuri for the first time? Was it doable?"

"Yeah. It was alright? I think our synergy was pretty good. Don't you agree?"

When I looked at Han Yuri, she answered with a pitiful expression.

"That's some serious delusion. Do you have any idea how hard I had to adjust to you?"

"It ended well anyway. Isn't that what matters?"

"Whatever."

She whipped her head away as if refusing to talk any further.

"I don't think I've seen Yuri fight with anyone else since high school… Looks like your style matches well with Seonghyun's."

"Maybe. I'm not sure."

When I gave a vague answer, Lee Seol lightly teased me. "Aren't you being too humble?"

After that, everyone shared combat feedback and random stories. We'd agreed to keep the Academy-exclusive skill a secret, so that topic stayed quiet.

As the mood warmed up, one or two people started getting drunk. Choi Ahyeon was the worst offender.

"Seonghyun! So what if you drink well?! Who cares?!"

"Are you drunk?"

"Me? I'm not drunk? I'm totally fine?!"

"Yeah, you're drunk."

Seeing her collapse onto my shoulder while still holding a soju bottle, anyone could tell she was completely wasted.

I slowly stood up, planning to go 'check' something.

"I'll be right back. Gotta use the bathroom."

"Mmm. Go ahead~ Empty it out nicely and we'll bet on drinking capacity, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠yeah?"

"Sure, sure."

The moment I disappeared, Choi Ahyeon sat back up and thrust the soju bottle forward again. That girl really does whatever she wants.

Pretending to head to the bathroom, I stopped in front of the door. I hadn't been able to check properly earlier in the chaos, but now was the time.

I took quite a beating from those goblins, so I should have gathered enough pain.

The price for getting my ass thoroughly kicked. This should be enough.

Equivalent Exchange.

I pictured the skill I wanted—one that could check the germination state of a Witch's seed.

In my previous life, all three Witches had not only germinated their seeds but fully bloomed them into flowers. If Lee Seol had regressed, her seed would definitely have germinated by now. It was a tense moment.

A message appeared.

Yeah. That was within expectations.

This is such bullshit.

The ridiculously overpowered skill that used to tell me the seed's condition along with the Witch's physical and mental state had been nerfed to only checking whether the seed had germinated. And it came with a ridiculous six-month cooldown on top of that.

Well, I only obtained this skill four years from now in my previous life. It made sense that it would be this heavily nerfed right now.

I sighed and activated the skill.

A strange scent mixed with the smell of meat pierced my nose. I closed my eyes to focus. It wasn't a good smell or a bad one. The only certainty was that it didn't belong to this world.

And then I knew for sure.

The seed… has germinated.

The seed that shouldn't have germinated for several more years because of my future actions had already sprouted. That meant…

"Seonghyun?"

"…!"

I had been so lost in thought that I hadn't noticed the presence. I quickly opened my eyes.

"What are you doing?"

Lee Seol was looking up at me with an innocent, smiling gaze.