Curiosity (1)
One person's permission, and another's silent acquiescence.
And in the end, the Seed of Manaroot had landed in my hands.
The mood itself had already shifted to the point where using it was fine — so there was no reason to hesitate anymore.
"…Then, I'll use it."
"Good. You made the right call."
"Hmm~. I wonder what other materials we'll find next~."
The moment I let the words out, carefully, with a face still pretending to waver, Han Sora nodded as if she'd been waiting for exactly that.
And Lim Yujin, for her part, ostentatiously turned her attention to something else, concentrating on harvesting the monster.
Accepting the consideration of those two, I quietly pulled off my shirt and brought the Seed of Manaroot to the left side of my chest, where my heart beat.
-Sizzle.
"……"
"Oh."
As soon as my chest was bared, Han Sora flushed oddly and averted her eyes, while Lim Yujin, by contrast, stared with open interest.
Of course, Yujin's interest probably wasn't in my body so much as in watching the Seed of Manaroot being used. Either way, the stamina item in my hand slowly seemed to melt, seeping into my body.
"……"
"What, that's it? It's over already?"
"…Yeah, I think so."
In less than three minutes, the Seed of Manaroot had melted away like ice, gone without a trace.
'…I think it absorbed properly, at least.'
I couldn't feel it immediately, but somehow I had the vague sense that things like stamina and strength had gone up a notch.
Of course, I'd only know the real effect once I took it for a test drive.
At that thought, I quietly glanced over at Han Sora, and our eyes met — at some point, her gaze had locked onto my chest and stayed there.
"Ah, a-are you okay, Seonho?! Now I don't have to worry about you collapsing somewhere because you're so weak, right?"
"Don't get worked up already, Sora. It's been less than a minute since I used it."
"Th-that's because you're always doing dangerous things, Seonho! A-at least stop making me worry, then!"
Well, whether my stamina had actually increased or not was something only I myself would know for sure, later.
And since I no longer had any reason to make the tedious trip down to the third basement floor, I intended to invest the rest of this time fully in Han Sora.
Aside from the Seed of Manaroot, the Corrupted Vine Guardian's materials weren't really worth taking. That was a tendency most plant-type monsters shared, though.
Animal-type monsters could be put to use as leather, teeth, or at the very least meat, and spirit-type monsters often yielded spirit stones or mana crystals — but plant-type monsters mostly gave pathetic rewards.
That's why they were unpopular opponents. The flaw was that, unless you got something extra like a Seed of Manaroot the way we just had, there was no reason to bother killing one at all.
"Mmm, you're right, Vine Guardian–type monsters really don't have anything useful. Just in case, take this, Seonho."
"What's this for?"
"Vine Guardian types are only good for subjugation certificates. If you hold onto it, you can probably use it to bump up your performance evaluation score later, right?"
…I did recall that among the basic swordsmanship training assignments Do Yoonchae received, there was a performance evaluation where you submitted monster subjugation materials on your own.
Since I'd used the Seed of Manaroot without telling her anything, this meant I'd just have to bring it to Do Yoonchae myself.
And as a bonus, I could make her think she'd been caught in another weakness of mine and watch her squirm even more. All things considered, it was a rather versatile item.
"We should head back soon. I think we've covered this dungeon."
"Yeah? I thought we'd just skin some monsters and call it a day, but this turned out to be surprisingly fun. Got to hear the behind-the-scenes on you too, Sora."
"…Yeah, let's go back. I should… pass that along to them too, I guess."
Before we moved out, Han Sora spoke up carefully, looking with a queasy expression at the limbs of the three-man group slung over my back.
Judging by appearances alone, you'd expect Yujin to be the most tender-hearted of the three — and yet there she was, calmly encouraging Han Sora.
"If Sora's going to keep living the hunter life, you'll need to get used to that sort of thing, you know? Seonho could end up in the same state someday — are you going to run away screaming then too?"
"If Seonho ended up like that, that's obviously a completely different matter! A-and anyway, the best outcome is for that not to happen in the first place…."
"Well, fair~. Ideally nobody gets hurt, sure~. Back in the day, I thought something was a treasure chest and poked the wrong Mimic — got my whole right arm eaten and it hurt like crazy~."
"H-hiiik…."
I'd always thought of her as an optimist by nature, but it seemed Lim Yujin had been through academy life far tougher than I'd expected.
Well, knowing Yujin, even if her limbs got severed and reattached, she'd probably laugh it off with a hah and get right back up. …Which was, admittedly, a little terrifying in its own way.
"Oh, right, Yujin."
"Hmm?"
Before we properly left the dungeon. One last thing.
"About the Visual Sharing you did for me earlier. Could you possibly cast it again on the way back?"
I had to lay the groundwork to get Lim Yujin genuinely curious about 'men,' after all.
Everything we'd come to the dungeon to do was finished, and I'd assumed all that remained was heading home.
But when Seonho brought up something like that, out of nowhere — the interest that had gone oddly hollow stirred back to life.
"About the Visual Sharing you did for me earlier. Could you possibly cast it again on the way back?"
…Hmhm.
Normally, the ones who receive it once complain and say they never want it again, you know.
Asking for another round on purpose — Seonho really is a strange one, strange indeed.
"Visual Sharing? Why? Is there some use for it?"
"Nothing special, really. I just thought I'd practice getting used to sharing your vision on the way back."
"Huh?"
"I'll be learning all sorts of things from you while we run dungeons in the future, so I figured I should get into the habit of being comfortable with shared vision. And honestly, learning while receiving Visual Sharing from you is the fastest way, senior."
"Oho, so exploring the dungeon this time made you appreciate my abilities again, did it?"
"I trusted your abilities from the start. But it's true that this time I got a lot of help thanks to you, Yujin. I could tell apart the mana vine traps and the illusion passages because of you, and even skinning that Poison Spike Wolf earlier — the goblin and hound skins you taught me to skin came in handy too."
"Oh, ohh~? I-is that so…?"
Mm, Seonho really does know how to sweet-talk, doesn't he.
Jae-wook forgets everything I teach him within days, and Na-yeon reacts so weirdly when I explain things that it feels like I'm just talking to myself.
"Well, if my junior puts it that way, then as your senior I have to step up. There!"
Once I graduate, I should hand the club presidency over to Seonho. Between Jae-wook and Na-yeon, he's definitely the most capable of the bunch.
"……"
"…Hey, Lee Seonho! Are you going to lower your head or not?"
"Ah, sorry. I was trying to figure out if you were asking me to carry you."
"Excuse me?! Now you're teasing your senior?!"
Aside from being annoyingly tall, which I didn't appreciate, he really was a mostly decent kid, all things considered.
…Not that he's my type of guy or anything!
It wasn't my first time receiving Lim Yujin's Visual Sharing, but even so, getting used to the sensation on only the second attempt was a considerable strain.
It was the kind of disorienting feeling that was simply impossible to describe in words alone — the closest I could come would be to say that a multi-window display identical to my field of view so far had popped up in my head.
The problem was that this newly appeared window wasn't my own vision, and I couldn't control it either, so I inevitably wobbled a little.
-Stagger.
"S-Seonho!"
"Aah, s-sorry."
"You just used the Seed of Manaroot, so why did your strength suddenly give out like that? Are you sure that's a stamina enhancement item and not just some weird thing?"
"It's nothing like that. I'm just getting used to a buff Yujin gave me."
"Huh? What buff?"
"Heh heh. There's such a thing, Sora."
Lim Yujin cut off my explanation with a hand, breezing past it with an easy smile.
"If Sora joins our club, maybe I'll tell you~."
"…I'll pass, senior. I'm already in the Archery Club."
"Aw, tch."
Having made a half-hearted recruitment attempt that landed nowhere, Yujin openly showed her disappointment.
Han Sora, too, quietly let it go, apparently having no particular desire to know what buff I'd been given, not even enough to change clubs for it.
"Whew, it's already 3 a.m. Wow, my roommate blew up my chat with like a million messages!"
"You did mention you were heading out for a night dungeon run before you left, senior?"
"I just said I was going and coming back? But he's making this huge fuss about how if I don't hurry back I'll get penalized, and so on and so forth."
"…That's normally called worrying. It's you who's too nonchalant about it, senior."
"Ah, now that you mention it, I didn't tell Eunju properly either…. I didn't expect it to take this long…."
With that, Han Sora belatedly opened her smartphone and hurriedly typed out a reply to Cha Eunju.
Everyone was slightly flustered by other things right now — which made this the absolute perfect moment to slip away under the cover of the confusion.
"Sora and I need to stop by the church first, so we'll head this way. You'll go straight to the women's dormitory, Yujin?"
"Mmm, I suppose so? There's nothing else for me to do anyway. Combat support doesn't really have anywhere to go train alone~."
"Then I'll see you next time, senior. Thanks for your hard work."
"…Ah, yeah? Good work, Seonho, Sora."
Lim Yujin sent us off with a faintly puzzled expression as she watched me part ways so nonchalantly.
The trap I'd laid to catch her was already in motion.
…The Visual Sharing. I still haven't dispelled it.
Or at least, I was on the verge of saying as much to Seonho when we somehow ended up parting ways in a daze — with his vision still streaming into my head.
"Hmmmmm~."
What is this? Did he just forget?
But no — Visual Sharing is uncomfortable enough that you can't just wave it off with 'oops, forgot to turn it off.'
Even for me, the person who uses it most often, the difference between having it on and off is like night and day. There's no way Seonho, with only two uses under his belt, is already used to it… is there?
'Well, come to think of it, hearing what Sora said earlier, he does seem like the secret genius type.'
Maybe he's just so comfortable picking up new sensations like this that he accepted it without a second thought.
Still, keeping it on the whole way would be uncomfortable for him, so the right thing to do would be to dispel it, wouldn't it?
"……"
But… honestly, I am curious.
I'm curious where Seonho is taking Sora. I'm curious whether he has some other schedule after splitting up with me.
If my junior heads back to the men's dormitory, maybe I'll get to see what it looks like in there. I've honestly always wondered whether the men's dormitory looks anything like ours.
'Well, this is partly Seonho's own fault, after all.'
He's the one who asked for Visual Sharing in the first place, and he's the one who never asked me to dispel it.
Something just happened to drift into my field of view, and me watching it — that's not exactly my fault, right?
'I'll just follow along a little, quietly.'
…Granted, I'm not entirely sure 'quietly' even counts for anything when my vision is literally linked to his.
But whatever — it looks like it'll be fun, somehow!