Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Trail Goes Cold
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Dun headed straight to the hunting ground where Lee Yoo-hyun was supposed to be the very next day.
The spot where he'd dropped Lee Yoo-hyun off was home to level 50 monsters, relatively easy to survive in. The most common ones were bird-type monsters that flew through the sky, and their signature attack was grabbing people, lifting them up, and dropping them.
After confirming Lee Yoo-hyun had landed safely on the ground and was setting up bird traps, Dun had gone off to run his delivery errands.
Curious how much he'd leveled up, Dun called out Lee Yoo-hyun's name with a bit of anticipation.
“Lee Yoo-hyun—”
[Yoo-hyuun…….]
Dun's voice and Kaedongyi's echoed through the hunting ground. The loud noise drew monsters, but he dispatched them quickly.
“Lee Yoo-hyuun!”
[Yoo-hyuuun.]
He walked across the dry ground, calling Lee Yoo-hyun's name. She definitely would've gone this way, but there was no sign of her.
He scoured the hunting ground where he'd dropped her off, shouting her name.
“Lee Yoo-hyuun!”
But no matter how hard he searched, not even a single strand of Lee Yoo-hyun's hair turned up.
Tiring of walking, Dun climbed onto Kaedongyi's back and sat down.
[I'm fast……. Super……. Super fast…….]
Maybe still holding a grudge from last time when he'd refused a ride for being too slow, Kaedongyi expanded his body to envelop Dun and wiggled around energetically.
[Yoo-hyun…… scent…….]
As Kaedongyi wandered around with Dun aboard, he suddenly mumbled.
“You can track scents too?”
Surprised by this new ability, Dun pulled up Kaedongyi's skill window.
[ Scent Tracking lv.1 ]
Description: Detects scents carried by water particles floating in the air.
Ooh. Ever since eating that slime flower and evolving, he'd gained multiple skills at once.
[Me…… reliable……. Me…… reliable…….]
Excited at the thought of helping Dun, Kaedongyi smashed his face into the ground and sniffed around.
Naming him Kaedongyi had turned him into a proper stray dog.
Dun reached out and patted the diligently working Kaedongyi's head. Suddenly turning a deep pink, Kaedongyi sang a little tune as he headed toward where Lee Yoo-hyun's scent led.
[Scent…… ends……. Lee Yoo-hyun…… scent…….]
Kaedongyi, who had been moving along fine, suddenly stopped and looked at Dun.
“Lee Yoo-hyun's scent cut off here?”
[Ung…… Ung…….]
Dun stared intently at the spot where Lee Yoo-hyun's scent had vanished. It didn't look like a place where she'd have died to a monster. The monsters around here were mild-mannered, and their levels were generally low.
“Did she log out right away?”
Lee Yoo-hyun rarely logged out due to worries about side effects from frequent logins and logouts. Wondering if some emergency had come up, Dun sat quietly at the spot he figured she'd gone to.
If she'd died, she'd respawn nearby soon enough. If she'd logged out, she'd come back here eventually.
He plopped down on the ground with Kaedongyi to wait for Lee Yoo-hyun, but it got pretty boring.
“Kaedongyi, don't you have any hobbies or favorite things lately?”
[Dun……. Like…….]
“Never mind.”
Bored out of his mind, he chatted idly.
A gust carrying heaps of sand blew hard, making Dun cough for a moment.
Lee Yoo-hyun never showed up.
* * *
After that, Prim sent Dun a letter every single day.
『How was your day? Aren't you coming to the garden?』
『I've prepared shortcake. Do you like desserts?』
She was persistent even without a single reply. No idea where it started, but she'd built up this one-sided intimacy and kept pushing in.
“Dun? Didn't see today's letter?”
“No.”
Rihaowel brought over the letter, now even flashier than before and hard to ignore, and Dun's face soured on reflex.
“Only weirdos hang around you.”
“Does that include you, Rihaowel?”
“……Why would it? Anyway, aren't you gonna call me Mom?”
Rihaowel, who had packed unnecessary HP recovery potions, narrowed her eyes at Dun's retort. Pondering her question about not calling her Mom, Dun paused.
“See you later, Mom. Might be home late again today.”
The moment he said “Mom,” the furrow between Rihaowel's brows smoothed out.
Instead of taking the letter from Rihaowel, he bit into an apple and slipped on his slippers.
Rihaowel frowned at the mention of coming home late—no time to order food for him—but the Lee Yoo-hyun situation felt urgent right now.
He'd thought she'd be fine and let her hunt alone, but the kid had vanished.
Days of searching, and still missing.
“No way…….”
No way. I kinda know the future, so probably not.
‘Actually, I don't know when I might die.’
Lee Yoo-hyun's words suddenly came to mind.
An uneasy premonition hit—maybe her real body had died, leaving no trace. Dun hurried out of the house.
* * *
“……??”
“You want us to find a player?”
He'd called back the players from the princess incident last time.
He could've summoned others, but these had the highest levels and a prior promise, so he issued them the quest again.
Three showed up.
Judging by their game nicknames—'JessicaIllinoisChicago', 'MochibolTV', '_Eleina_'—they definitely weren't hunter types.
“The adventurer's name is Lee Yoo-hyun. Anyone with search magic, raise your hand.”
MochibolTV shot his hand up right as Dun finished.
“Everyone except Mochibol, split up and run opposite directions to look for the player.”
At Dun's orders, the other two players dashed off in different directions to search for Lee Yoo-hyun. Just in case relying only on magic tracking missed something.
Left alone with Mochibol, Dun pulled out the wooden sword Lee Yoo-hyun had used at the training grounds last time and handed it to him.
“Here, this is her wooden sword. Use it to track her trail.”
At Dun's instruction, Mochibol made a dumb face before opening his mouth hesitantly.
“There's one thing you don't know……. Adventurers sometimes just vanish back to their original world, so we might not find her.”
“Camp here. We search till she shows.”
“Huh?”
“No backtalk.”
“Roger.”
He'd steeled himself for Rihaowel's nagging before leaving home. Telling her he'd stay out overnight probably would've kept him locked in, so he'd said he'd be late. Probably get a few swats on the back when he got home.
Truth was, Kaedongyi's 'Scent Tracking' skill was only level 1, so he wasn't fully trusting it. Higher-level magic tracking seemed more reliable, which was why he'd called players to search for Lee Yoo-hyun again.
“Hurry it up. I'm not patient.”
“Yessir, yessir. Got it~”
Mochibol pulled out a staff topped with a large gem and held it to the wooden sword Dun gave him.
A brilliant light poured from the staff, enveloping the wooden sword.
Once the spell finished, Mochibol's eyes went wide.
“I'm picking up the same energy from the sword nearby. I'll take the lead. Follow me.”
Tucking the wooden sword and staff into his belt, Mochibol strode forward confidently.
“Right there!”
Not long after they started walking, Mochibol suddenly quickened his pace toward somewhere.
“Useful guy.”
Mochibol's eyes sparkled annoyingly at the compliment. Looked kinda embarrassed too.
“Then let's do a soul contract with me too!”
“No deal with you.”
Dun brushed off Mochibol, who was slyly angling for a contract.
Once, when players who'd given him good items tried chasing him to his room, he'd booted them all out.
Mentioning 'soul contract' in response to how they could party up had been the spark. Even after explaining it was a slave contract, they didn't care—from that day, players he'd gotten friendly with sang about soul contracts nonstop.
Gotta watch his mouth extra around players. Ignoring Mochibol's constant contract nagging from the side, they hurried to where he'd sensed Lee Yoo-hyun's energy.
“Isn't she supposed to be here?”
“Uh, she's not? The energy led me to think…….”
The place Mochibol brought him to was none other than where Kaedongyi had first led Dun.
Kaedongyi's scent tracking skill got reevaluated. Pretty accurate, enough to rival magic tracking.
Where'd you bounce to, Lee Yoo-hyun?
Mochibol, who'd failed the skill and pulled aggro, looked utterly dejected under Dun's gaze.
“I'll try again…….”
“Nah. Forget it. You said earlier you wanted a soul contract with me, right?”
“You serious?”
“Not a soul contract, but something similar.”
Dun rummaged in his subspace pouch and pulled out a small glass bottle containing star candies.
[Epic] Star Candy of Exchange
Description: Both parties can wish for the same thing. Whoever breaks it first receives the curse of the stars.
*Players: Account deletion. NPCs: Fatal injury.
An item from bashing a crescent moon-shaped monster. Dun shook out the star candies, placing one in his palm and one in Mochibol's.
As each held one, the star candies glowed and floated up.
[Who is the wish issuer?]
“Dun.”
[What is the content of the exchanged wish?]
“Keep all personal info secret without permission.”
The star candy lost its glow and settled back in his hand the moment Dun spoke. Mochibol stared at the candy in his hand like it was the most amazing thing, not even blinking.
“Eat it.”
Dun popped his candy in his mouth, and Mochibol followed suit.
“Now, if you leak anything about me without permission, you'll get the curse of the stars. Same goes for me.”
“I just hit ranker status—account nuke is a no-go. But you're using an epic item just to stop info leaks? No need to worry; we manage player info so it doesn't leak.”
“We? Who's we?”
“……It's a thing!”
What the. These players I'd bossed around formed a party, got buddy-buddy, and made a clique?
“Anyway, what's so important you'd go this far to gag me?”
“…….”
He started to speak, then bit his lip.
“Log out and call this phone number I'm giving you.”
Dun gave Mochibol the Hunter Association's number, the ones who should know Lee Yoo-hyun's home address.
Mochibol's face twisted in shock.
“Kyyaaah!”