Museum Manager Max (1)

“Wake up, Oppa.”

“Ungh….”

“We’re leaving soon.”

“Mm….”

When I slowly opened my eyes, Jung Hayan’s face was the first thing I saw—before the ceiling, before anything else.

It was close enough that her breath almost brushed my skin, so of course I was startled, but not enough to really lose my composure.

I’ve gotten used to it.

Even this had become familiar by now.

The way she blinked her big eyes and examined me carefully was a scene I’d seen countless times before.

When I gently pushed myself up, she gave me a little more space.

Rubbing my eyes, I felt my mind gradually return.

Weirdly tired….

Even though I’d slept quite deeply, the fatigue was still clinging to me.

My whole body felt stiff, and the sensation of having been drained dry hadn’t gone away either.

Still, it wasn’t as if I were only exhausted. My mana, which had been on the verge of depletion, felt as if it had been replenished to some extent.

Looking at Jung Hayan—so much as glowing with health that her face had started to look polished—I figured a high mana stat probably improved mana recovery too.

When I lifted my head, I found her standing a few paces away, watching me.

As soon as I spoke, her answer came back.

“How long was I asleep?”

“About three hours and forty minutes.”

“You could’ve woken me a little earlier.”

“Y-you seemed to be sleeping so soundly. I didn’t even realize… I’m sorry.”

“No. There’s nothing to apologize for.”

“Sh-should I wash you?”

“Ah… sure. Please do.”

Of course, Jung Hayan wasn’t actually going to wash me herself.

She quietly murmured a spell, and I began to feel a pleasant dampness spreading over my face.

Magic was incredibly convenient in real life.

Of course, it didn’t feel quite the same as washing yourself properly, so it was a little unsettling, but inside a dungeon, something like this was still a godsend.

After packing my things in a rough sort of way, I noticed the expedition members already beginning to break down the camp.

There was no need to give them instructions.

Everyone already knew what they were supposed to do.

And among them, the veterans moved a little more slowly than the rest.

This really is brutal….

The Black Swan guild members here were mostly seasoned hands.

It was basically like going on an expedition with a bunch of sergeants who were already so familiar with one another that they’d long since become drinking buddies.

Even so, seeing a few of them moving with such speed made it easy to imagine what it must be like for the newer recruits in Black Swan.

That would be hell.

Of course, if I thought about how people in the military used to say the hierarchy among nurses was vicious, this wasn’t exactly all that strange…

Though this side might be even worse.

This was a place where a single mistake could cost you your life.

It was probably not less harsh than Earth—if anything, more so.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

As I was idly thinking these unnecessary thoughts, I heard a voice from beside me.

“Mr. Kiyoung, you’re awake.”

It was the lovely Kim Hyunsung.

“Ah… yes. I seem to have slept a little late.”

“Not at all. Our rest period was four hours. Honestly, I was planning to wake you just before departure, but Hayan said she was in the tent… Are you feeling all right?”

This bastard’s kind of adorable.

There was something oddly touching about how much he seemed to be thinking of me.

He probably knew my condition wasn’t exactly great.

In truth, Park Yeonju and Kim Hyunsung had taken far more damage than I had, but because my body was weak, even just having my mana drained had left me feeling incredibly worn out.

“Would it be all right if I held your hand for a moment?”

“Ah… yes. Of course.”

The moment he said that, I could feel a strange focus settling on us.

The Black Swan members who had been cleaning up camp all stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at us.

I think I know exactly what they’re thinking….

Something similar had happened ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before.

For some reason, I could hear gulps being swallowed from here and there, along with warm, sentimental smiles.

There were even a few people letting out tiny gasps or squeaks, but it seemed Kim Hyunsung himself didn’t notice any of that.

This bastard….

He closed his eyes quietly and focused all his attention on checking my mana status.

From a distance, it might even look rather tender.

“It seems you’re all right.”

“Yes. I’m not fully recovered, but thanks to your consideration, I was able to rest properly.”

“I’m glad, Mr. Kiyoung.”

Stop smiling like that, you idiot.

He was smiling at me with a face he hadn’t even shown Park Yeonju.

It made me nervous, as if he were pouring fuel onto their misunderstandings.

Come to think of it, How the Genius Swordsman and the Alchemist Fall in Love was starting to seem suspicious in a whole new way.

I had thought of it as just another trivial novel, but now that I remembered these people who were sighing and gasping had mostly been reading that book, my suspicion—once a light drizzle—was swelling into a flood.

Shit….

Once we got back to Lindel, I absolutely had to read it myself and figure out what the hell was going on.

Well, anyway.

There had been a little commotion, but if I were to sum it up, the expedition preparations were going smoothly.

The Black Swan expedition members were moving even faster now.

If I had to describe it, it was like watching soldiers who had just seen a girl group perform for troops on a慰問 tour.

Unlike my earlier expectation that things might take a while, everything was being wrapped up in a flash, to the point of being absurd.

Even Park Yeonju tilted her head.

There was a strangely charged atmosphere.

Well, having a man around does make things different. That was what Park Yeonju said, but I was certain that wasn’t the reason she was thinking of.

“We’re departing. As briefed, our destination is the control room. We’ll move by following the tentacles of the Ancient God's fragment. Please do a final check to make sure you haven’t left anything behind, and be careful not to touch the tentacles while we’re marching. Since something could happen at any time, I’d like the mages to rotate defensive spell casting.”

“Yes.”

“We’ll move as quickly as possible now that we’ve had enough time to recover. Hyunsung will be taking point, so please follow as quickly as you can.”

“Yes, Guild Master.”

After the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠simple briefing, we immediately got to our feet and started walking.

The difference from before was that Kim Hyunsung had surged forward at a terrifying speed.

Usually, the ones who take the lead in this kind of march are archers.

Better yet, it’s common sense to leave it to rangers specialized in scouting and trap disarmament.

In Blue, tracker Kim Yeri belonged to that category, and naturally there were more than three rangers in this expedition.

The fact that he had volunteered for the job meant he was confident he could do better than the rangers here.

People think the strong can do anything, but that’s not true at all.

Even within the same general role, each person has a clearly defined job.

For example, someone like Cha Heera absolutely couldn’t do a ranger’s work.

At best, she could smash apart a trap she happened to stumble across.

At first, the rangers had looked at Kim Hyunsung with some dissatisfaction, but once the march began, they were staring at his back with their mouths hanging open.

Was he a ranger in his first life?

It made sense to assume he’d been a swordsman in every turn.

Maybe he’d chosen a ranger-type class instead.

Did he take a growth route like Kim Yeri’s?

If not, then it was probably the result of countless experiences.

Personally, I was leaning ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a little more toward the idea that he’d been a swordsman from the start, but whether he was a swordsman in the first turn or not—what did that matter, really?

Watching Kim Hyunsung continue running ahead and acting as the expedition’s guide, I almost worried that our ridiculously smooth progress might make my pants go damp.

“I don’t think there are any traps. I’ll increase the pace a little.”

“Yes. Confirmed.”

“Multiple golems ahead. Taken care of.”

“Yes. Confirmed.”

“A monster above Heroic rank detected. It appears to have escaped the system’s influence.”

“Prepare for battle.”

“Processed.”

That the scouting and the cleanup happened simultaneously was the most beautiful part of all.

Low-rank Heroic named monsters were eliminated immediately.

The Legendary-grade monsters didn’t seem to have had much luck, but there was no way to know whether Kim Hyunsung had avoided them or whether they simply hadn’t crossed paths by chance.

In fact, if you followed behind him, all you ever saw were the cleanly severed cross-sections of monsters.

Even the ones that looked fairly massive had their heads cut clean off, which meant getting that Mythic-grade sword had definitely been helpful.

The rangers looked like they were suffering a sort of indescribable self-loathing because of it, but I didn’t think there was any reason for me to concern myself with their self-loathing.

He’s fast!

The expedition’s advance speed was beyond imagination.

It was so quick that I almost felt like I wasn’t on a dungeon exploration at all, but just on an ordinary run.

The scenery kept changing, and the objects in view changed with it.

Instead of huge chambers, shattered exhibition halls, and broken items, narrow paths and golems began to appear.

As that happened, the tentacles embedded in the floor and wrapped around the pillars grew thinner and thinner.

We were nearing the end.

It was only natural that I thought we were getting closer and closer to the control room.

Before long, the end of the tentacles came into view, and Kim Hyunsung, without ever slowing down, immediately slashed through the wall with his sword and continued onward.

The path itself was cut off, but he was moving toward the place where mana flow could still be felt.

We’d estimated the museum’s size, scale, and the little hazards inside it, and set our arrival time generously at a full day.

That we’d reached this place in under six hours was something even Max—the boy now frantically scrambling around inside the giant hologram—could never have predicted.

We had entered with a fairly solemn air, preparing for battle, but the scene unfolding before us was a spectacle in its own right.

A blond-haired little kid was scrambling around, adjusting some sort of device made of magic circles.

He hadn’t even noticed that we’d come in.

Was he that desperate…?

No wonder he’d have no room to spare.

Inside the giant mana hologram, the Ancient God's fragment looked as though it was being held down by blue mana, but anyone could see it desperately wanted to break free.

Just as expected, the backup program and the Ancient God's fragment were locked in a contest of strength.

Even through the image, it looked absolutely horrific. I couldn’t help but think it was a huge blessing that we’d come here and not there.

-No matter what sacrifice it takes, I have to seal it again.

The atmosphere made it hard to even speak to him. When I took one more step forward, he finally noticed that the expedition members had arrived, and his face turned toward us.

-You… how…

I had thought of him as a mechanical little thing, but it seemed the body itself still had emotions.

The first thing on his face was why?, followed by shock.

Then came fear.

To my surprise, the last emotion to settle there was some unreadable sense of responsibility.

Clutching the device made of magic circles tightly against himself, he screamed.

-N-no! Y-you… you filthy things! You dirty servants of the Ancient God! Do you think I’d let you destroy the continent?!

We’re not the villains here, you bastard.

It really did feel as though the entire situation had turned upside down.

Afterword

Max: I have to save the continent! The continent… I have to save the continent!