Quest (1)
“We’re going to have a hard time holding out,” she said.
“Didn’t you leave us more than you expected?”
“You have to account for the possibility that you won’t come back, don’t you?”
“Don’t jinx it. That’s not happening.”
“Of course I trust our Hyunsung Oppa and Kiyoung Oppa… but you never know what life will do. Besides, I think Hayan is still watching us from over there. Is that really okay?”
I glanced back, and sure enough, Jung Hayan’s face came into view. Her expression was calmer than when she’d seen Park Hye-young, but it still had that unsettling quality that made me wonder what she was thinking.
I was a little worried she might be plotting something behind the scenes, but this much was still within the safe range. Simply having a conversation should be fine.
If it had involved any physical contact, the situation might have been different, but the two of us were speaking from a distance, and no one looking at us would have thought we were particularly close.
Just as I shifted my bag a little, Lee Jihye spoke again.
“You’ve made quite a big decision.”
“What part?”
“I thought you hated gambling.”
“I do.”
“Then?”
“I’m not stupid enough to throw dice at a game I’m already winning.”
Even if I accounted for every variable, our chances were overwhelmingly high.
There was the information I had about the dungeon, the overall specs of the party members, and the existence of the regressor.
There was no chance of losing.
Of course, there were still plenty of things to consider beyond that, but for someone like me, who had to claw and scrape for every scrap, opportunities like this didn’t come around often.
The bond between comrades who faced danger together.
And then there was…
The reward for conquering the dungeon.
It was definitely there.
I was certain the box Hyunsung had said he found would be one of that sort, too.
After hearing my answer, Jihye fell silent for a moment before smiling lightly and continuing.
“That’s why I like you.”
“Pointless things like that aren’t helpful.”
“Anyway, have a safe trip, Kiyoung Oppa.”
“Got it, nuna.”
As expected, her expression twisted.
Even though she had a youthful face, she seemed to be pretty sensitive about her age.
She probably thought that being a young woman was more advantageous for survival.
When I slowly started walking, Jung Hayan hurried over and grabbed the end of my sleeve. She hadn’t said a word to me, but it was clear she’d been anxious.
Park Deokgu let out a booming laugh, and Kim Hyunsung merely nodded.
Jung Jinho and Yoo Seokwoo, along with the two lackeys, waited quietly for me.
“Let’s depart.”
“Yes.”
There were eight of us in total.
You could say that was a decent number.
Four on this side, four on the other.
If the other side was a party centered on Jung Jinho, then ours was one centered on Kim Hyunsung.
We were walking together, but there was a subtle distance between us. There wasn’t much conversation to be heard.
At most, it was only me and Jung Jinho talking. Everyone else either chatted with their own cliques or kept to themselves.
“Still, you really did go around a lot, didn’t you? We never imagined there’d be another entrance.”
“We happened to discover it by chance. As you heard at the Start Point, the conditions for escaping this place are survival and clearing the dungeon. Since no one knows how long it might take, relying on the former alone seemed foolish, so… we decided to do our best to clear it.”
“Ah.”
“For all we know, the period of survival may only last until someone else succeeds in conquering the dungeon.”
“I hadn’t thought about that….”
“That’s only my guess.”
“If that really were the case, then for the people inside the shelter to get out, we’d have to clear the dungeon ourselves?”
“You could look at it that way. Either way, whatever the method, the most rational choice remains the same: conquering this dungeon. In any case, I’m truly grateful you agreed to my proposal.”
“No. We all want to get out of here, too. Honestly, I’m the one who should be thanking you for creating this chance for us. We’ve all been uneasy about this situation, not knowing when it would end….”
The guy smiling faintly looked like a genuinely pleasant person.
It was the kind of smile that naturally made people let their guard down, but I knew exactly what he was like, so there was no way I’d relax around him.
Rather, I was the one who needed to lower his guard.
Simply talking about pointless things helped quite a bit.
We talked about Earth, about the dungeon, about the stories we’d heard at the Start Point, and then the subject suddenly shifted to something rather awkward.
“Come to think of it, Kiyoung, you seem to spend a lot of time with Hayan. Could it be that the two of you…?”
No one had asked me that before. I couldn’t help feeling a little flustered. I glanced around to see where everyone’s attention was.
Park Deokgu and Kim Hyunsung both seemed to be listening.
Yoo Seokwoo, who had once openly tried to hit on Jung Hayan, was staring straight at me.
As for Jung Hayan, she had her head bowed and was gripping my sleeve tightly.
She must have been very curious about what I would say.
Don’t do this to me….
Not only the pig with a brain full of muscles, but the crazy little murderer was joining in on this setup, too.
Are you good little brother and sister?
No. Rejected.
Are you a relationship that’s developing?
That didn’t work either.
No matter how I looked at it, it sounded like the excuse of a celebrity caught in dating rumors.
In any case, Jung Hayan and I were a relationship that would inevitably grow closer than this.
I thought about it for a moment, but it didn’t take long to decide how to answer.
I took Jung Hayan’s hand, the one still clinging to my sleeve, and spoke.
“I can’t really define it yet, but… I think what you’re imagining is probably right.”
“Ooooh….”
Park Deokgu’s face practically split in half from the grin.
Hyunsung also nodded.
He seemed to think my presence was beneficial to Jung Hayan.
What was interesting was Jung Hayan’s reaction. Her face was bright red as she stared at the ground, but the hand gripping mine only tightened.
Fuck… that hurts.
She was squeezing so hard my pitiful durability could barely take it.
I had considered several options, but this was still the right answer.
The reason I hadn’t clearly defined it was that I still hadn’t confessed my feelings to Jung Hayan.
It felt like it wouldn’t matter if I stamped my approval right now, but she and I needed to be tied together in a way that would leave a deeper impression.
Rather than being pushed along like this, it would be far more effective to properly convey my sincerity.
When I turned my head again, I saw Jung Hayan’s lips curling up into a sly smile that reached her cheeks.
That was a little creepy, but Yoo Seokwoo’s face twisted in irritation when he saw it.
If there were two people most hollowed out by my relationship with Jung Hayan, one of them, aside from Park Deokgu, was definitely that bastard.
I’d assumed he held some ill will toward me, but it seemed he wasn’t very good at hiding his emotions.
Thinking that he was probably the trash of this expedition, I casually patted Jung Hayan’s head once more.
Then I turned my gaze toward Yoo Seokwoo.
We continued walking, exchanging various bits of conversation as the party moved forward.
One of Jung Jinho’s lackeys, an archer, seemed to be good at reading the path and sensing monsters because of his class, but there was no real reason to avoid the monsters to begin with.
Jung Jinho seemed to be hiding his strength, but dealing with the monsters in this place wasn’t much of a problem for him, and the others, who were already accustomed to fighting, were the same.
What surprised me a little was that Yoo Seokwoo adapted quickly as well.
Contrary to my expectations that he would perform like Park Hye-young, he handled his sword with a rather steady hand.
The others were by no means bad either.
None of them were on Jung Jinho’s level, of course, but seeing everyone carry out their roles properly made me wonder whether this party was actually pretty ideal.
Fast and safe.
It was fair to say it was on a completely different level from when I moved with Kim Hyunsung, Park Deokgu, Jung Hayan, and Park Hye-young.
Jung Jinho and Kim Hyunsung were watching for any unexpected variables, while Park Deokgu blocked the path.
Jung Hayan and I were only providing rear support, but the archer’s shots and Jung Jinho’s lackeys’ skills were much better than ours.
It was honestly a little disappointing.
Especially when it came to Jung Jinho.
Unlike Kim Hyunsung, who used a single sword, he kept his opponent in check with a small shield strapped to his left arm.
If I assumed he could use magic on top of that, I’d be even more impressed.
It felt like I was starting to understand why he hadn’t paid much attention to Park Deokgu, me, or Jung Hayan.
The bastard was definitely strong.
I wasn’t dissatisfied with Park Deokgu, Kim Hyunsung, or Jung Hayan, but if Jung Jinho could have been used as a card not just short term but long term, I would have been pretty satisfied.
“You’re strong.”
“It’s only because everyone’s helping.”
Do we have much farther to go?”
“We should be almost there.”
When I glanced at Hyunsung, he nodded as well.
There was a staircase ahead, and I could feel mana leaking from somewhere below.
I had no idea what was waiting for us, but we’d only know once we went in.
Honestly, I wanted to press Kim Hyunsung for a more proper explanation, but there was no way I could do that.
What’s in there?
The fundamental question was why Hyunsung had judged that entering this dungeon with our current force was impossible.
Curiosity and unease mixed together inside me, but…
“Then… I’ll proceed with entry.”
Giving up would be foolish.
The stairs downward were dark.
After descending a somewhat long flight, a massive iron door came into view.
Park Deokgu, positioned at the front, slowly opened it, and once we stepped inside, a familiar voice immediately pierced through the darkness.
It was the woman’s voice I’d heard at the Start Point.
Rare rank Forced Quest has been activated.
Rare Quest — Survival (0/1)
“What the hell?”
“O-Oppa….”
“Prepare for battle.”
“We’ll prepare for battle.”
Even without Kim Hyunsung saying a word, everyone was already gripping their weapons tightly.
“Kieeeeeeek!”
“Kieeeeeeeek!”
That was because doglike screams were crashing into our ears from far away.
Damn it! Damn it!
I’d expected some level of danger, but this was a little harder than I’d imagined. I could understand why Hyunsung thought we’d need a lot of people.
Defense.
From the sounds of it, this definitely wasn’t a force a lone person could handle.
“Th-the iron door’s blocked!”
Someone muttered.
“Don’t run. We can win this.”
“We can do it.”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaak!”
I could hear the bastards charging toward us.
Putting aside the monster screeches, the thudding vibrations shaking the ground were especially irritating.
Feeling anxious, I immediately began chanting.
Jung Jinho’s side seemed to have been caught off guard by the situation as well, looking a little stunned. Still, they quickly reformed their line around him.
We can stop this.
I was shaken, but this was still manageable. The regressor had judged that this force was enough to clear the place.
“Damn it, there are a hell of a lot of them.”
I’d been surrounded by monsters twice before — once at the Start Point, once when Park Hye-young pulled her idiotic stunt — and now this was the third time.
Of course, this was an unavoidable situation, but…
This time,
I wasn’t running.