The Ant and the Grasshopper (5)
In this world, there are ants.
Beings who must toil, and toil again, merely to scrape out a survival.
They know full well what they are.
And there are grasshoppers.
Grasshoppers are superior to ants.
At least, that's what everyone believes — and in truth, it is so.
If reality were a fable meant to teach someone a lesson, then surely the grasshopper would live a life worse than the ant's.
It would grow careless and die in a gate, or slack off on its training and be culled.
Swept up in one mishap after another, it would fall behind the ants.
Worst case, it would lose its life outright.
Like the grasshopper that starved through a cold winter because it never stored anything away.
But that is not how things really are.
Reality is no fable, and it doesn't run on reason, either.
A genius remains a genius, always.
The ant is nothing but a carpet laid beneath the grasshopper's feet.
An ant must know its place.
Stay flat on the ground before the grasshopper, bask in its protection, and endure — that, for an ant, is the best way to live.
Because if an ant ever tries to imitate the grasshopper…
It dies.
Like right now.
"Haa… haa…."
Her severed arm burned.
No — it didn't even burn anymore.
She couldn't tell.
The sensation was simply gone.
"I've… lost too much blood…."
Where had it all gone wrong?
No — she couldn't even remember that.
Her consciousness was… slipping away….
"Damn… it…."
Her eyelids sank.
Oh. So this is where.
I die.
"…Hold on a moment."
Sensing something off, Lee Jun stopped Seo Yoon in her tracks.
Blood.
It wasn't the smell of ant ichor.
It was distinctly different — a familiar scent of blood.
This was, without a doubt… the smell of human blood.
"……."
Lee Jun came to a halt at the fork in the tunnel.
The correct path from here was to the left.
And the right, naturally, was the long way around.
Every route in the Ant Nest eventually connected, but if they went right, the queen's chamber wouldn't come into view until a swarm of soldier ants had already descended on them.
Which would mean the raid had failed.
Obviously.
"…Boss?"
Seo Yoon, sensing something strange, called out to him.
He had never once stopped since they entered, so his sudden pause was bound to strike her as odd.
"Seo Yoon."
"Yes, Boss."
"Do you smell anything right now?"
"A… smell, sir?"
She sniffed the air a few times.
Nothing seemed to register.
"I don't detect anything."
"Hmm…."
He was genuinely torn.
He could have misread the scent entirely, or confused it with something similar.
But if his nose was right….
"Let's go right."
His deliberation, of course, didn't last long.
It didn't matter when they cleared this place — but if someone had stumbled in here and needed help, the moment they walked past would be the end of them.
Why had he become a hunter in the first place?
To save people, wasn't it?
"Looks like clearing this place will have to wait for another day."
As he said it, Lee Jun pulled something from his Pocket and tossed it onto the ground.
Then he kept going — one, two, and more.
Advancing forward, he scattered them at regular intervals.
It was insurance.
If there really was a person ahead… whichever way things went, these would help.
"Seo Yoon, I need you watching our rear. From here on… a swarm could pour out from behind us at any moment."
"Understood."
Seo Yoon obeyed without a word of protest.
Delaying the clear, taking the dangerous route — all of it.
And she didn't ask about anything he'd have trouble explaining.
She was clearly curious, and yet.
Consideration, is it.
She was well aware that Lee Jun carried a past he wasn't comfortable putting into words.
From his standpoint, he couldn't have been more grateful.
"Then… let's move out."
She gave a small nod.
The two of them walked, and walked, and walked some more.
Well — if he were honest, it was closer to running.
They moved with every precaution, but still covered a hundred meters in ten seconds flat.
Caution and speed in transit.
The fundamentals of being a hunter.
"……!"
Maybe five minutes had passed like that.
The source of the bloodscent, drawing ever closer… appeared in the distance.
It really is a person…?
Why?
No — more than that… she looked somehow familiar.
"Seo Yoon. That person…."
"…Yes. I believe so, too."
The two of them broke into a sprint toward the woman lying crumpled on the ground.
As they closed the distance, it became certain.
A red-haired warrior with a short crop — D-rank.
This was… without question, the hunter they'd met before in the Seoul Dungeon.
Choi Jeong-hyeon… was it?
The party leader of the group Seo Yoon had infiltrated back then.
But… why was she here?
Answering that could wait.
First, her condition.
With that thought, Lee Jun turned Choi Jeong-hyeon over where she lay face-down.
"Ugh… uhh…."
A faint moan escaped her lips — she was still conscious, then.
Her state was worse than he'd expected.
Her right arm and the right side of her face had been melted away.
Ant acid, by the look of it.
"From the wounds… it seems her arm was severed first, and then the acid hit on top of it."
With her right arm already gone, she'd taken the acid squarely across that side of her upper body.
That was the choice that minimized the damage — most likely the best judgment she could have made in the moment.
Either way, being knocked out of the fight was unavoidable.
"Seo Yoon, we're leaving here now. Help me with first aid."
"…Understood."
Seo Yoon's expression was complicated.
Her work had kept her far from gate raids; she'd rarely seen a person injured this badly with her own eyes.
And frankly, even Lee Jun hadn't seen many cases like this.
Anyone who got this far was usually dead before anyone found them.
"We need to hurry back."
Get her to a healer fast, and even if the arm was a lost cause, they could still save her eye.
Lee Jun worked quickly, dressing the wounds with bandages and potions.
Every pass of the bandage drew a sound of raw agony from her.
Flesh that had been burned away to nothing — he could only imagine the torment.
"Choi Jeong-hyeon. Are you conscious? Can you hear me?"
"Uuuggh…."
She was awake, technically — but her mind wouldn't come back online for a while.
The shock and pain had probably tripped her brain's breakers.
Walking was out of the question in this state. He'd have to carry her.
Lee Jun hoisted Choi Jeong-hyeon onto his back without delay.
From here, they might run into a swarm at any second — they needed to be out of this place as fast as possible.
"Seo Yoon, let's move!"
He'd barely turned and started running when—
Come to think of it….
Something didn't add up.
How had she gotten this deep with injuries like that?
First of all — Choi Jeong-hyeon hadn't been hurt here.
One look around made that clear.
There were no spatter marks of ant acid on the floor, which meant the injury hadn't happened nearby.
Which meant….
"Tch."
Ants were among the more intelligent species.
They cooperated when hunting — and sometimes they dug traps.
Follow that line of thought to its end, and it wasn't hard to guess what might be waiting up ahead.
"Kyeeeeek!"
Ssssss—
A Giant Ant burst from the left-hand passage and sprayed acid.
Ant venom.
Real-world ants varied wildly in toxicity from species to species, but the worst of them could kill a grown human.
If an ordinary ant could do that much, then the acid of a Giant Ant — a monster, not merely an animal….
"Dodge!"
Lee Jun shoved Seo Yoon sideways and tossed Choi Jeong-hyeon, still strapped to his back, into her arms.
He'd anticipated this — which was why every movement had been blisteringly fast.
But fast only went so far.
Dodging entirely was impossible.
So instead—
{Hmph.}
Sssshhh—
Acid strong enough to eat through steel.
Smoke rose from where it struck the arm Lee Jun had raised — and yet his skin stayed untouched.
"Whew…."
Thankfully, he'd spread his shadow out in advance to keep the acid off his body.
What he couldn't block, however, was Silhouette's complaining.
{Grrr, what is this stuff?! It's scorching hot!}
Hot is fine. It'll hold.
{…Don't you think you're using me a bit too carelessly?}
Sssk—
The acid streaming down Lee Jun's arm ate into the floor.
And yet the arm wrapped in shadow was pristine.
{Seriously… what were you going to do if it didn't hold?}
Doesn't matter. I knew it would.
{Oh? So that means you trust me, huh?}
…Does it even make sense that I couldn't block this much?
You're a Hidden Piece. This much should be nothing.
{Fufufu… you do have a cute side after all?}
…….
Somehow, her teasing had loosened the tension right out of him.
Why was this woman so desperate to needle him at every turn?
"Haah…."
Lee Jun let out a sigh and squared off against the Giant Ant.
If this was a trap, the vicinity was probably crawling with reinforcements.
In that case, it was simpler to handle things this way.
"Seo Yoon."
He handed her a rope for securing Choi Jeong-hyeon to her body — and a single button.
"This is…."
Perhaps she'd already guessed what it meant.
Her hand hesitated as she took the button.
But there was no more time to waste.
Lee Jun pressed the button into her palm and spoke.
"Run back to that fork where we stopped. And when you get there—"
When you get there.
"Just press it."
Seo Yoon's eyes went wide.
So I couldn't hide this much from her.
"But…."
"Don't worry. Just press it. There are plenty of ways out."
"……."
She wavered, torn.
But at last, she lowered her head and spoke.
"You must… come back alive."
Her words came out muffled, as if she were biting down on her lip.
Lee Jun answered her without a trace of doubt.
"Of course."
"…Understood."
With that, she turned and began to run.
As fast as she could, pointedly not looking back —
as if she understood that doing so would only make things harder for him.
And once Seo Yoon had vanished from sight—
Lee Jun turned to face the Giant Ant, which was still standing there, content to simply watch.
"Well. Should I thank you for waiting?"
Those creatures were smart.
Which meant, presumably, it thought it was toying with him.
But here was the problem.
The ants in here today were about to be exterminated. Every last one.
"Ha. I was hoping not to have to show my hand this early."
There was one thing he hadn't told Seo Yoon.
Within this Ant Nest, Lee Jun could arguably claim to be the single safest person alive.
Granted, it came with conditions — which was exactly why he'd sent Seo Yoon away.
He just hoped she wouldn't lose her nerve over it.
"Now, then…."
So what was that condition, exactly?
Simple: no one nearby except former comrades.
There was one particular someone who couldn't fight unless that condition was met.
But given the right circumstances, she could unleash truly staggering firepower.
And who might this demanding, insufferable, magnificent creature be?
"Wake up."
Lee Jun pulled a sphere the size of a human head from his Pocket and set it on the ground.
Thump—
[Wh-what? Where am I?]
[ (°°) ]
Vreeee—
In the blink of an eye, the unfolding sphere had reassembled itself into a robot of simple, elegant design.
Yes — this was the same one he'd used talking to the Chief of the Technology Bureau.
"Let's go kill some monsters."
[……?]
[ (⚆_⚆?) ]
She gave him a baffled look.
Or — was "look" even the right word for it?
Regardless….
"Time to show you what the finest firepower in Arcana looks like."
On that, at least, he could guarantee.
In front of her, five hundred Giant Ants wouldn't last an hour before being wiped out wholesale.
Because that was what they were, after all.
Ants.