Disciplinary Action (5)
Han So-mi held my gaze for a while before speaking up.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"What do you think of Cheon-hye?"
I'd expected this to some degree, and sure enough, the topic was Song Cheon-hye. Frankly, there wasn't much else Han So-mi and I had in common. I gave her an honest answer.
"More than an acquaintance, I'd say. We took mentoring together, after all."
"She doesn't dislike you?"
"Why would she? The girl works hard at what she does. What does she think of me?"
Han So-mi tilted her head this way and that, seeming to sift through her memories. Then she pointed at me with a sharp little motion and answered.
"You two get into fights a lot!"
"Isn't that kind of a bad thing?"
"Nope! Cheon-hye doesn't get mad at other people. She only says exactly what needs saying, you know? Even when she's annoyed, she just ignores it."
"So you're saying she treats me like an errand."
"Yes, yes! Like an errand!"
Han So-mi nodded rapidly, as if that were precisely the word she'd been searching for.
She does have a point, I'll admit.
Looking back, there was a distinct temperature gap between how Song Cheon-hye treated Shin Byung-cheol and how she treated me. Shin Byung-cheol was a walking rule-violation machine, yet I couldn't recall her ever showing real emotion at him—sure, she occasionally scorched him with Hummingbird, but that was beside the point.
"It sort of tracks, but how is getting angry a good thing?"
"Cheon-hye gets mad at me all the time too!"
"……I see."
I was beginning to grasp what Han So-mi was driving at.
Han So-mi = Song Cheon-hye's friend = Cheon-hye gets mad at her.
Kim Ho = Cheon-hye gets mad at him = possible friend?
Apparently she believed that syllogism held water. From my side, though, it seemed flimsy and leaped to conclusions far too easily, so I couldn't help but push back.
"Well, people get angry for all kinds of reasons. She could just dislike me."
"No, no, that's not it."
"Why not?"
"Just because!"
"A gut feeling?"
"A gut feeling!"
If that's what her gut said, there was nothing to be done. This wasn't a matter of logic, and there were things only someone who'd watched from Han So-mi's side could sense. So I decided to accept it and move the conversation along.
By now I could also guess why she'd brought this up.
"So basically, you want me to get close to her?"
"……Yeah."
Han So-mi's expression settled into something calmer. She gazed off into the distance before speaking.
"……You know, people in the Disciplinary Committee don't really have many friends."
"I can imagine. It's a position tailor-made for making enemies."
The Committee's foremost duty was guiding students onto the right path and enforcing the rules, and friction was inevitable in the process. Just look at the recent Ban Wave—there had certainly been students who resisted having their banned items confiscated.
And rule violations hardly stop there.
Trespassing into restricted zones like the Deep Layer of Dungeon Hall or the Old School Building, vandalism on campus, dueling outside the Arena. When your job is catching and punishing students for every manner of infraction, relationships naturally sour.
Of course, the offenders themselves knew perfectly well they'd broken the rules.
But human hearts don't work that way.
Knowing it in your head and feeling it in your gut were two different things; most people would keep their distance all the same. Someone with a rounder, softer personality might still manage to make friends within the Committee—but expecting that of Song Cheon-hye, strict and solemn in everything, was probably asking too much.
I asked Han So-mi.
"You don't have more friends in the Committee?"
"Nope, nobody's really close."
"What about Jo Byeok? He seemed decent enough."
"He's decent, but he doesn't talk."
"……Fair enough."
The man was famously taciturn, after all. He probably didn't mesh well with Han So-mi either. I gave a small nod.
"Fine, got it. Whether we actually get close is up to each of us, but I'll give it a try."
"Yes! I'll talk to Cheon-hye too!"
Han So-mi nodded, her face brightening. Watching her, a thought occurred to me, and I asked.
"By that logic, though, don't you not have friends either?"
"Nope, not really!"
Han So-mi was always beaming, cheerful through and through. People should have found her far easier to approach, yet she spent most of her time glued to Song Cheon-hye's side. That was by her own choice, but it amounted to the same thing—very few friends.
"You're hardly one to talk."
"I know, right? Heehee."
"Want to be friends with me while we're at it?"
"Yes please! Let's be friends!"
Han So-mi accepted my offer without a moment's hesitation. Then another question came to mind.
"What about Go Hyeon-woo? You did mentoring together, and sparred too."
"……"
But at that, Han So-mi's face soured instantly, and she puffed out her cheeks like a sulking child.
"He's an idiot."
"Why?"
"He just is."
What on earth had that man done to earn this? I was about to probe further when—
—Vrooooom—
The sound of a motor rose from behind us. Its owner was, naturally, Shin Byung-cheol, who'd converted his wooden boat into a motorboat.
"Oh come on, finally caught up. How fast is that thing?"
"My, how nice of you to join us."
"Honestly, isn't wind magic straight-up cheating?"
"Take the motor off first, then we'll talk."
Or settle it with oars from the start, like everyone else.
Nearby, Song Cheon-hye's boat came into view as well; she'd rowed her heart out to catch up. Our eyes happened to meet, and I said,
"You could've taken your time."
"I must keep pace with my party members."
That's what she said, but Song Cheon-hye was lightly rubbing her arm with her fist. She wasn't a physical-class type like Han So-mi, yet she'd rowed herself half to death—sore arms were a guaranteed outcome for days. Perhaps because of that, she was shooting looks of pure displeasure back and forth between Han So-mi and me, and Han So-mi beamed innocently.
"We were having a secret talk!"
"……What?"
Song Cheon-hye's eyes went wide with shock. Apparently she couldn't even imagine the two of us having a serious conversation.
"Wh-what kind of talk?"
"A very important secret talk!"
Han So-mi was in full enjoy-the-reactions mode. After all, what could be more delightful than paying back the frustration she'd endured, in exactly the same coin?
Song Cheon-hye, on the receiving end of her first-ever counterattack, could only open and close her mouth. Just as she finally managed to get a word out, I looked around at the party and gave the order.
"Finish your chat once we're out. Let's get ready."
"……Yes."
"Use the detector on a regular cycle, and keep communications open."
"Understood."
I shot Shin Byung-cheol a look, and he bobbed his head just as readily.
"Geez, you don't even need to say it. I remember everything. Detector, communicator, check."
Before long, the lake, which had stretched out in a single straight line, split into three branches. This was where the real assault on Trident Lake began.
We steered our boats as we'd agreed before departing—Shin Byung-cheol toward the right, where a puzzle awaited; Song Cheon-hye toward the left, swarming with monsters; and Han So-mi and I toward the central lake, where the boss lurked.
"Straight ahead."
"Straight ahead!"
We pressed on until a small island appeared—an islet barely a few square meters wide.
"Drop anchor here," I told Han So-mi.
"Aye aye!"
We couldn't have gone further anyway. Sharp reefs jutted up beyond the island; if we'd forced our way through, a flimsy little wooden boat like ours would have capsized or shattered on the spot.
So how did we get past this obstacle?
That depended on the other two doing their jobs.
Trident Lake was a cooperative dungeon. When Song Cheon-hye or Shin Byung-cheol fulfilled their role at their position, our blocked path opened, and when we fulfilled ours, theirs opened in turn.
And right now it was Song Cheon-hye's turn, so I sent a message over the comm.
"How's it going? Holding up?"
—Krrrumble! BOOM! CRASH!
—Yes, I should be finishing up shortly.
Her reply came back through the ceaseless thunder. Not a trace of alarm in her voice—apparently a Disciplinary Committee member could handle twice her share without breaking a sweat. Sure enough, before long the situation resolved, and the whole area began to shake as if an earthquake had struck.
—Krrrrrumble……
At the same moment, the reefs choking the water ahead slowly sank beneath the lake. The blocked path was open.
But we didn't board the boat right away; we stared at the water instead.
"Get ready. It'll come up fast."
"Got it!"
The first boss was due to appear any second now—a monster that looked like a giant catfish fused with a human, bearing a slight resemblance to Kim Gap-du. Only by taking it down could we press on—and open the way for Shin Byung-cheol as well.
So I stood waiting with the sapling planted in the ground, Han So-mi with her sword drawn, ready to fight at any moment.
"……"
"……"
Yet even after quite a while, the lake stayed perfectly calm.
Han So-mi tilted her head at me.
"Huh? Why isn't it coming out?"
"……Good question. Give me a second."
I walked to the water's edge, jabbed the sapling into the ground, and cast Spiral Explosion downward. A violent vortex churned some distance away, and then—
—THUD!
A muffled sound echoed from beneath the surface.
I waited a while longer, but still nothing. Even this doesn't flush it out?
Then a different possibility gained weight. I immediately connected the comm to Shin Byung-cheol.
"Is your path open?"
—Yeah, just now.
Just now—that was when Song Cheon-hye had swept away the monster swarm. Normally Shin Byung-cheol's route shouldn't have opened until after we killed the boss. That step being skipped meant only one thing.
"Looks like it's already dead."
"Really?"
Han So-mi's eyes went round. A boss that should have been there had been killed by something else entirely.
And in a cooperative dungeon like this, cherry-picking the boss while skipping the rest was a tedious, terrible-value proposition. Which meant that rather than a person doing it, the odds overwhelmingly pointed to one answer.
"Is Wooblek in here?"
"You think?"
I connected the comm to Song Cheon-hye and Shin Byung-cheol and relayed my guess.
"……From this point on, let's move with more caution. If anything feels off, we pull out immediately—and keep in constant contact."
—Yes, understood.
—You got it!
Next I pulled the detector from my inventory and pressed the center button. Beep. The radar spun in circles across the screen. I watched it for a good while, but nothing special appeared.
Han So-mi tilted her head again.
"Nothing's showing, though~?"
"Doesn't mean it's not there yet."
The detector only sensed Wooblek within a fixed range; if it was too far away, it wouldn't register. That was why, when cleansing the earlier dungeons, we'd always scanned multiple times before using the escape scroll. And annoyingly, this dungeon was laid out in a straight line, so failing to detect it now didn't rule out its presence further ahead.
Either way, we had only one choice. I climbed into the wooden boat and said,
"Let's move. We'll know more as we go."
"Yeah!"
And we began to glide slowly out across the lake.