Free Web Novel“Are you coming?”
“Yes.”
“Is it okay to just leave like this? Felt like you still had more you wanted to do.”
Im Haekyung asked, turning only halfway to look back at me. I answered vaguely, without even looking his way.
“I think there’s more stuff I need to handle outside.”
“Ah.... Because your condition’s bad?”
Im Haekyung dragged out the question, then swept his gaze over me and narrowed his eyes.
‘My condition, huh.’
He wasn’t wrong.
Honestly, the biggest reason I decided we needed to get out of here was because of my condition.
It’s not that I felt bad.
The problem was that I felt fine even after things had gotten to this point.
I had a rough idea of what happened, but I needed numbers I could actually see. I needed to know exactly what state I was in.
Just then, I saw a masked believer walking this way flinch in surprise. Im Haekyung casually dealt with him and kept moving forward.
“Memory manipulation?”
“No. I just induced a small misunderstanding. We need to get out fast.”
After replying simply, Im Haekyung casually started talking to people who were passing by. Like they knew each other. The way he used his skill so naturally to draw answers out of them was... impressive.
“If you use your skill this often outside a dungeon, doesn’t that get you in trouble with the law?” freewebnovёl.ƈom
“Right now it still feels like the Wild West.”
He answered like a joke, and before long he found a believer who could pilot a boat and got us out to sea immediately.
“I think this is my first time on a boat.”
After watching us depart, Im Haekyung turned back and spoke lightly.
“You’ve never been on one before?”
“Of course not. When would I ever have a reason to ride a boat?”
“Travel?”
“I’m not the type who goes out often for the sake of traveling.”
Yeah. I couldn’t easily picture Im Haekyung traveling alone, so I just nodded.
‘Though it’s even weirder to imagine him traveling with someone.’
Im Haekyung wandered the boat, checking things here and there, then suddenly spoke.
“So what are you going to do now?”
At his question, I stared into empty air for a moment.
‘Who knows.’
What am I supposed to do from here?
When I already know exactly how everything is going to play out, does it even matter what I want to do?
So much happened so fast that it didn’t feel real. Or maybe it was because the “deleted run” kept resurfacing in my head.
“I’ll deal with the urgent stuff first.”
“What about Cheonmyeonggyo?”
“.......”
I glanced at Im Haekyung and answered bluntly.
“I destroyed the dungeon, so they’ll have internal meetings, too. They set the scale too big, so Jin Haedo won’t move his base immediately. Even if he does, he’ll leave a trail.”
“Hmm.”
“I wasn’t planning to erase the dungeon in the first place. It just got rewritten mid-way with a huge crash. The situation just... flowed that way.”
“So meeting Jin Haedo around now was the original plan?”
When I nodded, Im Haekyung’s gaze dropped. He swept his eyes over my body like it was nothing and delivered a simple judgment.
“With you looking like that, it’ll be a little inconvenient.”
“Yeah. My clothes look like a bum’s, too.”
“I wasn’t talking about your clothes.”
“Both, then.”
The weird traces left on my body were one thing, but the fact I was wearing a hood that was basically rags—who even knew who it used to belong to—was starting to irritate me, too. I pulled my rolled sleeves down and zipped my hoodie all the way up.
“Mr. Jehyun.”
“Yes.”
“Want me to send someone?”
Out of nowhere, Im Haekyung made the offer.
“Someone?”
“Yes. I don’t know what kind of ‘deal’ you made in that dungeon, but it’s pretty blatant. If you wander around outside like that, won’t you end up with noise?”
As he spoke, Im Haekyung tapped his own cheek a few times.
“No one gets scars overnight like this. They’ve faded a bit compared to earlier, sure, but still. And your mana output has gotten pretty suspicious, too.”
“.......”
“If you go to a hospital like this, it’ll be news immediately.”
He was right. If I walked into a ward like this, I’d run straight into reporters. Im Haekyung calmly rattled off one worst-case scenario after another.
“It’s perfect bait for attention. An F-rank who’s suspiciously good at appraisal, but turns out he got involved with a cult and his Hunter rank went up. That alone is already tailor-made for interest. Add a single line about a beast and it’ll get, what, ten times the spotlight.... If you’re ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) unlucky, even the guild you’re in might get dragged into it.”
“Oh....”
‘Every single one of those sounds fucking awful.’
The sense of reality that had just evaporated came right back.
Do Yehyun, who’d been silent beside us, shot Im Haekyung a sideways look, then turned his head away.
“You’ll call someone for us?” frёewebnoѵēl.com
“Weren’t you already thinking about getting your Awakener test done again? How much your mana went up, whether your health is okay—stuff like that, you can find out. It won’t be as accurate as the Center, but.”
“.......”
“If you get tested at Haeseong, it’ll be accurate.”
“Going all the way to Haeseong looking like this is a bit...”
And if I went to Haeseong right now, it felt like that alone would draw a lot of eyes.
“Hm... okay. Getting you all the way home is also kind of... yeah, right?”
From how long it would take just to get home to everything I’d have to worry about with Ju Seowon, it wasn’t just one or two things.
When I nodded again, Im Haekyung answered like he’d expected it.
“Send me your location.”
“You’re being generous.”
“Of course. I’ve always been generous to you, Mr. Jehyun. Haven’t I? No? That hurts.”
While adjusting his clothes like it was nothing, Im Haekyung met my eyes.
“Yes. I’m always grateful.”
“Hm....”
Even though I’d meant at least half of that sincerely, his reaction came back... ambiguous. Im Haekyung narrowed his eyes and ran a hand back through his hair.
Before long, the boat reached a small dock.
Im Haekyung left quickly, and I went straight to the nearest unmanned motel with a hotel name slapped on it and grabbed an empty room.
‘Mm.’
After paying, I headed up to the room, plugged in my phone to charge, and tossed aside my clothes that were basically rags.
“Yehyun.”
“Yes.”
Do Yehyun, who’d been standing awkwardly ever since we came in, answered.
“Your phone work?”
“No. It’s been dead for a while.”
“I want to know how many days.”
I’d come this far without even seeing the date, so my sense of time was completely gone. The day-night changes in the dungeon weren’t necessarily the same as real time.
I took a bottle of water from the fridge, drank about half, then handed it to Do Yehyun.
He swallowed two mouthfuls and asked,
“I don’t really... know what happened. Did you fully merge with the beast in your hand? What about the brace?”
“I took the brace off for a bit. I still have it. Merging with the beast... well, it was half forced, but for how few choices I had, it’s not bad.”
“You said it was dangerous.”
“Yeah.”
So was it always my fate to end up like this?
“...You’re really okay?”
“No, I’m fucking confused. It just doesn’t feel real yet.”
“Then earlier... that skill was all you, right? I... thought your stats just went up.”
“I wanted that route the most, too.”
“.......”
Do Yehyun stared at me silently. The quiet stretched, and then Do Yehyun spoke first, tossing it out.
“Haeseong’s Guild Master... do you trust him?”
“No.”
“But he found out.”
“I trust that he won’t run his mouth to reporters.”
“...What if Haeseong’s Guild Master uses this as leverage to threaten you?”
I have been blackmailed like that before.
Not by Im Haekyung, but still.
I shrugged and looked at Do Yehyun.
“I don’t know. I just have to hope Im Haekyung doesn’t get any more interested.”
“Hyung....”
Right then, my phone turned on with a cheerful jingle.
I dropped my gaze from Do Yehyun and waited until the phone finished booting, then slowly checked the numbers.
[February 21]
‘What?’
Still holding my phone, I shot to my feet. The charging cable yanked free and dropped to the floor with a soft thud.
“Hyung?”
“Give me your phone.”
He handed it over without protest. I charged it and checked the date again—only to confirm it wasn’t an error or a busted screen.
“...Hyung?”
“This is... fuck.”
At the same time, the phone that had been off for so long started flooding with messages I hadn’t even been able to check.
I threw the phone that immediately shut off again onto the bed, then raked my hair back.
“Two weeks passed.”
“...What?”
I knew time distortion could happen in dungeons, but I’d never experienced it to this extent.
I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them, trying to grasp reality.
‘So... I’m fucked, huh?’
