His hair was damaged due to frequent dyeing, and his dishevelled blonde hair caught my eye.
“Hyungnim, are you sleeping?”
“No.”
Rubbing my tired eyes reflexively, I straightened my body against the chair. The desk full of papers that I had just looked at looked messy at first glance.
“Wow, look at your face. Take better care of yourself, Hyungnim, since you’ve got a nice face and all.”
“Uppity little… Am I your friend or something? Give me what you bought.”
The guy who was looking at me with a pout held out what he had in his hand.
“I run errands for you, buying coffee every day. You don’t give me any face at all (쪽팔리게)…”
“And yet you keep coming and going? Do you want me to kick you out?”
“Oh, that’s not what I meant!”
“Students who don’t study and instead walk in and out of a thug’s office shouldn’t be given any face.”
“You ain’t jack shit either, fuckin’…”
“Fuckin’?”
“Sheesh, you have keen ears.”
Even to the end, he was rebellious, faking a laugh and shaking his head. Whatever. What else can I say to him? Instead of nagging, I put a straw in the vanilla latte he bought and sucked it.
I drank coffee in silence for a while, and the guy who was staring at me blankly swept his dog-looking hair back and said, “Oh, it’s amazing how well you consume something so sweet…”
“It’s delicious.”
“It doesn’t fit. Wine would look better with you.”
“What’s it matter if I like sweets or not? If you’ve no other business here, why don’t you stop chatting and leave?”
“Ugh, I was going to leave anyway! Really, how annoying…”
Who knew what his problem was, but the guy hurriedly opened the office door and walked out as he made a ruckus. I didn’t pay much mind, so I just drank coffee.
It was sweet and cool. Delicious.
“…gyeol-ssi.”
Sweet was the best…
“Yi-gyeol-ssi.”
“Umm?”
My eyes flashed open (깜빡). When I woke up, I saw sand through my blurred vision. Min Ah-rin, who shook me up, asked anxiously, “Are you okay? Do you want me to use my powers if you’re having a hard time? I’m sure you’ll feel better.”
“No.”
I must have slept enough to even dream. I got up from where I was sitting and brushed the sand off my pants.
“What time is it?”
“It’s four in the morning. They say we will be leaving soon.”
I nodded. I could see the sky, full of red dust, getting a little brighter.
It had been four days since I entered the gate. As it was an SS-class gate, the interior was so wide that we were only halfway done. Looking around, I saw guild members cleaning up their beds.
Offensive ability users had better stamina than ordinary B-rank users, so they could sleep anywhere, but non-offensive ability users like healers had the same body as ordinary people, so items such as sleeping bags were essential.
“Min Ah-rin-ssi looks more tired than me.”
“Umm… I can’t help it. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”
Even if you slept in a sleeping bag or tent, you couldn’t rest comfortably inside a gate where monsters attacked from time to time. Min Ah-rin, who had dark circles caused by fatigue and rough skin, smiled awkwardly.
“It’s still bearable. Since no one is hurt…”
“Aah.”
Fortunately, the monsters that appeared for these four days were grade B. Most of the clear team members were A-rank, so it was easy to handle even if monsters flocked in groups.
Healers could heal in exchange for their own energy so it was fine for now, but if people started getting hurt, Min Ah-rin would have a harder time than now
“But it’s easier than I thought. I thought the gate would be more difficult because the Master is also participating.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s a very easy gate.”
I told Min Ah-rin to be careful and to not relax too much. I was also sceptical that only grade B monsters appeared for these four days, but it didn’t change the fact that this gate was SS-ranked.
* * *
As soon as the surrounding area was completely bright, the monsters attacked. It was confusing for a while because they hid in the sand, but since they were B grade, the commotion quickly subsided.
Boom!
Kweeehk! (크에엑!)
Dozens of scorpion-like monsters were torn apart and fell to the floor. Boom! The ground shook slightly at the sound of the explosion.
“That’s amazing.”
A small iron ball flew to the monster and exploded. The monsters that rushed in did not even come close and were swept away by the explosion.
I nodded at Min Ah-rin’s words and looked at Park Geon-ho, who was handling the monster. The ability to turn an iron ball into a bomb. It was powerful enough to explode grade A monsters, so the position of team leader of the Special Operations Division was understandable.
The team that had dealt with all the monsters with Park Geon-ho’s ability started moving again. As I was walking while chewing dried beef jerky, I raised my head at the sound of shouts.
“This is the rest section!”
A thick green forest appeared in front of me, where I could only see the barren sand. The forest, which looked unlike anything from reality, like an oasis illusion, was a place called ‘Rest’, and it was a section that existed in some gates.
A peaceful forest with a dense jungle of trees and a river flowing in the centre. It was large enough that you’d have to walk half a day to leave it, and no monsters appeared in it, so it was named ‘Rest’.
Min Ah-rin, who saw the rest section for the first time like me, opened her eyes wide and spoke in an amazed tone, “Wow, there’s an actual forest.”
“I heard there are no monsters here.”
“Right. But don’t go around unnecessarily because it’s dangerous.”
“…damn it, why are you only bullying me?”
Kim Woo-jin, who had been constantly nagging me for four days, complained. I sighed and lowered my voice so Min Ah-rin could not hear me.
“There’s something else I need to do, so I’ll be out during the Rest section. Please don’t make trouble and stay quietly next to Min Ah-rin-ssi.”
“What? I’m going too!”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
It was the only place where I could get the two low-level items I asked for in return from Cheon Sa-yeon. It was my first time actually looking for it, so I didn’t know how long it would take. I was planning to follow the healer team from behind and then move out separately.
“What is this nonsense? The reason I came in the first place was to keep an eye on you…”
“The Master knows so you don’t have to worry about it.”
To be struggling to go get the two low-leveled items I should have gotten in the first place… oh, let’s stop there. If I thought about it more, I would probably run up to Cheon Sa-yeon and grab him by the collar.
“Ah, what am I supposed to do by myself…”
“Why would you be alone? I introduced you to Min Ah-rin-ssi.”
“We’re not close!”
“Are you close to me?”
When I asked him that back, Kim Woo-jin closed his mouth and stared at me. There was no point in staring.
“So you can be shy in this kind of situation… How troublesome…”
“Shut up! I just don’t feel like being friendly!”
“Anyway, I’m not bringing you along. I don’t have time to take care of you.”
“……”
When I looked at Kim Woo-jin with a deliberately very pissed off and annoyed expression on my face, the guy turned his body with a red face and ran away into the crowd. As I was looking at him and clicking my tongue, Min Ah-rin asked me with a curious expression, “Yi-gyeol-ssi, do you have a younger brother?”
“Younger brother?”
I swept around the back of my neck at the unexpected question. Should I say yes or no… To be honest, Han Yi-gyeol had a younger sister.
It was strange for me to ponder for a long time, so I asked bluntly, “What… Why ask all of a sudden?”
“When I see you treat Kim Woo-jin-ssi, you act like you have a lot of younger siblings.”
I had a lot of brothers, yes. I laughed awkwardly.
‘I had a lot. Of course, they’re not my brothers in that sense.’
I remembered the big guys who followed me saying, “Hyungnim, Hyungnim”. Thinking about it, they all looked so nice and innocent.
Come to think of it, there was a guy with a similar personality to Kim Woo-jin. The blond hair which I had pushed aside from my memory came to mind.
“How old are you, Yi-gyeol-ssi?”
“I’m… No, no, twenty-four years old.”
I almost spat out my real age. I managed to come to my senses and say Han Yi-gyeol’s age. It was the age I found out by looking at his ID card in his wallet. In the novel, Han Yi-gyeol had a small role, so information such as his age did not appear.
“Twenty-four? You look younger.”
“What about Min Ah-rin-ssi?”
“I am twenty-nine years old.”
“Min Ah-rin-ssi also looks much younger than your age.”
Min Ah-rin laughed at my words with a playful expression.
“Heh, heh. I hear that a lot, but it feels even better when Yi-gyeol-ssi says it.”
“Haha, I mean it.”
It was beneficial in many ways to get points from Min Ah-rin, but what I just said was true. No wonder ‘Abyss’ was a man-oriented novel. Ha Tae-heon, who had so many women follow him around, must have felt great.
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