As soon as we finished all the kobolds, we had to deal with a swarm of goblins and dwarf zombies for the next hour.
A dwarf zombie, which had bizarrely slender arms with a height of a child’s, attacked my neck.
“Ugh…!”
I hurriedly pulled my upper body back and killed the dwarf zombie. Before I knew it, there were dwarf zombie corpses all around.
“Jeez, that was a lot.”
“Those of you who are hurt, please raise your hand!”
“Does anyone have bandages left over?”
The guild members, taking a break, sat down with tired expressions on their faces. Meanwhile, the identifier and Park Geon-ho checked the ratings for the dwarf zombies.
“It dropped from 67.2% of B grade to 11.32%.”
“At this point, it’s clear there’s an abnormality.” Park Geon-ho, tapping the corner of his mouth, said, “Let’s keep measuring… If you find a monster with a lowered rating, let me know.”
“Yessir.”
Hearing the conversation between the two nearby, I lightly kicked at the dwarf zombie corpse that almost fell to C-grade, thinking, ‘There’s a high probability that there will be other problems besides a downgrade.’
In this gate, the level of monsters that appeared on each floor was different, and once you went upstairs, you couldn’t go back down.
‘I want to take a look by myself before going up to the second floor.’
I glanced at Kim Woo-jin, who was sitting next to me. He’d definitely be against it. But I couldn’t take him with me.
“Wh-what?” While looking at him intently and contemplating what to do, Kim Woo-jin, who felt my gaze, withdrew his body and frowned. “I wasn’t doing anything!”
“Who said you were? I’m just looking.”
“You two, aren’t you hungry? Would you like some peanut butter bread?” Min Ah-rin handed me and Kim Woo-jin a bag of bread.
“Thank you.”
I was really hungry, so I put the bread in my mouth right away. Min Ah-rin, who was standing next to me eating bread, smiled and said, “This reminds me of the time when we went to the SS-grade gate.”
“That’s right.”
Once again, I realized that it had been quite some time since I entered Han Yi-gyeol’s body. It’s been about two months.
“Come to think of it, the three of us don’t really see each other often; it’s amazing that we’ve become so close.”
At that, I smiled bitterly. Both Kim Woo-jin and Min Ah-rin reminded me that Cheon Sa-yeon deliberately bound them to me to weaken me.
Pushing away my bitter thoughts, I deliberately answered lightly, “Well, what does that have to do with getting close to someone? Even if you see someone a lot, it’s hard to get along if your personalities don’t match.”
Min Ah-rin looked behind me and asked, “Like those two?”
“Pardon?”
When I turned around, I saw Park Geon-ho and Woo Seo-hyuk glaring at each other. Wait, what happened in that brief time?
“That plan is unacceptable.”
“Is there any reason I need your consent, Secretary Woo Seo-hyuk?”
“Because it’s a plan that won’t convince a single member of your team?”
“In this kind of situation, I think it is right to check thoroughly. Secretary Woo Seo-hyuk, you don’t seem to think the same; you must be very scared.”
“It’s not a good idea to act hastily when the team has to move together.”
“Do we need to be more careful than this? It’s safer to turn everything inside out.”
“Once you enter a gate, you should always be prepared for the unexpected. If something goes wrong by touching something that shouldn’t be touched, who’s going to be responsible?”
“Of course I'll be responsible for it. Do you think I’m so scummy that I won’t?”
I rubbed my forehead and sighed. They were really going at it…
“Oh, they’re fighting. They’re fighting.”
“Secretary Woo Seo-hyuk had been very patient.”
“But isn’t the Team Leader right? If there’s an anomaly, you should check it out.”
“In my opinion, the Secretary is right. You don’t need to be so meticulous. It’s better to just clear this and leave.”
“Is he going to grab him by the collar? Should we make a bet?”
“10,000 won that the Team Leader will win. Who can beat that person’s stubbornness?”
“The Secretary’s stubbornness is no joke either. I’ll put 20,000 won for the Secretary.”
“In close combat, it’s hard to beat the Secretary. Secretary, 30,000 won!”
“If the Team Leader throws an iron ball with the intention of self-destructing, the Secretary can’t easily win.”
The guild members only watched the two fighting with interest. There was no sign that they were going to stop the two.
Even though it really looked like they were going to grab each other’s collars and start punching.
“Shouldn’t we stop them…”
“It really does look like they’ll start fighting if we leave them alone.”
Min Ah-rin agreed with me, but she didn’t seem to have any intention of actually going over there. Kim Woo-jin… was indifferent as always.
‘Am I the only one…’
I really didn’t want to, but if I left them alone, something bad would probably happen*.
“Both of you, please stop.”
The onlookers became even more enthusiastic when I stepped in between Park Geon-ho and Woo Seo-hyuk, who were staring at each other.
“Ooh? The mercenary stepped in!”
“Mercenary, 10,000 won!”
“I’ll bet on him as well. 20,000 won for the mercenary!”
“Instead of 20,000 won, I’ll put 30,000 won!”
“Look at that dignified figure. I’ll bet too. 40,000 won.”
“What? Isn’t he an A-rank mercenary? Why are his stakes going for the highest?”
“Somehow I feel like he’ll win. I feel it.”
Oh hell.
I ignored the guild members’ conversation and said, “How could you end up having a conversation like that?”
“I apologize.”
“He started it first**.”
At my words, Woo Seo-hyuk immediately apologized, and Park Geon-ho shamelessly blamed the other party. I asked Park Geon-ho, looking disappointed, “What are you two so worked up about?”
“Hm. It’s not that important. I was thinking of going somewhere I was worried about for a while.”
“Which place?”
“There is a hidden path at the side of the stairs going up to the second floor. It’s the only place I haven’t been able to check since there is a clear time limit.”
“…do you think it has something to do with the gate anomaly?”
“It’s not necessarily like that. The situation is already like this, so it’s not bad to go.”
“Woo Seo-hyuk-ssi, are you against it?”
“It would be fine if the gate had no anomalies, but it is dangerous for now.”
“Um…”
Woo Seo-hyuk was right. It was a lot of pressure to go to places we weren’t sure about.
However, that was only when the whole team moved.
“Then how about this?” After thinking about it for a while, to the two stiff people who didn’t budge on their opinions, I said, “I’ll go there myself.”
“What?”
The atmosphere around me became cold in an instant. What was this reaction? I quickly added an explanation. “It’s a burden if we all move together, as Woo Seo-hyuk-ssi said, so if I go and check it out, isn’t that better in many ways? I can fly, so it’s easy to escape.”
“You cannot.” Before Park Geon-ho, who had a surprised expression on his face, could say anything, Woo Seo-hyuk shook his head with a clear firm face. “It is very dangerous to walk around unconfirmed sections by yourself. I absolutely cannot agree.”
“Um, while I’d usually say to go for it… this is a bit much.”
“Han Yi-gyeol!”
Among the onlookers with subtle expressions, Kim Woo-jin and Min Ah-rin rushed towards us. In particular, Kim Woo-jin said, with a ferocious look that I had never seen before, “What are you talking about? Are you—going somewhere alone?”
“Oh… No, that’s…”
“Yi-gyeol-ssi. No matter what, this is not the solution.”
Even Min Ah-rin agreed with Kim Woo-jin. Upon seeing this, I was covered in cold sweat.
“Don’t say that; please listen to me. I didn’t come here just to clear the gate. Additionally, moving as a group is risky. So I…”
“But there is no reason for Han Yi-gyeol-ssi to handle it alone.”
I laughed awkwardly.
‘But I won’t be handling it…’
Even if there was no need, I wanted to take a look inside the gate by myself, so it was a good opportunity for me.
I didn’t know there would be so many people against it.
“…Team Leader.”
“It’s not an easy matter to think about wandering around the gate alone. If you’re unlucky, we won’t even be able to find a body if you die.”
“It won’t happen.”
“Still, you cannot. If I allow you to go, what will I say to the Master later?”
Why mention Cheon Sa-yeon? It was absurd.
“That… That’s right.”
Woo Seo-hyuk, at Park Geon-ho’s words, nodded with a look of realization on his face. What ‘that’s right’? Really.
“Don’t make weird excuses.”
“It’s not an excuse. I mean it more sincerely than anything else.”
“It’s not an excuse.”
“It’s a bit scary to think that the Master will nag like a mother-in-law.”
Would he nag because of me? Cheon Sa-yeon? I didn’t know what kind of conversation this was.
Min Ah-rin, worried, said to me, “I am against you going alone. Especially since this is an S-grade gate. Yi-gyeol-ssi already comes back injured when he enters gates.”
“That’s…”
“Everyone is against Yi-gyeol-ssi because we’re worried about you, so please understand this time, Yi-gyeol-ssi.”
…You weren’t worried about me; you were afraid you’d be nagged by Cheon Sa-yeon.
Still, I couldn't keep insisting like this. In the end, I had no choice but to give up my plan and follow what the others said.
“I understand. Then let’s think of another way.”
“Okay. Let’s keep an eye on the situation for now.”
“That would be good. There’s a possibility that the numbers will return to normal.”
In response to my answer, we gathered different opinions as if Park Geon-ho and Woo Seo-hyuk never fought.
‘I guess I’ll have to look for another opportunity… Maybe I’ll ask Cheon Sa-yeon if I could go alone and check it later.’
Since I found out that there was a hidden path, I wanted to check it out if possible.
“Then… shall we finish clearing the first floor and talk again?”
Still, coming twice was a waste of time, so I’d like to fix it this time. When I smilingly asked while hiding my true intentions, Woo Seo-hyuk looked at me and answered with a hard voice, “No matter what the circumstances, I will not agree to send you alone.”
“……”
Which meant ‘don’t even dream of it’. You were too quick witted. I internally clicked my tongue and nodded.
“What… Why such a happy ending?”
“What happens to the bet?”
“Can’t you see? The Healer is the ultimate winner.”
“Mh. You can’t beat the Healer.”
The onlookers were extremely disappointed with the resolution. I think they really wanted Park Geon-ho and Woo Seo-hyuk to fight.
It was amazing how only people similar to Park Geon-ho gathered here. At this point, it was enough to change the name to Fun-Loving Group rather than Special Operations.
“After some rest, let’s go again,” Park Geon-ho said with a piece of bread in his mouth. He couldn’t eat it earlier because he was too busy arguing with Woo Seo-hyuk.
Deemed to be unreasonably reckless, I was dragged away by Min Ah-rin and Kim Woo-jin, each pulling one arm.
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