CH 47

In summary, the speed of mana recovery will increase as long as she’s in contact with Seheon. 

With a preen, the constellation opened the system window such that it was also visible to Seheon. Seheon read the contents of that system window before his jaw dropped, “Ah.”

“So if we hold hands, your stamina and strength will receive a boost, and so it’s natural that you’d have an increased speed of recovery…”

It was rather ridiculous, but there was indeed a series of mechanisms.

Seheon sighed and interlocked his fingers with Hara’s. Hara spoke self-consciously.

“Oh, my hand is sweaty……”

“Do I seem like the kind of guy that’ll push someone that’s struggling before my eyes just because of the sweat on their hands?” 

Of course, Seheon wasn’t very happy with the current situation. It’s because interlocking fingers right in front of the constellation that’s clapping, playing the trumpet and setting off firecrackers in order to get them to date was no different from doing as the constellation wanted. 

Even so, he wasn’t a heartless enough man that would say, “I don’t want to hold your hand, so deal with it yourself,” in front of someone that’s been working so hard.

Seheon cooperated with Hara nonchalantly. It was rather obvious that Hara’s complexion, which used to be like a white sheet, was gradually stabilising.

“Should we do that while taking a break? As I’d mentioned before, I just need to leave before midnight.”

At those words, Hara clenched her fist suddenly. 

“No, since you’re helping me, I’ll ensure that we’ll leave before 8pm, no matter what happens!”

Seheon was deeply impressed by her determined appearance. Does that mean she’s the kind that’ll keep her promises?

Of course, it didn’t occur to him that something important to Hara would take place at 8pm.

* * *

[The guerrilla dungeon raid has been completed]

[The guerrilla gate will close]

[Time remaining: 04:59]

[Special reward: Trajectory of Confusion (A)]

And Kang Hara finally managed to accomplish it.

“Uhuhu… Unnie, I did it……”

As Hara held his hand while muttering to herself pantingly, Seheon wondered. Did Kang Hara have an older sister? He heard that she only had a younger brother.

* * *

“Let’s go.”

As soon as they finished the dungeon raid, Hara left the gate like she was on the verge of collapse. At that time, the sun had already set. 

The final boss, a mechanical monster, made Hara’s vision swim by disrupting her view, but no matter what, she could still bully it with her class.

With the activation of the multiplication skill, as well as the effect from holding Seheon’s hand, Hara used the sword of light to slice the monster’s core part, causing it to collapse helplessly.

“The reward is… Oh, it’s this.”

She wondered what the special reward, the Trajectory of Confusion, was, and it turned out to be the item that disrupted her vision, which the final boss had used. 

Its purpose was also quite evident. The duo used the reward just before they left Bamseom Island. This was to deceive the gazes of others. 

The yacht was untied and the engine started. They only let out a sigh of relief after they’d safely sailed to the Han River dock under little lighting conditions and got into Seheon’s car, which was parked at the outdoor parking lot.

“Are you alright, Anchor Yoon?”

Instead of answering Hara’s question, Seheon held out the wet wipes that he took from the passenger seat’s dashboard. 

Hara received them with a bow of gratitude.

Seheon amended his opinion of her. It was currently 7:45pm.

In Seheon’s opinion, the most important thing he used to assess another’s character was whether they kept their words. He has always despised liars.

Moreover, Hara’s performance today was quite plausible. He didn’t tell Hara, but he actually felt quite reassured. 

‘Do people look different after becoming an S-class?’ 

He really didn’t expect that they’d close the dungeon before 8pm.

“I’ve postponed the restaurant reservation to 8pm.”

“Huh? Oh yes, thank you.”

Meanwhile, Hara, who’d possibly forgotten about the dinner reservation, let out a long sigh in the passenger seat before flinching and replying.

Seheon smiled faintly.

“If you’re tired, I can take you home immediately.”

“No, thank you for watching out for me.”

“I think I’d be watching out for you if I brought you home so that you can rest.”

But Hara shook her head.

“It’s not like I can rest just because I’m going home…”

Those words were filled with various meanings, and Seheon immediately understood exactly what she meant. 

Seheon also felt exhausted from the moment he stepped into his family home. It goes without saying that having a meal with Rep. Yoon made him more nervous than hosting the news.

“I understand. Then let’s have a meal before returning home.”

Just as Hara was about to answer, her stomach growled. It was the perfect answer. Kang Hara’s face turned red, but Seheon was faster.

“Thank you for your answer.” 

With a soft smile, Seheon started the car. Hara murmured softly to him.

“Anchor Yoon, you’re rather good at joking…”

“You’ll soon find out whether I’m good at joking or not. Please rest for a while. You can get some shut-eye, albeit for a short while.”

“Yes……”

Although she said that, Hara still began to organise her inventory while in the passenger seat.

“I’d roughly shove it in because I was in a hurry, but it’s going to explode if I don’t organise it quickly.”

The things that she’d placed on her lap were various mechanical parts. It was a matter of course, as she was dealing with mechanical monsters in the urban-type dungeon. 

Even though Seheon had gotten used to it, it was still a rather odd sight to see mechanical parts popping out in mid-air, so he kept glancing over while driving.

“It’s my first time seeing my inventory this full.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s because the inventory doesn’t store objects from the real world.”

The dungeon’s mana stone, and mechanical parts. The A-grade mana stone, which she’d collected from the boss, shone a mysterious purple colour.

But Hara sighed.

“How the hell am I supposed to dispose of this…”

“If you put it up on the Hunter Market…… Oh, you said that it was confidential to the public.”

“Yeah. In the first place, mana stones belonged to the government…”

That’s not necessarily the case. Seheon smiled bitterly to himself.

How many mana stones are being illegally traded? It was already an outdated saying to exchange a box of apples etc during holidays. Even Rep. Yoon also has a box of expensive mana stones embedded in the basement of his house.

But even so, it was quite ridiculous to ask her to sell it illegally, so Seheon kept his mouth closed.

“If it was something like an egg, I could’ve sold it to the health centre…”

“……The health centre?”

The mumbling Hara flinched. She then smiled awkwardly.

“Erm, a beak, or the liver of a bear, those things are purchased at a high price by the health centre…”

“……True, there are grave robbers that would sneak into low-grade dungeons every year even.”

Since he dealt with the news, he was rather familiar with such cases. 

In the olden days, grave robbers robbed royal tombs or ruins, but these days, they were different. In the 21st century, grave robbers secretly collected and sold things such as the liver, eyeball, and teeth of monsters from E-class or D-class dungeons. But there isn’t any evidence that such things are good for your health.

Hara responded while organising her inventory.

“It’s a little inconvenient, but there’s nothing I can do. Because this inconvenience is a hundred times better than letting it be known that I’m in the middle of a quest?”

“That’s why you’ll sell it to the health centre?”

“No, that’s not necessarily the case…”

Soon afterwards, Hara took something out of her inventory awkwardly.

Seheon glanced at it. It was a round and smooth…egg?

“Why an ostrich egg?”

“Does it seem like an ostrich egg? It’s actually what I’d gotten after defeating the boss of the Yeouido dungeon.”

“Hooh?”

Seheon was impressed.

Taptap, Hara tapped on the shell. It was rather hard.

It didn’t look like an eagle’s egg, but an egg that seemed big enough to cover the sky. 

“I thought that I’m going to make this into fried eggs and eat it, but recently, a hatching quest appeared.” 

“Anything can happen, huh.” 

“Anyway, it’s always like this when I meet the constellation. Huh?

Hara suddenly made a sound of shock. Seheon was driving, so he waited for Hara’s next words. However, Hara punched the air for a long while, before suddenly making a loud bang.

“Ah, aren’t you seriously insane!”

Seheon was gradually getting used to Hara’s way of showing her annoyance. In other words, the constellation must have said something ridiculous yet again.

Hara buried her face in her hands, and after a long moment, she raised her head and suddenly asked Seheon.

“Excuse me, Anchor Yoon. Do you own a pet?”

“No, I don’t really like animals.”

“Is that so? Have you ever bought and raised those chicks that were sold in front of schools when you were younger?”

Those yellow-coloured chicks, huh. He’d bought it before. However, such memories would usually end badly, and Seheon didn’t want to talk about those memories.

Besides, he had a bad feeling. Don’t you normally get those kinds of hunches? An ominous premonition, or a bad feeling. Those kinds of hunches were never wrong.

And even if it wasn’t necessarily such a hunch, Seheon was vaguely aware of what this woman was currently saying. Even without having played the game before, the rules could be fully inferred from the situation. 

She took out an eagle’s egg and suddenly asked if he had a pet.

“This is a disaster…”

He shouldn’t ask what the disaster was. The moment he asked, Seheon would probably end up having a bird-type pet that came from the dungeon.

At that very moment, Hara’s phone began ringing. Bzzzzt. It wasn’t clear whether it was from an alarm or a phone call.

Kang Hara, who had been staring distractedly into space, groaned when she looked at her phone.

“I’m sorry, Anchor-nim. Please give me a moment.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Seheon happened to be entering the underground parking lot of a hotel which housed the restaurant he made a dinner reservation at.

As the hotel was in the same building as a large shopping mall, the underground parking lot was rather deep. It took them quite a while to enter, because it was evening, and so there were many cars. 

“……”

Up till now, Hara had been tapping away on her cell phone. As Seheon waited for the car in front of him to depart, he stole a glance at her and found her looking at the screen with so much focus that her eyes were almost popping out.

“Ah! No! Ahh!”

“…….”

“Oh, Lee Sunjwa again…….”

Who was Lee Sunjwa?

Seheon turned his gaze forward again, unable to imagine that it wasn’t a person’s name, but an abbreviation of ‘This seat has already been selected.”

“I’m going crazy…”

“……”

“Ah, please, please.”

Kang Hara didn’t seem to know that she was talking to herself.

Before he knew it, he’d finished parking the car. However, Hara was so focused on her phone that Seheon turned the engine off and waited. 

It was currently 8:10pm. Seheon normally didn’t like to be late for reservations, but he didn’t want to rush a person that’s worked hard for six hours for the sake of a mere 10 minutes. He had already sent a text to the restaurant manager that he could be slightly late.

Seheon only sighed and opened his mouth when she ended up saying, “Hiiing… it’s ruined…” and buried her face on her phone while her shoulders moved like she was sobbing. 

“Is there something I can do for you?”

“What?”

“All I have to do is raise a chick, right?”

“Uh…… I’m sorry, Anchor Yoon, but I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

Why was she pretending to be in the dark?

“It seems like the hatching quest for that eagle’s egg has popped up already. Isn’t that so?”

“Uh, oh…… That may be true. By the way…”

Hara stuttered in embarrassment. Seheon looked at Hara carefully.

“I dislike animals. But didn’t we agree to cooperate? So you don’t have to try so hard to leave it to someone else.”

I think you’ve got it wrong, and you’ve been mistaken for quite some time now. Hara averted her eyes.