CH 9

Naturally, Seo Do-jun countered this.

“That cannot work. And there are contract penalties…”

“I will deal with the penalty. There is no problem in breaking the mutually agreed agreement.”

“The problem of trust with Hunter Jung Jinho…”

“Hunter Seo Do-jun protected me with the utmost sincerity, and I will tell my father that I sent him back because I want to marry Hunter Seo Do-jun.”

Seo Do-jun shut his mouth as if he had nothing to say.

“Are you going to do it?”

“…If I win, what would you do?”

“I’ll grant you one wish. There may not be things you want from me, but you can have things you want for your family through me, right?”

It was a pretty self-sacrificing statement.

Seo Do-jun hardened his mouth.

“The awakens have better fuselage vision than civilians.”

“I know.”

“He will not let me off the hook for the implementation of the contract.”

“The world of winning is cold-hearted.”

“If you say that, I understand. But I will never leave Haeun behind. I’m going to win.”

Is that really the case? Haeun snorted.

The game they chose was an ordinary board game. A very simple game played with cards with fruits and bells. However, there was a strange tension between the two people who accepted the card.

Ding-! The first bell rang.

“Ha ha!”

Haeun was the first to ring the bell. Haeun smiled brightly at Seo Do-jun. Seo Do-jun, a step behind, with a strange expression, brought his hand from the back of Haeun’s.

The game continued. The two rang the bell equally, but Haeun continued to win by a narrow margin. She then said while stroking the pile of cards.

“I hope you will go home quietly like this.”

“…I can’t risk life and death against non-awakened people.”

“Then you will lose.”

[The constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ said the current situation is interesting.]

In fact, Seo Do-jun was in a panic right now.

He accepted her bet just to quiet her down by convincing her of her defeat.

However, the flow of the game does not go as expected. With his body as an S-class, he could barely defeat a single non-awakened person.

The number of times he rang the bell was similar to hers, but he was clearly losing. The fact that the number of times was similar in the first place made no sense.

How can a non-awakened person be faster than an awakened person? He had never heard of such a thing.

Ding-! The bell of fate rang again.

Seo Do-jun looked down in disbelief. There were no cards left. Victory and defeat were decided.

“Wow! You did so well, I was nervous.”

Haeun said something that didn’t even make sense to him and stretched.

“The exit door is on the right~”

“Just one more round.”

Seo Do-jun said awkwardly. If she tells her parents that he went back because she wanted to break the contract, Jung Jinho and Lee Yoon-kyung, who had entrusted him with the request, would see him as unreliable.

Haeun smiled and waved her index finger.

“No. You promised. If you lose, you’ll go back.”

“It was a practice game.”

“I didn’t know that Hunter Seo Do-jun would say that…”

Haeun muttered shakily. A tight-knit person who is unlikely to accept an exception is insisting on a practice game. It looks like she will have a lot more stomach ache than she thought.

“Okay. So, one more time? I’m just looking after you… Well, what will you do if I win?”

“I will grant one wish of Haeun.”

“Fine.”

Haeun decided to give her opponent a chance.

“Wow, I won again!”

Another chance to lose.

[The constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ truly pitied Seo Do-jun, saying that Haeun didn’t look after him once.]

Seo Do-jun opened his eyes and looked at his table. His card evaporated again and disappeared. He said, syllable by syllable.

“This is nonsense.”

“I told you that if you let your guard down, you’ll lose.”

He was vigilant. He had to win this time because he had already lost the first game.

However, in this game, Seo Do-jun was never able to ring the bell faster than Haeun.

Seo Do-jun looked down at his hand.

‘Is this a situation that makes sense?’

Haeun arranged the cards with a clack sound. Only then did he come to his senses and raise his head. Haeun smiled brightly, drawing a line around the corner of her eyes.

“Did you lose?”

“…That’s right.”

“Anyway, going to the water park today has become difficult, so stay until tomorrow and go. I’ll keep telling my dad as if you’re fine around me.”

Seo Do-jun flinched as if he had something to say, then shook his head in depression.

If he wanted to refute, he could refute it, but Seo Do-jun seemed to follow the principle even in such a bet. He was truly knowledgeable, and in many ways the opposite of Haeun.

[The constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ said that if it was him, it would have overturned the board from the moment it started losing the game.]

‘Of course.’

There were fights in Haeun’s life, but there was no defeat.

Rumble-

Haeun’s stomach made a sound. She glanced at the clock and saw that lunchtime had already passed. Haeun turned to Seo Do-jun and asked.

“I’m hungry and I’m going to buy something from outside. Would you like to eat with me as well?”

“Eat with you…”

“Uh-huh.”

Haeun held out her finger in front of Seo Do-jun. Seo Do-jun flinched and stopped on the spot.

“You know the game is over, right? I’ll go alone! I’m going to go out and come back. It’s right in front here, so there’s no danger. I’ll be back in 30 minutes.”

Haeun looked at Seo Do-jun, who had a raccoon-like expression that washed cotton candy in the river. Haeun clicked her tongue.

“Anyway, just take a break after losing. Don’t be too strict about it.”

“I’m fine…”

“Anyway, I’ll go. Rest!”

Haeun left the apartment, leaving Seo Do-jun unable to move. The bright sunlight poured over Haeun’s head. She opened her arms and shouted loudly.

“I am free!”

It was so easy. She meant to do this in the past.

[The constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ said it was too much for Seo Do-jun.]

“What?”

[The constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ asks if she hasn’t seen Seo Do-jun’s expression.]

She saw. But Haeun was brave.

“But aren’t I better?”

[The constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ forgets what to say about Haeun’s brazenness.]

[This is the first time it felt pity toward Seo Do-jun, and it sends sympathy to him.]

Excited, Haeun jumped and ran to the street.

On a weekday afternoon, the residential area, the sun was the hottest at 3 PM, and the streets were quiet. Haeun stopped by the shop and bought what she wanted to eat.

Read only at pm tl.

It was enough for at least three people, but Haeun’s male relatives always ate huge amounts of food, so Seo Do-jun, a similar age, seemed to eat a lot too. The burden she felt began to lift.

“Hmm~”

The last time she stopped at a convenience store, she bought one of the ice creams. Since her hands were full, she was biting the ice cream with her teeth, so a tingling sensation spread through her mouth. Haeun turned with a light heart.

But at that moment, the ominous energy she suddenly felt brought her sensitive senses to a standstill.

“Huh?”

Haeun flinched and looked around her. The ground where she was standing began to shake violently.

‘I hope this isn’t…’

Haeun was trying to get away from the scene. But at the same time.

Boom-

“Ahh!”

The ground suddenly made a ominous noise, and her vision was turned upside down.

Oh, X.

Haeun was sucked into the dungeon without a second thought.

~*~

The front of the apartment complex was now a mess.

“Move the wounded first! Hurry up!”

“It’s dangerous! Back off!”

Police and ambulances came to rescue the injured. Hunters belonging to the dungeon management and safety department were dispatched and surrounded the gate that suddenly appeared. The area near the accident site was crowded with people walking around half terrified and half curious.

“Yes, I am in front of an apartment in Gangnam right now.”

The announcer wearing glasses recites the situation in front of the camera.

“With the gate that occurred around 3:48 pm on the 7th today, about 1,100 households living in nearby apartments have been evacuated. We will ask the person in charge of all dungeon management for the detailed cause of the incident. Hello.”

“Yes, how are you?”

“Due to the sudden occurrence of the gate, the entire area is currently evacuated.”

“Yes, it is. As a result of the check, the grade of the dungeon that occurred is grade D, which corresponds to a lower grade. However, as it occurs in a residential area, it is a situation that requires a quick attack and rescue of victims.”

“What could be the cause?”

“For now, we see it as a one-time crack related to the recent flood of monsters.”

Korea introduced an international standard energy measurement system to preemptively predict and manage the occurrence of gates and dungeons.

Among major advanced countries, it boasts a fairly accurate hit rate, but today’s gate was not predicted in advance.

As such, the recent occurrence of dungeons and gates was anomalous, showing a different pattern from the previous ones.

“It is known that there are civilian victims, but what is your rescue plan?”

The face of the person in charge who came out for the interview darkened somewhat.

“Currently, our dungeon management and safety department hunters are going to enter the dungeon right away. In case of emergency, we have also sent a request for cooperation to each guild.”

“Yes. Then the estimated time is…huh, Hunter Seo Do-jun?”