Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Beneath the flickering shadows of the leaves, the man I had never saved bowed as if in prayer, pressing my hand to his forehead and murmuring.

“Please, stay like this.”

The man was speaking of stagnation.

“Like this, just like this… I don’t wish for anything else. I’m not begging for your love. I’m not asking for your attention. Just, just this moment. Please allow me to remain like this.”

He didn’t crave love from his savior. He didn’t seek attention. Likewise, he didn’t even want pity for himself.

All he wanted was the world’s strongest and most unshakable rope to bind him to his savior.

“Is that really enough for you?”

Feeling the hot warmth against the back of my hand, I asked in a low voice.

“Yes.”

“Can you really be satisfied with something so trivial? Do you think this one-sided relationship created by my skill is truly ‘perfect’?”

“Master.”

The man’s eyelids, closed as if in prayer, lifted open.

“All I want is proof that I am connected to you.”

In the end, I was at a loss for words.

It wasn’t that I had nothing to say, or that I didn’t want to say anything. It was simply that I realized I couldn’t recklessly change or even attempt to change this man, who clung to my hand as if he might collapse at any moment, wanting only a hollow proof.

“Mr. Yoon Juyeong…”

I know people who don’t place hope in relationships between people.

I know people who cynically say that anyone other than oneself is ultimately an eternal stranger, and I know people who say that relationships are just a temporary measure to forget that intelligent beings are forever alone.

But I had never seen or heard of someone who placed hope in a relationship, yet that relationship was not one between ‘person and person,’ who ultimately sought salvation from someone who would forever be a stranger, and who finally wished for a ‘permanent’ measure to forget being alone.

Gritting my teeth against the rising despair, I looked at the man who, like a pilgrim with his head bowed, held my hand against his cheek.

With eyes that seemed about to shed tears at any moment, yet without a single tear falling, he just stared at me.

“Wanting to form a true relationship with you…”

The skin touching mine was simply hot.

“Does it cause you pain?”

Mr. Yoon Juyeong didn’t answer. But sometimes, silence speaks a thousand words. In the ensuing silence, I read his affirmation. And his affirmation became my devastation.

“Mr. Yoon Juyeong, I… I mean…”

At the very least, I thought I had to say something to this man. Not something like ‘you shouldn’t do that’ or the obvious platitude that people can’t live without relationships, but something a little more honest and clear.

But then, a voice licked at my ear like a serpent’s tongue.

—Found you.

On a hill where everything had died and vanished, the guardian who had survived alone with nothing to protect whispered in a low voice, sticky as honey.

—My only human child.

And then.

There was darkness.

* * *

“Jeong Seojin.”

The man sitting on the sofa in the shade to avoid the midday sun, staring at his smartphone, raised his head.

“What’s with the sudden outburst? You haven’t said a word since Master left.”

“The connection with Master has been severed.”

It was a blunt statement, as if all preamble had been cut off. But instead of being flustered or dumbfounded, Jeong Seojin put the smartphone he was holding into his pocket and spoke.

“When?”

“Just now. Exactly 30 seconds ago.”

The connection between the ‘item’ and the ‘master’ had been severed. Jeong Seojin straightened his slouching posture and narrowed his brow slightly.

It wasn’t just a phone call being cut off. No matter how he thought about it, there was only one reason the connection between an item and its master could be severed.

“A Dungeon?”

“It seems Master has entered a Dungeon.”

“But there wasn’t any Dungeon near where Master went… No, wait.”

Recalling the internet article headline he had just seen, Jeong Seojin pulled the smartphone back out of his pocket.

Fortunately, his latest-model phone, which knew its master’s temper well, displayed what he wanted on the screen with just a few taps.

[Sudden Dungeon Generation in District XX… Evacuation Order Issued for Nearby Residents]

On such-and-such a day at approximately 1:32 PM, a report came in that a sudden Dungeon had generated in District XX of XX City…

Jeong Seojin immediately checked the bottom of the article.

According to witnesses, a man and a woman who had been standing in the shade near the parking lot were caught up in the Dungeon generation incident.

* * *

The sunlight that had been beating down hard enough to sting the skin just moments ago, and the view filled with leaf shadows, was suddenly engulfed by darkness surging in like a flood.

“……?!”

“Master!”

At first, I thought someone had simply blocked my vision, or that I’d been hit with a debuff that obstructed my sight, but that wasn’t it. This was just darkness settling over the area surrounding me and Yoon Juyeong.

“I’m fine, Yoon Juyeong! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. More importantly, please reach out your hand. A threat could strike at any moment without warning, so…”

In a situation like this, staying close to Yoon Juyeong was definitely the safest option, no matter what.

I stretched one hand toward where I heard Yoon Juyeong’s voice while rummaging through my Inventory with the other. Let’s see, something that could produce light…

“Whoa?!”

“Master!!”

The ground that had been solidly beneath my feet just moments ago suddenly vanished.

As anyone thrown into empty air with nothing to step on would, I immediately began falling at high speed into a bottomless abyss.

“Aaaah…! Ugh.”

“Master, are you alright?”

“I’m, I’m fine. Thank you for catching me.”

The one saving grace was that I wasn’t alone in this place. As if reacting to my scream, Yoon Juyeong quickly grabbed me and pulled me into his arms.

“What the hell is going on…”

“It seems we’ve been caught up in a sudden Dungeon generation process.”

Seriously, last time it swallowed my entire house, and now it’s going to swallow me and Yoon Juyeong too? I wrapped my arms around Yoon Juyeong’s neck and furrowed my brow.

‘Is this the threat related to Dungeons that Nostalgia warned me about?’

Nostalgia had said that my choice would lead to various threats and dangers related to Dungeons descending upon me. Recalling Nostalgia’s words, I looked around again.

“First, we need something to light up the area… Ah.”

Come to think of it, there was one thing. I immediately pulled the item I’d thought of from my Inventory.

<Mana Orb (Light)>

An orb containing concentrated light-attribute mana.

There is a risk of the mana exploding if the orb breaks.

Originally used as a flash grenade, since it contained light-attribute mana, it could be quite useful in a situation like this. I injected a small amount of mana into the Mana Orb and immediately floated it into the air.

“Master, in case something happens, rather than wasting your mana, it might be better if I…”

“This much is fine. More importantly, please focus on landing as safely as possible, Juyeong.”

Strictly in terms of mana consumption, it would be right to leave trivial tasks like this to Yoon Juyeong. An S-Rank hunter would have enough residual mana leaking from their body to make an orb like this glow.

‘But manipulating the orb is a bit different.’

To keep the orb from drifting out of the mana range, even a high-rank hunter would need a certain amount of concentration. …Of course, it was a simple task, comparable to carrying a cup a third full of water without spilling it.

I snapped out of my brief thoughts and observed the reality right in front of me. The light from the Mana Orb dimly illuminated the area around me and Yoon Juyeong.

I glanced at the steep gray cliff behind me and spoke.

“More importantly, this place… it seems like a rocky terrain-based field, doesn’t it?”

“It does seem that way, but… my intuition feels a bit off.”

His delicate face, illuminated by the light from the Mana Orb, wore a subtle expression.

“I’m trying to extend my sensory range as far as possible… but there’s no trace of monsters anywhere nearby.”

“None at all?”

“Yes.”

A place that’s supposed to be a Dungeon, with no monsters at all? I tightened my arms around Yoon Juyeong’s neck slightly and furrowed my brow.

“Master.”

“Yes?”

“Could you hold onto me a little tighter for a moment?”

“Uh, sure. But why—”

“If I use my skill.”

In that instant, the light from the Mana Orb made Yoon Juyeong’s shadow ripple violently.

“I think I can move us downward faster this way.”

The moment he said that, Yoon Juyeong’s shadow swelled in size in an instant, then opened its maw straight toward us. I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut and hugged Yoon Juyeong tightly.

A very brief silence, and then a bizarre sensation I couldn’t possibly describe in words washed over my entire body. Along with a strange sense of release, as if I’d been submerged in a viscous liquid and then pulled out, I opened my eyes.

“We’ve arrived, Master.”

“Hah, haah… wh-what was that just now? What the hell?”

“I used a skill I have called ‘Shadow Dweller.’”

Shadow Dweller…? That name sounded familiar. I set my feet on the ground with Yoon Juyeong’s help and thought hard about the skill he’d mentioned. Fortunately, the relevant memory came back to me quickly.

“Ah, the one I saw back then.”