Calm Down (2) >

Kwajik!

I reflexively opened my eyes at the sound of something breaking. Was it Blue? I was going to ask what she broke again, when I saw the table and remembered that I was in Yoohyun’s house. The 9 o’clock news was coming out of the TV.

…9 o’clock? That Yoohyun stubbornly insisted that he wasn’t sleepy when we got to his house, but he fell asleep in the end? I should’ve set an alarm instead of just sleeping because it was annoying to.

I quickly raised my body, but I saw Yoohyun sitting on a sofa. He wasn’t sleeping.

“Hey, why didn’t you-!”

The words, ‘wake me up’, couldn’t leave my mouth. The two eyes looking at me were extremely cold. I heard Peace faintly growling on my lap. I saw a cell phone that seemed shattered in Yoohyun’s hand.

“Is your hand ok, no of course it’s okay.”

First of all, I held Peace and soothed him. I couldn’t feel it very well, but that guy seemed to be in quite a vicious state. Though I didn’t know the reason.

……Actually, there were so many reasons why he could be angry so I wasn’t sure. What was he caught on? Seeing how it was severe, was it Noah?

“Hey…”

“I have no intention of hearing it from hyung.”

Speaking concisely, Yoohyun stood up from his seat. He threw the cell phone onto the table, and opened a cabinet on one side of the living room. Unlike him, maybe he didn’t adjust his strength very well, because the cabinet handle broke. Inside, I saw cell phone boxes that didn’t even have their wrappings opened.

“What is all that?”

“Since they break easily.”

He answered, but his voice completely wasn’t normal. It seemed like he was thinking of just switching the SIM card, but would the card still be okay? Just then, there was another breaking noise.

Tuk

The box and cell phone that were shattered together fell to Yoohyun’s feet.

“……Hey.”

“The wrapping didn’t come off easily.”

And then the second cell phone was also also crushed. I heard a small sigh. He wasn’t being like that on purpose. When I thought like that, I was suddenly worried.

“Yoohyun.”

“Just a minute.”

Since before, his voice was even. The third cell phone was safely taken out. But SIM card pin was stuck in a weird place. The hand that had picked up the pin seemed like it was slightly trembling, too. Staring down at the cracked phone, he grinded his teeth.

“……Should I do it for you?”

“No.”

And the last cell phone broke. A silence descended heavily. Han Yoohyun glared at the shattered cell phone in his hand like he would pierce through it. While not moving an inch, like a doll whose springs had completely unwound.

“Yoohyun, Han Yoohyun.”

“……”

His reactions really was weird. I lowered Peace onto the sofa and stood up from my seat. Yoohyun didn’t move at all until I was one step from his side.

“Even if you have no intention of listening to me, listen anyways. First, I wasn’t planning on hiding it. It’s obvious that it’d be exposed immediately anyways, so why would I hide it? I just forgot for a moment. I only thought of you and Peace since I heard that you two came out.”

I actually had completely forgotten. If I had remembered, I would have prepared an excuse and explained first, before this trouble occurred.

“……You forgot?”

“That’s right. I don’t know what you heard, but it wasn’t anything much.”

Yoohyun’s eyes went towards me with difficulty. They were hardened eyes that seemed angry, but they also seemed very faintly frightened.

“How is it not anything much? The reason I was able to be unworried was because I thought there was no reason for hyung’s life to be threatened. Since at the least, high rank Hunters would think of your usefulness and keep you alive at least.”

So it really was the Noah matter.

“He didn’t attack me.”

“…He didn’t?”

“That’s right. He wanted to go at somebody else, not me.”

Though it was a problem that he was regarding me as that other person, as Riette. Yoohyun spit out a short breath and placed the broken cellphone in the cabinet.

“Who was it?”

“Did you break your cell phone without hearing all of it? Noah Luire. He’s not from Korea, and apparently he’s the overseas Ark Guild’s guild leader.”

It seemed like he didn’t know. He frowned slightly and asked me again.

“Are you sure? You didn’t hear anything else that was weird?”

“Something weird?”

“…Like he fell into a cultist religion, something like that.”

Why suddenly a cultist religion? He wouldn’t be talking about a normal cult, so was he talking about the side that saw the dungeon system as a G.o.d? No, it should still be before they grew their influence?

“I don’t know what that is, but it wasn’t that at all. It was just something like a sibling dispute. I was unluckily dragged in, and Yerim protected me, so I didn’t get hurt that much. And I definitely got treated. See here.”

Now there wasn’t a trace of it. In the first place, it wasn’t a severe injury either. Yerim got a lot more hurt.

“Anyways, what’s the cultist religion? Weren’t you on guard against other guilds or Hunter related people?”

“I don’t know specifically either. …Something like Confucianism?”

“I mean, that’s not a cult.”

Confucius would lament. Besides that, was there something to become serious over because of Confucianism? If you just looked at Yoohyun’s reaction, it would’ve seemed like some SSS-Rank monster had burst out.

I thought I should interrogate him more in detail and was about to open my mouth, when Yoohyun made the first move.

“So did that Noah guy die?”

“…He was physically okay and was just imprisoned.”

“He didn’t run away, but he’s still fine?”

Yoohyun tilted his head doubtfully.

“He was obediently taken away, and there were no deaths nor any damage to Unawakened People. Yoohyun, don’t you think of touching him either. Once you know, he’s a pitiful person.”

“Did the Seseong Guild Leader go into a dungeon again?”

“No. He came with a healer.”

“But nothing much happened? Does he have a connection with that guy?”

…If you leave someone alone, does that mean you have a connection? How farfetched.

“He did say he would subdue him. Though I refused. Anyways, it was a mistake, and he’s quiet now, so leave him alone.”

“I’ll see. But what about the finger marks on your neck?”

…Did he hear about that too? At any rate, Yoohyun knew that I had fear resistance, so it was easy to explain. When I conveyed what Song Taewon told me, his expression showed that he felt bad but that he understood.

“So I was going to leave the fear resistance off at home at least. Though with the circ.u.mstances, I’ll be meeting with high rank Hunters a lot, so it’ll be better to leave it on normally.”

“…Try turning it off once.”

“Right now?”

It wasn’t something I couldn’t do. I nodded my head and turned off the Fear Resistance skill. There wasn’t an immediate difference. It was just to the point of feeling Yoohyun’s and Peace’s presences a little stronger. Could you say it was the difference between a cat and a wildcat?

Yoohyun, who stared straight at me as if looking for my response, smiled slightly with his eyes.

“It doesn’t seem like anything changed.”

“Obviously. And I’m adding this just in case, but there really wasn’t anything in the hospital room. The Dokkaebi just pulled a prank. Even Chirpie was there, but not even a single piece of fluff got hurt.”

I confessed first and held Peace, who was hanging around my feet. In the meantime, the time had gotten close to ten. Blue must be asleep already.

“I have to go home now, but is there anything else you want to ask?”

“I’ll take you there.”

And then he held out his hand toward me.

“What?”

“Key.”

He demanded like it was obvious. I put one of the two remaining entrance keys in the held out hand.

It was the building right next door, so we could just walk over. There was Yoohyun as well as Peace, but I didn’t need to worry over safety.

With the fear resistance turned off, I felt a slight intimidation from the A-Rank Hunters we met on the way. It was unbalanced to be afraid of A-Ranks with an S-Rank next to me, but it was like that even before the regression. Rather than Yoohyun, I was more reluctant to face Kim Sunghan and Suk Simyeong and thought them scarier. Was it because I had seen him since he was young?

The SIM card was okay and there happened to be a cell phone store on the other side, so after Yoohyun bought a new cell phone, we followed along the road. The night air was kind of cool, so it felt nice.

“It’s been a while, something like this.”

Normally walking down a road without anything else happening. It must’ve been a while for Yoohyun too, but it had been a really, incredibly long time for me. Maybe because we were close to Haeyeon Guild, there weren’t any people approaching, surprisingly, so I thought even more of past times.

“If the world was the way it was, it wouldn’t have been a long time.”

Why did it become like this? I didn’t ask the system administrators that. Even if I had, I didn’t think I would get a proper answer back.

“Does hyung like there not being any dungeons better?”

“Of course. Above all, it’s dangerous.”

“People who have good skills or stats usually feel the opposite. Unless they were harmed directly.”

Then again, that was so. If I had become about A-Rank from the start, I might’ve thought my life was set. Though now, A-Ranks or S-Ranks or whatever were unpleasant.

It was already quite tiring, and I worried what would happen from now on. Would it really end well as long as I gathered 50 like the system people told me, and it was suspicious too.

…Would the future suddenly becoming completely dark, also be an effect of turning off the fear resistance? It felt like the worries I had pushed to the back of my mind where rushing forward at once.

“Did something special come out through the dungeon rewards?”

I quickly changed the subject. Only just the two of them, and if you excluded Peace, then him alone, got through an S-Rank dungeon, so the rewards should be better than usual. Did something like a t.i.tle come out?

At my questions, Yoohyun briefly hesitated and took something out of his inventory.

“Something I saw for the first time came out, but I don’t know what it’s for.”

What that guy was holding in his hand was a small red egg.

“It’s an SSS-Rank item that only has the name ‘Red Egg’.”

“That’s…”

I had seen it before. Before the regression. An unidentifiable egg series that very occasionally appeared. Red, blue, green, etc. – about five of them had appeared, but they were items that nothing was revealed about. They were tough so they didn’t break, and whatever you did, there wasn’t any reaction, so they were judged to be useless.

“Who knows, I’m not sure at all either. Give it here for a second.”

I took the egg and tried using the My Brat skill just in case. But the notification window that it didn’t have the keyword applied didn’t pop up at all. As expected, it didn’t work. Even if the growth skill worked, it was impossible to apply the keyword to an egg that didn’t have ears.

Then, I tried using the Seed-Leaf skill too, but nothing appeared this time as well.

“It doesn’t seem like a normal monster egg either. Is it really just an item?”

If it was alive, the Seed-Leaf skill could be used, but there was no reaction.

“Just in case, should we give it to Myeongwoo? It could be used as material.”

“Do whatever you want.”

I was going to put the egg in the inventory, but Peace showed interest. When I put it right in front of his nose, he quickly bit it and gnawed on it with his teeth. Even so, not a single scratch appeared. It was an egg that was immune even when S-Rank Hunters 5 years later, who had much more outstanding abilities than now, used all their moves.

“Don’t drop it.”

-Geureung

Even if it was the building right next door, the rearing facility was large and you had to go around the front building, so it took a fairly long time. I worried about Chirpie, who wouldn’t have fallen asleep yet, and Comet, who would soon wake up, but my pace was relaxed, unlike my mind.

While we were chatting about this and that, we arrived at the front of the rearing facility before I knew it. What should I do; should I tell him to sleep over before he goes? But Comet was a problem. Should I ask the rearing facility to take care of it for just today? It seemed like one day was okay.

Just then, my phone rang. When I took it out, there was a text from Song Taewon.

[Noah Luire has disappeared again. I would like to ask you to check again please.]

Again? I mean, why did he escape so frequently?

‘……He wouldn’t have planted himself in front of the mini portal again, would he?’

My spine went chilly. I turned my head to the side. When our eyes met, Yoohyun smiled. First, I turned the fear resistance skill on again. When I became calm, I smiled back as if there wasn’t anything wrong.

“Yoohyun. Can’t we go back to Haeyeon Guild?”

“Hm? Suddenly why?”

“I just want to rest a lot for about a day. I thought about how I’ll have to look after the kids again if I go in now, and became tired.”

At my words, that little brother had a doubtful expression.

“There’s the rearing room. And Hunters in charge, too. Didn’t you leave them to them and come out anyways?”

“That’s true, but…”

s.h.i.t, what should I do? If we went in like this and met with Noah, I couldn’t know what would happen. Since there was no certainty that Yoohyun would quietly just greet him and let it go, or if Noah would see me and think of his noona again.

……To think it had to meet crises where it would get broken, my poor house. How long has it been since I moved?

“Let’s quickly go in.”

“Wait, wait a moment-.”

Yoohyun opened the entrance’s gla.s.s door. He went a few steps forward, not listening to me trying to stop him, when he suddenly stopped. He c.o.c.ked his head a little slowly.

“There’s an unfamiliar trace.”

“My fri…end, or not that, but it’s the younger brother of someone I know!”

“You know somebody who has an S-Rank Hunter as a younger brother? There aren’t any in my memories.”

“We’ve recently become close, through social media.”

We got a little close and now we had fallen out. …Did I have to tell him about Riette, too? There were a lot of people who heard the contents of the call, so it was wrong to hide it. Why was there so much happening in just a few days?

“But why is he here? And it’s the middle of the night.”

“He came to visit, related to the monster rearing, but, um, should I say it’s showing some sincerity……”

How do I even explain this? While I was organizing what to say, Yoohyun started to walk again. Ah, really!