Chapter 23: Calculating Killer (1)
I never had a choice to begin with. According to Park Deokgu’s designs, Jung Hayan would be repulsed just by me choosing the first option.
Rather, no matter what my thoughts were on the matter originally, it was highly likely that Jung Hayan was sprinting towards the second option on her own.
“Zzzzzzz.”
When I heard Park Deokgu snoring beside me, I felt myself growing increasingly upset.
In the first place, there was no way I could even entertain the idea of dating here.
In this kind of place, where no one knew when they would die, it was senseless to consider feelings of that nature.
Getting into a relationship was a whole other can of worms.
I wanted to wholeheartedly reject the notion of an intimate relationship with a woman who might one day decide to tear me apart, but…
‘I can’t.’
Ironically, the only way to avoid the ending where I was torn to death was to get closer to her.
The most dangerous person was, at the same time, the most reliable person.
I didn’t enjoy gambling, but I was ready to throw the dice if necessary.
I gave a brief nod to the reality I didn’t want to acknowledge, and spoke to Park Deokgu who was still snoring away.
“Get up.”
“zzzzzzzzzz……”
“Wake up, Deokgu-yah.”
“Unnnngh… What. Morning already?”
“We’re starting a bit early.”
“Hey, Noonim. Please wake up.”
“……”
“It looks like she’s fast asleep… Noonim, it’s time to get up.”
“……”
“Uhh… It looks like Noonim has turned into Sleeping Beauty… Maybe she needs a kiss from her Prince Charming?”
‘Son of a bitch.’
He had taken on a teasing tone without knowing how I felt about it.
I wanted to stuff his mouth with a fireball.
Most of my mana had recovered just in time. I didn’t know why but just hearing that throwaway line was enough to drive me up the wall.
Still, I had to wake up Jung Hayan, so I had no choice but to take a slight step forward.
“Hayan-ah.”
“……”
“Hayan-ah, it’s time to wake up.”
“Unngh……”
Only when I patted her head lightly did she rise, blearily rubbing her eyes.
It seemed she wasn’t fully awake yet.
Even though I could see her startle and become flustered after seeing me, I still felt an inexplicable, lingering fear when I looked at her.
“Ah… Oh! Yes, Oppa.”
“We’re going to head back to the shelter as soon as possible.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s have a light meal and get going.”
“Hem. Leave the arrangements to me.”
After a really simple meal, it didn’t take long for us to get ready to move on.
There’s a saying that humans are adaptable creatures. Seeing everyone greet the morning in their own way, I could see that it was indeed the case.
“I don’t know if that Hyung-ssi, Kim Hyunsung, and the shelter are okay. We’ve been away for a while.”
“They should also be alright. So long as those guys don’t pointlessly decide among themselves to go out to hunt.”
“Isn’t it good if they can? We need more people to fight anyway…”
Of course, there was no reason to stop them if they could hunt properly.
“You think those guys, who’ve been hiding in fear all this time, would suddenly turn over a new leaf just because they’ve had a change of heart? Not only is it unlikely that they would band together to hunt, even if they did go out, they would all wind up dead if they couldn’t get it together and do it properly. In fact, that would be the better outcome.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m saying that we have to hope that things don’t turn out the way they did with Park Hyaeyoung.”
The probability that those in the shelter would go out hunting was low.
However, if they did form a party of their own and leave to look for monsters by themselves, then there was another, even worse possibility that we had to consider.
Of course, I couldn’t claim that my judgment wasn’t flawed but…
“The worst-case scenario is that they panic, start screaming, and lead all the monsters to the shelter.”
“……”
“……”
“The people in the shelter would be none the wiser to the impending danger. They would all be busy with their lives. Terrified humans can’t make rational decisions… And, ultimately, they wouldn’t be able to stop the horde of monsters storming in, the entrance would be breached, and that would be the end of the shelter.”
“Well, just imagining it is horrible enough.”
It really was horrific.
“That’s probably why Hyunsung-ssi ordered us to return separately from him. There may still be some monster bastards that are still after us.”
“Well, the more I think about it, the more I think that Hyung-nim is really smart.”
I was never smart.
“It’s not like that.”
It was just that I was constantly thinking about worst-case scenarios and how to react to them.
As my feet rose and fell unceasingly, I instinctively felt a rising sense of apprehension. Just imagining the situation I had just described really happening made my mouth go dry.
To be honest, it wasn’t that I cared about what happened to anyone in the shelter, but the loss of economic or natural resources there would be a waste.
At best, it was a well-established place.
Since we still didn’t know how long clearing the dungeon would take, the shelter was still a necessity.
My mind was occupied by various thoughts as we walked down the eerily quiet pathway.
This kind of silence was a bit heavy, so I chatted with Park Deokgu and Jung Hayan and the shelter came into view not long after.
Strangely enough, the entrance had been barricaded.
Lee Jihye must have spotted us, as she emerged and began to clear away a heap of rubble.
It must have been packed together tightly as it took a while before she was done. Lee Jihye approached us slowly, a customary smile on her face, and began to speak once she had drawn near.
“Kiyoung oppa and Deokgu oppa are here? Hyaeyoung-ssi and Hyunsung-ssi…”
“Park Hyaeyoung is dead and Hyunsung-ssi will be back soon.”
“Ah, I see.”
After hearing my calm response, Lee Jihye closed her eyes for a moment before nodding her head and continuing to speak.
“By any chance…”
“It’s a long story. In the meantime, did you have any trouble at the shelter?”
“Umm… May I speak with you in private?”
That had to mean that she wanted to speak freely…
Lee Jihye’s expression didn’t look good. Something was going on.
Why was it that bad feelings were never wrong?
When I turned a little and glanced over at Park Deokgu, I saw that he was nodding as if it made no difference to him.
In the first place, he would want to hear it from me later, so it didn’t matter, but what concerned me was how Jung Hayan would respond.
However, since it was also essential for me to hear what Lee Jihye had to say, I had no choice but to pat Jung Hayan on the head once and speak to her.
“Do you want to go inside first and wait? I’ll be there in a bit.”
“Ah! Alright… Okay. Oppa.”
This was just because I was worried that Lee Jihye would be torn limb from limb otherwise.
For some reason, the way she kept glancing back at me over and over again as she went into the shelter made me remember Park Hyaeyoung.
It was only when the two of them were no longer in sight that Lee Jihye slowly began to speak.
“How did Park Hyaeyoung die?”
“She brought it on herself. Screaming in a place where there were a sh*t-ton of monsters. That’s why Kim Hyunsung isn’t with us right now… Want to know the details?”
“No, thank you. I can roughly imagine what happened.”
I noticed her glancing furtively at me. I didn’t know if she was thinking about the way Jung Hayan had left, but I had the inexplicable feeling that she had a rough idea of what had happened.
Of course, it was only a guess, but it meant that Lee Jihye caught on faster than I expected.
“I’ll sum it up quickly.”
“What happened?”
“Yoo Seokwoo, as well as a few others, went outside.”
‘I knew things would turn out like this.’
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“You.”
“I know as well. I couldn’t let them leave without permission.”
“Then… Why.”
“To be honest, ever since Kiyoung oppa and Hyunsung oppa left together, they constantly told me that they wanted to go out to hunt. I don’t know if he made up his mind after seeing Kiyoung oppa’s magic, or if he had had enough of the situation he was in, but he left to go hunting with a few, like-minded men. Idiots… Of course, at first, I was able to convince them that it made more sense to go after Kiyoung oppa returned, but…”
“……”
“I’m just a powerless woman, aren’t I?”
I now had a rough understanding of the situation.
It seemed that my display of magic in front of them had adverse side effects.
To begin with, Yoo Seokwoo was at a disadvantage after the trouble he had caused for Jung Hayan.
It was no wonder, then, that he would consider his options given his status had dropped.
Not only would he think about gaining incomprehensible powers, but he, himself, must have secretly thought about wanting to be like us.
With the exception of Lee Jihye, who was considered to be a manager, the power of Kim Hyunsung, Park Deokgu, and myself, was absolute here.
I sighed briefly before speaking again.
“Wasn’t it your job to prevent this?”
“I tried my best to stop them. Kiyoung oppa’s return was later than expected, so people got nervous… How could I refuse to let him go when he said they wanted to send a rescue team?”
“Rescue my ass… Usually, those sh*theads wouldn’t give a fuck… Is that why you barricaded the entrance?”
“Yes. We don’t have to die together, do we?”
That explained why the entrance was completely blocked off.
If Yoo Seokwoo and the other self-proclaimed rescuers were pursued by monsters, they might have thought to ask the shelter for help.
Seeing as she had blocked up the entrance and kept it shut tight, Lee Jihye also seemed to be thinking of protecting the shelter in her own way.
“I wish those stupid, trouble-making fuckers would just die… It seems like the wrong person died. What to do… People are definitely going to be scared… People who can fight, do you still need more of those?”
“The more the merrier.”
To be honest, the one attacking the dungeon was not me, but Kim Hyunsung.
The person who thought it feasible to fight and that we needed to bolster our forces was not me, but Kim Hyunsung.
He seemed to believe that we had no choice but to expand our forces before progressing to the lower floors.
“What about you?”
Even though my Mind’s Eye had evaluated Lee Jihye as trash, she was better than that bitch Park Hyaeyoung.
I didn’t think she would be stabbing her spear willy-nilly or that there would be any screaming halfway through.
Rather, it was highly likely she would calmly do her job behind Park Deokgu’s back.
“I would like to decline.”
“……”
“It’s terrifying and I don’t want to get caught up in anything fruitless. The power that Kiyoung oppa has shown is definitely amazing… Of course it’s desirable, but needless greed is a shortcut to death.”
“……”
“Do you think a baepsae can be like a stork? The baepsae will have its own baepsae way of life.” [1]
I think I knew what she meant.
For some reason, Lee Jihye’s story sounded just a bit like something that I could have written as well, and her thoughts were also reasonable.
Only
“Rather than living on the battlefield, where I wouldn’t even know when I’ll die… Wouldn’t it be best to be with a capable man and live in peace?”
It was while we were talking about one thing or another that I sensed the presence of someone else somewhere.
I turned my head naturally and saw that several figures were coming towards us.
‘Yoo Seokwoo?’
The one walking in front had to be Yoo Seokwoo.
However, the three figures behind him were humans I had never seen in the shelter before.
“I guess the one guy who wanted to die the most came back alive. He even brought back baggage…”