I stared up while lying on the ground. The dungeon boss had been killed, but the scorching heat remained and dug into my clothes.

Bored, I tilted my head to the side. Chae Nayun’s team chatted some distance away. They offered me to join them, but I refused. I was too tired to answer any questions they’d inevitably ask.

“Huum.”

Chae Nayun took a deep breath and got up. She walked over after stealing some glances.

“…”

She cast a shadow over me and looked down at my face.

“What.”

I curled my upper body. Chae Nayun frowned as her sweat dripped. She straightened her expression and sat next to me. Of course, she was still about 10 feet away.

“… I thought I should say this.”

I wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or ashamed, but Chae Nayun stuttered with great difficulty.

“T-Thanks.”

“…” 

I was genuinely at a loss for words and stared in shock. I never thought I’d ever hear that from her.

Chae Nayun. Age 17-27 in the story. She was only 16 by American standards. [1] Despite her youth, her life was far from normal. On the contrary, it was filled with tragedy.

The first should have occurred on her sixth birthday. A djinn killed her mother on what should’ve been her happiest day. Her personality completely changed after that incident. The child who dreamt of becoming like her mom cried tears of blood and sought to become a hero. She trained to hit and destroy targets while other children laughed and played.

The scar from that day was deeply etched in her heart. As a fourth generation chaebol, she couldn’t even confide in a friend to mend this wound. Revealing one’s deepest thoughts was akin to weakness and the hyenas would jump at any opportunity.

The only person she could rely on was her sibling who also shared the same pain, Chae Jinyoon. She rarely saw her father because he was too busy as the family’s successor.

However, this cruel world had even taken Chae Jinyoon from her. What she must’ve felt… I had no idea because I never wrote them. Most likely, Chae Nayun must’ve honed her conviction even sharper. Believing only in herself and pursuing strength as the way of life, she must’ve ignored her wounded heart. Telling herself she could overcome everything without ever opening up to anyone. She must’ve painfully trained and trained…

Not many people would’ve ever received a thanks from her. I knew this better than Chae Nayun herself because I once wrote her saying sorry instead of thank you.

Just now though, she said thanks. That was the greatest praise she could give someone, but my heart sank because of what I had to accomplish.

I had to kill the person she loved the most. I had to make her experience losing her family once more.

“By the way…”

Chae Nayun’s voice cut off my thoughts. She smacked her lips as though she had something else to say.

“What.” 

I urged her in frustration. Chae Nayun added just a sentence while still looking up.

“… Why aren’t you fighting back?”

“Hm? What do you… Oh.”

She meant Shin Jonghak’s lackeys. She felt regret even though she instigated it. 

I simply replied, “Because I can’t win even if I fight back.”

Chae Nayun furrowed her brows and finally looked at me. She truly had a baby face. Unlike the adult-like Yoo Yeonha, Chae Nayun’s cheeks still had a bit of baby fat. Was it because the magma golem beat her up? She looked like a bun. I laughed inwardly.

“What are you talking about? I saw the power of your gun with my own eyes.”

“Oh, that?”

I took out the Desert Eagle from my bag. I couldn’t use my extradimensional storage until stigma recovered its magic power.

“My personal weapon. Does that explain it?”

Chae Nayun stared in shock at my high rank weapon.

“You know you could get expelled if you’re found out, right?”

“That’s why I only use it when I need to.”

Chae Nayun closed her mouth and rubbed her chin. I had no idea what she thought, but I waited since she looked serious. After about 3 minutes, she finally voiced her thoughts.

“It still doesn’t add up completely… Ah, wait, your gift! You must have a gift that strengthens guns!”

I held myself back from laughing. A gift and enlightenment were 2 different things. Even before enlightenment, a gift could be observed and developed through hard work.

“You can think what you want.”

I shrugged without correcting her misunderstanding. Chae Nayun concluded her guess as the truth and proudly nodded.

“Huhu, I knew it. Oh, I’ll let you off the hook for using your personal weapon. Just don’t use it again.”

Chae Nayun stood up and dusted herself off. She paused before walking away.

“… By the way.”

“What.”

She asked in a much lower tone with her back still facing me.

“… Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

“…”

Her question made me flinch. This might be her offer of reconciliation that she would forgive me for my remarks about her brother. This was a huge concession from what I knew about her personality.

“… I don’t.”

However, I rejected her and got up. My current relationship with Chae Nayun was at the perfect distance. Cold, but not freezing. I called it the uncomfortable neighbor distance. Anything more would burden me.

“… I see.”

I made eye contact with Sven as she left. He didn’t avoid my gaze and tilted his head with emotionless eyes. I felt a chill down my back.

— Emergency alert. All cadets must evacuate the dungeon immediately. Once again, all cadets must evacuate the dungeon immediately.

A sound rang out from above. The mock dungeon trial had concluded. I turned back to where I came from.

“Huh?”

Although others might only see a faint silhouette, I could see Yoo Yeonha in the distance. She made it up the wall all covered in dust, but the mock dungeon trial just ended. She went through all that trouble for nothing.

“Argh…”

Yoo Yeonha shook at the injustice with her eyes shut.

***

The mock dungeon trial ran into several problems. The first was that many of the internal cameras had stopped working. The second was a systematic error. The instructors had discovered the broken cameras too late. The final and biggest problem was that real monsters had trespassed into the dungeon. As a result, they canceled the mock dungeon trial and postponed everyone’s grades.

“Wow, really? A natural born magma golem?”

“Yeah, I heard it was intermediate ranked.”

“No way… So what happened? Who killed it?”

“It was Chae Nayun and Sven…”

The cadets outside the dungeon chattered loudly while the instructors checked everyone off to make sure there were no casualties.

“Sigh.”

… Then what was all the trouble I went through for?

Yoo Yeonha felt lethargic and staggered. Then she spotted Chae Nayun at the dungeon entrance. Yoo Yeonha wanted to ask several questions.

“Nayun.”

“Hm? Oh, Yeonha. What’s up?”

“Are you okay? I heard the magma golem…”

She brought up a topic she wasn’t interested in before bringing up Kim Hajin when Chae Nayun looked bored.

“Oh right, you know Kim Hajin, right? The guy you brought up during our last—”

“Mmm? Ah, Kim Hajin?” Chae Nayun murmured.

“… Eh?”

Chae Nayun reacted completely different from before. Previously, she growled when Kim Hajin was mentioned, but now she seemed fine.

“Uh… Yeah, Kim Hajin.”

“What about him?”

“Well… Remember what you said before? That he—”

Chae Nayun lightly cut her off. “Oh, that? It was a misunderstanding.”

“… Yes?” Yoo Yeonha was dumbfounded.

Just a few days ago you coughed up blood talking about him, and now you’re saying it was a misunderstanding? I don’t think it’s a misunderstanding!

“It was a misunderstanding. Well, I wouldn’t say he’s someone I want to be friends with, but he’s not such a bad guy.”

Yep, that’s right. Chae Nayun nodded, satisfied with her judgment.

Yoo Yeonha stared at Chae Nayun. She was so annoyed she wanted to strangle her.

“Oh, hey! Kim Suho!” Chae Nayun suddenly shouted. Yoo Yeonha felt like her eardrums would burst.

“I’ll talk to you later, Yeonha!”

Chae Nayun ran past Yoo Yeonha and disappeared. She acted like a puppy chasing after her master. Yoo Yeonha turned and saw Kim Suho. Chae Nayun ran up to him as he left the dungeon, slapped his back, and stood in front of him.

“Whoa, that surprised me.”

“Did anything happen to your team?”

“It was no joke. I almost died from exhaustion.”

Kim Suho had chosen the 8th pathway.

“I can see it on your face. You look like a grandpa.”

“Really?”

Yoo Yeonha watched their affectionate interaction with interest. She was happy to see them hit it off. Kim Suho seemed to resemble Chae Nayun’s older brother.

“Oh, Chae Nayun. Here you are.”

Shin Jonghak cut in between them as if to break them apart.

“Huuu.”

Yoo Yeonha sighed. She began to walk towards them since Shin Jonghak showed up, but noticed someone staring at Chae Nayun from a distance.

“What’s up with him?”

The way Kim Hajin looked at Chae Nayun seemed… strange. His eyes carried a deep sadness. Yoo Yeonha stared at his disgusting eyes for a moment before coming up with her own conclusion.

“What? He likes Chae Nayun too? The heck… What’s so good about a tomboy like her?”

Yoo Yeonha shook from the frustration in her heart, but even if other boys liked Chae Nayun, Shin Jonghak couldn’t. She quickly walked over to the 3 of them.

1. In Korea, you are considered one year old at birth. ☜