This was the first time I felt happy being woken up.

“Okay, I’m up.” Park Hye-Young was the first to wake up.

After her, I heard Jung Ha-Yan rustling around.

While I was thinking about when it would be a good time to wake up, I felt someone tapping my shoulder.

“Hyung-nim,” Deok-Gu called out.

‘Nice, Park Deok-Gu.’

The timing wasn’t that bad.

I didn’t know if I was suddenly feeling tired because I couldn’t sleep, but I slightly opened my eyes and stood up.

“Is it already time to wake up?” I asked.

“It looks like we’re planning on moving earlier than usual today. After we move in a little, we’ll complete the hunt and return to the shelter,” Deok-Gu explained.

“Sounds good to me,” I commented.

I purposely didn’t look at Jung Ha-Yan, but I knew that avoiding her would simply make things more awkward. When I slightly glanced over at her, I saw her smiling brightly at me. Compared to yesterday, she was a totally different person today.

‘Which one is the real her?’

I couldn’t tell whether the expression she had now was the real her or was the expression I saw last night belonged to the real her. For now, there was a need for me to cool my head off, so after showing her a small smile, I immediately stood up.

‘I’m exhausted.’

My mind felt foggy because I didn’t get that much sleep last night.

When I walked outside, I saw Kim Hyun-Sung talking while looking at me.

“You look tired.”

“A little bit, but I’m okay,” I said.

“I think it’ll be best if we walk in a little farther today. Is that okay with you?” he asked.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea since there aren’t that many monsters around. I’m a bit worried about the others back at the shelter, but if there aren’t that many monsters, I think we’ll be fine. However, if there happens to be more of them than we thought…” I explained.

“Yes, I’ll make sure that we’ll be able to withdraw right away,” Kim Hyun-Sung answered.

It was a reasonable decision.

“Anyways, which side…” I said.

“Last night, I briefly checked the left road and it didn’t seem any different from this place,” Kim Hyun-Sung answered.

Not only was he part of the second group to keep watch, but he even went exploring on his own.

“You did well,” I said, complimenting him.

If there were workers that worked as hard as him, then it would make people like me happy. I thought that maybe there would be something on the right side, but it was too early to judge.

“Miss Hye-Young and Miss Ha-Yan…”

“I’m ready too,” Park Hye-Young said.

“We’ll go with the same formation as yesterday, but if we find a monster, Miss Ha-Yan will take Miss Hye-Young’s place. Now, let’s head out,” I said.

“Okay.”

It felt like it was going to be a slightly tiring journey.

First of all, Jung Ha-Yan’s presence was what I was most worried about. I didn’t know what was going on, but her recent actions were quite unusual. I couldn’t really explain it with words, but anyone would think that it was strange. She was very different from what I imagined. It was not like I couldn’t make an assumption, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit puzzled, so I needed to find the reason first.

‘Jealously?’

The reason couldn’t be jealousy since Jung Ha-Yan, and I haven’t really spent a lot of time together. I knew that you couldn’t measure one’s relationship based on how much time they’ve spent together, but it was an undeniable fact that time spent together was important.

Of course, Jung Ha-Yan and I were a special case. We weren’t at a cafe or a restaurant.

If I had to give an example, it felt like one of those B-movies where the man and the woman in crisis fell in love with each other within a short period of time. It was possible that the feelings she had for me were similar to that.

Jung Ha-Yan’s past suddenly came to mind. If I thought about her past, then I was sure that I would be able to come up with a reasonable conclusion.

Jung Ha-Yan’s parents were long dead and it had been a while since she lost contact with her older sisters. If she really believed that her family abandoned her, then I could understand her wanting to rely on me more since the environment that surrounded her hadn’t been nice to her.

‘It’s a simple deduction.’

But for some reason, I became a rope that she could rely on. I was sure I became someone that was always nice to her, trusted her, and a person she could rely on. Thus, maybe that feeling went beyond infatuation and had turned into an obsession. What I was aiming for from the start was becoming her mental breakwater since attracting someone that had an empty heart was easy.

‘Should I test it out?’

It was old-fashioned, but it was worth a try.

While walking side by side, I lightly pulled Park Hye-Young’s shoulder and slowly opened my mouth.

“Careful.”

“Oh…okay,” she said.

Park Hye-Young looked kind of nervous. I guess she thought that I helped her from almost tripping over a rock. She seemed like she wanted to thank me, but this wasn’t the reaction that I wanted from her.

I peeked sideways to look at Jung Ha-Yan’s eyes and of course, I saw her staring straight at Park Hye-Young.

Kim Hyun-Sung and Park Deo-Gu didn't look like they were paying attention, but perhaps it was because of my attribute's effect, I could clearly decipher the emotion in Jung Ha-Yan’s eyes that was difficult to describe with words.

‘I can use this.’

The hostility she was feeling wasn’t against me. It was a bit too much to consider it ordinary jealousy, but after thinking about her nature, her jealousy was within the range where it was possible to fix it. By using the carrot and stick approach, Jung Ha-Yan would become a loyal family member that would be willing to throw herself to me.

As I walked while thinking about different things, it felt like we had been walking for a while.

“I think we’re almost there. Let’s start moving a bit cautiously,” Kim Hyun-Sung suggested.

“Ahem, got it, bro,” Park Deok-Gu answered.

I guess this was the area that Kim Hyun-Sung explored last night.

As expected, the smell was different from the previous area, making it seem as if the monster’s unique odor was everywhere. But more than that, what caught my attention was the faint magic that could be felt from far away. I couldn’t tell what kind it was, but it was definitely something different. It was possible that this was what Kim Hyun-Sung wanted.

“I can feel something,” I said.

“What are you talking about? Hyung-nim, do you see the monsters?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“I can feel faint magic ahead of us. I’m not really sure what it is, but…anyways…” I answered.

“It’s frustrating since I don’t have any magic. Hey, bro, are you able to feel it?” Park Deok-Gu asked Kim Hyun-Sung.

“I’m not sure either, but since Mr. Ki-Young is a mage, I’m sure he's a bit more used to using his extrasensory senses. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to check it out since there could be a hint about how to capture this place,” Kim Hyun-Sung suggested.

Kim Hyun-Sung definitely didn’t have any talent in acting.

I think the identity of the faint magic had something to do with attacking the dungeon.

“Well, it’s on the way anyway and since it’s better to be safe than sorry, I’ll go first,” Park Deok-Gu offered.

“Careful,” I said.

There wasn’t a need to be careful. If Kim Hyun-Sung felt that something was off from the start, then he wouldn’t just standstill. When we carefully started moving, I could already see where that faint magic was coming from.

‘Stairs.’

“The stairs lead downstairs,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.

As he mentioned, the stairs led downstairs and I was finally able to see how we were supposed to enter this dungeon.

When I saw Kim Hyun-Sung nodding, it seemed like he believed that the contrived setup was convincing. It was absurd, but it wouldn’t hurt to go along with it.

“It’s probably an obvious setup, but do you think that the difficulty level will increase the more we go down? I think it may have something to do with capturing the dungeon,” I said.

“Hm, is that so hyung-nim?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“I’m not sure, but it’s a possibility because when we were at the starting point, there weren’t any hints related to strategy. It’s not very convincing to just throw some monsters in an area this big and then tell us to capture dungeons, so there’s a good chance that going down here is the start. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m sure we will find more hints than this place,” I explained.

Kim Hyun-Sung nodded after hearing my explanation.

“I agree with you,” he said.

‘Bingo.’

“It’ll be difficult to go right now, so let’s keep this place in mind and go downstairs next time since we didn’t come here today to capture it. If we go underground, there may be something that could help us there, but there could also be different types of monsters for us to fight,” he said.

“I don’t think I’ll like it if there are monsters more annoying than the current one,” Park Deok-Gu commented.

I agree.

Anyways, Kim Hyun-Sung succeeded in naturally informing us about the underground entrance, so he may think that doing this was a big achievement.

However, the important thing right now was Jung Ha-Yan and Park Hye-Young’s growth. We also needed to prepare people that could fight before going down there.

“The path?” Park Deok-Gu started.

“I have a general idea in my head,” I said.

“Then, do we just need to find monsters with this place as the center?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“I think that’s the best way, so let’s start from an area a bit farther away from here,” Kim Hyun-Sung suggested.

“Got it, bro,” Park Deok-Gu said.

Even if we didn’t keep an eye out like we did yesterday, we were able to encounter one nearby because it seemed like they were slightly spread apart with this place as the center. There were three monsters close by.

When I glanced at Kim Hyun-Sung, I saw him nodding.

“Once Mr. Deok-Gu herds two of the monsters, Mr. Ki-Young can quickly take one and I'll take the other. Then, we'll use the remaining monster as teaching material. Miss Hye-Young and Miss Ha-Yan, please stand in a similar position as Mr. Ki-Young,” Kim Hyun-Sung instructed them.

“Okay,” they answered.

“Got it,” Park Deok-Gu said.

After keeping my mouth closed, Park Deok-Gu and Kim Hyun-Sung jumped out first. I guess he was trying to let Park Deok-Gu take aggro because I saw him letting Park Deok-Gu go first. While standing between the nervous Jung Ha-Yan and Park Hye-Young, I started running as well.

I saw Park Deok-Gu pushing one monster with his shield and using his leather-wrapped arm to push the other monster. With a relaxed look, Kim Hyun-Sung succeeded in charging towards one of the monsters and cutting off its arm.

‘He’s really fast.’

I expected him to be somewhat fast since his agility stat was high, but he was faster than I had imagined. During that time, I focused a small amount of magic on the tip of my spear and stabbed the monster that Park Deok-Gu was holding.

Rip! With that sound, blood splattered everywhere, but I didn’t have the luxury to care.

‘It’s not dead yet.’

When I tried to stab it again with my spear, Park Hye-Young stabbed it as if she was trying to help.

‘Not bad.’

First of all, the most important thing was having the will that you could do it.

There was no need for me to look over at Kim Hyun-Sung’s side because he was probably fighting the monster without using his full strength in order to avoid suspicion.

We were going to use the last monster as teaching material.

Before Park Deok-Gu could move to capture the monster, Park Hye-Young, who seemed a bit excited, started stabbing it with her spear.

“Dumb move.’

It was a dumb move no matter how you looked at it.

As expected, her spear missed and the remaining monster escaped Park Deok-Gu’s reach.

“Oh! I-I’m sor…”

“Da…”

When there were five people in a group, one of them was bound to be trash.

“Deok-Gu,” I called out.

I heard this quote from somewhere and it never failed me since then.

“Kyahhh!!” Park Hye-Young screamed.

‘This damn bitch!’