Chapter 30
Whether we liked it or not, we were going to keep working together. Would it really hurt them to get along a little?
“It must be exhausting carrying two F-ranks around. Seriously, I think the government should increase the support money for this.”
...Forget it.
What was I even expecting?
Lee Junhyuk, who had been grumbling to himself, lightly tapped my brother on the shoulder and walked toward the dungeon entrance.
He reached out toward it.
Woooong.
The entrance resonated with a low hum, then Lee Junhyuk's body twisted as though caught in a whirlpool and was sucked inside.
Dungeon entrances reacted to the mana possessed by Hunters and pulled them in.
I had seen the same thing countless times over the past year, so there was nothing surprising about it anymore.
“That rude little punk. Tsk.”
My brother clicked his tongue and reached toward the entrance just like Lee Junhyuk had.
Once the two people who were always bickering disappeared, I finally let out the sigh I had been holding in.
“Seriously. How long are those two going to keep fighting?”
“Junhyuk has a foul mouth, but he listens when he's given orders. Don't worry too much.”
Han Siwoo spoke encouragingly before walking past me and entering the dungeon.
I stared at the entrance where everyone had disappeared.
An E-rank dungeon...
I had only ever entered F-rank dungeons, so I couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
Still, the Center wouldn't have sent us somewhere impossible.
They must have judged that we had a real chance of clearing this place.
For some reason, that thought made my chest swell slightly with pride.
Feeling the Center employee staring at me, I quickly gave him a polite nod and reached toward the dungeon entrance.
Space twisted.
My vision flashed several times.
Drip. Drip.
Somewhere nearby, I heard droplets of water falling.
A cool chill seeped through my thin clothes.
When I opened my eyes, the interior of a vast cave greeted me.
Other than being darker and much more humid than usual, it didn't look too different from an F-rank dungeon.
“Hey! Hurry up!”
My brother was already far ahead, waving his hand at me.
I stared blankly at him before suddenly realizing something.
Wait.
I'm the party leader, so why was Oppa the one who decided whether we'd enter the raid?
He might be my brother, but I had no intention of giving him the authority of the party leader.
Next time, I would make sure I properly took charge.
With that thought, I ran toward the others.
As I got closer, I saw Lee Junhyuk already facing a monster.
“An orc?”
Orcs were common even in F-rank dungeons.
I hadn't known it at the time, but the monster I had first encountered at school had also been an orc.
Back then, I had frozen on the spot.
Now, though, an orc was practically an easy opponent.
“Fire Ball!”
A ball of flame shot from Lee Junhyuk's hand and struck the orc directly in the face.
Screeech!
The orc flailed in pain after being hit by the Fire Ball.
While it was distracted, Han Siwoo closed the distance and finished it off.
“Ah! I was going to get the last hit! That's some insane kill stealing, hyung.”
“Ah, sorry.”
As soon as Han Siwoo apologized, Lee Junhyuk turned away irritably.
Look at that attitude.
This wasn't a game, so killing a monster didn't give anyone experience points.
And since we were in the same party, all items dropped by monsters were split equally.
In other words, it didn't really matter who killed the monster.
What is wrong with that guy?
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that Lee Junhyuk's nasty attitude wasn't usually directed at me.
I didn't know whether that was because my rank was higher than his or because I was a woman, but he didn't seem interested in picking fights with me for no reason.
If I had to describe it, I was practically invisible to him.
While collecting items from the fallen orc, my brother casually spoke to Han Siwoo.
“Hey, why do you put up with that?”
“Some of what Junhyuk says makes sense if you listen to him. And there's no need for us to fight among ourselves.”
Han Siwoo smiled as he said it.
I shook my head.
That guy would probably laugh it off even if someone spat in his face and then claimed it was an accident.
In a different way, he was incredibly stubborn.
And someone like him supposedly turns dark and becomes the mastermind...
The novel had definitely shown me the future.
Yet that particular part was still difficult to believe.
In the novel, I had used the self-destruct skill called 'Sacrifice' because I couldn't let the others die.
The story never explained exactly what kind of trigger my death became for them.
However, after that, my teammates started growing at an unbelievable speed.
The reason I didn't know much about that period was simple.
The protagonist of the novel was Lee Dohyun.
Naturally, the story mostly followed him.
Because of that, I knew about major incidents that Lee Dohyun would have heard about, but I couldn't possibly know every smaller event.
Unless something was as big as my death, the novel probably wouldn't help me much, just like during the Arachne incident.
I remembered a brief description saying that after my death, my brother and Lee Junhyuk grew stronger as if something were chasing them.
Of course, the two of them still never became friends.
And Han Siwoo...
He grew until he was almost on the same level as the protagonist, Lee Dohyun.
Then, much later, he joined forces with an organization that wanted to rule Earth and betrayed humanity.
Seriously? Even my own brother doesn't turn evil. Why are you the one who goes dark?
It was only a novel.
But maybe because it contained a future that might actually happen, I couldn't treat it as nothing more than fiction.
I was both grateful and sorry that my death had affected Han Siwoo so deeply.
