SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon

‘There’s no one here, right……?‘

I stepped out of the space and cautiously looked around. Judging by the sound of the television, Mieum has been watching a drama for a while. Ash … must be in his room because the light is on. Lime’s probably still playing with Corong.

All right, now. I silenced my footsteps and tiptoed upstairs to the second floor, where I washed my face with cold water three times in the bathroom. The swelling seemed to have gone down a bit, or maybe not …. still, I felt a little more human than a soaked dough now.

Now all I had to do was sneak back into my room and my task for the day was complete. I cautiously placed my hand on the doorknob.

“What are you doing in there?”

“Ua-aahhhhhhhhhh!”

“Aaah!”

I screamed at the sudden sound of Ash’s voice behind my back, and he screamed in unison. A system notification popped up immediately.

[Oops! ‘Sub Quest: Sneak Into Your Room’ failed.]

[‘Achievement: Stealthy Spy’ was not obtained.]

That’s so mean.

“……You scared me, why are you screaming all of a sudden?”

Luckily, the lights had been switched off, so Ash didn’t seem to be able to see my face very well. I quickly covered my eyes with my hands and answered, “Ah. I’m just surprised that you suddenly appeared from behind.”

“I was just calling you.”

“Ahaha ……. I must have worked too hard today. I’m a little tired. You should go to bed too, Ash.”

With that, I turned to go into my room.

“Wait. Noona, are you okay?” Ash stepped closer and reached for my hand.

“Huh? Of course, I’m fine. Good night, then.”

I bowed my head at an angle, waved to Ash, and walked into my room.

Bang!

“Haaaa…..”

I closed the door behind me and waited a moment, holding my breath, before I heard Ash let out a small sigh and walked away. Only when the footsteps had completely gone away did I throw myself onto the bed.

Phew, I almost got caught. There was nothing weird about that, was there? I was acting completely natural, right? I’d failed that ridiculous quest, which was probably a good thing, but I didn’t want to expose my swollen face to Ash.

It’s really the end of the day now. While I am not sleepy yet, I think I’ll lie down and roll around a bit.

I was about to take my phone out of my pocket while lying diagonally on the bed….

Tap, tap, tap.

From somewhere, I heard this voice

“…..?”

It sounded like a regular knock on the door or something similiar…….

A door?

The sound was coming from the window, not the door., but here … my room was located on the second floor?

I got chills and goosebumps. I didn’t believe in the supernatural things, but horror films were still scary.

Tap, tap, tap. I heard the sound again. It’s too disturbing to ignore. If I go back to sleep, I’m going to have nightmares. Hmmmm … okay, let’s check the outside and get back to sleep comfortably.

I peeked out the window and was startled by what I saw.

“Huh, Yoohyun-ssi?”

There was Ki Yoohyun standing under the window. I could see his white cheeks clearly in the darkness without a single streetlight. He looked up at me with a soft smile.

“Thank goodness, you’re still awake.”

“Uh, what happened?”

“Do you mind if I go up there for a moment?”

“Sure, give me a second…….”

I fumbled for my coat and slipped my arm through it. Sure enough, the door to the shop is locked. I was about to run downstairs and unlock the door, but he was quicker.

Swish. Ki Yoohyun gripped the protruding brick of the building and pulled himself up lightly. He didn’t step into the room, but made eye contact with me outside the window.

There was only a small ledge beneath the window, barely enough to call it a pedestal, but he kept his balance surprisingly well.

So this is what he meant by going up…….

It was a strange feeling to look at Ki Yoohyun through the open window. Still, I was glad to see his handsomely crafted face rather than anything from a horror movie.

“Actually, I was hoping to come during the Cafe Rieul’s Ginger Festival.”

“Ahaha, it’s a bit late, but if you come during the day, I’ll get you some coffee.”

“…….”

At that moment, I felt Ki Yoohyun’s gaze upon the corner of my swollen eyes.

Ouch. The lights were off in the room, but the distance was too close. He unconsciously reached for my hand before pulling it back, and I awkwardly averted my eyes.

I should have washed my face five more times in cold water.

Luckily, instead of asking me why I was crying, he brought up something else, “I heard that reporters came to see you. I’m sorry if they bothered you.”

“Is that why you came?”

“Well, there’s that, and then there’s also another reason.”

“It’s okay. The reporter told me that there’s a report that Muwon and I are very close. Well, aside from the fact that Yoohyun-ssi’s identity was leaked, it is true that we are close friends.”

A cold breeze blew in through the open window, and even though I wore a coat, the midwinter wind dug into my collar and chilled me to the bone. I felt cold.

Should I ask him to come inside because it’s cold? However, Ki Yoohyun said something else.

“Rieul-ssi, can you come out for a while?”

I was planning to stay in bed and look at my phone anyway, and the cold wind had long since blown away my sleepiness.

“Yes, I can. I’ll come out now.”

This time he didn’t wait for me to go downstairs.

Ki Yoohyun leaned through the window, gently grabbed my hand. He put his other hand on the small of my back, and when I nodded, tore open the teleport scroll.

A white light enveloped me, and a moment later, I was in an unfamiliar place. I could hear the sound of waves.

“Where are we? This isn’t a dungeon, is it?”

“Please don’t look at people like they’re crazy dungeon maniac … this place is just Jeju Island.”

“Aha, I see, Jeju … what?”

***

“Hunter Oh Seoho, can you tell me how you came to know Yoohyun-ssi?”

At my question, Oh Seoho smiled sheepishly for a moment. But he soon shrugged it off, asking if I was curious to hear the history of his and Ki Yoohyun’s lifelong friendship. It was an awkward exchange that made me wonder if he became an actor for his looks, not his acting.

“Of course not, I’ve been called an acting genius since my debut. Have you seen my debut movie? I won a lot of awards for that. The VOD service is starting this month, so please take a look, hahaha.”

Only after saying these words did Oh Seoho get down to business. It was such an amazing opening that I quickly forgot about his earlier sarcastic remarks.

“I’m from the Church.”

“What?”

“Why are you so surprised? You’ve guessed it, the Church of Starry Wisdom. They gathered children who had lost their families in the First Rift in the name of protection. Among them, there was Yoohyun and me.”

The way he called Ki Yoohyun changed¹. It sounded like he was referring to someone other than the person he was now.

“That day, the school called the children because we were going on a school trip.”

“……!”

I recalled a vision I had once seen through my grandmother’s diary. I had the bizarre experience of meeting young Ki Yoohyun in an auditorium. He told me that he was going to go on a school trip.

But was Oh Seoho there? That can’t be right. If he was, he would have been…….

I frowned as I recalled the horrific scene I had seen in my vision. Everyone was dead except for Ki Yoohyun, who had awakened at that moment.

Oh Seoho’s words followed, “I didn’t want to go to the school trip orientation because I had a fever that day, but the atmosphere was strange, and the teacher of the Church insisted that everyone must attend with a scary face.”

“…….”

“I didn’t want to go, but I was scared of being punished, so I just hid and cried …. Hmmm, you may not believe it, but I was a bit timid when I was younger. Anyway, Yoohyun told me that if I hid, he would pick me up later; that if I hide in my room, the teacher won’t know.”

I felt my heart pounding.

“But when it was time to leave for the school trip, Yoohyun still hadn’t come, and I began to feel anxious, wondering if he might have left me behind, so I headed to the auditorium. There, I saw a terrible sight.”

Oh Seoho didn’t mention what or how it was terrible, but from the pale look on his face, I could tell he had seen the same thing.

“I was so scared that I ran away and was protected by other adults, which was why for a long time I assumed Yoohyun was already dead.”

At some points, the emotion that flashed in his eyes resembled guilt. I fell silent, unable to find words of comfort.

“And as you know, the Hunter World soon experienced a great turmoil. One was the disappearance of the Awakening Center and its reorganisation into the Dungeon Management Office. The second was the appearance of an absolute powerful individual named Muwon.”

“…….”

“At the time, I was living as a common person, so I didn’t know that Yoohyun was Muwon. However, I happened to hear that Yoohyun was alive and had become a Hunter. I ran right away and tried to meet him. But that annoying kid said this.”

Oh Seoho changed his tone of voice, as if trying to recreate the way he had spoken then.

“Who? I don’t know you. I have nothing to do with you, so get out.”

Did Ki Yoohyun really say that? Oh Seoho smiled bitterly when I stared at him in disbelief.

“I thought, Yoohyun was pretending not to know his past relationship now that he became a Hunter. It must be kind of pathetic that he trusted people like the Church to be his protectors and then had a horrible experience.”

“…….”

“These days, if you bring up a story like this, people will immediately criticize you. It’s not uncommon for people’s attitudes to change when they become Hunters.”

“Yoohyun-ssi isn’t that kind of person…..”

“Yes, he is not.” Oh Seoho answered me firmly, “Anyway, I was hurt and upset by his response, so I just forgot about it. Then, a while later, I awakened as an illusionist, and that wasn’t a very good thing.”

At first, Oh Seoho couldn’t control his powers properly, so he kept using the illusions on himself. From the elderly to children, sometimes even animals or insects. He used illusion techniques in various guises. After a while, he lost track of who he was. He needed to undo the illusion and return to his true form, but he couldn’t remember what that ‘true form‘ was.

Not only that, but he was also trapped in a terrible illusion. No matter how many times he told himself it was fake, his senses still perceived it as reality, and his fears still felt real.

It was a heavily toned-down description, but it was enough to convey his anguish at the time.

“The person who saved me was Yoohyun … I mean, Muwon. Perhaps it was just a coincidence or a whim, but he tied up my rampaging abilities and put a restriction on them so that I couldn’t use illusions on myself.”

“Hang on. Is it possible for an Awakened to intervene and place restrictions on another Awakened’s abilities?”

“Generally speaking, it’s not possible.” Oh Seoho smiled slightly, “That’s when I found out that Yoohyun was Muwon, the top Ranker. I was embarrassed at first, and then I got angry.”

“……Why?”

Realising that I didn’t really understand what he was saying, Oh Seoho added, somewhat embarrassed.

“Look, me and Yoohyun were the only two people who survived that day. But Yoohyun became an accomplished Hunter, while I still needed help because I couldn’t control my powers even though I was also awakened. I was ashamed of myself for being such a mess.”

“Even so, it’s not something Hunter Oh Seoho should be ashamed of.”

“……Thank you.”

He tilted his head slightly.

“Anyway, I was so embarrassed that I told him not to interfere with my business. I said said things I didn’t mean because I was angry, but soon I found out that Yoohyun really didn’t remember me.”

“….What?”

Translator’s Corner:

1. In the past chapter, he usually just called him “Yoohyun” or just “best friend/not mentioning his name”. Here, Oh Seoho was calling him “Yoohyunie”, like he was actually talking about a dearest friend, and not just his usual one-sided friendship.. ↩︎

The second part of this chapter is a flashback for what happened in the Chapter 148.