episode_0051

I didn’t particularly like the rain.

It’s not like I hated it, but if you were to ask me if I preferred it over sunny weather, I would shake my head.

I don’t usually have many good days, and when I look out the window and see the gloomy sky and the rain falling, my mood just gets worse for no reason.

Still, I agree that it has its own charm.

Sometimes, I would sit on the balcony, hugging a pillow in my arms, and gaze absentmindedly at the rain clouds.

Now, my experience was different from back then.

I couldn’t see, only capturing the sound of the rain with my ears.

With my heightened sense of hearing, my perception was different in many ways.

Back then, I would contemplate alone, but now I wasn’t alone.

“Arin, have you seen that movie? What was it called… Eastern Empire?”

“Yes, I watched it when I was young, and luckily, I still have the material, so it was quite enjoyable.”

“Oh… an ancient movie from 200 years ago. It’s like an ancient artifact. Come to think of it, Arin, you really like old things. Like that weird candy.”

“Eliya… you’re not criticizing my taste, are you?”

The sound of their conversation effortlessly drowned out the sound of the rain.

It was Baek Arin leaning against the opposite wall and Eliya sitting next to me.

Baek Arin had appeared with a strange joke about making a snowman in the midst of the rain.

When I showed a hint of being on guard, she was startled and raised both hands, indicating that she had no intention of attacking.

After some back and forth, the current situation was that we were all crowded inside the narrow cave.

Gathered tightly in the already cramped cave, the sound echoed inside.

“Eliya, did you watch it too? They were fighting fiercely.”

“I watched from a distance. It was so intense that I discreetly ran away.”

“It was chaos. Even now, the weather is gradually calming down, but it was a complete mess.”

Baek Arin sighed, shaking her head. She had been active outside before coming here.

It seemed that there had been a battle between nearly a hundred disciples.

It was the second night, and by now, it was to be expected. Looking back, it was a mix of pursuit and battle.

Baek Arin and Eliya conversed in an uneasy atmosphere.

With their quirky personalities and sociability, they naturally became friends in a short period of time.

After thinking for a moment, I nudged Eliya at a moment when their conversation paused.

Eliya turned her gaze.

I conveyed my question to Eliya through sign language.

“Yeonhwa must be causing a scene by now. The skirmish earlier was because of Yeonhwa.”

“?”

A response came. Of course, the question was asked to hear the answer.

I turned my head. The answer just now came from Baek Arin, not Eliya.

Since she couldn’t speak, it was right to ask Eliya to relay the question to Baek Arin…

“I’m learning sign language as part of my education. Thanks to the Tower of Harmony, it’s easy to learn and translate.”

Baek Arin said with a smile.

As the heir of the Changhae family, she would naturally receive appropriate education, including sign language.

…I wonder if Hong Yeonhwa learned it too? I should ask later.

Anyway, I asked my question in sign language based on the answer I just received.

Why was Hong Yeonhwa causing a scene?

Considering Hong Yeonhwa’s aggressive nature, it wasn’t strange for her to cause a scene, but it was odd for a hundred disciples to be involved in it.

Baek Arin answered as if it was nothing.

“Oh, it’s nothing special. While I was traveling with her, Ihayul mentioned that she was being chased by a group of bandits, and she just ran towards them with her eyes wide open.”

“?”

Such a response was unexpected. Elia seemed just as puzzled by it.

“By that time, wouldn’t Ihayul have already hidden in the cave?”

“Yes. I saw a gathering of bandits, so I thought maybe she might be there considering Ihayul’s situation. I just mentioned it, and Hong Yeonhwa immediately ran off.”

Without even listening to the end of the conversation, Baek Arin shook her head in disbelief.

So, in the end, is Baek Arin falling for Hong Yeonhwa’s bait and getting caught up in a chase?

“Hehe. Let’s just overlook such trivial matters. There’s something more important to discuss.”

Baek Arin, seeing my incredulous expression, cleared her throat and turned the topic around.

“How about we team up to take down the boss? With three heads, the points we earn will be quite substantial.”

After finishing her sentence, Baek Arin waited for a response. Elia’s gaze turned towards me. Perhaps she was curious about my answer.

‘Hmm…’

A team proposal. Nothing out of the ordinary. If we were to go out right now, there are plenty of bandits forming teams.

Dividing the points among the members may reduce the income, but it’s not a loss as it allows for safe and efficient point acquisition.

‘But why bother?’

However, does Baek Arin really need to form a team? With me and Elia?

“There’s a reason for it. When we first received the notice, it stated that the boss is at the 5th level. It’s too burdensome for me to try it alone.”

Baek Arin explained, raising her hand in hesitation.

“The 5th level is no joke. I might not know until later, but for now, if I attempt it alone and fail, it would be a loss. So, it’s better to team up with close friends and take it down safely.”

It’s a reasonable argument.

In the original work, it’s a daunting task for the main characters to defeat the boss at the 5th level at this point.

After a moment of contemplation, I turned to Elia.

‘What do you think, Elia?’

Asking in a casual tone, Elia smiled and replied.

“I think it’s fine. There’s no harm in fighting together with Arin, right?”

That’s a valid point.

Baek Arin is the top student of the 122nd batch. Although her combat abilities may be inferior to Hong Yeonhwa, her overall stats are superior. With the title of ‘Jack of All Trades,’ diversity shines even brighter when there are comrades.

Rather than rejecting, it’s a welcoming proposal from this side.

I bowed my head for a moment and felt the magic. Compared to the surroundings, my magic purity is indeed outstanding, Elia’s magic is warm like sunlight, and Baek Arin’s magic is clean yet cold.

As magical affinity grows, I can feel the magic more delicately. Therefore, Baek Arin’s coldness becomes more pronounced.

One of the reasons I feel reluctance towards this proposal is because of her. Because it’s Baek Arin who proposed it. Because I feel a sense of aversion towards her.

Why? Because of the trivial knowledge from the original game.

Even though Baek Arin hasn’t done anything to me, I feel aversion towards her.

It’s a foolish thought. To judge a person based on such trivial knowledge from a mere game.

I’m feeling aversion towards this person because of that game knowledge.

I haven’t experienced it myself. I don’t really know this person well.

‘……’

I felt Baek Arin’s strange gaze.

– Nod

After hesitating for a moment, I nodded.

.

.

.

Day 3 of the dungeon.

Thanks to the chaos caused by the bandits on the first and second days, the number of bandits in the dungeon has decreased significantly.

The remaining bandits will have to defeat the boss among themselves, so there might be a tense atmosphere for a while.

Of course, we need to be cautious as it could easily backfire.

The sound of a weak bird’s cry and the gentle flow of a stream were captured in the ear. It seemed as if morning had arrived.

I cautiously got up from my narrow sleeping spot in the cave. Sleeping in such a cramped space wasn’t as uncomfortable as I had thought.

There were no supplies like sleeping bags, but after leveling the ground with magic and using large leaves as a substitute for a sleeping bag, it became a rather comfortable resting place.

“Ssshh…”

A figure emerged from the cave, moving awkwardly. As I lightly touched the grass with my toes, it made a strange sound.

The figure was Baek Arin. She stretched her arms up high and took in a deep breath, filling her chest with fresh air.

It was a refreshing sigh that made you feel cool just by listening to it.

Unlike the usual soft atmosphere that Baek Arin exuded, this was a rough and hearty sigh.

I turned my head with a puzzled expression.

I thought about the boss we would soon be tracking. I had already received instructions on the schedule and a description of the boss.

“A 5th rank parasitic moth. And an alpha specimen at that.”

In the original work, it was just a weak monster that appeared due to the aftermath of a powerful player character’s attack, but in reality, it was different.

Although such incidents were rare these days, if a 5th rank monster suddenly appeared in an urban area without preparation, it would be a disaster that could easily sweep away hundreds of people.

And to top it off, it was an alpha designation.

An alpha specimen indicated an exceptionally dangerous individual even within that rank.

There were many reasons for this. The individual could be significantly stronger than the average species as a mutant, or it could have been strengthened by the dungeon’s protection, and so on.

Now, we had to track it down. The monster known as a 5th rank alpha specimen that had appeared somewhere in the Tower of Growth.

In reality, we would have immediately set out to hunt it, but since we were inside the Tower, the danger was omnipresent. It was a good opportunity to try it out as an experience.

Baek Arin, who had finished stretching, clapped her hands.

“Alright! Let’s get going!”

Baek Arin took the lead as the temporary party leader. It was only natural, given her strength and experience.

Baek Arin took the lead, with Elia, who had the lowest combat ability here, in the center.

I was in charge of the rear guard. It was already known that my detection ability was lacking.

It hadn’t been long since we started exploring. It had only been about fifteen minutes at most.

“Wow…”

Baek Arin, who was at the front, exclaimed. Elia, who followed behind, also showed a look of surprise and fear.

Although I couldn’t see what they were looking at, I could sense it in a different way.

The wind blowing was hot. All the magic around us was burning fiercely, and there were still flames flickering here and there.

I cautiously pressed the ground. The heat seeped through the soles of my shoes.

Crack. The ground sank deeply. The grass and other plants around crumbled easily when I scratched them with my foot.

At the very least, it was certain that this area of the forest had been completely destroyed.

‘Just how much did it rampage?’

Baek Arin muttered in a daze.

“You really went all out…”

Traces of blatant destruction.

My right hand twitched. I instinctively checked the armguard wrapped around my right hand.

“If I lie and say Yuhle tried to kill me, will you stop her, Yul?”

‘Me?’

“Yuhle can’t read emotions from you, right?”

When I expressed doubt, the response came back questioning why I was asking such an obvious question.

Did Hong Yuhle do that to me?

…Come to think of it, it seems like she did.

We passed through the forest that had been devastated by Hong Yuhle.

Baek Arin skillfully led the party, while I, with enhanced senses and magic affinity, carefully scanned the surroundings as we moved forward.

We hunted various monsters, earning small amounts of points.

Occasionally, we took breaks and gathered some food like fruits.

After roughly a few hours had passed, we were fortunate enough to come across a boss in this vast tower.

– Beep beep beep beep beep!

– Kwa-ga-gang!

“Ah! This damn thing is really annoying.”

Even Hong Yeonhwa, who was in the midst of battling the boss, was cursing.