Ch.113Their Story

# 113. Their Story

“Where’s Seonghyun?”

“He said it was fine when I told him we were building camaraderie among raid members.”

“He and Danya are just so lovey-dovey. Anyone would think Danya’s his girlfriend.”

“That’s not really lovey-dovey, is it…?”

After dinner, the Veritas raid members, except for Seonghyun, gathered in room 302.

“So why did you call us together?”

“Now that we’re at full strength, I think we need to establish a proper system.”

“System? Establish?”

Subin nodded at Soyu’s question.

“Until now, Seonghyun and I have been handling strategy planning, and as for giving orders, well, there’s no one better than that anti-Seonghyun guy anyway, so that’s fine. But it’s the rest of the time that’s the problem.”

“The rest of the time?”

“Just everything. Everything outside of combat.”

Subin folded her fingers one by one as she spoke.

“First, cooking. Planning strategies and giving orders is more mentally draining and exhausting than you’d think. The pressure of knowing that one wrong word could endanger raid members or cause the entire operation to fail is truly beyond imagination. And then he has to cook without even getting a proper break—anywhere from a few dozen minutes to over an hour less rest than everyone else. Three times a day.”

“Oppa said that since he rarely fights directly, you all who are physically exhausted should rest more…”

“Then we should at least take turns. It’s absurd for him to handle it all alone. If the reason is that none of us six can cook—that’s really… in a way, it hurts our pride.”

It was an era where gender roles were becoming blurred, especially when it came to cooking. Women weren’t necessarily expected to be good cooks anymore. But having one man doing all the cooking for six women?

If the man were actually a chef, it wouldn’t be strange at all, but he’s just an office worker who lives alone.

When there were two, three, or four of them, he naturally took charge of cooking… and even when they became a full team, Seonghyun continued cooking without complaint. And of course, as the number of people increased, so did the cooking time.

“That anti-Seonghyun guy gives me the stink eye just for getting near the stove. So annoying.”

“Haha…”

“Ahem.”

Seyeon and Yuri, who had experienced Subin’s cooking—probably for the first and last time—kept their mouths shut. Subin glared at them briefly before sighing and continuing her explanation.

“It’s not just cooking. As you saw from the entrance fee and dinner costs today, finances need to be managed too. And though it’s not relevant here, guard duty needs to be organized as well. When we were fewer, we could manage with improvisation, but now we’re eight people. We need to avoid non-combat losses.”

“Subin unnie has been doing a lot all this time.”

“That’s right. Because Subin unnie is so capable, we took it for granted. But I’m just a rookie who only knows how to swing metal and play games…”

As Yuri self-deprecated in a somewhat gloomy tone, the two seniors who had been listening quietly spoke up.

“I get what you’re saying, Subin. Since I helped the raid leader recently, I’ll join the cooking team. I’m sure I’ll figure it out!”

“Then I will too.”

“Yehyun unnie and Soyu unnie on cooking duty. Confirmed.”

And so, starting with cooking, roles were assigned for finances, security, and everything else.

“Is that the end of today’s meeting?”

“For now, yes.”

“Actually, there’s something I’d like to ask too.”

As the atmosphere shifted toward wrapping up, Soyu, who had been silent except when volunteering for cooking duty, suddenly asked:

“Are the room and tent arrangements going to stay fixed like this from now on?”

The busy room fell silent. Not a single person in the room interpreted Soyu’s question at face value. Even Arang, who had joined the raid team not long ago, understood.

‘Tsk.’

Subin clicked her tongue inwardly. Soyu unnie had seemed formidable from the start, but even she hadn’t expected her to make such a direct move. She’d thought Soyu would be more subtle.

‘It’s not just that the bridge was shaking—it nearly collapsed entirely, so it’s natural she’d cling more desperately.’

This was a gathering with everyone present. She couldn’t word things too strongly. And… she was just one of three, not the only one.

So she could only say:

“Unless something comes up.”

“I see. Alright then.”

With those words, the first raid member meeting ended awkwardly.

**

After Seyeon, Yuri, and Subin from room 301 had left.

In the slightly awkward atmosphere that remained, Soyu acted as if nothing had happened. She knelt on the bed, took out a smooth stone from her inventory, clutched it tightly in her hand, and pulled it to her chest.

Then, with her eyes closed, she cast a weak Holy Radiance.

This was a familiar sight to Yehyun, who had shared a tent with her. Arang had seen it before, but she had been too preoccupied at the time to pay attention, so it felt new to her.

So Arang approached Yehyun and whispered:

“Yehyun unnie, what is Soyu unnie doing?”

“Ah, that…”

Yehyun briefly wondered if she should explain.

‘Soyu didn’t ask for secrecy, and I’m not gossiping about her… so it should be fine, right?’

Arang wasn’t an outsider but a fellow raid member. Since Soyu would be in that state for quite a while, making it impossible to ask her directly, Yehyun decided to explain the essentials.

“This is what Soyu told me herself.”

“Okay.”

“During the operation on floor 3-1, she said she had quite a severe panic attack after killing the Albs. Normally, everyone would have genuinely worried about and taken care of Soyu, but I heard almost everyone was in serious condition at that time, except for Seyeon.”

Yuri was in critical condition, close to death, and Seonghyun and Subin were also in bad shape. Seyeon, the only one who was fine, couldn’t even rest after the battle—she had to take care of everyone else, set up the campsite, protect it, and stand guard, accumulating extreme fatigue.

There was no one available to comfort Soyu.

“She said that even with her eyes open, that moment kept flashing before her, and when she closed her eyes, it became even more vivid, making it impossible to sleep. So she went out to look at the night sky and ran into the raid leader.”

“Oh.”

“She didn’t tell me the details, but apparently he tried to comfort her with what she called meaningless words. But despite how she described it, it seems to have been quite comforting.”

“Oho. And what about that stone?”

“The stone… I don’t know. She didn’t tell me about that. Anyway, Soyu is probably protecting her mental health in her own way.”

I wasn’t there at the time, but I heard she had outstanding results in the half-Alb chain quest. If she had a panic attack from that, she must have killed quite a number of Albs.

‘There must be a big difference between killing with skills as a game character and killing directly yourself.’

Thinking about this, Arang had another question.

“What about you, Yehyun unnie? Are you okay?”

“Ah, me.”

Yehyun ruffled her hair and sighed.

“I wasn’t on floor 3-1 where things were supposedly brutal, and on floor 3-2, well… Subin and Soyu were the main contributors. To be honest, I was mostly just running around.”

“…”

“It certainly wasn’t a pretty sight. But… when kids younger than me are suffering and enduring like that, it doesn’t feel right for me to whine about how hard it is when I did relatively little. The raid leader devised the best strategy, Subin supplemented it, and the rest of us executed and supported. Once I thought of it that way, I felt a bit better.”

“I don’t think age is necessarily the issue.”

“Thanks. But it can’t be ignored either. At least that’s how I see it. The same burden feels uglier when carried by someone older. And before that, I caused everyone a lot of worry with that spirit contract business, even though it wasn’t intentional… haha.”

A water droplet girl suddenly appeared and nuzzled against Yehyun’s cheek. As Yehyun smiled and stroked the water droplet girl’s head with her index finger, a translucent baby bird appeared and pressed its head against the back of her other hand.

“With beautiful, kind, and cute people like you all, and these lovely spirits, I’m fine. So, Arang.”

“Yes?”

“If you’re having a hard time, you can always talk about it. And you can lean on others. Some people are strong enough to endure alone, but most people… end up festering inside.”

Arang nodded. As Soyu’s prayer had just ended, she returned to her bed, covered herself with the blanket, and thought:

‘With Soyu unnie like that and Yehyun unnie too… I wonder if I’ll end up alone in a different sense soon?’

The raid leader.

Handsome but bad man.

**

‘W-who could possibly want to see us? Huh?’

‘How would I know? And watch your mouth. They might hear us too.’

‘Gasp.’

The Golden Wings raid leader trio followed the innkeeper. When they saw the innkeeper heading not upstairs or to the same floor, but down to the basement, their faces visibly hardened.

“Enter.”

“Um, aren’t you coming in with us?”

The innkeeper shook his head after pointing to a nondescript door and stared intently at the trio. He clearly intended to watch them enter.

The Golden Wings raid leader suppressed a sigh as he grasped the doorknob.

‘Don’t tremble.’

He whispered to the two who were shaking nervously as he opened the door. It was very dark inside, with only two small candles for light.

After the trio fumbled their way in, the door closed behind them. As they flinched at the sound of the closing door, an Alb’s voice shot out from the darkness:

“Humans.”

Just one word.

It was just one word, but the trio didn’t dare move or answer. The hatred and anger contained in that calm single word was so immense that they feared being swept away by it if they made a wrong move.

“Perhaps.”

“A human woman with black hair who uses twin axes.”

“A human woman with red hair who casts fire-based magic.”

“Do you know a human woman with silver hair who uses holy power.”

It seems something comes to mind.

Speak.