Ch.194Somewhere

# 194. Somewhere

We stayed on the floor with the Faelm Fortress (6th floor) for several weeks. During that time, we conducted life-threatening power reconnaissance (rushing through enemy lines after teleporting), navigated the fortress’s internal power struggles with careful diplomacy and strategic persuasion, endured boring training and simulations, and fought desperate battles against demons.

Of course, this wasn’t unique to just this floor. Since the first floor, Eden Guard, our number of companions had gradually increased, but we faced life-threatening crises on every floor we climbed.

There were many reasons we didn’t give up despite facing these constant dangers, but one was that we’d always received rewards good enough to think, “This compensation is worth it.”

But now there’s nothing? Not even a downgrade, but absolutely nothing?

Even if we couldn’t get the best rewards like “Raid Member Summoning” anymore, even artifacts with increased maximum mana or recovery would significantly boost Subin’s or Yehyun noona’s combat power.

A good shield or armor would upgrade our raid team’s defense if given to Seyeon… Anyway, the team’s morale was terrible because we got nothing after all our hard work.

“No matter how bad things got before, the rewards were always guaranteed. That’s because it was part of the system. So I don’t think they’re intentionally withholding rewards. There must be some reason.”

“Even if there is, what good does that do us? We have to go up to the next floor soon.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Wait. What was the next area after Faelm Fortress again?”

“After the fortress, wasn’t it the Empire in Crisis? Subin, is that right?”

“Yeah. It’s quite a large chapter. It’s also where demon appearances start becoming widely known.”

“Ah… it’s getting tougher and tougher.”

Yehyun noona slumped her shoulders at the information that the next floor would be even harder. We might have to struggle for months, not just weeks.

‘I really want to rest properly.’

That was difficult here. We never knew when we might be expelled. Plus, all the raid members including myself had been messed with by Futri’s tricks, so our fatigue had only worsened rather than recovered.

“I know that, but wouldn’t it be better to get at least a little sleep? There’s no guarantee we’ll be able to rest on the next floor either.”

“Based on what we’ve experienced so far, we’ve never had to fight immediately upon entering a new floor.”

“Whatever. If you’re worried about our stuff disappearing, let’s just lay down a cloth and sleep. I feel like I’m going to die from exhaustion.”

It wasn’t the camping gear disappearing that worried me, but being suddenly expelled while resting comfortably and thrown into the next area defenseless…

The condition of my raid members, who were strong-willed and usually followed my instructions well, had reached their physical and mental limits.

And I was no different.

“Alright. Let’s sleep. I couldn’t do anything else even if I wanted to. My brain isn’t working.”

At my words, Yuri weakly said “Yay~” and immediately passed out. The others collapsed with groans.

“The watch duty…”

Subin asked about watch duty with her eyes nearly closed, but after I patted her shoulder a couple of times, she too succumbed to sleep.

‘You bastards who didn’t give us rewards. At least don’t disturb our rest time.’

As I slowly stroked Danya, I quickly lost consciousness.

**

‘Where is this?’

I opened my eyes. As soon as I woke up, I sat bolt upright and looked around. Immediately after, my entire body screamed in pain.

“Argh-“

“You’re awake?”

“-aaack.”

“Pfft. What a weird sound to make right after waking up.”

I turned my head to see a haggard-looking Subin brushing her side hair. Though her exhaustion couldn’t hide her beauty, her bloodshot eyes and the dark circles beneath them revealed she hadn’t fully recovered from fatigue.

“Why didn’t you rest more. Ahem.”

I noticed my voice was severely hoarse. Subin smiled slightly and answered.

“Since we all slept without posting a watch, I woke up early. But I don’t feel like I’m about to pass out anymore. Why did you wake up so early?”

“Well. Would you understand if I said it’s because of the deeply ingrained bio-rhythm of a poor soul juggling both a day job and raid leader duties?”

“Sure. I can tell you’re not in good shape.”

Subin sighed softly, then took my hand and massaged it firmly.

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

“Just because.”

“Just because? You, Subin?”

“What? Am I not allowed to do this?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Right. That’s the kind of woman I am.”

“No, wait. That’s not—”

“I’m joking. Look around carefully.”

Stopping her massage and gripping my hand tightly, Subin whispered in a low voice.

“This isn’t the reward room.”

“You’re right.”

“Don’t just say ‘you’re right.’ Focus.”

“…Oh.”

“And it doesn’t seem to be the Empire or a field leading to Imperial territory either. This doesn’t look like any normal terrain no matter how you look at it.”

My half-asleep mind suddenly became fully alert. I slapped both my cheeks with a loud clap and looked around again with a clear mind.

Indeed, this wasn’t an ordinary region.

“Then where are we?”

“I don’t know.”

“Even you?”

“Yes. If you and I don’t know, it’s safe to assume the other raid members don’t know either.”

We weren’t trying to belittle the other members, but that was the reality. We alternated between looking at the unknown space and our still-sleeping teammates, sighing.

“Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this.”

“I’d like to tell you not to say such discouraging things, but I feel the same way.”

“Were there no messages or anything while I was asleep? You know, the ones that usually appear when entering a new floor.”

“Nothing. You’ll see when you check.”

“…You’re right.”

An unpleasant sensation of being dragged along by some unknown force crept up on me.

If you’re so uncomfortable, what can you do about it~

If someone were observing our situation, they might mock us like that.

Literally, there was nothing we could do. That’s why we didn’t bother waking up the other members. The situation wouldn’t change even if they woke up, so they might as well recover from their fatigue as much as possible.

“Sunghyun.”

“Yeah?”

“When we were tricked by Futri in the reward room. What did you experience?”

“Me? I…”

Was it because she couldn’t bear the helplessness and silence? Subin spoke up. After briefly recalling the false world I had experienced like a “dream,” I told her everything without filtering.

“You married all of us and went on a trip? Ban Sunghyun, you dream big.”

“Ahem. Isn’t that what you wanted too?”

“Living together was one thing, but polygamy is beyond what I can handle.”

She was right. Countries where polygamy is legal could probably be counted on one hand.

Of course, Subin knew well that it was possible because it was a false world. This was probably her way of trying to lighten the mood.

“Then what did you experience, Subin?”

“Similar to yours.”

“Similar?”

“A pointless past. A boring past. Things like that.”

“I’m curious though.”

“Did you hear what I said? A pointless and boring past.”

I shrugged.

“There’s no way my woman’s past could be pointless or boring.”

“…”

“Of course, I did see some of your memories in the reward room before summoning you, but that was just a small part. I want to know more about you.”

“As always, Ban Sunghyun’s mouth is just…”

I was confident. I deliberately straightened my shoulders and puffed out my chest, causing Subin to burst into incredulous laughter.

“Fine. We have nothing else to do anyway, might as well share some useless stories.”

“I told you they’re not useless.”

“Be quiet.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Subin, who seemed ready to spill everything, just moved her lips for a while. Was she wondering what story to start with, or how to put her words together?

I didn’t know how much time we had like this, but I waited patiently without rushing her. After some time, Subin finally spoke.

“I mostly experienced my past, but like your final episode, I also had dreams that mixed fact and fiction.”

“I see.”

“While you became a loving, hopeful, lovey-dovey husband, I was the opposite. To put it simply, it was unhappy.”

It was extra cute hearing Subin use words like “lovey-dovey” and “unhappy.” Still, I didn’t laugh and interrupt her flow.

“We did return home. But not everyone returned.”

“Oh no.”

“There was exactly one person who couldn’t return, and that was you. And that was unhappy for our entire raid team.”

Everyone’s return except for me… I thought that could certainly be a possibility.

“‘Unhappy’ is a very polite way of putting it. We were able to return because of your sacrifice. I don’t remember the details clearly, but I vividly remember that you sacrificed yourself. None of us wanted your sacrifice, but you said you couldn’t let any of us be sacrificed and that it was your fault we came to this tower in the first place, so you had to take responsibility.”

“That sounds right.”

*Squeeze*

“Don’t say things that’ll get you hit.”

“Ow, I surrender! I surrender!”

I thoughtlessly agreed and Subin pinched my thigh. Tears sprang to my eyes.

“Anyway. So we returned, but everyone was in bad shape. You know everyone loved you, so I’ll skip that part. Oh, right. Danya died too. Because you sacrificed yourself, Danya, who was bound to your soul by contract, also died.”

“…”

“Should I stop? I haven’t even started yet.”

This isn’t just simple unhappiness. And she hasn’t even started?

I felt like I’d opened Pandora’s box, but having heard this much, I wanted to hear it all.

“And well, not long after we returned. Arang committed suicide.”

And I regretted it from the start…