Ch.57Bothering me

# 57. Bothering Me

“[10 Minutes a Day] 5th Edition! Neck and Shoulder Pain Relief!”

“Phew… something’s, something’s off.”

While doing the final monitoring before uploading a video to my personal website, I felt something was 2% lacking.

No matter how many times I watched it, the video length, composition, editing, and content were the same as usual, but…

“Ah.”

After watching it five times, I finally figured out why.

Expression. And energy.

There was a subtle hint of pretense in my expression, and a slight sense of forced energy.

Finding the cause didn’t take 50 minutes—5 seconds was enough.

‘Game… first time I haven’t logged in for 3 days.’

The raid group chat had already been asking if I’d disappeared too, and I briefly replied that I was too busy to log in.

Then today, on the third day, I got a message asking if I could log in even for a moment.

They asked me not to suddenly disappear without notice. Since Yebeobnojeong vanished, their anxiety and fear had grown dramatically.

‘Wouldn’t normal people distance themselves when they’re scared?’

But I couldn’t say that because everyone had grown attached to this game and our raid group. For the past few years, it was hard to imagine a life completely separated from this game.

Even now, after just three days of not logging in, I felt it.

It showed even when I tried not to be conscious of it. If this continued long-term, thoughts of the game might fade, but this crack could also grow wider. No one could guarantee which way it would go.

‘I’ve been sleeping earlier these days and not staying up late, so my physical condition is definitely better.’

My body felt good.

But there was always something unsettling in a corner of my mind. Like having a small but stubborn black stain on white clothes that just wouldn’t come out—incredibly annoying.

*Buzz*

[WaterKnowsTheAnswer: Muuuulchiiii ㅠㅠ]

[WaterKnowsTheAnswer: Are you not coming today either???]

[SteadfastBackDoor: We’re really the only two left now…]

“Damn. It keeps bothering me.”

Right.

I’ll log in, say hello, chat a bit, and then log off. That works, right? I’ve already cleared the latest raid anyway, and as for gear matching… I can do that anytime.

[PhysicalTherapist: Alright]

[PhysicalTherapist: I’ll be on soon]

[WaterKnowsTheAnswer: (crying puppy emoticon)]

[SteadfastBackDoor: (bowing cat emoticon)]

Yes. That’s all it takes.

Then maybe this unsettling feeling will go away too.

**

“What’s going on? Why does everyone look so gloomy?”

“Ah… it’s nothing. Just feeling a bit stiff, I guess.”

“Maybe it’s because no matter how beautiful the scenery is, a dungeon is still a dungeon. Did you sleep well, oppa?”

“Yeah. I slept deeply.”

It wasn’t just a polite response—I really did sleep deeply. No weird dreams, just felt like I time-warped. And I didn’t even get a massage from Saeaeks.

In contrast, the raid members looked somewhat tired. They said they were stiff, that their sleep wasn’t great…

Since they weren’t elaborating, and it didn’t seem serious enough to pry, I kept quiet. But I still asked just in case.

“If you’re tired, we could rest a bit more before setting out.”

“No. Let’s depart as planned. I’m fine. Seyeon, Yuri. You two are okay too, right?”

“Oh yes, of course.”

“Yeah. I’m good.”

With Yebeobnojeong looking at me as if to say “See?”, I could only nod.

‘Right. If it’s something I should know or am allowed to know, they’ll tell me when appropriate.’

Clearly, some conversation had happened while I was asleep. Honestly, I was very curious, but asking wouldn’t necessarily get me the answer I wanted, and it might make me look petty.

So we ate a simple breakfast, packed up our campsite, and entered the “Mountain.”

“The mountain has a different charm in daylight than at dusk.”

“Maybe it’s because we can see things that were hidden in the darkness back then.”

“That makes sense.”

The fourth theme, “Mountain,” had treasure hunting and guardian subjugation as its gimmick.

We were just at the entrance, so I made small talk, but only Yebeobnojeong responded. Normally, Cutjukyeora would have quietly expressed admiration, and Saeaeks would have made a fuss about weekend hiking or something.

Both remained unchanged from before we set out.

Originally, I tried not to worry about it, but the moment we resumed the mission, it really bothered me. After just 20 minutes, I withdrew my resolve and quietly asked Yebeobnojeong.

“Something happened last night, didn’t it?”

“No. We just chatted a bit.”

“Then why are they acting like that?”

“They’re probably just tired.”

“Those physically fit girls, over something like this?”

I couldn’t accept that. The Knight’s Trial and the Fallen Spirit Purification quests were far more grueling and intense. This time was just a bit annoying, but we were never in mortal danger.

Compared to then, this was a walk in the park, and their abilities had improved since then. How could they be tired? Especially after sleeping a full night in the dungeon?

Besides, if they were just a little tired, shouldn’t they still show some of their usual behavior, even if not 100%?

Of course, it could be due to personal matters. Respecting that is natural, and I’ll continue to do so. But in my opinion, it shouldn’t affect our climb.

Yebeobnojeong tried to ignore my probing gaze and move past it with silence. It was so natural that I almost let it go, but then I worried they might make some small mistake, so I asked once more.

“Really nothing happened?”

“…”

“Then I’ll assume it’s just my concern. Though if something goes wrong, it’ll be my responsibility.”

I tried to sound cool but left some room for doubt.

If something happens because you didn’t tell me, you know? Wouldn’t that bother you? With your personality, Yebeobnojeong, wouldn’t that really weigh on you? Right?

On second thought, it might be more than “some” room for doubt, but would Yebeobnojeong maintain her silence to the end?

“Sigh. Ban Seonhyeon, seriously.”

“What did I do?”

“Just… we were talking about the rewards after this dungeon. When Mulchi came up in conversation, things got a bit awkward.”

“Mulchi? Why me?”

Yebeobnojeong glared at me briefly, then summarized what had happened the night before.

“Hey! If something like that happened, you should have told me!”

“Why bother?”

“What do you mean ‘why bother’? It’s important!”

“We just need to do what we’ve always done. Get an S-rank, choose someone’s memory as a reward to summon raid members. Once everyone’s summoned, we earn money, match equipment, grow, and climb. Just like you—we—have always done.”

Life is complicated. Managing just three people besides myself is harder, and it’s even harder when they’re women.

And while I still feel responsible, I now truly think of bringing the raid members here as a “reward,” which makes it difficult.

“You’re overreacting. It won’t affect clearing the dungeon, so don’t worry about it and just leave them be.”

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t you trust them?”

Yebeobnojeong called my bluff.

I couldn’t bring myself to say I didn’t trust them.

“It’s good that you care about the raid members in detail, but don’t be so emotional yourself. How can anyone only fight when they’re feeling good or in top condition? Are you going to postpone for another day because of this? You won’t. And they wouldn’t want that either. So just let it go. Time will resolve it, and if you’re still worried, talk about it later.”

“It’s complicated.”

“It is.”

Yebeobnojeong shrugged.

“Speaking from experience?”

“Yeah. Take our shared hobbies and interests here, remove the personal closeness, add complicated and annoying office politics and workplace stress, and I’ve had several similar experiences.”

I decided not to mention it further. I chose to follow the advice of the deputy raid leader and the oldest woman in our group.

*Clap*

“Now, I’m going to talk about how to effectively search this vast mountain. But first, if anyone thinks their personal experience would be helpful, feel free to share.”

“Um, I do.”

I clapped to get everyone’s attention and acted normally. Both Cutjukyeora and Saeaeks seemed lost in thought and were startled, but after a moment’s consideration, they gave the same answer.

“I just followed a guide.”

“Me too. I’m too lazy to solve gimmicks myself.”

“Really? How was that guide?”

“Hmm. I don’t remember the details, but it was something like this.”

In the “Mountain,” there are specific points where treasures can be hidden.

Treasures are randomly hidden at one of these points.

These specific points are in fixed locations, and there will always be a guardian near the treasure, so if there’s no guardian, you can assume there’s no treasure there.

“Oh. That’s not ‘something like’—you remember almost everything. I wrote that guide too.”

“What? This was also written by you, leader?”

“Strictly speaking, I wasn’t the first to figure it all out. I only discovered that the potential treasure locations are fixed.”

“Oppa, are you sure you’re not secretly a GM or something?”

Cutjukyeora and Saeaeks laughed helplessly.

“If I were a GM, I wouldn’t have cursed at the game. I once got suspended for raging too hard and cursing at the game. Anyway, knowing this makes things faster. We’ll only search those specific locations instead of the entire area. Our navigator, or rather, our walking wiki Yebeob—I mean, Subin—will guide us.”

“Don’t treat me like a walking navigator.”

“Oh come on, ‘navigator’ is just a figure of speech.”

With the legendary memory of how I managed to halve my suspension time by filing a complaint about that incident, we stopped sightseeing and began quickly searching the candidate locations.

I hoped we’d find it on the first try and finish quickly, but…

“Darn it.”

No such luck.

Unfortunately.