Ch.77This sinful man

# 77. This Sinful Man

I immediately shared my thoughts with the raid members instead of keeping them to myself.

Their reactions were mostly similar to mine.

However, there was also this opinion.

“I’m a bit curious about what happened to the other side after we disappeared.”

“…We probably got fired from our jobs, right?”

“That was already decided before I came here. Absent without notice for over a week? Nothing more to think about.”

“Tsk.”

We were part of a raid team that had been clearing the game tower for over a year. Besides, so far, we hadn’t really needed help from other raid members.

It didn’t seem like it would benefit us, and dealing with leeches—who exist everywhere—would just be annoying.

It’s a mistake to think that high-rankers and raid leaders don’t have to deal with leeches.

“Even if we could go to the lower floors, would there be any benefit? I don’t think we can travel anywhere besides the neutral city.”

“But the area where the Hyeomseong and Ayord are fighting isn’t in the neutral city area, right? So how does that work?”

“Or maybe my assumption is wrong. Maybe it’s just programmed into the residents’ minds that things are happening that way, but in reality, the floors are still separated.”

“Perhaps instead of a quest, there might be missions related to the half-Alb quest on floors 3-1 or 3-2.”

The exchange of opinions continued, centered around me and Subin. Even Seyeon, who usually didn’t speak much about these things, threw in a few words, and Soyu noona, who typically took a step back to observe, also expressed her views.

As for Danya…

“Nyaang?”

[Huh? What?]

As long as she’s cute, that’s all that matters. For now.

I stroked Danya while summarizing the raid members’ opinions.

“Then, as Subin said, let’s just look into the half-Alb quest for now. Honestly, even if we could go down to the lower floors, I don’t think there’s much merit since the rewards are probably better here.”

“I haven’t seen Edengard and Albrant, so if we have time, I’d like to visit them once.”

“Yeah, except for the fact that the Hyeomseong live there, Albrant is a perfect place. Edengard is cool too.”

The matter of ‘other raid teams’ was once again pushed to the back of our minds. In the very beginning, we focused on ‘claiming territory first’ because of potential other players, but that meaning had faded long ago.

It wasn’t about clearing paths to claim territory first.

As we forged our own path, we naturally found ourselves at the front.

‘That probably sounds a bit arrogant to others.’

But what can I do if it’s the truth?

The fact that at least 4 out of 7 members were women, and they were all attractive enough to be scouted at a convenience store, made it all seem quite unrealistic.

“So, how long are we staying here?”

“At minimum, until Soyu noona gets her equipment and consumables. At maximum, until we master our skills and build up surplus capital. This hasn’t changed since floor 1.”

“It’s not good to stay too long, so let’s set it at ten days. We’ll have free time until lunch after breakfast, then move after lunch. I’ll make a list of things worth doing here in the meantime.”

“Sounds good.”

“You’re talking like it doesn’t involve you, but of course you’re included, Ban Sunghyun.”

Ah. Caught.

Seyeon and Yuri offered to help, but we declined. Sorry to say, but they weren’t particularly helpful in this area.

“Rest well. See you later.”

“Don’t go rushing off alone while we’re gone, Subin unni.”

“I’m going to work now, you know?”

“Beh.”

For the comfort of the raid members, only Subin came with me to my room.

“How does it feel?”

“What feeling?”

“The feeling of dating multiple women at once.”

“Thrilling.”

Oof!

I tried to brush it off as a joke, but she pinched my side. I hastily exclaimed:

“It’s too much! I feel so unworthy I don’t know what to do with myself!”

“Hmph.”

After I made a fuss and begged profusely, she finally let go of my side. She took out paper and writing tools from her inventory and wrote “Ayord Checklist” at the top in elegant handwriting.

“It’s better to exclude things with high risk or low return on investment from the list from the start. Agree?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Let’s fill it in one by one. Whatever we can remember. Focus on things with good efficiency or easy rewards.”

She began filling the empty space without hesitation.

“The martial arts tournament… has big returns but also considerable risk, and since Yuri is the only one suitable to participate, we should exclude it. We decided to look into the half-Alb quest before making a decision, so that’s excluded for now. And regarding the internal conflicts among the Ayord races…”

Occasionally, she would slightly furrow her brow or rest the pen tip on her lips as she concentrated, and how should I put it?

It’s a bit embarrassing to express, but she looked sexy.

Instead of thinking about the quests in Ayord, I found myself lost in watching Subin, and perhaps noticing my foolish gaze breaking her concentration, she frowned.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you’re sexy.”

“Se-what?”

Ah.

Seeing Subin’s startled expression, I realized my inner thoughts had slipped out.

Since it had already come to this, I didn’t deny it and instead added:

“Being sexy isn’t a term that can only be used for someone who’s deliberately trying to be provocative, right? I honestly thought that ‘intelligent beauty’ was an extremely difficult concept to fulfill, but looking at you, I guess not. Of course, that’s not to say you’re not sexy in that other way too.”

“…Are you still suffering from aftereffects of the ritual?”

“Hey, I’m perfectly sane. What I’m saying is that your appearance—”

“Stop it! You didn’t eat something weird, did you? Why are you being so creepy all of a sudden? Stop talking nonsense and help me with this.”

Subin cut off my praise with a threat. But who is she? She’s Eun Subin, the queen of ‘pretending not to care.’

She seemed angry, but her reddening ears suggested she was embarrassed yet not entirely displeased by my words.

Still, I instinctively felt that pushing further would be crossing a line, so I obediently helped with the checklist after that.

After adding, modifying, deleting, and then belatedly adding again, the Ayord checklist was completed in such a messy form that no one but us could understand it.

“Whatever. It’s fine as long as we can understand it.”

“Phew. We have about an hour left until lunch, right?”

“Nyaaaa…”

[That’s right…]

Danya, who had insisted on always staying with me to minimize my burden, had curled up on my thigh and slept comfortably while we were making the checklist.

As soon as we finished, she jumped up onto the table, looked at the checklist, and meowed at me.

“Nyaaaa…”

[I can’t read this…]

“The handwriting itself? Or because it’s messy?”

“Nya nyat. Nyat, nyaaa!”

[Both. Tell me what it says.]

“Alright.”

I began explaining each item to her, who was curious about the contents.

**

“This is where Subin wrote ‘martial arts tournament participation’ and then erased it.”

“Nya nyaang.”

“This? This is about postponing beating up the Albs.”

“This is related to the Chieftain Council, Ayord’s political body.”

“Nyat? Nya nyat!”

“You’re asking how I know such things when I just arrived in Ayord?”

He’s so kind.

And cool.

This time, it was me watching Sunghyun as he attentively cared for Danya.

It’s nothing special.

How many cat owners (though she’s actually an Ayord) are there who treat their cats affectionately? Even setting that aside, it’s just a simple conversation with an unusual conversation partner.

– Because you’re sexy.

‘Crazy.’

Sunghyun’s words kept replaying in my head. This guy, who’s usually quite shy and embarrassed about expressing such things, occasionally catches me off guard with unexpected comments.

He probably has no idea how impactful those words are.

“You said we’re connected by our souls and that’s why we can communicate like this. Doesn’t that mean you should know where I came from?”

“Nyat! Nya nyat! Nyaaat!”

“Ah. You’re right. I admit it. So about the circumstances of me and my companions…”

Come to think of it, Sunghyun must really like Danya, as he’s always stroking her head or back. She looks soft, but I wasn’t particularly fond of animals before, and somehow I feel like Danya wouldn’t allow my touch, so I don’t dare try.

– Of course, that’s not to say you’re not sexy in that other way too.

‘So when he touches me later, would it be with hands like that…?’

“I must be crazy.”

“…Huh? Me? Why?”

“No. It’s nothing. I wasn’t talking to you.”

“What is it?”

“I said it’s nothing.”

“Suspicious.”

“Oh, come on.”

Don’t approach me with that smile.

I almost blurted it out, you sinful man.

**

“Finally…”

“Finally!”

“FINALLY!!”

How much we had suffered to reach this point.

The beds were too uncomfortable, how long do we have to walk to reach the next floor, the monsters were too horrific (though we hadn’t noticed during the Knight’s Trial), the food tasted bad, and so on…

Overcoming all those complaints and discomforts, we finally passed through floor 1-2 and now stood before the long-awaited neutral city on the 2nd floor.

“Edengard wasn’t exactly the same as in the game, so surely Albrant won’t be exactly the same as in the game either, right?”

“No way. How could people be that repulsive? It must have been exaggerated for the game’s setting.”

The city of the Albs, Albrant.