chapter_0655

655 – Almost a Big Problem

655 – Almost a Big Problem

The mirror we modified was covered with a black cloth and moved to the guild warehouse.

It’s a shame it’s going to the warehouse, but since it’s a one-day exhibition item, it makes sense to put it away.

‘That was really fun.’

Many people were shocked, but despite knowing that, many came to see it.

The fact that we brought joy to people made our kids happy.

“Hehe, Levinas should make something fun again.”

“What kind of fun thing?”

“Hmm… Um…”

It seemed Levinas didn’t have anything specific in mind, as he pondered for a while.

He looked around as if trying to get some hints.

‘Is there nothing?’

I also looked around with Levinas, but I didn’t see anything particularly interesting.

Levinas seemed to feel the same way, letting out his characteristic “huh” sound.

“This is bad! There are no fun things!”

“Yeah. There’s not a single one, what should we do?”

“If there’s nothing, we can make something!”

Saying that, Levinas picked up a pen that was sitting on the desk.

It was an ordinary pen, but as he held it, he puffed out his chest.

“This is the laughter pen!”

“Yeah! With this, we can make everyone laugh!”

“Huh? How?”

At my question, Levinas poked me in the side with the pen.

It was ticklish, and I burst out laughing.

“Hehe, Levinas will make everyone laugh!”

“Meow.”

“Whoa!”

With Levinas’s pen poke, we ran out of the guild building.

While giggling and running away, we suddenly had to stop.

“Uh…”

I saw Choi Jin-hyuk walking far away in the park.

Blood was seeping from his arms and abdomen, and it looked quite dangerous.

‘Did he get hurt…?’

I hurriedly ran towards Choi Jin-hyuk.

When our eyes met, he looked startled, unlike his usual calm demeanor.

“Are you okay…?”

“Ah… I’m fine. Just a little scratched.”

“What on earth happened…?”

I stopped mid-sentence, unable to continue.

It was because a familiar scent was coming from Choi Jin-hyuk’s body.

The smell of my hometown.

I could faintly sense the scents of Yoon Dain and Song Harin as well, as if he had met them.

Just from that smell, I realized that Choi Jin-hyuk had come back injured from my world.

“……”

Did Choi Jin-hyuk get hurt while trying to save my world when I was playing with the kids?

It was hard to speak due to the guilt.

As I fidgeted with my fingers, I was able to regain my composure by watching Saebyeok take out a potion.

“I’m s-sorry…”

“…What for?”

“For getting hurt because of me…”

To get hurt while moving to save my world.

I sighed deeply, feeling like it was my fault he got hurt.

Indeed, I had just been playing too much lately.

I thought it was time for some reflection.

**

The injury Choi Jin-hyuk sustained could be described as “a little scratched” by adventurer standards.

For Choi Jin-hyuk, the wound he brought back from Gyeoul’s world was a light injury that didn’t even warrant a groan.

With the reduced Mana, it was still enough to endure.

It was too light of an injury to use a potion on.

Once he returned to his original world, his Mana would return, and he would heal naturally.

Choi Jin-hyuk’s lighthearted thoughts were enough to plunge Gyeoul into guilt.

“Hey, Gyeoul, what happened?”

Jeong Yuna lightly tapped Choi Jin-hyuk’s shoulder.

Hanyeoreum didn’t even care about Choi Jin-hyuk’s blood-stained clothes.

“Ah… I guess I was shocked because I got hurt in Gyeoul’s world.”

“What? Did you get hurt badly?”

“No, it was just a little scratch, but I guess it looked like a big wound to Gyeoul.”

“It looks big to the kids.”

Hanyeoreum watched Gyeoul from a little distance.

With a bow, arrows, and even magical items.

She was checking her equipment with a determined expression.

‘…I’ve just been playing too much lately.’

Food and bandages, among other essentials.

Gyeoul stood up after putting everything into her bag.

The bag on her back was heavy, but it wasn’t unbearable.

“Ugh.”

As Gyeoul took her first step with the bag, Hanyeoreum approached her.

I had a rough idea of why Gyeoul was packing, but I decided to ask anyway.

“Gyeoul, why the sudden packing?”

“I’m going to visit my world for a bit.”

“Are you going to fight?”

“Yeah… I feel like I’ve just been playing too much lately…”

Leaving her world to her family while she just played.

Gyeoul was troubled, but Hanyeoreum’s thoughts were different.

Hanyeoreum wished that Gyeoul could play without any worries.

That was the privilege of a child.

First, they needed to figure out what to do about Gyeoul’s world.

Hanyeoreum placed her hand on Gyeoul’s head as if she was about to leave at any moment.

“Gyeoul, should I go with you?”

“Um… Yeah…”

Gyeoul didn’t refuse Hanyeoreum’s request.

It wasn’t a personal issue; it was about saving a world.

The strength of a strong adventurer was desperately needed.

**

I crossed the portal with Hanyeoreum.

In Hanyeoreum’s hand, which was opposite mine, was the information I received from Choi Jin-hyuk.

“Looks like there was some progress after all.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Do you want to see?”

Hanyeoreum showed me the information.

A research facility in the form of a point organization found by tracking Mana.

Many of those facilities had been dealt with.

“It seems Jin-hyuk went around smashing all the facilities.”

“Yeah…!”

It was a moment when my tail wagged with excitement at the good news.

Hanyeoreum pointed to the underlined part of the information.

“But recently, the defenses have been strengthened. Because of that, Jin-hyuk got hurt a bit.”

“I guess it’s because he smashed a lot of facilities.”

“Yeah. Even if the facilities are hidden away, they can find them all with Mana, so it seems they decided to fight back.”

“Hmm…”

So they decided to fight back as well.

That’s dangerous news.

Phew.

As I let out a deep sigh, Hanyeoreum ruffled my hair.

“First, let’s check how well they prepared.”

“Okay. But we need to be careful. There’s a lot less Mana here.”

“Yeah. If things go south, let’s run.”

“Yeah.”

I moved with Hanyeoreum to find the nearest research facility.

We had to use public transport and climb a mountain due to the distance.

“They really hid it well.”

“Yeah.”

The research facility we arrived at with Hanyeoreum was deep in the mountains.

If you didn’t look closely, you could hardly find the entrance.

‘A manhole?’

A manhole in the middle of the mountain.

It looked strange at first glance.

When Hanyeoreum opened the manhole cover, a dark vertical passage appeared.

“……”

Seeing the dark passage, we exchanged glances.

Hanyeoreum was about to go down first, but I stopped her and heightened my senses.

-……

There was no sound coming from below the research facility.

I didn’t know if it was well soundproofed or if there was really no one there.

‘The smell…’

I analyzed the smell coming from the vertical passage.

A musty odor that seemed to have been left for a long time, mixed with a huge amount of chemical smells.

Among the mixed items, there were some I had never smelled before.

-Gyeoul, is there anything down there?

Hanyeoreum gestured like that.

I didn’t know how to signal that it seemed there were no people, so I just whispered.

“It seems there are no people.”

“…Really?”

After a moment of thought, Hanyeoreum took out a wooden stick from her pocket.

Without hesitation, she threw the stick down the manhole.

“What is that?”

“It’s an item that emits a biological signal to mimic a person. Usually, places like this are full of traps.”

“Mimicking a person…”

As expected of a top-tier adventurer, she was quite cautious.

I sent a look of respect towards Hanyeoreum and listened closely to the manhole.

“The traps…”

Boom—!

It was just as I was about to say that it seemed there were no traps.

A tremendous vibration and explosion sound came from below the manhole.

“……!”

The explosion wasn’t as loud as I expected, but I could feel an intense heat rising through the passage.

Heat compressed through the small passage was coming up.

Normally, Hanyeoreum would have easily blocked or avoided such heat, but now we were in a situation where Mana was scarce.

Would I be able to avoid it?

Could I block it?

My worries didn’t last long.

I hurriedly leaped towards Hanyeoreum and pushed her away from the hole.

“Ah…!”

Realizing the heat that was rising late, Hanyeoreum threw herself back while holding onto me.

At that moment, a mushroom cloud filled with red heat rose through the manhole.

“Whoa, whoa.”

“These crazy… lunatics blew up their own research facility.”

Hah.

After letting out a sigh, Hanyeoreum steadied me and then covered her mouth.

Hanyeoreum’s gaze was fixed on my ankle.

“What’s wrong?”

“Gyeoul, your foot…”

“My foot…?”

Could it be that my foot was caught in the explosion and disappeared?

I looked down in shock and found my foot lightly burned.

“Eh, eh… this is nothing…”

“But…!”

“It’s, it’s okay.”

My voice trembled from the sting of the burn.

I hurriedly took out a potion from my bag.

I poured half of the potion on my foot and drank the remaining half.

Just that was enough for my foot to return to its original state.

Of course, my burned shoes and the soot didn’t come back.

“Oh no, since Gyeoul’s shoes are gone, I guess I’ll have to carry you.”

“Yeah.”

I was carried on Hanyeoreum’s back as we took public transport and crossed the portal back home.

Since those guys attempted a shocking self-destruct attack, we had to come up with a new plan.

“I was saving those sneakers.”

Ugh.

Sitting on a park bench, I sighed deeply while looking at my soot-stained foot.

At that moment, our Master plopped down next to me.

“I heard you almost got into big trouble over there?”

“Yeah, it was close.”

Master didn’t say anything in response to my answer.

He just quietly looked down at my blackened foot.

The expression on Master’s face as he looked at my foot didn’t seem good.