Chapter 74:
“Huh?”
It seemed like even with a gas mask, a Guide couldn’t withstand such a strong concentration of sleeping scent.
“Tsk!”
Seeing him stumble, Seo Jae-yi quickly tossed her trowel and pouch aside and rushed towards Gong Ju-hyun. She grabbed him and carried him away from the area.
As they landed safely, Gong Ju-hyun, startled, clutched her clothes and sank to his knees.
“Gong Ju-hyun, didn’t you learn not to wander around alone without an Esper…?”
Seo Jae-yi’s scolding stopped abruptly. She felt a strange energy from his hand, which was gripping her arm.
It was Guiding.
She quickly cut off the Guiding and pulled her hand away, but it was too late.
“Ugh!”
Gong Ju-hyun groaned, his hand trembling. His wide eyes were visible behind the gas mask. She didn’t need to see his face to know he had turned pale.
“What happened?”
Kim Yoo-sung and Kwon Ye-na rushed over. Seo Jae-yi stepped back, leaving him in Kwon Ye-na’s care.
“It’s the strong sleeping scent. And his Guiding is unstable because he almost lost consciousness.”
“Gong Ju-hyun, are you okay?”
Kwon Ye-na, understanding the situation immediately, soothed him. But he just stared at Seo Jae-yi with wide eyes, as if he had been traumatized.
“Unnie Ye-na, please take care of Gong Ju-hyun. Guild Leader, let’s go.”
While Kwon Ye-na tended to Gong Ju-hyun, the two Espers who could affect Guides headed back towards the sleeping flowers.
“It’s the flower that sprayed the sleeping powder earlier. I was thinking it might be useful as a sedative since it’s not addictive.”
“Because of your aunt? She still has trouble sleeping?”
“She’s gotten a lot better since I left the Center.”
Their conversation faded as they walked away, no longer audible to the Guides.
Kwon Ye-na, watching the two figures crouching before the field of flowers, turned her gaze towards Gong Ju-hyun. She could see his frozen expression behind the gas mask.
“Are you alright?”
“…H-how can this be?”
He couldn’t even speak properly.
He hadn’t Guided her intentionally. He knew how dangerous it was to Guide an Esper without their consent, especially in a dungeon. He hadn’t meant to do it.
But as his consciousness faded, his instincts took over, and he had Guided her, the Esper beside him, his only lifeline.
And he was shocked. So shocked that he snapped out of the drowsiness induced by the sleeping scent.
It wasn’t just the Esper who felt the Guide’s energy during Guiding; the Guide could also sense the Esper’s condition.
Gong Ju-hyun had Guided countless Espers, but he had never encountered an Esper in this state.
What he felt from Seo Jae-yi was intense heat. An energy like a volcano, ready to erupt at any moment. A tremendous heat, capable of incinerating everything in an instant.
And at the same time, it was also complete darkness. An abyss with no foothold, no hope, no future.
Death.
He had heard that Seo Jae-yi didn’t have much time left. That heat was killing her.
She would eventually burn to death if that heat wasn’t resolved.
‘…But who can even resolve that heat?’
It had been a brief Guiding session, but Gong Ju-hyun realized that he couldn’t save her.
If he touched her carelessly, that heat would consume him. It would incinerate him without a trace.
He couldn’t do it. Even as a top-tier A-rank Guide, second only to S-ranks, he was nothing compared to Seo Jae-yi. His meager ability couldn’t heal her.
Gong Ju-hyun lowered his head, facing the harsh reality after just one touch.
“I told you, didn’t I? It might be cruel, but it’s better to face reality early.”
Kwon Ye-na patted his back. This was what she had meant.
Even S-rank Guides struggled to save Seo Jae-yi. The sooner he realized that, the sooner he could let go.
“It’s not your fault. Seo Jae-yi is just too strong.”
Gong Ju-hyun closed his eyes at her words. His hand still trembled, remembering the sensation of almost being consumed by the heat.
But, but…
“…I haven’t given up yet.”
Maybe it was because his Matching Rate was too low now. Things might change if he could reach 70%, the threshold for pairing.
As Branch Head Chu Sung-won had said, if Baek Joo-won could restore her lost lifespan, if he could quell the heat even a little, then maybe he could maintain her condition with his Guiding.
Yes, if only his Matching Rate increased.
‘Guide Park Jung-soo is helping me, so I can definitely increase it.’
He would visit him again after they left the dungeon. He would ask him to help him increase his Matching Rate with Seo Jae-yi as quickly as possible.
“…Well, I can’t stop you if that’s what you want. Good luck.”
Kwon Ye-na nodded silently.
It wasn’t the first time she had seen a Guide obsessed with an Esper, and she understood his feelings, being a Guide herself.
But whether his wish would come true was a different matter.
The raid team resumed their advance after Seo Jae-yi filled her pouch with sleeping flowers.
However, she didn’t plan on bringing Gong Ju-hyun to the boss monster fight, considering his shock, but he insisted on coming, saying he was fine.
She thought it was just bravado, but Kwon Ye-na also said it was okay, so they eventually allowed him to join them.
The boss monster was located at the end of the vast garden. It was a much larger, even more grotesque flower, clearly powerful, as were its guards.
She had expected the subjugation to be easy with Kim Yoo-sung, but…
“What is going on?”
Moon Soo-hyun couldn’t hide her bewilderment.
They had entered combat mode, ready to eliminate the grotesque creatures, but they were all cowering.
“The ones we encountered before were so aggressive they wanted to tear us apart, but why is the boss monster so timid?”
“I know, right? They even seem like they want to run away.”
“And those crazed Greenrolls from before. Dungeons are strange these days.”
Moon Soo-hyun and Jeong Yoon-ah muttered.
They had subjugated countless dungeons as the top raid team in Korea, but they had rarely encountered such behavior.
And this wasn’t even a low-rank dungeon; it was a Rank 3. They weren’t even being suppressed by an S-rank’s presence, so why were they acting like this?
“…”
But unlike the others, who were confused, two people knew the reason.
Kim Yoo-sung and Seo Jae-yi glanced at her bag. The dragon, who had already exerted his power by killing the carnivorous flowers, was curled up inside.
The boss monster couldn’t have missed the dragon’s aura, the aura of one who had slain its kin.
‘They must be confused. They were excited about the arrival of prey, but a top predator was among them.’
How shocking it must be to go from predator to prey. The monsters were probably even more bewildered than the Guild members.
“The reason doesn’t matter; we just have to eliminate them. Let’s kill them quickly.”
Kim Yoo-sung walked past the confused Guild members and stood before the monsters. The boss monster and its guards trembled.
They looked pitiful, despite their grotesque appearance, but there was nothing they could do. They had to finish this quickly and leave.
“They’re the only monsters I sense, so everyone except Seo Jae-yi, engage.”
“Yes, sir!”
Kim Yoo-sung, leaving Seo Jae-yi as a Guide protector, charged towards the boss monster.
It was a one-sided massacre.
“Wow, look at the size of that magic stone!”
The battle ended, and the joyous time for looting began.
Seo Jae-yi, who had been watching from a distance with the Guides, rushed towards the boss monster as soon as it died and extracted its magic stone.
“Wow, it’s the size of a baby’s fist, and this color… It’s top quality!”
Kim Yoo-sung, who had killed the boss monster, looked at her curiously.
“You’re interested in magic stones now? You never cared about them before, except when Seo Won-yeong needed materials. Did she ask you?”
“No, I need it for something.”
“For what? You’re not interested in selling them, are you?”
Of course not. Seo Jae-yi grinned, holding the magic stone.
“It’s not dangerous, so don’t worry. No one will get hurt.”
“Okay, that’s good.”
Kim Yoo-sung seemed relieved and nodded.
“Is everything cleared?”
“Yes, Guild Leader. We’ve extracted all the magic stones and useful materials.”
The Guild members, who had been searching the monster corpses, nodded.
The dungeon subjugation was complete.
“Seo Jae-yi, what about you? Anything else you want to collect?”
“No, I’m good.”
Airok had said there were a few more useful things, but most of them were poisonous and potentially dangerous.
Seo Jae-yi didn’t need those. Today’s harvest was enough.