Beyond The Control

Chapter 21

Contrary to my concerns, I arrived about 10 minutes earlier than usual. It was thanks to Song Ji-hyeok calling a taxi and riding together.

As I was climbing the building stairs, someone called my name from behind.

“Su!”

I turned my head to see Kim Young-joo. She approached quickly, dressed in the epitome of a career woman’s outfit, wearing earrings as big as her fist today as well. Sapphire, perhaps? They’re quite sparkly.

She then greeted Song Ji-hyeok with a bright smile.

“Hello. You’re Song Ji-hyeok the Esper, right?”

“…Yes, that’s me.”

“I’m Kim Young-joo, a Guide from Team 3. I’ve heard a lot about you, it’s nice to meet you.”

Compared to the excited Kim Young-joo, Song Ji-hyeok maintained a poker face. But Kim Young-joo didn’t seem to mind at all. As we climbed the stairs and she was energetically introducing herself, I asked her when we entered the first-floor lobby.

“Did you eat breakfast?”

“I had a bowl of cereal with milk. Are you going to the basement again today?”

“Yeah. I’m going to eat, so you go up first.”

“Alright. See you next time then.”

After flashing a smile, Kim Young-joo walked towards the elevator. Then she suddenly turned around and waved her hand big. As expected of the most energetic person among those around me.

She’s exploding with energy from the morning.

Shaking my head as if to say ‘there’s no helping it,’ I looked up at Song Ji-hyeok and asked an obvious question.

“Is your stomach okay?”

“…A little queasy.”

“Let’s eat at the cafeteria before going up. They have clam and bean sprout soup on the breakfast menu.”

That was the reason I came straight into the guild building without hesitation, passing by the 24-hour restaurant nearby. Otherwise, I would have gone there for a hangover cure even if it meant being a little late.

“How do you know that?”

“Huh?”

“That they’re serving bean sprout soup.”

How do I know?

“I took a photo of the meal plan.”

It’s not really something to brag about, but there’s probably no one in the guild who takes the cafeteria menu as seriously as I do. Every Friday when the meal plan is updated, I immediately take a photo and scan through it. Then, if there’s a food I like among the menu, it becomes a small pleasure to wait for that day to come.

Song Ji-hyeok followed behind me without a word, as if his stomach was really upset. Even as we went down the stairs to the first basement floor and entered the cafeteria, I could feel his gaze glancing at me pretending not to.

The reason was obvious. Although it’s a place where awakened individuals are teeming everywhere, to the point where it’s jokingly said that ordinary office workers are rarer, even to them, an S-class Esper was a special existence. Since everyone probably only heard rumors during the new employee training period and this was their first time seeing one in person, it wasn’t unreasonable for them to look with curious eyes.

‘They’d probably faint if they saw him using his skills.’

Although I’ve only seen the basics myself so far.

Breakfast was self-service, so I filled my tray moderately and sat down at an empty seat. Normally, I would eat twice as much, but I didn’t have much appetite due to the hangover.

Song Ji-hyeok was even worse. Looking at his tray, he had taken so little that it could be finished in one mouthful.

“Will that be enough?”

“I don’t have much appetite.”

Well, that’s understandable. I nodded in sympathy and took a spoonful of bean sprout soup. As expected, Song Ji-hyeok finished his meal in 3 minutes. No, it seemed like it didn’t even take a minute.

Then I keenly caught something. A strange look of regret seemed to appear on Song Ji-hyeok’s face as he put down his spoon.

‘In this situation, the only thing that could make him feel regret is….’

There’s only one possibility.

Just as I was putting the last spoonful of rice into my mouth, I spoke up, pretending not to have noticed anything.

“It tastes better as I eat. It seems a bit lacking… Want a refill?”

“…If you say so.”

Contrary to his words, Song Ji-hyeok stood up quickly, almost making me burst into laughter. I hurriedly closed my mouth, but I couldn’t hold back the chuckle that escaped.

If he was still hungry, he could have just gone and gotten more. Seeing him sitting there trying to maintain his dignity, he was clearly still a kid.

What would you have done if I hadn’t said anything? Huh?

Although my head was still throbbing a bit, I finished a rather pleasant meal thanks to Song Ji-hyeok and went up to the office. Well, I wonder if there’s a new report today. As I was opening the window and entering the password, my device, which had been quiet all night, chimed with a ‘ding’.

[Notice for New Guild Members’ 2nd Raid]

While they gathered all the relevant personnel to inform them about the 1st raid, it seemed they were replacing it with a notice from the 2nd raid onwards. I had also gone up to the 4th raid when I was a newbie, but it was 7 years ago, so I couldn’t remember clearly what it was like.

‘The members are obviously the same as the 1st time…. Huh?’

As I was quickly scanning the content, I inadvertently paused. There were parts that were different from the 1st raid, as if mocking my obvious expectations.

First of all, ‘Han Song-i’ in the team members? There was no newbie with such a name during the 1st raid. Instead, there is a chatterbox with the same name in our team, but….

More strange than that was the dungeon level.

[Dungeon Level: B-class (estimated)]

‘A B-class dungeon?’

It’s common for newbie raids to run D-class dungeons up to the 2nd raid as a warm-up. But not even C-class, but B-class? It was strange at a glance.

As you can see from the same grading system, dungeon levels and awakened individual levels are closely related. Simply put, D-class dungeons can be conquered by D-class or higher awakened individuals, and A-class dungeons can be conquered by A-class or higher awakened individuals.

However, this is just a stripped-down principle, and when you look at the reality, it’s not that simple. This is because the estimated dungeon grade is based on the boss mob grade.

Then, would there be only one D-class boss mob in a D-class dungeon?

I’ve never encountered such luck. How many small fries there are is hit or miss, and in unfortunate cases, you might have to deal with hundreds of E-class monsters.

What about an A-class dungeon then? Of course, it’s even more troublesome. Whether there’s one A-class monster with power similar to the boss mob, or a hundred, is something you can only know after entering the dungeon.

Therefore, the dungeon conquest team must include at least two Espers of the same or higher grade than the dungeon level, and there must be at least 5 companions as a principle. It wasn’t just a simple principle, but content specified in the relevant law.

I looked down at my device screen again.

Looking at the member levels alone, there was no problem. It was an 8-person team including A-class Gitae hyung and S-class Song Ji-hyeok, so conquering a B-class dungeon was certainly possible.

But the fact that five of them were still complete novices was the problem. First of all, I’m only C-class, so what if B-class monsters appear in a row? Although the possibility is slim, it’s not zero. In short, conquering a B-class dungeon with this current roster seemed unreasonable.

Just as Gitae hyung plopped down in his chair, I immediately spoke to him.

“Hyung, have you seen the notice for the newbies’ 2nd raid?”

“I haven’t seen it yet, but I know the content. I talked with Team Leader Joo yesterday.”

“The dungeon level seems strange, doesn’t it? And there’s also a name Han Song-i among the team members.”

“It is a B-level dungeon. Han Song-i is our team’s Song-i.”

As I opened my mouth in surprise, Gitae hyung explained further with a smiling voice.

“Looking at the 1st raid, everyone seemed to have guts and could do their fair share. Team Leader Joo seemed to judge the same after checking the report. So from the 2nd raid, they decided to raise the dungeon level right away to let the newbies showcase their capabilities. Song-i was drafted as backup.”

I agree with the view that the newbies’ performance in the 1st raid was quite excellent. Everyone faithfully fulfilled their roles even while nervous, and although two people were exposed to poison components at the end, that was such a minor incident it couldn’t even be considered a commotion, let alone an accident.

“But there are two C-class members… including me.”

It wasn’t particularly my fault, but I felt a bit dejected as I added the last part. If only I were B-class, Song-i wouldn’t have to join as backup.

As if understanding my feelings, Gitae hyung ruffled my hair with his large hand.

“What are you worried about when you’re going with me, kid?”

Then, he didn’t forget to mention the newbies as well.

“We’ll only let them handle monsters they can manage, so don’t worry. Of course, you know who will be doing that role without me saying it.”

Of course. It’s obviously my job.

“I’m counting on you this time too.”

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the sight of hyung trying to wink, which didn’t suit him at all.

After hearing the explanation, it seems like I worried for nothing. If we exclude the newbie label, half of the team members are B-class or higher, and if necessary, I can provide guiding.

Above all….

‘My bank account is going to be full again this time.’

The corners of my mouth twitched involuntarily at that thought. Moreover, something I hadn’t considered in my concerns also floated into my mind. A B-class dungeon should have quite a few useful byproducts, I should diligently collect them.