MTLNOVEL 75.
75.
“He awakened as an S-rank hunter.”
“Haa…”
As soon as he heard Hyunwoo’s answer, Jian felt all the energy drain from his body. Awakening as an S-rank hunter was certainly good news, but Hyunwoo’s voice had made him think something unexpected and bad had happened.
“Where are you now?”
“Hunter Management Bureau… The hospital said it seemed to be awakening fever, so we came straight here…”
“Sehun and I are still at the guild. The Director just left.”
“Director Shin already left? What did he say?”
“…I’ll tell you later.”
He couldn’t tell him about the possession, but he had to inform Hyunwoo about the Jeongho Association.
Ah. Belatedly realizing something, Jian looked up at Sehun.
Sehun was fidgeting with the hand Jian had let go of. Seeing his dejected expression made Jian’s heart ache.
Maybe he should have told him about the research facility. Focused on the possession, he had forgotten that wasn’t all he had discussed with Yoonjae.
The information about the Jeongho Association was something Sehun needed to know too, though Jian was cautious about potentially triggering Sehun’s trauma.
“By the way, Jian, you don’t seem very surprised. Our Hyunsu awakened as an S-rank hunter. Don’t tell me Sehun also awakened as an S-rank hunter?”
“Ah…”
“What? Really? Sehun awakened too?”
“Uh… yes…”
This wasn’t how he had intended to tell them. He had inadvertently revealed Sehun’s awakening as well.
Jian looked at Sehun’s reaction with troubled eyes. He was worried Sehun might be upset that he had told Hyunwoo without consulting him first.
However, Sehun seemed uninterested in the phone conversation, whether Hyunwoo was shocked or not. He just looked like he was waiting for the call to end.
“Have you registered as a hunter? No, you couldn’t have. I would have known if you had.”
“No, not yet. We thought it wouldn’t be good to let everyone know, so we were planning to register quietly.”
“Even so, how could you keep it a secret even from me?”
Hearing the hurt in Hyunwoo’s voice, Jian smiled awkwardly, rubbing his mouth.
“I was going to tell you soon. I was too overwhelmed at the time…”
“Okay, I understand for now. When Hyunsu wakes up, we’ll come to the guild, so wait there.”
“Alright.”
Too many things had happened in such a short time. As Jian frowned, his temples throbbing, a large palm covered his forehead.
“Does your head hurt?”
“Ah, yes.”
The touch checking his forehead temperature was similar to how he used to do it for Sehun. Soon, a thumb pressed against his temple. The firm pressure was painful but relieving.
Whenever Jian got headaches due to his tendency to overthink, Sehun had started giving him massages like this at some point.
“It’s okay now.”
Jian lowered Sehun’s hand, holding it. As he rubbed Sehun’s reddened thumb with his fingertips, he felt a piercing gaze.
“Hyung.”
The serious tone automatically made him tense. Their conversation had been interrupted by Hyunwoo’s call earlier.
As Jian was pondering how to bring up the Jeongho Association, Sehun’s hands cupped his face.
The gaze looking down at him was filled with various emotions. For a moment, all thoughts in Jian’s mind stopped.
“Are you going to enter the Tower?”
The ominous black Tower. In this world right now, he was the only one who knew anything about that Tower.
Many never-before-seen monsters appeared in the Tower. The strategies for some monsters were described in the novel, so they remained in his memory.
What should he do?
Sehun was the most precious person to him. To keep Sehun safe, it might be best to endure outside as much as possible instead of climbing the Tower.
But the Tower gradually expanded its territory over time. If a floor wasn’t cleared, the monsters on that floor would sometimes break out of the Tower.
Moreover, as they climbed higher, stronger monsters appeared, resulting in many hunters being sacrificed.
The last scene Jian remembered from the novel was Sehun getting injured while facing a three-headed Cerberus with Hyunsu. That’s how dangerous the monsters in the Tower were.
They needed to conquer the Tower, but he was reluctant to take Sehun inside. However, leaving Sehun alone in the outside world where the research facility people might be lurking was also difficult.
He felt caught between a rock and a hard place. Each option had its pros and cons. But if he had to choose the best option among them…
“I’ll be with you. No matter what happens.”
Sehun’s eyes widened in surprise, faintly reflecting Jian’s determined face.
One experience of almost losing Sehun was enough. Whatever hardships lay ahead, as long as Sehun was by his side, Jian was prepared to make any sacrifice to protect him.
“Weren’t you surprised that Hyunsu awakened as an S-rank hunter? And you’re not upset that I told Hyunwoo hyung without discussing it with you first?”
Jian reached out to gently stroke Sehun’s hair. The gradually curving eyes told him his answer was correct.
“I’m not interested in other people’s stories. It’s fine that you told Hyunwoo hyung. It’s not like you brought it up first.”
Would he be crazy to laugh at words that would have hurt Hyunsu’s feelings if he had heard them?
Just as he was blindly devoted to Sehun, or perhaps even more so, Sehun was obsessed with him. It was something he already knew, but it struck him anew.
“If you had said you were going to enter the Tower without me, it would have been a different story.”
Jian swallowed hard at the momentary flash that crossed Sehun’s eyes. Even though he was wearing an artifact that changed his iris color, it felt like he could see a blood-red glint.
“Don’t worry about anything, hyung. I’ll protect you.”
Sehun’s face was innocent as he lifted Jian’s hand and kissed the back of it. Just like when he was young, sniffling that he wanted to grow up quickly to protect his hyung.
* * *
“You traitor.”
Despite the harsh words directed at him, Sehun just sipped his coffee as if he hadn’t heard anything.
“How could you not tell me a word about awakening as an S-rank hunter? Huh? Is this how I raised you?”
“Jian hyung raised me, not you. What did you raise?”
When Sehun immediately refuted the words spoken out of frustration, Hyunsu snorted.
“I raised you too, you know? I took care of you like a little brother! I even cut your hair when it was long!”
“That wasn’t taking care, that was bullying. Get your facts straight.”
As the conversation between the two seemed to be heating up, Jian stepped in. Hyunsu’s face was particularly red as his awakening fever hadn’t completely subsided yet.
“Come on, you two, that’s enough. Hyunsu, you should lie down and rest. Sehun, you too, take it easy.”
Hyunwoo had brought a recliner sofa into the conference room for Hyunsu to lie down on before leaving. Currently, the Dark Net Guild had also received an official notice to include four A-rank hunters in the advance team entering the Tower today.
Moreover, with Hyunsu awakening as an S-rank hunter, Hyunwoo was now mobilizing all his connections to prevent Hyunsu from being forced into the advance team as well.
Sehun was fine for now as he hadn’t registered with the Hunter Management Bureau yet. Jian, being an A-rank hunter affiliated with the Dark Net Guild, was also a candidate for the advance team.
Hyunsu lay down on the sofa and covered himself with a blanket up to his head. Sehun put down his empty coffee cup on the table and leaned his head on Jian’s shoulder, who was sitting next to him.
‘It looks like Jungsu and Jihwan hyung will be included in the advance team.’
Jian stroked Sehun’s head with a troubled expression. There were a total of ten A-rank hunters in the Dark Net Guild, including Jian.
Hyunwoo, being the guild master, probably wouldn’t be included in the advance team. Seonjun was on his way back from the United States.
In response to the unprecedented situation of the Tower, the Korean government and the Hunter Management Bureau had issued an emergency recall order to hunters dispatched overseas.
Among the remaining members, Jungsu and Jihwan had the most experience.
Extras who weren’t even mentioned in the novel. Because of that, the chances of them being among those who would die in the advance team were fifty-fifty.
‘Monsters that appeared in B-rank and A-rank dungeons showed up from the 1st to 4th floors. The problem is the 5th floor.’
Many casualties occurred on the 5th floor due to the appearance of a monster without a specific form. Only after painful sacrifices did they learn the monster’s identity and how to defeat it.
‘It would be best if I went in with them… I could say I prepared just in case.’
He couldn’t just approach the advance team and give them the artifacts needed to deal with the monsters. Unfortunately, the abilities and artifacts needed to face the monster were unconventional. In fact, if one knew the strategy, the monster’s difficulty wasn’t that high.