Warm.
It felt like someone was gently stroking my head.
Without thinking, I rubbed into that warm touch.
A smile slipped out at the pleasant sensation.
A comfortable purr rumbled from my mouth.
I was about to sink deeper into sleep when, suddenly, I snapped awake.
'Who is that?'
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t think of anyone who’d be petting my head.
I popped my eyes open.
Right in front of me was Kim Wooju.
At some point he’d woken up; with that unreadable, blank gaze, he was holding me in his arms and stroking my head.
That careful touch—like I might fly away if he let go, like he might lose me if he gripped too hard—felt so good my eyes almost slid shut again. Then I jolted back to myself.
Forcing my sleepy eyes wide, I quickly pulled away and watched him warily.
'How dare you!'
“Graah, graaah!”
“…Ah. You’re up.”
“GRAAAAH!”
“Did you sleep well?”
Damn it, no matter how much I made a scene, we couldn’t communicate.
He sighed with a hint of regret and spoke to me so casually that, in the end, I just fumed by myself and snapped my head away.
I was leaving now. My job was done.
He was awake, and I didn’t smell blood from his stomach anymore.
Knowing he could move on his own was enough; I didn’t need to watch over him any longer.
I shot into the air.
“…Huh? Where are you going?”
“Graah.”
I pointed toward the portal—the way out.
Whether he got it or not, he just stared at me like he was trying to bore a hole through me.
That heavy gaze was too much; I couldn’t keep eye contact and sped away.
Thankfully, he didn’t chase me, but he watched me like an abandoned puppy, shoulders drooping.
That pitiful sight pricked at my conscience for no good reason.
'…Did I get attached from just a day together?'
Get a grip.
No matter how delicate he looks on the outside, Kim Wooju is a villain.
A villain strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the protagonist who powers up by eating this webtoon’s dragon’s heart.
A man strong enough to survive alone even if you tossed him into a den of monsters.
Clutching the part of me that wanted to go soft, I left him behind.
“Graaah.”
Ahh, that’s better.
I parted ways with Kim Wooju and returned to my sanctuary, the cave.
Back in my cozy space, I finally felt like I could breathe.
I curled up in my bedroom, where soft grass lined the floor, and closed my eyes.
'…Let’s call it a small incident.'
There’d be no more reason for me to get tangled up with Kim Wooju.
I rolled my body over.
Maybe because I’d slept well yesterday, sleep wouldn’t come.
Maybe because I’d slept in a warm embrace for the first time in a while.
No, that wasn’t it. I was just tired yesterday, that’s all. It definitely wasn’t because being in Kim Wooju’s arms felt nice.
I shook my head alone, rationalizing, when a strange ripple of Mana made me spring to my feet.
'…Another intruder.'
I looked toward the mouth of the cave.
First, I needed to check who it was.
To greet the uninvited guests in my territory, I buzzed up and flew outside.
'…I’m sure it was this way?'
Following the aura I felt, I closed the distance step by step, when loud voices floated over from somewhere.
There!
Spotting the group of intruders, I hid myself in the trees.
This time it wasn’t just one.
Three young men who looked in their mid-twenties were walking with weapons in hand.
Mostly, regular people wandered into this dungeon.
They always shook with fear, and I scared them out through the Gate.
It had been a while since I saw people come in this prepared.
With that kind of gear, they had to be Espers, right?
I pricked my ears at their conversation.
“Damn it, I was just about to head out on a mission when I fell into an unregistered Gate.”
“My point. Never seen one like this… there’s not even a rank posted. Isn’t this dangerous?”
“Good thing we at least got plenty of Guiding before we came. It seems calm so far, doesn’t look that dangerous.”
Then the brown-haired guy with the nasty face, who’d been keeping his mouth shut, grumbled.
“This is all because of that bastard Kim Wooju. Why are we taking the mission he was supposed to take? That prick jinxed us.”
“Right? He ghosted, didn’t he? You stabbed him and he went missing.”
“Missing, my ass—he’s hiding with some trick. Government worked him over, or what?”
Kim Wooju?
The Kim Wooju I know?
If they were talking about him, they had to know him. What were the odds…?
'…Wait, more important—did he just say they stabbed him and he went missing?'
If so, then these guys…?
My eyes went cold.
“Ugh, after all those times we’ve slogged through dungeons, he ghosts just ’cause he gets stabbed in the belly once? That monster bastard. If I see him again, I’ll carve that precious face of his, not his stomach.”
“I’m in. We’re the only ones bleeding thanks to that prick. Let’s hurry up and clear this crappy dungeon and get—”
“…Oh? Hey, wait. Look over there!”
Trash human beings, the lot of them….
I was watching them, debating how to cook them, when the brown-haired guy pointed in some direction and suddenly sprinted off.
'Of all times…!'
The worst timing.
I grit my teeth as I looked where they were headed.
Unfortunately, trudging along in that direction—barely recovered—was Kim Wooju.
“Hey, Kim Wooju!”
I watched them call out to him, and unlike the first time I’d panicked, I kept my cool and observed.
I’d rushed after them out of worry without thinking, but then it occurred to me: did I really need to step in?
Kim Wooju had been an S-rank Esper from the start.
Even if his power hadn’t fully bloomed yet, couldn’t he handle extras like these easily?
'Still bothers me….'
But the fact that the wound on his stomach was their doing nagged at me.
So, just in case, I narrowed my eyes and kept watch.
I really didn’t want any more scent of blood in my dungeon.
And it was absolutely not because I was worried about Kim Wooju.
“So it was true you went missing? We thought you chickened out and hid from us.”
The brown-haired guy sneered and spoke to Kim Wooju.
Wooju fell silent for a moment, then cocked his head like he didn’t know them, blankly sweeping his eyes over the men surrounding him.
“…Who… are you?”
“You little—!”
The brown-haired guy, pissed, grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up.
The others were just as heated.
I barely stifled the laugh that almost slipped out.
'Younger Kim Wooju is even more impressive.'
If he was trying to rile them up, he nailed it.
A sharp guy like Kim Wooju wasn’t going to forget the faces of the men who stuck a knife in his gut.
No matter how much of a pushover he’d been in the past, nobody’s dull brain turns brilliant overnight in their forties.
In short, that was all acting.
Cunning bastard.
“Want a second stab in the belly? Or should I carve that precious face of yours this time?”
“…I don’t like either… urk.”
“I’ve hated your guts for a while. Government’s lapdog acting all high and mighty with us? We’ll make damned sure you learn your place today! Stomp him!”
The brown-haired one punched him in the stomach—right where he’d been hurt.
With a grunt, Wooju’s back folded.
He didn’t stop there. He kicked Wooju’s shin to force him to his knees, then called the others over, and they started stomping him.
I watched as they trampled Kim Wooju.
He didn’t resist at all. He just took the hits.
With those blank, lifeless eyes.
A flicker of his backstory came to mind—his childhood.
Kim Wooju was abandoned by his parents when he was young.
He entered an orphanage. Because of his pretty face, he was adopted a few times, but even his new families kept throwing him away.
He grew up in the orphanage like that—until, dramatically, he awakened as an S-rank Esper and was taken by the government.
But Kim Wooju’s misfortune started from there.