"Master. I think they might be our enemies. I can’t feel any life force from them."
Just then, Taewoon—who’d been hiding nearby—wrapped an arm around Sihyun’s solid shoulder, brought his lips close to Sihyun’s ear, and whispered softly.
The low voice lingering at his ear made Sihyun snap back to his senses, and he drew his sword quickly.
Taewoon was right. But unlike the Black Kill Squad he’d met before, these movements without any life force made it feel like he had Blood Corpses right in front of him, and that made him a little worried.
If those really were a kind of Blood Corpse, they usually wouldn’t be cut unless the blade was wrapped in sword aura. With the internal energy Sihyun had left, it felt like it would be tricky to deal with them.
Still, he had to squeeze something out. What else could he do?
"Not sure what they are, but we need to deal with them fast."
"I’ll help as well."
When the voice—no longer the husky, pleasant tone he was used to, but something a bit rougher—slowly burrowed into his ear, Sihyun only then realized he was extremely close to Taewoon.
For a moment, Sihyun forgot what was in front of him and hurriedly took a step to the side.
What was that…?
Scrubbing at his itchy ear, Sihyun lifted his sword and, without a word, sprang forward.
"..."
And in an instant, Taewoon—left alone—stared at his tingling grip with sunken eyes, then gave a small smile.
But he smoothed his expression out in only a few seconds. Taewoon quickly drew the black sword tied at his waist and followed after Sihyun.
Slice—
An ordinary iron sword swung without rest, vertically and diagonally, cutting down those strange things in black one after another.
Unlike how tense he’d been at first, he didn’t even need to draw out sword aura—these things were cut down easily. It didn’t even feel like cutting fabric, only like cutting a doll made out of mud.
Sihyun grew a little uneasy at how sharply the difficulty had dropped, but he decided to deal with what was in front of him first and kept moving busily.
Shk.
Then, from nearby, he heard a sound different from his own blunt sword trail—a crisp, razor-sharp sound, like paper being sliced.
Even while moving, Sihyun turned his gaze and saw Taewoon effortlessly cutting down dozens of mud dolls.
‘Wow. Stats or whatever, he’s still the same.’
Honestly, he still couldn’t believe he’d run into Taewoon.
He’d clearly been playing a game, gotten sucked into it, and even had to accept a weird quest and solve it. But now the protagonist of that game had shown up inside a Gate. It made no sense.
At first, the moment he saw him, he’d been so happy he’d cried. But the more realistic thoughts that came after kept piling up into doubts.
"Ugh, what the fuck am I even saying."
Startled by the thought, Sihyun cursed under his breath and started swinging his sword even faster.
If he went with his feelings, he wanted to smack the hell out of his own head for doubting that good kid.
"Master. It looks like they’re all down, but…."
Just as Sihyun was hacking at a mud doll like he was taking his anger out on it, Taewoon spoke from behind him in a slightly troubled voice.
"Huh??!"
Ah, damn it.
It was embarrassing. Not only had he been thinking weird things, he’d even been spacing out in the middle of a fight. As if trying to hide his strange behavior, Sihyun laughed awkwardly and opened his mouth.
But before he could even speak, he suddenly felt a powerful energy sweep through the air, then gather into a single point.
Taewoon’s long hair whipped and fluttered this way and that on the raging wind, creating a picture-like scene.
Without realizing it, Sihyun forced his gaze away and checked his surroundings. The chopped-up mud dolls were slowly disappearing.
‘Ah, this is a Gate clear.’
Seeing the situation around them and the movement of ki, he immediately understood what this phenomenon was.
"Taewoon, can you wait a second? My party’s here, so I think I need to bring them."
"...Party members, you mean?"
"Yeah."
Taewoon hesitated for a moment, then nodded with a bright smile. That sunlit face made Sihyun’s own expression loosen without him meaning to.
‘God, he’s so cute….’
Ah—get a grip.
Sihyun quickly grabbed hold of his mind as it tried to go soft, then used up his remaining internal energy without holding back and gathered up the people scattered around.
Thankfully, they were grouped together in small clusters, so he didn’t have to make ten round trips. Sihyun let out a small sigh of relief.
They’d be spat back outside anyway once the Gate disappeared, but everyone was unconscious, so he’d taken the precaution just in case.
"Commander!! Hunter Sa Cheongrin!! Please wake up!"
First, Sihyun slapped the man who’d been acting like the commander a little harder to wake him up.
It didn’t seem like he’d been knocked out by an attack, because after a short while, he started opening his eyes.
"T-This is… what…."
"Hunter. It seems the barrier we entered was an illusion barrier. Luckily, I have a skill that can deflect illusions, so I was able to resolve it."
"Mm…. I see…. Haah. I’m sorry. I joined as a guardian and still ended up showing you something pathetic."
"No. You probably let your guard down because it was F-rank. And I’m telling you first, so the others won’t know."
Still looking like his head was ringing, Sa Cheongrin pressed firmly at his temple, where the solar plexus point was, then lifted his head at Sihyun’s words and looked at him with moved eyes.
"Truly…. Thank you."
Sihyun had just told him he’d cover up his disgrace, and Sa Cheongrin’s reaction matched exactly what Sihyun expected—like he understood that intention.
He could probably squeeze at least one small favor out of him later.
"You’re Hunter Sa Cheongrin, right? I look forward to working with you."
"O-Of course."
Sihyun smiled as kindly as he could and held out his hand. The man, still sprawled on the ground, stared blankly at Sihyun, then hesitantly took his hand and gave it a small shake.
{Master}
At that moment, Taewoon’s low voice pushed into Sihyun’s head. It was voice transmission.
"Ah—should we go now?"
Without realizing it, Sihyun let go of the hand as if shaking it off, then started picking up the sprawled-out teammates one by one and throwing them out of the Gate.
Of course, Sihyun did it without thinking because it was annoying, but most Hunters handled fainted or status-afflicted teammates by tossing them out like this.
Awakened ones weren’t the type to get hurt from something like this in the first place, so it was a fairly common method.
Sa Cheongrin, who’d been standing there blankly, hurriedly got up, glanced over the condition of the people lying there, then started throwing them out of the Gate one by one as well. After tossing out the last remaining squid captain with a bit of emotion, Sihyun dusted off his hands and straightened up, breathing out lightly.
"Go out first."
"N-No! That’s not—Sihyun-nim should go first!"
"No. Commander, you should go out and get the others together."
"Ah…. Right."
Sa Cheongrin hesitated briefly, but with a face that looked a little regretful, he went out through the Gate.
And at the same time, Sihyun felt someone behind him. Taewoon pressed up against his back, slipped his hands around in front of him, and hugged him tight.
"Master. I’m scared it feels like I keep being left alone."
"Huh?"
Startled by the unexpected whining from behind, Sihyun tried to turn around.
He couldn’t—because Yeon Taewoon’s arms were squeezing him so tightly he had no choice but to keep facing forward.
"Sorry. I left you too long, didn’t I."
"No. It’s fine. It’s just my problem…."
Swallowing back the sigh that wanted to slip out, Sihyun gave a bitter smile. His heart hurt too much.
That slightly gaunter face, and that voice sunk in anxiety—he’d made all of it. Sihyun lifted a hand and gently stroked the dark, smooth hair he could barely see by his shoulder, like he was comforting him.
Taewoon’s expression, which had been twisted slightly on that still beautiful face, slowly began to ease. He liked the fingertips brushing faintly over his scalp. If he went with his feelings, he wanted to grab him and make it so he couldn’t go anywhere.
Taewoon knew the thoughts in his head were an outrageous thing a disciple shouldn’t have toward his master, but he didn’t care.
That kind of thing had lost all meaning the moment his master had shown him death and left.
"Just endure it this once. Once we get out of here, I won’t hide anything from other people anymore. Honestly, I want to brag that someone as amazing as you is my disciple."
"Haha. I’m happy."
Because his heart was softening into a warm mush for no reason, Sihyun laughed quietly, ruffled Taewoon’s hair a few more times, then tapped at the arms that were holding him tight.
The stiff arms loosened with a soft release, and at the same time, Taewoon’s presence vanished in an instant. For some reason, the taste in Sihyun’s mouth turned bitter. In the past, even if Taewoon went into concealment, it wasn’t like Sihyun couldn’t feel anything at all. It really drove home how much his own skill had fallen.
‘Once we’re out, I really need to train fast.’
"Taewoon, come right out after me. Got it?"
"Yes."
Sihyun tapped his head lightly, cutting off the other thoughts that were trying to branch out, firmly warned Taewoon, then stepped into the roiling Gate.
"Master. Please don’t go anywhere for real now."
As Sihyun passed through the Gate, into the empty space, that slightly roughened voice spilled out softly.
Taewoon, with eyes sunk deep and shining inorganic light, swept his gaze over the surroundings that were slowly collapsing. It was where he’d lived his whole life, but if Sihyun wasn’t here, it wasn’t a place he had even a shred of attachment to.
"Disconnect link."
[Beginning disconnection.]
Leaving that one line with an indifferent face, Taewoon followed right after his master without hesitation, passing through the Gate.