“Siyoung, did you make it to the dungeon?”
Like spitting on a smiling face, Gong Siyoung’s shout blasted straight through the phone.
─ You insane bastard!! I’m not doing this! I can’t! You had nothing better to do than dump these lunatics on me?!
“Our Siyoung really has no filter when he talks to his big brother, huh?”
Even though Gong Sijin was smiling, there was something strangely murderous overflowing beneath it.
Yurian quietly set down his water cup.
Siyoung’s voice was so thunderously loud that he could hear every word from the other side too.
─ What the hell am I supposed to do with these guys?! I’m not doing this, I refuse! Send them back right now!!
“Siyoung. No matter how much you yell, you’re still going into that dungeon with them. Want to know why? Because I’m the Guild Master. If the Guild Master tells you to do something, you do it even if you hate it. Want to know why? Because you’re my little brother.”
At the if you didn’t like it, you should’ve been born first, Yurian almost found himself nodding along.
Right.
If your older brother told you to do something, then you did it.
And if that older brother was also your superior?
If they tell you to do it, you do it.
For Yurian, who had been steeped in absolute top-down command his entire life, it was logic as natural as breathing.
If you disobeyed an order from your superior, you had no right to complain even if your head was cut off that instant.
Having lived his whole life in a world like that, Gong Siyoung’s attitude felt strangely unfamiliar.
If insubordination had reached that level, it seemed pretty serious.
Yet Gong Sijin absorbed all of that irritation with a gentle smile.
His answer never changed.
“If I tell you to do it, do it.”
Deeply sympathizing, Yurian idly scraped at his empty bowl with his spoon, and before he knew it, the conversation was over.
As he slipped the device back into his pocket, Gong Sijin apologized.
“I’m sorry for making you wait. If you’re done eating, shall we get up?”
Yurian quickly shoved the last remaining piece of meat into his mouth.
“But that thing from earlier… is it like a communication orb?”
“Ah, this? It’s called a cellphone. Just like you said, it’s a machine for communication.”
He took the cellphone out of his pocket and showed it to him.
So this was called a cellphone.
When Yurian asked if he could touch it, Gong Sijin handed it over without hesitation.
“I could hear Gong Siyoung’s voice, so I got curious.”
“Haha. It was a little loud, wasn’t it? Siyoung was probably sulking because he has to go into the dungeon. I sort of… forced a team together for him.”
“Forced?”
Was there really any reason to forcefully build a team for someone?
At that, Gong Sijin awkwardly trailed off.
“It’s a bit complicated……. You know Siyoung’s S-rank, right? His rank is already high enough to make him hard to approach, and on top of that, his personality is a bit… not very honest. So he tends to get misunderstood a lot. He’s not exactly the smoothest with interpersonal relationships.”
The fact that he was one of the few S-ranks in the country already made him intimidating.
And even when viewed generously, Gong Siyoung’s personality was terrible.
He didn’t actually mean harm, but between his gruff way of speaking and his prickly attitude, people instinctively kept their distance.
On top of that, being the Guild Master’s family only added another layer of distance.
Unlike the socially gifted Gong Sijin, Gong Siyoung could make enemies within just a few lines of conversation.
Young, rude, and constantly saying blunt truths no one wanted to hear—of course he’d gradually become isolated.
“So I put some thought into it and built him a team made up only of people who’d treat him without bias…… but after gathering them all, it turned a bit… well……. Anyway, Siyoung doesn’t seem to like it.”
“I see.”
So it was like the consideration a direct superior gave to a problem soldier.
Yurian handed the cellphone back.
Since he was his younger brother, it probably bothered Gong Sijin even more to see him drifting on the outside.
Yurian could understand his feelings perfectly.
“Still, Siyoung listens to what I say.”
“Looks like it.”
Yurian nodded.
He complained and pushed back, but somehow he still never failed to do everything in the end.
They’d only been together for a day, but he’d already gotten a rough read on what kind of person Gong Siyoung was.
Someone who truly didn’t listen wouldn’t bother arguing like that.
If they weren’t going to do it anyway, why waste the effort?
They’d just pretend to obey and slack off when no one was looking.
After that, the two of them chatted about one thing and another as they headed back up to the second floor.
Gong Sijin was an exceptionally easy person to talk to.
Whenever Yurian asked something, a kind and detailed answer came right back.
Now that the mental ban on blurting out wow, what is this? had been lifted, Yurian bombarded him with questions enthusiastically.
By the time he’d learned that people in this country had something called prenatal dreams, that Gong Sijin’s had featured a tiger, and Gong Siyoung’s had been a rose blooming in a glass castle, Jeong Mirae called for him again.
“Mr. Yurian, please come inside.”
Before going in, Gong Sijin approached her.
The two exchanged a serious conversation, then motioned to Yurian.
“They said I can come in with you.”
Jeong Mirae and Gong Sijin both called him over.
Entering the room for the second time, Yurian walked in at an easy pace.
His stomach was full now, and he’d already done this once, so there wasn’t even a hint of hesitation anymore.
Before Jeong Mirae could say anything, he took the same posture as before and placed his hands on the device.
The prickling current lasted even longer than the first time.
But once again, no status window appeared.
As the two of them talked quietly while examining the unresponsive machine, Yurian found the whole thing unbearably boring.
He couldn’t understand what they were saying even when he listened, so his interest quickly evaporated.
Since no one had told him to remove his hands, he kept his posture straight and let his eyes wander.
The room was full of all sorts of incomprehensible objects besides the black device.
Most of them were machines, and none of them gave off mana.
A low hum drifted through the air, and Yurian’s gaze locked onto the ceiling.
Cool air was flowing out from a long rectangular opening lit with pale light.
That wasn’t magic either, was it?
The cool breeze brushing softly across his cheeks made something inside him itch pleasantly.
“Mr. Yuri, do you think you could use a skill right now? Anything is fine.”
Yurian looked behind him.
Jeong Mirae was busily writing something down, and beside her stood Gong Sijin with a serious face.
By skill, they probably meant magic.
What kind of magic could he use in a place like this?
He quickly ran through possibilities in his head.
“Hmm…….”
It was a cramped space, and the mana here was pitifully scarce.
If he had a mana stone, maybe, but here…… at best, 1-circle.
What was something he could do without causing damage to the surroundings?
After thinking it over, Yurian finally stretched out his hand.
He gathered energy into his palm.
The mana of the 1st Circle converged there.
Tracking the flow with his eyes, he swallowed.
Scraping together what little there was from practically nothing required even more focus than usual.
A pebble no larger than his thumbnail formed above his hand.
Its rounded surface was as smooth as if it had been polished.
“That’s tiny.”
Back in his original world, it would’ve been at least the size of a fist.
He smacked his lips in disappointment.
At this rate, he really should’ve stuffed every mana stone he owned into his arms and carried them around.
With no sword on top of that, this level of ability barely made him different from an ordinary civilian.
As he rolled the pebble in his palm, Gong Sijin let out a sigh.
“You can come out now, Mr. Yuri.”
Did the result go in a direction he didn’t want?
Crushing the pebble in his hand, Yurian walked over to the two of them.
“Mirae, so that means it’s difficult to verify anything more here, right?”
“Yes. For now, this is the best we can do. Seeing you use a skill, you definitely seem to be a hunter……. But this is my first time seeing a case like this too, so it’s difficult.”
It wasn’t a skill. It was magic.
He almost corrected her, but stayed quiet.
Judging by the expressions on both their faces, this wasn’t the moment to interrupt.
While fidgeting with the crushed stone fragments in his hand, Yurian once again had to sit through a long exchange of difficult-to-follow conversation.
Something about a rank evaluation, and something else about detailed testing at headquarters.
He let it all pass through one ear and out the other.
Come to think of it, I still need to go find my sword.
Once they finished talking, he’d ask about it.
He blew softly into his palm.
Watching the stone dust scatter, he clapped his hands clean.
“Understood. For the time being, please keep this strictly confidential.”
Gong Sijin bowed politely.
With no meaningful gains to show for it, his expression wasn’t great.
“This won’t be easy. Since we don’t know the extent of your abilities…… this really is a problem…….”
He scratched his head.
If they went to headquarters for precision testing, the procedures would become far more complicated.
Even if rushed, it would take at least a month.
But it wasn’t as if he could leave Gong Siyoung glued to Yurian’s side for that entire time.
A few days and a month were entirely different units of time.
If Gong Siyoung disappeared for a few days, the world wouldn’t end.
If he disappeared for a month, it just might.
All they needed was to determine Yurian’s rank, yet who would’ve guessed figuring that out would be this troublesome?
Though he kept a kind smile on his face, Gong Sijin still did not trust Yurian.
Behind that blank-looking face, it was impossible to know what sort of secrets he might be hiding.
If only he’d use another skill like earlier, it would be much easier to gauge him……
Skill?
A thought flashed brightly through Gong Sijin’s mind.
Smiling, he placed a hand on Yurian’s shoulder.
“Mr. Yuri, would you happen to want to enter a dungeon?”