Splash. Along with the sound of breaking waves came the salt smell of the sea at the tip of his nose.
The dungeons of lower classes imitated Earth clumsily and grotesquely, or consisted of a single cavity with no features at all. Ultra-high-risk dungeons were different. They reproduced Earth's nature exactly.
Which was why anyone seeing one for the first time tended to doubt the place was really a dungeon. This one was doing an impression of a beautiful beach.
A mild breeze grazing his hair, a temperature neither cold nor hot, fine sand beneath his shoes and a clear, transparent sea, a blue sky without a single cloud, and dazzling sunlight beyond the horizon.
In every respect, it looked like a resort lifted whole and set down here.
But the owner of this beautiful resort wasn't human. It was a monster.
Dojun took in the wide stretch of sand, the blue sea with its green cast, and the high, vast sky in turn, then stepped forward.
“Watch your surroundings.”
Just as Hanul had announced in front of the reporters, Seonmyeong had come in to rescue Songhwa's dungeon raid team. Clearing the dungeon would therefore come after they found Songhwa's hunters.
The trouble was that an ultra-high-risk dungeon's range and scale were enormous, so a search by ordinary means was bound to eat up a great deal of time. Fortunately, they had Dojun, who handled the wind at will.
Shhhhh.
A gust rose from beneath his feet, wrapped once around his body, then spread wide in every direction.
Feeling delicately through the information the wind carried back, Dojun located a cluster of people not far off.
“Found them. We're moving.”
Whoosh.
The wind took the lead to show the way, and the team began to move after it.
The reason Dojun and not Hanul was leading the team on this raid was simple.
It was the head team leader's prerogative.
Inside a dungeon, never mind Hanul. Even Hanyeong, the guild leader, would have to follow Dojun's orders.
Which was why Hanul, whose mood was less than pleasant, was walking obediently at his side.
As they moved, Dojun shared what he'd worked out with the team.
“There are no flying-type monsters.”
By the nature of wind he couldn't see inside the sea or beneath the sand, but the absence of anything airborne alone cut what they had to guard against in half.
“They're not in combat. Looks like they're resting.”
No other lifeforms registered nearby, and the people weren't moving much.
“Nobody's been left behind, and all five are together, so there's no great need to worry.”
Having picked out only what he could confirm on the spot, Dojun felt a touch land against his wind and let out a small laugh. He hadn't tried to hide it, granted, but a black-rank hunter's instincts really were sharp.
“Hunter Im Seonhwa noticed my wind.”
When he sent wind circling around her in reply, brisk movement broke out on Songhwa's side.
“Already?”
“My ability's well known. And she'd know Songhwa wouldn't sit still once she sent out a rescue request.”
The team's faces brightened at his answer.
They'd assumed there would be a lot of wounded, possibly even fatalities, so hearing that everyone was alive and they'd meet up soon clearly came as a relief.
Guiding them from the rear of the group while watching for monsters that might spring out, Dojun turned his head at Hanul's question.
“Are you on friendly terms with Hunter Im Seonhwa?”
That would be written in the records he left himself.
Hanul, who must have read everything from Seonmyeong's own team members to the profiles of Songhwa's raid team inside the dungeon, pressed for an answer with his eyes.
“We don't meet privately, but professional business comes up now and then.”
“You seem to like her.”
Dojun agreed readily.
“She's dedicated. Someone who puts in the work.”
Im Seonhwa was a black-rank hunter respected even within Songhwa. She'd been working as a hunter since Dojun was in elementary school.
Working alongside her had never caused problems either, so calling that a favorable impression was fair enough.
Dojun looked into Hanul's eyes, gone paler still in the sunlight, and added.
“Same as you.”
But instead of manufacturing a bashful face, Hanul gestured at their surroundings with his eyes.
“You blocked the sound again.”
Knew he'd notice.
Dojun, who had peeled off part of the wind surveying the dungeon to keep their conversation from leaking the way he had outside, answered without concern.
“I don't mind looking like a couple who gets along. I just don't like being a spectacle.”
This was one of the few traits Dojun and Hanul shared.
“So what else are you curious about?”
“Are you actually the jealous, possessive type?”
It was what the team had been saying back in the tent. Anyone else, fine, but getting this question from Hanul.
This is unfair.
Between the two of them, the one with the stronger streak of it was Hanul, no matter what anyone said.
But flatly denying it would prick his conscience.
“I've got a clear sense of what's mine and who's mine, so I do put a lot of care into the people inside that line. Depending on how you look at it, I suppose that could come across as obsession or possessiveness.”
“And who's inside the line?”
Is it the good light? Hanul's eye color shifted with every step.
Watching those eyes lighten and darken by turns, Dojun asked back.
“You're not after the obvious answer that you're in it, so what exactly do you want to ask?”
“Maybe that's exactly the answer I want to hear.”
It was the sort of conversation lovers at a resort might have.
It just didn't suit the mood Hanul was actually in.
Still, as he had for the past several days, Dojun played along well enough.
“You're first in line.”
“Above family?”
“In certain respects.”
Dojun couldn't put a lover above family unconditionally the way Hanul did.
And empty flattery wouldn't be believed anyway.
“Thinking words are cheap, aren't you? We're going to keep being together regardless, so check it with your own eyes.”
Dojun nodded ahead at Hanul, who was smiling faintly.
One of the team members walking at the very front had spotted someone from Songhwa Guild and was waving broadly.
Dojun assessed their visible condition, then offered a light nod of greeting to Hunter Im Seonhwa, who was tracing the wind back to look at him.
As he'd guessed, Hunter Im Seonhwa was unharmed, and her team looked to be in no danger of dying.
Dojun turned to Hanul beside him to confirm something.
“Do you still think it's better not to tell them you've lost your memories?”
Those people had been inside the dungeon for over a week, so they had no way of knowing.
And before entering, Hanul had asked the team to keep it secret until the raid was finished.
“Yes. They've clearly been through enough already. I'd rather not hand them another worry.”
If they learned that the person who came to rescue them wasn't in perfect condition, it might unsettle them, he added.
Dojun nodded at that.
“All right. Let's do it your way.”
There's another motive in there somewhere, but I've decided to watch and wait for now.
What the raid required was Hanul's ability, not his memory, and he'd thoroughly absorbed the information on Songhwa's raid team besides.
When Im Seonhwa finished greeting the team and came toward them, Dojun dissolved the wind that had been blocking sound.
“When I sent the rescue request out, I figured Seonmyeong would come. More precisely, I figured Hunter Seon Hanul would. There's a lot of water here.”
Im Seonhwa pointed at the sea and winked at him.
Hanul stepped forward with a friendly smile.
“We only ever seem to meet in dungeons.”
Referring to a meeting a month ago that he didn't remember, Hanul betrayed no awkwardness at all.
Some of that ease came from the records he'd left himself, but he'd also been friendly with Im Seonhwa back when he was twenty-one.
Times like this, I regret awakening late.
Hanul had been a veteran even then, with connections built up among plenty of people, and the fact that Dojun wasn't among them didn't sit especially well.
Knowing full well it couldn't be helped and still feeling this way, he really wasn't on the un-jealous side of things.
Toying with the wind coiling in his palm, Dojun walked over to the two of them.
“I'm relieved Seonmyeong came. You'll get us out soon, won't you?”
“You've got wounded, so I'll do everything I can.”
“The way I feel right now, I'd do anything for whoever gets us out of here.”
Im Seonhwa laughed cheerfully and pulled the approaching Dojun into the conversation.
“Dojun, what do you think? Can we get out soon?”
Dojun curled his mouth up as naturally as he could manage.
“Of course, sunbae. Three black-ranks between us. We'd better get out fast.”
Feeling put out was one thing, but nothing was more foolish than letting emotion steer you inside a dungeon.
