EFME 102

Two days later, as soon as his fatigue faded, Sunyul went straight to see Heena. Even though she must be incredibly busy day after day, Heena welcomed him, telling him to come over whenever he needed because he asked.

“Hello.”

“Welcome, Sunyul! What’s going on?”

“Well, there’s something I’d like you to take a look at.”

Sunyul carefully held out the food container he had brought. Flustered by the sudden appearance of a food container, Heena looked puzzled, but upon checking what was inside, her eyes immediately lit up.

“What is this? Where did you get it?”

“Um… actually, it’s a secret.”

Sunyul lowered his voice. At that, Heena’s eyes sparkled even more as she whispered covertly.

“Yeah, what is it? Even if you killed someone to get it, I won’t report you.”

“……You should report that.”

“I won’t, I won’t. So, what is it?”

Sunyul felt a bit relieved and started his story.

“Hunter Jang Beomjin once obtained a box exactly like the one I was inside before. Do you happen to know about it?”

“Mm-hmm, I heard about that. They said the moment you touched it, the entire box suddenly vanished.”

“Yes. This is the item that came out of it.”

Heena’s eyes widened in surprise. Regarding that box, it hadn’t been released to the media, but everyone who knew through the grapevine was aware, and it was quite a mystery among those in the know.

But to think that Sunyul had really taken that box, and that its contents were unidentified just like Sunyul himself. It couldn’t help but be fascinating.

“How did you hide the box back then?”

“I don’t really know either. When I came to my senses, it was gone… This time, while organizing my inventory, I saw that only this dirt had entered.”

“Hmm, then isn’t it possible that it wasn’t the contents inside the box?”

“Ah, that’s for certain. My Constellation told me.”

“Hooh, nice.”

Heena’s eyes sparkled brightly.

She was also curious about the Constellation who pierced through everything that couldn’t normally be known, but she didn’t want to pry into it with Sunyul, who had already undergone a coercive investigation by the Ability Bureau regarding the Constellation once before.

For now, analyzing the fascinating material in front of her took priority.

“Great. I’ll run a component analysis on it.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m the one who’s grateful. For bringing such an interesting thing to me.”

Heena let out a chuckle, “Hehehe.”

“Ah, by any chance, analyzing this isn’t urgent, right?”

“Yes, it’s not urgent.”

At Sunyul’s words, Heena sighed in relief. No matter how exciting it was, it was because too many unavoidable tasks were piled up for Heena.

“That’s a relief. I’ll do it whenever I find time.”

“Don’t overdo yourself while doing it.”

“I got it. You sweet thing.”

Heena spoke with a face that showed she found Sunyul incredibly admirable. Having finished his business, Sunyul stood up from his seat.

“Then, since you’re busy, I’ll be going now.”

“Even if I’m busy, I have enough time to hang out with you for a bit! Just finish your tea before you go, okay?”

“Yes, alright.”

Sunyul said with a smile. Just as he was about to drink a bit more tea, an alert suddenly rang from his smartphone.

It was a dungeon warning alarm.

“Ugh, it’s near here!”

“I-I’ll go to stop this!”

“Yeah! Be careful!”

Sunyul immediately flew toward the location where the dungeon was presumed to have generated. Fortunately, the grade of the dungeon wasn’t high, and Sunyul’s response was fast, so there was no damage at all.

After finishing the dungeon clear, Sunyul returned to Heena, who would be worried, and reassured her.

“Are you okay, Sunyul?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“Thanks to you, we were saved. Ugh, a B-class dungeon appeared not long ago too… Why are so many dungeons generating these days? It’s ominous.”

Heena grumbled. It was a problem that numerous scholars were researching but had yet to uncover the cause.

‘Why have dungeons increased so much?’

Thinking about the reason made his chest feel tightly restricted and suffocating. Sunyul told Heena to rest assured for today and returned home.

Inside the endlessly continuing darkness, Sunyul stood perfectly still.

Holding something in one hand.

‘A star?’

That twinkling thing… certainly looked like a shining star.

It twinkled with a light bright enough to illuminate the darkness.

Sunyul gazed at it quietly. Then, he slowly brought it close against his chest.

At that, as if they shared a mutual magnetic force, it clung to Sunyul’s body. And like it was melting and being absorbed, it began to go inside Sunyul.

Unlike the object that entered easily, Sunyul looked extremely agonized.

He screamed, stumbled, and collapsed, thrashing against a place where he couldn’t tell where the floor was. After rolling around several times, he went limp as if he had passed out. Even so, he opened his eyes again from the pain.

Only after all of it had gone inside Sunyul’s body did Sunyul open his eyes.

Whether it was because of the torment, the capillaries around his eyes had all burst, leaving his face mottled. With a flushed red face, Sunyul parted his lips.

‘Can I do it?’

Tears rolled down from Sunyul’s eyes and dropped below. There was not a single shred of strength in his voice.

‘I am, I’m…….’

It was a frail voice without a grain of confidence.

Unlike the Lim Sunyul that Sunyul had heard of, it was a appearance that was exceedingly weak.

His head began to throb with a sharp ache.

“Lim Sunyul!”

Along with Muyoung’s voice, Sunyul opened his eyes. Gasping for breath, the moment he breathed in, he realized that tears were drenching his face.

“Are you okay?”

“A dream, is…….”

“This is reality.”

“……Ugh.”

But that pain in the dream could by no means be called just a dream. It was so vivid as if he had experienced it just a moment ago, so clear as if shouting at him not to forget…….

“It’s okay.”

Muyoung pulled Sunyul into an embrace. Sunyul clung to Muyoung, leaning against him with all his might.

He wanted to settle contentedly. In this embrace.

But Sunyul also knew very well that he couldn’t just do that.

“What kind of dream did you have to be like this.”

“……In the dream, something like a strange stone entered inside my body.”

“A stone?”

“Yes.”

Sunyul needlessly felt around his chest where the stone had entered. Seeing Sunyul groping around to indicate it entered about here, Muyoung also spoke seriously.

“When we did the examination, nothing like that was visible. It must have been decomposed by your trait.”

“……Right?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry too much.”

Sunyul nodded. However, he couldn’t hide the uncomfortable feeling.

“You said that when you look at me with a skill, an item window pops up along with it. Couldn’t it be that stone?”

“……Who knows.”

The possibility couldn’t be completely denied. Because it was true that when looking at Sunyul, the status window and the item information window popped up together.

“What exactly does it say?”

“Want me to take a look?”

“Yes.”

Muyoung directly wrote down the contents verified with his [‘Omniscience’ Encyclopedia] skill on a piece of paper and showed it to Sunyul.

[■■■]Description: A ■■ discovered in a dungeon. Effect: ■■s the ■■ ■ ■■■.

“Everything is the same except the owner is gone.”

“……Hmm.”

Sunyul inwardly admired that Muyoung had good handwriting. It was a mature handwriting style. Thinking that he should keep this, Sunyul carefully set the note down on the nightstand beside the bed.

In any case, he couldn’t tell just by looking at this… entirely obscured description.

“Since I’m at it, I’m asking about your trait.”

“Yes.”

“[‘Dimensional Waif’], what kind of trait is this?”

Muyoung said “since I’m at it,” but it felt like a question he threw after waiting for the right timing in his own way. It wasn’t a good thing, so he didn’t want to tell him. After deliberating for a moment, Sunyul eventually confessed honestly.

“It’s not… a good trait.”

“What is it.”

“It says I fall into a state of confusion in the dimensional rift. But… there’s no particular reason to enter a dimensional rift anyway.”

“……There are quite a few people who say they passed through something in that brief moment going from Earth through the gate to a dungeon. Many scholars speculate that there must be a space connecting Earth and the dungeons. I wonder if that might be the dimensional rift.”

“…….”

“So that’s why your condition was bad every time you entered a dungeon?”

“You’re asking even though you know it all.”

Sunyul smiled awkwardly. Judging by the way he spoke, it seemed Muyoung had also set up a hypothesis to some extent.

“Just to make sure. Is there no separate effect attached to the trait?”

“It says all stats increase in the dimensional rift.”

“It’s practically meaningless.”

Sunyul nodded. Muyoung was silent, perhaps pondering about Sunyul’s condition. Sunyul struck up a conversation with that Muyoung.

“Guild Leader.”

“What.”

“Can I take a look at your status window?”

“You can look without asking.”

As soon as he obtained permission, Sunyul immediately used a skill to view Muyoung’s status window.

Kwon Muyoung (Muyoung)

• Grade: S
• Health: A+
• Strength: A
• Agility: A+
• Mana: S+

Traits

• Fountain of Mana (S)
• Ever-Victorious (S)
• Indomitable (S)
• Survival Strategy (S)
• Long-Lived Species (S)
• Dungeon Adventurer (A)
• Cradle of Darkness (A)
• Immovable Mind (B)

Skills

• ‘Omniscience’ Encyclopedia (S)
• Erasure (S)
• Touch of the Abyss (S)
• Call of the Abyss (S)
• Word of Command (S)
• Brand of Ruin (S)
• Shadow Needle (A)
• Shadow Raid (A)
• Purification (A)

He could see why Muyoung consistently held the number one spot. His mana was S+ grade, while the rest were all A-grade or higher. On the other hand, Sunyul’s mana was EX-grade, but the rest of his stats were so fragile it felt like they would blow away if blown upon. Sunyul was deeply impressed.

“You’re really strong…….”

“That’s not for you to say.”

Muyoung spoke as if it were nothing much. Even that attitude was felt as the relaxed composure of the strong, causing Sunyul’s heart to throb without him realizing it.

He felt somewhat reassured.

That a person this strong was by his side.

Muyoung stroked Sunyul, whose eyes were sparkling.

He was relieved because it seemed the dream was mostly forgotten. He had come to Sunyul’s room because he felt an unusual sensation for some reason, only to find him sleeping while groaning, which was why he hastily woke him up.

“Then go back to sleep now.”

“Sleep with me.”

“If we lie down together, you won’t be able to sleep.”

“Why?”

“I wonder why.”

“…….”

A moment later, the face of Sunyul, who realized the meaning implied in those words, turned red. However, he did not let go of Muyoung.

Muyoung kissed Sunyul. Slowly, his body leaned over. Sunyul wrapped his arms around Muyoung’s neck.