EFME 29

“Come this way.”

Sunyul followed Muyoung. There was a spear larger than a person, a greatsword so huge he wondered if it could even be lifted, a sharply honed sword, a blunt weapon that looked like one hit would send you to the other side… After passing various weapons, they arrived at a place where relatively small and light weapons were gathered.

“A dagger or a gun would be better, I think. The others would be hard for you to even hold.”

“Ah, yes.”

Muyoung examined the displayed weapons with a serious expression. After careful consideration, Muyoung spoke.

“I think ‘Invitation to a Nightmare,’ ‘Flashblossom,’ or ‘Shooting Silver’ would be good.”

Sunyul looked at the weapons Muyoung had mentioned. As a non-awakened person, Sunyul couldn’t see the item descriptions through the system window, but there were explanations written below the display cases, so he could fully understand what kind of weapons they were.

[Invitation to a Nightmare]

Description:A dagger that doesn’t look threatening due to its dull blade. However, it drags anyone it cuts into a deep nightmare.

Effect: An opponent attacked by the dagger’s blade will have a nightmare. They cannot act while having the nightmare.

[Flashblossom]

Description: A light that shines more brilliantly than anything else. Even if it seems to have gone out, it never truly extinguishes.

Effect:A blade made of light is formed only when the wielder holds Flashblossom and intends to cut an opponent. The blade does not harm the user.

[Shooting Silver]

Description: A gun that boasts bullets fired so fast they cannot be followed by the eye.

Effect:Attacks the enemy using pre-charged mana as bullets.

—When fully charged with mana, it can be fired 164 times.

They were good weapons for the non-awakened Sunyul to use. The dagger wouldn’t harm Sunyul, and the gun could be powerful enough for Sunyul to use on his own as long as someone charged it for him beforehand.

“Is there one you like?”

“I’m not really sure. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that I don’t know much about weapons…”

“Right.”

After thinking for a moment, Muyoung took out both the Flashblossom and the Shooting Silver and handed them to Sunyul.

“Then use both of these.”

“…Both of them?”

“It’ll be hard for you to switch between them freely… Let’s go to the training room later and test them out, then take the one that feels right in your hand.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll do that.”

So they were even going to test them in the training room. The thought of being able to do it with Muyoung made Sunyul quite excited.

“You won’t need… separate clothes, right? Park Haemin said he’d send some.”

“He really doesn’t have to…”

Sunyul looked troubled, his eyes darting around.

Dart dart.

After Sunyul was injured at the auction, Haemin and Heena had contacted him separately to apologize. They said they were very sorry that he had experienced such an incident at an auction they had hosted.

Sunyul said it was fine, but Muyoung, who was with him, had other ideas.

‘Apologizing with just words is so easy.’

‘…I should apologize materially as well, shouldn’t I?’

‘You’re stating the obvious.’

Muyoung snatched the smartphone Haemin was calling on and extorted compensation as he pleased. Sunyul was very flustered, but Muyoung acted as if even that wasn’t enough to satisfy him.

‘Send something that can at least block a blade swung by a D-rank awakened.’

‘Yes, I understand…’

Haemin had answered, sounding so dejected it made you feel sorry for him. Those clothes should be arriving soon.

“I’ll have to find other defensive gear to go with it.”

“Um, the clothes should be enough… I have the bracelet too.”

The bracelet he had won at the auction was currently nestled on Sunyul’s wrist. Sunyul held up his wrist with the bracelet as if to show it off, but Muyoung shook his head.

“It’s an S-rank dungeon, so a C-rank defensive skill won’t be able to block anything.”

“By that logic, wouldn’t there be very few items that can block monsters or traps from an S-rank dungeon?”

It was a very valid point, but Muyoung didn’t listen. However, since many S-rank defensive items consumed mana, he decided to leave the innermost room and choose from the items outside.

“Oh, Guild Master! Hyung!”

And there, they met Dakyung. Dakyung ran over to the two of them, grinning. Hehe.

“Hyung, are you picking out items to use when you go into the dungeon?”

“Yes.”

“It would be great if I could go too, but I’m going into a different dungeon… Instead, Jaehoon hyung and Jihyun-noona are going in. I think one person will be coming from the Anomaly Management Bureau for support too.”

At the words “Anomaly Management Bureau,” Sunyul’s expression darkened rapidly.

Wondering if he’d misspoken, Dakyung hurriedly looked at Muyoung. Muyoung shook his head, signaling that it was fine.

It was an issue he had to tell him about anyway. It just hadn’t been confirmed who would be coming yet, and he had been putting off telling him because he was prepared to scrap the whole plan if he didn’t like the person they confirmed.

“They won’t send a rude person, so don’t worry. If they say a rude person is coming, I’ll refuse.”

With Muyoung saying that, he felt relieved. Sunyul replied that he understood, then suddenly thought of someone’s face.

“Um… could that person named Go Yoonjae come?”

“Yoonjae hyung?”

Dakyung seemed to have pretty good social skills. Seeing as he called anyone ‘hyung.’

“Why. Did you like Go Yoonjae?”

“Yoonjae hyung is S-rank, so I don’t know if he’ll come.”

Sunyul glanced furtively at Muyoung. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but Muyoung’s mood seemed to have soured a little after Sunyul brought up Yoonjae.

“I’m not saying he has to be the one to come. It’s just that he’s the only person I know.”

“Right. I’ll inquire as to whether Go Yoonjae can come.”

Muyoung replied calmly. It seemed his bad mood had just been a misunderstanding. Sunyul nodded.

“Since I can’t go with you, I’ll pick out items for you instead. The items will be with you in my place.”

Dakyung took the lead, saying he was better at this than Muyoung.

And so, the items Dakyung chose for him were a pair of shoes that reduced the wearer’s fatigue and made their body lighter to increase speed, a cap that was as hard as a helmet but light, and a ring that would make a loud noise when pressed to call for help.

“This is the kind of stuff that’s helpful.”

“Well done, Jeong Dakyung.”

“I’m pretty good.”

Having received Muyoung’s praise, Dakyung strutted about, looking pleased. After leaving the item storage room, Muyoung checked the time on his watch.

“I have to get going. Jeong Dakyung, what’s your schedule after this?”

“I’m on standby. Should I take charge of Hyung?”

“Yes.”

Muyoung naturally entrusted Sunyul to Dakyung. Sunyul, who was handed over in a flash, looked back and forth between Muyoung and Dakyung.

“Jeong Dakyung. Go to the lab and get the consumables, then go to the training room and help Lim Sunyul practice using his weapons, even if it’s just briefly.”

“Yep, of course that’s fine.”

Sunyul, who had naturally assumed he’d be doing it with Muyoung, was somewhat disappointed but tried not to show it. Of course, it was written all over his face.

Dakyung patted Sunyul’s back.

Pat, pat.

“Cheer up, Hyung. You can have a fun time with me, too.”

“Huh? Oh, of course. I like going with you.”

“Yep.”

Dakyung replied soullessly to Sunyul’s not-so-convincing words.

“Practice hard.”

Muyoung gave Sunyul a simple word of encouragement and went upstairs. And Sunyul followed Dakyung to the 23rd floor.

“Hmm? If it isn’t Dakyung and Mr. Sunyul.”

As soon as they entered the lab, a familiar face popped out. It was Yoon Garam, the team leader of the item production team. Sunyul unwittingly grew a little tense.

“Hello, Noona.”

“Hey. What brings you two here? Because you’re going into the dungeon?”

“Yes. Sunyul hyung is going into the dungeon.”

“Uh-huh, yeah. I heard. So it’s been confirmed?”

Somehow, it seemed like other people knew before Sunyul himself did.

“Yes.”

“That’s great. Come over here. I set some items aside for you.”

Garam took out a small pouch from a box in the corner. After unzipping the pouch, Garam gestured to Sunyul with her eyes.

“Look inside here.”

Sunyul peeked inside and his eyes went wide. It was clearly a small pouch the size of a fist, but inside was a space as large as a washbasin.

“Ta-da! It’s a temporary inventory. It’s an item that expands the space inside the pouch so that even ordinary people without an inventory can carry a lot of things. Looks useful, right?”

“Yes. It’s amazing…”

Sunyul looked at the pouch from all angles, utterly fascinated.

“It’s an item that was developed not too long ago. If you notice anything strange while using it, let me know.”

“Anything strange?”

“Like you pull your hand out of the pouch but your fingers are still left inside, or an item you put in the pouch vanishes without a trace, or on the contrary, an item that wasn’t there appears.”

Isn’t that a ghost story? Sunyul looked at the pouch Garam was handing him with a dubious expression. Garam burst out laughing at Sunyul’s face.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Those are all cases that happened in the past, and it’s been improved, so it probably won’t happen again.”

“…”

“Probably?”

Garam added vaguely, smiling brightly.

“Can’t I not take it?”

“Nope, no can do. You have to prepare for that one-in-a-million chance.”

“That’s right, Hyung. It’s not that your fingers are actually cut off, it just looks like they are because of a spatial distortion, so they can be returned to normal in no time.”

It wasn’t a very helpful consolation, but in the end, Sunyul had no choice but to accept the pouch.

“Bye, Mr. Sunyul. Come by yourself next time. I’ll take care of you.”

“Hyung can’t come alone.”

“I can look after him too.”

Sunyul bowed his head to Garam, who sounded genuinely disappointed, and left the lab.