Chapter 3.3

I could barely make out a tiny hole, just big enough for a person to crawl through. She wasn’t seriously suggesting we go in there… right?

“Shall we enter?”

Are you out of your mind?

“Where? Wait, you don’t mean… that? How are we supposed to breathe in there?”

“We’ll just hold our breath.”

Maybe you can. I definitely can’t…

If Seo Rana could see Affection levels too, mine would probably be around -300 right now.

“I’m kidding. Here, swallow this.”

She held out a red marble.

At a glance I was convinced: either I’d choke on it, or I’d die from poison.

Is she trying to kill me?

But a lot of people saw us enter this dungeon together.

And from what I’ve seen of the articles and our conversations, she didn’t seem like someone who’d kill easily.

So maybe she wouldn’t kill me…?

With trembling hands, I took the marble and swallowed it.

 

Red Coral Marble (A) absorbed.

Temporary underwater breathing granted.

 

An A-rank item?!

That’s about as much as a house. Can she really just hand something like that over?

She won’t come back later with a bill, will she?

 

[ Time Limit: 00:59:58 ]

 

There was a time limit, sure, but the fact I could even breathe outside the sphere changed everything.

A sliver of my distrust toward Seo Rana receded.

She swallowed the same marble, removed the sphere, and my body floated up at once.

Unlike me, flailing my arms and legs to stop myself from spinning, Seo Rana swam as if buoyancy didn’t affect her, moving as lightly as someone walking on clouds.

When my body began to flip, I reached out instinctively. Seo Rana laced her fingers through mine.

She stepped forward with fluid, waltz-like motion, and before long we were at the narrow opening.

Could we really fit through there?

I was gauging the hole’s size when a bright light flared behind me.

I turned to look and a small, oval ring had appeared on Seo Rana’s wrist.

Before I could even ask what it was, she tossed it into the hole.

A trembling vibration and a rushing whirl of water nearly swept my body away; if Seo Rana hadn’t caught me, I would have sunk into some unknown depth.

“What was that?!”

“My skill. The hole looked too tight.”

“But what if someone’s inside?!”

“It’s way too narrow for a person to hide in, don’t you think?”

You’re the one who wanted to go in here in the first place?!

It didn’t seem like she actually believed anyone could still be alive in there.

I was just about to ask what exactly she was trying to do when something pale shifted in the half-collapsed hole.

…Another one of those jellyfish?

One long tentacle slipped through the narrow crack and brushed against my arm.

Startled by the slimy sensation, I nearly grabbed the tentacle and killed it on reflex.

Killing monsters is usually the right thing to do, but if it isn’t showing aggression, is it really necessary?

If they travel in groups like herd animals, killing one could draw an unmanageable swarm.

So I ignored it.

But the jellyfish nudged me again with a harmless tentacle, almost as if it were asking me to look back.

“Could this monster be trapped in there?”

It felt wrong to just turn away. So I spoke up.

“Then we’ll just have to go.”

Seo Rana’s stance was absolute.

Still, the hole hasn’t completely collapsed. Shouldn’t we take a look?

“But the hole is still…”

“There’s no chance.”

Why not? Just because there’s a monster in there?

But this jellyfish supplies oxygen.

If any civilian had survived, wouldn’t they most likely be near a monster like this?

Wouldn’t they?

Why was Seo Rana so quick to dismiss it? Was it simply my inexperience?

“…I want to check in there.”

“Every second we waste, more people are dying.”

“But what if those people are in there? If someone is still alive because that jellyfish is supplying oxygen, wouldn’t they most likely be in that space?!”

Frustration spiked. My voice rose.

Seo Rana’s eyes widened.

“A jellyfish that supplies oxygen? How do you know that?”

“What do you mean how?! The system told me!”

I didn’t say it with polite restraint. I snapped.

Seo Rana gave a laugh that felt more incredulous than amused.

“So you’re saying someone could really be in there?”

She didn’t even wait for my answer.

She was already about to throw the ring on her wrist toward the spot where the tentacle had come out.

Did she even hear what I just said?!

I moved to block her. Just in case there was even the slimmest chance…

“What are you doing?”

“We don’t know what might happen! Didn’t it even cross your mind that someone could still be in there?!”

Anger surged.

Seo Rana acted like she wanted to save people, but she wasn’t even willing to consider the smallest of possibilities.

If even one person could be saved…

If there was the faintest chance that someone was surviving thanks to that jellyfish…

That single thread of hope was worth protecting.

I grabbed her collar.

“You’ll get blown away if you stay like this.”

Her voice was ice.

“If I hadn’t stopped you, you would’ve attacked that hole.”

“You really don’t believe there’s someone in there?”

“I do. I believe it.”

“If you spend time worrying over every little thing like that, you won’t save anyone. Think of this as a special lesson.”

Special, my a*s.

I was convinced now that words wouldn’t reach her.

To stop her, I scanned my skills quickly.

There was only one I could use against her.

All I had to do was hold on for ten seconds.

Once she knew what kind of skill it was, she’d back off on her own.

 

Ding—!

 

[Silent Touch (S): A skill that kills any lifeform upon contact. However, contact must be maintained for at least 10 seconds. Cannot activate if conditions are unmet.]

Silent Touch (S) is being activated.

Please maintain contact with the target for at least 10 seconds or more.

 

Got it…!

I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed her.

 

10

.

9

.

“Ms. Seo Rana, I’m activating a skill•••••!”

.

8

.

7

.

Warning! Skill proficiency is insufficient.

Skill rank temporarily reduced.

[Silent Touch (S) >>> Silent Touch (A)]

 

A-rank?!

So it won’t work on an S-rank like Seo Rana?

Seriously?! You’re telling me this now?

I tried not to let the panic show and kept my grip tight.

Seo Rana’s face hardened, and she tried to pry me off.

But I clung on with everything I had, my arms shaking from the effort.

She couldn’t easily shake me.

.

6

.

If it’s only A-rank, does that mean it won’t affect an S-Rank at all?

Even a little damage—no, damage didn’t matter.

All I needed was to make her feel threatened.

.

5

.

“Ms. Seo Rana, what do you think will happen if I keep hold of you for exactly ten seconds?”

Sweat dampened the bangs across my forehead.

I swallowed the spit that wasn’t there in my parched mouth.

.

4

.

“If you want to save your life, Ms.Seo Rana, and any lives that might be inside, then step aside.”

.

3

.

A red fire bloomed in Seo Rana’s calm eyes.

“Let go.”

.

2

.

“I said, let go.”

.

1

.

A blue glow erupted from her body, and I instinctively pulled my hands away.

The light bubbled up like foam, the same energy I’d seen from the Tunnel Whale.

 

Silent Touch (A) has been canceled.

 

“…What do you think you’re doing?”

“•••••Just a small threat. I wasn’t actually trying to hurt you.”

“Half my mana’s gone, and you say that’s nothing?”

Her mana drained?

Wasn’t this skill supposed to just kill?

I figured a downgraded A-rank skill wouldn’t have much power, but it must have been nibbling away at mana instead of life.

Since it was something I hadn’t known either, I awkwardly shifted my eyes.

Seo Rana sighed, but instead of retaliating, she tried to persuade me.

“Ms. Baek Youngha, look. In this situation, how would you safely break the stone and check if someone’s inside? I’m only trying the method I can. If you attack just because we disagree, it’ll be a problem.”

 

Ding—!

 

Affection Level of a nearby lifeform has changed.

Calculating Affection Level…

[ Seo Rana – Affection Level: -50 ]

The closest entity is displayed first.

 

Okay, but why did her affection suddenly go up…?

Wait, does she… like people who attack her?

As I slowly drew back, Seo Rana calmly conjured another ring on her wrist.

Don’t do that..!

Just as I was about to shout for her to stop, the ring shrank.

Why is it shrinking?

“I can reduce both its power and its size. You know a saw? I can use it like that.”

If she could’ve done that from the beginning, why didn’t she?

But when I saw Seo Rana’s faint smile surface, I lost my words.

Her expression, as if she’d considered all this from the start, and her unhurried actions made my mouth gape.

“No way… right now?”

Her face tilted slowly, unbothered. Certainty struck me.

She was testing me.

My fists clenched at the shiver of betrayal.

If I could show Seo Rana my Affection Level, I’d want it flashing at -1,000.

I didn’t bother hiding my lips pouting in anger, and Seo Rana pulled me behind her.

“Stay close. Don’t get swept away.”

She shook the wrist with the ring like she was showing off.

Because it seemed that while it had shrunk in size, its power had increased, I stuck close.

Seo Rana’s shoulder twitched.

“This won’t be strong enough to send you flying, Ms. Baek Youngha.”

“…….”

Correction. My Affection Level is -3,500.

Whether she saw the chill in my eyes or not, Seo Rana carved away at the stone with the smaller ring.

I quietly watched the stone being carved delicately, as if she were sculpting.

“Ms. Baek Youngha, I worry you might be too easily deceived. There are so many people out there trying to rip off newly awakened hunters.”

If not for that sudden bit of concern, I’d have stood there even more foolishly.

Isn’t that a bit much for someone with Affection Level -50?

Even while flustered, the part of my brain that knew how to function in society kept turning.

If I said I’d handle it myself, I’d look rude.

But if I said thanks, I wasn’t even sure what I’d be thanking her for.

In the end, I forced an awkward smile.

Before I could say anything else, Seo Rana, having shaved away 90% of the rock, withdrew the ring.

“Now, shall we see if someone’s inside? Feels like opening a treasure chest.”

The jellyfish that had brushed against my arm earlier poked its head out through the cracked rock.

Its small head, compared to its long tentacles, contracted and spread as it drifted around me.

 

Ding—!

 

Affection Level of a nearby lifeform has changed.

Calculating Affection Level…

[ Deep Sea Ocean Jellyfish – Affection Level: 5 ]

[ Seo Rana – Affection Level: -50 ]

The closest entity is displayed first.

 

Who would have thought I’d live to see the day a jellyfish liked me.

Suddenly I felt attached to it.

I wanted to take it home and live with it.

I held out my hand, and the jellyfish wrapped around it, then released itself.

That slimy sensation no longer surprised me.

It’s really cute, isn’t it?

When the trapped jellyfish slipped free, the remaining stone crumbled with a crack.

Inside the broken stone, just as I’d thought, there was someone unconscious, with only their face barely tilted upward.

I tried to yank them out by the hair, but they were wedged in too tightly.

I couldn’t cut the stone either, since I didn’t know how their arms and legs were fused to it, so I couldn’t touch it carelessly.

But Seo Rana, thinking differently, conjured another ring.

“What if you end up cutting flesh…?”