CH 45

Ugly Desires

To meet an A-Class monster as soon as I enter an A-Class dungeon.

Can I say that I met this rather than that?

I can’t see anything except the thick darkness.

‘Is it like a hallucination?’

I stretched out my hand to see if I could reach anything.

The monster called ‘Dark Dreamer’ is a monster that often appears in the ‘Castle of the Demons’ dungeon that Han Woohyun and I decided to enter today.

Although it is classified as an A-Class monster because it uses strong hallucination magic, I saw in Hunter Planet that it is not very dangerous because it is not aggressive and its defense converges to zero.

Instead, they told us to be careful as they can approach humans and absorb their magic.

But be careful of what you see…?

I had no choice but to wave my hands and feet eagerly, hoping that Han Woohyun would find me.

Then, something caught on my right arm.

I turned my head to see a familiar face holding my right hand.

It was Han Woohyun.

“You’re here.”

Originally, he had a handsome face, but today, is it an illusion that his features are clearer and especially his eyes feel sharper?

I looked up at his tightly constricted pupils and, for some reason, felt a chill run down my spine.

“Here? There’s a dreamer nearby right now—”

“I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

A strong forearm pulled my hand. In an instant, his hands wrapped around my waist.

I let out a short scream and fell into his arms.

A hug?

I frowned.

Is Han Woohyun hugging me right now? For no reason?

“I miss you.”

His voice ringing in my ears was horrifyingly sweet.

It’s been a long time since I felt the breath of another person this close, so I shivered.

I felt the cool wall behind my back.

I, who had been stepping back little by little because it was burdensome to keep touching Han Woohyun’s hard body, was trapped between the invisible wall and Han Woohyun.

I felt heat rising in every corner of my body.

“Excuse me… Just step back a little bit…”

“I wish you would have said that you missed me too.”

The trembling of Han Woohyun’s voice stimulated every single one of my downy hairs.

Han Woohyun pushed me further into the wall, as I was shaking as my legs gave out.

“You are shaking like this… You too.”

What he said was true.

My body was trembling.

I knew where his lips were going as they brushed my ears.

Han Woohyun’s sharp nose brushed my cheek.

I ran my hand around my thigh. Han Woohyun laughed as if he was happy to see it.

Srrrk!

The next moment, the dagger in my hand pierced Han Woohyun’s abdomen.

Han Woohyun’s face was distorted.

“This… What are you doing…!”

Yeah.

I was still shaking and scared.

I guess what I’m stabbing is not a dreamer, but a person.

But I didn’t stop and gave strength to the hand holding the dagger.

No matter how I think about it, isn’t it strange? Han Woohyun hugs me and whispers in my ear, and my whole body reacts every time—.

It’s probably the monster’s magic using fragments of my memories.

And it soon became clear that my guess was correct.

Han Woohyun’s face wrinkled like a crumpled cloth and turned black in an instant.

What was in front of my eyes was no longer Han Woohyun, but a monster with dark skin, red eyes, and horns on both heads.

It seemed that this was the ‘dark dreamer’.

The ‘Dark Dreamer’ recognizes you as its prey!

The dark dreamer’s long fingernails grabbed my neck.

Every time I applied strength to the dagger still lodged in his thigh, his hand tightened rather than weakened.

Damn it!

Puk!

His neck turned into a strange shape.

His red eyes rose upward as if a dead fish were floating on the water, and his hands also lost strength.

“….!”

The pitch black darkness disappeared before my eyes.

It was only then that I could see Han Woohyun, standing on the fallen dreamer’s body and holding my shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

Han Woohyun was looking at me with a pale face.

I whimpered and nodded.

“I… I’m okay…”

“The structure of the castle is complicated, so I couldn’t see you right away.”

I frowned at the body of the dreamer lying on the floor.

Because it was a monster that resembled a human, I felt reluctant to see the corpse.

Then Han Woohyun kicked the dreamer’s body like a soccer ball and sent it away.

“Have you been hallucinating?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

It was difficult to look straight at Han Woohyun because it felt like Han Woohyun’s breath was still in my ears.

“Do the hallucinations the dreamer shows have something to do with my memories…?”

Han Woohyun answered my question.

“Maybe. It is also said to show the ugliest desire inside humans… but it seems to be just using recent memories.”

Ugly desire?

With Han Woohyun?

I found it harder and harder to look Han Woohyun in the eyes, so I pretended to look elsewhere.

The place where Han Woohyun and I stood was like a medieval castle.

There was a large full moon outside the window, and everything was muddy, right down to the distant horizon.

I read the description inside the ‘Castle of the Demons’ that was cleared a year ago in Hunter Planet, but the reality felt much more creepy. Then something touched my right hand.

As I shrank from the cold feeling, Han Woohyun, who was trying to put a bracelet on my wrist, hesitated.

“You will need it to avoid hallucinations.”

Oh, it’s an item.

I didn’t think about this.

“Do you not get hallucinations easily?”

The mental barrier against hallucination magic was related to the intelligence stat. I hadn’t seen Han Woohyun’s status window yet, but even without looking at it, his intelligence stats would be very high. Because he’s an S-Class.

“At least we won’t get caught in this dungeon.”

How many hunters in Korea can be so confident in an A-Class dungeon?

I realized once again that my opponent on the bus was the No. 1 hunter in Korea.

What an S-class hunter. I wonder if he can be served with by-products and birthday food.

When I made this proposal, I thought that Han Woohyun would also need me, but now I wonder if my ability is really meaningful to this guy who can catch A-Class monsters with his bare hands.

Looking at the guy’s brown eyes, I thought that this guy— would get hit by a con artist.

I held Han Woohyun’s hand, who was wearing a bracelet for me.

“….?”

Han Woohyun’s ears start to get hot.

I said abruptly.

“I will create a party. Please accept it.”

“Huh?”

Han Woohyun laughed at the word ‘party’.

It looked like a word you would only see in a game.

But somehow I had a feeling that this would be it.

“Party request.”

As I chanted, Han Woohyun’s brown eyes widened.

In the next moment, a window appeared in my eyes.

‘Han Woohyun’ accepted the party request.

It’s really working!

You had formed a party with ‘Han Woohyun’.

“That’s interesting. However…”

Han Woohyun somehow held my hand from earlier and didn’t let go. Han Woohyun’s brown eyes shone dangerously.

“Can I hug you?”

“Eung?”

Do you want to hug me?

Han Woohyun’s hand suddenly went into my hamstrings before I could even ask.

The moment he hugged me, a huge monster flew in from the window.

A ‘three-eyed crow (C)’ has appeared in front of you.

A ‘three-eyed crow (C)’ has appeared in front of you.

A ‘three-eyed crow (C)’ has appeared in front of you.

The walls of the castle completely collapsed as the window floated incessantly.

I screamed and clung to Han Woohyun’s neck.

There was no such thing as time to take out the fail-not.

Han Woohyun threw himself into the collapsed wall, and our bodies were still falling.

No matter how S-Class you are, can you survive by jumping from an empty space that is as high as the 20th floor of an apartment building?

No.

Even if Han Woohyun is fine, what about me? Me!

In that short time, countless thoughts came and went.

But within seconds of feeling like we were falling, our bodies floated back up again.

Something was lifting us from above.

Han Woohyun’s arm was hanging from a three-eyed crow.

Han Woohyun, clinging to a crow with one hand and holding my waist firmly with the other, showed no signs of distress.

It’s crazy strength.

I wanted to peruse Han Woohyun’s lodging list right away, but I didn’t have the time.

It was because when we flew up, three three-eyed crows turned right toward us and flew.

“Didn’t you say that this is a map that doesn’t attract well?”

“I know. It’s a mess today.”

Han Woohyun spoke as if he had been to this place before.

Did he say he had been here with the Baekho Guild before…? I couldn’t remember well.

“Can you hold it?”

Han Woohyun put my hand on the crow’s claw as the crow tried to peck us with its beak.

I nodded at him, holding his neck with one hand and gripping the crow’s claw with the other.

Then he released his arms around my waist and pulled out his longsword and he cut off the neck of an approaching three-eyed crow with a longsword.

“Kiiieeek”

The crow fell helplessly down there.

Even a C-Class monster in a one-kill, isn’t it?

You have succeeded in hunting the ‘Three-Eyed Crow (C)’.  You’ve earned 2,000p EXP.

The level of the hotel goes up. (13→14)

‘This is the power of an S-Class guy!’

After a moment of admiration, two monsters came at us at once.

It was when Han Woohyun cut off one of the wings. Another monster aimed at Han Woohyun’s back.

I lowered the arm holding the crow’s claw. Then, I hung completely from Han Woohyun’s neck and shot a fail-not at the monster that was coming up from behind Han Woohyun.

Shoot!

It fell along with the fail-not.

“Ugh… c, come back!”

As if listening to me, Fail-not escaped from its body and returned to my hand.

….?

Is there such a function?

You have succeeded in hunting the ‘Three-Eyed Crow (C)’.  You’ve earned 2,000p EXP.

You have succeeded in hunting the ‘Three-Eyed Crow (C)’.  You’ve earned 2,000p EXP.

The level of the hotel goes up. (14→15)

While I was relieved to see the fail note in my hand, I felt a stinging gaze from somewhere.

It was Han Woohyun.

Han Woohyun looked at me with curious eyes and asked.

“…F-Class?”

“Ah, right. I am now in E-Class.”

Han Woohyun became a face with a question mark again.

Well, it’s natural.

To say that I became E-class in less than a month?

“And these arrows are pretty good, but I bought them cheaply.”

Despite my explanation, Han Woohyun didn’t seem very convinced.

“There is no E-Class that doesn’t pass out while using the fail-not made by the craftsman.”

Oh, that’s why you saw it like that.

I’m usually on the verge of passing out, but—.

It’s just that my level keeps going up and my mana is full.

Besides, whenever the level goes up, it seems that the mana exhaustion decreases.

“Hold tight.”

However, before I could explain that, as the crow’s body got a little closer to the ground, Han Woohyun immediately cut off the crow’s foot.

Our bodies flopped onto the grass.

The crow screamed and started attacking us.

Instinctively, I raised my arrow again and shot it at the crow.

You have succeeded in hunting the ‘Three-Eyed Crow (C)’.  You’ve earned 2,000p EXP.

Oh, look at this.

Even now, the feeling of mana exhaustion has definitely decreased.

Feeling a bit stronger, I looked at Han Woohyun with a bright smile.

“Aren’t I also quite useful in this way?”

Han Woohyun’s expression became subtle again at my question.