Chapter 199

No matter how much time had passed, I thought it would be a week at most.

“Literally. Two weeks passed.”

I replied briefly to Do Yehyun, who stood there blankly like he couldn’t process what I was saying, and dragged a hand down my face.

‘Well, fuck. What do I do? It’s not like I can rewind time.’

It bothered me a little that I’d basically gone dark while I still had other things in motion, but once I accepted it was unavoidable, my mind calmed down.

“If you look at it one way, I pulled a pretty bold no-call-no-show. Think I got fired?”

“.......”

That’d be unfortunate. And yeah—if it’s not once but twice, it wouldn’t be weird to get canned for bad work attitude.

I cleanly stopped thinking any further and sent Im Haekyung the location of the place we were staying. Then I jerked my chin at Do Yehyun, telling him to sit on the bed, and stood up.

“First, shower. Then let’s eat something.”

“...Okay.”

Yeah. Whether things are fucked or not, people still have to eat first. I’d been wasting time in the dungeon shoving trashy snacks in my mouth, and it was like... I couldn’t even think properly the way I normally would.

I left Do Yehyun there and went into the bathroom to wash up. The state of me in the mirror was honestly a spectacle. No visible injuries, but I looked like I’d just walked out of a fight.

‘It’s gone.’

At least the marking that had been clearly crawling up to my cheek was completely gone. I wiped the fogged mirror and checked carefully for any traces left on my body, but there was nothing visible.

Still, even if the markings had disappeared, my mana wasn’t stabilized. It was better than in the dungeon, but it still felt like it was outside my control—like if I let my attention slip for even a moment, the mana would surge out.

‘I need to rest.’

Going to work like this would’ve been a problem anyway. I can’t do my job unless I can control my own body. If I went in like this, I’d obviously start by killing allies first.

I finished showering and came back out.

Do Yehyun, who’d been standing stiff and awkward a moment ago, was now sleeping quietly. Like he hadn’t even meant to fall asleep—he wasn’t even under the blanket.

Yeah. Makes sense he’d be exhausted. Considering he barely slept properly the whole time we were inside the dungeon, it would’ve been stranger if he didn’t crash. I left him alone, put on just pants, grabbed my phone, and searched for a nearby errand service.

I asked them to bring me a shirt I could actually wear and two outer layers, then found a place that delivered and ordered two boxed meals.

After that, I hesitated... then called Joo Seowon.

-Seo Jehyun.

His voice came through before the ringing even finished.

-That’s Seo Jehyun, right?

“Then who else would it be.”

-.......

When I answered simply, Joo Seowon went silent for a moment, then lowered his voice and came at me.

-You... you insane bastard. What the hell have you been doing? Why couldn’t I reach you? Do you even know how much time has passed? Do you know how much I... Fuck, I can’t even—

“Where are you?”

-I’m at the SH building! Why would you care? Just answer me!

“I didn’t know time passed like this either. I got out and it’d been two weeks.”

-Where are you right now. When are you coming? No—what did you even do in there that you lost comms?

It sounded like he had a lot in his head, because every time he spoke, he dumped two or three questions at once. I waited for him to finish spilling them out, then answered calmly.

“Okay. Thanks for worrying.”

-I...!

“Why can’t you talk? You go two weeks without anyone to talk to and your language skills start regressing or what?”

-What? Hey, you—

“Seowon. There was a lot going on, but... I don’t know what I should even explain first. My head’s not sorted yet.”

-What did you do in there? You said you were meeting Jin Haedo. Did you meet him? What happened?

“I met him, but we barely talked. Instead I went into a dungeon Jin Haedo left open....”

-A dungeon?

I debated where to start, then just gave him the clean conclusion.

“It’s a dungeon he left open on purpose. Something meant to raise your stats and then let you walk out. He left it there on purpose without clearing it.”

-It was real?

“It was.”

-So?

“I cleared it.”

Joo Seowon sounded like he couldn’t quite understand and asked again.

-You cleared a dungeon that was left open on purpose?

“Yeah. I erased it on purpose.”

-Why?

“The inside was rotten. I didn’t think it should be allowed to keep operating.”

-What?

“I did it with good intentions, so don’t give me too much shit.”

After that, Joo Seowon kept firing off a storm of nonsense, but most of it was nonsense I could brush off, so I let it go in one ear and out the other. Maybe because it’d been a while since I’d heard his voice, even Joo Seowon’s raging was manageable. And it was kind of interesting, too—he kept getting stuck mid-sentence like he’d worried more than I expected.

Moros imitating Joo Seowon in the dungeon briefly flashed through my mind.

‘If he’d copied even this part, it would’ve been even more fucking irritating.’

Joo Seowon must’ve noticed I wasn’t responding, because his voice sharpened.

-You... you’re not listening, are you?

“I’m listening enough.”

-You’re not listening.

“So what happened while I was gone? If you can explain it in a way I can understand, even better.”

-.......

Only then did Joo Seowon go quiet like he was thinking.

“Did SH hand down disciplinary action? I’ve been no-call-no-show for days.”

-Probably. Honestly, SH’s a mess right now.

“A mess?”

It obviously wasn’t because two employees had ditched work.

I frowned and pressed him.

“What kind of mess?”

-Because of Guild Master Song Hwayoung. She went on a business trip for a guild meeting, and they said she got caught up in a dungeon incident there.

“A business trip? Where?”

-Switzerland.

“Switzerland? She went far.”

The second he said it, something came to mind. Switzerland.

Around this time, Song Hwayoung getting caught in a dungeon accident was part of the original story’s flow.

She’s the type who takes care of herself, sure, but at her core she’s loyal and decent.

“What rank is the dungeon?”

-A-rank. Probably.

“Probably?”

Why is there uncertainty here?

Joo Seowon must’ve read the question on my face, because he hurriedly added,

-There are rumors going around. That it was actually an S-rank dungeon, but they deliberately announced it as A-rank.

“Why?”

-There haven’t been many S-rank dungeons lately, right? People say they downplayed it so it wouldn’t cause panic. But, you know... it’s still just rumors.

“Did you confirm what’s true?”

-Confirm it? No. Where would I even have the mental space for that?

“Why? You busy?”

If I’d been gone, he should’ve had a decent amount of free time.

When I asked out of genuine curiosity, Joo Seowon went quiet for a long moment.

-You... were gone for two weeks.

“So wouldn’t that make you less busy?”

-Would I... be less busy? With you gone?

“Why are you talking like that. It’s itchy.”

-What?

Snickering, I wrapped up the conversation and thought calmly.

‘It’ll probably be fine this time.’

Even if Song Hwayoung got caught in a dungeon accident, it wasn’t like something would happen right away.

The problem was what came after.

Because I’d spent a full two weeks inside the dungeon, we were already staring down the end of February. In other words, I had a little over a month left until I faced Kwon Taehan.

And in the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» meantime, there were events that definitely happened.

The clearest one was that Song Hwayoung would die.

I’d known that from the start, and I never planned to change it. I didn’t want to create a major change I couldn’t handle.

‘Well... even if I intervene, it probably wouldn’t do much anyway.’

The fact my body suddenly merged with a beast at this point, too—major flows that had to happen seemed like they would happen no matter what.

Joo Seowon was quiet for a moment, then asked carefully,

-That thing about Guild Master Song Hwayoung dying....

“She won’t die this time.”

-.......

Was he worrying about that, too? Even if it wasn’t this time, she’d die eventually anyway.

“But next time, she might.”

-You said she definitely dies.

“Yeah.”

If he wanted that kind of certainty, fine. I answered simply and slowly thought about what came next.

Either way, Song Hwayoung would get injured in this dungeon incident. Not something you could fix with a potion or basic wound treatment—something a bit more serious.

‘It had something to do with mana control.’

Even in the original story, it was only mentioned in passing and never properly covered, so nothing more came to mind.

-So... are you coming right now?

Joo Seowon asked like he wasn’t trying to care.

“No. I think I’m sleeping one night first.”

-Because you’re tired?

“If I doze off at the wheel, it’ll be a mess.”

I answered like a joke, and silence came from the other end.

“Did you miss me?”

-I....

This time, I expected an annoyed answer again, but Joo Seowon was unusually honest.

-...Of course I missed you, you fucking bastard.

The answer that came back with an insult was more honest than I expected, and I let out a short laugh without meaning to.

“Why do you have to swear.”

-.......

“Wait for me. I’ll be there soon.”

With that, I ended the call.

‘Weird.’

His reaction was completely different from two weeks ago. Was it the aftereffects of losing contact?

Anyway, I still had a lot left to deal with.

And the first thing I had to do was already decided.

“Yehyun.”

“.......”

“Sleep well?”

I smiled faintly as I asked the still-silent Do Yehyun.