Chapter 10
Suyeon had something more important to think about than the Elf Kingdom where her body had been born.
Seonghyeon had rested for only a little while—about an hour—before getting back up.
“Come on, let’s get up now.”
“No… Let’s rest a little longer.”
“We’ve rested enough.”
Suyeon’s legs hurt so much she could hardly follow Seonghyeon.
Even though the floor was made of stone, it was nearly a ruin, and every time a protruding bit of stone pressed into her soles, it jarred her knees.
Besides, the laws of this world were expressed in numbers.
According to their status windows, Seonghyeon had 8 Stamina and Suyeon had 3.
The difference between them wasn’t merely less than half; it was like the difference between an athlete and someone who’d never exercised at all.
“You can get up, right?”
“Ugh… My legs hurt.”
“You’ll be fine. You have to build up your stamina like this.”
“Does doing this really build stamina? More importantly, the first floor is pointlessly huge.”
“Still, if we’re going to get down to the lower levels, you need to start building up your stamina now.”
“Then couldn’t I just level up and put points into Stamina?”
“You’re a Sorcerer, so you have to put points into Mental Fortitude first. And with your stats, exercising will build up your Stamina on its own.”
…”
Suyeon stopped arguing with Seonghyeon’s stubbornness.
She knew her own situation, and she could tell Seonghyeon was treating her pretty well.
If the two of them really had been master and slave instead of friends… she might have been made to endure things she didn’t even want to imagine.
“Are you tired?”
“No, I’m fine. I’ll walk.”
“Try walking a little farther. If you really can’t, I’ll cast a healing spell on you then.”
“You should save that for when I get hurt.”
“No, that’s what it’s for. I’m level 8, so I have four spell slots. That’s plenty.”
“Ugh…”
Suyeon wasn’t feeling great, but she could still walk, so she followed Seonghyeon.
If Seonghyeon had walked at his own pace, Suyeon might have collapsed trying to keep up, but he was matching her stride.
After taking about three short breaks, the two of them reached the passage leading down to the second floor.
Yesterday, they’d made it through that distance twice by pushing themselves to the limit, but this time Suyeon had taken plenty of breaks to conserve her stamina.
Seonghyeon hadn’t pushed her to her limits, either.
Anyway, this was the passage leading down to the second floor.
There were still plenty of adventurers gathered here, chatting with one another.
When Suyeon saw the crowd, she got scared and pulled both arms up over her head, hunching to block her view on either side.
“It’s okay. You don’t know anyone here.”
“I-I know, so let’s go down already.”
“Are you still scared of people?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re not going to eat you. Besides, I’m your master, aren’t I?”
“Master? Oh, right. Want me to treat you like one, Master?”
“Sure. Let’s hear you say it.”
“Master~”
“Ugh.”
“See? You’re going to gag like that.”
Suyeon narrowed her eyes at Seonghyeon, who had scrunched up his face in an exaggerated grimace.
But Seonghyeon… only felt his heart give a thump.
That tiny creature (22, childhood friend, elf) was dangerous to his heart.
The only thing that kept Seonghyeon grounded was knowing there used to be a man inside her.
“Hah… Yeah, it’s disgusting. Don’t do that again.”
Seonghyeon said something he didn’t mean.
“Mmm…”
“What is it? Again?”
“It’s so dark down there…”
“Yeah, that’s where we’re going.”
Suyeon was pointing at the stairs leading down to the second floor.
If the first floor was inside a crumbling temple, the second floor had the gloomy atmosphere of its basement.
With 4 Mental Fortitude, she should have the mental fortitude of a young child, but maybe her PTSD was still so severe that [Denial of Reality] hadn’t gone away.
Seonghyeon made a silly face, raised both hands above his head, and waved them around to tease Suyeon.
“There, there, it’s not scary. No ghosts are going to pop out of the dark going ‘Boo!’~”
“…Seonghyeon.”
“What?”
“I’m not scared of ghosts.”
“Then what?”
“People are scary.”
“……”
Seonghyeon couldn’t help but agree with Suyeon.
Anyway, the stairs leading down to the second floor were incredibly dark.
A thick darkness shrouded the stairs in the Labyrinth, and fixed torches couldn’t light it.
That darkness wouldn’t lift unless a high-ranking mage used level-five-or-higher light magic, or a tremendous flame like a dragon’s fire.
“Don’t worry. I’m a Cleric. I’m totally overpowered.”
“Must be nice being overpowered.”
“I’m saying I can protect at least one person like you. And there doesn’t seem to be anyone particularly strong around here.”
“They could be hiding.”
“I haven’t made that many enemies, okay? I’m popular.”
“…Must be nice.”
As Suyeon said that, an adventurer passed nearby, and she grabbed Seonghyeon around the waist without even realizing it.
Since Suyeon’s shoulder was level with Seonghyeon’s waist, she’d instinctively grabbed him there.
The moment Suyeon realized what she’d done, her face turned bright red and she let go at once.
Seonghyeon didn’t point it out, either.
“If you’re scared, stick close like you are now. Or hold my hand.”
“…I’d rather hold your hand.”
“All right. We’re going down the stairs now.”
“If I hold on to you, will I be able to see in the dark?”
“There’s nothing in the darkness on the stairs from the first floor. At most, there might be a rock sticking out.”
“…What about those eyes?”
“Eyes of Light? I can see if I use that. Only I can, though.”
“That’s useless.”
“Anyway, trust me. There really is nothing here.”
“Okay…”
Suyeon held Seonghyeon’s hand tightly.
Seonghyeon could tell just how tightly Suyeon was gripping him.
And how weak her grip was, even when she squeezed as hard as she could.
How much smaller his friend’s hand had become.
Seonghyeon stepped down onto the first stair.
Suyeon followed, holding his hand.
“The second floor of the Labyrinth.
The starting point of this dungeon, which was truly called the Labyrinth from here on.
And the first passage through the Veil of Darkness, considered a rite of passage for adventurers.
Kim Suyeon was now standing at the starting point of her life as an adventurer.”
“Why are you narrating like that?”
“So you won’t get nervous.”
“Nervous… I’m not nervous.”
“You’re shaking.”
“I’m not shaking!”
“All right, all right. There, there, our baby~”
“Shit… I’m really letting go, okay?”
“Yeah~ Don’t~ Then I’ll grab your leash. Absolutely no letting go.”
“Why would you grab that? It hurts my neck when you pull it.”
“Anyway, no letting go.”
“Geez.”
As they joked around, Seonghyeon had already reached the middle of the stairs and felt the level floor beneath his feet.
Back when he was level 7 and had first learned a level-three spell, he’d been curious and used Eyes of Light to pass through here.
But there really had been nothing here except a staircase.
“This is the landing. It’s not a stair, so don’t go twisting your ankle for no reason.”
“Okay. Whoa—!”
As soon as Seonghyeon said that, Suyeon stumbled and nearly fell over.
With quick reflexes, Seonghyeon yanked Suyeon’s hand and pulled her upright.
“Hey, shit! I told you!”
“What am I supposed to do when my body won’t move like my own?”
“You should exercise.”
“I do exercise…! I just haven’t lately. I’ve probably lost a ton of muscle.”
“It’s not muscle loss. You never had any muscle to begin with.”
“I’m telling you, I do! What am I supposed to do about having a different body?”
“Watch your step. The stairs go down again here.”
Seonghyeon could tell by feel.
Thirteen steps. An adventurer had to memorize their stride and the distance across the landing between the stairways.
There was the practical reason that a fall would break your nose, but also the rumor that if you lost your sense of distance in this Veil, you’d be trapped in the stairs forever.
Strangely, every Labyrinth shared the same kind of stairs.
At least, that was true as far down as the middle levels Seonghyeon knew.
That was why Seonghyeon didn’t match his stride to Suyeon’s on these stairs.
That was also why he held her hand even tighter.
“Aren’t you going a little fast?”
“No, I’m measuring the distance.”
“Can’t you use that Eyes of Light thing?”
“I don’t want to waste a level-three spell.”
“Oh… You said it was an expensive spell.”
As they neared the bottom of the stairs, the darkness ahead gradually began to lift.
By the time they reached the bottom, the darkness shrouding the stairs had disappeared completely.
Only then did Suyeon let out the breath she’d been holding.
“Hah… Haa…”
“You were nervous.”
“Why? No, I wasn’t. I’m not scared.”
The back of Suyeon’s clothes, as she stubbornly insisted she wasn’t scared, had almost no white fabric left.
Nearly every part of it that touched her skin had turned transparent with sweat.
For an instant, Seonghyeon wanted to smack her on the back, but he restrained himself.
It looked like it would hurt a lot if he actually did.
“I’m glad you’re not scared.”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Now this is the real second floor.”
“Wait… It’s so dark here.”
“There should be spots where light seeps in through the ceiling. Of the floors I’ve been to, the third floor is the darkest. Undead even show up there.”
“Undead?”
“Yeah, ghouls and skeletons and stuff. For the record, they don’t show up here.”
“Uh-huh… It’s a game.”
“You’ll be surprised when you see them for real.”
“Are they really scary?”
“Yeah, yeah. Scary as fuck.”
Seonghyeon made another silly face like before and tried to tease Suyeon by pretending to be undead.
But Suyeon merely let out a little sigh, looking fed up.
“Yesterday you were acting all cool. Why are you so desperate to be funny today?”
“It’s all for you.”
“……”
Suyeon was dumbfounded.
Although Seonghyeon looked similar to how he had in their previous world, his face seemed much more striking now.
She’d thought his features had become more defined, but apparently his Charm stat itself was just higher.
And he did something like that with a face like his.
Wasn’t that a waste of a face?
That said, Suyeon had never thought—and didn’t want to think—anything like, 'She'd felt a girl's heart, fallen in love with that guy, and gotten rose-colored glasses.'
“…Bullshit.”
“You’re taking longer and longer to say that.”
“Quit the bullshit and get moving. Let’s level up.”
“Yeah, we need to level up. Let’s go, slave!”
“Yeah, yeah, Master.”