Journey

I stared blankly at the post Refrigerator had put up in the Mage Gallery.

[Title: Wouldn't you like to visit the institute this week?]

The contents of the post were extremely simple.

He said he'd be attending an overseas academic conference soon and would be away for a month.

So if I didn't meet him now, it would be hard to see him for a while.

"Hmm... What should I do?"

I fell into a brief dilemma.

I had definitely said I'd visit someday.

But I hadn't expected it to come so quickly.

Meeting another mage.

To be honest, I wasn't keen on it.

But it was also true that I was curious.

Especially about Gerard, the court mage I'd met on the 32nd floor.

The way he controlled his mana gave me a fresh shock.

"He definitely said he was an elite from a government-run research institute...."

And the purpose of this meeting was item restoration.

If he succeeded, he had promised to give me any item I wanted.

I felt there was nothing to lose by meeting him.

I left a short comment.

***

"Keep an eye on the house, okay? Don’t open the door carelessly. Especially if the guy next door comes over, just ignore him."

After warning Chohogi several times before leaving the house.

Chohogi’s bright smile and the way he kept waving both arms at me somehow made me uneasy, but there shouldn't be any big problems.

I still had ten spare lives, after all....

After moving to a place where no one would notice me.

I summoned my ride.

"Sandworm?"

At my call, the ring wrapped around my finger slipped off and fell to the ground.

In an instant, the worm swelled into a gigantic body and opened its mouth before me.

I stepped inside it as if I were used to it.

[The Sandworm grumbles that it seems to have been overworking itself too much lately.]

Sandworm's voice echoed in my head.

It was weaker than usual.

"No, you spent twenty-four hours glued to my body charging mana, so what are you talking about?"

[The Sandworm insists that your mana is only the bare minimum upkeep cost, and it’s still not enough.]

"You've been eating snacks too."

[The Sandworm insists that it can't live on snacks alone.]

[The Sandworm adds that you need to offer more tribute. For example, spirit essence....]

"Okay, okay. But what am I supposed to do if I can't even find any? Let's head to Seoul first."

[The Sandworm strongly insists that it should be granted paid leave for a while.]

"Just bear with it this once."

Sandworm's body trembled slightly.

A signal that it was setting off.

In any case, our destination was Seoul.

I let out a small sigh.

"Why is everything like this in Seoul?"

The government should save the provinces...!

I complained inwardly and ordered it to move.

Sandworm's body began moving smoothly.

The familiar sensation of speeding through the ground enveloped my whole body.

How much time had passed?

Sitting still in the darkness was starting to get boring.

"Let me see outside."

From inside Sandworm's body, a thick tentacle extended.

I slipped one arm into that tentacle.

A portion of Sandworm's senses connected to my nerves.

Soon, a new view opened before my eyes.

Though the static was severe, and it was only black and white.

I could make out the rough shape.

The scenery outside flashed by at tremendous speed.

It felt like looking out the window of a train.

"Oh... that's amazing."

As I admired the scenery and let out an exclamation, all of a sudden,

the entire ground was ripped away.

Kugugugugung-!

With a tremendous jolt, Sandworm and I were lifted into the air.

A mound of earth shot into the sky, defying gravity.

The world spun around and around.

"W-What the hell!"

Nausea churned in my stomach.

"Damn it, I can't deal with this properly from inside here...!"

I immediately slipped out of Sandworm's body.

My view cleared.

And I saw the scene spread out before me.

A man was standing in midair.

A man in combat stance.

"Still alive? Tough bastard."

It was S-rank Hunter Kim Sooho.

Kim Sooho seemed to think there was no one else around.

Posing dramatically, he spoke in a deep voice.

"Then let's see if you can take this too. Wind Style, Rasen..."

Just then, our eyes met.

"......"

"......"

A silence so still it felt like time had stopped.

The solemn look on Kim Sooho's face collapsed in an instant.

I could clearly see panic flooding his eyes.

Kim Sooho froze stiffly for a moment, then turned around and bolted at full speed.

Speed worthy of an S-rank Hunter, so fast it was hard even to track with my eyes.

Watching his back shrink into a dot in an instant, I shouted without thinking.

"Where are you going!"

At my shout, Kim Sooho came to a dead stop in midair.

He hesitated for a moment, then slowly turned his head.

"Ah, hi?"

***

"......"

An excruciatingly awkward silence dragged on.

Kim Sooho and I didn't say a word to each other.

I brushed off my clothes, which had been ruined by the impact,

and Kim Sooho coughed awkwardly, trying hard to look elsewhere.

The tips of his ears were still red.

A little later, it was Kim Sooho who finally broke the silence.

"Um... are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

My brief reply brought another silence.

Kim Sooho scratched his head, looking like he was desperately searching for something to talk about.

In any case, it was obvious he had absolutely no intention of talking about what had just happened.

He seemed to have finally found a decent question.

Kim Sooho awkwardly opened his mouth.

"What were you doing underground? Were you on your way somewhere?"

"Ah, yes. To Seoul. I was going to meet Refrigerator...."

"Ah.... You did say something like that in the gallery...."

Kim Sooho nodded.

His gaze shifted to my finger.

Sandworm, which had just been a giant sand worm a moment ago, was already back in ring form and neatly wrapped around my finger.

"But last time, did you move underground like this too? There wasn't any warning then."

"No. This is a Rainbow-grade summon creature I got recently.... It's pretty capable."

[The Sandworm insists that it deserves even more praise.]

At my words, Kim Sooho's eyes widened slightly.

Even to him, an S-rank Hunter, Rainbow-grade skills seemed to be an interesting subject.

He stared at the ring wrapped around my finger with fascination.

"You rode this all the way from Daejeon? That's impressive...."

I shrugged.

Come to think of it, there was something I was curious about.

"How did you know I was here, Mr. Sooho?"

At my question, Kim Sooho burst out laughing.

"Mr. Sooho?"

Kim Sooho seemed to find my way of addressing him hilarious.

It must have sounded awkward for someone with a child’s face to address him so politely with "-ssi" like an adult.

"What kind of kid calls someone '-ssi'? Honestly, just call me oppa."

In an instant, goosebumps ran all over me.

"Fuck, oppa?"

Was there even another word in the world with such a horrifying ring to it?

Just imagining that word coming out of my mouth made me feel like I might gag.

I could never say it, even if I died.

I shook my head firmly.

"No."

"R-Really?"

I thought for a moment, then offered another option.

"I'll just call you mister."

"M-Mister...."

Kim Sooho repeated it with a shocked expression.

Come to think of it, I'd probably be shocked too if someone called me mister at that age.

But I couldn't help it.

"The word oppa just doesn't come naturally to me. It's too awkward, I can't say it. I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"...."

Kim Sooho was silent for a while.

He seemed to be recovering from the successive mental blows.

"...Just call me whatever you want. Anything but mister."

I nodded.

In any case, I'd avoided the dreadful word oppa.

Kim Sooho cleared his throat again and returned to the original topic.

He began explaining how he'd found me.

"You asked how I knew exactly where you were, right? That's because a detection system has been installed throughout the entire capital region."

"A detection system?"

"There was an incident in the past where monsters dug tunnels and came over from the North.... Ever since then, we've built it thoroughly for the capital's defense."

Kim Sooho's explanation continued.

It was a state-of-the-art defensive system built by intricately combining earthquake detection and magical engineering.

He said that if vibrations above a certain scale were detected underground, an emergency call would come to him.

After roughly pinpointing the location, he had easily found me through the clairvoyance skill he had as well.

"To be honest, I don't really know the detailed principles either. I just know it exists. Future made this one, too."

"Refrigerator did?"

"Yeah. That guy's always been a genius in that area."

"That's amazing...."

Kim Sooho gave me another serious warning.

"Anyway, be careful from now on. I'm glad I managed to control my strength this time, but what if I hadn't?"

As an S-rank Hunter, Kim Sooho knew the destructive power of his own strength all too well.

"If I had accidentally killed you... that would have been a truly terrible thing. You’re not trying to make me go through something like that, are you?"

I was silent for a moment.

To be honest, I didn't think I would have died.

My automatic barrier would have reacted first.

Even if the barrier had been broken, my body's durability now was much higher than that of most monsters.

If he wasn't going all out, maybe I wouldn't even have gotten a scratch.

However, I didn't say that out loud.

Instead, I slowly lowered my head.

"I'm sorry. I'll definitely be more careful from now on."

I'm not really a child.

I couldn't say something like that in the face of genuine concern.

I could fully understand why he’d worry like this.

But my obedient apology seemed to surprise Kim Sooho quite a bit.

He looked at me with his eyes wide for a moment.

He must have expected me to make excuses, or to brush it off like it was nothing, like a child would.

Soon, a playful smile appeared on Kim Sooho's face.

"Right, good. I'll let you off with just a forehead flick this time."

Kim Sooho raised a finger and pretended to flick my forehead.

I stood there without dodging.

Just as his finger was about to touch my forehead.

Thwack!

With a crisp sound, his finger was blocked by something.

Sand appeared right in front of my forehead and perfectly blocked his flick.

Kim Sooho narrowed his eyes.

A mischievous look crept into his brow.

"This little punk..."

He spoke in a low voice, pretending to be angry.

"Hey. Turn off the shield. Let me flick you once."

"Pfft.... It's off."

I couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.

Kim Sooho pointed his finger at my forehead again.

This time, he seemed to put a little more force into it.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Bonk!

This time, his finger landed exactly.

But I didn't feel the pain I'd expected at all.

Instead, Kim Sooho, the one who'd flicked me, was clutching his finger and making a pained expression.

"Ow, my hand hurts more. What kind of body is this?"

Kim Sooho shook his head.

His face was a mix of bewilderment and wonder.

I just shrugged.

"Good grief.... Heh-heh."

We looked at each other and snickered for a moment.

The awkward atmosphere from earlier was nowhere to be found.

Seeing him trying desperately to hold back laughter only made it funnier.

In the end, we couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing at the same time.

"Pwahaha!"

We laughed like that for a long while.

We were both so out of breath that tears gathered in the corners of our eyes.

I barely managed to stop laughing and panted for breath.

Kim Sooho also lowered the hand he'd had on his stomach and let out a long breath.

"Haah... seriously, I think I've used up all my laughter for today because of you."