S-Class Except Me

“Suddenly the ground shook and the sky collapsed! I thought I was going to die like this…!”

“It’s okay, Noona. I’m here now.” 

“Sehyun-ah!” 

Haeun let out a sigh of relief while holding Jung Sehyun by the neck. She doesn’t know what it is, but she thinks it went well.

Then Haeun, who had been acting like a scared civilian for a long time, carefully let go of her arm and pretended not to know anything.

“Sehyun, do you know where this is?”

“It is a systematic space separate from the dungeon. Should I say that it is a place composed solely for providing reward?”

“Is it safe then?”

“Ung, as long as you get out without getting hurt. After all, it’s not a dungeon.”

Haeun, who still suspected that the constellation might lie again, finally feels relieved. 

[The constellation ‘Mutant in the Abyss’ complains that he doesn’t have that much credibility] 

“For a separate reward collection stage to exist, it would have been at least an S-Class dungeon reward. Earlier, researcher Kim Hyunseok was touching a lot of things. I think he touched something.” 

In fact, the person who touched it was Haeun, but Haeun pretended to be innocent.

“Then did he get swept away?”

“I don’t know about that.”

Jung Sehyun looked around and reached out to Haeun.

“Let’s move first. Seeing that Noona is here, I don’t know if Ahyeon’s guild leader is somewhere.” 

“Ung!” 

[The constellation ‘Mutant in the Abyss’ can’t help but feel sorry for Haeun’s freedom, which ended in a midsummer night’s dream.]

[He asks Haeun if it is regrettable that it ends like this.]

Haeun wrinkled her nose.

It is a lie to say that it is not regrettable. But since she met Jung Sehyun, she should have stopped quickly. It wasn’t the time yet.

“Oh, Haeun! Hunter Jung Sehyun!” 

Fortunately, they ran into Kim Hyunseok not long after moving. He must have had a hard time because his face quickly turned half-hearted.

“Huh. I thought I would fall alone and die, Haeun-ah.”

“Huh, Mister, your clothes….” 

Kim Hyunseok’s clothes were messy. Looking closer, it was packed with all sorts of items, from small magic bombs to disposable shields. 

She doesn’t know where it came from, but judging by the clothes, that side looks like a Hunter, while Haeun and Jung Sehyun look more like ordinary people.

What was surprising was that Hyunseok was actually an awakening person. 

‘I didn’t know at all.’

His energy was blurry, so she didn’t notice it.

“There is no specific skill that can be used in a dungeon. Research is more suitable for me.”

It seems so.

“How worried I was when I thought I had touched something wrong. Haeun-ah, are you not hurt anywhere?”

“Yes, I ran into Sehyun right away, so I was safe.”

“That’s a relief. What about Dojoon? Weren’t you together?”

Haeun shook her head. Kim Hyunseok’s face turned dark.

“Yeah… Anyway, let’s get out of here. Isn’t it because I was thoroughly prepared and had an item to find the way?” 

As Kim Hyunseok said, a blue compass needle was floating in front of him. The needle of the compass pointed to a passage that stretched ahead of him.

“All you have to do is follow along like this!”

[The constellation ‘Mutant in the Abyss’ says it’s an item that Haeun needs because she’s bad at the direction.]

Haeun raised her eyebrows at the message from the constellation, which somehow seemed sincere.

‘I’m not bad at the direction.’

[The constellation ‘Mutant in the Abyss’ says that people who are bad at the direction don’t know if they are bad.] 

‘Noisy.’

Anyway, if Kim Hyunseok was here, Seo Dojoon was also likely to be somewhere in this space. Haeun and her party decided to move in the direction the item pointed to for now.

Jung Jinho sometimes told Haeun a story about the item and told her that high-grade items occasionally test users.

However, the space where Haeun and her party fell now was ambiguous to call it a test. Just like the space where Haeun first went round and round, the path where nothing came out continued. 

‘What kind of test is this… Oh, is it a test of endurance?’

Haeun, who was walking with a mind free of thoughts, didn’t notice that she was getting ahead of everyone else.

Click.

…Click?

She heard the sound of something cutting through the wind all of a sudden.

“Huh.” 

Haeun instinctively leaned back. A sharp arrow made of metal grazed right in front of Haeun’s nose. Missing arrows stuck right into the wall.

Haeun widened her eyes. Traps were installed on the walls.

The spot where the arrow passed was exactly where Haeun’s head had been. It would have pierced her head straight through if she hadn’t dodged it. She had goosebumps running down her back as she imagined it.

“Noona! Are you okay!?”

Before she could tell Jung Sehyun that she was fine, another arrow flew at Haeun.

Shing—! Shing!

A sharp metal arrow flew toward Haeun. The first is on the right, the second is on the left. Haeun’s left hand touched the floor. Her flexed body spun like a spring and spun backwards.

Paak—! 

An arrow pierced the spot where Haeun had been. Haeun, who had returned to the safe zone as if rolling over, gasped for her breath. 

“I thought I was going to die!”

“Noona!” 

“Haeun-ah, are you okay?” 

Haeun nodded her head. Kim Hyunseok was startled and checked Haeun.

“How did you avoid it?”

“Oh… I did some gymnastics in the past.” 

“No wonder you looked flexible!”

It is true that she did gymnastics, but it would have been difficult to avoid it completely without physical ability as an awakener. Haeun shamelessly glared at the hallway. 

The compass pointed beyond this road. This means that she must pass the path where the arrow flies just now to go outside.  

If she makes a mistake, she will turn into a hedgehog immediately. She has to bend down as much as possible and reduce her exposure to escape the flying arrows.

‘I think I can do it if I concentrate.’ 

[The constellation ‘Mutant in the Abyss’ complains that only Haeun can do it.]

As the constellation said, Jung Sehyun responded that it was difficult. 

“My ability doesn’t work unless it’s a living being.”

Jung Sehyun’s abilities were brainwashing and hallucinations, so they were useless here. Maybe he can give them the illusion that they are not hurt even though they were hit by an arrow.

Kim Hyunseok suggested it.

“Should I throw a magic bomb?”

“What if the wall collapses?”

Haeun, who already has a track record, was worried.

It was then.

Pat—.

The candle hanging on the wall went out at once. Haeun suddenly raised her head. Black shadows swayed along the walls and ceiling and were dragged to the other side. It looks like a shadow, but it’s actually magic. 

“Dojoon-ah”

Kim Hyunseok, who realized who his opponent was, shouted happily and waved. 

Seo Dojoon was standing across the hallway where the traps were set. 

The black magic that looked like a thread shook bleakly, creating a shadow. It was a move reminiscent of a wave.

The shimmering magic power quickly engulfed the passage along the wall.

“Let’s go!”

Kim Hyunseok ran first. Jung Sehyun followed and grabbed Haeun’s hand. Haeun closed her eyes tightly as she moved to the area where the arrows were pouring.  

But the aisles were quiet, and no arrows rained down.

“Huh. Ugh.”

“Are you okay?”

At the same time as the whole party came over, Seo Dojoon release his magic. Then, the metal arrows, which had been stopped by the black membrane and couldn’t pour out, burst out all at once.

Shoot, shoot—! 

The ground turned into an arrow field. Haeun ran her hands over the goosebumps on her arms. 

“Dojoon-ah! Whoa. I thought I was going to die!”

“Are you okay? Are you okay, Haeun-ssi?”

Haeun nodded her head. She couldn’t thank Seo Dojoon enough for appearing at the right time.

“It doesn’t look like everyone is hurt.”

Finally, all those who fell into this place in the item gathered. Jung Sehyun approached Seo Dojoon.

“Do you know anything about this place, Ahyeon Guild Leader?”

“This is the reward stage of the S-class dungeon <90th Night>. The statue, which was Dungeon’s reward item, was the entry medium.”

“Did the guild leader open it on purpose?”

No, no, no, no.

Haeun hurriedly made an X with her arms toward Seo Dojoon. It was not Haeun’s fault for entering the reward stage, but it was also true that it reacted when Haeun touched it. 

Haeun really didn’t want to let a situation happen in which her awakening could be questioned. 

‘Secret! Absolute secret! Please…!’

There is yet hope for the return of Seo Dojoon’s flexibility even though he is now extinct on Earth.

Seo Dojoon’s mouth opened slowly, whether he knew Haeun’s earnest feelings or not.

“Actually…” 

“What? But the result came out that it was a useless statue?”

However, at that moment, Kim Hyunseok shouted and Seo Dojoon’s words were buried. Nice, Kim Hyunseok. Haeun clenched her fists. 

Kim Hyunseok refuted this with a vein around his neck.

“I even conducted an audit myself! Am I wrong? It’s ridiculous that the research results came out wrong! If we get out of here, we’ll have to re-examine it right away! Dojoon-ah, where is the statue?”

“I don’t have it. Haeun, do you have it?”

“No!” 

Haeun waved her hands in surprise. Even the stone statue was broken. Instead, a snake came out of it.

‘Huh?’

Haeun groped her body. The snake wasn’t there.

It was clinging to Haeun until the moment she fell! She couldn’t even guess where it had dropped or if it had run away on its own.

“Noona, what are you looking for?”

While Haeun was groping her body to find the snake, Jung Sehyun asked a question.