“Snap-!”
“Ugh…!”
I lightly tapped the woman with my palm on her forehead, as her eyes seemed to lose focus, and spoke again.
“Hmm… Well, at least Hyun Woo-seok isn’t exactly a total dimwit, so he probably won’t blame you for what happened inside the dungeon. After all, Ah-rin had something quite frustrating happen with Heo Min-sol, right?”
“……”
“You guys tried to stop Heo Min-sol from facing criminal charges. But even so, you couldn’t prevent her from going to jail because of some unknown power… I bet that was the hardest pill for Hyun Woo-seok to swallow. Am I right? A guy who believes in the strong overpowering the weak must be super frustrated when he can’t do anything.”
The woman still frowned, but as she listened to me, she seemed to be calming down.
“If Hyun Woo-seok has that kind of background, then it must’ve been the first time he felt helpless against such unknown power… That’s a dirty feeling that won’t easily go away. I can understand why he might fixate on us a bit. It’s just that his methods are way too clumsy.”
I continued to infer based on the information swirling around in my head about Hyun Woo-seok.
“Meon-young’s grandmother probably used her influence; it wouldn’t take a genius to figure that out. He’s angry, but can’t do anything right now. Maybe he wanted to ask Meon-young to hit us using her grandmother, but since their relationship is deep, a Transcendent could step in, so he decided to observe for now?”
But they couldn’t keep someone like that watching us, so they attached this rookie instead.
“……”
*Sigh… This is a tiresome situation.*
Why not just have a straightforward fight?
“Ultimately, is he targeting the person who made the request, and Meon-young who agreed to it? And Meon-young’s grandmother too… is that the end goal? Hmm… I don’t mind that, but how does Hyun Woo-seok think he can deal with the one from the “Reflux”? Seriously?”
The woman still didn’t answer my question and had been staring at my face for who knows how long.
“Lost your mind, huh? Someone who even Hyeon Joong-gil struggles to deal with… I can give him credit for confidence, but it’s obvious he’s gone mad ever since he got mixed up with Heo Min-sol.”
“……”
I felt like I wasted time on something trivial, leaving me feeling deflated. However, it wasn’t something to completely ignore, so I’d have to share it with my companions tomorrow.
“Anyway, I’ve gotten all the information I need, so just die already.”
“W-What! You said you’d let me live!!”
“… Yeah, just kidding.”
“Ugh…!”
Finding her reaction pretty amusing, I asked for her name so I wouldn’t forget.
“W-Why do you want my name…?”
“Just want to remember it?”
“……?!”
After a moment of hesitation, the woman quietly whispered, “Mi-yeon.”
“Mi-yeon… Got it. You act faithfully as per your pact. I’ll be watching you.”
“… Okay…”
While Mi-yeon was recovering from her status ailment, I lightly treated her with Irmana’s water and a potion.
“Ugh…”
She had burn marks and signs of beating all over, but it seemed more important to her not to reveal her vulnerable self to me than the pain.
“D-Don’t look at me…”
“I’m not looking. Even if you tell me to, I wouldn’t.”
“……”
I could imagine what a weird situation it is, being beaten up and then treated.
‘Being treated well after a hundred bad things sticks in your memory.’
If I wasn’t planning to kill her, I had no need to harbor any ill feelings.
As injuries healed, Mi-yeon appeared to show no outward issues anymore.
She seemed quite surprised at the effect of the water that was poured all over her.
If this potion combined with Irmana’s water had such a synergy effect, then it had to be pretty expensive.
It’s no wonder she looked up at me with a confused expression, wondering if I really used an expensive potion on her.
‘Hmm… Should I get some insurance here?’
I gazed into Mi-yeon’s wide-open eyes and said,
“If Hyun Woo-seok is truly planning something against Meon-young’s grandmother, he won’t be able to act immediately. But he’ll definitely show some movement soon. So, keep watching and bring back any information. Anything.”
Mi-yeon frowned, hearing my words.
“Don’t expect too much. Something just feels different from usual. Even just the degree would be nice.”
“Well, if that’s the case…”
She might be lying to escape this situation.
But looking into Mi-yeon’s eyes as she gazed at me, I felt reassured that she wouldn’t be fabricating anything.
I brought my face closer to Mi-yeon’s neck.
“Hyah…! W-What are you trying to do-”
I paused my face near her neck and whispered.
“If you do well with what I’m instructing you to do, I might think about rewarding you someday.”
“A reward? What kind of reward…?”
Her eyes began to shake nervously, genuinely curious about what I meant by a reward.
“Well, that’s up to you to find out.”
“Ugh…”
I locked eyes with her from a distance of about a foot.
“H-huh—”
She opened her mouth slightly, letting out a shallow exclamation.
– [Mimicry] activated, greatly increasing charm.
I had definitely received such rewards when I entered the Dark Space while being connected to Yeon-hee.
I wondered if the unusual look in Mi-yeon’s eyes toward me, which changed midway through her deduction, was because of that.
“Haah… Haah…”
As the eye contact lingered, the tension melted away as her upper body swayed, almost to the point of collapsing.
I remember hearing somewhere that the status affliction [Charmed] shouldn’t be overdone.
What I was doing now was probably the same.
“Alright, you can go now.”
“Huh? What?”
“I said go. Work ends today and you’ll do as I said starting tomorrow.”
“Oh… Okay…”
I nodded while looking at her, then gestured for her to leave.
“……”
As Mi-yeon left the church, she frequently looked back, and seeing her somewhat regretful expression made me feel like my intentions had hit their mark.
‘Didn’t expect to confirm my ability.’
I thought I’d use the fact that [Mimicry] increases charm on Yeon-su someday, but it worked earlier than I thought.
Once I returned home, I lay down next to Yeon-hee, who was still lost in dreamland.
*Flutter-*
With the remaining short time of [Mimicry], I lightly embraced her, inhaling her unique sweet scent as I spent the time.
‘She’s seriously a funny girl.’
I thought how nice it would be if all the enemies I faced were just like her.
I indulged in that ridiculous fantasy for a bit.
– [Mimicry] has been released…
‘That was short. Too short.’
Before I knew it, I had returned to my original form and went straight up to the roof to train until the sun came up the next day.
The next day.
We heard the news that Bae Joo-ah and Heo Min-sol would be taking the promotion exam.
There was a worry that the exam might be delayed due to the emergence of the Great Beast, but it seemed it’d proceed normally, with little to no damage.
And we didn’t plan on entering the dungeon that day.
“Ughhh… Il-wol, my head hurts. Please, touch it.”
*Clap, Clap, Clap!*
Yeon-hee, who had passed out immediately the day before, didn’t seem to be doing too well in the morning either.
I gently massaged Yeon-hee’s head, suggesting she check how Ah-rin was doing.
“Hahh… Ah! Aahhh…! J-Just a little gentler… Yeah… Ah-rin is hurting too.”
As expected, Baek Ah-rin wasn’t in great shape either.
Having endured a full day of the Great Beast’s energy, it must have been more painful than any dungeon.
Thanks to my massage, Yeon-hee gradually began to recover her condition.
Once she was able to move around a bit, we began preparing to move into the house we bought with the help of Kang Yeon-su.
‘Not much to prepare, really.’
I simply put in the essentials in the space and flew to the new place to unpack and arrange everything.
The inside of the house was already perfectly cleaned.
“Wow! This looks way better than when I came last time! The garden is spacious, right, Wang-wang?”
“Wang-wang-!!”
Now bigger than most large dogs, Wang-wang seemed excited about the new spacious house, running around everywhere. The summons other than the Sword Dragon, which was too big to call, all adapted to this new home.
“Churro!”
“Krrr?”
The Lizard Squad and Orc Squad also had satisfied expressions, so it seemed they were really happy that they could finally engage in small-scale training.
And then Yeon-hee reminded us of something we had forgotten for a bit.
“The Dotti Squad can finally merge now.”
*Clap, Clap, Clap!!*
Considering the mighty version of the Lizard Squad, I expected a lot from the combat power of the Orc Squad.
“Dottis! Gather here~!”
The Orcs moved in perfect unison to Yeon-hee’s command.
The serious expressions on their faces suggested they were already prepared to merge.
Yeon-hee closed her eyes, extending her hand and quietly whispered the spell.
Light began to gather around Dotti 1, merging together.
“Graaaah…!”
Since Yeon-hee had done it a few times now, the merging time for the summons was quick.
An Orc, now as big as the merged Lizard 1, slowly formed before my eyes.
‘Is it about 10cm shorter than Lizard 1? But the aura I feel is far stronger. Why’s that?’
Is it because the essence of an Orc is superior to that of a Lizardman?
‘That can’t be it… The combat power of a grown Lizardman was comparable to Orcs.’
But the doubt didn’t last long.
It was because the Dotti 1 that had grown in size was holding a weapon of a form I had never seen before.
That must have been the factor.
“What… what’s that in its hand?”
“Krr?!”
Dotti 1 also seemed shocked as it looked at the weapon in its hand.
Each end of the long pole had something different attached to it.
‘One side looks like an axe, embedded with a gem in a unique shape at the center. On the other side, it seems like just the sharp end of a spear. It’s an enormous and thick spear tip.’
Both are for physical fighting, but the appearances are definitely out of the ordinary.
“Kurrrk…?”
“Dotti, don’t just use your abilities wherever! We haven’t even moved in yet.”
“Chwiik…”
Dotti, who was about to take a swing with the weapon, quickly withdrew its strength.
But then it stared intently at the opposite side of the axe blade, suddenly began uttering some unknown spell.
“Wow! Dotti can cast spells?!”
‘Is it because it’s merged with the Orc sorcerer…?’
The thing at the tip of Dotti’s weapon began swirling little by little, rapidly gaining momentum and eventually forming a small tornado, soaring high into the sky.
KAAAAAAAH──!
“Ahhh- Sand, puuh- puuh- Stop that!”
“Krr?!”
As soon as Dotti began to activate its magic, it had to go back to the order of Yeon-hee once more.
‘Whoa… That magic might be useful, huh?’
It seemed like Dotti was trying to cast a sandstorm, which would be great for attacking or irritating a mass of enemies.
‘Looks like a shapeshifting… a skill with endless possibilities.’
If Yeon-hee grows even more and can merge other summons too…
‘I wonder if I can merge with the Sword Dragon?’
Having seen Jo Gi-man transform into a dragon, I suddenly wondered about that.
“Well… It seems tough for now. But I’ll give it a shot!! But I like you just the way you are, Il-wol.”
*Clap, Clap, Clap.*
“But if we mix in a weird way… that could be a bit of a problem.”
*Clap…*
‘Just like that tooth guy? I’d hate that too.’
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