089

"Poison stingers will start raining down soon. Let's get out of here as fast as we can."

I said to my party members, then glanced over at the Darkness Guild.

"…Damn it! We have to run!"

"I-I can't move! The poison's spreading, and I can't move my body! We still need more time for the antidote to take effect!"

"Then form a defensive formation, quickly!"

"T-There are too many of them…"

" Joo Tae-rin, you fucking bitch! We're all going to die because of you!"

"…Are you talking to me right now?"

"We're all gonna die anyway, so who cares what I say! This is all because you're so insecure about Cheonhwa!"

"I'll just kill you then─."

"Try it, bitch! We're all gonna die anyway, so go ahead and kill me!!!"

They started hurling insults at each other, blaming one another. But soon, they seemed to realize there was no other option. Even though they were grumbling, they began to form a defensive formation to try and survive.

I didn't feel any pity.

If we hadn't been prepared, we would be in their place right now.

"Jin Yuha."

Yoo-ri Lee grabbed my arm from the side.

"Yeah, Soup. Let's go."

Leaving them behind, we headed back to our original route through a shortcut I knew.

The return trip was smooth. It seemed like the Darkness Guild's party had lured away every monster in the area; not even a single ant was in sight.

"Let's dig here and gather the magic stones and thorns we missed earlier."

On the way back, we decided to collect the byproducts we hadn't been able to grab earlier.

"…Junior, the subspace is already full, so we can't carry any more."

"Hmm, really?"

We had increased our attack speed to draw the Darkness Guild in and only collected the essentials like byproducts and magic stones, but it seemed even that had filled the subspace.

'Sigh, I guess I need to expand the subspace soon. For now, should we just take the magic stones?'

As I was pondering this, Soup spoke up.

"I think we should take as much as we can."

Everyone's eyes turned to her.

"There are no monsters on the way back. It's rare to have such a safe situation. Unless it's unavoidable, we should take everything we can."

"Yeah, that's true. Black Hedgehog thorns are pretty useful."

I nodded in agreement with her. Choosing this thorny field had been partly for that reason.

It's not a particularly popular dungeon due to the projectile attacks from the monsters, but if we can collect all the thorns, they're quite valuable.

"Alright, let's gather as much as we can."

Following Soup's suggestion, we began to collect the thorns.

With my previous military experience, I was fairly adept at this. However, Kang Do-hee, who was unfamiliar with such manual labor, and Lim Ga-eul, who was exhausted from the earlier sprint, struggled.

Lee Yoo-ri glanced at me with a nod of approval, like a satisfied platoon leader. However, she seemed quite disappointed with Lim Ga-eul and Kang Do-hee.

Yoo-ri's eyebrows twitched.

"Kang Do-hee, Ga-eul senior… do you think being a porter is a joke?"

A low sigh escaped her lips.

"This is all the result of our efforts. Do you think just because it's a byproduct, it's trivial? Don't underestimate the byproducts."

Kang Do-hee clamped her mouth shut, feeling humiliated as she compared herself to Jin Yuha, who was outperforming her.

"These little things accumulate to create results. My younger sister would do better than this!"

'Well, of course, she would… she's a professional porter,' I thought, but seeing Lee Yoo-ri's stern expression, I wisely chose to keep my mouth shut.

"Sigh, everyone, come here."

Feeling frustrated after watching for a while, Lee Yoo-ri strode over to the corpse of a Black Hedgehog, as if to demonstrate how it's done.

She pulled out a few of the hedgehog's thorns, cleaned the poison off with a cloth, then started tying them together with a rope from the emergency kit.

Snap, snap─

It was like watching a specialist at work.

A short while later.

In front of Lee Yoo-ri stood four makeshift backpacks, looking quite functional.

'Isn't she more talented as a porter than as a tanker…?'

"Alright, load all the thorns onto these! Tie them up with the rope!"

"...."

"...."

"...."

None of us could argue with her charisma. We silently loaded the thorns into the makeshift backpacks and carried them on our backs as we headed back.

Once outside,

"You're back!"

Shin Se-hee greeted us with a bright smile at the gate entrance.

"…Did you really wait out here the whole time? You could have waited inside. We didn't know when we'd be back…"

I asked, surprised that she had been waiting there for us all this time.

"How could I do that?"

Shin Se-hee's eyes were filled with worry. I noticed the bite marks on her nails, evidence of her anxiety while waiting.

I lifted the corners of my mouth into a smile.

"What, were you really worried about us?"

Shin Se-hee inhaled sharply.

"I-it's just a B-rank dungeon, why would I worry…? I wasn't worried! You were just later than I expected, so I waited… that's all."

'Isn't that the same as worrying?' I thought.

Regardless, she seemed relieved that we returned safely and let out a sigh. Her eyes widened as she noticed the heaps of thorns on our backs.

"Wh-what is all this…?"

"Oh, well. The subspace tattoo was too small, so we carried out the byproducts ourselves."

"…This much!?"

Shin Se-hee looked astonished, lifting her head to see the tall stacks of thorns. She quickly pulled out her phone.

"Hey, Secretary Kim. Send more vehicles. Yeah, about two trucks… Looks like they went all out today."

She glanced at us while ending the brief call.

I squinted and looked toward the area where the reporters had been gathered earlier.

"Looks like the reporters have left?"

"Yes, I sent them away. Well, not all of them. But…"

Shin Se-hee lowered her voice.

"What about Joo Tae-rin?"

"We dealt with her. She got what she deserved."

"Deserved?"

She tilted her head in confusion, then sniffed the air. The lingering scent of monster perfume hadn't fully dissipated.

"This smell… Ah, did that stupid girl do something stupid?"

Shin Se-hee scoffed as she spoke.

The scent of monster perfume gave her a good idea of what had transpired.

"Well, I'll explain the details on the way. Please take care of the cleanup."

"Yes, leave it to me."

.

.

.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Crash!

"Heck. Heck… Junior, I feel like I'm going to die… This is way harder than fighting monsters…"

With the last load brought in by Lim Ga-eul, we finally unloaded all the magic stones and byproducts we had carried in our backpacks and the subspace tattoo.

Even the magic stones stuffed into the subspace tattoo were enough to be considered a significant haul. But when we poured out the thorns we had carried on our backs, the sheer quantity was overwhelming.

The byproduct handlers that Secretary Kim had brought widened their eyes and dropped their jaws.

"Insane."

"Is this the amount you can bring back from one dungeon run?"

"There's no way they could have brought back this many thorns with all the monsters in the way…"

"Unbelievable…"

Click!

Suddenly, a woman standing with the handlers took a flash photograph.

"…Huh?"

I turned my head toward her.

"Oh, she's a reporter I asked to stay. I wanted to document this with photos," Shin Se-hee explained.

"Since this was the Utopia party's first dungeon outing, we needed to record our results. Honestly, it would have been fine even if you brought back a modest amount… But with this, we can use it for publicity."

Shin Se-hee smiled slightly.

I had asked her to handle the reporters while we were in the dungeon, and it seemed she had done an excellent job.

"You must have had a tough time."

I nodded in satisfaction, appreciating her efficient handling.

"Utopia Party Leader! I've heard a lot about you from Cheonhwa!"

The woman who had taken the photo earlier, wearing glasses, approached excitedly and extended her hand. I reluctantly shook it, a bit puzzled by her enthusiasm.

"Whew. Seeing you up close, your beauty is really… wow…"

The reporter's hand trembled as she shook mine.

"As expected, you live up to your reputation… The one who defeated the Fighting Dog."

She looked at me with eyes full of admiration as she said this.

'Huh? Suddenly?'

I tilted my head in confusion.

"Flower field…"

A chilling voice came from behind. When I turned around, I saw Kang Do-hee trembling as she looked at her phone.

"What?"

"What kind of nonsense is this…?"

Curious about what she was seeing, I turned on my phone. My eyes widened in shock.

'What… what is this…?'

I had just opened the internet portal site. There, my name and photo were prominently displayed.

Not just one or two, but all over the portal sites.

『Today's HOT Topic! Let's learn about Jin Yuha, the face genius of Utopia Party!』

『[Official] Cheonhwa: "Jin Yuha is stronger than me. Even stronger than Kang Do-hee."』

『The man who defeated the Fighting Dog. Is this real!? Who exactly is Jin Yuha?』

I stared in disbelief at the flood of articles and headlines about me.

『Student A: "He defeated her during class…" Shocking testimony from an Academy cadet!』

Se-hee, Se-hee…

I did tell you to handle things as you saw fit, but…

You really went all out…

Somehow, after returning from the dungeon, I had suddenly become a star.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

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