M E M O R I Z E

“Hyung.”

As An Hyun called out to me, I came out of my thoughts. The kids looked at me with blank faces as I regained my composure. It was a situation where spiders were popping out from our surroundings. I had secured a path to retreat, but what I forgot was that these were the hardest monsters to go past.

The kids had fussy expressions on their faces. It seems even the kids have felt something different about these monsters. If one shows fear in the middle of the battle, they’ll just amplify the monsters’ strength. To calm down, I quickly adjusted my face. And I opened my mouth and spoke in a calm voice.

“For starters, let’s deal with the spiders.”

“Then, the female player…….”

Sol did ask me about it with a sad voice but I shook my head in excitement. There was no hope left and more than anything, our survival was the most important thing. An Hyun and Yoo-Jung were holding onto their weapons. Seeing this, a sound left my mouth.

“Forget about the player that is hanging from the ceiling. The dungeon’s owner seems to be plotting something. From now on, our goal is not to rescue other players, but dungeon exploration and recreation are our top priorities. It’s coming. Everyone get into position.”

This time, getting through this is good enough. Thinking that this beastly dungeon will also come to an end, I drew my sword. When I meet the alchemist, it will be right to say that I’ll beat him. Thinking this, I continued giving my orders.

“Stay in a square formation while securing the exit. The spiders number quite a lot, but they don’t have the ability to run. They can dig as well as produce venom in their bodies. I’ll cover you guys from the ones behind. All of you just concentrate on the ones that are right in front of you.”

“Hyung.”

As An Hyun called out to me, I came out of my thoughts. The kids looked at me with blank faces as I regained my composure. It was a situation where spiders were popping out from our surroundings. I had secured a path to retreat, but what I forgot was that these were the hardest monsters to go past.

The kids had fussy expressions on their faces. It seems even the kids have felt something different about these monsters. If one shows fear in the middle of the battle, they’ll just amplify the monsters’ strength. To calm down, I quickly adjusted my face. And I opened my mouth and spoke in a calm voice.

“For starters, let’s deal with the spiders.”

“Then, the female player…….”

Sol did ask me about it with a sad voice but I shook my head in excitement. There was no hope left and more than anything, our survival was the most important thing. An Hyun and Yoo-Jung were holding onto their weapons. Seeing this, a sound left my mouth.

“Forget about the player that is hanging from the ceiling. The dungeon’s owner seems to be plotting something. From now on, our goal is not to rescue other players, but dungeon exploration and recreation are our top priorities. It’s coming. Everyone get into position.”

This time, getting through this is good enough. Thinking that this beastly dungeon will also come to an end, I drew my sword. When I meet the alchemist, it will be right to say that I’ll beat him. Thinking this, I continued giving my orders.

“Stay in a square formation while securing the exit. The spiders number quite a lot, but they don’t have the ability to run. They can dig as well as produce venom in their bodies. I’ll cover you guys from the ones behind. All of you just concentrate on the ones that are right in front of you.”

Sisist! Sisisuusist!

As soon I was done talking, the sound from the spiders started to close in and we all turned our head. The more they approached, the more I realized that I was a little out of shape, and I held the sword high. While I was feeling like that, Sol and Yoo-Jung weren’t even talking. The more closer they came, the more likely I seemed like I was going to faint, but their faces changed. Suddenly, I saw green beads that were falling down from the top. It seemed quite angry at the fact that the same female user was hit.

And before long, white webs started to emanate from the spiders. It signalled the beginning of the battle over the ridge of the dungeon expedition.

*

“Cure!”

A white light came from Sol’s hand and a breath of energy rushed back to our bodies. Though it was nice, I was stuck getting treated, and there was no way to stop it.

“Guys. You can stop now. I feel alright.”

“Even then….”

“Hurry. You should take some rest too.”

The events unravelled as follows. We continued to put up a fight and barely managed to win the battle. Sure, it was possible because of the coordination that was exhibited in the battlefield through my orders. Until the end, I was trying to destroy the vulgar spiders, and at the same time, poisons were spit out from their mouths.

I pushed away the kids, resulting in the poison splashing on my back. As long as I am in possession of the Hwajung, I can burn off any kind of poison, and the spider poison didn’t do much damage. The kids forced me to rest and made a huge fuss about it. Surely, in that moment, I should’ve played out the role by acting a little.

After I almost yelled out at them, the kids took a break from me and got a little farther away, and I turned around and lay down on the floor. Yoo-Jung was just looking at the ceiling and lying on the floor. An Hyun also crossed both his legs and was looking at the ceiling. I took a small gasp to understand the kids, and I thought why it was this hard to deal with this player.

I looked up to the female player. Though the stomach was still bulging, there weren’t anymore spiders around here. Sometimes, just to tell us that she was alive, she groaned and sighed; that was it. What. From the players’ point of view, she wouldn’t make it.

“It’s… unbelievable. For us to take care of these many spiders….”

An Hyun looked around himself and moved his mouth in excitement. Entire bodies of the spiders that were buried into the ground started to get removed, but we had to lay down in this place, though it was a nuisance to see that happening. His whole body was stiff; smiling at the dead spiders, he seemed a little tired.

Yoo-Jung’s body was riddled with minor injuries. And the clothes that she wore were also split and torn. Yoo-Jung was looking with blank eyes, and suddenly, with her torn clothes, she turned toward me and winked in a provocative manner. And I saw her with a sloppy look and shook my head. I just coughed.

I sat in the same position for a while. When the kids looked toward me with concern, I waved my hand showing them that I was alright. Now, if I was trying to pass over the kids in a forcible manner, they will create a ruckus and start to rebel. Instinctively, when Yoo-Jung lay on the floor, her tensed body started to relax and her body’s sensation started to recover little by little.

“Eueu…. I feel like my body is addicted, An Sol. Recite the spell for Unnie, too.”

“Yes… Just a moment….”

“Girl. You do it to Su Hyun oppa immediately. Is this discrimination?”

At the direct statement from Yoo-Jung, Sol was blushing hard and started to shake her hands.

“It isn’t like that… I just do it based on the exhaustion state….”

The state of exhaustion could be discerned with the power of magic. Being convinced, Yoo-Jung nodded her head and once again went back to the floor. At that moment, An Hyun, who was looking at the ceiling with frustration, looked at me with a tired face and asked.

“Hey…. hyung.”

“What?”

“That female player…. What are we going to do?”

“……”

I didn’t speak for a while. An Hyun, it’s toxic. Before the beginning of the battle itself, he was concerned about the female player. I wasn’t sure as to why he was concerning himself with that. Because there was a reason. Even though he does it, he does it in a pretty way…. but there was a need for An Hyun to open up.

“What are your thoughts?”

“I want to save her.”

Seeing An Hyun answering that without even the slightest sign of hesitation, I smiled faintly. An Hyun’s first tendencies were TRUTH and NEUTRALITY. Even then, if he just wants to save her without expecting anything in return, he might end up joining an order in the future. I want to answer to your expectations, but it’s a pity, I don’t want to give you false hope.

“Lets see. Seeing the stomach, it’s definite that the conception was done by the spiders. In other words, it is highly likely that the state of conception was forced. Like that, if the mutation occurs inside her body, then, honestly speaking, there is nothing we can do. Of course, we can bring her down, but is there a senior player who has come out for the female user like the one in the Hall Plane? No. See. You can stay and live. And the reality that the user will face in the coming future will be literal hell. I’m not sure but maybe we will be helping her if we let her die.”

“The…. Is it?… I guess so.”

“What. Then let’s ask the doctor. First, I need to break the line that is hanging.”

I added that and looked at the guy whose face darkened immediately. An Hyun closed his eyes on his tired face and nodded his head. Firstly, it wasn’t a nice thing to see her hanging there. I didn’t take the chance to look at the naked body of the female. Thinking that I’m going to see the body fall, I began to raise my body.

“Yohohoho!”

A frivolous laugh filled the vacant lot. At this sound that came out of nowhere, all the kids were shocked. From the top, finally the Master of the dungeon revealed himself. I signaled to the kids to keep calm and drew my sword.

“Two~ men. Hoo! Women~ they aren’t. Anyway they are two. Boo!”

Seeing that the tone of the voice was high, it was possible for it to be a woman. Yoo-Jung stood up and asked the one who was cheering for men and booing the women.

“Who is this!”

“Who is this, I say~?”

“Where are you talking from! Don’t speak while hiding, come out if you can, okay?”

“I’ll go now~!”

Sasak! Sasasak!

When I heightened the power of my auditory senses with the use of magic, I was able to catch the noise of a single object that was definitely coming down from the ceiling. The object that seemed to be coming down didn’t come to rest just yet and headed toward Yoo-Jung who was biting down her lip.

“Oh? A human female? I hate human females. However, I do like them, too. There are females who are perfect for being mothers. Like the human on the ceiling. Hehehehe!”

Hearing about the abuse once again, and about being a mother, Yoo-Jung’s face turned pale. It seemed as if her body knew what it meant to be a mother and her faced turned ugly due to it. My appetite to hunt rose due to the momentum gathered from killing those monsters earlier. If I were to compare, this was like the boss monster from the Rite of Passage.

The physical condition of the kids was good, so maybe this was going to be a good thing. Compared to yesterday, everyone’s bodies were in a different state to their actual limit. I took a breath and got up from my place. However, I seem to have found the answer.

“Everyone get up. This seems to be like the boss monster of the dungeon.”

“That’s the correct answer!”

A voice accompanied the sound of something approaching from the ceiling. I saw a spider circling the female player in the ceiling as I lifted my head. It was huge, but the most surprising thing was that its top half was that of a human who had a man’s face with big eyebrows. A human spider.

The kids were still surprised as that spider slid down to the floor with a “dududu” sound. It seemed like it was sitting then landed on the floor with a “khung”. In a breath it rose. The dungeon monster of the Ancient Alchemist Vivian was this monster. Vivian, who looked at us, put up a bright smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, the new preys.”

“Prey, you say. Rude from the beginning itself.”

“Welcome to my dungeon, humans. Ah. But the human females aren’t welcomed.”

“Crazy man.”

As Yoo-Jung opened her mouth, the spider hissed. Immediately, the kids recognized the spider. The female player on the ceiling, Jung Jiyeon looked like the spider, too. Everyone stood up with shaking legs, but looked at the spider with the blankest expression that anyone could possibly have. The human spider looked at us, shrugged, and bit its lips before talking.

“Come on. I greeted with a welcome. Receive it as you wish. Why are the others looking like this?”

“Stupid man. You think we want to greet a shit like you?”

With the words crazy man and stupid man coming from Yoo-Jung, the spider had a wounded expression on his face. And that (?) lady answered in a grumbling tone.

“Sheesh. I hate you. I welcomed. Ah. You’re a human woman, so you weren’t welcomed. I like that. I agree to it, too. Well, I welcome you.”

“Put it away. It is just plain disgusting, to accept your greetings.”

“You! You are really mean. Why do you hate me like this?”

“What did you say?”

Yoo-Jung’s face turned awful after she saw the spider ask her about her response with an innocent face. And she pointed to the ceiling and gave out a shout.

“Don’t you see the female player? You made her like that; how can you do that?”

Yoo-Jung looked at the spider for a while and shook her head and answered.

“That is definite for sure. Those guys entered into my den with weapons. You destroyed my precious people, children, and evaded my space. Brought me here, when I was just staying still, then doing that is a definite thing.”

“What, what?”

“Even you guys are the same. No. You guys have destroyed even more. You made a mess with the spiders. My. See. See. The bodies of my children. Ohmo, ohmo. You even stepped on the ones that weren’t even born yet. How sorry it is… un gung.”

I scratched. Seeing the spider wiping his tears with its hairy legs made me laugh a lot. Yoo-Jung’s facial expression became empty after seeing this and was just pouting her lips.