"Orabeoni. Wake up. Orabeoniii. Hehe."
I suddenly opened my eyes, feeling like someone was freely touching my chest. When I lifted my gaze upward, I could see Sol, her face flushed, shaking my chest back and forth. The moment she met my eyes, she flinched in surprise and quickly pulled her hands away, hiding them behind her back.
"...."
Yeah. There's no way Sol would have done that. Thinking it was just my imagination, I immediately got up. Looking around, I saw that the group had already woken up and was finishing up packing the campsite. Feeling a bit bewildered, I asked Sol in a dry voice:
"Sol, was I the last one to wake up?"
"That is…"
"I told her to do it."
Just as Sol, who was twisting her body nervously, was about to open her mouth, a clear voice came from behind. When I turned around, I saw Jung Ha-Yeong looking at me with a gentle smile.
"Please don't take it too badly. I just thought it would be better for you to sleep a little more while you could."
"Well. It's not like I'm upset."
I tilted my head and sat up from inside the sleeping bag. Sleeping itself wasn't the problem, but normally, because of my habits, I should have woken up much earlier. No, even before that — if there had been enough movement to clean up the campsite, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed.
Have I gotten this dull just because I've grown too comfortable with peace lately? As I smacked my lips and got up, Jung Ha-Yeong, reading my expression, let out a sigh and spoke.
"I asked Go Yeon-Joo and Vivienne to cast a Silence spell around us. That's probably why you didn't notice. The magic was cast very discreetly too."
I looked at Jung Ha-Yeong with a speechless face. She turned her gaze away with a slightly embarrassed smile. As we stayed like that for a moment, a soft voice brushed against my ear from beside me.
"Really, such a difficult man to deal with, right?"
Maybe after finishing this expedition, I felt the need to reflect on the inner radar that female players possess. Their words stung my heart quite a bit, but for now, it seemed better to feign ignorance. If not, it looked like I'd be in for a serious nagging.
"I didn't say anything though... oof."
However, before I could even finish my sentence, a soft hand blocked my mouth. At the same time, as I chewed on the stems being shoved into my mouth, a refreshing juice filled my mouth. The moment I swallowed it down, I felt as if a new vitality was coursing through my whole body.
"Chew it thoroughly and suck out every drop of the juice. It's quite precious, you know."
"Munch munch. For something so precious, you're being quite generous with it, aren't you?"
"I just feel sorry for the other members, that's why, really. Trying every trick in the book just to get you to sleep once. At this rate, when the time comes to kiss, won't I have to calculate the exact angle to turn my head?"
At Go Yeon-Joo's words, I almost spat out the stem but barely managed to hold it in.
In the Hall Plain, sleep holds a very important meaning. No matter how much physical abilities have improved compared to when we were in the modern world, in the end, the human body has its limits. Depending on the player's ability, there are variations in how much one can endure, but I was not free from that rule either.
There are cases where people endure through sheer willpower. I don't even have to look far; I myself would be the best example. However, as fatigue builds up and piles on, at some point the body starts to feel the burden. If fatigue prevents you from fully displaying your skills when needed, then having high abilities is meaningless.
Honestly, it's not like I didn't consider just taking all the night watches myself, but since I had decided not to treat them as new players anymore, I rotated the night watches as planned. And even aside from that reason, I also needed to manage my own vitality. For now, I decided to be satisfied with the fact that I have been getting more sleep lately.
Anyway, since it seemed like they did all this for my sake, I decided not to say anything further.
"Oppa, I'll pack up the sleeping bag. You just sit and rest on the side."
"Okay. Thank you."
Before I realized it, Yun-Jung had approached and tapped me lightly on the shoulder as she spoke. When I nodded, Yun-Jung moved as if to shift her body, but soon hesitated. The sleeping bag I had been lying in had vanished without a trace. When Yun-Jung and I simultaneously turned our heads, we found a female priest tightly hugging the sleeping bag—which was presumed to be the one I had been using—while sitting in front of her backpack.
Watching Yun-Jung's figure as she dashed over, I instinctively turned my head away. I had a feeling that if I got involved any deeper, I would no longer remain myself.
And in the direction where I turned my head, a scene was unfolding where An-Hyun was persistently bothering Go Yeon-Joo.
"Miss Go Yeon-Joo, would it be possible for you to share a little of what you gave to Hyung with me as well?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Isn't it obvious? It's too precious."
"So, you're saying it's not too precious to give to Hyung, but it is too precious to give to me."
"Of course. It would be a waste to give such precious herbs to a rookie player like you, An-Hyun."
Watching Go Yeon-Joo lazily respond with a smile and An-Hyun silently despair, I took out a cigarette from my pocket and held it between my lips.
When I looked up at the sky, I could see the sun still precariously hanging there.
*
The Blue Mountain Range, from a distance and on the surface, appears to be a very beautiful mountain range. Of course, if a player had any sense, they wouldn't enter just because the scenery looked nice, but it couldn't be denied that it somewhat lessened their tension. Moreover, since there were hardly any monsters roaming near the entrance of the range, it further encouraged such feelings.
However, the deeper one went, the more drastically the situation changed. The monsters that appeared in the mountain range were a complete gathering of all kinds of undead, which didn't match the blue hue at all. At first, I didn't understand why that was, but after exploring the Cave Of Wailing, I finally realized the reason. It was because that thing was inside the cave. It was undoubtedly that thing's powerful death energy that drew monsters to wander around the cave.
After leading the group to the entrance I had already scouted, I immediately proceeded into the mountain range. From here, we couldn't rely on any maps as guides. Therefore, I calmly began retracing my memories to find the way. Although the scenery wasn't exactly the same as it was back then, it was recognizable enough, and if things got confusing, I still had my secret weapon: the Third Eye.
"It's like you already know exactly where the cave is."
At the sudden voice, I turned my head slightly to find Go Yeon-Joo looking at me with a suspicious expression. It seemed she wasn't quite used to how smoothly I was moving forward. Well, considering she had only reached her fifth year, this was probably her first time excavating a ruin or dungeon in this manner.
Even for me, no matter how much research I had done beforehand, it would still be hard to believe that I could find it so easily. I shrugged once and then turned my gaze to Sol. Sol tilted her head with bright, curious eyes. Soon, everyone's attention followed mine and landed on Sol, and it didn't take long for a subtle sense of expectation to fill their gazes.
Maybe because she had been through it a few times, instead of tearing up, Sol puffed up her cheeks and squinted her eyes. Oh. So Sol could make an expression like that too.
"They're calling Sol a lucky charm. A lucky charm. But what is a lucky charm?"
"Hehe. Of course. Our Sol is a lucky charm. No doubt about it. Right, Sol?"
Vivienne teased Sol even though she didn't know the meaning, and An-Hyun nodded proudly. At their words, Sol pouted and raised her voice sharply.
"No! Sol is not a lucky charm! Don't call me that!"
"Come over here next to oppa, lucky charm."
"Yeees~!"
Even though Sol was angry, when I beckoned her, she immediately smiled brightly. Watching Sol trot happily toward me, I caught a glimpse of An-Hyun showing his second look of despair.
However, I was serious in my own way. When we found the Ruined Laboratory, Sol's help had been significant. If it hadn't been for her, we wouldn't have discovered it so easily. So this time, I was planning to conduct a little experiment. Since I knew the way to the Cave Of Wailing for sure, if she could guide us similarly again, it wouldn't be something to take lightly.
If Sol really pointed the way to the Cave Of Wailing, I planned to have her use 1 of the 4 stat points she currently had (rewarded from graduating the Player Academy) to increase her Luck stat. Although Luck was the least researched field and I didn't know much about it, I knew that there was an enormous difference between having 100 points and 101 points.
Normally, I would hesitate even over a single stat point, but since I had recently acquired a ring that boosts magic power, I felt it was worth trying.
At first, Sol looked unsure of herself, but after I persuaded her that we were simply checking the direction, she closed her eyes nervously. (Go Yeon-Joo, seeing our behavior, sighed as if giving up.)
"Don't be nervous. Just follow your usual instinct… and try pointing in a direction."
"Uung…."
Keeping her eyes tightly shut for a while and furrowing her brow, Sol eventually raised her hand carefully and pointed in one direction. Watching her finger, I inwardly smiled with satisfaction. The direction she was pointing to was almost exactly the way I intended to go.
*
We entered the entrance area and started marching in the left direction. Sol maintained a tense expression the entire time, but whenever I nodded as we came to a fork in the road, she seemed to feel a little more at ease.
However, the Cave Of Wailing was not a cave that could be easily discovered like the Ruined Laboratory. From my estimation, we still had quite a distance to cover, and the deeper we went, the more the initial excitement gradually faded away.
After about an hour of pushing through the mountain range, the atmosphere among the group became heavily weighed down. The deeper we went, the more the fresh, lively air turned into a suffocating and oppressive atmosphere. It felt like something unpleasant and sinister was crawling up my body. Sensitive to such things, Sol frequently glanced around in fear and had unconsciously grabbed onto the collar of my clothes.
Our quiet march came to an abrupt halt with Sol's silent scream. She had an extremely shocked expression on her face and wide eyes. There, a monster corpse, torn apart horribly, was lying on the ground. It had been so badly ripped apart that it was impossible to recognize its body at all, and I was just about to approach it for a closer look.
Though the sound had carried on the wind, it seemed everyone heard it clearly. At the chilling voice that echoed through the air, I could see that everyone's bodies were trembling with goosebumps. The faces of the group were all frozen stiff, and even Go Yeon-Joo, who usually had a languid expression, first flashed sharp light in her eyes.
"It's the sound of a Banshee's scream. You should never follow this sound. If you do, at least one person in the group will definitely die. No, they will die."
This came from Go Yeon-Joo, who had reached top10. I nodded in agreement, recognizing her expertise. While I was confident I could deal with the Banshee, simply killing it wasn't enough. If even one person in the group were to fall under the Banshee's curse, it would cause quite a headache. Especially for players with low Luck stats, it was almost guaranteed that they would be affected.
"Did you mean the Banshee's curse that I've only heard of?"
"Banshees die with a mournful wail. And any player who hears that wail, unless their Luck points are extremely high, is highly likely to fall under the curse."
"Could it really be...?"
"Will they die? Yes. Unless they receive a high-level holy spell or a special protection, they will definitely die within a month. It doesn't matter what the cause is. They could die from illness, in an accident, or like the monster we see before us, tragically. The monster itself isn't difficult to deal with, but it's one that's best avoided if possible. There's a famous tale from the Western Continent of a renowned player who, after being overly bold, had their head smashed within a week and died."
Go Yeon-Joo's detailed explanation made Jung Ha-Yeong swallow nervously and close her mouth. Undead monsters were generally among those that players hesitated to deal with. And the reason I brought Go Yeon-Joo along was precisely because of this. It wasn't just for our own safety, but to protect the rest of the group as well.
In any case, if we did face it, we had to make sure it wouldn't have a chance to retaliate, but it wasn't a monster we needed to seek out. After examining the corpse for a moment, I decided there was nothing more to gain.
We were now about to leave the entrance area. From here, we just needed to cross the first mountain and head toward the Cave Of Wailing, which was between the second and third mountains. Glancing down at the side, Sol was tightly gripping the collar of my clothes, her lips clenched. Still, I was relieved to see that she didn't seem to have the will to turn back.
Soon, Sol pointed in one direction, and after gauging the direction, I nodded again and resumed our march.
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