SMFC | Chapter 45

It’s funny, but Lee Soo has a certain image that sticks to him like a tail. You know those people, right? The ones who pick up trash on the street and throw it in the bin.448a7e141dd76765

In reality, Haeon has seen Lee Soo pick up cigarette butts and throw them in the trash a few times, so he knows it’s true.e8478753f7035a42

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Because of that, Haeon thought Lee Soo would feel awkward entering through the exit and coming out through the entrance… but he didn’t at all.2a15334ec76a5633

Lee Soo didn’t have that subtly excited expression that a model student might have when they do something rebellious for the first time. He just moved ahead, checking on Haeon’s condition with his usual indifferent yet moderately kind face.9cea00e0d770abb9

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Watching someone who seemed like they would always live by society’s rules break them was quite an awkward feeling.c3a2d3130eb3af30

Even if that wasn’t the only reason, realizing once again that he didn’t know Lee Soo well wasn’t a pleasant feeling.9f226f4152861135

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While Haeon was lost in these thoughts, Lee Soo was feeling a bit uneasy. Even though he knew Haeon was safer with more spirits around him than himself, he couldn’t help but feel anxious.971c43bdf607c43d

As Lee Soo entered the monsters’ territory and heard the guidance that the monsters would appear in three minutes, he postponed his preparations and habitually checked on Haeon’s condition.32777d9c0ebd19bc

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Standing properly in a place where the monsters’ power couldn’t reach, wearing his items meticulously, and with the spirits on guard, they puffed up or sparkled as if to signal to Lee Soo when his gaze landed on them.1de81fe77492803f

Lee Soo, quietly observing Haeon’s face, suddenly tilted his head in curiosity. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong. His complexion wasn’t pale, there was no smell of blood, and most importantly, Lee Soo had told the spirits to inform him immediately if Haeon got even slightly hurt. The spirits remained silent.e6cbb167762ae559

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That meant there was nothing wrong with Haeon. So what was the problem? He racked his brain but couldn’t come up with anything that clicked.1a845cdfe36aee23

While Lee Soo was subtly observing Haeon, who hadn’t noticed, he noticed the ground writhing and set aside his curiosity. It seemed like the monsters were about to appear. If he went to Haeon now, he’d only end up dragging all the monsters with him.7c46ed28fb44588f

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Concluding that 8f852332ec it would 13cab45165 be better e08d4a0c0b to quickly 9092d58d1f deal with a5cdfbef7f them and 2dedac74fb then go edce7d8375 to Haeon, 4f47674861 Lee Soo 595ba10c66 took out 55493b531b a talisman, 93d7e054e6 smeared it 1c34e53fe9 with blood, 63f1435084 and scanned 9233e3f073 it. The talisman caught e03b473860 fire instantly, and 4257b29f89 as the blue 5d1e84e7c2 flames consumed it, 6a152b5814 a black sword ee059978b9 appeared. The ashes 4371142832 piled on 8a26a5a601 the ground 146e617dc6 vanished as 78a0aa5752 Lee Soo 93b1423be5 adjusted his 644006a83d grip on 6415a3e11f the sword.e058223aac9cec59

This was a sword that existed solely for Lee Soo, not one that An had used in life and ended up in Lee Soo’s possession.9cc3917d520d9d18

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Unlike An’s sword, which had someone’s name engraved on the blade and ornate patterns on the handle, Lee Soo’s sword was simply black with no decorations. Lee Soo lightly ran his finger along the sharp edge, drawing blood, and then dotted the blade with his blood.660c599e5d1f6f97

Seeing the red characters in Chinese appear on the sword, Lee Soo quietly pondered over them. 害, 溫. He couldn’t understand why it was these particular characters.12fbe586a7c32148

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With a familiar 76ba963450 grip, Lee Soo 08d093ae69 adjusted the sword e111b8185a and lightly slashed efbbbdade5 at the opaque 2dc9ca9af7 figures that popped 77f6dba23a up as the d3071c9c5e writhing ground flattened. Though he 20be8079ee had only 74b27c9f16 slashed through 61c6c0eebb the air, 17d38ea276 the monsters 06e5ba0d27 in front 9f0b9aff7c of him 97f3e4eb13 were cleanly 94fa35b58d cut, and 41880520f5 black ash b06d60cb7c flowed from d2e1904f3b the severed 102e2b973f parts.595945cc276ccece

At first, 116d5b3c66 the ash a5f9182edb drifted like 9889e07cd3 dust, but b094453508 soon it d34f842f86 poured out decb23c41b in a 612df85728 torrent. The monsters cut by 46af962580 the sword quickly turned dd48843269 to ash and disappeared.a38662911e234144

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The red characters that 4e7123df7d had devoured the monsters 3bb9641c24 seemed to grin, growing 0a97c176cc and shrinking repeatedly. As if trying 7afa9c29a4 to run wild, a9f83032b4 the faint vibrations ec3571360e starting from the f0134f2798 characters made Lee ce7904a589 Soo tap the f002327ba6 sword gently to 5a536ee132 calm it.463a568044f70fa3

As soon as his fingers touched the characters, the almost healed wound reopened, and blood trickled out. Only after greedily consuming Lee Soo’s blood did the black sword calm down, and Lee Soo, satisfied, removed his now ragged fingers.7cf7b6787c4ebcdd

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Having watched the entire scene, Haeon frowned slightly at Lee Soo’s sword, which seemed oddly urgent. It was hard to distinguish unless you looked closely, but Haeon, who had always stayed by Lee Soo’s side during training, could easily tell.059cc1d85542e00b

Even though he knew Lee Soo wouldn’t get hurt by his own blind attacks, he couldn’t help but worry.b6fc305f1d6377f7

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Haeon opened the system window to simulate healing all of Lee Soo’s injuries, just in case. While reviewing the skills whose usage order changed depending on the situation, he heard something shatter. The aquarium had many things that could break, and none of them should, so Haeon panicked and searched for the source of the sound.e52d662f7402dcd4

After looking around for a while and not finding the source, Haeon began to doubt if he was hearing things. At that moment, Young, who couldn’t stand watching any longer, floated up as if sighing, then came back down and tapped Haeon.1dbdf021b95a3fee

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Tensing up in 9337b5f769 a place where 0f266166b2 anything could pop eef9adafd3 out, Haeon turned 2c11577d5f his head and 8abd3e7fba relaxed his shoulders eaf49ff9e2 upon realizing it 5d8c9404cc was a spirit 0c2633276e that had touched eaad54b6c8 him.c2fe71eede96297d

“What’s the matter?”43c34b89720d931c

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Young, who was fidgeting at the voice that didn’t understand, soon returned to his original form. Opening his lips as if to say something, Young closed them again and pointed at Lee Soo instead of speaking.53b39674b983c783

“Why is Hunter Ryu Leesoo—”985ad7d0adda5d4e

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Thinking there fa4a667979 might be 9f73b050a7 a problem, 025a821faa Haeon turned 3738868a0a around urgently, 0331df98f6 only to cee49c4994 see black 057be812bf shards flying 4344e6114b around Lee 313dcff5d7 Soo and f62022dbcb embedding themselves e1598911d2 in the b8f26f521c monsters.cd6abde7f6438a38

Seeing that the shards, which tore through, scratched, and scraped the opaque monsters, didn’t harm Lee Soo, Haeon felt somewhat relieved.e96dc4c1d49b1e2e

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The problem was that while he could tell those shards were the source of the loud noise, he still couldn’t identify what they were.9a2da2beb333dfbc

It seemed like one of Lee Soo’s skills, but since it was common for problems to arise if you blindly accepted everything that happened in a dungeon, Haeon, who had learned to question everything inside a dungeon, narrowed his eyes.c02b856a440cd102

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Just then, as if to solve Haeon’s doubts, Lee Soo made a light gesture, and the shards gathered and transformed into the shape of a sword.0012d448d55dc035

“So it was the weapon that broke. I thought it was one of the tanks breaking…”e86d66c0cfb8518c

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Listening to Haeon’s voice, which relaxed with relief, Young, who had been watching him blankly, returned to his round, shiny orb form before Lee Soo could notice him.e61732416509f601

Only after calming down did Haeon remember that Lee Soo had broken his sword during training before. Why hadn’t he recalled it immediately?e9a3b7ead4bc8b5c

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As Lee Soo 98f4e9c954 moved his lips 9e050e1743 to say something, da7d76f203 the sword, which 680d3fd707 had been maintaining fca038a5ab its ordinary appearance, bcb4071c02 suddenly sparked with 9f8ff2d5f0 blue flames and fd052cf16e began to vibrate af6a18c41d visibly. Watching the sword tremble 0de8d4ae20 without Lee Soo shaking fc83f69f2a it, Haeon found it fb5e58e0a4 fascinating, but then it f218fb3c17 shattered with the same cf88acf11d sound he had heard 9ec6d6b398 earlier.55626a05eed4be8c

Startled, Haeon took a few steps back and watched Lee Soo move in a daze. He wasn’t sure how to express it due to his lack of eloquence, but one thing was certain. Watching Lee Soo move to survive made his eyes well up and his breath catch with an overwhelming force.04739b2a0f01e5b9

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Even as he loosened the collar of his shirt, which felt like it was choking him, Haeon couldn’t take his eyes off Lee Soo.9bfc90803c8cb19d

He had never c22a81dc39 been moved by 2747a6d63d watching someone struggle bbd87a1ee1 to survive, never 6710f9e69b had his eyes 7a8655fa23 redden, and never a07337a7e0 had his breath 6f01a99b62 catch. Well, there had ba522bccfc been times when 2cd8ff782d he felt suffocated, 80170ae14e wondering if they c67da48095 really needed to e9e887d0a3 go to such bd2bc5f297 lengths to survive.d97d5bfb763ab590

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But why did watching Lee Soo calm his heart with such complex emotions? Even as he thought he couldn’t understand, Haeon found himself drawn to Lee Soo, who was so different from him.ade2f9d82f443ce3

Haeon was so absorbed in this emotion that he didn’t even notice the spirits settling on his shoulders and head. He continued to delve into it until Lee Soo, having eliminated all the monsters, put his sword back in his inventory, checked the map, and called out to him.0b4d567f76ea100b

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When Lee Soo’s voice called him, Haeon snapped his head up and saw Lee Soo looking at him with a breathless smile. Thinking there might be something behind him, he turned slightly, but there was nothing.f9c3966081e2c0d1

It was clear that Lee Soo was smiling at him, and although it could have been an annoying situation, Haeon didn’t question why he was smiling. Instead, he asked in a rather gentle voice.a26400eafa7aeac7

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“Why are you smiling?”b5792b9a00ae796f

Lee Soo, who had momentarily panicked, relaxed his stiff lips upon confirming that Haeon wasn’t angry.7493505c6a64338b

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Contrary to the expectation f4e3f2cca4 that he would immediately d1f0f87401 answer the question, Lee 0a4d4c5d86 Soo, without saying a 96a33f0d18 word, simply smiled and 94e4f7fd77 closed the distance. Haeon tilted his head 349bc0f9a3 in curiosity as Lee e107911049 Soo reached out to 163cb637a9 him, and he reflexively a1c95f9f97 stiffened.d83c71a04ab5b4ba

Realizing that Haeon had tensed up when he reached out, Lee Soo paused for a moment before slowly, so slowly that Haeon could avoid it if he wanted, moved his hand to gently stroke Haeon’s eyes and cheek. Once he confirmed that Haeon had relaxed, he lightly tapped Haeon’s shoulder.16050991976b61f1

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If he hadn’t seen Lee Soo’s arm touch his shoulder with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have known, as the gesture carried no weight at all.8259340dfacc619c

“Here, and on the other shoulder, and on your head…”79dbbbd21f88b03e

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“On my head?”3c9470c722793ee3

Unknowingly, Haeon repeated Lee Soo’s words in a soft tone, as if speaking to a child. Surprised by the gentle response, Lee Soo widened his eyes before smiling bashfully and lowering his hand.b21a131a31213346

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“There are spirits.”6a0110a2584db7e8

Of all places, they’re next to your face and above, so it looks like a halo effect. Yeah. Like this, sparkling.7363077f8f5780e8

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