Retire 266

by Cristae

266 Tati (5)

Nothing in this world ever goes exactly as you wish.

Of course, there are days in life when everything seems to go right. Days when, for some reason, everything just falls into place. Days when even the water you drink in the morning tastes unusually good. Days when every traffic light on your way to work turns green just as you approach… days like that.

But most of life isn’t so lucky.

If people could live doing only what they wanted, the world would have met its end much sooner than it has.

So, instead of obsessing over “what if,” you need to focus on what’s right in front of you. I should have done this back then, I should have done that, I shouldn’t have done it that way. Rather than saying such things, it’s a far more mature response to deal with what’s already happened.

That’s what Father taught my sister and me.

If you truly regret something, then you just need to make sure it never happens again. He didn’t mean to be fixated on the past, just not to repeat it.

In that sense… returning to the past is more than just cleaning up old mistakes—it’s the realization of “what if I had done this instead?”

It’s the complete opposite of what Father taught.

Is that why Father never came back to the past…?

…No, that’s just nonsense.

“……”

As for whether or not to close the Jirisan dungeon with the fairy in it, I came to a conclusion surprisingly quickly.

“For now, let’s leave it at this.”

We exchanged a few brief words inside the shield.

It wasn’t a situation for a long conversation, and with the fairy idly playing with a porcelain doll right there, it wasn’t possible to have any sort of deep discussion.

Think about when you’re learning a foreign language. Just because you can’t speak doesn’t mean you can’t understand. Judging by how the fairy instantly understood and answered both my and Hong Seokyoung’s questions, her Korean might be better than it seems.

So we used vague words. We didn’t mention things like dungeon, core, or strategy. We could have blocked the sound, but we didn’t want to give the impression that we were hostile. After all… who knows what other information that fairy might be hiding.

As soon as we finished talking and stood up, the fairy scurried over.

<That, Hijae gave it to you, didn’t he?>

She pointed persistently at my sword, demanding an answer.

I looked down at the fairy, stubbornly fixated on the sword. She wasn’t pounding on the shield in agitation as before, but there was a different kind of desperation in her eyes.

How long had my brother been here in this dungeon, together with this fairy?

“…No.”

I hesitated for a moment, but I didn’t want to lie.

This sword was given to me by my sister. My brother, who had practically raised me as a child, was precious, but I didn’t want to hide the last thing my sister had given me.

“Someone else gave it to me.”

<Hijae…>

“That’s why I’m looking for him now.”

<……>

The fairy gazed at me with an unreadable expression. Her golden eyes seemed to glimmer, and then, as she blinked, the light faded.

The fairy gave a faint smile.

The fairy, Tati, set down the porcelain doll she had been playing with at my feet.

I couldn’t even pretend to say it was well made. The head was dented, and the right and left arms were different lengths. One had a smooth head, another had spiky hair.

She stood a slightly smaller porcelain doll next to it. With a thoughtful expression, she looked from me to Hong Seokyoung and Kim Chaemin, then set two more small porcelain dolls beside them.

Then, as if to say we should take them, she gestured with her hand.

With that, she disappeared into the trees.

The time we spent in the dungeon amounted to barely three or four hours at most. For all the struggling through the mud, it was a short time. Or was it? Was it long?

It’s always like this in a dungeon. Maybe it’s because there’s no sun—your sense of time gets all messed up.

Anyway, since she gave them to us, I gathered up the porcelain dolls and stepped out through the gate. The sky was just beginning to lighten.

Maybe it was because we were in the mountains, but unlike the city, there were a surprising number of stars visible in the sky. You can see quite a few stars from Yangseong High as well, but… it still can’t compare to the mountains.

Unlike the strange sky of the dungeon, this side felt reassuring.

“…Haaahm. You’re back?”

As soon as we came out, I saw Han Taekyung sitting in a camping chair, nodding off. He greeted us with a long yawn.

“……”

Just looking at his calm, unruffled face, I felt my tension melt away.

“Aaah.”

Apparently, Kim Chaemin felt the same, stretching with a groan.

“I’m telling you, there really are all sorts of strange things in this world.”

Kim Chaemin held up the porcelain doll from the fairy Tati, turning it this way and that.

“Do you think this counts as an item?”

“Well, it did come out of the dungeon…”

“Doesn’t seem very useful, though.”

“Use it as a desk ornament or something.”

“A thing from a dungeon? That’s bad luck.”

Kim Chaemin shook his head and put the porcelain doll in his bag. I couldn’t see anything odd about it, and neither could Kim Chaemin, so maybe it really was just a porcelain doll. I stared at it in silence.

Kim Chaemin let out a sigh.

“Mr. Woo, could you come out here for a moment?”

“What for?”

“Setting an alarm.”

“Huh?”

“We can’t keep Mr. Han sitting here forever.”

“Me? Me? Why?”

Han Taekyung lifted his head in surprise.

“I’m just going to set up an alarm to see if anyone goes in.”

Kim Chaemin moved Han Taekyung aside, who still looked confused, and swung his staff.

A small sprout began to poke up from beneath the gate. It wasn’t anything as showy as a rose. Kim Chaemin’s sprout was quickly hidden among the dry leaves and grass, almost invisible.

“It’s not to block entry, but if anyone passes by, I’ll know.”

“…That’s convenient.”

“I used to use it to check if anyone was sneaking into my territory… It’s too far to come right away, but it’s better than nothing.”

I nodded.

“Getting called down here out of nowhere, really… Well, it is interesting. I should check if there are any similar cases. Maybe in Europe.”

He was volunteering to help, so I was grateful.

We wrapped things up and were about to head back to Yangseong High when—

“Ah!”

Kim Chaemin made a fuss again.

He’s not going to say he left something in the dungeon, is he?

“Mr. Han!”

“Yes, yes? Why are you calling me so passionately? I was guarding the dungeon just like you asked. Not even an ant got through the gate—”

Unless that ant had awakened, nothing would have gotten past Han Taekyung.

…Did he just slack off after we went in? Well, we did leave him there just in case.

“That’s not it, you made a weird noise when we went into the dungeon!”

“Huh? Me?”

“And it was a really ominous sound, too.”

“You’re saying I did that?”

Han Taekyung jumped up.

“Yes.”

Kim Chaemin wouldn’t back down.

“You’re saying I did that…”

Han Taekyung scratched his cheek and laughed.

“Maybe there was a mosquito or something.”

“……”

In this weather? Did Han Taekyung forget it was winter?

“Well, anyway! The important thing is you all came back safe, right?”

“Hm. Did you think we wouldn’t make it back safely?”

“I’m not that kind of heartless guy!”

“Then why did you make that noise?”

Without me even needing to step in, Kim Chaemin was handling everything. Hong Seokyoung quietly came over to my side.

“Feels easy, doesn’t it?”

I couldn’t deny it, but somehow, nodding here felt like it would be ungrateful.

“It really is easier working together.”

…That’s true enough.

Anyway, I kept my mouth shut and watched as Kim Chaemin dealt with Han Taekyung.

“You definitely made a noise!!”

“I’m telling you, there must have been a bug or something.”

“That excuse doesn’t work on me!”

“I really have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Was he telling the truth?

Han Taekyung sounded genuinely aggrieved, but… who knows. Maybe he was just trying to get out of the situation, or maybe he really had something to hide.

But Kim Chaemin didn’t back down, even at the sound of Han Taekyung’s tired voice. If anything, he pressed even harder.

“You know why I’m doing this, don’t you, Mr. Han?”

“……”

“That dungeon has become really important, so if you know anything at all, say it.”

Kim Chaemin’s expression hardened completely.

For someone who usually smiled so easily, the lack of expression was jarring. And Kim Chaemin was a grand mage. If you didn’t know that, fine, but as a coworker, Han Taekyung couldn’t help but notice, and swallowed nervously.

No one knows what might happen if you anger a grand mage coworker.

Seeing Han Taekyung so completely at a loss was a first, even counting the original timeline.

“Well… It’s really nothing.”

“I’ll be the judge of that after I hear it.”

Han Taekyung’s shoulders slumped. Had he finally given up? He lasted a long time against an annoyed grand mage, but for Han Taekyung, he gave up rather quickly.

He fiddled with his sunglasses.

“So… I can see things that most people can’t.”

“That sounds like the start of a horror movie. Is it thanks to an item?”

“…Yeah. So, as you know, your mana gets a bit unstable when you pass through a gate.”

“That’s right.”

“So, on a good day, I can use that moment to sneak a peek inside the dungeon…”

“You can see inside the dungeon? From outside?”

Both Hong Seokyoung and I, who had been sitting in the chairs we hadn’t put away yet, shot to our feet.

He could see inside the dungeon?

“Yeah, well… Only for a brief moment around the gate, when you pass through.”

“Then…”

“The area around the gate was pitch black, so I figured someone had done something….”

Han Taekyung gave an awkward laugh.

“But by the time I noticed, it was already too late to catch them.”

He looked at Hong Seokyoung.

“And besides, with you, Senior Hong, and Mr. Kim both there… I figured it would be fine. And you all came out safe, didn’t you!”

“……”

Even in Park Seohyun’s shadow, where I couldn’t see a thing, Han Taekyung could find his way easily.

If he’d stuck with those sunglasses for twenty years, it must have been quite the item. Still… he never said he could see all the way inside a dungeon.

He’d kept such an item hidden for twenty years? Did Father know?

I frowned. Maybe Father didn’t, but at the very least, Hong Seokyoung looked shocked, as if this was the first he’d heard of it.

“Mr. Kim’s magic really is the best, isn’t it?”

“Those sunglasses.”

“Yes?”

“Let me borrow them for a second.”

Kim Chaemin muttered, his voice blazing with intensity.

“Let me borrow them.”

“Huh? No way.”

“Why not?!”

“Who lends out their own eyes?”

“They’re not glasses, they’re sunglasses! I’ll use them carefully and give them back!”

“I’ve never seen anyone who says that actually return them.”

“That just means you’ve had the wrong friends!”

Leaving behind a conversation where it didn’t matter who won, I checked the area around the gate.

…Even if he was a monster, I was glad my brother had someone to care about.