The text etched into the blue window eventually transformed into a voice, testing Geon-joo’s hearing.

What’s being activated?

The surprised man blinked, forgetting he had lost his sight. From within his arms, Sa-yoon lifted his head with a groan.

“Fuck, we flew pretty damn far. Was the attack that strong?”

It was a remarkably nonchalant comment for someone who had just been sent flying at high speed over a distance of more than a hundred meters.

Stretching his neck, Sa-yoon first assessed the monster’s condition. Confirming that the swamp monster was incapacitated, a corner of his mouth lifted. The kill was complete. As he was enjoying the victor’s leisure now that the long battle had come to a close, he felt a breath on the back of his neck.

“…!”

Only then did he realize he was being held in someone else’s arms. He turned his head.

“…Han Geon-joo?”

Why is he here?

It was a familiar situation. Geon-joo, having heard similar words twice in one day, narrowed his brow, trying to separate the system notification still ringing in his ears from Sa-yoon’s voice. He didn’t know what was going on, but there was one thing he could be sure of.

The newly activated ‘Helper’ disposition.

It had to be related to Sa-yoon.

Otherwise, there was no way a new disposition would appear at such a random moment.

Of course, it could have been a coincidence.

He had always been a lucky person, and many things in the world happened more by chance than one might think.

But was it possible to dismiss the appearance of this specific disposition, at the very moment he was thinking of him, as a simple coincidence?

It was possible, but he didn’t want to think of it that way. It felt more right to think of it as fate, as a connection. Feeling a subtle tremor and anxiety that was difficult to express in words, Geon-joo held onto Sa-yoon tightly, as if the being in his arms might disappear if he loosened his grip. Sensing the change in pressure, Sa-yoon spoke again.

“Han Geon-joo. I asked why you are here.”

Wondering why the person he had thrown to Mijeong was now rolling around on top of corpses with him, Sa-yoon pressed for an answer and stood up from the monster’s carcass. No, to be precise, he tried to stand up.

If only someone, who had only managed to push his upper body off the ground, wasn’t clinging to him so tightly.

His body, which had been trying to get up, lurched forward once. The one who had caused it all now held onto him with even greater strength, as if stubbornly refusing to let him fall.

“The hell?”

The one he had been rolling around with still hadn’t let go of his waist. His eyes, the blue light within them not yet faded, narrowed.

“What are you doing, not letting go?”

“…”

“Han Geon-joo?”

“…”

“…Geon-joo?”

What the hell is wrong with this bastard?

Sa-yoon tilted his head, taking in Geon-joo’s blank, almost idiotic expression. Then, with a suspicious hand, he touched the one remaining earring. He was the one wearing the Siren’s Earring, so why was Han Geon-joo making that face? That was the kind of expression people made when they were entranced by a Siren.

Don’t tell me he was hit by some kind of mental attack?

He looked towards Mijeong, wondering if something had happened while he was fighting the swamp monster. He had considered her a guardian of sorts and entrusted the kid to her, so he shot her a fierce glare, baffled that this was the result. The woman waved her fan as if to say she was just as flabbergasted and shook her head. It was her way of saying she had no responsibility for Geon-joo’s strange state.

If not Mijeong, then was it Lee Han’s doing?

His head turned. Lee Han frowned, professing his innocence. In that case, the only one left was…

Squeeze.

“…”

Sa-yoon stopped his gaze as it was moving towards Ho-cheol. The grip on his waist tightened even more. At this point, he had to wonder if Geon-joo’s goal was to suffocate him.

Seriously, what’s wrong with him?

He looked like a baby animal trying desperately not to be separated from its parent. It was a world away from his demeanor in the Field, where he would reluctantly and loosely embrace him even when told to hold on, his face full of distaste.

He’s not the type to like skinship that much either.

The only contact he had experienced with Geon-joo was being held in his arms. And that was mostly him holding Geon-joo for the sake of transportation. For that same person to suddenly start clinging to him like a sloth was strange. Wondering if something had really happened, he grabbed his cheek and, out of habit, made him meet his eyes. Remembering that he had lost his sight, Sa-yoon clicked his tongue.

“Did something happen to you?”

When he pressed for details, the man lifted his eyelids. He was a blind man who couldn’t see, yet he still bothered to open his eyes. I couldn’t understand his reasoning.

“I asked if something happened.”

When I pressed him again, his red lips finally opened. For the first time, I focused on the shape of his mouth, trying to see what I couldn’t hear.

But reading lips was not an easy task.

Why is he talking so fast?

Han Geon-joo wasn’t the type to slow down his pronunciation out of consideration for me, so it was difficult to understand him speaking at a normal speed.

“What are you saying? Say it so I can understand.”

I scrunched up my face and squeezed his cheeks. Finally, the man burst into a small laugh. Then he pressed his head against my chest, his arms wrapping even more tightly around my waist.

“Has this bastard lost his mind?”

He must have taken the wrong kind of drug.

I whipped my head around, scanning the area. I had to find out what had made him act so strangely.

Is it because of the specter corpses? Or, has he lost his mind from being blind for too long? Fuck. This bastard’s mentality is made of glass, so that’s plausible. No, in that case, why did she drop the kid I told her to protect?

I didn’t think Mijeong-noona was like that, but she’s so heartless.

My internal evaluation of the innocent Mijeong plummeted. I had cleared countless Gates and accumulated countless experiences, but this was the first time I had been in such a state inside a Gate. I could feel Mijeong, Ho-cheol, and Lee Han staring at us openly, fascinated. I whipped my head around and shot them a glare that said, ‘What are you looking at?’ before sighing.

After living as a hunter for eleven years, there were still new things to experience. If the situation wasn’t so shitty, I might have found it a little more fascinating.

“Han Geon-joo.”

Unsure how to deal with him, I eventually stood up using brute force. Since one leech was stuck to me, I had to put twice as much strength into my legs as usual.

As I stood up, Han Geon-joo was pulled up along with me. He was now standing, still stuck to me. It was absurd, how he was clinging to me without any regard for his own size.

“You and I are going to have a talk when we get out.”

I needed to find out what had turned my brat into a real brat. I gave him a menacing warning, and I felt a tremor from his chest.

“…Are you crying?”

Worried for some reason, I checked his face, only to freeze at what I saw. He was smiling. A cryptic expression, where I couldn’t tell if he was smiling out of joy or just pretending to. Then, his lips opened. This time, his pronunciation was slow and clear.

‘Keep me by your side.’

I mimicked the shape of his mouth as he slowly enunciated each syllable and tilted my head.

Was he anxious?

I thought maybe he was acting this way because I had left him, a blind man, alone for a long period. Given Han Geon-joo’s mentality, it was plausible he would get anxious in that amount of time. Having reached my own conclusion, I clicked my tongue, held him, and properly embraced him.

“Do I have to carry you around in a baby sling at my age, pretty boy?”

It’s not like he’s an actual infant. Acting all needy just because I left him alone for a bit.

Was there some kind of change of heart?

The Han Geon-joo I knew was not one to openly show his anxiety and act all cute like this, even if he was feeling it. He would have just kept it to himself. A memory from a year ago suddenly came to mind. I wondered if this was another trick to test me and studied his face, but he was saying something again with a dumbfounded expression. He was in the middle of a tirade, but I still couldn’t understand him.

Seeing how angry he is, this isn’t a trick.

There was a subtle commonality when Han Geon-joo was trying to pull a fast one.

First, he would smile slyly. As if showing off his good looks, he would let the corners of his eyes crinkle and make a scammer-like expression. That was the signal of a trick. And second, he would speak in a gentle, sweet voice. That was impossible to confirm right now due to my loss of hearing. Lastly, he never revealed his raw emotions.

His laughter was a front, and his anger was just an act. The way he was grumbling and showing his childish side now was far from a trick. I went through the checklist in my mind and, relieved, I slung him over my shoulder and left the specter corpses behind. Ho-cheol approached, laughing and spouting words I couldn’t understand. Even in a muted state, his characteristic hearty laugh seemed to pierce through all laws of physics and reach me. I frowned and opened my mouth.

“Stop laughing and focus on the battle. It’s not over—”

Yet. I was about to finish that sentence, but I stopped, my eyes fixed on Ho-cheol. There was a large hole in his shoulder. A hole that hadn’t been there just a moment ago.

Next, a black beam of light shot out and pierced Ho-cheol’s neck. The surprised man’s eyes went wide. He choked a few times and then fell into the swamp. I stared at Ho-cheol with a rigid gaze, then slowly turned my head and looked in the direction the black beam had come from.

A robed skeleton. A skeleton holding a staff embedded with an amethyst was floating in the air, a kilometer away, watching our party. Its robe fluttered, revealing the face within.

White bone. And in the black cavity of its eye sockets, an ominous purple light.

The reason this Gate was called the Specter Swamp.

The undead that defied the flow of life, summoning and controlling the dead.

It was a Lich.