Chapter 20

The team members quietly started eating the food they had taken out from their inventory.

“…No matter how I think about it, I think I’m right. Don’t you think so, Team Leader?”

At the conspiracy theorist’s rebellion, Hajun scoffed.

“Nonsense. If the dungeon had respawned from the start, monsters would have attacked us as soon as we entered.”

Dungeon monsters felt killing intent upon seeing humans and attacked regardless of whether the hunter’s abilities were stronger or weaker.

Especially around the gate, where monsters respawned first in the dungeon.

“…You’re right.”

“Isn’t it?”

With the conspiracy dispelled, peace returned to the grassy area.

Watching the team mechanically shove picnic food into their mouths, Hajun tapped the sleeping Lee Cheongmyeong’s cheek.

“Cheongmyeong.”

“Umm.”

As Lee Cheongmyeong stirred in his sleep, Hajun gently tapped his cheek again.

“You need to eat.”

Although the monsters were only B-rank, killing all the monsters in the dungeon would take a lot of time.

Seeing that the time on his watch was well past lunchtime, clearing the dungeon would likely take them past dinner time.

‘I can’t let him go hungry until dinner.’

Concerned not just for the other hunters’ stamina but for the growing child, Hajun kept trying to wake the drowsy Lee Cheongmyeong.

“Hing, Jun.”

“You need to eat. Let’s get up.”

“Food?”

Rubbing his eyes with tiny fists, Lee Cheongmyeong seemed more tired than expected and started dozing off again.

Hajun pointed to the rice balls Ahn Eunseon had packed.

“Give me that.”

After disinfecting his hands and wiping them again with a wet tissue, Hajun split a rice ball.

“Cheongmyeong.”

“Hing.”

Waking the child up slightly by shaking him, Hajun tapped his lips with the small rice ball.

“Open your mouth.”

“Ah.”

In his sleepy state, Cheongmyeong opened his mouth, and Hajun put the rice ball in.

“Um.”

Chewing the rice ball unconsciously, Cheongmyeong seemed annoyed by something in his mouth or moved by instinct.

When he was about to fall back asleep, Hajun shook him and pushed in another rice ball. Watching this, Ahn Eunseon exclaimed in admiration.

“As expected, a guardian!”

“Be quiet and cut the sandwiches.”

“Yes, sir!”

As small pieces of sandwich, cold pasta, and rice balls went into the little bird-like mouth, Cheongmyeong slowly woke up and opened his eyes.

“Jun…ing?”

While chewing his food, Cheongmyeong blinked awake, and Hajun pulled out a straw from his inventory.

“Drink some water.”

Now fully awake, Cheongmyeong blinked.

“Did you sleep well, Cheongmyeong?”

Ahn Eunseon approached with a sly grin.

Not liking to see Ahn Eunseon’s face first thing after waking up, Cheongmyeong turned his head and buried it in Hajun’s chest.

“Why are you like this when I’m feeding him?”

Pushing Ahn Eunseon’s face away, Hajun gently shook Cheongmyeong and said,

“Cheongmyeong, let’s eat more.”

“Ugh.”

Awake but still sulky from being scolded earlier, Cheongmyeong reluctantly opened his mouth.

Do Hajun chuckled softly at the sight, then popped a rice ball into the child’s mouth and patted his back.

“Eat this, then let’s go play.”

“Play?”

“Yes. We need to go play in the dungeon before we head home. But remember, you can’t go alone like earlier. Got it?”

“Mm. Yes, I won’t.”

Hajun patted Lee Cheongmyeong’s head and nodded.

Although his heart sank for a moment, thinking about the ups and downs of life, he was certain that Cheongmyeong wouldn’t wander off alone in any dungeon after this incident.

“Cheongmyeong, have some grapes too.”

“Thank you.”

As Cheongmyeong bowed his head slightly while accepting the grapes, Hajun spoke.

“Cheongmyeong.”

“Yes?”

“We’re going to teach some bad guys a lesson.”

“Bad guys?”

Cheongmyeong tilted his head, cheeks puffed with grapes, prompting the team members to cheer softly.

“So cute! Too cute!”

“Smash that dungeon!”

“Where’s my phone?! I need to record this!”

When Hajun glared at the team members filming the scene, they waved their hands as if urging him to continue.

‘Those idiots.’

He sighed lightly, wondering what sins from a past life had led him to deal with such fools.

Hajun pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped Cheongmyeong’s mouth.

“You got scolded earlier, right?”

“Mm.”

Seeing Cheongmyeong’s sullen expression, Hajun kissed the top of his head.

“There are bad kids here who don’t listen.”

“Don’t listen?”

“Yes, so we’re going to teach them a lesson.”

As Hajun spoke, Ahn Eunseon, who was filming with her phone, raised her hand.

Instead of saying, “Isn’t teaching a lesson too bloody?” she opted for a more appropriate comment.

“That doesn’t seem right.”

“Then you explain.”

“Uh, um, how should I put it?”

Ahn Eunseon looked at Jeon Seohyun, who shook her head, while Yoo Mia chimed in first.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, there must be a good way to say it.”

Ignoring Ahn Eunseon, Hajun kissed Cheongmyeong’s head again.

“This can only be done in the dungeon.”

“Teach them?”

“Yes.”

Given that Cheongmyeong would never fight monsters outside the dungeon due to the public scrutiny, it was safe to say that what they were about to do was a dungeon-exclusive lesson.

“Cheongmyeong, since you’re still a kid, just watch what the aunts do, okay?”

“Yes!”

Hajun ruffled Cheongmyeong’s hair and gave him another bite of food.

“Yummy.”

“Eat a lot.”

Cheongmyeong smiled brightly at Hajun and reached for the lunchbox.

“Why? What do you want to eat?”

“That.”

Cheongmyeong pointed to a sausage cut into the shape of an octopus.

When Hajun brought it to his lips, Cheongmyeong grabbed it.

Thinking Cheongmyeong wanted to eat it himself, Hajun let go, but Cheongmyeong brought the sausage to Hajun’s mouth.

“You eat too.”

“Oh my, are you giving this to me?!”

“Wow, I’m so jealous.”

“This must be why people have kids.”

Hajun took a small bite of the sausage Cheongmyeong offered and put the rest into his mouth.

“Thank you.”

“Hee.”

[Cheongmyeong is delighted.]

[Cheongmyeong’s affection increases with the guardian’s loving gratitude.]

[Affection: 20 ▲10]

[Increased affection boosts resistance to status abnormalities.]

[Status abnormality resistance: 5%]

“Wow.”

Hajun was impressed by the unexpected explanation about affection.

Currently, Cheongmyeong was affected by a status abnormality.

If the resistance increased, there was a chance the status could be lifted without needing to fight a monster.

“What is it?”

Ahn Eunseon asked about Hajun’s sudden exclamation.

Instead of explaining about the affection, Hajun shook his head.

“Nothing. Did you finish eating?”

“Yes!”

“Yes.”

“Then clean up your spots.”

While the team members tidied up swiftly, Hajun called Cheongmyeong.

“We’re leaving soon, so don’t go off alone like before.”

“Okay!”

Hajun set Cheongmyeong down, who nodded so vigorously that he almost lost his balance, and pulled out a Dungeon gadget from his inventory.

Activating the downloaded dungeon map, it displayed their current location.

They weren’t far from where the boss was known to be.

“Are we going to kill all the monsters?”

“We have to.”

Leaving monsters in the dungeon speeds up its respawn time.

Therefore, hunters clearing a dungeon ensured no monsters were left behind.

“Put me down. I want to see that.”

Cheongmyeong pointed to a flower-filled meadow.

Seeing it was close by and feeling proud of Cheongmyeong for asking permission, Hajun carefully set him down, and he started watching the flowers.

“Should we explore?”

“No, I’ll do it.”

Hajun pulled a beetle-shaped device from his inventory and threw it into the sky.

The beetle’s eyes turned red as it flew up until it was out of sight.

“Not as many as I thought.”

Red dots began appearing on the map, clustered near the boss’s room, indicating the dungeon was in a respawn state.

“Guess it wasn’t really a conspiracy. Damn.”

Muttering, Yoo Mia’s complaint made Hajun turn off the Dungeon gadget screen.

They needed to defeat the boss before more monsters respawned.

“Cheongmyeong, come here.”

“Okay!”

Cheongmyeong’s hands were covered in dirt from playing, so Hajun wiped them with a wet wipe.

“Jeon Seohyun will lead. Yoo Mia will support. Ahn Eunseon , you take the rear.”

“What about Cheongmyeong?”

“He’ll stay with me.”

Ahn Eunseon pouted, likely expecting to be in charge of Cheongmyeong since she was assigned to the rear.

“Can you walk?”

“Mm? Yes!”

Do Hajun put down Lee Cheongmyeong and drew his sword.

Although he felt uneasy about setting Lee Cheongmyeong down, fighting while holding him would be even more problematic.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

“Yoo Mia! To the left!”

“Team leader!”

He swung his sword at the charging rabbit monster.

As the rabbit monster, now dead, fell to the ground with a scream, Do Hajun brushed back his disheveled hair and looked at Lee Cheongmyeong.

The environment wasn’t suitable for a child, but Lee Cheongmyeong seemed completely unfazed.

“I did it!”

“We did it!”

Holding Yoo Mia’s hand, Lee Cheongmyeong hopped over to Do Hajun, inspecting him all over.

“Are you hurt?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s great!”

Lee Cheongmyeong hugged Do Hajun’s leg tightly and beamed.

Unlike other hunters who fought with abilities, Do Hajun fought physically, which seemed to amaze Lee Cheongmyeong more with each battle.

“Team leader, there’s no boss here.”

Jeon Seohyun, who had gone ahead to scout for the boss, returned with a frown.

“What? No boss?”

“Yes, the area is completely empty.”

Do Hajun pulled out his Dungeon Gagdget.

The current map, which previously showed monsters, now had no red dots left.

“Hmm, maybe the boss hasn’t respawned yet? Or could it be one of the state-created monsters?”

Yoo Mia, the conspiracy theorist, perked up.

‘It doesn’t make sense for only regular monsters to respawn without the boss.’

Unless there were still monsters left when they cleared it, typically, a dungeon’s boss monster would respawn first.

“If there are monsters near the boss, it means the boss has respawned.”

“Let’s move in that direction.”

“Yes.”

As the team members nodded, Do Hajun spoke to the silently bright-eyed Lee Cheongmyeong.

“Cheongmyeong, let’s go.”

“I’ll lead the way!”

Lee Cheongmyeong let go of Do Hajun’s leg and started running towards Yoo Mia.

At that moment, the grass near Lee Cheongmyeong rustled violently, and a large figure jumped out.

“Ah! Cheongmyeong!!”

“Lee Cheongmyeong!!”