“What?”
Seo Jaewon froze, shocked by the nonsense he just heard.
He overcame his fear and turned his head.
The guy was looking at him with a brazen face and sparkling eyes.
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about now?”
“Isn’t it true? I have a lot of things I want to do with you now.”
‘This is workplace sexual harassment, man!’
Seo Jaewon felt goosebumps crawl up his skin.
“Are you crazy? Why would I do that with you, of all people!”
“Of all people?”
Joo Youngha’s eyebrow twitched.
He looked like he was about to say something because he was unhappy, but Hwi Sara cut in faster.
“I’ll step aside, Jaewon.”
Hwi Sara spoke with a reluctant voice.
“What’s a knight anyway… You just take him.”
“What?”
“It’s better than you running away.”
In her eyes, there was a look of pity that was hard to describe.
“Noona…!”
Seo Jaewon covered his mouth with his hand without realizing it.
‘No, I’m not running away! But thank you so much…!’
For a while, the two of them exchanged looks filled with deep gratitude and strong camaraderie.
Only Joo Youngha became grumpy again.
He had a frown on his handsome forehead as if he were dissatisfied, but Seo Jaewon didn’t notice because he was relieved to be free from the scary situation.
Anyway, it seemed like they needed to meet the King for anything to start.
According to the portrait, the dungeon core was embedded in the crown.
However, meeting the King was not easy.
“Sit up straight, Joo Youngha. You’re going to fall.”
Seo Jaewon scolded Joo Youngha in a low voice so others wouldn’t hear.
“It’s a bother…”
Joo Youngha whined, but he straightened his posture on the horse.
Just by doing that, he looked like an elegant silhouette that came out of a painting.
Not only the black jacket that emphasized his slim waist, but also the white pants and long boots suited Joo Youngha perfectly.
He wore white gloves on the hands holding the reins, and even that didn’t look silly; it looked natural.
His hair, neatly combed back, was quite different from his usual relaxed appearance.
With his wide white forehead revealed, the mole under his left eye and his bored eyes stood out even more.
He looked exactly like a neat prince out for a hunt.
“You can do it when you try, but every time…”
“Do you want me to do everything I’m capable of doing?”
There was a smile on his lips, but his gaze was calm and cold, as if he were piercing through Seo Jaewon. Seo Jaewon flinched.
“Huh?”
“Really, anything?”
‘…Why are you acting like this? You’re making me nervous!’
Joo Youngha stared at the frozen Seo Jaewon and spoke slowly.
“It’s a joke.”
He said that and then rode his horse away to another spot.
Seo Jaewon watched his back with a stunned feeling.
‘Was he being cranky just now?’
He wondered if he was overthinking it, but now that he thought about it, Joo Youngha had been acting like this ever since they joined up with Hwi Sara.
“The, Prince.”
“The, Prince, Is, Here.”
Nearby, the sound of shadow people whispering could be heard.
They were a group sitting under a tent at the entrance of the forest, just passing around wine glasses.
“Hunt, Ing, For, Once.”
“How, Gal, Lant.”
It was a conversation with some context, but if you listened closely, the same conversation repeated several times.
“The, Prince.”
“The, Prince, Is, Here.”
“Hunt, Ing, For, Once.”
Moreover, if Seo Jaewon went close, they would stop talking and just stare blankly.
Because it was creepy, Seo Jaewon was avoiding unnecessary contact with the shadows.
However, the reason they were out at this social gathering was all because of the King.
They had tried various things using Joo Youngha, who played the role of the prince, but they hadn’t even seen a glimpse of the King yet.
According to the garbled talk of the shadows, the King was in poor health and didn’t meet anyone.
That incredibly fancy locked door was the King’s bedroom.
They said it had been tightly closed and hadn’t opened for a long time…
He could definitely feel a presence inside.
Between the portrait in front of the door and everything else, it was a suspicious place no matter who looked at it.
But whenever they lingered in front of the bedroom to investigate, soldiers would always come running.
Even when Joo Youngha gave orders, they would not open the door.
Still, it wasn’t like they had no results.
After testing in different ways, it seemed the number of shadow people was not infinite.
That made sense if you thought of them as dungeon monsters.
Actually, when Hwi Sara turned into a bear to draw attention, it took a bit more time for the soldiers to appear in front of the King’s bedroom.
In the end, this was the plan they came up with: while everyone in the castle was focused on an event like a hunt, someone would look for a way to sneak in.
“Counting the servants, is it about a hundred…? It seems like almost all the shadows came out.”
Seo Jaewon looked at the soldiers around him out of the corner of his eye and rode his horse into the forest along with the shadows.
Of course, in reality, it would be impossible to leave the palace empty for an event like this.
Since this was a world imitated by a dungeon, it was actually easier that it was a bit clumsy.
And Joo Youngha really looked like he didn’t have a care in the world…
“Oh, My.”
When Joo Youngha casually tucked his hair behind his ear, the shadow people watching him while fluttering their fans pretended to faint with their hands on their foreheads.
Even though Seo Jaewon was wearing a similar riding outfit, the reaction was completely different from when they looked at him.
‘Hey, you guys don’t even have faces, but you’re still picking based on looks!’
“Youngha is the same wherever he goes.”
HHwi Saul rode his brown horse over to his side.
He whispered quite naturally without moving his lips much.
“Myeong-hoon left just now.”
“Hmm, that’s a relief.”
Seo Jaewon also replied while pretending to stroke the horse’s mane to avoid the gaze of the shadows.
HHwi Saul was given the role of a noble.
He said he didn’t really know what the position did, but it was likely a position where he didn’t have to do much.
“And I heard a rumor…”
“You get along well with the shadows, hyung. It wasn’t easy to talk to them.”
“Haha. It’s not much different from talking to Sara.”
HHwi Saul said with a bright smile.
It was a comment that would have made Hwi Sara furious if she heard it, but fortunately, she was a bit far away.
“They say there was a rebellion recently. Many people died.”
“A rebellion.”
It could be a setting created by the dungeon, but it might also be a story related to the previous attack team.
The dungeon hadn’t reset even after they disappeared.
“…Any traces of the people who came in before us?”
HHwi Saul quietly shook his head.
Seo Jaewon decided not to ask further.
“It can’t be helped. We just have to hope Esper Ji Myunghoon does well.”
The plan was simple.
While everyone’s attention was focused here, Esper Ji Myunghoon would infiltrate.
It wasn’t because he was a great master of infiltration.
It was just because he was a person whose absence from this place would feel natural.
Joo Youngha, the prince, and his knight, Seo Jaewon, had to stay here.
The same went for the noble HHwi Saul, and Hwi Sara, who took the role of a maid, was busy running around working.
Min Yoomin… was in the role of a guest from some foreign country, so the language didn’t work.
He was frustrated too; it seemed like whatever he said sounded like a foreign language to others.
The only one left was Ji Myunghoon, who received the role of the court jester.
Since there was no need for a fire show at the hunting ground, he didn’t need to be here.
“Will you be okay?”
HHwi Saul, who was looking at Seo Jaewon, suddenly spoke.
“Yes?”
“I heard he was your mentor. I thought maybe you’d want to look for the team that came in first a bit more…”
“No, clearing the dungeon comes first for now.”
He was worried, but he came in prepared for that from the start.
Behind them, the sound of a horn signaled the start of the hunt.
People began to ride out.
“Let’s head out too.”
Seo Jaewon started his horse immediately.
He put an arrow to the string and aimed at the target.
He felt the resistance of the tightly pulled string.
Seo Jaewon held his breath and timed it.
A shadow deer that was looking around lowered its neck and began to graze on the grass.
Now.
Zing—
The arrow Seo Jaewon shot flew in a sharp line and struck the neck of the deer eating grass.
The deer tried to run away too late, but it collapsed after only a few steps.
“Phew…”
Seo Jaewon relaxed his shoulders and lowered his bow.
“Wow.”
“How, Won, Der, Ful!”
He heard exclamations of admiration from the nobles nearby.
It was the same mechanical reaction every time.
Whenever Seo Jaewon hit something, the onlookers clapped with the same lines and expressions. Even the number of claps was the same.
When the woman on the left said “Wow” in admiration, the servant next to her clapped four times.
Then the next person would whistle and say, “How, Won, Der, Ful!”
It felt a bit gross, but anyway, it seemed he was doing well.
“That’s the 4th one…”
He had intended to just pretend so that those around him wouldn’t be suspicious, but for some reason, he ended up focusing.
‘This is a habit too.’
Once he’s given a task, he gets too absorbed in it…
It was because the kid who used to be called “diligent but lacking tact” had grown into an adult without changing.
It was also thanks to the fact that he fundamentally liked moving his body.
Since it was his first time using a bow, he missed even tree stumps at first, but now that he had learned the knack of it, it was quite fun.
Of course, it wasn’t that Seo Jaewon was a lost talent of the archery world; it seemed to be a correction effect of the dungeon.
Once he shot, the arrow generally flew in the right direction.
The quality of the prey wasn’t that great either.
Perhaps there was a limit to imitating living things, but just like the shadow people, their behavior was somewhat simple.
They would run away if you got closer than a certain distance, and then start grazing again after a certain amount of time or distance. It felt strangely patterned.
Thanks to that, he was glad that his reluctance to kill a creature that didn’t resist was reduced, but…
“Jaewon, you were good at shooting guns, and you’re good with a bow too.”
The actual prince, Joo Youngha, was just casually watching from the side.
“You’re good at everything useless.”
For some reason, the guy had a grumpy expression.
“What, is that a compliment?”
“Does it sound like a compliment?”
‘You’re still good at picking at me…’
He had forgotten because Joo Youngha had been acting a bit soft lately while doing his Esper work.
Besides, unlike usual, he could feel a bit of intention from this guy…
“What are you sulking about now?”
“If you know, then comfort me.”
If you just heard his voice, it sounded like he was talking nonsense as usual, but if you looked closely, his lips were pouting just a little bit more than normal.
‘Wait, are you really sulking?’
