Her eyes welled up with tears.
Even when she was coldly scolded for wasting minerals, Esther couldn't stop crying. It wasn't simply sadness. Frustration, fear, and several other emotions were tangled together in those tears.
"What did you say?!"
Esther was stunned when she realized that Kim Giryeo had been starving this entire time.
At the same time, anger surged up inside her.
If he had told her from the beginning that there wasn't enough food for two people to share, she would never have accepted it so easily. She would have tried to give some back, no matter what!
Did that man hate even the idea of arguing over food out of concern?
He was terrifyingly rational.
And selfish at the same time.
"No! Someone who's already suffering from aftereffects..."
Even loan sharks don't create debts without the other party's consent.
So how could that person do something this cruel?
***
What?
Why are you crying?
Wait, don't tell me...
Are you crying because you feel guilty about eating all the food by yourself?
"Huh."
I was taken aback when Esther suddenly burst into tears.
At the same time, I couldn't help but marvel at the kindness of Earth creatures.
Who would have imagined that she could be so selfless that she'd feel miserable simply because she hadn't been considerate enough of someone else?
"If it were me, I'd have shaken them down first to see whether they were hiding any more food..."
Gasp.
If even half of modern Alphaurns had been like Esther, the planet might not have ended up in such ruins.
"Hmm."
Anyway, I felt a little bad interrupting her while she was sobbing, but there was actually a perfectly good reason why I hadn't eaten.
First of all, my body functioned far more efficiently than that of primitive humans, allowing me to remain active for long periods on very little energy.
More importantly, I had already determined the dungeon's full length near the beginning of the expedition.
At first, no matter how much I sharpened my senses, I couldn't detect anything unusual, and I thought we might really be in trouble.
But after roughly four more hours of walking, the boss entity finally entered my detection range.
That was on the first day.
'This body would take at least three weeks to starve to death, so I'm well within the safe zone.'
My original estimate for clearing the dungeon had been five to seven days.
But because that S-rank Hunter had carried me and sprinted several times along the way, even that estimate had been shortened considerably.
By now, the boss was only a few hours away.
That was why I knew for certain that I wasn't going to starve to death.
And that was why I had given up my share of the food.
"Uhm."
Sniff.
But Esther had burst into tears as though it were the saddest thing in the world.
She would probably calm down if I told her that the dungeon would be cleared soon.
Unfortunately, doing that would require revealing detection abilities far beyond anything Earthlings possessed.
'Come to think of it, clearing the Magic Tower's labyrinth that way was pretty reckless.'
So I had no choice but to remain silent.
Besides, this wasn't the only thing I felt guilty about when it came to my fellow raider.
"Ahem."
A few minutes later, while we were walking, I cautiously glanced at Esther beside me and suggested taking a short break at the next fountain.
While she cooled her swollen eyes with the fountain water, I stepped a short distance away.
"Cough, cough—! Ahem. Keheum!"
As the forced coughing probably made obvious, this was a method I'd devised to buy myself some rest whenever my stamina began to run low by pretending I was still sick.
No matter how efficiently I managed my energy, this body simply couldn't match the physical capabilities of an S-rank.
After walking continuously for several hours, an unavoidable limit was bound to come.
"Oh, my legs are numb."
At first, I had complained about being trapped at the exact moment when the side effects of the [Sacred Tree Seedling] began to manifest.
But after giving it some thought, I realized that this was actually rather convenient.
The hemoptysis had stopped long ago.
By openly pretending that I was still in poor condition, I could naturally avoid situations that might expose my true physical abilities—such as sprinting.
"No matter what, I absolutely have to hide the fact that I'm only F-rank."
Phew.
I let out a small sigh and returned to the fountain.
There, I found Esther looking considerably calmer.
Whether she was hungry or simply had too much on her mind, she had fallen silent again.
But that silence wouldn't last much longer anyway.
A few hours later, we finally reached the end of the seemingly endless tunnel.
"Wait a moment, Hunter Esther."
"Yes?"
"Over there. Beneath the ground. There's something else—a monster. Its energy feels stronger than that of ordinary monsters... Could this be—?"
Boom, boom, boom!
The finger I'd been pointing forward slowly lowered at the deafening noise.
Before I could even finish my sentence, Esther launched an attack.
She clearly possessed no magic specialized for close combat.
And yet, with nothing more than a straight punch, she split the ground apart and shattered the surrounding terrain.
The shockwave alone instantly obliterated the monsters lurking underground, cutting off their screams before they could even finish.
And just as expected, among them was the boss of the F-rank gate.
The same one I'd detected earlier.
Woong.
At last, accompanied by that familiar glow of light, the exit appeared before us.
Finally.
At long last!
"Huh?"
Even I, who had already estimated the dungeon's length, felt relieved.
So how much more excited must she have been?
"Oh my, oh my, oh my!"
The moment Esther saw the newly formed exit, she reacted with almost comical disbelief.
"Oh! I'm not dreaming right now, am I? My God, Giryeo! We're alive! We really made it out alive! How did we even survive a nightmare like this?"
Without warning, Esther grabbed my hand and sprinted toward the passage ahead.
Honestly, I didn't feel the same desperate urge to escape.
But as an F-rank, how was I supposed to resist being dragged along by an S-rank?
"Huh?"
"Gasp!"
"They're here!"
The instant my eyes reflexively shut against the glare of stepping from the dark passage into a brightly lit room, an explosion of voices struck my ears.
"Guild Leader!"
"Oh my God, CEO!"
"Hunter Kim Giryeo!"
It turned out that the exit had formed in exactly the same place as the gate entrance we'd originally used.
When I opened my eyes, I found a large number of heavily armed Hunters standing before us.
They weren't exactly walking around with their affiliations written across their foreheads, so I couldn't identify them at a glance.
But given the circumstances, most of them were probably members of the Korean Magic Tower.
"CEO, are you okay?"
Amid the solemn crowd, a familiar face stepped forward.
It was the Korean Magic Tower's personal secretary.
With a trembling voice, they began summarizing everything that had happened outside.
On the first day we became trapped inside the F-rank gate, the Korean Magic Tower personnel outside had discovered that the dungeon entrance had suddenly disappeared.
From that moment onward, they had desperately searched for a solution, running around in every direction to find some way to resolve the situation.
"If you'd been even a little later, a missing-person report would've aired on the nine o'clock news tonight!"
The Hunters gathered here appeared to be a reserve force prepared for any possible emergency.
After all, as had just been demonstrated, there was a high chance that the gate's exit would open in the same location where the entrance had originally appeared.
"Everyone worked hard. Write up a report on everything that happened outside and have it on my desk by the weekend. Wait, what day is it today?"
"It's Thursday, boss."
It was over.
Thus, our dungeon exploration had finally come to an end after a total of...
approximately four days and one second.
While Esther spoke with the guild members, I turned my head and glanced out the window of the representative's office.
The spring weather looked no different from when we'd entered the dungeon.
No.
Come to think of it, summer would be here soon.
"_ _"
Though shaken by the unexpected incident, the Guild Leader of the Korean Magic Tower quickly regained her composure, as befitted someone responsible for leading an organization.
And once she did, she began reassuring the tense guild members around her.
"—Step, step."
However, when someone approached her, she stopped speaking and turned around.
"Esther-ssi, please have everyone step back for a moment."
"Yes?"
My sudden request caught Esther off guard, and she blinked in surprise.
Fortunately, it didn't take her long to decide.
"Oh my, everyone. Now that I think about it, I haven't even washed properly yet, have I? In that case, let's postpone this emotional reunion for about three hours. You'll probably want some time to change into casual clothes too."
Now that the distractions had been cleared away, it was time to wrap things up on my side as well.
"...Here. Is this far enough? Hmm, by the way, why did you suddenly ask the guild members to step back?"
Only a few hours earlier, I had been confident that I could endure just fine without that insignificant amount of food.
Apparently, my calculations had been slightly off.
Perhaps the aftereffects of the hemoptysis had drained more of my strength than expected.
My eyelids had felt heavy for some time now.
Holding my trembling eye muscles steady, I straightened my posture and explained what I needed.
"My arm."
"Yes?"
"I've already adjusted it so the needle can go in easily. So you don't need to waste an expensive potion—just give me any kind of nutrient supplement for now..."
It was an incomplete explanation.
But it was the best I could manage.
Immediately afterward, my body finally reached its limit.
And I lost consciousness.
***
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a familiar ceiling.
"Hunter Kim Giryeo!"
The Korean Magic Tower's recovery room.
I was lying on the same reclining sofa Seonwoo Yeon had used during the Labyrinth of the 13th Month.
My first thought was an utterly mundane one.
This sofa really was comfortable.
The second thing I noticed was the dull ache spread throughout my body.
An IV line had been inserted into my right arm, slowly dripping yellow vitamin solution into my bloodstream.
"Giryeo-ssi, are you awake?"
By the way, was it really acceptable for the head of an entire guild to waste her time sitting here?
The curse sorcerer, who seemed to have been keeping watch beside me until I woke up, immediately rose from the small chair.
Even after turning my head, I couldn't see anyone else in the room.
"Don't worry. I know that nothing good would come from people finding out that an S-rank Awakened collapsed. I sent all the guild members away and only brought in one healer I can genuinely trust."
"Aha."
"The only people who know Giryeo-ssi passed out are me and that healer."
I'd left out quite a few words because I had been in a hurry, but fortunately, she seemed to have interpreted my intentions correctly.
Right.
Bluffing only worked if no one knew your weaknesses.
Why would I advertise one voluntarily?
"Anyway, living as a swindler really isn't easy."
I stared at the crook of my elbow where the needle had been inserted, then slowly raised my upper body.
"You're going to leave as soon as you wake up?"
At that moment, Esther's voice came from the chair beside the sofa.
"No. I only sat up because I felt stiff."
"Really?"
She hesitated for a long time, looking like someone who had something she wanted to say.
For a moment, I wondered whether she was about to charge me for the IV drip.
"...Anyway, thank you for what you did in the dungeon."
What she said next was completely different from what I'd expected.
The S-rank curse sorcerer lowered her head deeply before someone far weaker than herself.
"Thank you for being considerate of me."
Esther turned her gaze aside.
At the end of her line of sight were someone's blue veins and a cold needle.
Drip.
Drip.
For a long time, she silently watched the IV fluid trickle through the tube.
And at that moment, I understood.
"Aha."
It hadn't been intentional.
But somehow, I'd ended up making the Guild Leader of the Korean Magic Tower owe me an enormous debt.
Esther must genuinely have believed that her life had been in danger inside that F-rank dungeon.
And the various side effects I'd suffered had, at least outwardly, looked severe enough to be potentially fatal.
'Did Esther think I risked my life and gave up my food for her?'
Considering the nature of a curse sorcerer, there was a very high chance that she would readily agree to future requests in order to repay that debt.
"Oh!"
Of course, asking for a trillion won in exchange for a few snacks would be a little excessive.
"Honestly, if I got down on my knees and begged, she might actually give it to me... but I can't guarantee what our relationship would look like afterward."
I didn't want to buy a lung at the current inflated price.
After all, depending on someone's whim, dragons might suddenly become common in the near future.
'A dragon's nest is basically bait that naturally draws Hunters in, so there's no need to worry about the supply disappearing.'
I decided to keep the debt the guild leader owed me as a hidden trump card and take my time deciding how to use it.
An opportunity to freely ask an S-rank for favors wasn't something that could easily be purchased, no matter how much wealth someone possessed.
So wouldn't it be better to remain cautious instead of hastily converting it into material gain?
'What is this, a windfall?'
Of course, it wasn't as though I was suddenly going to need some once-in-a-lifetime favor from a powerhouse anytime soon.
Still, this was more than enough compensation for having exposed the weakness related to the Sacred Tree.