By Zephyria 
The hunters, cheering at the successful slowing of the fruit’s ripening speed and bustling with preparations to enter, failed to notice the anomaly. Only Justina and a few guild members around her froze in shock at the unexpected situation.
Justina, who repeatedly clenched and unclenched the hand of her previously broken arm, turned to Kim Si-baek in urgency.
“Wha—what is this… You, weren’t you just a mage with a good build because your hobby is exercising? This isn’t magic, is it? Huh?!”
“The wound has healed, but please do not overdo it for the rest of the day.”
“Wait a minute! Don’t tell me this ability is how you became an S-class?!”
“Now, now, Guild Master Yu. Someone of your standing shouldn’t act this way. If you have business with Hunter Kim Si-baek, please go through me.”
“Section Chief Gwak! Who do you think you are, constantly blocking me!”
“As of today, I am his manager.”
“Since when do civil servants take on side jobs! Hey, Si-baek! Let’s have a heartfelt chat with your big sister!”
Justina called out desperately, blocked by Gwak Yun-sang, but Kim Si-baek merely gave a short nod and stepped away with quick strides. His healing ability had been discussed to some extent with Director Noh.
Before a larger commotion could break out, Kim Si-baek arrived at the parking lot entrance leading into the magic stone exchange. Tae-un and the other hunters were sharing a brief briefing.
“Teacher! We live in the same building, but for some reason, it feels like it’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”
“I’ll help you prepare. Is there anything else you need?”
Hunters from the 7777 Guild, including Seo Gae-un and Yang Eun-ho, each offered their greetings. For Kim Si-baek, the other guild members were strangers, but for them, he was not.
‘So the “Him Whose Name Cannot Be Spoken” on the company bulletin board is actually…’
‘Wait, why does he seem so close with our raid leader and the chief?’
‘You idiot. He’s living with the Guild Master, so of course they’re close.’
Beside them, who were whispering and exchanging secret glances, were members of the Gabyeolcho Guild and the Jeongmyeong Guild.
“P-p-pleased to meet you.”
The one who was so nervous her voice trembled was Lee Sarang, the successor of the Gabyeolcho Guild, whom he had met earlier at the meeting.
“Hello. I am Hwang Suho of the Jeongmyeong Guild. I heard you are an S-class who has recently started activities; if our Guild Master happened to say something out of turn, I hope you can overlook it generously. His way of speaking is rough, so he’s often misunderstood, but he is a man without malice.”
“No. On the contrary, I heard good things.”
Hwang Suho, who had greeted him with an anxious expression, looked relieved by the answer.
Kim Si-baek had noticed that the Jeongmyeong Guild Master found him displeasing, but it truly didn’t matter. His cultivation was not so shallow as to be swayed by a few sarcastic remarks, nor did it affect him in the first place. No matter how much a person decades younger than him barked in front of him, it would just feel like a puppy yapping. Though he supposed he couldn’t complain about being called an old man.
“Guild Master, please finish the briefing.”
“Hmm? A briefing? Me, who has no power?”
“….”
Seo Gae-un looked back and forth between Tae-un, who was blinking innocently, and Kim Si-baek beside him, then continued in a tone of resignation.
“Right, Oppa was a total scrub… Then the Guild Master and Teacher can take the rear again this time.”
Since they had to search for survivors in the magic stone exchange and find the core, the party decided to work their way up from the roots. They planned to explore from the basement floors to join the survivors currently located within the protective magic circle on the 2nd floor.
“The primary objective is to join them before the protective magic circle is breached; the secondary objective is to destroy the giant vine’s core within the next 8 hours and 30 minutes.”
To destroy the giant vine’s core, they first had to weaken it by removing the tentacles encroaching on the building and open a path to the main body. Removing the tentacles while searching for survivors would take considerable time.
The Gabyeolcho and Jeongmyeong Guilds would escape with the survivors rescued from the 2nd floor, and the 7777 Guild would proceed to conquer the remaining floors alone.
“The center of the attack will be our Guild Master—”
“Seo Gae-un.”
“…Rather, it will be me and my attack squad, so I ask for the understanding of everyone from Gabyeolcho and Jeongmyeong.”
Although the Gabyeolcho and Jeongmyeong Guilds were puzzled by Tae-un’s uncharacteristic decision to step back, they readily agreed. Acknowledging a powerhouse of overwhelming skill was nothing to be ashamed of.
However, this strategy was based on the premise that there would be no survivors on the 3rd floor or above. In a world where magical beasts ran rampant, the weight of a life inevitably became lighter, and Kim Si-baek swallowed a somewhat bitter emotion.
“Then, everyone please take your stabilizers, and we will depart immediately.”
These were nerve stabilizers to prevent an Id Portal from forming from a hunter during a hunt. Except for those confident in their mental management, the hunters each swallowed the medicine.
Once all preparations were complete, the raid team entered the parking lot where the stems of the giant vine were writhing.
[Death and Beauty wonders what you are thinking so deeply about.]
“Can’t you just read it?”
[Death and Beauty says if you are thinking about that person, they do not wish to read it.]
“It’s better that you don’t.”
Kim Si-baek, who had been thinking about Tae-un, rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. The conversation he had with Tae-un before the briefing at the cafe kept stirring distractingly in his mind. Well, probably not…
It was likely just his own overreaction. Moreover, regardless of what it was, he had to focus on hunting the giant vine now. He had to stop the destruction of Daejeon and the destruction of Earth.
“Kiyaaaaak!”
Thwack!
“Gah!”
Thump!
“Hwaaaak! Daddy! Save me!”
Crash!
With a tearful face and loud screams, Lee Sarang was tearing through the lunging tentacles and smashing the cars and concrete that the tentacles grabbed and threw.
“It’s really convenient when I tank with you because the aggro management is so certain.”
“G-Gae-un Unnie. I-I feel like I’m going to die of fear?!”
The giant vine has no auditory organs, but it is extremely sensitive to sound vibrations. Lee Sarang’s screams were the ultimate aggro.
With a fragile face that looked as if she might collapse from terror at any moment, Lee Sarang wailed and tore apart the flower buds just beginning to bloom from the tentacles with her transformed bare hands. The hunters, seemingly used to this, methodically removed the giant vine’s tentacles that were drawn by her screams. There was no need for the two in the rear to step in.
“You seem close with Gae-un.”
“Lee Sarang was born in Seoul about two or three months after the Great Cataclysm.”
“Ah, that means…”
“Yes. Lee Sarang is the first child born in Seoul after the Great Cataclysm. Her parents were affiliated with us, but there were no medical supplies or doctors, so she suffered a lot during birth. It was so bad that Gae-un personally cut the umbilical cord.”
If she had assisted in the birth, it was natural for her to be viewed specially.
The parking lot was navigated smoothly without anyone sustaining major injuries. However, the party’s tension did not fade. This was only the beginning.
Since the elevators would not be operational due to the giant vine’s stems, they decided to use the emergency stairs to reach the second basement level. In front of the door leading to the emergency exit, Seo Gae-un treated the injured hunters and performed a final check.
“Let me know if you need a mana recovery potion. Let’s inject the distributed medicine now. You all know that while there are spares, you shouldn’t inject too much medication in a short period, right?”
Tae-un, who had not taken the stabilizer, also took out a syringe.
“I received one for Hyung as well.”
“What kind of injection is it?”
“The giant vine has a lot of poison, right? It sprays poison powder too. It’s a reagent that blocks the giant vine’s poison to some extent, though not perfectly.”
“Ah, that?”
“But the needle is so sharp and pointed, it’s just like a magical beast’s fang, so my trau—”
“Un-ah, lean down a bit.”
Cutting off Tae-un’s mysterious feat of speaking delicately in a deep voice, Kim Si-baek beckoned with his hand.
“Lean down for what? My waist?”
“Yeah, you’ve grown too tall.”
Though tilting his head in confusion, Tae-un obediently bent his waist.
“More.”
“More?”
As he lowered himself to his knees, Tae-un’s gaze, which had been above Kim Si-baek’s head, was now looking up from below. People glanced over, wondering what he was doing instead of giving the injection.
“Hyung, I like this angle…”
Kim Si-baek, failing to notice that Tae-un’s cheeks, looking up at him for the first time in a while, were flushed a light pink, leaned his face toward him. And then, a shocking sound reached the ears of the curious onlookers.
Chu.
Neither more nor less, it was the exact sound of a specific part of the human body, moist with moisture, lightly making friction and pulling away.
“Hic.”
Even Hwang Suho could not scold the Jeongmyeong guild member for the rudeness of hiccuping out of sheer shock. Most of them were feeling similar emotions.
Nowhere in the world would someone be appalled by a mere kiss on the forehead, not even on the lips. However, the single fact that the recipient was Tae-un devoured all common sense.
Regardless, Kim Si-baek, oblivious to the gazes directed at him, kissed Tae-un’s forehead and then drew the divine script representing the underworld in front of his chest. Finally, by kissing his forehead again, the simplified blessing was completed.
Since the breath of the underworld had dwelled within him, the magical beast’s poison would not be able to invade. He shouldn’t waste his already insufficient divine power, but he naturally had to give a blessing to Tae-un.
“Since I used a type of purification, it should be fine for half a day… Un-ah?”
“….”
“U-um, you can stand up now…”
Still bent at the waist, Tae-un remained frozen as if time had stopped. What surprised Kim Si-baek even more was Tae-un’s expression, from which all emotion had vanished. It was the first time he had seen a face stripped of emotion from the boy who always showed colorful light before him, and his heart dropped.
‘There were no side effects when I first received a blessing. Is it different when used on Earth?’
Worried that something had gone wrong because of him, Kim Si-baek tried to examine Tae-un’s body, but his vision was suddenly dyed in red. As if he had been dipped in red paint and pulled out, there stood Tae-un, his face and even his neck flushed bright red as if his veins were about to burst.