Chapter 30

The moment I felt like I’d completely exposed my true colors—both guild masters had heard it.

Maybe Ayeon had known all along that Ahyuk was there when she started the conversation.

“Would you really help me if I said I wanted revenge?”

My mouth, clueless as ever, kept running.

It would’ve been better to say nothing. I clamped my hands over my mouth.

“Jiae, what’s wrong? Jiae!”

“My mouth keeps leaking weird stuff! Why is this happening? Is it because of the debuff?”

“I don’t understand why this is classified as a debuff.”

Then, out of nowhere, Lilis popped her head out.

Perching naturally on top of my head, she muttered in a grumbling tone:

“I only had a meal. Why that ends up as Jiae’s debuff is beyond me. Wrong!”

“Meal? Ah, I think I figured out why Jiae’s like this!”

“Why am I like this, exactly?”

“Your familiar ate the emotions that normally suppress your desires, and used them as food. That’s why you’re like this now. You can’t hold back—you just blurt out whatever you want to say.”

Of all the debuffs I’d ever heard of, this one took the cake.

If it were poison or burns or something obvious, fine.

But this? A disease where you throw tantrums and demand to do whatever you want?

Then came the thunderbolt of realization.

“Wait—so the things I just said weren’t random nonsense from a loose tongue, but my actual true feelings?”

“Exactly! You’re not satisfied with Do Minhak just getting his head cracked once. Deep down, you want a stronger revenge, one that leaves him with lasting trauma.”

…Was it okay to admit that I wanted to leave trauma behind in someone?

My eyes darted around awkwardly. My mouth felt ready to spill “Yes, that’s right,” any second, and holding it back was torture.

For F-ranks like me, even resisting a single debuff cost an absurd amount of energy.

And then the handsome bastard shoved his face right up to mine.

Ahyuk leaned in close, studying me carefully, ignoring any sense of personal space.

Those golden eyes were too intent, and I felt my words freeze in my throat.

I leaned my head back, overwhelmed, until Ayeon grabbed his hair and yanked him away.

“Hey, that hurts.”

“Jiae looks uncomfortable. Who stares at people that close?”

“Was that too close? Was it?”

“Yes. I honestly thought you were a lunatic.”

My honest mouth spoke my honest truth, calling him crazy to his face.

Instead of being offended, Ahyuk looked positively amused.

“Why were you so close, anyway? Interested in my face?”

“No, I—there was something I wanted to ask. Ayeon, let go of my hair.”

“Promise you won’t crowd Jiae again.”

“…Fine.”

His hair looked like a bird’s nest as he finally fixed his gaze on me.

Even with a proper distance, his golden eyes pierced straight through me.

Why stare so deeply when my mouth was already blurting everything out?

“Don’t you want to enter a dungeon?”

The question I least wanted to face struck right at me.

Of all the words I wanted to stop from escaping, this was the worst one.

“…Yes.”

And there it was.

“From today until the day we enter Uranus, we don’t get off work.”

“I don’t even clock in at the workshop normally.”

“Fine, then no more dungeon runs for you. Go with Jiae instead.”

The SS-rank twins voluntarily gave up their free time and sprinted off to their own training grounds.

Ayeon said she would train to create equipment strong enough that I wouldn’t die, even inside Uranus.

Ahyuk alone would’ve been more than enough to keep me safe, but since I was uneasy, she’d cover it with gear.

When I asked if I had to pay for that, I got thoroughly scolded.

“But seriously, this doesn’t seem right. Starting with Jupiter?”

“Between Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto—there’s a world of difference between Jupiter and Uranus.”

“There’s only Saturn in between them!”

Unbelievable.

To Ahyuk, the difficulty gap between Jupiter and Uranus was like heaven and earth.

To me, both were just hell—paths straight to the afterlife.

Standing at the dungeon’s entrance, the cold wind felt almost pleasant.

“Nice weather today.”

“What’s nice about it? It’s crap.”

For God’s sake! When was this debuff going to wear off?

It was like something from hell had latched onto my mouth.

Even Ahyuk, who was used to Ayeon’s daily barrage of verbal and physical abuse, sometimes flinched at my raw sarcasm.

“Sorry. I’m not usually this kind of person.”

“Yeah, I figured. You do seem a bit different from when we first met. Honestly, I think I like this version better. Anyway, let’s go in.”

He didn’t give me any time to hesitate.

He knew perfectly well that I wanted to bolt more than ever right now.

“I’m scared. And you know the debuff isn’t gone yet. I swear I’m completely serious.”

“I know. But if we don’t at least start, it’s a waste, isn’t it? You followed us because you were curious about dungeons anyway.”

“…”

He wasn’t wrong.

I’d had plenty of chances to back out.

The twins had made sure to leave me an escape route, saying that if I really hated the idea, they’d figure out another way.

I couldn’t just blame them for pushing me into this.

If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.
But what about healers? Damage dealers?
We’ll find other ways. We’re not so weak that we can’t cover that much.

Their voices inspired trust.

Strangely, their words made me want to live up to their expectations.

If what they wanted was for me to join the dungeon, then maybe just once, I wanted to accept.

And honestly, I might never get another chance like this again.

It wasn’t a crisis—it was an opportunity.

“If Do Minhak were standing next to me right now, I’d think this was my funeral.”

“Dramatic, aren’t you.”

I stuck right behind Ahyuk as we entered the dungeon.

I could feel his countless protective skills wrapping around me.

The golden glow surrounding me felt like a promise that nothing bad would happen.

[Safe Zone automatically established.]

A purple circle spread out beneath my feet.

Barely wide enough for me—and maybe one more person, if we squeezed.

“…Lilis?”

“Yeah.”

She had trotted in with me, tilting her head like it was no big deal.

Just yesterday, she’d seemed adorable. Today, she felt cruel.

“This tiny circle is my Safe Zone?”

“It scales with your rank. Jiae is F-rank. The weakest of Hunters. Since I borrow power from you, I’m weak too. That’s why you need training.”

She said it like it was obvious.

“…Guildmaster.”

Thank God we started with Jupiter.

If I had seen how tiny my Safe Zone was upon entering Uranus, I would’ve been crushed by despair.

At this size, it could only protect me.

“Yes?”

“My Safe Zone is this small. You can’t even fight inside it, can you?”

Saying it out loud felt humiliating.

Apparently Lilis’s strength scaled with mine.

But what could I do when I was born this way?

Even with all the equipment Ayeon had meticulously prepared for me, this was still my limit.

“Where is it?”

“Don’t look so far away. It’s the tiny purple circle under my shadow. That’s it.”

“Oh, that’s not a floor pattern? That’s your skill? Wow, it really can be that small.”

He sounded genuinely impressed, leaving me unable to even get angry.

I gave a bitter smile and nodded.

“With this, in Uranus, you wouldn’t even be able to move insi—huh?”

Suddenly, I was lifted into the air.

Ahyuk had picked me up in a princess carry.

“There. Problem solved, right?”