“Don’t underestimate Adrian too much. We’re all minors and it’s only been a few months since the dungeon closed. Just because you’re skilled doesn’t mean you should expect the same standards from him.”

“I never wanted him to be like me in the first place. Coleman can’t get on the same level as me. I just hoped he would at least play a minimal role.”

As the sunset in the distance, deep shadows fell across Allen’s face. When Allen lowered his eyes, dark shadows gathered on his thick eyelashes.

“Among the S-rank Awakened, only Timothy and I can utilize attack skills. And Coleman too. But Coleman’s skills are lacking to keep up with the two of us.”

“……”

“To be exact, the biggest problem is that he has no will to keep up either.”

Allen’s gaze turned towards Timothy and Adrian walking ahead.

“Adrian’s temperament is conservative and safety-oriented. What I’m saying is to break that tendency. Because it’s a stumbling block that prevents more explosive growth.”

I carefully chose my words for a moment.

Adrian only entered the dungeon team and utilized his skills due to his parents’ coercion. He wasn’t the type to have a sense of mission or competitiveness, nor did he have enthusiasm as an Awakened.

So perhaps Allen was dissatisfied with Adrian’s skill utilization like a group project, despite his high stats and rank.

In reality, the military was only deploying us for initial suppression of low-level gates instead of actively utilizing us.

However, I defended Adrian.

Because I didn’t want to apply a sharp standard to him.

“Don’t force it as if there’s a set path, Allen. You said to break his tendency, but do you think it’ll be as easy as you say? In the first place, if Adrian has any shortcomings within the team, as the sniper, I will cover……”

“Well. Right now, no one knows if it’s a puppy pretending to be a wolf, or a wolf cub pretending to be a dog.”

Allen muttered incomprehensible words.

“The most important thing in closing a dungeon is to reach the boss monster in a short time and cut off its breath. Attack power is never bad no matter how high it is. Raise Coleman to be your team’s one and only cannon. That will be the safest way to close high-level dungeons. For the future as well.”

“The future?”

Allen tilted his head.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to quit being a hunter after just receiving that ridiculous college bonus point?”

I looked at Allen with an absurd expression.

“Then why not?”

“Someday, there will be dungeons that can’t be closed with mediocre Awakened. It’s most efficient for S-ranks to continue closing dungeons in conjunction with the military.”

That darn efficiency. That darn dungeon.

“If you only pursue efficiency like that, people will be torn apart.”

“Maybe so. But this is the right thing to do.”

Allen brushed off even my sarcastic remark without a care.

The more I talked with him, the more I felt my head boiling.

I stood right in front of Allen.

“What?”

“Yeah, good timing. Since we’re talking about dungeons. I have one more question.”

I was getting heated by his tone of ordering me around.

Chuckling lowly, I calmly looked Allen over.

“I requested data from Mr. Benjamin right after hearing your words that day and searched through it all. But there was never such a case?”

“What is.”

“That an S-rank dungeon has ever opened in America.”

“……”

“There weren’t any in other countries either. It’s unprecedented.”

“Juno, I have closed even an S-rank dungeon alone before.”

He clearly said that at the American football stadium. That he had closed even an S-rank dungeon alone before.

But after searching through all the data, I couldn’t find any records of an S-rank dungeon appearing on Earth since the first gate opened.

At most C, D.

The highest was A, but even that was very rare.

“What was that about back then? Allen.”

“……”

“It didn’t seem like a bluff though.”

“Are you curious?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded.

“Okay, then I’ll tell you.”

I thought he would readily tell me this time too.

But Allen stared at me for a while, then smiled with his back to the sunset.

As if to provoke me.

“On the day you become trustworthy.”

* * *

And so, we entered a pizza place located in a busy street. Timothy jutted out his lips with a gloomy face.

“I said we can eat something more expensive and delicious. We always eat pizza, Juno.”

“You know this pizza place is the best in this alley.”

Actually, there were more expensive and tasty places if we walked a bit further. I just wanted to quickly finish the meal.

We ordered white clam pizza and pasta, ignoring Timothy’s grumbling. It was a salty pizza topped with white cream and clams.

While eating, Timothy told an interesting story about a dungeon they closed in Massachusetts.

It was about when he recently closed a B-rank gate with a private guild.

“The interesting thing is, they said record-breaking heavy rains came before that B-rank dungeon opened. Last time, before the gate opened and monsters came out of the Harvard College building, the animals in a nearby zoo reacted frantically all at once. As if trying to evacuate before a big earthquake hits.”

“Really?”

I listened attentively to that story while devouring the pizza.

“Perhaps natural disasters accompany the opening of high-level gates in that way. It’s not certain, but I’m planning to discuss it with the U.S. military research team someday.”

“…… If that’s true, we might be able to predict when gates will open.”

I said that while glancing at Allen.

Meanwhile, Allen quietly ate his pasta without giving me a single look.

He should at least acknowledge Timothy, but I guess he’s being tactful. That sight was detestable.

After finishing the pizza and coming out, Adrian asked.

“Now that we’re done eating, shall we head back?”

“What? What are you saying? Since we came all the way here, we need to have dessert too. Coleman, you eat surprisingly little.”

At Timothy’s words, Adrian’s eyes went wide.

“But the three of us ate 4 whole pizzas.”

“Still, the stomach for meals and desserts are separate.”

Adrian looked at Timothy with a confused face. Then he turned his gaze to me.

I gave him a thumbs up and said.

“There’s a delicious ice cream shop next to this. You have to try the lemon sorbet there. Or there’s also strawberry flavor, but it’ll probably be frozen strawberries since summer is coming soon. If you don’t like lemon, I recommend chocolate chunk.”

Adrian blinked his eyes widely and muttered.

“Somehow you two are similar……”

“What?”

When I showed a displeased expression, he smiled awkwardly.

Timothy even bought ice cream in waffle cones from a nearby ice cream shop.

“By the way, are you getting along well with Jessica? Living together without fighting?”

“Of course. What would we fight about? And Jessica can’t live without me!”

“What are you saying? Would Jessica think the same way?”

When I smirked, Timothy smiled brightly.

“You’re right. Actually, that was a lie. I’m the one who can’t live without Jessica.”

We walked along the busy street while eating ice cream with chocolate chunks in it. In the end, even Adrian and Allen ended up eating an ice cream each.

As we left the shop, the sun was slowly setting and the street lamps were turning on one by one.

Perhaps because there was a beach nearby, a salty sea breeze blew in. We walked towards a place where the coastline was visible.

Adrian followed us with frozen strawberry ice cream in hand. Allen had been rather quiet since the meal.

‘It’s less uncomfortable than before. Even Allen is rather peaceful when he’s just quiet.’

But the peace didn’t last long.

Bang!

“Ah!”

At that moment, an ear-splitting explosion shook the street.

Startled by the sudden noise, I nearly stumbled but someone grabbed me from both sides.

It was Allen and Adrian.

“W-what was that sound?”

My heart sank at the tremendous boom that sounded like a cannon firing. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who heard that sound, as people gathered on the street began to chatter.

When I raised my head, I saw Allen, Adrian, and even Timothy all looking in one direction.

That sight chilled me to the bone, but only for a moment.

Beep beep beep-.

The sound of a phone ringing came from my pants pocket. I immediately took out my cell phone and checked, seeing a familiar name.

“Officer?”

Although he gave me rides between school and the training ground, he rarely initiated calls unless it was serious.

I promptly answered the call and heard an urgent voice.

-Miss Juno, where are you right now?

“I’m just in a busy area. Do you know PiPi Pizza? We just ate dinner and ice cream there and came out… But why do you ask?”

Static and noise mixed in over the receiver. Benjamin’s voice cut off intermittently, then it sounded clear as if he had changed locations.

-I’ll get straight to the point, Miss Juno. A B-rank gate has opened there right now.

“What? B-rank? Then could it be……”

Suddenly, what Timothy had said came to mind.

A B-rank gate that accompanies natural disasters.

And even a monster wave.

At that moment, a blue window popped up before my eyes.

I instinctively scanned the words in the status window quickly.

[system: A gate is opening in the sky above ‘Yale-New Haven Hospital’ in New Haven, Connecticut.

Dungeon rank: B-rank.

Dungeon rewards: B-rank melee weapon and mana stones.

Note: B-rank monster wave. B-rank monsters will emerge from the gate.]

But the contents didn’t end there.

The next page unfolded.

[~ Possessed by a High-Teen Drama ~] [system: The ‘Possessed’ can suppress the monster wave in their active area and know the quest rewards in advance.]

Reward: ?-rank skill blooming.]