‘No… If the guerrilla gate had been cleared, Mom would have come out, and elder brother wouldn’t have gone missing.’

However, she shook her head after a short while, saying it didn’t make sense.

If the guerrilla gate had been cleared, everyone inside should have come out.

But Mom was still missing, and elder brother disappeared after Hunter Chae Dong Hwa’s appearance.

“Actually, when I first saw that senior, I heard something like a voice.”

As he shook off the deep contemplation that had momentarily settled in, he spoke of a new fact.

“He told me to survive somehow. As soon as I heard those words, I thought I had to grab onto that senior somehow.”

His voice trembled slightly. It seemed to be a very painful and agonizing memory for Hunter Chae Dong Hwa.

“So I followed the senior around after that. I thought if I could hear that voice more, my memories might return.”

So, he didn’t follow elder brother around because he was a fan, nor because he was grateful to elder brother, but because he instinctively moved to regain his memories.

“I often think that instead of worrying about it alone, if I had shared that I heard a strange voice, something might have been different…”

“Why?”

“Because I might have been connected to the guerrilla gate. If we had figured out even a little about the nature of that gate, maybe the senior wouldn’t have experienced such a thing.”

It seemed he had made the same speculation as I had. His expression was downcast.

When tragedy strikes someone close, people tend to blame themselves.

If I had done this, wouldn’t things have been different? If I had done something, wouldn’t this have been prevented?

I, too, had blamed myself, wondering if this happened because I didn’t tell elder brother that I would be waiting outside, so he must come back.

“I don’t think that’s the case.”

So, while I understood how he felt, the truth was clear.

“This is just an unfortunate accident that’s no one’s fault.”

His lowered face slowly turned to look at me. A faint light glimmered in his quiet eyes.

“Even though there are suspicious aspects, there’s no definitive proof that you’re connected to the Blue Starlight Valley guerrilla gate, and you still don’t remember anything. And given how sudden the situation was, even if you had said those words to the senior, it wouldn’t have changed him being sucked into the guerrilla gate.”

So, I hoped he wouldn’t torment himself with hypotheticals.

Neither me, nor Hunter Chae Dong Hwa.

“I’m sure that senior would understand the circumstances you couldn’t speak of. If he’s as good a person as you say.”

Having barely shaken off being treated as a monster, if he mentioned another suspicious fact, he might have been forcibly put on trial again.

His decision to keep quiet was a choice to protect himself, and I didn’t think elder brother would resent that attitude.

Without my realizing it, his gaze had intensified. His already vivid black eyes stared straight at me without blinking, making the impact even more powerful.

‘Did I say something too forward…?’

Just as I was about to apologize, thinking I might have offended him.

“Did I mention that he was sucked into the Blue Starlight Valley guerrilla gate?”

The moment I heard those words, I realized my mistake. I had been so immersed in speaking that I inadvertently revealed that I knew who that senior was.

“Haha. Isn’t the senior Hunter Yu Tae Rim? I guessed from seeing you two together often online…”

“That’s right. Senior Yu Tae Rim.”

Fortunately, elder brother’s disappearance was such a famous incident, and the fact that elder brother and Hunter Chae Dong Hwa were close was also widely known.

He resumed eating the fish cake he had paused. He seemed a bit puzzled, but didn’t seem to find my guess strange.

His expression was relaxed, as if we hadn’t just been having such a serious conversation.

“So I’m trying to recover my memories in a different way.”

“A different way?”

Was there another way to regain memories?

“By observing someone related to the senior… no, someone similar to someone related to him.”

Someone similar to someone related to elder brother?

Who could that be? Why is this so hard to understand?

I wasn’t sure if he was speaking in a complicated way, or if my comprehension was lacking.

“Does that help?”

“There’s someone who gives me a similar feeling to when I was with the senior.”

Is he talking about a friend of elder brother’s friend?

Well, I guess the atmosphere could be similar if they’re all close. They do say birds of a feather flock together.

“Um… I’ll cheer for your memory recovery.”

That was all I could say. Given how roundabout his explanation was, it seemed he had no intention of telling me more.

Even if he did, I probably wouldn’t understand. I didn’t know elder brother’s friends well, let alone friends of friends.

“Yes. I’ll do my best.”

He had already handed me the last skewer. As I took a light bite, the well-seasoned fish cake chewed softly.

* * *

After dinner, it was time to sleep.

He naturally tried to give up the tent to me and sleep outside.

I managed to persuade him that it would be fine since we’d be sleeping in separate sleeping bags anyway, so we ended up sleeping together, but…

“Hunter. Did you sleep here?”

When I woke up in the morning and left the tent, Hunter Chae Dong Hwa was leaning against the cave wall with his eyes closed.

I’m sure he was lying in the sleeping bag next to me when I fell asleep, so when did he come out?

“…No. I just woke up early.”

That sounds like a lie.

His drowsy eyes gazed steadily at me.

“Were you very uncomfortable sleeping in the same space as me?”

“That’s not it…”

He hesitated, looking troubled.

“What if I do something improper?”

“I know you’re not that kind of person—”

“What if I attack or use a skill while half-asleep…?”

I was about to say it was fine because I trusted him, but the word “attack” made me pause.

“At…tack?”

“Yes. In dungeons, my nerves are on edge, so even a slight touch might make me reflexively lash out. I can’t control my subconscious, after all.”

He was worried about something completely different from what I had imagined.

‘Has he had such an experience? Hitting someone while half-asleep?’

Certainly, if an S-rank hunter attacked me with full force, my fragile bones would shatter.

“Hmm, I see. Still, please come in and sleep next time. It’s cold outside.”

While I said that, I was thinking something completely different inside.

‘Next time, I absolutely won’t camp out with him…!’

I didn’t want to die a violent death in my sleep.

We had a light breakfast with potatoes and eggs we had roasted over the campfire last night.

The monsters were already up and roaming the forest.

The weather wasn’t bad yesterday, but today was even better. The blue sky was clear without a single cloud.

“Let’s depart.”

“Okay.”

We packed up our things and left the cave. We had plenty of invincibility time from completing quests yesterday.

‘I hope we find a dark attribute monster today…’

Hunter Chae Dong Hwa created a mana orb as we entered a different cave. I put on my headlamp and gripped my hammer.

As we walked deep into the cave for a while, the path split into two.

“What’s this?”

Purple ore glittered at the entrance of the right cave. Hunter Chae Dong Hwa knelt on one knee to examine it closely, then floated a mana orb in the air to illuminate the inside of the cave.

There was even more purple ore inside.

“It looks like a mana stone cave. Finding a cave with this much mana stone is even rarer than seeing a dark attribute monster.”

Wow! Is this the mana stone I’ve only heard about?!

It seems my luck was directed towards something other than monsters.

Mana stone was the rarest mineral that could be obtained in dungeons. Monsters become stronger if they possess or eat it, and it’s also widely used in crafting hunter equipment.

Even if it’s low grade, mana stone from an S-rank dungeon should be valuable.

[Congratulations! You have acquired the sub-skill ‘Gold, Come Out Quick! (D)’ as conditions have been met.]

Suddenly, I gained a new skill.

“I just got a mining skill.”

“Is that so? That’s fortunate. I don’t have a mining skill, so I can’t mine anyway.”

If someone without a mining skill tries to mine, the mineral turns into a rock as soon as it’s mined.

[Gold, Come Out Quick! (D)

− You’re a mining handyman!

Keep tinkering away, and gold might come out?

− Effect: Mining

− With luck, higher grade mining may be possible.]

“But it’s D-rank. It seems like higher grades can be mined if I’m lucky…”

[Invincible Backpacking Quest

− Mine Salt Giant’s Mana Stone (0/50)

− Reward: 6 hours of invincibility]

“Can I do some mining here? I also got a mining-related quest for the backpacking quest.”

“Yes. I’ll illuminate the entire area for you.”

Light flashed from his hand, and the mana orb divided into multiple orbs like cell division. The cave instantly brightened.

As I took a step in, my reflection appeared transparently in the mana stones, as if I had entered a mirror maze.

This worked out well. If we passed by like this, other hunters might take it.

Hunter Chae Dong Hwa said he doesn’t have a mining skill. In that case, it was better for me to collect it even if low-grade mana stones were mined.

I took out a pickaxe I had crafted with the camping skill from my inventory.

“Gold, come out quick!”

I activated the skill while striking the mana stone. Carefully hitting the seam, it came off with a pop.

[‘Yu Bom (F)’ has mined ‘Salt Giant’s Mana Stone (F)’.]

F-rank, trash grade.

But there were still many mana stones left. I didn’t get discouraged and used the skill on another mana stone.

“Gold, come out quick! Gold, come out quick!”

[‘Yu Bom (F)’ has mined ‘Salt Giant’s Mana Stone (D)’.] [‘Yu Bom (F)’ has mined ‘Salt Giant’s Mana Stone (E)’.] [‘Yu Bom (F)’ has mined ‘Salt Giant’s Mana Stone (E)’.]

…

I mined about 20. Still, only low grades were being mined.

Later, out of stubbornness, I was shouting like when using the “Let’s see” skill.

“Huff, huff…”

“Are you alright?”

“Yes… This isn’t easy.”

I didn’t want to show such a pathetic appearance. It seems image management was out of the question.