“…How did you know?”

“Exclusive skills have proficiency, right? There’s no chance of failure with sub-skills.”

“Ah…”

It was a stupid question. I felt like I had used the skill without thinking.

Since he was running a campsite and I had explained the invincible backpacker skill, he probably guessed what kind of class I was, but I felt a bit embarrassed thinking I had been completely exposed.

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of telling anyone.”

“Actually, it doesn’t matter if you know. My class and skills aren’t anything special…”

Hunters hide their classes and exclusive skills because of the risk of vulnerabilities being exposed. Especially if the class is known, it’s possible to roughly infer what kind of sub-skills they have.

They say skills are power in the hunter industry, but that only applies to people who make hunting their profession. Was there any reason for someone like me, who doesn’t even participate in combat and is tied to a dungeon, to hide it?

I was just hiding it because everyone else does, but I didn’t actually feel the need to.

“No, it is special. I’m very interested in Yu Bom’s class. I’d like to use it as a research topic if given the chance.”

“What…?”

“What’s your proficiency level?”

“7, 72%.”

“I’ll watch, so could you cast it one more time?”

“Huh? Okay.”

I thought I saw a strange light in Hunter Ju Cheong Yeon’s eyes for a moment. Was he serious?

For now, I cast the skill again at his urging.

“Pitch a tent.”

Like when I first tried, the skin and poles moved on their own. This time, I succeeded in making the poles into an X shape and inserting them into the skin to make it stand, but the hooks got tangled and didn’t fit well.

Hunter Ju Cheong Yeon put his hand on my shoulder, came closer, and spoke in a soft voice.

“Try to imagine it in your mind, as if you’re matching it with your eyes.”

“Imagine what?”

“The image of assembling the tent. What’s moving that tent now is Yu Bom’s magic power. You know how to do it, so think about it step by step.”

Inserting the poles into the hooks is the easiest part of pitching a tent.

It wasn’t difficult to recall the image since I’ve done it many times. I thought about the poles and hooks getting closer as I looked at them.

Soon, the hooks really did attach to the poles.

“Oh! It worked!”

“Well done. Let’s stay focused until the end.”

“Yes!”

Once I succeeded, I gained confidence.

The next step was driving the steel pegs into the ground. When I thought I needed a hammer, a crafting hammer suddenly appeared in mid-air.

By tapping the pegs gently, I was able to drive them in smoothly.

[Yu Bom (D) has succeeded in ‘Pitch a Tent (D)’.] [Lightweight Backpacking Tent – Increases magic power recovery rate by 5% per 6 hours] [Yu Bom (D) has completed the quest.] [Gained 6 hours of invincibility effect.]

“Wow! I got a magic power recovery speed buff!”

“That’s great.”

The tent effect was good too. It would help recover some of Hunter Ju Cheong Yeon’s magic power that was consumed from teleporting.

“You’re doing well for your first time. You seem to have a talent for handling magic power.”

“Haha. Really?”

But I don’t use magic power. Since I use energy instead of magic power when using skills, it probably moved with energy.

He seemed to think it moved with magic power, not knowing that I didn’t have any intelligence stats related to magic power.

‘Should I ask if there are others like me?’

As a researcher at the Dungeon Management Center, he should know well about awakened ones.

‘No. Let’s not…’

But I quickly dismissed that thought. I remembered the look in his eyes when he said he wanted to research my class earlier.

‘Wasn’t it a bit creepy…’

For a moment, I imagined myself on an operating table. That’s how unusual his gaze was compared to normal.

I didn’t trust him enough yet to speak openly. There was something enigmatic about him.

I shook off unnecessary thoughts and looked for the next thing to do.

Hunter Ju Cheong Yeon had already lit the fire, and since the ground was bumpy and might hurt our bottoms if we sat for long, I took out a mat.

I spread it out lengthwise so we could sit side by side, and also set up a collapsible table to put snacks and bait containers on.

After watching me for a while, Hunter Ju Cheong Yeon seemed to remember something and made an “Ah” sound as he took something out of his inventory.

“What’s this?”

“What do you think?”

He carefully placed it in my open palm.

It was a wooden box about the size of a palm. But there were no patterns on it, so I couldn’t tell what it was used for just by looking at it.

“Oh? This is…”

Then I found a small handle on the side. Now I knew what it was.

“Try turning it.”

He said, nodding at the handle. I slowly grabbed the handle and turned it in a circle, and there was a clicking sound of gears meshing.

I knew what this object was, but it had been a long time since I’d seen one myself.

“It’s a music box.”

An automatic musical device. I remembered receiving a carousel-shaped music box from my mom when I was young.

When I released the wound spring, a clear and crisp melody like glass beads rolling flowed out. The sound climbed up the wooden walls and resonated throughout the space.

It was a mysterious and beautiful tone.

“I said we need to capture a fairy, right? This will be necessary to increase likability.”

“Do fairies like music box sounds?”

“Yes. Fairies like dark nights, silence, beautiful music or songs. The sound of a music box suits their taste in many ways as it goes well with the night. They do like human singing if it’s done well, but most songs or performances sound like noise to them.”

“I see.”

Come to think of it, I used to play my music box mostly at night, before going to bed in the past. The dungeon stories my mom told me went really well with the music box sound.

Maybe because this wooden interior was separate from the realm where scary monsters roamed, it felt similar to the dungeon I dreamed of when I was young.

A fantastic world that seemed to come out of a fairy tale.

My heart fluttered ticklishly as if the vague dream I had imagined had become reality.

“Don’t fall asleep because it’s sweet. We need to fish now, right?”

“Huh? Yes.”

I shook my head to wake myself up after being lost in thought for a moment.

‘This isn’t the time to be lost in feelings. I need to do the quest and capture. Busy, busy.’

I hurriedly took out the fishing gear. My fishing skill took a lot of time, so I couldn’t waste even a minute or second.

“And I brought something else for Yu Bom.”

“More?”

He handed me not only the music box but also other items.

“What’s this?”

It was a container filled with something that looked like chewed gum at first glance, and a stick that looked like a selfie stick.

“This is King Slime flesh. If you use this as bait, your skill time will be shortened. And this is a fishing rod holder. Your fishing skill needs to be used twice too, right? Once when you first cast and once when you catch?”

“Yes.”

My fishing skill needs to be used once when I first cast the float, and then again when the fish bites the float.

Although the time it takes for hunters to catch fish using fishing skills varies, I heard that the mechanism for using it is similar.

“If you put it on this holder and use the skill, you don’t have to hold the fishing rod. You can use multiple at once too.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

The stick that looked like a selfie stick was a holder for placing the fishing rod. Originally, you had to keep holding the fishing rod in your hand to use the fishing skill, but seeing the magic stone embedded in it, it seemed to be a specially made holder.

He took out a total of 5 holders. He gave all 5 to me.

“If you give them all to me, what will you use, Hunter?”

“It doesn’t matter if I fish today or not. Yu Bom is in a hurry, so you can use them all.”

“You’re like a general store. Pulling out everything I need. No, should I say Santa Claus…”

“Haha, that sounds nice.”

“Hmm, really?”

I just said what came to mind, but he smiled with genuine pleasure.

‘Was I worried for nothing? I guess he really is a nice person.’

My impression of him improved dramatically with the successive gift offensive.

I took out several crafting fishing rods and swung them towards the lake. The floats were cast to an appropriate distance.

[Yu Bom (D) has used ‘Small Fry Fishing for Time (C)’.] [This skill may take a considerable amount of time.]

I placed all 5 on the holders he gave me. It would shorten the time by 5 times compared to before.

We stared at the lake silently for a while. The floats swayed in a steady rhythm.

The crackling sound of the bonfire and the music box melody harmoniously intersected. The silver powder floated briefly on the water surface before quietly sinking.

‘I slept during the day to fish all night, but why am I so sleepy…’

Maybe it was because of the quiet and peaceful atmosphere, or because of the memory of listening to the music box before sleeping, but my eyelids kept getting heavy.

My body felt languid and my mind was hazy. As I was struggling with drowsiness, Hunter Ju Cheong Yeon spoke in a low voice.

“Sleep if you’re sleepy. I’ll let you know if there’s a bite.”

“No, it’s not time to sleep now…”

“You know, looking at it, Yu Bom seems to camp quite combatively. Even if this is a quest.”

“Combatively?”

My head turned at the attention-grabbing word. He continued in a gentle tone.

“Originally, camping is about seeing beautiful scenery, eating delicious food, and enjoying leisure time in nature, right? But Yu Bom seems to be chased by someone rather than enjoying it.”

“Is that so…”

I do take naps and stare at the fire at the campsite. But somehow, I understood what he meant.

Although I enjoy camping with guests, I couldn’t enjoy it lightly because I was worried about leveling up and making a living.

I also had hope that if I stayed in the dungeon, I might find clues about the whereabouts of my missing family members.

For various reasons, my mindset was inevitably different from that of the guests.