“Then let’s do this instead. 5 people are fine too.”

“What is it?”

“It’s called Code Lime, anyway, I’m telling you we can do this without cheating?”

“I can see through the back of the cards, is that possible?”

“…No, it’s not. No, I feel stupid for bringing all this stuff here thinking we could actually play board games with this group.”

Seeing Saint pretending to cry while bursting out in anger was really unfamiliar.

Being exceptionally talented in this field was perhaps a lonely thing.

Everyone admired them, but no one understood them. People sometimes felt extreme fear towards realms they couldn’t reach.

Yeonju knew that the four people in front of her were children who had grown up lonely at the Academy for this very reason. Especially since their times at the Academy didn’t even overlap.

Especially Suji.

It was so nice to see Suji smiling brightly and enjoying trivial things like this.

Yeonju stared blankly at them and then raised her hand to slightly cover her eyes. She didn’t really understand the saying that you cry more as you get older, but suddenly she felt like she did.

This was such sentimental nonsense.

Yeonju was quite welcomed by other hunters despite being in management because she taught students at the Academy and took care of Suji.

She blended in with the group and accepted the sudden “playing hard” that came upon her.

The purpose of the visit was to deliver a message, but somehow she didn’t want to ruin this cozy atmosphere with talk of or pseudo-organizations.

It was incredible how much she loved this atmosphere of everyone playing games without any tension, even though monsters could appear at any time in the dungeon.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Me too? You too! You’ve all written it down now, right? Things you must take to the tower! Drum roll please, I’ll go first!”

“Go ahead. I wrote down a lot of things people will totally relate to.”

Saint read from his list of items, which he had covered with a 7-tier shield so people couldn’t see through it.

“Beef jerky!”

“…What are you doing?”

“What do you mean what am I doing? No, Peace! Is this how it’s going to be? Is there anyone who didn’t eat the beef jerky I gave them in the tower?”

‘Me too? You too!’ was a game where you score points based on how many people wrote the same keyword. As Saint grumbled about not getting any sympathy, Elaine quietly raised her hand and announced what she had written.

“.”

Suji tilted her head to one side as if she didn’t understand, and Peace, Saint, and Creusa booed.

“Booooo.”

“Booooo!”

“What’s that?”

Saint asked accusingly.

“So, since the team leader isn’t an object, you wrote down an object that represents the team leader?”

“That’s right.”

“Did Elaine understand the game? You’re supposed to write down the most necessary thing. Something really common so you can get a lot of sympathy!”

“It is the most necessary thing.”

At Elaine’s blunt words, everyone lost their words and looked at each other’s eyes.

“…What’s with this logic. I feel a bit convinced now.”

“…Me too.”

“…Me too.”

“Oh, how embarrassing. What are you doing?”

Suji quickly recited the next keyword, waving her hands.

Time passed like that, and until the game ended, there were hardly any people shouting “Me too!”. It seemed that although these hunters were somehow cooperating to get by, they had no commonalities in their way of thinking.

[This is the timeline separator]

After playing games for a while, Yeonju suddenly looked up when her device rang, then ran out with Elaine and Peace to receive the food they had ordered.

No matter how well-trained the monsters delivering for Tamers were, it was difficult for them to come to such a dangerous place, so they had to go out to the gate to receive it themselves.

Hot pizza, nasi goreng, sushi, tom yum kung, dim sum, Peking duck, lasagna, satay, kebab, curry, and so on.

She explained, as if making an excuse, that she only ordered non-noodle dishes because noodle dishes don’t taste good when packed, but no one was going to complain about the food Yeonju had ordered.

Everyone quickly cleared away the game and put the food that had been piled up on one side onto the table.

“Let’s eat!”

“I’ll enjoy the meal, Auntie.”

“It’s just something I ordered, it’s nothing. But are you all eating properly? Why are you all so skinny?”

“I’ve actually gained 1kg compared to when I was running the tower every day.”

Suji tried to argue like that, but Yeonju shook her head firmly as if it was nonsense.

Suji and the other hunters found it difficult to gain weight because they were living such a sharply honed lifestyle. Once they reached a certain level, their body shape would solidify and not change much anymore.

Although she knew these circumstances well, Suji always looked too thin and precarious to Yeonju’s eyes.

“Still, it’s good to see everyone eating well.”

Yeonju, who was watching people eat with a genuinely pleased smile, suddenly looked around the quite beautiful dungeon space.

“Come to think of it, how did you find such a beautiful space? I’ve been through quite a few dungeons, but I’ve never seen a space so neatly trimmed, even the grass.”

“Oh, that. Our team leader pulled out all the weeds.”

“You see that huge pile of grass over there? That’s the pile of weeds that Daphne pulled out and stacked up.”

Yeonju’s mouth fell open at Peace and Saint’s answers.

“Why did you do that?”

“Ah… well. I started thinking about decorating a flower bed, but as I did it, things got out of hand.”

Suji scratched her cheek awkwardly.

Even as she spoke, she was embarrassed by how she had groomed a vast land far beyond the scale of a flower bed.

“I overdid it a bit, didn’t I?”

“A bit is an understatement…”

“At this rate, you could build an amusement park here.”

The other two team members made triangle eyes at Saint’s words.

“We’d need people who can come all the way here to build an amusement park.”

“And in these tough times, who goes to places like amusement parks? Even the existing ones have all closed down.”

Suji tried to recall amusement parks in her mind.

Born in the 24th century, she had only seen amusement parks in photographs or as partially destroyed exhibits.

‘Come to think of it, they looked quite fun.’

Riding the attractions would be enjoyable, and as for things to see, well, couldn’t they just display items brought from dungeons?

She nodded to herself, imagining something completely different from the original meaning of an amusement park.

Thinking that it might be fun to plan something like that someday.

“But still, while doing that, the team leader…”

While Suji was lost in thought, Saint started to say something but briefly closed his mouth and gauged the team leader’s reaction.

“Huh? What is it?”

“Ah, no… the reward for that grass-pulling quest. I don’t think I should say it. Is it okay if I do?”

Suji nodded.

Yeonju was like a mother to her now. Much more than her stepmother.

It wasn’t something to hide anyway.

With her permission, Peace quickly brought up the anecdote of Suji muting the ‘Great Beings’.

“…My goodness.”

Yeonju couldn’t close her mouth, seemingly unable to believe anything from start to finish. Watching Saint and Peace enthusiastically continue the story in response to her reaction, Suji quietly stood up from her seat.

It seemed the conversation would go on for a while.

As she turned her head, her eyes met with Elaine’s.

It was always like this. Elaine somehow always knew when Suji needed him.

‘I’m going to do some sensing.’

Although she only mouthed the words, Elaine seemed to understand easily and nodded.

Suji nodded back and turned around.

‘When that conversation is over, should I suggest planting some flowers in the garden together? Or play another game? Or maybe it wouldn’t be bad to read comics all together with that group. Ah, anything would be fun, I think.’

She smiled to herself, imagining various scenes.

‘I should hurry back.’

Suji then left through the dungeon gate.

[This is the timeline separator]

From the morning, the internet was buzzing with news related to Daphne.

[Title: Spilling the tea on spotting Daphne today;

This happened at 5:10 AM this morning.

I remember the time perfectly because my heart is still pounding like crazy.

I was tying my shoelaces to exercise near the Han River when suddenly an emergency siren went off and my device started vibrating; But the warning alarm showed Wave Grade B;

I thought I was f***ed; The location was right where I was. From under Seongsu Bridge, within a 1.5km radius?

I looked at my watch right then, it was 5:10 AM, and the Wave was set to start at 5:12 AM. I’m an idiot who hasn’t even received a hunter grade assessment, so I don’t have any helpful traits or anything.

I thought that even if I ran like hell, it’d be hard to survive.

My mom told me not to go out for exercise in the morning and just sleep in, and I deeply regretted not listening to her;

Anyway, I started running like crazy.

Has anyone experienced a Grade B Wave? The back of your head feels really weird.

Ah, I’ll be right back from the bathroom to continue the story.

└Hey, if you said you spotted Daphne, shouldn’t there at least be a ‘D’ of Daphne in your story?

└This guy’s making it up

└Doesn’t anyone smell something burning? It’s been ages since Daphne went off the grid

└I checked, and there was indeed a Wave at Seongsu Bridge at 5:10 AM this morning. Grade B, yep.

└Whether it’s made up or not, it’s interesting, so hurry up and spill the tea

└Can’t you use your device in the bathroom? You can, right? Hurry up.

└Hurry~~~~~~~

└OMG what’s this, did Daphne really show up?]