Suji looked at Elaine, who was acting unusually assertive, with slightly surprised eyes.
She had just heard that 〈Laurel Tree〉 was opening.
There wasn’t even time to think about going, but to oppose it outright?
“Did I look like I wanted to go?”
When she asked back, bewildered, Elaine spoke firmly once again.
“No. I’m just saying you shouldn’t go.”
Suji thought his attitude was out of place, but more than that, she was too shocked.
Had she ever seen Elaine oppose her on something…?
Suji was so taken aback by her own surprise that she stopped in place for a moment, lost in thought.
‘…No, Elaine has really never expressed his opinion this strongly before? No matter how much I try to remember, there’s nothing?’
That couldn’t be possible, but it really was true.
All sorts of things happen when you go through the tower together.
But how could a person never strongly express an opinion even once, and just always follow and respect Suji’s opinion?
One wrong decision could really lead to death. Even if you know the attack patterns of monsters and dungeon gimmicks well, there’s always an area where human judgment comes into play.
As she carefully recalled her memories, Suji realized that even when she forcefully urged Elaine to play games, he had never once uttered a word of refusal.
‘…Is he a yes-man?’
He really seemed to have never opposed her words even once.
Even when she became a team leader at a very young age and had never experienced her words being properly accepted, Elaine always unconditionally listened to Suji.
Suji gathered her purple hair together and then mussed it up as she looked at Elaine.
And even now, he strongly expressed his opinion before she even said she would go.
She felt there must be… some understandable reason.
“This is the first time I’ve seen Elaine express his opinion so strongly.”
As Suji murmured, Saint, who was holding out the terminal, looked utterly dumbfounded.
Then she whipped her head around so hard her short hair flew in the air, and glared at Elaine.
“What are you talking about, Elaine? Elaine opposes everything Peace and I say. He’s a total opinion machine.”
“That’s right.”
Peace chimed in as if feeling wronged, but Elaine just stared at Suji with calm eyes.
Suji found his serious face somehow unfamiliar and strange.
Even though Elaine wasn’t the type to put on a deliberately sociable smile normally.
At that moment, Yeonju cut in.
“Do you know something about 〈Laurel Tree〉, Elaine? You’re not from the generation that experienced 〈Laurel Tree〉, are you?”
But Elaine, as if he had no intention of even bothering to respond to Yeonju’s words, looked only at Suji and said once again.
“If you really must go, I’d rather go in your place. Please don’t participate, Team Leader.”
“…Elaine?”
“Since it seems Creusa has something to say about 〈Laurel Tree〉, I won’t say any more about this and will step aside.”
“Elaine?”
Before Suji could stop him, Elaine silently walked behind Peace and Saint.
And without stopping there, he turned the corner of the house and left, his back quickly disappearing from view.
As Suji tried to move in that direction, Peace waved his hand dismissively.
“This may be the first time you’ve seen him like this, Team Leader, but Elaine is actually very opinionated. It’s a common sight, so don’t worry about it. He’s always saying let’s do this, let’s do that, making noise until his opinion is accepted.”
“…Elaine?”
“Anyway, he’s such a fox only in front of the Team Leader.”
As Peace threw out a joking remark while shaking his head, the somewhat stiff atmosphere eased a little.
But after Elaine had thrown out such stiff words and left, the mood was far from chatting cheerfully while creating a flower bed again.
The four, led by Suji, gathered the items they had taken out to one side and sat around the table placed on the grass.
Saint, who had pushed aside all the items like trump cards and Jenga that were on top of it, placed the terminal on the table and began to share the information they had collected so far.
A moment later, as they looked at the contents that appeared on the terminal together, Peace whistled in surprise.
“Information about 〈Laurel Tree〉 has already spread all over the world… Whew, I can’t believe I was so completely in the dark about this important information just because I played around a little.”
Suji sympathized with Peace’s words.
She had started her secluded life prepared to fall behind on information, but it was still a bit ridiculous that she alone didn’t know about a story the whole world already knew, and that her name was being mentioned like this.
Suji glanced in the direction Elaine had disappeared, then turned her head towards Yeonju.
“So… what about this 〈Laurel Tree〉, Aunt?”
Yeonju now felt quite embarrassed to reveal the purpose of her coming here.
It was true that she came out of genuine concern for Suji, but because the situation had turned out like this.
“Information about 〈Laurel Tree〉 is not well known to the general public.”
Suji rolled her eyes up and down and then nodded.
“Come to think of it, that’s right. About the inside of 〈Laurel Tree〉, I think I’ve only heard that there’s no limit on the number of people per floor.”
“Yes. It’s partly because people who have been there don’t particularly want to talk about that information to outsiders, and most survivors just gave up and came back out from the lowest floor section.”
The more one understood, the more horrifying the words were, but she already knew that much.
And when it came to matters of life and death, Daphne’s group, who had experienced hellish situations more than anyone else, just frowned without bothering to say anything more.
Yeonju hesitated in the silence, closing her mouth before continuing.
“But we have a map.”
“What?”
“Everyone thinks it’s first-come, first-served, so they rush in as soon as the tower opens. That’s why they go through that chaos.”
“Of course?”
“But at that time… 23 years ago, 22 years ago, and 20 years ago. The three times 〈Laurel Tree〉 appeared, our country chose a different strategy.”
An ‘Ah’ sound burst simultaneously from the mouths of Suji, Peace, and Saint.
They understood the rest of the story without Yeonju needing to explain further.
When the tower’s first contenders start rushing out, the bottom of the tower empties.
In other words, if there are people who climb the tower without wanting the tower’s initial reward, they can focus solely on overcoming the tower’s trials without having to compete with others.
It might seem unnecessary to do such a thing that’s unrelated to the tower’s reward, but South Korea had many strategists.
One of them was Creusa, Yeonju.
“Was it Aunt’s idea?”
“Yes. I thought if we investigated, we might be able to use it someday.”
“Why didn’t you aim for the initial reward?”
“We… weren’t in that situation. We were busy trying to prevent things from exploding domestically. Just sending personnel to collect information was overwhelming. If we had known such a madman would get it, we would have at least tried.”
Suji nodded with respect.
23 years ago, 22 years ago, 20 years ago. These were stories from before Suji was even born.
She had heard that it was truly a dark age back then.
It was thanks to the efforts of that time that South Korea had acquired as much of a buff as it has now, and built the existing shields and response systems.
To have collected information that other countries didn’t have in the midst of all that, it was an incredible feat.
“As expected, Aunt Yeonju is amazing.”
At the voice of admiration mixed with sincerity, Yeonju shook her head with a faint smile.
“No. Back then… I didn’t know it would become a future matter like this. I really didn’t think the whims of the ‘Great Beings’ would be so unpredictable. Who would have thought it would take 20 years for the next 〈Laurel Tree〉 to appear. I just made it for my own use later… To think the tower would appear only after I retired.”
Peace and Saint, who had been just listening to the story, looked at each other.
“Well, if we have such an advantage, it might be worth going…”
“But how can we go when Elaine is opposing it so strongly?”
As she watched the two whispering to each other, Yeonju paused for a moment to quickly scan the notification that appeared on her terminal.
There was bad news from Seunghwan.
Truly, even as they laughed and chatted here, the world continued to turn relentlessly.
Yeonju opened her mouth with a dejected face.
“…They say it’s confirmed that Ageha will participate this time.”
At her weighty words, the three hunters who had been lost in their own thoughts looked at Yeonju in shock.
Suji unconsciously raised her hand to her mouth in surprise, Saint’s eyes widened as much as would suit her rabbit ear item, and Peace, who rarely cursed, spat out an expletive as he sprang to his feet.
“Is that really true?”
At Peace’s somewhat ominous voice, Yeonju sighed and nodded.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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