Chapter 61: Chapter 61 - Oh, we're screwed!

A strange girl? Ms. Hye-Rim’s words left me with many questions.

I didn’t know who Ms. Hye-Rim was referring to or why she was looking for someone in the demon realm.

Naturally, I had never seen a girl or any person within the demon realm. This is a place where monsters live, not humans.

Was she asking if I had seen anyone missing inside the demon realm, like Yoo Seo-Eun?

“No, I haven’t seen anyone. Why? Are you looking for someone who crossed over through a gate?”

[Hmm... No, it’s fine if you haven’t seen anyone. Just pretend you didn’t hear me.]

Strangely, Ms. Hye-Rim seemed to be avoiding the question. I didn’t know for sure, but it seemed like she had her reasons.

“Okay, I won’t ask further. But I'll let you know immediately if I find anyone in the demon realm.”

[......]

“…Ms. Hye-Rim?”

[...Yeah, please do that.]

'Please do me this favor,' Ms. Hye-Rim added.

Her voice sounded oddly desperate. I wasn’t sure what it was about, but it must be important.

“Well then, I’ll go get some rest now. Have a good night, Ms. Hye-Rim.”

[Yeah, Ha-Yeon, take care of yourself. Always stay alert...]

[Ms. Hye-Rim, you should go wash up now.]

[Oh, okay. I’ll head off then.]

As the brightly shining necklace lost its light, Ms. Hye-Rim’s voice was cut off. From what I heard, Ms. Hye-Rim seemed to be switching places with Ms. Eun-Seo and needed to wash up.

“......”

Only a few of the heroes knew about Ms. Eun-Seo. Alice wasn’t among them.

I had no intention of talking about this matter, but it’s clear now that I really shouldn’t mention it.

After all, I don’t know what Alice might do if she feels she’s lagging behind Ms. Eun-Seo.

The monster hunting continued the next day. Surprisingly, dealing with the monsters wasn’t as difficult as expected. The problem was finding them.

Navigating the demon realm for the first time was the most challenging part. As noted in Ms. Hye-Rim’s notes, the demon realm itself was more dangerous than the monsters.

“Okay, let’s take a break now, shall we?”

After encountering and defeating a group of monsters, Shin Chul-Min wiped the sweat from his forehead. Having moved non-stop for five hours, it was indeed time for a break.

“Once we deal with a certain number of monsters, the gate should close, right? We’ve defeated quite a few so far, but how many more do we need to take down?”

With a deep sigh, Baek Shin-Hwa grumbled. Since we often worked together and had become closer this time, I felt more familiar with Baek Shin-Hwa than before.

Taking a drink of water, I answered Baek Shin-Hwa’s question.

“Well, according to Ms. Hye-Rim, we probably only need to take down about 20 more here.”

“I’ve been thinking for a while now, but who exactly is Shin Hye-Rim? Where does she get all this knowledge from?”

I had the same thought. It seemed like Ms. Hye-Rim’s notes weren’t just based on something she heard but rather on personal experience.

Could it be that Ms. Hye-Rim had been inside the demon realm before? Of course, she might have entered it while rescuing victims sucked into the gate, but she knows too much.

Perhaps she spent a few days inside the demon realm during a rescue mission.

“Honestly, she’s quite a scary person but she’s also a good one. Thanks to Ms. Hye-Rim, things have been easier since the Academy.”

“I don’t quite understand why people are terrified of Ms. Hye-Rim. Aren’t the rumors about her exaggerated among the heroes?”

[......No, that’s not it.]

Baek Shin-Hwa had a lot she seemed to want to say but chose not to.

“What are you talking about?”

At that moment, someone approached from behind me and Baek Shin-Hwa. It was Alice, who had been slowly coming over.

“Were you talking about Ms. Hye-Rim?”

Alice seemed interested as soon as she heard Ms. Hye-Rim’s name. It’s natural to be curious about someone you like. Knowing that, I felt a strange discomfort rise in my heart.

With sparkling eyes, Alice alternated her gaze between me and Baek Shin-Hwa, smiling with an idol’s bright smile.

“Yes, we were talking about how amazing Ms. Hye-Rim is, and well... just discussing the old ‘Hero Association's bloodbath’ incident for a moment.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Oh... haha. It was quite a mess back then.”

“I didn’t see it myself, but I did catch a glimpse of the person cleaning up the blood struggling.”

Alice also seemed to know about the bloodbath incident from the Hero Association, her smile now tinged with a wry grin.

…Seriously? Did she really turn the Association corridor into a bloodbath? I thought she just subdued the situation.

“Ms. Hye-Rim was quite scary, back then, but now she’s incredibly cool! I think she’s reliable and great.”

As Alice praised Ms. Hye-Rim, Baek Shin-Hwa swallowed hard.

“Y-yeah, that’s true. Haha…”

Baek Shin-Hwa still hadn’t shaken off her fear of Ms. Hye-Rim. Although, she seemed fine when they drank beers together in the academy dormitory.

Oh, maybe, she was more focused on drinking than on the fear of Ms. Hye-Rim back then?

—Rustle!

“...!”

While I was thinking this, a chilling sensation crawled up my body.

It felt like hundreds of bugs were crawling all over me. For a brief moment, I felt a strange, indescribable sensation from somewhere.

I turned my head reflexively toward where I felt the sensation, but nothing was there.

Only the usual desolate landscape of the demon realm met my eyes.

“...Ha-Yeon? What’s wrong?”

Suddenly, as I remained silent and stared at something, Alice asked with concern.

“...Just now, I felt an odd presence from over there.”

“Really? Hmm... I don’t see anything.”

“I can’t see it either. I didn’t sense anything. Maybe it’s just my feelings because we’re in an unfamiliar environment?”

That seems likely. The demon realm is inherently an unsettling place. Maybe I just misinterpreted it.

As I thought this and was about to suggest we resume our activities, I heard a voice of confusion from the side.

“Hmm?”

The voice came from Shin Chul-Min, who was stretching.

“Everyone, what’s that?”

Shin Chul-Min pointed towards the direction I had been looking. The heroes nearby shifted their gaze to follow his finger.

Even after looking again, I couldn’t see anything. There was nothing there.

“Chul-Min, is there something over there?”

Baek Shin-Hwa tilted her head and asked.

“That rock. I thought I might have seen it wrong, but it looked like the rock moved slightly.”

“The rock moved?”

Baek Shin-Hwa questioned if he might have seen it wrong, but I felt a nagging unease in my gut.

I wasn’t the only one feeling something strange; Shin Chul-Min also seemed to have witnessed an anomaly. And from the same location.

Ms. Hye-Rim’s notes also mentioned this: ‘There is no such thing as coincidence in the demon realm.’

If that’s the case, could the rock really be something unusual?

I conjured a fireball and shot it at the rock.

The rock showed no reaction upon being hit by the fireball. Just when I thought it might be an ordinary rock,

—Flinch!

“......!”

The rock flinched visibly.

A rock should never move like that. The bizarre sight caused the heroes to recoil in shock.

But there was no time to be shocked as an even stranger scene unfolded before us.

Rrrrumble

The object that looked like a rock slowly began to rise. To be precise, it was standing up.

It was a monster disguised as a rock. I instinctively realized that the unsettling presence I had felt was from this monster.

The monster, hiding its appearance to ambush us, now revealed its true form.

A massive monster over 10 meters in size, with extremely tough-looking skin and sharp, hooked arms. It was an overwhelming sight.

“Everyone, get ready for battle!”

I shouted to wake the heroes from their stunned state.

This monster was far stronger than any we had faced so far. That was evident just by looking.

“I’ll draw its attention first! In the meantime, find its weaknesses and defeat it!”

With his sword drawn, Shin Chul-Min bravely charged at the monster. We prepared our attacks in response.

“Alright, let’s go... Gah?!”

But Shin Chul-Min was sent flying far away with a single swipe from the monster’s arm. He rolled several times on the ground, having been thrown at least 10 meters.

“......”

“......”

He didn’t get up again, seemingly unconscious.

Even Shin Chul-Min, a powerful hero, had been taken down in one hit.

“Oh, we’re screwed.”

A deep sigh escaped Baek Shin-Hwa’s lips.