HSF 5

5

“Let’s go right away.”

“Yes.”

A deep voice pierced through Cheong-hyeon’s wireless earphones with striking clarity. The impressively low, pleasant voice that Cheong-hyeon inwardly admired belonged to Seohee1. Though it would have been natural to make small talk about his nice voice, Seohee1’s tone was quite cold, and Cheong-hyeon thought he might get a response like, “So what?” So he just entered the dungeon silently.

“Assassin, kill mobs in the center while waiting. Mage, follow the Knight and kill any stragglers.”

As soon as they entered the dungeon, Seohee1 naturally took command. Jimni, seemingly accustomed to this, moved upward to take position, with Capybara following closely behind.

“Capi-nim, your aggro spikes, so don’t attack until I stun the mobs.”

“Ah, yes!”

Remaining in the center with Cheong-hyeon, Seohee1 began using buff skills. Seeing various skill effects appear above his head, Cheong-hyeon prepared for battle, feeling slightly tense.

[You’ve discovered mine workers. Defeat them to claim rewards!]

A guidance message appeared along with a 10-minute timer. Simultaneously, monsters carrying ore on their heads and backs were summoned. Cheong-hyeon checked the mini-map while defeating spawned monsters with Seohee1. He could see Jimni moving smoothly through the area stretching from 12 o’clock to 1 o’clock.

“We’re coming to the center now~”

Jimni, who had been pushing mobs with a shield, returned via the path connecting to the 2 o’clock position of the center. She was accompanied by stunned monsters. Capybara followed behind, with health somewhat depleted from taking hits while killing stragglers that Jimni had left behind.

As soon as Jimni delivered the monsters to the center, she immediately ran toward the path in the bottom right. Capybara, who had been fidgeting while receiving healing from Seohee1, hastily followed once their health bar was full. While Seohee1 healed party members and applied debuffs to mobs, Cheong-hyeon felt indescribable joy as he killed the accumulated monsters in the center.

Why is the damage so high right now?

Thanks to the priest’s buffs and his changed ring, his damage was significantly higher than usual. Normally, the AoE skill Cheong-hyeon used for hunting required about five hits to kill monsters, but now they were dying after just three hits.

“Two zones possible?”

Jimni, gathering mobs in the 5 o’clock area, asked. Between the 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock zones of Mystic Mine, there was a path connecting the two areas. Moving from 5 o’clock to 7 o’clock and back to the center would allow for faster and more efficient mob kills. However, if the central DPS wasn’t strong enough, there was a risk of being surrounded and killed. Because of this, it was common practice to bring mobs from each zone separately, despite the less efficient method.

“Let’s try one zone first.”

“Okay.”

Seohee1 answered while healing Cheong-hyeon, who was near death after taking just two hits from monsters. Even with higher-than-usual damage output, it seemed risky to handle mobs from two zones at once with such fragility, and Seohee1 apparently thought the same.

“Capi-nim, the mobs on the second floor give more ore, so kill them well.”

“Yes…”

“My shield is better than your defensive gear, so don’t be too afraid.”

“Okay!”

Seohee1 healed Jimni and Capybara as they returned to the center with mobs. Capybara seemed to be getting used to the routine, now turning back without hesitation with Jimni to head to the next area after delivering monsters. By the time they disappeared from view, Capybara’s health was now fully restored.

For a first-time team, the dungeon run was progressing smoothly. Although Cheong-hyeon was at death’s door after just two hits, consistent healing after each hit made the monsters feel less threatening. This allowed him to hunt comfortably, not even bothering to dodge attacks he could have avoided.

“Grack will appear soon.”

“Eh, already?”

Greedy Grack would spawn while hunting mobs in Mystic Mine, but in public parties, this boss monster usually appeared after about 6 minutes of hunting. At Seohee1’s announcement, Cheong-hyeon checked the time with eyes wide open. Only 4 minutes had passed since entering the dungeon.

[The master of the Mystic Mine is enraged at losing his slaves!]

[Greedy Grack is being summoned.]

Just as Seohee1 predicted, the ground shook and Grack, a burly green humanoid monster, was summoned to the center of the map. Grack began pounding the ground with his huge fists, but Jimni, who had already rushed over, struck him with her shield.

“I’ll hold aggro, so attack comfortably from behind.”

“Yes. It’s really reassuring having a Knight like you around.”

“Hahaha! I’m also reassured by how well you DPS players are doing.”

While Jimni and Cheong-hyeon exchanged compliments, Grack’s health rapidly decreased. This was due to improved hit and ambush success rates from being able to attack comfortably while trusting the Knight. Grack quickly collapsed, dropping numerous ores, and regular monsters resumed spawning.

“Wow…we’ll earn over 7 million gold today.”

“Nah, it’ll be 800 at least. I’m a Knight, remember?”

“Oh! The most I’ve ever earned was 600.”

“It’s hard to get more than 600 in public parties.”

Capybara, who had only been responding with “yes” during the dungeon run, seemed to have relaxed and started chatting more. As the party atmosphere warmed, Cheong-hyeon noticed Seohee1 quietly providing heals, buffs, debuffs, and occasionally dealing with damage. A healer’s efforts often went unnoticed like this, happening quietly behind the scenes.

Only then did Cheong-hyeon feel perplexed. How many rumors had he heard about Seohee1’s terrible personality? During his three months in the guild, he had heard countless stories about Seohee1 fighting with someone, saying mean things, or being featured in another callout post.

Contrary to these rumors, the Seohee1 that Cheong-hyeon observed firsthand was a diligent person who quietly did their job and made significant contributions to the party. Having been caught up in absurd rumors himself today, Cheong-hyeon began to feel sympathy for Seohee1. Perhaps they too were a victim of ridiculous rumors. Feeling sorry for having viewed Seohee1 with such a biased perspective, Cheong-hyeon deliberately complimented them to ensure they weren’t left out of the conversation.

“Seohee-nim, your healing is so good that the game feels comfortable.”

“Ah…comfortable?”

Something about Seohee1’s questioning tone felt a little off.

Oh…

At that moment, Cheong-hyeon sensed that something was wrong. Unlike his own rumors, which were pure fantasy, Seohee1’s rumors appeared to be more documentary-based on reality.

“I’m busy as hell giving heals, buffs, and even doing damage…why would the DPS be comfortable?”

While their voice was pleasingly melodic, their speech was as rough as a street thug’s. Cheong-hyeon wanted to make excuses or apologize to soothe the irritated Seohee1, but he didn’t have the mental space for it. His health had already dropped to the point where one more hit would kill him. Seohee1, who had previously rushed to heal him after just one hit, was now merely watching as Ittorang hovered near death.

“Ah! Seohee-nim, heal me please.”

“Did I sign up to be your personal healer?”

This crazy bastard!

Cheong-hyeon would have preferred to run around and survive rather than fight in his one-hit-from-death state, but even that had its limits.

“What are you doing? If you don’t want to die, kill them.”

No matter how long he waited, Seohee1 showed no intention of healing Cheong-hyeon. To survive, he frantically rolled around, targeting only the backs of mobs. The only way to overcome this situation where the healer refused to heal was to avoid monster attacks, succeed with ambushes, and kill mobs in one go.

Even as Seohee1 watched Cheong-hyeon rolling around, they merely applied debuff marks to monsters. Cursing inwardly, Cheong-hyeon used his Shadow Step skill to move behind a marked monster.

Simultaneously, he used his Blade Dance skill centered on that mob, causing the surrounding monsters’ health to drop dramatically. The marked monster, now ambushed, displayed red damage numbers above its head before dying instantly.

“Yoo Jimni, bring the 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock mobs at once.”

“Already heading to the center. I’ll do both zones from now on.”

“What? I’ll really die!”

Jimni casually agreed to Seohee1’s unreasonable request and returned with another horde of mobs. Witnessing this, Cheong-hyeon’s eyes trembled. Gritting his teeth tightly, he managed to kill monsters faster than before, but the psychological burden of knowing one graze might mean death for him was immense. Despite his valiant efforts, one remaining mob lunged at him, swinging its arm. Cheong-hyeon reflexively used an attack skill but was too late.

I’m going to die!

Just as Cheong-hyeon sensed his impending death, his health suddenly filled up. It was the healing he had longed for. Immediately after, struck by the monster’s attack, Cheong-hyeon was back to critical health but survived long enough to land his skill. Having overcome the crisis, Cheong-hyeon quickly used another attack and shouted while killing the mob.