Deserted Island (20)

Behind Lee Yul, who flew in like the wind, I saw Suhyeok and the other search party members dangling in midair like luggage.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been carrying them around like that this whole time?”

Startled, I shouted before even greeting him. The people’s complexions had gone green, as if they were motion-sick.

“W-we’re fine. In any case, I’m glad you’re… uuurk.”

Suhyeok, who’d managed to pull himself together the most, opened his mouth, but he didn’t look fine at all. He ended up clapping both hands over his mouth and dry heaving; it was a pitiful sight.

Clicking his tongue at the sight, Lee Yul flicked his hand. The invisible force holding them aloft vanished.

Thud.

With the mana gone, the people dropped limply to the floor. It wasn’t that high, so they wouldn’t be hurt… but why not just throw them while you’re at it.

“You really don’t have a shred of delicacy, do you…”

“They all seem to like it, though?”

When I looked ready to start nagging, Lee Yul jerked his chin.

Sure enough, they seemed hugely relieved just to be on the ground. Faces that had gone past blue to chalk-white finally had something like expressions again.

“Oh, Lord…”

One of them even dropped to his knees and prayed. They must have had a rough time while we were apart.

“I—I’ll be right back…”

Suhyeok really didn’t look well; he bolted off into the distance. I shook my head.

“Ms. Yuha, I’ll take a quick look around.”

I glanced at the people still sprawled on the ground, too dazed to move, and nodded. It was better to check. I was grateful; it was something I hadn’t thought of first.

I nodded after glancing at the people still sprawled on the ground and unable to collect themselves. It was good to check; I was grateful for a precaution I hadn’t thought of first.

As soon as I nodded, Min Ha-jun slipped away to scout the area.

“And after finally meeting up, that’s all you’ve got to say to me?”

While I was glancing at the now-vacant spot beside me, an annoyed voice came from straight ahead. Lee Yul stood there with arms folded and one hip cocked. The grumbling tone and delinquent posture finally made it feel real that I’d met him.

The actual time apart probably hadn’t been long, but it felt like seeing him again after ten years.

“What. Were you worried?”

“Worried, my ass. It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve done something insane.”

“And every one of those times, you were worried.”

“That’s your imagination…”

Even as he said it, he kept his gaze fixed on empty air rather than my face.

‘What a hopeless liar.’

He’s the one who told me once that if I died, I absolutely had to show up in his dreams. The corners of my mouth curled up slightly.

“Anyway… how did you get here?”

Running into Lee Yul in a place I’d been unwillingly washed into. It was a near-miraculous coincidence. I didn’t even know where I was—no way he knew and came, either.

“How else? Things blew up, so I came looking on purpose.”

“On purpose?”

So, it wasn’t chance after all, contrary to what I’d thought.

“With a commotion that big, I was sure you’d be in the middle of it.”

I couldn’t see his expression, but the firmness in his tone was clear.

‘Come on, what did I even do.’

I felt a twinge of injustice.

I am a thoroughly sensible, diligent hunter. Who’s quieter on the job than me?

Besides, for a hunter, you sometimes end up in the middle of the chaos when you fight. That just proves you’re not holding back and always doing your duty to the best of your ability.

But in the end, it was thanks to his judgment that we were able to regroup, so I couldn’t exactly argue the point…

“What did I do.”

The words popped out of my throat unfiltered. I hesitated a second, but a person should say what needs saying.

“What did you do? What did you dooo? Try reviewing your actions before you talk.”

“I did, and then I talked.”

At that, Lee Yul bowed his head and pressed his forehead. Even so, I stood my ground. Who else tug-of-wars between reason and instinct in battle like I do, always aiming for the most efficient method?

“What did you pull this time—no, forget it, I found you and that’s what matters.”

Deciding there was no point in arguing further, he raised the white flag first.

“Nothing happened to you, right?”

Accepting his surrender, I gave him and the others another once-over. It didn’t look like anyone was hurt, and Lee Yul seemed fine, but I couldn’t help asking after he’d been left alone with civilians. He could’ve had a hell of a time.

“Oh, plenty happened.”

Contrary to my expectation that he’d answer cockily that nothing had, his reply was unexpected.

“What happened? Are you hurt?”

“No. You’ll be shocked when you hear it.”

Even so, I had no guesses.

But before he could launch into it, Min Ha-jun returned from scouting.

“This area’s clear, for now.”

Suhyeok, still looking pale, hung off his side.

“Are you okay?”

Suhyeok nodded weakly. Min Ha-jun propped him against the wall so he could sit. It looked like he’d need more time to recover his strength.

“Good timing. You should hear this too.”

For whatever reason, Lee Yul—who’d barely acknowledged Min Ha-jun until now—actually turned his head and addressed him. Though he hadn’t heard our previous conversation, Min sensed the importance in his tone and approached with a serious look.

“What is it?”

“We found something. We should go see it together.”

If even he said that, whatever they’d found wasn’t trivial.

“Don’t tell me the Gate core? Or an exit?”

I asked with rising hope, but his answer was ambiguous.

“Probably at least one of the two.”

The “probably” made it clear even that wasn’t certain.

“I didn’t check it personally. Felt too risky to go in with these people.”

Both of us nodded. Rather than risking lives on a guess, waiting to regroup with us had been the wise call.

But there was one thing I wondered.

“So why do you think it’s one of the two?”

“We found a massive swarm.”

The exact meaning of those words only became clear when we saw the place with our own eyes.

* * *

Following Lee Yul’s opinion that we needed to move with the minimum number of people to the location, we escorted everyone except Suhyeok safely back to the village.

Fortunately, after sufficient rest, Suhyeok looked much better than before.

“I never imagined a place like that existed.”

Recovered, he rattled off a glamorous exploration tale with Lee Yul. Sounded like they’d been through some rough patches after parting from us as well.

“Still, thanks to Mr. Wind…”

“Shh.”

Up at the front, Lee Yul rounded a corner and stopped, pressing us back to the wall.

Rustle-rustle.

Holding our breath, we heard something crawling. Thankfully, it didn’t come closer; the sound faded away.

Only after peeking to confirm did, he signal us.

“We’re probably within that lot’s range now, so be careful.”

We fell in behind him and started moving again. Maybe tense, Suhyeok swallowed a few times instead of resuming the conversation.

From that point on, we started running into monsters more and more often. Luckily, we were prepared ahead of time, so things never escalated into full-on fights, but the close calls were getting worse.

“Guh…”

If Suhyeok hadn’t clapped a hand over his own mouth just now, we would’ve been made. In the distance, a monster raised its long body and rotated what looked like its head this way and that.

‘Good thing those things don’t have eyes.’

The monsters we kept encountering were the same kind as the one Lee Yul and I had first met in here. I could see why he’d insisted on minimum personnel for this leg.

They couldn’t see ahead, but were extremely sensitive to signs of life. Even now, we couldn’t get within a certain distance of them.

Apparently failing to find us, the monster lowered its body from its upright pose and crawled away. Once again, in the direction opposite from where we were.

‘Guess its destination is the same as ours.’

Lee Yul had also noticed how oddly those things were moving in groups and followed them, which was how he’d found that place.

‘Where there’s a gathering of monsters, the odds are high there’ll be a gate core.’

Smart bastard.

I nodded toward the rear to signal Min Ha-jun as well. Because we had to avoid combat as much as possible, we kept having to stop and hide, which slowed our progress.

But we couldn’t stir up trouble first on our way into their home base. Once fighting started, we had no idea how many would swarm.

We were the ones with lots of constraints and a lot to lose, so we had to be careful.

Thanks to that, it took some time, but we reached the destination safely.

“Here.”

The spot where Lee Yul stopped looked no different from the passages we’d been through.

But when he dug his hand into a crack in the wall and put strength into it, the shallow overlay of flesh parted like a curtain, revealing a hidden path.

Alone, I’d never have noticed it.

“I didn’t catch it, either—not until I saw a monster slip in.”

Sensing my amazement, he added that.

“I doubted my eyes, too.”

Suhyeok whispered just for me to hear. He sounded even more tense than before.

“Mr. Suhyeok, if anything happens, just stick to any one of us three.”

“Yes. I’ve learned that much traveling with Mr. Wind.”

Come to think of it, his form of address had grown more respectful. I’d bet Lee Yul had saved him more than once.

“We’re going in now, so everyone be careful.”

“Mm.”

And what we saw first when we carefully went inside was… heaps of thousands, tens of thousands of white eggs.