The scent of fresh flowers that had filled this place earlier was covered by the sweet scent of Lee Sa-young. The pounding in my heart gradually subsided.

When Lee Sa-young touched the root I was holding, even the last remaining stem became poisonous and died. With just one use of the ability, the garden of life became a black poisonous swamp. After confirming that nothing was alive, Sa-young muttered.

"What the hell did you do to the master of the rift? I heard you were under a weakening curse."

That last part didn't seem to be directed at me.

"That's what I'm saying, guild leader."

Min-ki, who was standing a few steps behind me, replied coldly. He was holding some kind of oxygen mask to his mouth. Sa-young slapped his hand away from my nose and mouth.

You're not going to let go?

When I looked at him like that, Sa-young said without looking back.

"Hey, give me that."

"What?"

"I don't think you have any more. Give it to me."

"......"

"I know you have the tool."

"Yes."

A shadow human as big as a hand came out of nowhere with a small oxygen mask raised over his head. Sa-young raised his head.

"Grow."

The shadow human quickly grew to the size of a full-grown man. It handed me the oxygen mask and then melted away.

[Artisan's Mass Production Oxygen Mask (A)]

If you wear it where the poison has spread, it will detoxify a certain amount of poison and help you breathe. It is better than nothing.

Creator: Hong Ye-sung]

Sa-young whispered.

"If you let go of your hand, you can put it on your mouth right now."

"......."

"Blink if you understand."

This guy is giving orders one by one. When I opened my eyes fully again and shot at him, Sa-young reacted angrily.

"If you don't want to throw up again, listen to me.

No, I have basilisk venom. My failure to mention a trait came back to haunt me in a big way.
 

Sa-young relaxed her hand when I blinked. In any case, the item I was told to wear had to be used, so I put a mask over my mouth. The basilisk's poison had worked hard, and it didn't make much difference if I used it or not.

The atmosphere became as calm as possible. My heart, which seemed to have calmed down a bit, started pounding again. It was so loud that even Sa-young, who was standing right behind me, could hear it. The strange fire filled me to the brim. I deliberately made his breathing louder. Without the sound, I felt like I was being consumed by the fear that had barely dissipated.

Then a strong arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me closer. He leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"Breathe."

"......."

"You're surprised now, Hyung."

No, I'm not surprised. No matter how many monsters I'd seen, I was just...

Uneasy.

Tap, tap, a small hand tapped my shoulder in a regular rhythm, a faint sound that pierced the silence and my breathing. I could feel my heart, which was about to beat hard, slowing down a little. I let out a long breath. As my head began to spin, I wondered.

Why is Lee Sa-young here?

Why did this guy come to the 5th grade rift? I could ignore the call. No, I'm going to ignore you, Lee Sa-young.

As the arm around my shoulder fell, I looked back at Sa-young. Sa-young was wearing gloves again. He looked at my face and smiled, which meant he knew what I was thinking.

"Someone will think you saw a ghost."

"......."

"Did you think I wouldn't come?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"There's no reason to come."

Sa-young tilted her head slightly.

"You're so..."

"......."

"You don't trust people."

It was his usual bluntness, but somehow it felt sarcastic. It was a rational conclusion, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"So why did you come here?"

"I'm here to get you out."

Sa-young replied, pointing at the black poison swamp with her chin.

"But I can't believe you're fighting the Rift Master."

Damn it. I'll just kill it and get out first. That was the moment I crumpled my face. Min-ki shouted in the distance.

"Guild leader! It's good of you to take care of your customers, but there's something you should consider!"

Sa-young looked back.

"What is it?"

"There is a possibility that the stones of the Rift Owner have melted together because you melted the Rift Owner all at once!"

As if waiting for this word, the entire rift began to tremble. The ground, the sky, and even the air were distorted. Min-ki shrugged.

"It's already started, can you lend me your shadow?!"

The Rift Stone is a kind of mana stone cherished by the RFIT master, and when it is broken, the rift disappears. It is a different concept than when the rift master dies. When the rift disappears, all the people trapped inside it will bounce back to where the rift entrance was, without distinguishing between a corpse and a survivor.

In other words, it was also said that the survivor would see the body of another victim who had been sucked in right in front of him. The bodies of the monsters were horrible, so the rescue team would disintegrate them and erase the cracks to minimize the trauma of the survivors.

Fortunately, there would be no deaths this time, but... there was another problem with the prostitute.

At this rate, I'm going to run into the rescue team!

I looked around in alarm and locked eyes with Sa-young. Sa-young shrugged.

"This is an unexpected situation. What do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

I pulled Sa-young's collar. And I looked directly into the purple eyes over the lens and said one word after another.

"You're not going to wait for the rescuers, are you? You don't want to get caught removing the rift stone, do you?"

"......"

"Memorize everything I'm going to say. Say it."

The corners of Sa-young's mouth slowly turned up as he listened to Ui-jae.
 

Yang Hye-jin, who jumped out of the rift as if she were spitting, tried to concentrate by blinking her eyes. She felt nauseous as if she had been on a roller coaster 50 times in a row, and her whole body ached as if she had been hit with a baseball bat repeatedly. There was only one thought in the midst of her dizziness.

Lee Sa-young, you crazy bastard... ....'.

The rescue operation hadn't even finished yet, so why was he making a fuss about destroying the crack? Yang Hye-jin grimaced and barely raised her upper body from the ground. The feeling of being pushed out of the rift was still terrible. She heard the sound of busy footsteps.

"All the hunters who entered the rift have returned!"

"O... Observation confirmation of rift dissipation!"

"We will check the survivors."

"How did they capture the rift master so quickly? It's been less than half an hour since they entered."

When Yang Hye-jin looked around through the commotion, the Rift Management Agency's hunters who had entered together were suffering from a loss of mind, as if they could not get over the shock of being suddenly thrown away. Yang Hye-jin, A-rankn, was the first to come to her senses.

Still dizzy from her dizzying vision, she leaned down and saw a pair of black shoes in front of her and stopped. She looked up with a frown.

Jung-bin stood with a gentle smile. If she had known that he was the support hunter from the Awakening Management Bureau, she would have kept that bastard Lee Sa-young a little longer before she entered.

"Are you okay? Yang Hye-jin."

"Yes... I think I'm going to throw up a little, but I'll be fine soon."

Jung-bin reached out to hold her. Hye-jin took his hand and looked around. Jung-bin followed her gaze and asked.

"Are you looking for someone?"

"The guild leader, Lee Sa-young... Where is he now?"

She couldn't let that go. This was a violation of the Hunter's Code of Conduct that must be followed when assisting in a rift. What would you do if there was a dead person and the survivors gathered? Jung-bin pointed behind her with an embarrassed smile.

"It's over there. But..."

"Yes?"

"Well, I looked at it, but... he has a very good reason for it, and I'm sure you can see it too."

Jung-bin stepped aside. Several ambulances stood side by side in the parking lot of the district office. Among them, a black figure sat cross-legged in the farthest ambulance, unmistakably Lee Sa-young.

He was unbelievably neat like everyone else who had entered the rift, but his last conscience seemed to be that he had covered his shoulder with an orange ambulance blanket. Next to him, however, was someone else.

It was a familiar face.

'...Huh??'

A cool, neat-looking young man leaned against Lee Sa-young, who was huddled under an orange blanket. His slightly sweaty bangs were tangled and attached to his forehead, and the color of his face was particularly pale. It was a face that Hye-jin knew well.

She... ate the hangover soup the young man made for her last night! Hye-jin asked carefully.

"Isn't he the part-timer at a Haejang-guk house in the alley?"

"Yes."

Jung-bin nodded.

"The part-timer woke up and came to get tested... and got caught up in this whole mess."

"Oh my God..."

Hye-jin felt truly sorry and checked her watch. It was time to prepare the ingredients for Haejang-guk House. Yang Hye-jin sighed heavily at the heartbreaking news of a good and sincere young man, and Jung-bin spoke up.

"According to Lee Sa-young, the rift master had the power to attract the awakening. Originally, I was going to stay near the master and buy time until the rescue was over, but when Sa-young arrived, the possessed part-timer was already in front of the master..."

"Are you saying that he killed him?"

"That's right."

What happened while he was saving people... Yang Hye-jin made a face, grunted, made a noise, and then sighed heavily.

"I shouldn't have let it go, but he was trying to save someone's life, so I can't blame him."

"Haha, right? But that's it, and he has to be punished."

Jung-gbin, who was looking at the ambulance with warm eyes, said refreshingly. After a moment of silence, Hyejin frowned.

"But... Is it okay to leave the part-timer next to Lee Sa-young like that? He must have used his ability to deal with the rift master. Will it have a negative effect on the patient?"

"I don't know about that."

"Is it okay to just say it like that?"

"I tried to say it, but Lee Sa-young looked at me like he was going to kill me, so I ran away......"

Jung-bin shrugged and laughed. Hye-jin looked at Jung-bin with her eyes wide open, and when she saw the newcomer choking, she rushed over to him.

In the ambulance a short distance away, I rested my head on Lee Sa-young's shoulder and did the trick of whispering without moving my lips.

"Are they gone?"