Yeoreum froze in place, standing like a statue, utterly motionless.

Did something happen to her? Worried thoughts started filling my head, so I tugged on her sleeve.

"Are you okay…?"

"Oh, yeah. Gyeoul, you startled me with that little roar."

"Did I really surprise you?"

"Yeah. For a second, I thought my heart was going to stop."

Her heart almost stopped? I wasn’t anywhere near that level yet, though. Everyone else seemed perfectly fine—so why was Yeoreum, one of the top adventurers, reacting like that?

Could it be that my wild instincts were getting stronger through practice? It seemed odd, …