Chapter 111: The Chaos of the Fire Temple and a Shaky Alliance

Silence. Followed by even more silence.

Sometimes I genuinely wondered if I was actually Na Eun-hyeok’s stalker. But looking at the current situation, it was impossible to tell who was the stalker and who was the one suffering through a one-sided crush.

“Hey, Eun-hyeok-ya.”

My head throbbed painfully.

“I told you I liked you, and you were the one who suggested we act like it never happened.”

“You were the one who suggested we act like it never happened.”

“And you agreed to it.”

“…….”

“So, did my confession succeed or fail?”

“…….”

“You drove the final stake into the ground by explicitly delivering that final farewell. So I’m voluntarily getting out of your way, and I honestly can’t fathom why you’re suddenly acting like this now. Can we please just go our separate ways?”

“No. We can’t.”

“Right…… Wait, what?”

The end of the silence broke in a direction I absolutely hadn’t anticipated. At Na Eun-hyeok’s completely calm response, my head snapped straight up. What on earth is this bastard talking about?

“I have zero intention of going my separate way.”

“Why? No, seriously, I genuinely do not comprehend you.”

“You don’t need to comprehend it. Just keep in mind that we’re going to be hanging around each other for the time being anyway.”

The air felt completely trapped in my lungs. Right. I had momentarily forgotten, but Na Eun-hyeok was Sephiroth, and Sephiroth was Na Eun-hyeok. The man standing right in front of me was the exact same Sephiroth who consistently armed himself with absolute lack of logic and only ever pushed his own agenda.

Are you playing games with me right now?

The rage that had barely begun to simmer down flared up with a violent vengeance. What on earth did this prick take me for? A toy he could just keep by his side whenever it suited his convenience? A puppy that would obediently crawl over and flip onto its back the second he whistled? The sheer absurdity of it left me completely tongue-tied. To top it off, the absolute most infuriating part was the distinct trace of displeasure lacing Na Eun-hyeok’s voice.

“You can’t run away from me.”

Excuse me. Are you and I even speaking the same language right now?

Fuming with pure exasperation, I spat out every single syllable with raw venom.

“Like hell I’m ever going to hang around—”

I will get along with you. Before I could even cleanly finish the sentence, the world shifted.

[The waiting time has expired.]

[Automatically teleporting to Hidden Dungeon: Fire Temple.]

Oh, holy shit.

The forgotten reality of Zelfia aggressively forced itself back into motion.

The interior of the dungeon we teleported into was a lush, vibrant spring. Fresh green sprouts and a brilliant tapestry of colorful flowers bloomed in chaotic abundance, wafting a intensely sweet floral scent through the air. The vast expanse of raw nature stretched entirely across the ruins of an ancient temple. Vibrant green ivy crawled up and over cracked, collapsed pillars of pure white marble.

Sure. It was incredibly beautiful and scenic, but why did it have to be a forced teleportation?

“Even the quest is telling us to hang around each other.”

And right on cue, the dog beside me started barking.

I deliberately Feigned ignorance and completely shut him out. I desperately scanned the interface to see if there was any possible way to exit the dungeon, but the leave button was completely greyed out. Was the game explicitly telling me to abandon any hopes of escaping? It felt like a direct, sickening echo of the words Na Eun-hyeok had just dropped, making my mood sour instantly.

Completely ignoring Na Eun-hyeok, I took massive, aggressive strides forward. Though heavily weathered and collapsed in various areas, the temple was incredibly vast and possessed a highly complex layout. After walking for only a brief moment, a fork in the path materialized. The exact second I veered toward the left corridor, Na Eun-hyeok swung left as well. Without a single moment of hesitation, I sharply pivoted and headed right.

“Chae Un-ha.”

Na Eun-hyeok called out to me, his tone laced with distinct irritation. I ignored him entirely and marched aggressively down the right path. While I was perfectly accustomed to Sephiroth using that specific tone, mapping it onto Na Eun-hyeok’s face felt incredibly jarring. I sharply scolded myself. They’re the exact same person, what on earth are you even thinking? The fact that a microscopic shred of flustered excitement for Na Eun-hyeok still lingered deep inside me severely bruised my pride.

Fortunately, Na Eun-hyeok didn’t trail behind me any further. The moment I crossed the threshold of the corridor into a large chamber, a wave of monsters instantly spawned. Perhaps because I had entered the room entirely alone, the monsters scaled around level 70—a perfectly manageable match for a solo run. Coating myself in a thick layer of various buffs, I gripped my dual swords and aggressively pulled the monsters’ aggro.

“Easy.”

Right when I had cleanly dispatched five mobs.

Thud-thud-thud-thud.

The heavy, rhythmic vibrations of something incredibly massive sprinting echoed from somewhere close. Furthermore, the sound was rapidly closing in right behind my back. As I successfully dodged the skill of a sixth monster, a terrible premonition hit me. Please tell me it’s not what I think it is. The chamber I occupied was highly spacious, and the initial wave of spawned monsters easily exceeded twenty. In a standard dungeon run, pulling a moderate, controlled amount of mobs was absolute common sense. It was common sense. Right, because it was common sense……

KYAAAAAAAH!

“What the hell!”

Startled half to death by a bloodcurdling, ear-splitting screech that sounded like a collective death wail, I whirled around. Sure enough, the heavy footsteps echoing right at my doorstep belonged to none other than Na Eun-hyeok. And right behind him, a massive horde of roughly twenty monsters—so tightly clustered together that targeting them seemed entirely impossible—was howling in a mad frenzy as they pursued him. Having synchronized directly with Na Eun-hyeok’s level, these were transcendent-grade monsters sitting near level 300, easily flying past the level 250 mark.

Sprinting toward me from the far end of the hall, Na Eun-hyeok’s gaze locked directly onto mine. Having meticulously gathered every single drop of aggro from the remaining monsters in the entire sector, Na Eun-hyeok sprinted straight toward me without a shred of hesitation. Instinctively, I bolted to get out of his path. The violent fluttering of the monster horde’s wings sliced threateningly past my ears.

However, the pursuit was entirely one-sided. This was a dungeon, after all. No matter how successfully I maneuvered to escape, I would only end up slamming face-first into a completely different wave of monsters in the next room.

Ultimately, finding myself completely hemmed in by a literal wall of monsters, my health bar instantly evaporated from a single barrage of ferocious attacks. No matter how incredible someone’s evasion stats were, there was physically no blind spot left when over forty monsters were aggressively raining down attacks from every conceivable angle.

Staring at the grey-toned screen indicating my death, a profound sense of injustice washed over me. Na Eun-hyeok hadn’t made a single move to actually slaughter the monsters he had pulled. Watching his own health bar violently chunk down to zero right next to mine, I ground my teeth in pure rage.

“What are you even doing!”

“It’s a gift, Bleewee-ya.”

Has this bastard completely lost his mind?

Following that initial disaster, we attempted the dungeon run roughly sixteen more times. Naturally, every single attempt concluded in an absolute, catastrophic failure. From the very beginning, clearing the Fire Temple had ceased to be the goal. It had devolved entirely into a supreme tournament of trolling—a petty war to see who could force-feed the other a more beautifully wrapped pile of garbage. The moment a trap materialized, I ruthlessly shoved Na Eun-hyeok’s back into it; the second an explosive barrel appeared, I immediately struck it to detonate it right in his face. Na Eun-hyeok retaliated with the exact same energy. The brilliant, radiant spring background dissolved into a dismal shade of grey over and over again.

“…….”

“…….”

It didn’t look like I was the only one whose buttons had been thoroughly pushed. Na Eun-hyeok looked completely, utterly riled up himself. Barring his own explicit compliance, Na Eun-hyeok was someone who practically never died under normal circumstances, yet I had managed to successfully murder him in an incredibly diverse array of creative methods today. I learned for the absolute first time today that even flawless evasion mechanics required a teammate’s basic cooperation.

“…….”

“…….”

Catching our breath, we glared daggers at each other. The entrance of the Fire Temple had already welcomed us back over ten times. This was easily the day I had racked up the highest death count in my entire history of playing Zelfia. Video games were inherently meant to be won, so constantly dying solely due to that bastard’s relentless trolling was starting to make me incredibly anxious. I could have easily just rage-quitted right then and there, right? But having caught a glimpse of the dungeon’s initial mechanics, it looked genuinely fascinating, and I absolutely didn’t want to throw in the towel.

“Hey.”

“Bleewee-ya.”

Our voices overlapped almost perfectly. Following a brief, tense silence where we both cautiously scanned each other’s reactions, I finally opened my mouth.

“A peace treaty……”

“Let’s compromise……”

Ah, seriously, why did our audio have to clash at the exact most awkward moment?

If nothing else, whenever it came to playing Zelfia, our minds locked together with terrifying precision. Both he and I were clearly in absolute agreement regarding the fact that we genuinely wanted to clear this dungeon properly. After a lingering stare-down, I was the first to raise my hand in surrender. Na Eun-hyeok gave a sharp jerk of his chin, passing the floor to me.

“Let’s run this properly. You don’t honestly intend to keep this up forever, do you?”

“I have a condition.”

“……What condition.”

“Stop running away from me.”

I truly couldn’t fathom a single thing crossing Na Eun-hyeok’s mind, but for the time being, I gave a firm nod. Of course, I fully intended to agree with my mouth and continue evading him in reality anyway. While blatant lying didn’t exactly align with my personal code, breaking a contract just this once felt like a highly therapeutic option.

“If you choose to run, I’ll make sure to show you exactly what true, unadulterated harassment feels like, so just keep that in mind.”

“…….”

If I imagined standard Na Eun-hyeok uttering those exact words, I could have easily brushed it off as a mild threat, but because I was starkly aware of Sephiroth’s historical track record in this game, it sounded mildly terrifying.

Regardless, now that Na Eun-hyeok had laid down his term, a condition of my own instantly surfaced. The fundamental, core reason I had even logged back into Zelfia in the first place.

“In exchange, I have a condition as well.”

“What is it?”

I briefly cast my gaze downward. The guild chat window had been aggressively exploding with text for a while now.

[ Guild ] NaGoRang: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Can literally anyone just come over to the entrance of the Woods of Jorel

[ Guild ] NaGoRang: These absolute fing pieces of sht are slaughtering our entire guild right now

[ Guild ] NaGoRang: Ah, holy f*, why did Ciel_o have to show up and start throwing a fing fit here toooooo ㅠㅠ

[ Guild ] PpungPpungieLove: I’m heading over right now;;;

[ Guild ] NaGoRang: Hurry the f up please ㅠㅠ I don’t think I can hold out much longer

[ Guild ] PpungPpungieLove: Sh, honestly I can’t do anything against Ciel_o either

[ Guild ] PpungPpungieLove: But I’m coming anyway

The messages explicitly detailed that the Guild Master of Endless was ruthlessly massacring our guild members. Since this was the exact catalyst that brought me back to Zelfia, there was zero need to mince words.

“Do something about Endless.”

To be completely honest, I didn’t possess a shred of confidence that I could actually be of any real help. No matter how exceptional someone’s mechanical control was or how unique their gear set looked, it was physically impossible to entirely bypass a massive level disparity. But Sephiroth, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He would undeniably be an absolute game-changer.

Na Eun-hyeok stared dead at me. Right when the expressionless iron helmet was beginning to feel intensely suffocating, a response finally drifted back.

“Only if you promise me that you won’t run away.”

“Fine. Yeah, whatever.”

Na Eun-hyeok’s fist slowly extended into the space between us. I balled my own hand into a fist and lightly tapped it against his. I had genuinely believed I would never lay eyes on this bastard ever again, yet somehow, we had ended up completely, messily tangled together once more. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was really okay.

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