Chapter 139: Brothers

Ion took a spoonful of the kimchi stew with a suspicious gaze.

“How is it?”

“…….”

“Even for the sake of the person who cooked it, please give me a brief review. You don’t have to go on about how it’s spicy, refreshing, clears the soul, makes you crave white rice, and makes your mouth water—none of that. Hyung is actually nervous here.”

“It’s delicious.”

When Ion spoke honestly, Sa-on grinned widely.

“Right? I thought so too. Do you know what Il-on said when he ate it?”

“What did he say?”

“He said we should release a kimchi stew meal kit. A D-NATE branded kimchi stew meal kit. I can’t tell if he was joking or being serious.”

“It’s probably just Il-on’s way of complimenting you. We like any kimchi stew anyway.”

“Is that so? Well, he actually did set up a meal kit business division. It’s just sitting idle for now because we’re too busy.”

Ion thought to himself that he should buy it if D-NATE ever released a kimchi stew meal kit.

“Anyway, eat up, our youngest. Just watching you eat makes Hyung feel full.”

Sa-on ladled a generous serving of stew into Ion’s bowl. During the meal, both were silent. Even the talkative Sa-on went quiet. Ion felt that this was a kind of… vestige of their abuse.

He had never explicitly told Sa-on that he now recognized what the Teacher did to them as abuse. However, Sa-on must have sensed that something had changed in Ion after his trip to Idea. Since both were light eaters and fast, the meal ended in an instant.

After cleaning up, they prepared their sleeping arrangements. Ion was curious about the status of Jin Seong-ha and the others; fortunately, the chatty Sa-on prattled on without being asked. He mentioned that some groups had grown larger since they last checked, while some markers remained stationary. The markers that hadn’t moved since entry were likely the byproduct collection teams. Since everyone was looking at their coordinate radars, the combat hunters would eventually rendezvous with them.

“Jin Seong-ha’s group has grown by two more people. Tomorrow, we’ll probably meet a guy who’s all alone up ahead. Likely byproduct collection; I wonder how much he’s trembling while waiting for us. Poor guy.”

His tone didn’t sound sympathetic at all. Regardless, thanks to Sa-on, Ion had learned everything he was curious about. Now it was time for sleep. Ion lay in his hammock, while Sa-on, who felt the cold easily, wiggled into his sleeping bag.

“Ah, I can’t sleep. My body is tired, but sleep won’t come~ On-on, do you have any sleeping pills?”

“Sleeping pills don’t work on us.”

“That’s true. Then sprinkle some sleeping powder. You have that pollen magic.”

Ion looked at Sa-on with a pathetic expression. Sa-on, using a thick python as a pillow, grinned and said it was a joke.

“By the way, the cruise ship terror attack you and Jin Seong-ha went to the other day? That was System Age’s doing. It wasn’t revenge for the Udumbara warehouse; apparently, it was a terror attack planned long before that.”

“…….”

“I saw the video of you in action… floating and moving through the air. That’s magic, right? You used to only lift light objects, but now you’re lifting people. Manas haven’t suddenly increased on Earth, so how did you do it?”

“My abilities improved after going to Idea. If I were in Idea, I could have moved much heavier weights. I could have even lifted the cruise ship.”

“The cruise ship too?”

“Yeah. If it were Idea.”

“Well, our youngest isn’t the type to bluff. I’ll get to see for myself soon enough.”

“Drop the ‘youngest’ thing. We’re the same age.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay. Cute. Our youngest.”

Should he actually use sleep magic on him? Perhaps sensing Ion’s genuine contemplation, silence fell. Unless Sa-on spoke first, their conversations usually ended like this.

Sa-on stared at the profile of Ion, who lay in the hammock with his eyes closed.

“On-on… you’d find Idea better to live in than Earth, right?”

Ion opened his eyes. When their gazes met, Ion’s brows furrowed deeply. Sa-on’s expression was dead serious.

“What are you talking about?”

“No, I mean, it’s true. Earth has no mana, but Idea does. Just as fish are comfortable in the sea, cacti in the desert, and penguins on glaciers, you’d be most comfortable in Idea.”

“…….”

“In Idea, you can lift a giant ship easily. You can be honest with Hyung. You actually want to live in Idea, don’t you?”

Ion shook his head without a moment’s hesitation.

“Living in Idea isn’t ‘comfortable.’ It doesn’t matter where I am.”

“On-on. Hyung wants you to… live well, comfortably and peacefully. Even if that place is Idea.”

“…….”

“I mean it. It’s the wish of your Hyung and Noona that our youngest lives a bit of a comfortable life.”

Ion stared at Sa-on. Then, in a tiny voice that could barely be heard if one didn’t listen closely, he asked.

“Why are you so… favorable toward me?”

“Why else? We’re brothers.”

“Nonsense.”

“It’s true.”

Sa-on chuckled. Ion turned his back and lay down. A long while later, Ion fell asleep, his breathing silent. The leaves of the Sansevieria swayed in a breeze from somewhere. Watching the sleeping Ion, Sa-on whispered.

“Sanse, I’m glad he at least has you by his side.”

“…….”

“I’m counting on you. He’s my life’s savior. Take good care of him.”

“…….”

Even if Ion didn’t remember.

‘Sigh. What should I do with this one? Should I swap him for another even now?’

In the distant past of their childhood, that man had contemplated as he stood before Sa-on, who couldn’t keep up with the training. Whether to just kill him or watch a bit longer. Sa-on had been frozen like a chick before a snake. Just as the man was about to reach out:

‘Teacher, there’s a fire.’ ‘What?’ ‘I was playing with the spirits and started a fire. I’m sorry.’

Ion had called out to the man. A very small fire had started, and Ion was scolded severely. At first, he thought it was a coincidence. But as similar things happened several times to other orphans, he realized Ion was intervening at the exact right moment. The exact moment the man intended to give up on an orphan.

‘If even we noticed, he must have realized it too.’

After that, the man exploited Ion’s kindness. He tormented the other orphans specifically to torment Ion. That method always worked. Ion could have lived much more comfortably if it weren’t for the other orphans.

The power of Ion’s “temporary magic” had long surpassed the man’s skill. He could have suppressed him or rebelled at any time. But he couldn’t, because the orphans were held hostage.

‘To my brother… now it’s my turn to repay the favor.’

And. He had to settle the grudge against the man who abused them.

Sa-on’s purple eyes sank into a gloomy depth.

It was now the third day since entering the maze. The two still hadn’t merged with another group. However, they moved diligently while making full use of Sa-on’s cooking skills, opening six treasure chests. There were various types of trials for the treasure chests, but so far, they had all been monster spawns. They were unusually lucky. Sa-on handled all the monsters.

Thump!

When a massive S-rank monster collapsed, Sa-on divided it into nine pieces, and his snakes devoured them.

“On-on, did you know? My snakes won’t eat anything unless it’s a monster. They won’t eat insects, or meat if I give it to them, or fruit. They only eat monster carcasses. My back is bending trying to feed these guys. My bank account is tight.”

Since each S-rank monster yielded byproducts worth hundreds of millions to billions of won, it was no wonder things were tight.

“Do they not eat people?”

“…Whoa, such a chilling idea.”

“…….”

“They don’t. Unfortunately.”

‘So you did try.’

Shhh, shhh.

The snakes slithered around Sa-on and Ion, seemingly in a good mood from being full. Ion knew the snakes wouldn’t swallow his plant, but he held Sanse higher just in case. Thanks to the snakes’ enthusiastic efforts, they reached the next treasure chest in just a couple of hours. When they opened the chest blocking the path, a system window popped up. It was a window Ion could see as well.

[Tada-da-dan☆] Pass the trial of the treasure chest! If you’ve come this far together, it means you are comrades who trust each other, right? We have prepared this for you. Share one secret with each other. Current: 0/0]

Ion was slightly taken aback. It wasn’t because of the task itself; he knew such trials often appeared in maze chests. But…

‘Tada-da-dan☆? Why is the tone like this?’

“A secret, huh? I don’t have anything I’m hiding from On-on.”

Sa-on reacted nonchalantly even after seeing that ‘Tada-da-dan☆’ style text.

‘I guess the system… uses expressions like that often.’

Ion, who hadn’t seen system windows many times, was truly flustered but tried not to show it.

“You know minor secrets won’t increase the count, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go first. Honestly, I used artificial seasoning when I made the kimchi stew yesterday.”

“…….”

While Ion watched silently, Sa-on looked at the system window in surprise.

“Huh? Why didn’t the count go up? That was my trump card secret!”

“I already knew.”

“Ah… you knew. On-on, were you not saying anything because you thought Hyung would be embarrassed? Man… how humiliating. I want to hide…”

Ion contemplated which of his many secrets to share before speaking.

“Actually, I’m not over 175cm.”

“…….”

The count did not go up.

“Sorry. I knew that.”

“……!”

“Well… it’s obvious just by looking… yeah, sorry.”

The two sat facing each other and shared a few more secrets, but no matter what they said, the treasure chest’s count wouldn’t budge. It was an unexpected hurdle. Sa-on, stroking his chin in thought, spoke.

“Ah, this is a real secret… I guess I have no choice. Actually, it was a lie that I used on Il-on when he went to the Demon Realm. You can’t use on others.”

“What? Why would you lie about that…?”

“I was afraid you’d worry too much. But I suppose it’s time to let you know. Simply put…”

He spoke in a low, heavy voice, different from his usual greasy tone.

“Il-on is going to die soon.”

Jin Seong-ha’s group had started with eleven people. The members were:

“Hunter Jin Seong-ha!”

“Assistant Dam?”

Jin Seong-ha, Dam Da-on, and nine Canadian hunters.

Purrung!

Purre, meeting Dam Da-on—who had always been kind—after a long time, flew over joyfully.

“It’s been a while, Purre. It’s been a while, Hunter Jin Seong-ha.”

“Yes. You seem to be doing well. You suffered a lot having to drink.”

“…Ahem.”

Da-on also greeted the Canadian hunters. Meanwhile, Jin Seong-ha immediately used a tracking item—one upgraded to track everyone within the dungeon. Opening the system window to check the locations of the markers, most were gathered in groups of one to three, and their group of eleven was the only large one. Since the Canadian hunters with him were all combat-oriented, it meant the other groups had many non-combatants.

“We should go around absorbing the others. Let’s start with the group that isn’t moving. They’re likely the byproduct collection team.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll have to ask the Guild Master to upgrade this once we get back. It’s inconvenient that it doesn’t show who the owner of each marker is.”

Jin Seong-ha grumbled as he zoomed in and out of the system window. Even though names didn’t appear and he couldn’t see their forms… it was as if he were looking for someone specific.

“I wonder where the Commander dropped…”

“…Hunter Jin Seong-ha, you seem very interested in Ion.”

“Of course. The Commander is interesting and cute.”

“Is it just simple interest?”

“He’s also pitiful.”

“…….”

“And I want to protect him.”

The corners of Jin Seong-ha’s mouth lifted slightly. For some reason, Da-on felt a slight chill.