Chapter 34: This Isn’t an Arcana Contract, Is It?

“This isn’t an Arcana contract, is it?”

“Well, I didn’t think we needed to go so far as to incur penalties…”

“You asked me to leave room, and you’re being very generous.”

Eun-ru smiled, his face noticeably bright, and seeing that, Jin-yeop deliberately hardened his expression and spoke teasingly.

“Violations will be met with legal action.”

“Please be generous and overlook it as the whim of a child.”

“…”

“I don’t even know what the law is.”

“Is that so.”

Jin-yeop snorted, but there was no sign of ill feeling.

The atmosphere was quite pleasant, but a contract lay between them.

“There are things we need to discuss together, so this is still a preliminary contract.

We’ll add the clauses each of us wants and make it into a formal contract.”

“Can I include things like ‘not treating me like a child’?”

“If you wish.

But weren’t you using that as a weapon until just now?”

“Then I just won’t from now on.”

“Then there’s no need to overlook violations either.”

At Jin-yeop’s words, Eun-ru pouted his lips.

Anyway, even when he was being pleasant, he was a person without gaps.

Seeing that, Jin-yeop laughed and spoke.

“Let’s take turns adding them.

Do you want to go first?”

“Hmm…

Let’s put the most important thing first.”

“Important thing?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Guiding to be received every day.”

“Every day is…”

Periodic guiding had instantly transformed into daily guiding.

No matter how beneficial receiving guiding regularly was for his abilities, daily was unnecessary.

Anyone could see this was using guiding as an excuse for physical contact.

“No, you have to include this.

This was the price for me hiding that monster.”

“I agree to receive it periodically, but having that period be every day is absurd.”

“I thought it was every day from the beginning.

A period is just an interval; it doesn’t matter what the interval is.”

“Ha…”

“If you don’t like it, send that monster back to the dungeon.”

As expected, it wasn’t easy from the start.

But as Eun-ru said, he couldn’t just send Shamar back to the dungeon.

There must be a good reason it was sent to him.

Especially now, when his conversation with Alice inside the dungeon was only partially remembered, Shamar inside the watch was his only clue.

“You’re planning to go back into the dungeon to find out what happened anyway.

If not, there’s no need to keep that monster.”

“…”

“If I don’t make it a daily condition, you’ll go into the dungeon alone without receiving guiding from me.”

“That’s…”

“Thinking about it this way, maybe it would be better to just write an Arcana contract.

I was happy there was no penalty, but you brought a regular contract planning to break it from the start, didn’t you?”

At Eun-ru’s sharp remark, Jin-yeop pressed his lips shut.

That wasn’t entirely the case, but the feeling wasn’t completely absent either.

With his weak spot struck, Jin-yeop said nothing, and Eun-ru drove the nail in.

“I’d rather choose to grow distant than see you in danger.

You know what I mean?”

He would reveal Shamar’s existence.

Considering how Eun-ru had held him, a complete mess, outside the dungeon, this wasn’t a simple threat.

In the end, Jin-yeop had no choice but to back down on this point.

“Fine.

Let’s make it daily guiding.”

“Good decision.”

“Instead, as I mentioned in the hospital room, the scope of contact must be limited.”

“I said no mucous membrane guiding, didn’t I?”

“Let’s define the scope precisely.”

Saying this, Jin-yeop lightly raised his hand.

“Only up to holding hands.”

“Aww…

Just hands is too much.

Up to hugging.”

“No.”

“Why not?

It’s not like we haven’t done it before.”

It was a sly answer.

Could that even be called a hug, when one side just clung on?

Jin-yeop lowered his hand and answered with dissatisfaction.

“It wasn’t agreed upon.”

“Anyway, it’s not like we didn’t do it.”

“Let’s just call it off.”

“Huh?”

“Go ahead and report that Esper Cha Jin-yeop brought a monster out of the dungeon.”

As Jin-yeop deliberately threatened and tried to gather the contract on the table, Eun-ru quickly grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“Then how about this!”

“…”

“The scope of contact will be determined by you each time, Senior.”

“Is it necessary to negotiate every time?

I don’t want any contact beyond holding hands.”

“Well, you never know once you start.”

“Lee Eun-ru-ssi.”

Jin-yeop, with an expression of disbelief, held the contract in his hand and glared at Eun-ru.

It would be simple to properly define the scope from the beginning, so the intention behind insisting on negotiating each time was obvious.

“Do you think I would want contact beyond holding hands?”

“An emergency might happen.”

“Nothing of the sort will happen.”

“How do you know?

You know better than anyone how dangerous dungeons are.

Just look at what happened last time.”

“…”

“If the same thing happens again, as your partner Guide, I can’t just shatter a gate stone and escape alone each time.”

That was also true.

Even though Eun-ru was an A-class Guide, to work together while maintaining the partner contract, Jin-yeop needed to teach him in many ways.

To do that, he couldn’t just bounce between D-class and F-class dungeons.

He would have to accompany him to higher-grade dungeons to develop his skills.

If something like before happened again, he couldn’t tell Eun-ru to shatter a gate stone and escape.

If a situation arose where simply holding hands for guiding was insufficient, Eun-ru would provide mucous membrane guiding even if it meant violating the contract…

“I make sense, don’t I?”

“…I can’t say no.”

Jin-yeop admitted readily and put the contract back in place.

Eun-ru smiled and spoke.

“Basically, holding hands.

Anything beyond that only when you want it.

In cases where runaway is clearly a concern or you’re unconscious, it’s left to my judgment.

How about that?”

“Fine.

Let’s do that.”

It felt somewhat unsettling, but looking only at the written text, it wasn’t a problem.

Unless it was an emergency, as long as Jin-yeop didn’t want it, there would be no physical contact beyond holding hands.

It felt a bit off, but Jin-yeop had no choice but to add the two clauses they had taken turns proposing to the contract.

They had each proposed one, yet it seemed everything was going in Lee Eun-ru’s direction… but this much he could tolerate.

“Is there anything else you want?”

At Jin-yeop’s question, Eun-ru seemed to ponder for a moment, then his eyes sparkled.

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Not using honorifics with me.”

“…Why add something like that?”

“Then will you do it without adding it?”

Eun-ru placed his elbows on the table, rested his chin on his hands, the so-called ‘flower vase’ pose, and smiled brightly at Jin-yeop.

At that sight, Jin-yeop unnecessarily cleared his throat and averted his eyes.

It was a request that didn’t need to be written in the contract.

It wasn’t like he couldn’t do it if asked.

So naturally, he should answer ‘okay,’ but Jin-yeop couldn’t readily answer.

It was like a kind of boundary.

Watching Jin-yeop hesitate, Eun-ru let out a deflated laugh.

“See?

You weren’t going to do it willingly.”

“…”

“Is it absolutely impossible?”

“Not to that extent.”

“Then?

Do you need time to think?”

At the teasing tone, Jin-yeop frowned. ‘Time to think’?

Not that it wasn’t necessary, but…

Jin-yeop pressed his lips together.

“I’m saying it feels too distant.

We’re going to be partners.”

Eun-ru deliberately sighed deeply with an exaggeratedly disappointed expression.

The sight of his pouting lips was quite endearing.

“Besides, you and that kid inside the watch speak informally to each other.”

“…You’re comparing apples to oranges.”

“Should I give you time to think or not?

If you need time, how about writing it like this in the contract?”

“No, I have no intention of getting dragged in again.”

“Dragged in?”

“Weren’t the first two things also written the way you wanted, Lee Eun-ru-ssi?”

When he glanced at him with a look that said ‘did you think I wouldn’t notice?’, Eun-ru awkwardly stretched and averted his gaze.

“I proposed compromises, I didn’t drag things my way.”

“Anyway.”

“…Tch.”

“I’ll do it.

Informal speech.”

“Really?”

Eun-ru quickly turned his head toward Jin-yeop.

Watching his large eyes blink was quite amusing.

“Go on, try it.”

“…”

“Eunru-ya.

Try calling me that, please?”

What was even the big deal?

With his face full of anticipation, Eun-ru urged him.

Jin-yeop lightly propped his chin on one hand and spoke.

“Lee Eun-ru.”

“…”

“Don’t get cocky.”

At the low voice, Eun-ru closed his mouth, and after a brief silence, burst into exclamation.

“…Wow.”

“…”

“That’s cool.”

“What?”

“Just one more time.

Then I promise I won’t get cocky again.”

“You really are cocky.”

It was an absurd thing to say and do, and he was dumbfounded, but Jin-yeop couldn’t help but let out a laugh in response.