The day she first faced Lee Dojae in the classroom and the quest appeared. Baek Eun had thought the system wouldn't give her a quest she couldn't solve.
So when she heard from Baek Dan that Lee Dojae's younger brother suffered from heart disease of unknown cause, she felt something clear in her mind.
The only awakening ability she possessed was producing buff crops.
Before the semester started, Baek Eun had already checked the potato seed's effects in advance. The moment she heard that story, she felt a flash of intuition—this was it.
Several days had passed since she made the contract with Lee Dojae, and finally, after harvesting the potatoes, today was the day she would meet him.
Baek Eun planned to use the excuse of feeding the potatoes to Lee Dojae's younger brother and observing his condition to stay by his side until D-Day.
'Just in case the heart disease puts him in danger.'
Of course, the probability was low, but since there was always the possibility of "just in case," she wanted to be certain.
Anyway, it was fortunate the potatoes ripened before D-Day. She had been increasingly anxious as time passed.
Baek Eun took a sip of coffee, thinking of her inventory filled with boiled potatoes. She was waiting for Lee Dojae at a café near the hospital.
'Did I arrive too early?'
Since her lecture ended early, the timing was awkward to stop by home, so she came early—and ended up arriving 2 hours ahead of schedule.
While bored Baek Eun took out her iPad from her bag to read webtoons—
Ding
With a small bell sound, the café's entrance door opened.
"Welcome. This is Café Lynn."
Since it was a sparsely populated café with no customers, heads naturally turned toward the entrance.
The customer who entered was a young man wearing hospital clothes. Perhaps because of his attire, he exuded a distinctly frail and pitiful atmosphere.
The man walked quietly toward the counter, making no sound with his slippers.
"Hello. I'm the one who ordered the cake this morning. Is it ready?"
A low, resonant voice. Baek Eun suddenly thought the man's voice was pleasant to hear.
"Ah! Would you be customer Lee Eunjae?"
"Yes, that's me."
"It was just finished! Please have a seat and wait a moment."
While the café part-timer went inside to bring the cake and package it, the man scanned the dessert display case. His expression was blank, but he had gentle features.
'Wow. He has the same name as Lee Dojae's younger brother.'
The age range and the hospital clothes make it really similar. Baek Eun was having such trivial thoughts when she suddenly paused.
'Huh?'
Not just the same name, but could it actually be the same person...?
Come to think of it, their appearances seemed similar too.
The man before her didn't have Lee Dojae's sharp atmosphere, but upon closer inspection, his features were very similar.
As she tilted her head alone while watching his back, Baek Eun felt conflicted.
'Should I ask?'
No. What if it's not him?
She was going to the hospital room with Lee Dojae in 2 hours anyway, and she felt it would be embarrassing to act like she knew him now, only to find out it wasn't him.
After briefly agonizing, Baek Eun decided to just ignore it.
Meanwhile, the café part-timer finished packaging the cake and was handing it to the man.
"How many candles do you need?"
"Candles are fine. I ordered it because my brother said he had a guest coming. Could I get these too?"
The man smiled slightly and pointed at a few desserts with his finger.
"Yes! I'll bring them right away."
The part-timer came out from behind the counter to package the desserts.
By the way, if he said "brother's guest," he probably meant her.
'I think it really is him?'
She had decided to ignore it, but she was starting to get increasingly curious. Just as Baek Eun was staring intently at the back of the man's head, unable to speak—
Rumble
An ominous roar she'd heard somewhere before was felt right nearby.
A violent vibration that shook the ground.
Items in the café fell to the floor with thuds, and the sharp popping sound of breaking glass rang out continuously.
[Your constellation 'Judge of the Dead' makes a fuss, telling you to watch out for the gate.]
There was no time to check the constellation's message.
A gate was forming inside the café. And right in front of Lee Eunjae at that!
"Dodge!"
"Kyaaaa!"
At the part-timer's scream and Lee Eunjae, who froze stiff as a board, Baek Eun jumped out of her seat. It was an instinctive movement without any calculation.
Thud. The cake fell and rolled on the floor.
Lee Eunjae's head slowly turned toward the gate.
Whether he was having difficulty breathing, he was gasping for breath as he looked at the gate that had formed right beside him.
"What are you doing! Hurry and get out!"
The moment surprised Lee Eunjae turned around, Baek Eun grabbed him forcefully. But it was too late to avoid the gate.
The gate, which had swollen in size before they knew it, first pulled in Lee Eunjae, then swallowed Baek Eun, who was beside him, as well.
∞∞∞
You have entered a gate. Loading dungeon information.
Grade: E
Capacity: 2/2
Raid status: In progress
Raid guild: Unaffiliated
Time remaining: 11:59:59
Baek Eun rubbed her eyes at the system information floating in her vision.
Even after squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again at this unbelievable reality, the content remained unchanged.
'Ah, fuck.'
Is this for real?
Capacity is 2 people? This is driving me crazy.
"What the hell is this! Uwaaack!"
Baek Eun roughly ran her hand through her hair and stomped her feet nervously.
Of all things, it had to be a small-capacity dungeon. Her luck was terribly bad.
"Ha, shit... What do I do. I'm going crazy."
This wasn't the first time Baek Eun had been pulled into a gate.
Since gates appear without warning anytime and anywhere, you could get pulled into one while walking down the street if you had bad luck.
If there are hunters in the dungeon you're trapped in, under the Civilian Priority Rescue Law, you just wait in a safe place and exit with the hunters when the gate closes.
Even without hunters, there's not much to worry about. The Awakeners Association and Management Bureau have very well-established systems, so hunter support arrives quickly.
Of course, all of this is only when the dungeon has sufficient capacity.
"Ha, really... I've never heard of a 2-person dungeon before. Are they crazy? Judge oppa, is this right?"
[I know my baby's distressed, but your constellation 'Judge of the Dead' is anxious, telling you to do something about Lee Dojae's younger brother.]
"What? What do you mean..."
Baek Eun's eyes widened as she turned around at the constellation's words.
"Kkuk, heok... Heoook..."
Lee Eunjae had collapsed on the floor, deathly pale, clutching his throat and wheezing.
"Hey! Are you okay? Stay conscious!"
Seeing him convulse like a seizure, her body froze for a moment. Baek Eun quickly came to her senses and rushed to Lee Eunjae's side, grabbing both his arms and pressing down.
He was scratching his throat in agony, with drops of blood forming.
'Haa, what do I do... What do I do...!'
It was difficult to maintain her composure seeing someone collapse before her eyes. But Baek Eun desperately tried not to show such signs.
Because she couldn't show an anxious appearance in front of a patient.
"Stay conscious and breathe! Do you have medicine? Oral medicine!"
"Me, medicine... Pocket..."
Fortunately, perhaps he hadn't lost consciousness yet, a response came from Lee Eunjae.
"I'll check your clothes."
"Kkuk...! Heok."
She found a medicine packet in his hospital gown pocket. Baek Eun took it out with water from her inventory and handed it to him.
But he was twisting his body in pain, making it difficult to get him to take the medicine.
Baek Eun hugged Lee Eunjae tightly and whispered low so he wouldn't panic.
"It's okay. Take deep breaths. Slowly, deeply. One... two. One... two."
"Heoook... Heok."
After several minutes, as Lee Eunjae's trembling gradually subsided, Baek Eun let out a sigh of relief internally. It seemed they had overcome the immediate crisis for now.
"Th-thank you..."
Lee Eunjae took the medicine with trembling hands and gulped it down with water.
'So he really was Lee Dojae's younger brother.'
How out of it must her own constellation have been to tell her to do something about "Lee Dojae's younger brother."
"Are you feeling a bit better now?"
"Yes... I was too surprised earlier... Sorry. You must have been very surprised?"
Having calmed down considerably, Lee Eunjae smiled faintly with an apologetic expression. His complexion looked much better than before.
"I'm fine. I'm worried about you. Do you not have any more medicine?"
"I only came out for a bit, so I only brought one for emergencies."
"Ah..."
Well, he was just coming out to pick up a cake, so he wouldn't carry around a lot of medicine.
But what to do, really. They had overcome the extreme situation, but she was afraid of the hardships that lay ahead.
'It's not just the dungeon...'
If monsters appeared, this obviously frail-looking Lee Eunjae would have another seizure and collapse, and then there would really be no answer.
Because monsters wouldn't wait until he calmed down.
After pondering, Baek Eun opened her mouth.
"I... This might sound funny in this situation, but are you perhaps hungry?"
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