[Quest completed.]
[Rewards acquired.]
[Clear rewards distributed based on contribution.]
[Party fully restored.]
In the collapsing dungeon, a notification window popped up.
The urgent voices of Sion and Clara seeped into his ears, but Rohan, dazed, couldn’t even read the text and closed his eyes.
He felt a sense of relief thinking that somehow, things had been resolved.
**Kuguguguu───!!!**
Mana pressed down on his entire body, gripping him tightly.
And then, in an instant, he felt his body floating.
A notification window appeared in Rohan’s mind, who had his eyes closed, delivering the information.
[No designated return point.]
[Returning to a random location.]
Then, his back touched something.
The wind he felt wasn’t the same hot, humid air that had been irritating his skin earlier.
‘It’s cool…’
Light returned to his consciousness, which had been blurred from blood loss.
Familiar everyday noises flooded his ears.
“Rohan! Rohan…! Open your eyes!”
“Oppa! Snap out of it!”
The clear voices of Sion and Clara.
Rohan opened his eyes, feeling a sudden calmness wash over his entire body.
“?!”
The faces of the girls looking down at him and the sky visible between them. Rohan blinked repeatedly.
Then, he asked the question that came to mind.
“…Clara. Are you okay from mana exhaustion? Sion, are you fine too?”
Clara couldn’t bring herself to speak and nodded with a tearful face.
Sion, with a complicated expression, bit her lower lip and signaled she was fine.
After hesitating, she asked the most important question.
“Rohan… y-your arm, how is it?”
Sion swallowed hard, waiting for Rohan’s answer. Clara was also staring intently at Rohan.
The girls didn’t know why Rohan’s severed arm was now attached.
Before celebrating their return from an unknown world, they just hoped it was as intact as it appeared.
“My arm? Ah, my arm… right.”
Rohan felt a sense of doubt about the sensation coming from a part of his body that shouldn’t exist.
He then focused his will and tried moving it. He lifted his arm and placed it in front of his eyes.
‘This isn’t phantom pain, is it?’
It’s perfectly fine. It’s really there.
The arm that had been torn off by the boss’s thorn was now intact.
The Orion Academy uniform was torn to shreds from the shoulder, but the arm was still there.
His clothes were tattered like rags, and he was covered in blood, but the scratches from the thorns were nowhere to be seen.
‘Right. That’s how it was.’
He understood the situation through his dazed consciousness.
So this is what full recovery feels like. Now he’s coming to his senses.
“It’s fine. Lucky, huh?”
That was pretty much the end of his thoughts.
Protecting Sion had been worth it as a reward.
It wasn’t an action taken with the belief that recovery was possible.
It was a reflexive movement, not something calculated. In reality, it was just a split second.
“Haah, your reactions are really something…”
“Oppa. Let’s still go to the hospital, okay?”
Rohan, silently smiling at their reactions, sat up from where he had been lying.
He looked around and made a satisfied face.
“Anyway, it seems like we made it back safely. Everyone worked hard.”
The place where the three had fallen seemed to be the rooftop of some restaurant.
The smell of food and the voices of people drifted up from below.
Turning his head, the towering buildings and unique architecture made it clear this was the Academy City.
“…Rohan.”
“Huh?”
Sion stood up, took off her goggles, and bowed with utmost politeness.
Rohan and Clara watched in surprise.
“Thanks to you, we made it back safely. I’m truly grateful.”
“Grateful? I got help too, you know.”
“And at the end…”
“Just say it. We’re all fine in the end, right?”
Sion straightened her back.
When Rohan showed off by flexing his fist, she let out a hollow laugh and sat back down.
“I noticed something was off and drew my weapon, but even if I had blocked it with my staff, it would’ve been too late. I would’ve been injured for sure. If it had pierced my heart or head, I would’ve died instantly.”
“Oh? Well, good thing it wasn’t for nothing.”
Sion was feeling it.
Even though the wound had healed without her understanding why, there was a possibility she wouldn’t have come back if she had died.
“I’m glad my arm came back, but what were you planning to do if it hadn’t…?”
“I didn’t really think about it. Well, you can live without an arm, right?”
Rohan tried to lighten the mood in his own way.
But Sion’s expression didn’t soften. It remained heavy.
“Sion.”
“…”
The girl, who had been bowing her head like a sinner, looked up and met his eyes.
Rohan had a lot he wanted to say. But he couldn’t put everything into words right now.
“We fought for three days straight, sweating and not eating or washing properly, but…”
“…”
“Even though it was that tough, it was still fun, right?”
At Rohan’s question, Sion glanced at Clara, who was quietly sitting there.
Clara smiled at her, and Sion felt a warmth in her chest.
Then she looked back at Rohan.
Sion shared her thoughts.
“…It was fun. I’d gladly do it again if asked.”
“But that feeling will disappear soon.”
“Why?”
“Because Sion has to live a more enjoyable life from now on.”
“…!”
She could feel his determination to soon free her from the suffocating cage.
It was a promise of freedom.
Sion instantly understood the deeper meaning behind Rohan’s words.
Since she was at a loss for words, Sion closed her mouth without being able to come up with a response.
After witnessing such a selfless sacrifice, the weight and sincerity of those words seemed to soar all the way to the heavens.
‘This man…’
Looking at Rohan, Sion felt a ticklish emotion swirling inside her, and her heart started pounding.
She even felt an odd sensation, as if Clara’s gaze was making her uncomfortable.
Just as the awkward silence, only felt by the two girls, began to linger…
**Bzzzzzz──!!! Bzzzzzz──!!!**
Rohan and Clara’s smartphones started picking up signals and locating their positions.
As the time that had been malfunctioning returned to normal, a flood of missed notifications poured in.
‘Wow, I think I worried everyone way too much.’
Rohan looked at his phone, trembling from the constant vibrations, and instinctively knew that the days ahead would be more exhausting than expected.
There were over a hundred missed calls, including ones from Juyun and others from all over.
Messages from his classmates in Class 1 were also piling up, asking what had happened and where he was since lunchtime had ended.
“Oh, oppa! The date hasn’t passed…!”
“Right. Sion said we had about five hours of spare time, right? Then we should still be fine.”
Clara, who had jumped up from her seat, sat down next to Sion and showed her the time and date. The elf girl’s mouth slightly opened in surprise.
The time Rohan had measured with the timer and the distortion were way too extreme.
“No matter how many times I look at it, this is an experience that’s hard to believe…”
Sion’s head seemed quite tangled by the strange phenomenon she was experiencing for the first time.
Being dragged to another place, suffering for over three days, and then returning to find that less than a day had passed—it was only natural that it wouldn’t be easy to accept.
‘Still, this is the best kind of luck.’
If we go back now, it won’t be too late.
Even though it feels gross not having showered for three days, I can just shower when I get back.
Aside from mental fatigue, there were no issues with my physical condition.
Seeing Sion get up and start gathering her equipment, Rohan spoke up.
“Leaving already?”
“I have to go back. Now that I have this chance, I need to act properly. I should settle things before digging into the truth.”
“True, I should let people know I’m back too. Getting tangled up with the Security Bureau would be a hassle.”
At Rohan’s words, Sion showed a look of genuine curiosity.
It was definitely the kind of thing that would attract attention from all sides.
“Will it be okay if I slip away?”
“If it comes up, I’ll try to gloss over it somehow.”
“Thank you. Really, for everything…”
Rohan brushed off the thanks with a casual remark, and Clara, who had been silent, called out to Sion.
“Sion unnie.”
“Hmm?”
“You’ll come back, right? Next time, let’s just hang out normally…!”
“You’ll get to meet Rohan soon enough even if I don’t come. Right?”
Sion smiled playfully as she looked at Rohan.
Clara…
His eyes widened as he looked back and forth between the two.
“Rohan.”
“What.”
“Did you tell Clara about me?”
“No. I don’t leak that kind of information.”
“Then, make sure to tell her properly for me.”
This time, Rohan was startled by Sion’s words.
“I’m fine with it, but… are you sure it’s okay?”
“I just want Clara to know a little more about me. And isn’t Clara going to be involved in what’s coming next?”
“How did you know that?”
Sion smiled and said it was just intuition, ending the conversation.
She handed Rohan the reward they received from the dungeon. All three of them who came out of the dungeon knew exactly what this tiny, fingernail-sized item was.
“Take care, both of you. Rohan, make sure to go to the hospital.”
With those words, Sion disappeared across the building.
Rohan watched her quickly fading figure, then shifted his gaze.
He saw Clara sitting next to him, pouting with a complicated expression.
“I’m heading to the Security Bureau now. What about you, Clara? If it’s too much, you can go home, wash up, and rest. I’ll handle things somehow.”
That question.
If it were Clara’s usual personality, she might have avoided the situation.
But now, she felt like she couldn’t do that.
“I-I want to stay with you…!”
The girl reached out and grabbed his tattered collar.
*****
Juyun, who had been searching alone around the academy city and its vicinity, received a call from Rohan and the Security Bureau.
At the same time, Juyen shot through the sky of the academy city like a meteor.
A massive flame descended upon the Security Bureau.
*Clang!*
Guided by a security officer, Juyen opened the door and saw Rohan wearing a ruined cadet uniform.
He smiled brightly when he saw her.
An indescribable emotion. There was relief, but it also felt like her heart was being torn apart.
“Instructor!”
“…”
Juyen silently strode over to the seated Rohan.
And tightly embraced him.
“───!!!”
Clara froze upon seeing that scene.
