In the Name of God - Chapter 55.2
“Lee Sunho, I heard you jumped into the dungeon voluntarily. Do you have any idea how dangerous and reckless that was?”
“I apologize. However, I could not send my partner in alone when we didn’t know what kind of dungeon it was. He was already injured, as well.”
Lee Sunho answered smoothly, as if he had prepared his response in advance. For some reason, he seemed to put a subtle emphasis on the word ‘partner.’
‘Look at how stiff his tone is.’
Is he acting polite to his seniors now that he’s officially joined the clan?
Thinking back, he seemed to stay on edge like that with everyone except for me—after I started speaking casually to him, that is.
Surely I wasn’t the only one who looked easy to deal with, right?
“Ahem.”
Park Junggeon , who had been trying to scold them with a stern, senior-like face, cleared his throat at Lee Sunho’s words and quickly let his expression soften.
“I’ll let it slide because you showed some spirit.”
“Thank you.”
Park Junggeon gave Lee Sunho a light pat on the shoulder and turned toward the dungeon entrance.
“Follow me. The rescue team is already waiting near the entrance.”
Park Junggeon took the lead, followed by Lee Sunho—who was still carrying me—and finally Estelle Roland brought up the rear. Normally, Estelle, being a vanguard, should have led, but perhaps because they had cleared out the monsters while moving toward us, the path was littered only with corpses.
“By the way, what brings you two here?”
“Something felt off, so we followed.”
At my question, Park Junggeon glanced back at us over his shoulder.
“We heard there was some lunatic dragging rookies, who don’t even know the clan facilities yet, into a disaster district. No matter how short-handed we are, disaster district reconnaissance is supposed to be composed of people who have been with the clan for at least a year.”
Irritation he couldn’t hide surfaced on his face.
“Furthermore, the reconnaissance team leader called you out personally? He’s insane. That guy is going to be dragged before the disciplinary committee first thing tomorrow.”
“I don’t know why a man who should know better did that. He was talking nonsense about being possessed by something, too,” Estelle added with a sigh.
Park Junggeon snorted in derision.
“Ha! That’s all a load of crap. He was just being petty because he didn’t like that rookies came in through recommendations.”
I heard the sound of teeth grinding.
It was surprising to see a member of the 1st Division get so worked up over someone else’s business. However, I soon realized his pride was likely wounded by the fact that the leader forced the deployment despite knowing whose recommendation we entered under.
But when Park Junggeon turned back to us, he didn’t look like a 1st Division member with wounded pride. He was looking at us with eyes so overwhelmingly warm that I instinctively cringed and shrugged my shoulders. I felt a chill despite my thermal-regulation coat, and I heard Lee Sunho ask me seriously if I was cold.
“Hey, rookies. Listen well.”
Park Junggeon cleared his throat and spoke in a voice that was stern yet kind.
“You two came in through the recommendations of myself and Estelle. You are our precious direct juniors. So, if anyone looks down on you or tries to give you a hard time to ‘discipline’ you, just tell me—!”
“We’ll handle it ourselves.”
I cut him off before he could finish. It was a bit rude, but I simply couldn’t adapt to this sudden burst of warmth.
I tilted one corner of my mouth up slightly with a face that said there was nothing to worry about.
“Don’t we need those kinds of ‘combat power measurers’ around for us to get recognized quickly?”
As a rule of thumb, you need villains who charge in overestimating their own strength only to be miserably crushed to prove your skills quickly.
As far as I’m concerned, such people are more than welcome.
Rookies caught in a dungeon emergence successfully suppressed the Boss and returned. That fact alone would be a significant help to our evaluation.
Park Junggeon stared at me with a strange expression. He looked at me as if I were a madman, yet also as if he were praising me for being impressive.
“…You’re a real piece of work. Even though you look like a Maltese from a greenhouse.”
Who’s a Maltese?
As I glared at him sharply, Park Junggeon ruffled my hair roughly.
“That’s all well and good, just don’t get hurt. You look like you’d break a finger just by firing a gun.”
Clicking his tongue and grumbling, Park Junggeon started walking again.
Lee Sunho followed, but this guy kept rubbing his cheek against my hair.
“What are you doing?”
“Fixing your hair.”
What are you, a cat grooming me?
By the time I pushed Lee Sunho’s face away and straightened my hair with my own hands, the dungeon entrance came into view.
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