He must've been holding back on using his skill to hide his S-rank aura—then took advantage of the battle to strike Choi Gihun. He probably jumped in after seeing the other S-ranks spam their skills.
"If you're going to use a skill anyway, make it useful to the team. What a waste, using it just to knock Choi Gihun out when monsters are still running wild around us."
You can never understand a lunatic's behavior. Ignoring Kang Haeil's wink, I turned to Cha Sahyeon.
"What's your judgment? Do you think it's a good idea to head underground where the aura is emanating from?"
"Hyung."
Cha Sahyeon, who had been quietly watching me, replied in a calm voice.
"Even if we don't want to, we're going to have to."
"......"
"You know as well as I do that any place with a source of aura is bound to be important."
"...Yeah."
"Even if it's dangerous, we're going to end up there anyway, so we need to be prepared."
Technically speaking, the sequence is a little different.
It's not that we're heading toward the source of the aura—rather, the source has been placed on the very path we're destined to take.
The goal of the raid team that entered the Great Dungeon is to locate the dungeon boss, eliminate it, and exit the dungeon.
If we can't find the boss, not only will the dungeon strategy fail, but all 100 Hunters will end up wandering inside until they die.
There's no way those cult bastards wouldn't know that. The ones who crawled in ahead of us probably searched for a place where they could implant the "source of the aura."
In a strategy process filled with countless variables, the place where the raid team is destined to arrive—and the existence that will become overwhelmingly powerful due to the aura.
That only leaves one possibility: the boss monster.
They reported that the bosses in overseas Great Dungeons were at S-rank level...
The problem is, unlike the status window, in reality, S-rank is the final tier.
SS-rank or L-rank? In real life, they're all just lumped into S-rank.
Looking at the status window, the boss is probably at least SS-rank. And if the "source of the aura" is added to that, it's highly likely to be L-rank.
That means... it'll be on par with the current Cha Sahyeon...
The only saving grace is that if we scrape together every S-rank we have, we can gather up to nine. That includes Park Heeseok, the healer Dan Yeoun, and even Kang Haeil.
And we have Cha Sahyeon too.
If we're at risk of getting annihilated, I'm ready to ask Cha Sahyeon for help at any moment.
Because that won't be the time to worry about his identity.
Either way, we needed a plan like Cha Sahyeon said. And the only preparation I could offer was buffs.
"Are there any injured?"
"If you need to change clothes, please use the tent over here!"
While I was still thinking, the battle had already ended.
The monsters weren't high-grade, and there weren't that many, so it wrapped up relatively quickly.
Just as I stepped forward to give the S-ranks a heads-up about what's coming, someone grabbed my arm.
"Cha Sahyeon?"
He closed and opened his eyes slowly with an unreadable expression, then spoke.
"You going to use it?"
"What?"
"The buff skill. Are you going to use it?"
My shoulder jerked involuntarily.
By now, even Cha Sahyeon knows about the side effects of my buff skill.
I didn't want to tell him, but he wouldn't let go unless I did, so I had no choice.
'But why's he asking this all of a sudden?'
Something feels off.
Swallowing dryly, I nodded.
"I have to. You just explained it yourself—if the source of the aura really is where the boss monster is, then we need as many S-ranks buffed as possible to get out safely."
Not wanting to let my unease show, I answered in the calmest tone I could manage.
'Honestly, it was just a kiss. Do I really have to feel guilty about that?'
It's not like I'm some cheating scumbag boyfriend.
And honestly, it wasn't even cheating. I'm a Buffer. I was just using my skill.
"You're not trying to stop me from doing it, are you? Because I'm not planning to keep backing down on this."
...Even though I said it firmly, if Cha Sahyeon pinned me down with shadows like yesterday, I wouldn't have the strength to resist.
'Why the hell did the Catastrophe have to decide he wants to kiss me and cause all this trouble?'
I only did it because he forced me, but I still don't get why Cha Sahyeon craves this kind of physical contact with me so badly.
From what he said last time, I'm special and the only one for him after hundreds of repeated timelines.
'Then how about showing me a little respect, asshole...'
The more I thought about it, the more exhausted I felt.
I rubbed my forehead and waited for Cha Sahyeon's reaction. Surprisingly, despite my tension, he accepted it without resistance.
"Okay."
"Really? Don't change your tune later."
"I was only upset because you deliberately hid the buff's side effects. As long as you're not hiding anything, I won't stop you from using the buff."
But judging from the slight furrow in his brows, he was still annoyed.
"But you have to follow this rule. You can only buff people when I'm watching."
"What? Wait—"
"It's dangerous. What if someone buffed by you loses control and attacks you because of the side effects? I need to be there so I can kill or save them."
You're not trying to stop me—you're deciding whether to kill them or not?
"And also, don't kiss anyone during the buff."
Cha Sahyeon rolled his eyes before adding, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} a little greedily:
"After you finish buffing everyone else, kiss me."
"...Hah."
At this point, I was beyond words. A hollow breath escaped me.
I couldn't hold back anymore and finally spilled what I'd been holding in.
"Cha Sahyeon. I'm sorry, but kissing you doesn't mean anything to me."
That's what I've been thinking ever since he started begging for kisses.
"No matter how many times I kiss you, I'm never going to see you that way."
"...I know."
"Then why do you keep asking for it? What's the point? Kissing someone you don't have feelings for—neither for you nor them—is a good thing."
"Why not? I don't really care."
I was left speechless for a moment.
I just blinked in disbelief, and Cha Sahyeon tilted his head slightly like he genuinely didn't get it.
"Everything I do with you is good. I like kissing you, hugging you, even talking to you like this. I like it all. And kissing's even better because you only do it with me."
"What the..."
"Even if you lived like a slut in the past, you only do it with me now, right? I hope it stays that way. That's all. Is that so wrong? It makes me feel good. I want you to only do it with me. You felt good too, didn't you? Then that's enough reason."
"...Don't try to casually shove me into that category. I never enjoyed it."
"You got hard, though."
"That was because—! Ugh, forget it. Enough."
There was no winning this argument. Swallowing my humiliation, I rubbed my face dry with my hands.
"Fine, whatever. Like I said, even if you enjoy it, it doesn't mean anything to me. But just kissing. If you try to pull any of that crap like yesterday again, I won't do it no matter how much you threaten me."
"Hmph."
"Got it? You better stick to your end too."
Cha Sahyeon pouted, visibly dissatisfied, but reluctantly answered after I pressed him again.
"Got it. But hyung, you really did enjoy it yest—"
"I said drop it."
Before anything worse could come out of his mouth, I turned away. This time, he didn't try to stop me.
I strode over toward Kwon Taehyuk, who was cleaning his weapon, and Park Minhyuk, who was tending to the wounded. They happened to be standing close together.
"Are you both all right?"
As I threw out the expected small talk, Kwon Taehyuk looked back at me, sliding his clean blade into his inventory.
"Of course. Are you hurt, Hunter Cha Seohu?"
"I was in the back the whole time, so of course not."
After confirming that Park Minhyuk was listening, I continued.
"It seems like there are no monsters nearby for now—how about using this time to conduct a scout mission?"
"Scout mission?"
As expected, Park Minhyuk showed interest immediately.
We'd left at dawn and had already walked for quite some time.
But all we'd seen was endless desert, and we'd just been ambushed by monsters, so Park Minhyuk was probably already considering alternatives.
"There aren't any high maze-like walls here like in the previous section, so I think it would be fine to ask Hunters with flight skills to scout the surrounding area. We only need to check the three directions aside from the way we came."
"I was just thinking that we can't keep blindly heading forward. A scout mission... yes, it's time to give it a try."
Even if I hadn't suggested it, Park Minhyuk would've sent scouts on his own. When you don't know where to go, scouting is the only option.
After accepting my suggestion, Park Minhyuk headed off to find the Hunters who could fly.

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