These Lunatics are Obsessed With Me

ED: Cheerycheri

However, I don’t think Park Yoon-sung would take me seriously even if I told him about it. Above all, I have no answer for him if he asks me how I know about a future I haven’t yet experienced. I wouldn’t even be able to lie and say that I suddenly gained a foresight skill.

I can’t believe I have to deal with the middle boss in the third area without Kang Yoo-hyun and Sung Yoo-bin. I was plunged into despair.

“…Hunter Han Yi-jin?”

“…”

“Hunter Han Yi-jin, are you listening?”

“Oh?”

Park Yoon-sung, who approached me, tapped the table slightly with his hand. I looked up in surprise, as I was lost in thought.

“Are you listening to me?”

I smiled awkwardly, looking at his countenance. But Park Yoon-sung didn’t seem too convinced, he tilted his head and continued to speak in a serious tone.

“Of course, the briefed material will be provided to everyone after the meeting, but for now you should listen carefully to my explanation.”

“Yes…”

“Please pay attention. Hunter Han Yi-jin.”

“Yes…”

Park Yoon-sung, who finished his speech smoothly, returned to his seat. Soon, following his instructions, a series of photographs began to appear on a large screen.

Right. There is still time, so let’s slowly find a way to solve this problem and just focus on the briefing first. That’s when I made up my mind.

“Yi-Jin-ah, are you scared?”

“What?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

“Huh…”

Eden with a smug look on his face, was talking bullshit again.

It’s not like that, you easy-going asshole. I wanted to let out a mouthful of curses, but I couldn’t. It was because I thought I would unwittingly reveal all the plot points involving the main character and the heroine.

Instead, I glared fiercely at Eden and mumbled quietly.

“Shut up, please.”

“Curse me more, I’m excited. It’s been a while.”

“Ugh, fuck…”

I clicked my tongue and turned my head. Eden seemed to be planning to continue being perverted even after he came here. I don’t think he was like that in the novel, what’s the problem?

“…”

Then, my eyes met with Kang Yoo-hyun, who was glaring at me. I guess he can’t stand the loudness. I can’t believe he’ss glaring at me like that because I whispered a little.

“This is footage taken from the first area. It is said that there has been no significant change in this place even after the grade abnormality occurred. The monsters that usually appear are the lower-level monsters, the Murlocs…”

A short video that seemed to have been taken at Freya Guild appeared on the screen. It is impossible to shoot a video in a dungeon with modern equipment, but it was possible to shoot one with a recorder item. Of course, the image quality is terrible.

A fish-headed monster with limbs sticking out of its head is seen attacking hunters in the video. However, there were tens of thousands of weak monsters, so the Valkyries easily got rid of them.

“From the second area on, the higher level monsters began to appear due to the influence of a rating anomaly. Originally, this area had a similar level of difficulty as the first area.”

In the next video, a group of Nagas with a somewhat ferocious aura attacked the hunters.

The Nagas generally look like snakes, but their scales are blue, probably because they live in the sea. Its upper body looked like a mixture of a snake and a human, and it had webbed feet at the end of its tail. Unlike the Murlocs who were holding crude weapons, the weapons the Nagas held seemed to be of a higher grade, it was practically shouting that they were stronger monsters.

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The background in the video had also changed. Unlike in the first area where the Murlocs appeared and they fought by the seaside, here they fought in a cave. The terrain was narrower, making it harder for hunters to fight.

“And if you pass this place, you’ll see the warp point…”

“…”

Ah, this was the part I knew best. The warp point at the very end of the second area. If you use it, you will randomly move to the third or fourth area.

“If you warp here, you will enter the third or fourth area randomly. Of course, everyone registered as a party moves at once, so you don’t have to worry.”

“…”

No, it’s not going to happen this time!

I felt so frustrated that I wanted to shout out. But I just sighed inwardly and listened to all of Park Yoon-Sung’s explanations. Lastly, he added that the Sæ dungeon is usually inconsistent in each area, and that it is necessary to be careful because we do not know how it will change due to the phenomenon of rating abnormality occurring.

That’s not the problem. The biggest problem is the main character and heroine who will disappear due to an unexpected event.

Thinking of this again, I sighed anxiously after the rough briefing was over.

“Hunter Han Yi-jin, can I talk to you separately for a moment?”

“Me?”

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I opened my eyes wide at Park Yoon-sung’s words. Is he going to nag at me more because of something I was thinking about earlier?

When I looked surprised, Park Yoon-sung said with a smile.

“It’s about Han Do-gyul-gun.”

“Do-gyul?”

I immediately nodded and got up from my seat. What happened to Do-gyul? Could his health have gotten worse in the meantime?

I anxiously followed Park Yoon-sung. I entered a small seminar room next to the meeting room. With a size that can accommodate about four or five people, its interior was neatly decorated like a study room.

“What happened?”

I asked as soon as I sat down. Do-gyul, whom I met during the day, was fine, but something could have happened while we were having a meeting after eating. When I looked at Park Yoon-sung uneasily, Park Yoon-sung answered as if it was nothing.

“Originally, I was going to consult you about this matter at a later date, but you need to go to the dungeon soon, so I want to discuss it in advance.”

“About Do-gyul?”

“Yes.”

Park Yoon-sung, who nodded, handed a file to me. I took it and looked through the document at the top.

A graduate of a Korean university, a professor of mental health medicine, a pediatrician, and a specialist in counseling people with special abilities…

I saw those words and looked up at him in surprise.

“About Do-gyul… Does he need some kind of psychological counseling?”

The file given by Park Yoon-sung was filled with medical staff profiles. In addition, they were specialized doctors who mainly dealt with children and adolescents in the field of psychiatry. They all also had great careers. 

However, I couldn’t understand why Do-gyul needed these medical staff. Obviously, in my opinion, the child did not look so bad that he needed to be consulted or go to therapy.

Park Yoon-sung asked back as if he had seen through my thoughts.

“Did Do-Gyul-gun look okay to Hunter Han Yi-jin?”

“Yes… Well, considering he’s a mental awakener, that’s…”

He can get training to control his mental ability. But what should I say about this? I didn’t feel so good because I felt like I was thinking of Do-gyul as a ticking time bomb that could go off at any random moment.

When I showed a sign of displeasure, Park Yoon-sung handed me something again.

“Would you please watch the video first?”

“…?”

With a puzzled face, I turned on the tablet PC Park Yoon-sung had given me. Then a video appeared on the screen. I glanced at Park Yoon-sung once before pressing the play button.

Do-gyul was seen on the screen in the hospital room I saw today, he was sitting on the bed in the same posture. The difference was that it was not me by his side, but someone else. A kind-looking woman in a white coat opened her mouth and spoke to Do-gyul.

[Hello, Han Do-Gyul-gun.]

[….]

[I’m Yoo So-young, the doctor who is in charge of Do-gyul-gun. Nice to meet you.]

[…]

[I have a few questions before the test, can you answer them?]

[…]

The doctor in charge kept talking to Do-gyul. However, Do-gyul’s mouth never opened.

Eventually, the doctor in charge walked out of the room with an ambiguous smile. After a moment, she returned with another person, but Do-gyul still didn’t speak at all even at that person’s arrival. He still remained silent if the new person said or asked something. That is, until the end of the video.

I looked at Park Yoon-sung with a troubled expression as the end of the video played out and finally stopped.

“Why isn’t… he talking?”

“The doctor diagnosed him with selective mutism.”

“Selective… mutism?”

“Originally, it is a disorder that occurs in children who have difficulty adapting to unfamiliar environments, but sometimes it’s caused by special circumstances like Do-gyul.”

“So Do-gyul is talking to only a few people at the moment?”

“Few people… I’ve never seen Do-gyul talk to anyone before.”

“…”

“It seemed like he only opened his mouth to speak to Hunter Han Yi-jin.”

Why? 

I remembered Do-gyul talking normally before when I visited him. Do-gyul was only 10 years old when the gate breaks occurred and his parents died. After that, he was separated from Han Yi-jin, who was awakened, and spent more than five years alone.

Maybe that’s why he locked his heart and sealed his mouth? But judging by his behavior in front of me, I don’t think he doesn’t know how to talk to people at all. He’ll feel better soon with a little therapy, right? I looked at Park Yoon-sung with hope.

“He’ll get better soon if he gets treatment, right?”

“Apparently, Do-Gyul-gun not interacting with others has something to do with his ability, so he can get better by training his skills too.”

Was it because of his mental ability? It was hard to imagine because it was an ability that wasn’t mentioned in the novel. Other superpowers I encountered in the media came to mind. Things like telekinesis, mind-reading, or telepathy.

After much deliberation, I opened my mouth, preparing to speak to Park Yoon-sung.