Proof of Worth and a Sharp Warning

“……Thank you.”

“…….”

Yoo Se-rim moved back to the front without much of a word.

From the side, Pyo Yu-jeong glared at me as if she wanted me dead, but currently, I didn’t have the mental energy to fire back at her murderous gaze.

‘……I was a nuisance again.’

I had gained a whole year and returned to the past, yet I hadn’t changed. Was this truly the wall of Rank? The realization that I couldn’t achieve anything alone without someone’s help flipped the switch on my self-loathing and inferiority complex.

Throughout the rest of the raid, as I cast curses on the lunging golden statues, I was forced to witness just how superior the other party members were compared to me.

While I had to focus every fiber of my being just to snap a single harp string, the others were shattering or melting entire groups of statues at a speed I couldn’t even hope to match.

I…

‘Why am I even here?’

Dark thoughts began to consume my mind.

[O foolish ones who come to covet my treasures…….]

But even as those thoughts swirled, the boss monster, [Queen Elizabeth], finally opened her eyes.

The Queen, whose entire body was made of diamonds, raised her massive, hardened frame and gripped her jewel-encrusted staff.

Thump—!

Simultaneously, her attendants—the golden soldiers—surrounded us. There was no longer any room to whine about Ranks or self-pity.

‘I have to do what I can.’

Coming here was my choice, after all.

I shifted my stance. Instead of trying to hold off the approaching golden soldiers one-on-one, I adjusted my position to assist the other party members in taking them down.

Clang—!

A golden soldier clashed against Kim Jae-ho’s monstrous strength. As expected of the Queen’s elite guard, they possessed power and offensive capabilities far beyond the regular statues.

“[Invisible Pain]!”

I used the blood stored in my ring to target the joints of the golden soldier’s elbow. Kim Jae-ho didn’t miss that split-second creak in its movement; he lunged forward and toppled the soldier.

Thud—!

[Level Up!]

It had been a while since I’d heard that notification. I quickly opened my status window.

[Player: Han Sol] Level: 71 Class: Debuffer Rank: C Skills:

• Heavy Steps (Power 30/30)

• Darkened Eyeballs (Power 30/30)

• Skin of Disguise (Power 30/30)

• ? (Power 0/20)

‘……Huh? What’s this question mark? A new skill? I’ve never heard of a new skill just appearing like this…….’

Something deeply bothering had cropped up, but I was in the middle of a life-or-death battle. I closed the window and refocused on the battlefield.

“[Wall of Fire]!”

Seeing Seong Kyu-rim summon a wall of flames against two approaching monsters, I fired my skill at them.

“[Heavy Steps]!”

Fortunately, the word [Failed] didn’t appear. Both monsters slowed down and began trudging helplessly into the wall of fire. Naturally, they took far more damage as they lingered in the flames, eventually melting into puddles.

Seong Kyu-rim hopped up and gave me a big thumbs up.

“Thank you!”

“It—it was nothing……”

I didn’t think I’d done anything particularly impressive, so I felt embarrassed, but her praise spurred me to move with more passion.

I spammed my debuffs. Even when [Failed] popped up, I didn’t lose heart and kept casting. Right now, even if only 20 out of 100 attempts succeeded, it was worth it. My head was spinning from using too much blood, but the hope of actually functioning as a ‘party member’ kept me going.

‘I…… I can do it too, Yoo Se-rim……!’

Of course, Yoo Se-rim was too busy handling the boss monster alone to even look my way. Yet, watching his back, I felt a desperate urge to prove my value to him.

K-Boom—!

However, seeing Yoo Se-rim stand atop the fallen Queen after severing her neck with overwhelming force, I was reminded once again of how insignificant I must seem to someone like him.

[You have obtained 10 ‘Queen’s Diamond Dust’!]

Even after getting the quest items, I wasn’t that happy. The question I’d asked myself before surfaced again.

‘Why does he really travel with us?’

But even as I thought that, I couldn’t look away when Yoo Se-rim turned to face me. Amidst a backdrop sparkling with diamonds, his face looked like a god had descended to earth…….

‘Is this fluttering in my chest… hatred?’

Uncertain, I just kept staring at him.

“An artifact dropped.”

Yoo Se-rim, his face without a single drop of sweat, picked something up from the Queen’s remains. It was a silver ring set with an amethyst. Looking at it, I stiffened as I recalled the tiara that had almost bewitched me earlier.

Yoo Se-rim looked at me while holding the ring.

“Upon appraisal, this ring is specialized for mental-type curses. I think it would be best for Han-sol to have it……. What do you all think?”

“I’m for it!”

[Hwayoung is also for it-yoi!]

“Tch, it’s useless to anyone but a Shaman anyway.”

“You have good luck with artifacts.”

My face paled slightly as Yoo Se-rim approached with the ring, but I couldn’t refuse an addition to my arsenal.

“Ah, I should return the necklace……”

“I don’t need it, so just keep it.”

I tried to hand back the necklace he’d lent me earlier, but he cut me off. Not only that, he took my left hand and personally slid the new artifact onto my empty ring finger.

[Amethyst Ring of Chaos]

• Skill 1: Chaos (Consumes 30 Mana)

Part of me didn’t want to accept it because the amethyst was so similar to the color of Yoo Se-rim’s eyes, but I didn’t have the luxury of turning down an artifact based on a whim.

“……Thank you. And I’m sorry to the others.”

“No way! You were amazing today.”

[Hwayoung thinks Han-sol-yoi is today’s MVP-yoi!]

I looked up in shock at the unexpectedly generous evaluation. Seong Kyu-rim and Ahn Hwa-young were smiling brightly at me. They truly seemed to mean it, showing not even a hint of jealousy.

Even Kim Jae-ho, that stoic man, spoke up bluntly.

“Hunting is definitely twice as fast with you. I don’t think you’re getting artifacts without merit, so stop scowling.”

“……Thank…… you.”

I was shaken by his words. In the [Mermaid’s Treasure] dungeon a few months from now, Kim Jae-ho was one of the people who would sacrifice me and walk away without looking back. To hear such a man acknowledge me now…….

“Hmph. Do you know how annoying it was that you kept wandering out of my shield range? Watch yourself! If you get hurt, it becomes my responsibility.”

Pyo Yu-jeong threw her usual snarky dampener on the mood, but I knew she had proactively shielded me several times, allowing me to cast my curses safely.

Realizing she was more professional than I’d thought, I remembered the [Purgatory of Ramon]—the dungeon where she would lose her legs. Since I knew the future… maybe I could prevent her from losing them?

‘……Dammit. I’m getting too attached.’

I lowered my head, falling back into a sea of conflict.

“Are you going to Baek Hee-do again?”

After this dungeon, we were given a three-week break. Ahn Hwa-young’s condition wasn’t great, so he needed to visit a hospital.

Consequently, the party members were either preparing to cross over to ‘this’ side or had already done so. I was just about to leave when Yoo Se-rim suddenly barged into my room and asked that.

“I…… don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I denied it for now. The relationship between Baek Hee-do and Yoo Se-rim was clearly more than just mutual dislike, and since Yoo Se-rim misunderstood my relationship with Baek Hee-do, I was on edge.

I didn’t necessarily feel the need to “correct” the misunderstanding, but I was tense because I couldn’t predict how Yoo Se-rim would react if I admitted I was seeing him.

Seeing my reaction, Yoo Se-rim sighed. He began to warn me about Baek Hee-do in a slow, deliberate tone, as if telling a child not to play with fire.

“Baek Hee-do does not keep people close to him. He trusts no one but himself and judges others solely by their Rank.”

Recalling how Baek Hee-do had looked down on me when we first met, I knew Yoo Se-rim wasn’t wrong, so I listened quietly. Seeing that I wasn’t arguing, Yoo Se-rim seemingly felt I was being reasonable and continued in a softer tone.