The Line He Drew

Instinctively, I stepped in front of him to block his path.

Do Jiwan raised one eyebrow crookedly and looked down at me.

I had blocked him, but my head was spinning and I had no idea what to say.

“…If you have nothing to say, please step aside.”

While I hesitated, Do Jiwan brushed past me.

In the end, I couldn’t stop him.

“…Ah.”

I had no idea where things had started to twist, and the frustration was suffocating.

After that, I tried several times to speak to him, but unfortunately, he remained an iron wall.

I couldn’t even begin to guess how to turn his heart back.

So distracted by Do Jiwan, I eventually made a mistake.

I accidentally pressed against the dungeon wall, triggering a trap.

Normally, the scouts would have disarmed it, but this one only activated when the trigger wall was touched, so it had been left alone.

And of all times, I had been thinking about how to coax Do Jiwan when I stumbled and hit the wall.

‘Crap!’

As soon as I touched it, the floor gave way beneath me, revealing a pit filled with sharp spikes.

There weren’t just one or two—there was no way to dodge them skillfully.

“Jiho!”

Seeing me fall, Jeongho hyung shouted in what sounded like a scream.

Suspended in midair as the ground vanished beneath me, I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for pain.

But it never came.

“Ugh!”

Someone grabbed the back of my collar and hurled me out of the trap.

I tumbled across the floor, but I was alive.

Coughing from having my collar yanked tight around my neck, I looked up at the person who had thrown me.

It was Do Jiwan.

His eyes burned as he glared at me, then he grabbed my collar again and hauled me up.

“If you’re going to work like this, then quit!”

“S-sorry….”

I tried to apologize, but before I could finish, he let go of my collar.

I fell back again, and he turned away coldly.

Only then did my teammates rush over.

“Jiho! Are you hurt?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m… fine. I’m sorry.”

As I apologized to their worried faces, they waved their hands.

“No, you must’ve been the most startled. But still, you should’ve been careful. The guild members warned several times not to touch walls sprayed with marking paint.”

“Still, it’s a good thing the guild leader was there. He flew in like lightning and just flung you out. Seriously cool.”

They chatted among themselves.

Then, saying I must be shaken, they told me to return to base camp and rest.

Honestly, I was shaken and exhausted, so I accepted their consideration and headed back.

At base camp, I ran into Do Jiwan again.

The moment he saw me, his brows furrowed and he sharply turned away.

After that, I tried to apologize, but he continued to ignore me.

I thought about speaking during shower time like before, but every time I opened my mouth, he would stop showering and leave.

In the end, until the second phase of the raid was over, I couldn’t say a single word.

‘…Next time, I’ll definitely apologize.’

And thank him too.

But that opportunity never came.

Because Do Jiwan filed a complaint with the company and had me removed from his assist team.

After resting, I went to work and heard something unbelievable.

“You’re… removing me?”

“Yeah… that’s how it turned out.”

The boss looked at me apologetically.

He had called me in as soon as I arrived and explained that Do Jiwan had lodged a complaint and requested I be removed from his assist team.

“He didn’t say to fire you… just to transfer you to another team instead of his.”

“What? Why?”

Wasn’t it too much to cut someone off for one mistake?

Even the boss seemed baffled, letting out only a sigh.

“Dirty and unfair, but what can we do? We’re the subcontractor, they’re the client.”

“…….”

“Your pay won’t change even if you switch teams, so don’t worry—”

“I don’t want to!”

Pay wasn’t the issue.

My goal wasn’t money.

It was Do Jiwan.

I insisted I would stay on this team no matter what, and the boss sighed helplessly.

“If they refuse, what can we do?”

“…….”

“Come on. This isn’t something I can fix.”

Even as he tried to soothe me, I wouldn’t budge.

Watching him sigh again, I made up my mind.

‘If it can’t be resolved at the boss’s level….’

Then I’d have to meet the person who could resolve it.

Right.

I needed to meet Do Jiwan.

“Please let me see the guild leader!”

“I’m telling you… without an appointment, it’s difficult.”

On a raid-free day, I stormed into the Domun Guild building.

The security guard at the lobby kept refusing with a troubled look as I demanded to see the guild leader.

I had considered going to the dungeon, but since I always rode in the company car, I didn’t even know where it was.

And after trying to sneak into the company car once and getting caught—earning a severe scolding from the boss—that option was impossible.

“Just transfer to another team!”

The boss had clutched his chest in frustration, but when I refused to budge, he eventually gave up.

“I don’t know anymore. Do whatever you want.”

He warned that if another complaint came in, he’d say I was already removed.

I bowed politely and left.

And that’s how I ended up here.

‘If I don’t see him today, I might have to wait several more days….’

Growing impatient, I lay down flat in the lobby.

The guard looked at me like I was the worst kind of nuisance imaginable.

Then—

“Huh? Assist…?”

“Oh? Hello?”

“Wait, you’re from the assist team, right? What are you doing here?”

I ran into a familiar face.

A guild member from the guild leader’s raid party.

When he asked why I was lying there, I immediately clung to him.

“I need to see the guild leader!”

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s really, really important!”

I said it with utmost seriousness.

Telling him not to cut me from the team was important, after all.

The guild member looked down at me and hesitated.

It seemed he was debating whether he should get involved.

“Hmm… wait here.”

Having decided, he pried my hands off and went inside.

I waited quietly as instructed.

Seeing I wasn’t causing further trouble, the guard finally sighed in relief.

One minute felt like an hour.

Then the guard received a signal through his earpiece and helped me up.

“The guild leader has granted permission.”

He handed me a guest card on a lanyard and told me to go to the 45th floor.

“Take elevator number three. You’ll need to tap the card on the panel near the buttons for it to work. It only allows access to the 45th floor, so go straight there.”

“Got it.”

Following his instructions, I entered elevator three.

As it rose, I mentally rehearsed how to change Do Jiwan’s mind.

‘This is really hard.’

Was there anyone more difficult than Do Jiwan?

I sighed.

The elevator arrived quickly at the 45th floor.

The doors opened to reveal another lobby.

‘There’s a lobby up here too?’

As I stared in surprise, a staff member waiting nearby approached me.

“Are you Shin Jiho?”

“Y-yes.”

“The guild leader is waiting. This way, please.”

There was only one door in the 45th-floor lobby.

That must be Do Jiwan’s office.

My palms had grown damp with tension, so I wiped them on my clothes before the staff member opened the door.

Inside the spacious office, Do Jiwan stood.

“I heard you have something you must say to me.”

He asked for my business before I could even greet him.

But the moment I saw him, my mouth went dry and my thoughts vanished.

The only words I managed to stammer out were—

“You… removed me from the team….”

“You came all this way just to say that?”