The all-knowing Player (Solo Leveling)

Dungeons and dragons (2)

Corresponding episode: 80

"That's the eighth group," Seon-Ji declares.

She has been sitting on the windowsill, leaning on a cushion she placed against the wall, and counts the numerous reporters that fall into the traps I spent the night installing. Her hazel eyes momentarily reflect the green light of my gates as one appears again, spitting another pack of journalists out on the street.

She sits there since early in the morning, guarding the apartment like a watchdog and taking great satisfaction from the confused gazes of the reporters. They all stand up on wobbly legs before staggering away, still lost in the terror they experienced in the gate. None of them dare to come closer to our building.

Yool looks up from his book to ask, "Any injured?"

She leans against the glass to squint at the figures slowly rising to their feet. "Only a few scratches. Nothing worth going down."

He lets out a sigh of relief and lets himself sink back into the couch. But his gaze remains on her as she watches the lost reporters scamper away, amusement dancing in her eyes. "Aren't you taking a bit too much satisfaction from that?"

"Nah," she contests, letting her gaze drift after their shrinking frames before turning toward him. "They brought this upon themselves. Didn't Hee-Jin warn them?"

"I did," I reply. "But maybe using a dungeon to keep them away was a bit much. This one took me a whole night to design."

I ease further into the couch near Yool with a yawn and let my heavy eyelids fall. The cushions adjust to my shape as if willing to bury me in a nest of softness and comfort. A short rustling rises in the room as my brother flaps his book back open. He turns page after page in search of the one where he left off his reading.

Peace fills the living room—so different from the bustle that could have awaited us at our door. That is enough to convince me that spending the night designing the dungeon was worth it. I wouldn't have gotten much sleep anyway.

"What I think is you listened to Sun too much. The dungeon was a good idea. Adding summons wasn't," Yool says.

Seon-Ji shrugs. "It's a good scare-off. Besides, they didn't hurt anyone, did they?"

"They didn't," I confirm. "I insisted on that. All they have to do is scare the reporters and drive them to the exit gate."

Yool closes his book and sets it aside with a sigh. "Honestly, the summons wouldn't be a problem if no one had been injured. But a reporter sprained his ankle. He might blame your summons."

She rolls her eyes. She jumps off the windowsill to sit on the floor behind the coffee table. Her hand reaches out to the bouquet of flowers resting in its vase on the table, adding a patch of color matching the old burgundy carpet she sits on. The owner of our foster home showed up at our apartment at dawn, holding flowers between his hands—a bouquet of tiger lilies. Flowers of pride. He couldn't stay for long, but his words still linger in the air along with the sweet waft of pollen: I'm proud of you.

Seon-Ji's fingers distractingly skim over the striking orange petals as she scoffs, "Who'd believe that a monster sprained his ankle? He fell, that's all. Besides, he has nothing to complain about: you healed him."

"Of course I did. He got injured because of you two. Someone has to take responsibility."

"Oh, really?" She leans forward with a suggestive grin. "Are you sure it isn't because you found him cute?"

A new shade of pink darkens his face. "What are you saying? I would have healed him even if he wasn't!"

"So you admit that you think he's cute?"