Several monsters appeared after rescuing the little boy. Kang Minho used brute force to knock the ogres out while Baek Haemin opened his Maiden's Sanctuary on the side.
When it comes to one-on-one, Kang Minho could handle the monster by himself just fine. However, the deeper they went, the more ogres showed up and the more they gathered around them.
Baek Haemin put the child on his back, carrying him as they run while Kang Minho holds the monsters off. Their objective was clear. They had to go and look for the monster leading the ogres in order to completely stop the dungeon break.
"Haa, haa."
Haemin grabbed the boy's legs tightly.
It had only been a few minutes since they started running, but it felt way longer for Baek Haemin who had to carry a child all that time.
Ah, seriously… Just when are the hunters coming?! If it wasn't for this fucking–ugh!
He had no intention of stopping the dungeon break at all. He's weak, he can't fight. There was no way he would ever think of doing something as crazy as stopping a dungeon break. However, in the air, a blue transparent screen floats.
A few moments after he first caught the boy, a familiar sound came out. The child leaned on his shoulder, and the system's message appeared.
Ding!
[System:
You received a quest!]
[Quest Info:
Protect Seo Hyunwoo until the dungeon break ends.
If you do not complete this quest, your heart will stop.]
Baek Haemin's hand paused. His eyes widened, staring at the system's messages. His mouth opened as he stared at it.
Seo Hyunwoo? Seo Hyunwoo? Ha? Who, this kid?
He glanced at the boy he was holding in his arms. The slightest tremble he makes made Haemin's brow creased, but there was a bigger reason he's having a conflicted look on his face.
Seo Hyunwoo is the name of a relevant character in the novel, Rise of the SS-Rank Hunter. A boy that Ryu Jinmu recruited in the latter half of the book 2, and later on became one of the key members of the main character's team.
Baek Haemin swallowed. The Seo Hyunwoo he knows and the kid in his arms right now… He wondered if they're the same person, but shook his head.
No, no. That can't be. The one in the novel was said to have white hair. This kid clearly has jet-black hair! This system is just doing it to mess with me! I'm sure I could find Seo Hyunwoo somewhere around here and if I couldn't, then this quest is invalid...
Ding!
[System:
Name: Seo Hyunwoo]
…Did he dye it?
A message floated above the child's head, as if the system was telling him to stop trying to avoid it. Haemin's jaw twitched.
Fucking scum of the earth…
He wanted to curse out loud, but chose not to. Cursing in front of a child was bad, after all. Baek Haemin sighed inside. His patting on Seo Hyunwoo became faster, and he started nibbling on his lips.
When his hands finally stopped.
Alright, I got it. Let's retreat.
If the quest only requires him to protect Seo Hyunwoo until the dungeon break ends, then isn't it fine if they hid somewhere and waited until the other hunters arrived, and killed all the monsters themselves?
Yeah, that's the most logical solution to this. Alright, I should first tell Kang Minho now, and–
Ding!
[System:
You received a quest!]
[Quest Info:
There are people in need of treatment.
Save as many civilians as you can.
If you do not complete this quest, you will get a penalty.]
Let me rest!
"Ah, shit…"
Baek Haemin uttered silently as he glared at the system's messages in the air.
The boy in his arms peeked at him with a tear in his eyes, making Haemin flinch. He brushed the boy's hair gently before smiling.
"I mean, sheep! I said sheep. Ha ha…"
Seo Hyunwoo's right brow only creased, still not saying anything. Haemin looked at the quest info again.
This one's a little different, huh?
The quest for protecting Seo Hyunwoo says his heart will stop if he fails, but the other one says he will get a penalty.
What kind of penalty though?
[System:
You want to know?]
Yeah. So I'll know if I could skip this one.
[System:
…you will know only after you fail.]
Hmph. Stingy bastard. I don't expect anything from you anyway. But this kid is Seo Hyunwoo, huh…
Baek Haemin glanced at the boy once more. The Seo Hyunwoo in the novel awakened as a hunter at a very young age. He was stubborn, smart, and cold.
Ryu Jinmu met a newly awakened Seo Hyunwoo in a slum where a dungeon break occurred. Haemin remembered there was a backstory of Seo Hyunwoo written before he met Ryu Jinmu and joined his party, but he skipped it.
…Why did I skip it?
Shiro gave him the sixteenth version of the novel to him at that time. Baek Seungho thought that the writer was pranking him for writing a shitty ending for book 3, and decided to skim through the whole thing, not bothering with side characters' backstories before asking Shiro to revise it.
It was a time when he and Shiro were in the battle of nerves, barely tolerating each other edit after edit, revisions after revisions.
That was when Shiro was in a slump and forcing himself to write. Even though Baek Seungho was asking him to take a break, the young writer refused to, resulting in them butting heads.
Ugh… Looking back on it now, I was also acting immature. How could I not read the whole thing carefully? I was his editor. I should've done better…
However, it was too late to regret now. It happened long ago, and he's even transported to the world inside that very novel. The only thing he could do now is survive.
Learning how to survive in a world filled with monsters and a system forcing me to do things…
He glared at the quests given to him by the system. When he saw Kang Minho defeat the last ogre in their way, he grabbed the young Seo Hyunwoo with him and told Minho they have to save other people in the mall.
Kang Minho, who heard that, looked at Baek Haemin with sparkles in his eyes.
"Haemin-ssi, you really are a good person, after all! Yes, let's do that! Let's go defeat the boss monster and stop this dungeon break!"
"Ah, no… I didn't say anything about the boss monster or…"
"Let's go!"
Kang Minho rushed before Baek Haemin could finish his sentence.