Chapter 22
“You seriously better remember that I’m going to kill you later.”
“According to you, Oppa, I should’ve already died hundreds of times by now.”
“You little—! Still talking back?!”
My brother, who still hadn’t managed to calm down, shouted to himself before roughly messing up his own hair.
After a short silence, he let out a long sigh as if he had finally given up.
“Haa... Fine. So what do you want me to do?”
I had expected him to keep getting angry, so it was a little surprising that he was actually willing to listen to me.
“Arachne’s weakness is the same as the Red Venomous Spider we fought earlier.”
“Its belly?”
“Yeah.”
“Can we even get close enough to it?”
We probably could.
After all, in the novel, the four of us had fought Arachne together.
So we should probably be able to do it.
“We just need to get underneath its belly and attack it like Dohyeon did earlier, right?”
Han Siwoo asked while tightening his grip around his dagger.
There was nothing wrong with what he said.
Except for one thing.
“The only one among us who can get underneath it is Lee Dohyeon.”
“...Why?”
“Lee Dohyeon probably knows the answer better than anyone.”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward Lee Dohyeon.
Lee Dohyeon spoke with an expression that said he had an idea.
“...Because of my Trait?”
I nodded.
Han Siwoo looked at us strangely.
“Trait?”
“Yeah. According to the prophecy I know, Lee Dohyeon’s Trait is...”
“Assassin.”
My voice and Lee Dohyeon’s overlapped on the same word.
“Arachne is several times faster and stronger than the Red Venomous Spider we fought earlier. Unless it’s Lee Dohyeon with the Assassin Trait awakened, the rest of us would probably die before we could even get underneath Arachne’s belly.”
I was speaking to everyone.
But at the same time, those words were also meant for Han Siwoo.
Even after hearing my explanation, he still looked somewhat unconvinced.
I know why you’re making that face.
I could confidently say that I knew Han Siwoo almost as well as I knew my brother.
After all, I had known him for that long.
The life of Han Siwoo that I had watched from beside him had been dazzling, almost like the protagonist of a novel.
He was always the center of attention.
He had a handsome face and a kind personality.
He always acted like a saint who was willing to give everything up for others, but I knew there was a part of him that always wanted to hold the upper hand in any situation.
I wasn’t criticizing him for it.
It felt awkward to say this myself, but Han Siwoo truly was someone who suited the role of a protagonist.
Unfortunately, however...
The story had not chosen Han Siwoo.
“That knife.”
I stared directly at the dagger in Han Siwoo’s hand.
Maybe my gaze was too obvious, because Han Siwoo became unusually flustered and quickly hid the dagger behind his back.
“This is...”
My gaze then moved toward the battered kitchen knife in Lee Dohyeon’s hand.
The difference between the two weapons was obvious.
“Siwoo.”
I reached toward the dagger he was hiding.
Han Siwoo hesitated at first, but he didn’t actually move away from my hand.
Thanks to that, I easily took the dagger from him.
I looked at it and smiled in satisfaction.
“I’ll buy you a better one later. Your noona promises.”
“What do you mean, noona...”
Han Siwoo muttered quietly and looked away from me.
He clearly wasn’t happy about it, but it seemed he had decided to compromise.
How admirable.
Looking at him, I made a promise to myself.
Don’t worry.
This noona will definitely buy you a really good one.
First, though...
We had to escape this place.
I handed the dagger to Lee Dohyeon.
This time, it was his expression that looked strange.
Was he upset because he thought I was giving it to him out of pity?
After thinking about it briefly, I quickly added an explanation that he would probably understand.
“With the knife you have right now, you won’t even be able to scratch Arachne. If we want to defeat Arachne—”
“Are you two close?”
“Huh? Well... We’ve known each other for a long time.”
Why was he suddenly asking that?
“Really? Fine, whatever. I just need to kill that thing with this, right?”
“...Yeah. That’s right.”
Seriously.
I could never figure this guy out.
Lee Dohyeon stared intensely at the dagger I had given him, his eyes filled with determination.
Whatever had happened in his head, at least he seemed motivated now.
Han Siwoo, probably trying to replace the dagger that had just been taken from him, opened the bag he had placed on the floor and pulled out another knife.
I stared at him in genuine admiration.
What is that thing, a DoraXmon pocket?
How many knives did he put in there?
I was starting to worry that the school might charge him with theft once all of this was over.
“But why isn’t that spider attacking us?”
My brother, who had been staring fixedly at the spider, finally turned toward me.
If you’d seen Arachne attacking earlier, you wouldn’t be saying something so relaxed.
I shrugged.
“Maybe it’s on cooldown or something.”
“Cool... You’re not seriously saying that, are you?”
He added that he desperately hoped I was joking.
Ignoring him, I turned toward the others.
“You remember when we fought the Red Venomous Spider earlier, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Mm.”
“This probably won’t be too different from that. Except it’ll be harder and more dangerous.”
“Those two things alone make it sound completely different.”
I shot my brother a glare for ruining the mood before taking a short breath.
“Once we move forward, we probably won’t even have time to talk like this anymore. So everyone, prepare yourselves.”
The moment I finished speaking, silence descended.
It was so quiet that we could occasionally hear the sound of Arachne’s joints moving.
...Now that I kept hearing it, it was seriously starting to bother me.
The others seemed to be bothered by it too, because they kept glancing toward Arachne with uncomfortable expressions.
“Ah, damn it. Let’s just hurry up and kill this thing.”
My brother was the first to move.
Lee Dohyeon and Han Siwoo followed behind him.
