Beyond The Control

Chapter 67

While obediently offering my tongue, I didn’t forget my duty below. I stroked evenly from the heavy testicles to the glans, and it wasn’t long before Song Ji-hyeok climaxed.

As I looked for tissues, I was startled by the clock. We must have arrived home around 10 PM, but midnight was already approaching.

“Want to shower together?”

“Absolutely not.”

Whether it was a joke or not, Song Ji-hyeok got up, saying he’d shower first. As I watched the bathroom door close, I felt relieved for a moment, then hesitated and gave a wry smile. I had a slight reality check, feeling foolish for being relieved by such a thing.

‘This isn’t the time. Ugh.’

For tomorrow’s sake, I should have been moving quickly even now. I went outside and entered the bathroom attached to the living room. Just in case Song Ji-hyeok might open the door and come in, although that was unlikely, I washed up as quickly as possible.

My steps towards the guest room were equally hurried. Trying to ignore the feeling that something was still inside me, I opened the door.

Although it had been less than a day, why did it feel like I hadn’t been here for days? I opened the first drawer of the dresser and grabbed whatever underwear I could. I didn’t have the energy to put on other clothes, so I just managed to put on briefs and collapsed onto the bed.

At the same time, my eyelids closed on their own. I could feel the moisture from my hair that I hadn’t dried properly, but I didn’t want to move an inch. Less than a minute after lying face down, I fell asleep.

***

Today, today’s sun rose. When I opened my eyes to the faint sound of the alarm, the room was already bright with morning sunlight.

My condition wasn’t as bad as I thought. Although there was still some dull pain, my body felt light, probably because I had slept deeply as if I had passed out all night.

Song Ji-hyeok and I headed to the cafeteria first when we arrived at the guild. Only clueless newcomers or some Espers with picky eating habits properly packed food to eat while in the dungeon; most people were self-sufficient within the dungeon. I wasn’t particularly fussy about food either. Since I would probably be just filling my hunger roughly every other day for at least the next two or three days, I filled my stomach heartily as if it were my last feast.

When we went out about 10 minutes before the gathering time, the transport bus was already there. As I was chatting with teammates standing nearby, other team members arrived one after another. Finally, the team leader, who was the leader of this raid, joined us in a hurry.

“Is everyone here?”

“Yes!”

“Two, four, and me makes six. Okay, let’s go.”

Soon, we boarded the vehicle one by one. Although the seats were in pairs, we implicitly took one seat each, and I sat in the same row as Song Ji-hyeok, with the aisle between us.

According to the briefing, it would take about two hours by car to reach our destination. Normally, I would have replenished my energy with sleep, but not today. I had slept soundly all night, so sleep was nowhere in sight.

Song Ji-hyeok was looking at his phone. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, pretending not to.

I started to think about things I hadn’t had time to consider. Even looking back, yesterday’s sexual encounter wasn’t a means of guiding. I habitually tried to release energy, but it bounced back twice, and Song Ji-hyeok didn’t ask for guiding either.

To begin with, it started with him messing around in the car…. Did he just want to do it?

Or….

‘Can I consider it a green light….’

“Su-hyeon oppa.”

“Ah! You startled me.”

I thought my heart would stop when someone touched my arm. Surprised, I turned around to see Han Song-i offering me a chocolate snack.

“Why are you so surprised? Would you like some snacks?”

“Uh… Thanks.”

“Ji-hyeok, do you want some too?”

“No.”

He refused without even looking, making me feel embarrassed for a moment. I immediately reached out my right hand and said to Han Song-i,

“Give me one more.”

“Here you go, oppa.”

Han Song-i generously gave me three more. Then, still peeking her head out from behind, she continued,

“It’s been a really long time since you’ve gone to the field, right?”

“Yeah.”

“The maze type is really the worst, but it’s such a relief that you’re going with us, oppa.”

I noticed the underlying meaning and smiled slightly. Han Song-i had all the qualities of an excellent Esper, including combat power, boldness, and agility, but her only weakness was spatial perception.

Even Espers with above-average spatial perception often got lost in maze-type dungeons. Like a dark underground space with limited visibility, rooms with very similar structures continued one after another. So no matter how alert you were, it was easy to lose your sense of direction momentarily after a battle. Especially in A-grade maze-type dungeons, there were many unexpected situations and variables.

There was a 99 percent chance that the reason the team leader brought me to the field was because of this. Because I dealt with wind, I was sensitive to air currents and tended to move while mentally mapping the path we had taken, so I was relatively less likely to take wrong steps.

This time, the situation was a bit more favorable. Since I was accompanying as Song Ji-hyeok’s pair guide, I planned to just provide minimal defense without unnecessarily taking the lead.

…That was clearly the plan, but.

Unfortunately, there was one thing I had overlooked. The fact that situations don’t always go according to my intentions.

When we got off the car, the atmosphere was still good. Everyone jokingly flattered me, saying “Please take care of us,” and above all, Song Ji-hyeok was there on the field. The mere fact that an S-grade Esper was present boosted the team’s morale.

Nevertheless, only the team leader was different. He sternly warned us not to let our guard down and took the lead.

As we broke through the dark zone of the gate, a completely different landscape appeared. Neither desert nor wilderness, but a barren land stretched endlessly, with blood-red heat haze-like phenomena spreading here and there, stimulating an eerie and unpleasant sensation.

At least the ground was just an illusory background, and the real thing was a massive stone dungeon leading underground.

With each step down the stairs, there was an illusion of stepping into a deep abyss. In the tense atmosphere where nerves were on edge, I unconsciously kept wetting my dry lips with my tongue. Although dungeons couldn’t be pleasant as they were habitats for monsters, it had been a while since I felt such an instinctive discomfort. I felt what you might call a bad hunch rising.

The moment we entered the darkness-enveloped entrance, that premonition grew stronger. As soon as we stepped in, a stench like the smell of blood hit us.

A couple of people had already covered their noses with their sleeves. I also slightly furrowed my brow and quickly began to assess the situation. The team leader, who had been waiting for a moment, spoke up.

“What kind…”

“Watch out!”

At the same time, something rushed towards us. Bang! With the ear-splitting sound of collision, I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut, then quickly regained my senses.

As I turned my head, Song Ji-hyeok was standing with his back to us, facing the maze entrance as if in a standoff. When I looked at the opposite side, I unconsciously gulped. There were what seemed to be at least dozens of rhinoceroses showing unrestrained hostility.

Personally, I found half-human, half-beast monsters a bit more creepy than ordinary monsters. They stood like humans but had the face of a rhinoceros, with laser-like red light pouring from their sunken eyes.

Moreover, the half-human, half-beast types were among the more intelligent monsters. Having such creatures gathered in a pack from the very entrance was certainly not a welcome situation.

“Wait!”

I hurriedly grabbed Song Ji-hyeok, who was about to charge. But I was a step too late. The energy he had already released tore through the monsters’ bodies, and almost simultaneously, something like purple smoke began to spread.

“Jae-young hyung!”

As soon as I noticed it was poison and called out, Jae-young hyung stepped forward. In an instant, he gathered wind to push the poison to the sides, securing a space for us to enter. The team leader, grasping the situation, gave an appropriate order.

“Don’t touch any surrounding objects, just take off the monsters’ heads!”

With that cry as the starting point, battles suddenly broke out all over the room. I quickly ran to the helper and opened the backpack. After taking out three or four neutralizing agents, I approached Jae-young hyung, who was still containing the spreading poison.

“Can you make a gap for me?”

Although I couldn’t see anything with my eyes, being of the same wind affinity, I could somewhat read the flow of his energy. As requested, I threw the vials through the small gap that appeared and broke them in mid-air.

I watched the changing color, then threw and broke another one, and observed the situation again. Only after the neutralized, haze-like substance slowly settled to the floor did I speak to Jae-young hyung.

“I think it’s okay now, hyung.”

By that time, the battle was almost over. Dozens of torn rhinoceros corpses were scattered on the floor, and Han Song-i finished off the last three visible ones by cutting their necks simultaneously.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Yes!”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Wait a moment.”

While everyone else said they were fine, I was the only one with a different answer. I noticed a red, oozing wound on Jae-young hyung’s hand, probably from contact when using his skill, and quickly took out some ointment to apply.

When the commotion had completely subsided, the team leader’s gaze turned to me.

“Have you figured anything out?”

“Well… We’re still too close to the entrance.”

But I had figured out one thing. The poison from earlier wasn’t something the monsters were carrying. When Song Ji-hyeok used his power against the monsters, it was clear that they had been led to destroy a box containing poison. In simple terms, it was nothing short of a trap.