trouble - evnne

4

The other Evnne members were informed at once, all had rushed to the hospital to check on the three, then some of them were dispatched to the now incredibly unstable dungeon. Jihoo had pulled a muscle and Junghyun had a couple scrapes and scratches but other than being exhausted, the three were relatively unharmed. Jeonghyeon fared the best, he got a couple painkillers for his sore muscles and he was discharged. Jihoo took the doctor's advice to stay in bed for a bit to rest up, so his two seniors stayed the night with him in the hospital room.

In the middle of the night, Jeonghyeon got up to fetch some water, when he noticed a figure sitting outside the adjacent room, head buried in his hands. The hospital was still and quiet, the lights dimmed low for comfort and rest, while the corridor was completely devoid of people, not enough nurses hurrying about or restless caregivers mingling about.

"Junhyun?"

The figure jerked up, then leaned back in relief when he realised who it was. "How are you?" Junhyun asked, his voice cracking slightly from sleepiness as he rubbed his eyes.

"Nothing I can't handle. I should be asking you that. Have you been here the whole night?" Jeonghyun said as he slowly walked up to the exhausted hunter. The two of them looked equally haggard, Jeonghyeon from being unable to sleep, Junhyun from the worry.

Junhyun looked pained and anxious, "Of course. How could I not?" He was sitting outside the room the three Toz members occupied, excluding Anthonny.

After a beat of silence, Jeonghyeon asked, "Where are the others?"

"You didn't hear?" Junhyun was surprised, saying, "Minseoung and Woojin went into the dungeon. It was for the best, ice manipulators are crucial for a dungeon like that. Ah, how did I not realise?" Again his hands cradled his head, full of regret.

Jeonghyeon wasn't the best at comforting, so all he could offer was, "Let's take a walk, it'll clear your mind."

They took a stroll outside the hospital, in the dead silence of the night, it was peaceful and they had the first breaths of fresh air the two had for a couple hours now. The rows of square windows of the hospital were all dark, it looked so lonely and sad from the outside.

"I should have been there. Any ice manipulator should have been there. We didn't think it could happen but...this is bad. Anthonny was so..." Junhyun murmured, fingers twisting as he thought endlessly.

"If it makes you feel better, it was sort of our guild's fault too?"

Junhyun shook his head, "No, no. If it had only been Evnne in that dungeon, that raid would have gone perfect. Takuto just...wasn't equipped to handle such chaos, you know? The real chaos of a raid. Ah, it's my fault too. Minseoung..." Junhyun trailed off, wondering if he should continue, then swallowed and said, "Minseong is gonna be really busy for a while now. Man."

"Then why did you even agree to merge into T-guild? I mean...what do you gain from it?"

Junhyun pursed his lips, considering, before saying, "I talked Minseong into it. He hated it. He actually wanted to just accept just Haruto and Anthonny into the guild, he would have considered Yuto but not at all Takuto. A C ranker was just bad news for him. Toz is only strong because of Haruto and maybe Anthonny. But the others in that guild? They're all too young and they need more training. And sure, we don't gain much from it, but...I don't know, that situation just feels too much like mine."

After some time of walking wordlessly, Jeonghyeon remembered to ask, "How's Anthonny?" Junhyun cracked a wan smile, "He'll be okay, they said. He was lucky, the ice didn't hit anything critical. He was smart too, he managed to cover some parts of himself before he got hurt."

Jeonghyeon murmured, "His reflexes have always been insane."

Sombre, the two were about to head back indoors when the screeching of vehicle tires filled the air. A familiar van appeared right at the edge of the pavement and out came Yunseo and Hanbin, both a little tired but still relatively energetic. Seeing Jeonghyeon up and running got them to get Keita to drop them out first.

"How was it?" Junhyun asked softly, rather out of character for him.

Hanbin beamed, "It was fantastic. Minseoung was a lifesaver. And I've never seen a dungeon boss in a frozen lake, that was cool as hell."

"It was in a mess though, the dungeon," Yunseo added, "Ice everywhere. And a really angry polar bear."

"We got all wet," Hanbin announced happily. "Congrats," Jeonghyeon replied dryly, eyeing their drenched clothes, then the four headed back in. "Junhyun, the portion of T-guild's reward was sent to you already, by the way," Yunseo informed kindly.

Junhyun nodded, then added, "I'm also gonna assume it's fine if we call off the training for the week. I think Minseoung and Woojin would need some rest and Toz is pretty shaken up too."

"Of course. How's Anthonny?" Hanbin asked. Junhyun nodded mildly, "All patched up, but he hasn't woken." He seemed to be getting a bit tired of all the concern from the others walking on eggshells around him, so he added, "It's tough but...can't be helped. That's the life of a hunter."

That's the life of a hunter.