Loki watched from the bough's shadow, gold eyes quiet in the hood's black.
His gaze never left her.
He tracked the small choices—the way she placed her feet to leave herself a retreat lane; the way she stepped into danger to control the angle, not away from it.
'It's the same.'
In the present, her moves are a bit slower and rougher, but her style is clearly the same as the legendary version he remembers.
Even after the Blood Tree folded in on itself with a low crystal twang and drifted into motes, he kept his eyes on her.
She crossed the clearing toward him, calm, breath even. Up close, discipline showed in small pieces—the way her hands reset to neutral, the stillness in her shoulders.
His gaze skimmed lower, quick as a checkmark: the line where her coat cinched her waist, the balanced set of her hips that kept her center of gravity clean when she moved. Practical observations, he told himself. Except the glance lingered a fraction too long.
His heart ticked a shade quicker; heat pricked his face. He wasn't a man who stared; he studied movement, spacing, and timing like a fighter. The slip surprised him enough that he looked away first.
"Well?" she asked.
Her white bob barely stirred in the breeze, razor-neat against her jaw. Hazel eyes, glass-bright, made a quiet sweep of the clearing and returned to him.
She didn't boast or celebrate; her competence was obvious, so she didn't have to say anything. The result spoke for her.
"It was… good," he said.
"Just good?" A faint tilt at the corner of her mouth.
"You move like you've trained. The way you read the field and adjust. You don't seem like a normal businesswoman."
"Minjoo's ex–special forces," she said. "I train with her when I can."
'That explains her form and movements,' he thought.
"Now," Haeun added, "show me what you can do."
"Sure. If we run into a Common or Uncommon before we find a Rare," he said, stepping in to lift her again.
He hesitated—an instant, a twitch of the ribcage he couldn't name.
Haeun's brow tipped, amused.
"Why pause now?" she asked lightly. "When you didn't in front of half the town."
The line landed softly, but it found its mark. He became abruptly aware of what he'd done. Lifting a woman like her without a word, a woman whose presence made rooms behave. A heartbeat later, the math of manners clicked
"…You're right." His voice came low, even.
"That was rude of me. I'm sorry."
She studied him. Then the smallest curve touched her mouth, not quite a smile, not unkind.
"Apology accepted," she said, tone playful around the edges. "Good. Now I can stop thinking up ways to get even."
One corner of his mind blinked.
'This woman,' he thought—half annoyance, half something warmer he didn't bother to name.
Under the mask, a faint pull shaped his mouth before he knew it—gone as quickly as it came.
He adjusted his stance, offered an arm this time instead of simply taking.
"Ready?"
"Mm." She set her hand where he'd made the space, light and sure.
"Proceed, Mister Loki. I promise not to press charges."
He breathed once, steadying—jasmine-and-steel ghosting his senses—and gathered her in with care that felt, to him, merely efficient.
As she settled, something on the far trunk caught Loki's eye: a shallow mark burned into the bark.
He set her down and moved toward it.
"Something wrong?" Haeun asked.
"Just confirming something." He laid his palm over the symbol.
The ground shivered. Stone grated. A slab of earth drew back, revealing a narrow stair curling down into the dark.
'…A dungeon.'
Dungeons were scattered through every Newbie-town zone. Some hid in plain sight, some behind tricks like this—but the rewards were always worth the risk.
"What is this? A hidden door?" Haeun asked, brows narrowing.
"Looks like a dungeon," Loki said.
'Should we go?'
Dungeons were full of traps—timed blades, collapsing floors, puzzle locks that lied. Even Seojin couldn't predict all of them.
"What, you don't want to go with me so you don't have to split the loot?" she teased.
"No," he said, still half lost in his thoughts. "I was wondering whether I could keep you safe if we went together."
"...Oh." She blinked once, not expecting that reply. Then the surprise eased off her face, leaving something quieter behind.
'If I stay ahead, it'll be fine. And a hidden dungeon's boss should be Rare-tier. Better than roaming the forest.'
"Let's go, Miss Haeun," he decided. "I'll move ahead in there. You follow and stay close."
Her mouth tipped the faintest degree.
"Understood."
Cool air breathed up from the stairwell. Loki stepped onto the first stone, the dark folding around his boots, and Haeun fell in behind him without another word.
...
The dungeon was dark with little to no light. Moss clung to the walls in thin veins; water ticked somewhere out of sight.
Loki took the lead without asking, palm skimming each wall as they descended. His gaze swept the room, ceiling, floor, and corners with the practiced care of someone checking a weapon."
At the landing, the corridor ran on in two directions.
One side was pitch black; the other had weak, flickering blue torches that made the hallway look cold and underwater.
He observed both the paths and noticed something. He crouched, tapped the edge of a flagstone with the tip of his dagger. Dust puffed from the crack.
'Maybe a pressure plate'
"Step here," he said, voice low, steady.
He set his boot on a different, scuffed stone and held a hand out. Haeun followed exactly in his footsteps.
Behind them, where her heel would have fallen, a whole section of floor sighed and dropped. The pit's breath came up cold.
She looked down into the pit, then caught his hand at her waist, steadying her. He pulled back the moment she was across—already moving ahead, scanning the way.
As they continued, the dungeon narrowed.
Loki noticed arrow slits running along the walls like old scars. From within the stone came a ratcheting wind-up.
Loki's head tilted; he quickly set himself between her and the wall.
"Stay close to me," he said.
The first volley screamed out of the walls. He turned his shoulder so the arrows hit him instead of her, three clattering off his armor. One skimmed his rib area; he didn't even blink. His omni-tier gear shrugged off shots like these.
Haeun felt the urge to Gate and ghost through it, but he'd already stepped, already put his back where her body would have been.
He pushed forward during the tiny pause while the trap re-cocks, timing the rhythm of the device by sound rather than sight.
Haeun kept pace, feeling a strange, quiet surprise at the way he moved. Never grabbing her, never pulling her, only placing himself where harm wanted to be.
'It's like he is used to doing this,' she thought
It had been a long time since anyone put their body between hers and anything. In boardrooms, she didn't need saving—she was the danger. With him beside her, danger lost some of its bite
They broke into a small chamber where the air felt smoother. In the center stood a stone plinth set with three concentric rings of carved sigils. Four doors looked on—the one they'd come from and three more shut with heavy slabs. On the wall: a mural of a moon devoured by shadow, then revealed again in phases.
"This...is it a puzzle?"
Seojin was not good with puzzles.