As Seojun and the two men arrived near the edge of a dense forest, a group of 8 people was waiting for them. One of them, a man with a scar on his cheek, waved lazily.
"Yo, boss! What took you so long?" he called out with a grin.
The group chuckled among themselves, casually joking around, but there was an air of arrogance in their behavior.
One of the party members, a tall man with messy blond hair, glanced at Seojun and smirked. "Is this the other one?" he asked, his voice laced with mockery.
Another man, leaning on a tree with his arms crossed, snorted. "You gotta be kidding me. He's just a kid."
"What is he, fifteen?" a woman with a bow on her back scoffed. "This one looks like he should be in school, not here."
The group burst into laughter, some shaking their heads in amusement.
Seojun, as if he didn't hear any of their mocking words, stepped forward and introduced himself in a calm voice. "I'm Ji-hoon. I'll be one of the Beast Doctors you need."
The group exchanged glances before laughing even louder.
"This little guy is gonna take care of the monster eggs?" one of them sneered. "Hope he doesn't drop them."
"More like, I hope he doesn't cry for his mom when things get rough."
"Damn, we really got stuck with a newbie."
One of the men suddenly grabbed another party member's collar and threw him toward Seojun. The man stumbled but didn't fall, managing to steady himself.
Seojun frowned as the guy looked up at him with an awkward, forced smile. "We meet again."
Seojun recognized him instantly. 'It's the guy that was in a coma,' he thought to himself.
The party members looked between them, grinning.
"Oh? Looks like you two know each other," one of them sneered.
"What's this? Did you two have a tragic backstory together?" another one laughed.
"Hah! Maybe they were best friends in their past life?"
The woman with the bow rolled her eyes, clearly impatient. "Enough of this. Let's get moving. I don't want to waste any more time. The faster we finish this quest, the better."
They moved toward the entrance of the forest, which had a large iron gate guarded by a gatekeeper. Above the gate, in bold letters, was the name of the forest: "Black Thorn Forest."
He then pointed toward the dense trees ahead. "This place? It's the living grounds of beasts on this island. The deeper you go, the stronger they get. You could say it's one of those 'Beast Sanctuaries' or whatever. But let's be real—once you're deep enough, it ain't a sanctuary. It's a graveyard." He chuckled as if enjoying the thought. "Hope you don't piss your pants, newbies."
After showing their Awakener badges to the gatekeeper, the heavy gate creaked open, revealing the dark, dense forest beyond. The air inside was thick with a strange, oppressive feeling.
"Well, no turning back now," one of them said mockingly as they stepped inside.
As the group started walking into the forest, the more experienced members casually chatted and laughed among themselves. Their conversations were full of backhanded comments, mocking people they had met before, insulting weaker awakeners, and boasting about their own "greatness." It was clear that they found joy in stepping on others.
The leader took the front, walking confidently ahead. Meanwhile, Seojun and the other Beast Doctor, Kerio Stone, trailed behind the group, walking at a slower pace.
Kerio glanced at Seojun before speaking hesitantly. "Uhmm… looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other. My name is Kerio Stone, but my family calls me Rio. How about you? If you don't mind me asking."
Seojun glanced at him before simply answering, "I'm Ji-hoon."
Rio let out a small, awkward laugh. "Okay, this is awkward. You're not a talkative type, huh? Anyway, how did you end up in their party?"
"In the guild, they saw me talking to the receptionist."
Rio blinked, then sighed. "So they just approached you? Well, I bumped into one of them, and my Beast Doctor license fell. Before I could pick it up, they grabbed it and saw my class. And, well… because I'm a coward, now I'm here."
He let out a bitter chuckle before continuing. "I was actually supposed to join another party, but they got scared of Venom and basically threw me to them instead. Just how unlucky are we, right?"
Seojun responded calmly, "I heard they're one of the worst parties."
Rio sighed dramatically. "Yeah, you can literally see it on them. It's like they scream 'TROUBLE' just by existing."
As they continued walking, Rio glanced at Seojun's neck and suddenly tilted his head. "Uhmm… is that a tattoo?"
Seojun placed his palm on the side of his neck. "Yeah. Why?"
Rio immediately waved his hands. "No, don't get me wrong! I just thought it looked really cool. It's an infinity sign, right?"
Rio squinted slightly, leaning in a bit closer. "I think I noticed something in the infinity sign… something like a dragon or—I don't know, but it kinda looks like—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the sharp voice of the woman cut through the air.
"Can you two SHUT UP?! You're so damn noisy! If you have time to chat, you have time to focus on not getting killed in this damn forest!"
Her sharp glare and irritated tone made it clear she had no patience for them.
Rio flinched and muttered under his breath, "Damn, who shoved a stick up her ass this morning?"
As Rio flinched at the woman's outburst, one of the other men in the group laughed and patted her shoulder.
"Relax, relax. No need to bite their heads off already," he said, trying to calm her down.
Another guy, a tall one with sharp eyes, turned his attention to Seojun and Rio with a smirk. "Beast Doctors are basically Tamers, right? So, what kind of beasts have you tamed?"
The others caught on and joined in.
"Yeah, show us what you got! A Beast Doctor without a beast is just a useless healer."
It was clear they weren't just curious—they were mocking them, trying to see if they had anything worth showing.
Rio sighed and stepped forward first. "Alright, alright, I'll show you."
He raised his hand, and a small beast appeared on his shoulder in a flash of light. It was a bird, no bigger than a sparrow, but its beak was long and curved like a drill, and its sharp claws gripped onto Rio's clothes tightly. Its feathers were a mix of deep brown and fiery red, and its eyes glowed faintly.
"This is a Drillbeak. It evolved from the common woodpecker species that used to drill holes in trees. But now, it can pierce through stone and even weak monster hides."
The moment Rio finished speaking, laughter erupted from the group.
"Pfft—seriously?! That tiny thing?"
"That's not even a combat-type beast!"
"What's it gonna do? Peck our enemies to death?"
One of the guys wiped a fake tear from his eye. "Man, I knew Beast Doctors were weak, but this is just sad."
Rio clenched his fists but didn't say anything. He had probably expected this reaction, but it didn't make it any less humiliating.
Then, the sharp-eyed guy turned to Seojun, smirking. "Alright, kid. Your turn. If this guy's beast is this pathetic, I wonder what trash you're hiding."
The rest of the group grinned, waiting for another laugh at their expense.