Seo Kangrim shook her hand, though a hint of puzzlement lingered in his expression.

Even recalling the message he had just seen, only Kang Dohyun’s name had been listed on it.

Moreover, the two belonged to different teams.

After shaking hands in silence, Seo Kangrim spoke up.

“I didn’t expect you to come as well, Death Messenger Ahn Nabi.”

“I felt that the two of you alone might struggle, so I decided to join.”

That was what she said, but in truth, it was because of Team Leader Princess’s interference.

[Seo Kangrim and Kang Dohyun know each other?]

[Yes, Team Leader.]

[Damn, this is troublesome. We absolutely cannot let Seo Kangrim fall into Team 1’s hands. Ahn Nabi, you at least have some history with Seo Kangrim, so go and recruit him!]

Just as Princess had been about to send Ahn Nabi, she discovered that the two had been assigned a Demon Realm clearance mission.

Knowing full well this was a violation of protocol, Princess sent Ahn Nabi anyway.

Since no advance notice had been given, Kang Dohyun’s gaze toward Ahn Nabi was less than welcoming.

“Death Messenger Ahn Nabi. This is highly irregular. Do you think it makes any sense to interfere with Team 1’s business?”

“Isn’t this matter rather urgent? Team Leader Princess dispatched me because she judged this to be a Central Branch matter, not merely Team 1’s.”

“Then you should have said so beforehand. What’s the big idea showing up unannounced like this?”

It seemed Kang Dohyun had no intention of letting Ahn Nabi tag along.

Since Ahn Nabi was indeed the one who had barged in without prior contact, her voice grew progressively quieter as the argument continued.

Eventually, Ahn Nabi nodded.

“You are right, sir. I will return, then.”

“Death Messenger Ahn Nabi.”

As Ahn Nabi turned to leave, Seo Kangrim quietly stepped in her path.

He had no intention of letting her go just like that.

‘Having Ahn Nabi along would be better in more ways than one.’

He needed to persuade Kang Dohyun, but the man was displaying considerable wariness toward him.

Hadn’t he nearly gotten into a fight with Kang Dohyun after just a few words of conversation?

‘Given Kang Dohyun’s personality, he wouldn’t behave so recklessly with someone else present.’

With Ahn Nabi around, Kang Dohyun would be mindful of appearances and be far more subdued.

Seo Kangrim turned to Ahn Nabi and spoke.

“I would be grateful for your help. I’d like you to accompany us.”

“But….”

Ahn Nabi glanced at Kang Dohyun.

As if seeking his consent.

Kang Dohyun let out a sigh and glared at Seo Kangrim.

“You… never mind. Let’s just go in.”

He lifted the sacred rope and ducked beneath it.

The building draped with the sacred rope was an old abandoned factory.

As they stepped inside, the hollow echo of their footsteps rang through the space.

Seo Kangrim glanced around before asking Ahn Nabi a question.

“Do Death Messengers frequently visit Demon Realms?”

“No. We are dispatched only under special circumstances. In this particular case, no one has returned since the Demon Realm was discovered, so we were sent to investigate.”

That explanation raised a question in Seo Kangrim’s mind.

For high-difficulty Demon Realms, it was quite common for people to fail to return in the early stages.

Such Demon Realms were hardly rare, so why had they been dispatched to this one in particular?

“Aren’t there plenty of cases where people fail to return from Demon Realms?”

“Yes, that’s true. However, this Demon Realm… despite not being particularly high in difficulty, has had no returnees, which is why we were sent to investigate.”

“That is certainly strange.”

This Demon Realm’s rank was First Human Grade.

The difficulty was not low, but neither was it particularly high.

Not only had it remained uncleared for months, but no one had returned from it either.

‘I have no information about this Demon Realm.’

He might be a regressor, but he didn’t know everything.

He only possessed knowledge about Great Demon Realms and certain special Demon Realms.

‘The Demon Realm aside, I need to talk with Kang Dohyun first.’

A considerable amount of time had passed since their meeting, yet Kang Dohyun hadn’t spoken a single word to Seo Kangrim.

If not for the mission, he seemed like the type who would have walked away on the spot.

As they followed Ahn Nabi’s guidance deeper into the factory, Kang Dohyun came to a halt.

“That must be the entrance over there.”

He was looking toward a section of the factory wall.

On the central wall of the factory stood an antique door that seemed utterly out of place.

That was the entrance to the Demon Realm.

And gathered around the entrance were several people.

“Oh? Aren’t those Death Messengers?”

There were people who had arrived before Seo Kangrim’s group.

They weren’t Death Messengers but ordinary Hunteos.

Seo Kangrim scanned them but didn’t recognize a single face.

‘They seem to be non-trainees.’

Not all Hunteos were graduates of the Education Facility.

Some had paid the Fate Protection Bureau or entered into a sort of contract to have their Fortune Window opened.

Ahn Nabi looked at the people who had arrived first and spoke.

“Were you about to enter the Demon Realm?”

“Y-yes. What about you, Death Messengers?”

“We’re also here to investigate, but… it might be best not to enter this Demon Realm.”

A Demon Realm with zero returnees.

In a sense, it was the most terrifying kind of Demon Realm.

The party that had arrived first exchanged glances among themselves before the apparent leader grinned confidently.

“But you Death Messengers are going in too, aren’t you? We’ll go together.”

It seemed they figured they would be safe with Death Messengers accompanying them.

As Ahn Nabi hesitated, Kang Dohyun spoke in a cold voice.

“Death Messengers only protect Unawakened Persons. Look after your own safety.”

The party members seemed taken aback by his attitude, but their decision didn’t appear to change.

“We can protect ourselves! You Death Messengers don’t need to worry about us.”

Judging by their demeanor, they said one thing but clearly believed the Death Messengers would help if things turned dangerous.

Before Ahn Nabi could stop them, they stepped into the Demon Realm.

Kang Dohyun let out a deep sigh.

“Things were already troublesome enough, and now even more annoying people are getting tangled up in this.”

“If it’s too much trouble, you don’t have to come, Death Messenger Kang Dohyun.”

Ahn Nabi said with a subtle glance at Kang Dohyun.

Kang Dohyun replied irritably.

“Whatever. I know full well why you tagged along anyway.”

“I was simply following the Team Leader’s orders….”

“Following the Team Leader’s orders to recruit Seo Kangrim, no doubt.”

Ahn Nabi chose silence rather than argue back.

She didn’t seem like the type who could tell a lie.

“Of course, it would be wonderful if a talent like Mr. Seo Kangrim were to join our team.”

“Give it up. Seo Kangrim isn’t joining Team 2.”

“We won’t be giving up on Mr. Seo Kangrim.”

Seo Kangrim stood between them, maintaining his silence.

Having them fight over him would only make things awkward.

Besides, he had no intention of joining the Bureau anyway.

“Let’s go in for now.”

At Seo Kangrim’s words, the two ceased their argument and opened the door to the Demon Realm.

As they stepped inside, the abandoned factory vanished, and an entirely new landscape materialized before their eyes.

[You have entered the Demon Realm ‘Sculpted City.’]

‘A city…?’

A city sprawled out within the Demon Realm. Buildings that felt like hybrids born of East and West could be seen.

Though destroyed and crumbling, the place still carried a certain atmospheric charm.

One could easily mistake it for a movie set.

‘Where’s the exit?’

He glanced back, but the door he had entered through had vanished.

It seemed they would need to complete the mission before they could exit the Demon Realm.

As if to confirm that suspicion, a window promptly materialized before his eyes.

[Destroy the statues that serve as the barrier’s medium.]

[Time Limit: None]

“It seems the Hunteos who came before us were unable to destroy the statues and remain trapped in this space.”

Ahn Nabi said as she read the mission message.

Then she surveyed their surroundings, her expression turning puzzled.

“But I don’t see the people who entered ahead of us.”

The party that had entered just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.

Where could they have gone in such a brief span of time?

Or perhaps the starting point shifted with each new entry.

Kang Dohyun spoke with an indifferent expression.

“Those people don’t matter anyway. Let’s just clear this Demon Realm quickly and get out….”

“Aaah, aaagh!”

At that moment, piercing screams rang out from somewhere nearby.

Ahn Nabi was the first to react.

As she sprinted toward the source of the screams, Kang Dohyun and Seo Kangrim immediately followed suit.

When they reached the source of the screams, they found the party members who had entered earlier.

“Damn it, snap out of it!”

“Why aren’t the Death Messengers coming in? Are they seriously not going to protect us?”

They were surrounded by Demon Beasts, fighting desperately.

The Demon Beasts bore the appearance of half-formed, crushed clay figurines.

Their bodies twitched and lurched as they crept ever closer to the party members.

“Ugh, ugh…! S-save us…”

-Chwaak!

Seo Kangrim, Kang Dohyun, and Ahn Nabi immediately charged at the Demon Beasts, cutting them down decisively.

While the party members stood dumbfounded, they carved through the Demon Beasts without pause, slashing and tearing until every last one was slaughtered.

The area was cleared in an instant.

Seo Kangrim shook the clumps of mud from his blade and turned back to the party members.

They hurriedly bowed their heads.

“Th-thank you. We survived thanks to you!”

“You hadn’t come for hours, so we thought you weren’t coming at all….”

Hours?

That word sent a jarring sense of dissonance through Seo Kangrim.

After the party members had entered, Seo Kangrim had followed them in less than five minutes.

Yet the party members looked worn ragged, as though they had been wandering this place for hours.

Ahn Nabi asked, her puzzlement evident.

“We entered only a few minutes after you did.”

“What? We’ve been in here for hours.”

They said this with utterly bewildered expressions.

Hearing their words, Seo Kangrim was able to grasp the true nature of this Demon Realm.

“Death Messenger Ahn Nabi, it seems the flow of time here is different from the outside.”

Time within the Demon Realm appeared to flow at several times—no, perhaps dozens of times—the rate of the outside world.

No wonder the flow within the Demon Realm had seemed somewhat distorted. Now he finally understood why.

Ahn Nabi’s expression turned grave as she listened to Seo Kangrim’s words.

“If that’s truly the case… I’m worried about the Hunteos who haven’t returned. The ones who entered weeks ago…”

They would have been surviving here for years at the very least.

Or perhaps they had already died long before that.

Ahn Nabi fell into thought before turning to look at Kang Dohyun.

Kang Dohyun was staring down at the fallen Demon Beasts.

As if observing something.

Ahn Nabi asked Kang Dohyun.

“Death Messenger Kang Dohyun, what are you examining?”

“I was looking over the Demon Beasts we took down.”

Kang Dohyun rose to his feet and spoke.

“I killed more Demon Beasts than Seo Kangrim did.”

His eyes turned toward Seo Kangrim.

With a gaze that carried a faint sense of triumph.

“So this Seo Kangrim, the so-called top training cadet, is nothing special after all.”