Chapter 110

Jihan Kim immediately looked at the needle on the machine Ren was holding. The needle had moved into the red section, and Jihan Kim screamed.

“No, it’s right before a dungeon break! What do we do if we leave it alone until now?”

“Usually, there was no problem if we cleared it about once every six months…”

“Don’t you know that even though the cycle is usually consistent for each dungeon, it sometimes changes, so we always have to be careful? Even so, a dungeon must be thoroughly inspected once or twice a month!”

“I’m, I’m sorry…”

“No! Ah, it’s fine. It’s best to start the raid quickly. Hunter Cho-i.”

“Yes.”

“It’s best to clear it as fast as possible.”

“Okay.”

“It’s a D-Rank anyway, so you’d be fine alone, but go in with me, clear it as fast as possible, and come out.”

“Underst-“

At that moment, someone interrupted.

“Guild Master. I’ll go.”

“Yuri?”

Yuri Ja stepped forward.

“There’s no need for the Guild Master to go into a D-Rank dungeon.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Jihan Kim looked at Yuri Ja with a suspicious gaze. Yuri Ja met his gaze with a brazen face.

“Are you confident you won’t fight with Hunter Cho-i Hyeon?”

“I won’t fight.”

“When did I ever fight you? You’re the one who started it.”

This time, when Cho-i Hyeon interrupted, Yuri Ja stared at her intently, then sharply turned her head away.

“I won’t even talk to her.”

“…Hmm.”

Jihan Kim thought quietly. Although Yuri had been constantly provoking Hunter Cho-i Hyeon, he wondered if she had finally made up her mind. Seeing that she volunteered to go, it seemed she no longer wanted to fight. After finishing his thoughts, Jihan Kim patted Yuri’s shoulder.

“Alright, then I’ll trust you.”

“No, I don’t trust her. Don’t I get a say?”

“Hunter Cho-i Hyeon, fighting!”

Seoyeon Ha cheered from the side. “No, seriously, don’t I get a say?” While Cho-i Hyeon grumbled with complaints, Jihan Kim tried to appease her.

“The goal is to clear this dungeon quickly. Two of you should be enough, right?”

“No, I’m enough alone.”

“Still, since Yuri is going out after a long time, try to get along.”

“It’s fine as long as she doesn’t pick a fight.”

“She won’t.”

“Really?”

“Probably.”

“Alright, if that bastard is sane, she won’t pick a fight inside a dungeon that’s about to break. I’ll be back soon.”

Cho-i Hyeon said that, then slipped into the dungeon alone. As Yuri Ja tried to follow her, Jihan Kim added one more thing.

“Yuri. Don’t cause trouble.”

“Got it.”

Even though Yuri Ja replied calmly, Jihan Kim somehow felt uneasy. Still, he tried to suppress that feeling and let Yuri Ja go. Yuri Ja’s figure also entered the dungeon entrance. And then. Beep-beep-beep- The machine Ren was holding began to sound an alarm.

“…Oh, no way.”

Ren stood there, drenched in cold sweat, holding the machine. And then she said,

“It’s going to explode in… in ten minutes.”

“You crazy bastard!”

Jihan Kim grabbed Ren by the collar and shook him.

“How can that be!”

“Should we go in now, Guild Master?”

Seoyeon Ha asked. Jihan Kim shook his head.

“No. I don’t know what would happen if we interfered in such an unstable situation. I just have to… pray… that those two… clear the dungeon within ten minutes.”

“What if they can’t?”

“Then it’ll just explode here. This is driving me crazy. There’s never been a case where hunters entered a dungeon right before it exploded, so it’s hard for me to make a judgment.”

“Wouldn’t they just be thrown out with the monsters?”

“We can only hope…”

“Haa…”

Both of them sighed heavily. Ren, caught between them, could do nothing but stand there, rolling his eyes. Jihan Kim’s aura surged, unable to contain his anger. Ren gasped, holding his breath. He knew well that pretending not to be there was the best option in this situation.

“I hope both of them return safely…”

* * *

The two people inside the dungeon immediately noticed that its state was unusual. The dungeon led to a large tunnel, and the inside of the tunnel was red. It was supposed to be dark and hard to see ahead.

“It looks like it’s about to explode.”

“Let’s clear it quickly and get out.”

“Wow, you’re not using informal speech anymore?”

“I’ve just decided not to be the same kind of person.”

“What’s wrong with me!”

“Be quiet and let’s finish this quickly and leave.”

Yuri Ja immediately kicked off the glowing red floor and moved forward. It was a tunnel-shaped labyrinth, and a fork appeared right from the start. Yuri Ja headed left without consulting anyone. Cho-i Hyeon snorted dismissively at this and moved forward. And when she approached the wall at the fork. Bang-!! She punched it. She didn’t know how Yuri Ja, who went left, would react, but Cho-i Hyeon had no intention of turning back just because it was a labyrinth. Bang-!! She ran forward, smashing every wall that blocked her path. She would only go in a straight line.

“Ahahaha-!”

Cho-i laughed loudly. Growl-! At that moment, a group of monsters appeared before her. She drew her sword and sliced through the entities all at once. Without a whimper, all the monsters were split in two with a single strike. Splat, the sound of blood spraying was heard, and clumps of internal organs floated in the air amidst the gushing blood before falling with a thud. As Cho-i was heading forward in this manner, Yuri Ja frowned at the sounds of bang, crash. He had been running along the path hunting monsters, but the loud banging sounds made the entire tunnel seem to vibrate.

“How far does she plan to go like that?”

Until she saw the boss monster, of course. And in the meantime, the dungeon was emitting an increasingly intense red light. It seemed to mean that a dungeon break was not far off. Cho-i Hyeon and Yuri Ja simultaneously sensed something was wrong.

“It seems like we might be screwed if we’re not careful?”

Cho-i Hyeon said, smashing another wall. Crash! With a loud sound, something appeared before her eyes.

“Ah!”

She exclaimed in admiration. By continuously smashing walls in a straight line, she immediately saw the boss monster. There was a large fox with one tail… no, I keep saying fox, but it’s a canid. Still, its perked ears made it look a bit like a cat. And its blunt tail made it look a bit like a tiger. Cho-i Hyeon thought, “Hmm,” then paused and looked around. Something that looked like writing was written everywhere. She didn’t know what it meant, but it was in the same format as Myoyeong’s Dungeon.

“That’s a relief, at least.”

She raised her sword and charged straight at the boss monster, splitting its wondrous tail in half with a single stroke. Splat! Blood burst everywhere, leaving marks on the walls and floor. Then, a red exit, different from usual, opened.

“What, they don’t count it as cleared until I leave?”

But the entrance was already getting smaller and smaller. Was it really about to explode? Cho-i Hyeon looked around. Yuri Ja hadn’t arrived yet.

“Ah! He’s absolutely no help!”

Why did he have to go off on his own? Instead of the path she had cleared, she ran down the left path he had taken. And soon she found him.

“You’re so slow!”

“What did you say?”

“No time to argue. The dungeon is about to explode, so the exit is getting smaller and smaller. Hurry up and get over here!”

“The exit?”

Yuri Ja kicked off the floor with all his might, and Cho-i also tensed her thighs and ran. There was a noticeable speed difference between Yuri Ja and Cho-i; Cho-i was faster, and Yuri Ja couldn’t catch up to her speed. And when they arrived at the boss monster room, the entrance had already shrunk considerably.

“Damn it!”

“Hmm.”

Cho-i Hyeon thought, “He’s not going to make it through, is he?” She quickly matched Yuri Ja’s speed and grabbed his wrist.

“What?”

“Come on, just go.”

“Wh-what?”

And she immediately threw Yuri Ja with all her might.

“Hey, you…!”

She thought she heard something, but she couldn’t hear it clearly because she was flying. He might not have been able to pronounce it. The entrance, now small enough for only one person to barely pass through, swallowed Yuri Ja whole, and soon—

“Wow, so this is how it happens.”

It disappeared. Crackle, crackle, crackle! And then, the sound of something breaking began to echo from somewhere. A dungeon break. She had seen it from the outside, but never from the inside.

“Well, I mean, I won’t die anyway, so I figured it would work out somehow…”

The inside of a dungeon break and a dungeon reset were still mysterious areas that no one had ever unraveled. Cho-i Hyeon gazed into the distance. She could see the terrain inside, crumbling into dust as if the area was disappearing from there.

“Oh.”

And Cho-i Hyeon saw fine particles flying off her body. Just as this dungeon was turning into dust and disappearing, her body was also disappearing. As she thought, “Uh, I think I’m screwed,” a voice echoed in her mind.

‘Call me.’

it was ‘the Entity’. Cho-i Hyeon cast a skill without thinking of asking anything else.

[Casting Sanity Paralysis!]

Whoosh, her eyes rolled back and the Entity completely took over Cho-i Hyeon’s body. As soon as the Entity possessed her body, her body, which had been flying like fine particles, stopped and slowly began to regenerate. The Entity looked around and said,

“This is annoying.”

Soon everything disappeared up to her feet. There was nothing in the pure white space, but soon letters, like those of this world, began to cover everything.

[□□□□□□. □□□ □□ □□□□ □□ □□. □□□□□□.]

The Entity looked at the letters and said in a hollow voice,

“You still haven’t found it.”