Chapter 57

I stared at the snow falling from the ceiling, then clenched my fist to cut off the skill. As soon as I stopped mimicking, the familiar heat in my palm flickered out.

"Not good. If I use it any more, I’m fucked."

Forcing myself to stop left me hungry. I hadn’t burned through all my mana, but the fatigue crashing down made it hard to keep standing.

‘Stay still.’

Yeah, maybe... doing nothing would work?

I looked at the wreckage of the cave. Why had it collapsed in the first place?

This space was just a re-created projection from the core. No matter how much the Cave Giant bashed itself against the walls, there was no way it could actually collapse an ice cavern this solid.

I rifled through my memory for a similar dungeon. A dungeon that replayed people’s trauma.

‘It’s the same idea — re-creating a crisis.’

How had that one been cleared? I remembered the moment. The method hadn’t been complicated. You either shed the trauma... or accepted it.

‘Here, it’s the former.’

This mess was what you got when you tried to re-create the crisis of someone who didn’t have one. Escaping the crisis? Simple.

‘Erase it.’

Maybe it would work here too. In trauma dungeons, destroying the space itself counted as shedding it — erasing the reconstructed stage entirely.

If that was true, then the cave collapsing earlier had been the same principle. From the moment the Cave Giant died, the cavern had started falling apart. Even now, cracks in the ceiling were shedding bits of ice to the floor.

"Hoo..."

With my mana low, the cold was creeping back in. I shut my eyes tightly and made a decision. If breaking this place was the solution, then it was already underway. The cavern was slowly collapsing even now.

‘But I don’t have time to just wait.’

I opened my palm and roused the presence clinging to it.

"Use your skill. Let me copy it."

At my urging, the heat returned to my hand.

Mimic (S) is activated.

The ability of the Fragment of the Cave Giant (B) is activated.

"Good job."

No sooner had I said it than a massive ice mass erupted from my palm. It grew in volume in an instant, swelling until it pierced through the cavern.

Kwaang!

The ice struck the ceiling with a shrill, scraping sound, then finally bored through the frozen roof.

- Kururung!

With a roar, the ceiling collapsed. Shards of the cavern rained down and shattered against the floor.

And then—

‘Light.’

Through the hole shone a brilliant light. Not sunlight — maybe artificial, maybe magical. It poured through the cracks, spreading wider as the cavern caved in further.

The broken ice shards gleamed, reflecting the radiance sharply across the ground.

It didn’t take long before the entire cavern collapsed completely. Just as I thought one of the falling chunks was about to crush me—

The eighth quest has been completed!

The quest cleared.

When I came to, the icy cavern had vanished completely. We were back in the chamber with the glowing core.

"He’s alive...!"

The first shout came from one of the Infinite Guild thugs. He was even looking straight at me when he yelled it.

"Of course I’m alive. What, you think I died? Want me to die, really?"

Maybe it was the hunger, but my irritation slipped out unchecked. I brushed off his wide-eyed stare and rose to check the headcount. Four others, all intact. Do Yehyun still had all his limbs.

‘Okay.’

Do Yehyun, who’d been staring blankly until then, staggered to his feet.

"H-hyung."

"Yeah."

"You’re not... hurt?"

"I’m fine."

At that, Yehyun suddenly rushed me. I instinctively raised a hand to push him back, but his arms locked tight around me. Guess the shock had been serious.

I gave his back a rough pat, planning to peel him off gently, but when he clung tighter instead of letting go, I finally had to force his arms apart. And sure enough, tears.

"Why are you crying this time?"

"Hyung, you really are a psychopath...."

"So you’re crying because you’ve lost your mind."

Leaving him to his nonsense, I reached over and plucked the handkerchief from Haekyung’s chest pocket where I’d stuck it earlier.

"Taking it back?"

"It goes to whoever’s crying first."

I scrubbed Yehyun’s face with it, then wiped the rest of the snot-and-tears mess onto his clothes. I didn’t want to know exactly which hole it had come from.

"I-I’ll wipe it myself."

"Just keep crying."

Wouldn’t it look ridiculous if he wiped his own tears while sobbing? In the end, I used the clean sleeve of my own shirt to finish the job. Seeing a face that handsome turned into a wreck put me in a foul mood. Once we got out, there’d probably be cameras around too.

Tsk tsk. After consoling him for a while, I finally turned to the quest window.

Quest Clear Contribution Rankings.

1st. Im Haekyung

2nd. Seo Jehyun

3rd. Kwak Minsu (deceased)

4th. Kim Jiwoong

5th. Do Yehyun

6th. Bae Inho

Almost the same order... with a slight change.

‘Guess they counted me breaking the cave at the end.’

Whatever. If it raised my contribution, all the better. The core suddenly flared, releasing massive mana.

But it wasn’t the same pressure as facing a boss. This felt more... friendly. Resonant.

What was this?

"Ah, I think I already know what the reward is."

Haekyung’s voice. So if your mana-sense was sharp enough, you could pick up on the rewards instantly?

‘Not me.’

Looking around, everyone else was staring blankly at the core. Then one of the Infinite Guild thugs suddenly burst light from his hand — a far stronger glow than before.

"It... it worked."

"......."

"It really worked!"

If contribution rank 4, nearly drained of mana, got that much... maybe I could expect something too.

Status Window.

Name: Seo Jehyun

Age: 24

Rank: F → E

Titles: Transcender of Time and Space

Seed of the Great Apocalypse

The One Who ■■ the ■■

Main Skills: ■■ ■■ (EX), Mental Strength (S), Mimic (S), Agitation (A)

Growth Limit: EX

No new skills, no changes in stats — except one obvious thing.

‘My rank went up a tier.’

Maybe the absurdly high skill stats had pushed my rank up? Either way, it was a reward beyond expectation. Going from F to E in just two dungeons was insane.

‘At this rate, I could just keep dragging Haekyung into quest dungeons.’

Not that I ever would. I’d definitely die at her hands before the dungeon’s.

I closed my window and pulled up Haekyung’s.

Name: Im Haekyung

Age: 32

Rank: S

Title: -

Main Skills: Brainwash (S), Mental Suppression (S), Mental Domination (S), (Undecided) (B)

Growth Limit: S

Hmph. Looks like she’ll pick up another skill soon.

Even with what she already had, she was practically a monster. For a second I wondered if I’d just made things worse, then brushed it off.

‘Kwon Taehan will deal with her if it comes to it.’

Yeah. It was the protagonist’s job to keep people like her in check, not the hidden villain’s. I shoved the burden onto future Taehan with a clear conscience and closed her window. Yehyun’s... I’d check later, at home.

As everyone basked in their rewards, the words we’d been waiting for finally appeared.

B-rank Gate (Reverse Space)

Clear Complete

No sooner had it appeared than the room flashed, blurring inside and out into a space without boundaries.

At last, the gate leading outside revealed itself.

"Let’s go."

I was the one who brought them in, but I was beyond sick of this place. First thing was food. Already choosing a menu in my head, I stepped through the gate. My phone, useless until now, finally displayed the correct time.

[02:43]

Pretty late.

Stepping out, we were greeted by government ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) hunters clapping for us one by one.

"Waaaaah!"

"Congratulations on the clear!"

"Awesome!"

This was a first. Behind them were cameras and reporters bundled in long padding. Once again, I decided to dump the hard part on Haekyung and walked up to the nearest cop with a pleasant smile.

"Officer."

"Yes?"

"Those guys are illegal guild members. You can take them."

I reported the very ones I’d just shared the joy of clearing with, all smiles. Congratulations on your new skills, but your next stop is prison.

"Yes, those two there."

"Eh?"

"Arrest them. They’re bad guys."

The cop, momentarily dazed by the report, still dutifully arrested the Infinite Guild bastards. The one who’d shot light from his hands glared at me with betrayal as he was dragged toward the police car. He really looked genuinely wronged.

‘For someone who kidnapped a guy yesterday, you sure have no shame. Well, technically the day before, now that it’s past midnight.’

I waved cheerfully as they were hauled away, savoring the satisfaction of doing the right thing. Stats up, new not-quite-a-skill acquired, bad guys reported.

‘So fulfilling!’

All in all, a damn good day.