Chapter 225

He was stating the obvious, but the way he said it was fucking loaded with meaning. Of course, he didn’t bring it up just to say something obvious, but still.

“Why are you here?”

I ignored every piece of pointless, unreadable bullshit Im Haekyung was saying and asked for the point.

“There’s something I want to ask you, Jehyun.”

“Yes.”

Even if they weren’t going into the Gate, they’d still be pretty busy. Coming all the way here just because they wanted to ask something meant the question was worth that much.

Im Haekyung kept driving smoothly, and spoke like it was casual everyday conversation.

“Was the reason you promised you’d come to my guild because you knew SH Guild would collapse soon?”

“No.”

“Haha.... Really?”

I answered without hesitation.

Hearing my answer, Im Haekyung smiled brightly, their eyes even crinkling, then slowly wiped the smile away.

“I don’t think you’d ever do anything that puts you at a loss, Jehyun. Of course, coming into Haeseong is never a loss.”

“Of course.”

“You answer really well.”

Even with their expression erased, Im Haekyung didn’t look particularly offended. Instead, they looked like they were thinking hard about something.

“Or maybe not. Maybe you would... do something that puts you at a loss?”

There still hadn’t been any answer to why they came. I narrowed it down and asked.

“You’re not going into the Gate?”

“I’m thinking about it. I just got a call from Hunter Tae.... Hunter Tae said they’re going in.”

“Then you’re not going in, Guild Master?”

“If Hunter Tae is going in, I can’t go in too. Someone has to stay behind. If there were another S-rank Hunter, it might be different, but....”

Another S-rank Hunter was going to show up soon, but that wasn’t what Im Haekyung meant. Still, everything about this felt like a prelude to something.

“Instead, several A-rank Hunters will go in. Haeseong is sending people too. A-rank Hunters... there are quite a few more of them than S-rank Hunters.”

“.......”

“For example, the Guild Master of SH Guild, where you’re based.”

I stared at Im Haekyung’s profile for a moment, then asked.

“Sounds like you’re on good terms with Guild Master Song.”

“.......”

“Did you come because you’re worried about Guild Master Song? Because you’re worried they might go into the Dungeon?”

“More than that, there was something I wanted to confirm.”

Still speaking lightly, Im Haekyung turned the wheel and headed into some alley. I glanced out the window and asked.

“What is it?”

“After you came to see me last time, I looked into what could possibly be something that would get Guild Master Song killed. I also checked whether the injuries were severe enough that they’d be thinking about death.”

“.......”

“But it wasn’t like that....”

After turning into the alley, the car stopped in front of an abandoned building. I looked out the window again and asked.

“And?”

“After the S-rank Gate broke out, I thought about it. Could it be this? If so, the timing is... almost too perfect. It would mean you made something like a prophecy, Jehyun.”

“.......”

“I think it’s a perfectly plausible story. You’d been acting strangely enough.”

Im Haekyung gave a small laugh, turned the engine off, then turned their head and stared at me quietly.

“I thought of something.”

“Yes.”

“It feels like you have a lot of Skills... Jehyun. You do appraisal, you do prophecy, the first time we went into a Dungeon together you fired off fire, and now you say you can handle ice. Of course, the last one has a reason—beast merge.”

After saying that, Im Haekyung reached out and flicked my forehead with a finger.

“And there are several strange taboos here.”

“.......”

“Meticulously, too. Does that mean you’re useful... or does it mean you’re dangerous?”

With a faint smile, Im Haekyung lowered their hand, lightly grabbed my shoulder, then let go.

“Could your Skill be copying other people’s Skills?”

“Hm.”

“But if that were the case, your output is too strong... and there would still be parts that don’t add up.”

Maybe it was only natural for Im Haekyung to reach this level of inference. I hadn’t exactly gone out of my way to explain things.

But what mattered right now wasn’t how much Im Haekyung had figured out about me. What mattered was what Im Haekyung was really after, coming all the way here just to say this kind of shit.

“If I tell you, will you believe me?”

“No. I’ll confirm it with my own eyes.”

“.......”

“Whether you’re actually that strong. And how much of what you said... is true.”

Right then, another breaking news alert rang out from the phone in my pocket.

[Breaking News] SH Guild’s Song Hwayoung confirmed to enter the Dungeon.

I lowered my eyes to my phone, then looked back up, and the bastard was still staring at me with a weird expression.

Im Haekyung smiled and pulled something out from inside their jacket, then handed it to me. I took the pouch-wrapped object, and right before I opened it, Im Haekyung’s voice dropped again.

“I got inspired by the gift you gave me.”

“......?”

What the hell does that mean?

I frowned without thinking and loosened the pouch Im Haekyung handed me.

And inside, a familiar item was glinting.

Teleport Box (A)

A pair, two as a set. One-time use, teleportation is possible to the installed box regardless of location.

However, be cautious, as it is for one person only.

It was a Teleport Box. And...... it was active.

‘Fuck.’

By the time I tried «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» to throw the item away, it was already too late. In the middle of that, I heard Im Haekyung’s calm explanation.

“A Haeseong Guild member I sent ahead is holding the other one.”

“Are you insane?”

“That’s you, Jehyun.”

“What are you talking about.... You said you weren’t going in.”

“Me? I said I was thinking about it. I never gave you a definite answer. Hunter Tae can stay in Korea.”

But I couldn’t keep talking. The already-activated Teleport Box flashed, and it sent me somewhere else.

“See you in a bit, Jehyun.”

The last thing I saw was that lunatic smiling.

***

S-rank Gate (Abandoned Land)

An abandoned land where no one lives, after ‘Existence’ left.

It is full of lingering resentment wrapping around the land.

Dungeon Boss - The One That Feeds on Fear

Other Dungeon creature information...... More

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It felt like my body was being shredded down to the molecular level and then put back together. Not something I’d call pain, but a strange sensation.

I slowly let out a breath and lifted my head. A nasty wind brushed through my hair, swaying it.

“What kind of fucking bastard....”

The Hunters Im Haekyung sent from Haeseong—maybe they really did just install it and leave—there was nobody around. I slowly tried to process the information in front of me.

Yeah. Abandoned Land. The Dungeon where Song Hwayoung dies, and the foothold for Kwon Taehan’s return.

The ground was sticky, like it had been coated in tar, and it made my skin crawl. Every time I stepped, my shoe print sank in for a moment, then slid back to normal.

Far off, the sky over the horizon was a uniquely dark bluish-black, and even though I couldn’t see any light source that should be shining down, the area wasn’t dark.

The most striking thing was that eerie sound that I couldn’t tell whether it was the wind, or something alive making noise.

Saaaaa—

I scanned my surroundings with a blank face, then muttered briefly.

“I wasn’t planning on coming in....”

That was when I heard a scream from the other side.

“Uaaaaagh!”

I reflexively turned my head, and far away, I could see something like a small silhouette. I pulled up the corner of my mouth and started walking toward it.

The closer I got, the louder the shouting became.

“I don’t want to die here, uaaagh!”

“Please, stop...!”

Once I got close enough, I stopped dead and watched them. It was to figure out roughly what kind of mechanism this Dungeon ran on.

‘Asking won’t mean anything anyway. They probably haven’t figured it out either.’

A man was on his knees, collapsed, trembling all over as he stared up into empty air.

And in the empty air he was staring at...... surprisingly, there was nothing.

“That, that thing, somehow....”

Gritting his teeth, the man stretched out his hand and formed a chain. Clatter—along with the sound of metal moving, the chain cut through the air and shot out into the empty space.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

“I have to catch it....”

The man extending the chain into the empty air made a sound like his breath was being choked off, then screamed. It was a high-pitched voice that felt like it would tear your ears.

The woman trying to get him up followed his gaze and stared into the empty air too. But there was still nothing there.

Naturally, the chain the man threw fell to the ground with a dull thud, meaningless.

“Ghk....”

That was when it happened. The man who’d been fighting the invisible air grabbed his own throat and started trembling.

“What is this....”

“Khk, ggh....”

The woman hurriedly bent down and checked the man’s neck. At first it looked like he was suffocating, but when I looked closer, it wasn’t that.

“Blood....”

“Gk, gh....”

Blood was flowing from the man’s neck as he made choking sounds, like his breath was catching.

And then, there was a sound like flesh being cut, and the man’s body pitched forward.

“Th-this is....”

In the woman’s eyes, too, there was a similar emotion to what the man had just had.

Fear.

“N-no....”

Right after that, a scream like the one the man had let out rang from the woman’s throat as she stared into the empty air.

There was still nothing there.

‘Got it.’

I smiled faintly and looked up at the sky where I still couldn’t see anything. This was that simple....

Abandoned Land, a place where nobody lives. The enemy here was the fear inside you.