'Dungeon Break?'

Before the announcement had even fully finished, a warning siren blared. I slowly drew back, got off the bed, grabbed Joo Seowon by the arm, and pulled them up with me.

“Decide now. Are you staying here?”

When I asked Joo Seowon, they parted their lips a few times, then shook their head. Ignoring the siren shrieking by my ear, I opened my bag and gathered the artifacts I needed, then looked over at Joo Seowon, who was still standing there blankly.

“Bring mostly defensive gear.”

“...I brought it.”

“Then fine.”

I tipped my head once, gathered the artifacts, and stood up. Just as I reached for the doorknob, Joo Seowon grabbed my shoulder, naturally turning my body around.

Right after that, Joo Seowon shoved me against the wall.

The rattling sound was a little rough, but it didn’t really hurt. I rested my back against the wall, met their eyes, and calmly waited for Joo Seowon to speak. Looking like they had a lot to say, Joo Seowon spent quite a long time seeming to deliberate, then said through clenched teeth,

“You... what are you trying to do?”

“What?”

“What kind of conclusion did you jump to that Kwon Taehan’s name came out right away?”

I stared at Joo Seowon quietly, then tugged one corner of my mouth up crookedly.

'I knew it... their attitude had been strangely off ever since we got here.'

There weren’t that many things that could affect Joo Seowon’s trust. If I’d acted the same as usual and they still ended up having doubts like this, then there had to be a definite trigger.

It wasn’t that my guess had been especially plausible, but there was no reason to take the long road around when the short road was sitting right there. Either way, I knew the two of them had been allies.

“When you react like that, it just makes me sure.”

“.......”

I lowered the hand gripping my shoulder and quietly looked into Joo Seowon’s eyes. Joo Seowon squeezed their eyes shut hard, then opened them and said quietly,

“Who I talk to... you can’t control all of that. That wasn’t part of the agreement in the first place.”

“Mm, true enough.”

I’d said they shouldn’t take other requests, not that they couldn’t talk to other people at all.

I tossed the words toward the perfectly reasonable Joo Seowon.

“But?”

“What?”

“I mean exactly what I said. So?”

“Don’t... try to control things like that. And don’t act like I did something wrong.”

The voice sounded calm at first glance, but it carried emotion.

“Ha ha.... Seowon, me?”

“.......”

“I was sitting still.... You’re the one who felt that way.”

What ridiculous bullshit.

Sure, it’d be nice if I could hold every single one of Joo Seowon’s actions in my hand and make them move however I wanted, but if they made up their mind and contacted Kwon Taehan and shared something like comradeship with him...... could I really stop that?

'That’d be the more natural course of events, if anything.'

I glanced outside, then pushed lightly at Joo Seowon’s shoulder, making them step back a little.

“What are you doing?”

“.......”

“Let’s talk after we get back. We came all the way here to help, so if we end up getting called useless dead weight because we didn’t even do the job properly, that’d be fucking unfair.”

“You guessed wrong.”

“What?”

At the abrupt words, I furrowed my brow slightly and looked at Joo Seowon again. Staring quietly at the floor, they slowly lifted their gaze and met my eyes.

“It wasn’t Kwon Taehan.”

“Then?”

“...I talked to Guild Master Im when you weren’t there.”

“.......”

Well, shit. So it was this side?

'Didn’t consider that one.'

But once I heard Joo Seowon’s words, it made a certain amount of sense. In the first place, Im Haekyung...... had probably been trying to cut off the excessive flow of information coming to me.

'It was strange in the first place that they specifically told me to go on this trip with Joo Seowon.'

When I just looked at them without answering, Joo Seowon pinched the area around their eyes slightly.

“Guild Master Im asked whether I trusted the covenant you wrote with me. Said that if I... could break the covenant, then you could too.”

“.......”

'Ah... this bastard.'

Im Haekyung was the only bastard who knew about Mimic, at least in rough outline. Well, if you counted Kwon Taehan too, then there were two.

I kept staring at Joo Seowon expressionlessly, then twisted one corner of my lips.

“So... you’re saying you’re going to trust Im Haekyung?”

“No. I know it was said to overturn the trust between us.”

“And?”

“But there’s no helping the suspicion.”

Turning their gaze aside, Joo Seowon added quietly,

“...Or you can just say it isn’t true. It’s not like I said I don’t trust you. I said I want to.”

“.......”

I looked quietly at Joo Seowon, who somehow seemed drained, then slowly nodded.

“Yeah.... Seowon.”

“...Should I trust you?”

“Yeah.”

After hearing my answer, Joo Seowon slowly lowered the gaze they’d had turned aside, then nodded wordlessly. I glanced at them once, then opened the door.

Walking down the corridor, we ran into Sung Uijae in front of the elevator going down to the first-floor lobby. Sung Uijae looked at me, then shifted his gaze and looked toward Joo Seowon.

“Hello.”

He looked like he wanted to talk, so I tossed out a rough greeting, and a lukewarm response came back.

“We already greeted each other earlier.”

“Yes.”

You can greet someone twice, whatever. I answered carelessly and tossed my gaze toward the elevator display. Then Sung Uijae stared at me, abruptly turned his head, and started talking to Joo Seowon.

“Hi.”

“Hello, Hunter Sung.”

“Must be rough, working with a psychopath friend.”

“Ha ha... no, it’s fine. I knew you and Jehyun were acquainted, but this is my first time meeting you in person.”

“Guess the way you address him is casual since you’re friends.”

The way they addressed me probably was casual enough. Not that they’d ever actually called me Jehyun. They usually just went with hey or you.

'Doesn’t matter.'

I was doing the same thing to them first, anyway.

With my hands in my pockets, I gave a small tilt of the head.

“Didn’t know a Dungeon Break would happen.”

As we got into the elevator, Sung Uijae spoke.

“Right? Didn’t they say it hadn’t been that long since it occurred?”

“Well, if it’s S-rank, the Gate energy itself is huge, so it doesn’t take long to reach a Dungeon Break. Still, this fast is unusual.”

“Did you get a situation report?”

“Yeah.”

Being S-rank really did seem to mean information reached you first. Sung Uijae shared the details without resistance.

“They said they’re still figuring it out, but. One Hunter Association Hunter with a search Skill, Chase Holt, and his... what do you call it? Whatever, his crew went together. Ah, I think they also sent a few center staff.”

“Chase?”

“The guy you picked a fight with earlier.”

“I know that person’s name too. I was just asking.”

When I answered, Sung Uijae shot me a glance and shook his head. Then, out of nowhere, he spoke to Joo Seowon.

“Tell Hunter Seo to get some character education.”

At Sung Uijae’s words, Joo Seowon reflexively smiled, and Sung Uijae looked back at me and said,

“Doesn’t Korea put a huge emphasis on manners and stuff? I like that kind of thing.”

“Yes.”

“.......”

I answered roughly, and when we came out into the lobby, it was swarming with people, as if every Hunter who could be assembled had already gathered there waiting.

The moment he reached the lobby, Sung Uijae called over a staff member who was there.

“What’s the situation?”

“It’s worse than expected. We sealed off the surrounding area and sent Hunter Holt and the Hunters who could support the scene most quickly. Because of communication issues, we haven’t been able to maintain continuous contact, but casualties have apparently already occurred. Most likely civilians who were on-site....”

“Respond first. You respond first and report afterward. That’s how it’s supposed to work.”

“Yes.”

At Sung Uijae’s words, the staff member ran back toward the Hunters, seemed to be using a radio, and then moved a large group of Hunters toward the vehicles waiting outside the lobby.

When the staff member returned here again, they urgently relayed something to Sung Uijae.

“The on-site team has re-established communication, and they asked whether helicopter support is possible. If perhaps....”

“How many can board the helicopter?”

“Right now, the one on standby can take four including the pilot.”

“Does a mechanic need to ride too?”

“Normally, yes, but....”

“Report that later.”

At Sung Uijae’s words, the staff member nodded quickly. Sung Uijae turned toward me and Joo Seowon, then gestured.

“Follow me. We’re going to the scene.”

“Me?”

“Then who exactly am I supposed to take?” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

For personnel urgent enough to send by helicopter in a situation like this, wasn’t my side a little too lacking? Looking at Joo Seowon, they also seemed to be thinking something similar, staring at me with a complicated expression.

But in this situation, I didn’t feel like arguing the point, so Joo Seowon and I followed behind Sung Uijae without any particular complaint.

“You seem like an expert.”

“I am an expert. I’m an S-rank Hunter. Though you don’t seem to treat me that way.”

“You kind of feel like a soldier.”

“Well, there’s a pretty big difference in the fact that I’m not state-affiliated.”

Talking briefly with Sung Uijae, we went up to the roof, where a helicopter was waiting. The roaring noise pounding at my ears was enough to make my head ring.

Sung Uijae climbed in with ease and took a seat, like this wasn’t his first time doing something like this.

'You really live long enough to experience all kinds of bullshit.'

Not tourism, for fuck’s sake. In all my life, getting on a helicopter to go to a Dungeon....

I got into the helicopter and listened to a brief explanation through the headset while quietly looking down below. Maybe because the buildings were falling away so fast, it all felt strangely unreal.

A little later, once we landed at the site and got out one after another, I saw a mass of people crowded together.

The problem was, there really were just... people everywhere.

'Wasn’t this supposed to be a Dungeon Break?'

A normal Dungeon Break was a phenomenon where creatures inside the Dungeon, unable to withstand the mana between the ruptures, came pouring out in droves. But this...... could it really make sense for there to be just a lump of people?

'Don’t tell me it was already resolved?'

Maybe Sung Uijae had thought something similar, because he grabbed one of the people on-site and asked,

“What’s the status?”

I reflexively pulled up their Status Window.

To determine whether there were any non-awakened among them, just in case.

'Shit....'

And right away, I created ice in my hand and hurled it toward the bastard Sung Uijae had grabbed.

Fwoosh—!

“What the hell are you doing—!”

Thunk.

After the vicious sound of ice piercing flesh, the person instantly crumpled to the ground. Sung Uijae, eyes widened dramatically, was about to charge this way, but slowly turned his gaze toward the person sprawled on the floor.

There, a fragment that had fallen off the ‘person’ lay by itself.

“You....”

At that moment, a staff member who had run over here said in an urgent voice,

“Hunter! The Dungeon monsters look almost identical to humans, so we can’t tell them apart!”