Chapter 54

“He’s alive but has no pulse. Yehyun, try healing him.”

“I don’t know if it’ll work...”

“Once you break through with a skill, it usually sticks.”

I kept up chest compressions, fast and steady, until Yehyun was ready. He quickly got the hang of it, grabbed the guy’s arm, and activated his skill.

Blessing of the Moonlight (S) is activated.

Would that even work on cardiac arrest? As I wondered, Im Haekyung’s voice cut in.

“No... this isn’t an external wound.”

“What?”

“His mana’s gone, Jehyun-ssi.”

What difference did that make? Haekyung gently pulled my hands away, pushed Yehyun aside, then fished something from his coat and poured it into the guy’s mouth. Before I could ask, he explained.

“Mana-replenishment potion. Brought it just in case—guess it’s useful now.”

“......”

“The door itself seems to drain mana. There are mechanisms built like that.”

That sparked a memory—the unpleasant sensation of my mana being drained when I’d visited Haekyung’s Night Market.

After finishing his explanation, Haekyung poured the whole potion down the man’s throat, then used his skill. Forcing someone’s throat to swallow—even unconscious—was nothing to him.

“This won’t restore him fully, but... it should keep him alive.”

And sure enough, after a moment the guy jolted up coughing violently.

“...Huh?”

As he blinked in confusion, the other Infinite Guild lackey rushed over and grabbed his shoulders. Loyalty, huh. Typical thugs.

“Argh, m-my chest, it hurts so much...”

“Ah, sorry, hyung might’ve cracked a rib. Hold on... I’ll fix it.”

“I’m dying! I can’t breathe, my lungs—”

“Hold still.”

Drama queen. While Yehyun restrained him and healed his chest, Haekyung spoke up.

“You handled that well. Done it before?”

“This is my third time in the field.”

“You only awakened recently, though.”

“People don’t just die in dungeons.”

I answered curtly and turned my eyes back to the massive door. A mana-draining door...

So the quest was probably to open it. That much seemed obvious. I recalled the previous one—the “kill the strongest for stat compensation” trap. Looked like it had targeted Haekyung, but...

*No. It didn’t specifically target him.

If the dungeon knew he was a mental-type hunter, it would’ve blocked his skills outright. That quest was really aimed at any high-rank hunter dragged along.

Staring at the door, I asked, “So, how do you usually open these?”

“You feed it enough mana.”

Exactly what I thought.

“Want to try, Guildmaster?”

“...Do you want me dead, Jehyun-ssi?”

“You’ve got mana potions.”

“Not enough to waste here.”

“Still, you’re the most likely to succeed. This looks designed with high-rank hunters in mind.”

I laid out my reasoning—how the quests seemed chained together, how if the dungeon wanted to remove high-rank hunters, then clearly high-rank strength was still needed somewhere. Haekyung considered it, then asked:

“If the last quest really was aimed at me, what are the odds this one is too?”

“No idea. Not high, though. Thirty percent maybe.”

“Thirty sounds way too high...”

“Okay. Three percent.”

One of the Infinite Guild lackeys muttered weakly, “T-there’s no credibility at all...”

“Shut it.”

I snapped at him and looked back to Haekyung. After weighing it, Haekyung pulled a potion from his pocket—but handed it not to me, to Yehyun. ...What the hell?

“If something happens, pour it down my throat.”

“Yes, sir...”

“And don’t tell Jehyun-ssi to do CPR. Broken ribs aren’t my kink.”

“Ah, right.”

So Yehyun was more reliable than me now? I couldn’t hide my bafflement. Haekyung ignored me entirely and pressed his hand to the door.

This time, the reaction was immediate.

Woooong—

The whole door vibrated, resonating with his mana waves.

“Haaah...”

“Whoa.”

From his hand, light began to flow along the carved lines of the door, spreading outward like water tracing channels.

'Looks like CGI from a movie.'

The glow expanded steadily until the entire door’s patterns were alight.

It was enormous—the designs stretched so high I had to crane my neck to glimpse the top.

“No way...”

Yehyun whispered.

The intricate sigils looked like both script and artwork, massive and dazzling enough to feel unreal. Mana-fed patterns blazed so bright they illuminated the whole corridor. Haekyung didn’t let go even when the entire door glowed, pumping mana into it like a tireless engine.

Even the Guild thugs, who had been gawking and shouting, fell silent.

Creeeeaaak—

The heavy door scraped open, air shoving past it. Haekyung said nothing, focusing only on feeding it mana until it opened wide enough.

Thuuud.

Finally, with a boom, it was wide enough to enter. He released his hand.

“Yehyun-ssi, pass that.”

Taking the potion back, Haekyung downed it in one go before speaking.

“I’m fine. Didn’t need as much mana as I thought. An A-rank hunter could manage. B-rank too, maybe, if two worked together.”

“That’s still a lot.”

“For F-rank? About... two hundred thousand people?”

“......”

“Kidding.”

'You’ve got to be kidding me.'

Still—if this dungeon really required an A-rank just to proceed, then maybe the gate had been misclassified from the start. But we couldn’t exactly demand a recalibration now. Instead of complaining, I just stepped through the open door.

The new space was a vast chamber. Not as dark as the corridor, but still dim enough to need my phone flashlight. I swept the beam around. Walls, ceiling, floor—nothing unusual. Except for one thing in the center.

That...

“Looks like the dungeon’s core.”

“Core?”

“Its heart, basically.”

Which meant the quest dungeon was at its final stage.

“It’s the core. No monsters, but quests keep popping up, mana waves everywhere. This thing’s managing it all. Even the interference with skills probably comes from its exposure.”

All eyes turned to me at that. I quickly backpedaled.

“Or not. Just a guess.”

But why was it so quiet? No light, no activity. As I ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) stared, the others did too—maybe they were thinking the same. Or maybe they weren’t thinking at all.

“It doesn’t seem active.”

“Yeah.”

We stood around muttering until Yehyun spoke.

“Maybe we need to... close the door.”

So the open door was blocking the core?

His logic seemed sound enough that Haekyung put his hand back on the door. But this time, no glowing patterns.

“Hm. Doesn’t look like it.”

He muttered, puzzled. Maybe brute force? I asked:

“What if we just push it shut?”

“It’s too big for that.”

True, it was massive. I was still considering alternatives when Yehyun grabbed my arm.

“Hyung, you can close it, right?”

“...What the hell?”

I gave him a look, then humored him, pressing my hands against the inside edge.

“No way this thing moves by—”

SCREEEE.

“......”

“......”

Well. It did.

Despite its size, it wasn’t that heavy—maybe not even two hundred kilos. With a push from my legs, it felt closer to a hundred.

Thud!

And shutting it was the right move. As soon as the door sealed, teal light spread out in lines across the room, converging on the core and igniting it with life.

“...You sure you don’t have a body reinforcement skill?”

“Nope. Just lighter than it looks.”

The Guild thugs muttered that I was lying, but when I shot them a look, they clamped their mouths shut.

Seriously though, I wasn’t lying.

Even Yehyun was staring suspiciously—he’s the one who told me to close it, and now he’s doubting me.

'Can’t even prove it, since there’s no handle to open and close again. Fuck’s sake.'

Not that I had time to defend myself. The moment the core lit up, a massive quest window filled my vision.

The Seventh Quest has been cleared!