Chapter 162

Seo Jehyun, who had an excellent talent for making people read the room, scared Ryu Taejun like that and then walked over, perfectly calm.

“This is... what....”

Should he ask who this was? Or what on earth was going on?

When Ryu Taejun kept his mouth tightly shut and only swallowed, fortunately, Seo Jehyun began to explain.

“Ah.”

“...?”

“This guy was wandering around nearby. But his mind doesn’t seem intact. Maybe he spent too long in the maze?”

Seo Jehyun tilted his head slightly, as if genuinely curious.

At those words, a voice floated up clear in Ryu Taejun’s head.

It was from before the “match,” when he’d spoken with a believer who’d already been to Jinsando. That believer had seemed pretty strange to Ryu Taejun. Beyond simple devoutness—almost like an addiction.

But at the time, he’d judged that staying on edge and doubting everything was pointless, so he hadn’t pressed it. And that believer often relayed his experiences on Jinsando to Ryu Taejun.

How he’d received a blessing, what kind of person Lord Haedo was, how believers who stayed long on Jinsando lived.

All of it was interesting, but what the believer added at the end was the kicker.

“Actually, the really important thing isn’t the blessing.”

“Then what is?”

“On Jinsando... there’s a dungeon that doesn’t close.”

“What?”

A dungeon that doesn’t close. Did that mean you could never clear it?

The believer paused, then continued.

“It’s a dungeon Lord Haedo opened. Have you ever entered a dungeon?”

“I got dragged into one once. When my hyung first awakened.”

“How is it? Scary, right?”

“Of course...”

“But that dungeon isn’t like that. At first you’re anxious, but after a few nights pass you don’t get anxious on your own... and there comes a moment when your wish comes true.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have to go to know.”

Even after that, the believer kept recalling his memories to explain the dungeon. A warning tone rings before day flips to night; you have to walk into a space called “Darkness” to reach the maze, and so on.

But the believer’s manner had looked shaky the whole time, and around then, Ryu Taejun’s attention was too wrapped up in the “match,” so the scattered talk went half-unprocessed—half evaporated and half shoved somewhere vague in his memory.

So, what he remembered sharply was only a small part.

The dungeon grants what you want, but you can’t stay too long. And...

“He said there was something inside the dungeon...”

As Ryu Taejun clutched his head, trying to remember, Seo Jehyun called him.

“Taejun.”

“Uh, yeah?”

Seo Jehyun called him in an even voice and stared straight at him.

Only after confirming Ryu Taejun had pulled out of his thoughts and met his eyes did he continue.

“From what you said, and from what this guy said... all I’m hearing is that ‘night’ is strange.”

“......”

“There’s even an outright warning tone. Which means something shows up at night, right?”

“......”

It was phrased as a question, but no answer was required. Seo Jehyun bent his knees to look over the guy sprawled on the ground, then tilted only his head to look sidelong at Ryu Taejun.

Those eyes, which he’d thought looked cold at first glance, seemed even colder and more piercing in the dim surroundings. That was the biggest reason he kept shrinking back even though the man hadn’t actually done anything to him—those eyes.

Eyes that didn’t see people as people, like he was appraising an object.

Granted, when talking to the other man he’d brought, they softened for a moment, but even that couldn’t be called gentle.

When Ryu Taejun only blinked at him, Seo Jehyun smiled faintly.

“So I considered the premise that what appears at night are monsters... and it doesn’t seem like that.”

“...How do you know?”

“Well...”

Trailing off, Seo Jehyun slowly drew his gaze away from Ryu Taejun and fixed it on the guy pressed to the floor.

“Intuition?”

With a short question, Seo Jehyun grabbed the jaw of the man lying there. He wasn’t unconscious. He just couldn’t move because he was gagged and tightly bound.

“Then why... did you tie him up?”

When Ryu Taejun asked carefully, Seo Jehyun answered like it was nothing.

“I always suspect people.”

“......”

“Because I know how to think rationally.”

His sunk voice sounded like he was calmly conveying the situation.

“What he told me was this. Night is dangerous.”

“......”

“Yet he showed up at night, and judging by his condition he doesn’t have any proper offensive artifacts. He looks mentally fogged, too... but oddly, there are no signs he was attacked, and it doesn’t look like he ran into a monster.”

“......”

“Then what’s the danger?”

With that, Seo Jehyun made a clean gesture and loosened the gag.

Just as Ryu Taejun was wondering if all the questions so far had been aimed at the bound man, Seo Jehyun’s hand slipped into the man’s mouth in a flash.

“What are you—!”

“Quiet.”

Shutting Ryu Taejun up at once, Seo Jehyun felt around the slack, stiff mouth—then smiled broadly.

Immediately after, with a skin-crawling crack, blood trickled from the man’s mouth.

“......”

While Ryu Taejun froze, unable to understand what he’d just seen, Seo Jehyun steadily carried out the remaining steps.

With a slight crease between his brows, he pulled his hand from the man’s mouth and tossed something to the floor. Then he climbed onto the writhing body, shoved something into the man’s mouth, and gave a command.

“Bite down.”

The guy trembled but nodded steadily.

Seo Jehyun checked his breathing, complexion, and pupils in order, then slowly stood up and picked up what he’d thrown.

Only then did Ryu Taejun realize what Seo Jehyun had tossed to the ground.

'He pulled a tooth?'

Reeling inside, he glanced between Seo Jehyun and the tooth in his hand. Seo Jehyun explained, casually.

“It’s a comms device. I know it because I’ve used something similar.”

“...It was in his tooth?”

“Yeah. Looks like they modified a standard communicator and embedded it in a tooth.”

“H-How did...?”

“Means there’s someone handy with machines nearby.”

What Ryu Taejun had wanted to ask was how he knew that—but he didn’t have the nerve to ask again.

Seo Jehyun dropped the tooth and crushed it underfoot in an instant. Apparently the device had been implanted inside; the weakened tooth shattered with a crisp snap and exposed the mechanism within.

Confirming that, Seo Jehyun let out a brief, amused laugh.

Unlike the earlier smile, it sounded genuinely delighted.

“I saw a guy like him before, so suspecting people has become my default. These vacant, crazy types are great at sticking a knife in your back.”

“Before...”

“Mm. A pat-down didn’t turn up anything, so of course he hid it somewhere like this.”

Speaking in a flat tone that gave Ryu Taejun nothing to grab onto, Seo Jehyun glanced at the saliva and blood on his hand with a faint smile.

Watching the series of actions, Ryu Taejun suddenly noticed something off.

'...Huh?'

The man lying on the ground with a tooth pulled, and Seo Jehyun calmly wiping away the blood...

'...Where’s the person who was next to him?'

There definitely had been another guy glued to Seo Jehyun’s side.

'Did he ditch him?'

But that didn’t track; Seo Jehyun had taken pretty careful care of him. He hadn’t even introduced his name...

As Ryu Taejun’s eyes flicked around looking for that man, at some point Seo Jehyun had come close. Two steps away, looking quietly down at him, Seo Jehyun narrowed his eyes and smiled.

“Taejun.”

“...?”

“Did you understand what I just said?”

Ryu Taejun nodded, then reflexively shook his head.

The guy looked scary enough as-is; after ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) a live tooth-pulling performance right in front of him, of course cold sweat ran down his back.

Whatever “understanding” Seo Jehyun meant, it probably wasn’t the kind he knew.

Then, nodding slowly, Seo Jehyun mimicked a kindly tone and explained.

“You said you were curious what’s scary at night.”

“......”

“But night fell and that bastard showed up, and his tooth had a comms device.”

“......”

“It’s not monsters... it’s people that are scary. Right?”

In that moment, Ryu Taejun vaguely realized. What Seo Jehyun was doing now wasn’t asking a question.

'What... is he suspecting?'

Night, a comms device, people...

'Is he suspecting me?'

Cold sweat ran down his spine as excuses tangled up in his head. Ryu Taejun hadn’t hidden anything from Seo Jehyun.

'We’ve been together from the start...!'

Or maybe, because he lagged behind due to his condition, Seo Jehyun had decided he was useless? Whatever it was, it wasn’t a good sign for Ryu Taejun.

But he couldn’t even sputter out a string of excuses to Seo Jehyun. Not just because he was scared—because the very next instant, his consciousness vanished.