Chapter 232

You can’t interpret “good resonance” as a purely positive thing. In the end, it was a form where energies mingled, so if the resonance was too good, it made you perfect prey—you could get swallowed up in an instant.

This Dungeon was the same. A soft, pliant mental-type Dungeon that moved exactly as you swung at it.

Just kneading the boss could change the Dungeon’s very shape, but if you screwed up, there was no telling what would happen.

‘Gotta regulate it.’

Im Haekyung finished judging quickly. The Dungeon Boss, which had taken on a form that wasn’t exactly pleasant to look at, was at a level of magical power that was fairly on par with theirs.

In this state, suppressing that thing while also controlling all the other Hunters was impossible. Im Haekyung stopped controlling the other Hunters entirely and stared the Dungeon Boss straight on.

“Why don’t you tell me... slowly, what’s so strange?”

When Im Haekyung smiled faintly and looked at the Dungeon ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Boss’s disgusting shape, the boss puckered and closed its petal-like flesh.

Maybe it understood Im Haekyung’s gentle words, because the sensation of the entire body lightly vibrating continued for a moment. Im Haekyung gritted their teeth and pulled in a sharp breath, endured that peculiar sensation lightly, then dropped their gaze downward.

Because they had abandoned mental control over the other Hunters, the backlash sent the Hunters who’d been wrapped in bizarre black smoke flying as a group.

“Ugh...!”

The Hunters who collapsed onto the sticky floor let out short groans, either from pain or the impact.

‘Will they help?’

And Im Haekyung made a quick judgment while looking at them. Most were A-rank Hunters, but in this situation, there weren’t many who would actually be of help.

‘The Haeseong ones... should be useful. I’ve matched breathing with them before. But the rest?’

If they messed up, all they’d do in a situation like this was increase the number of people they had to save. After finishing the judgment, Im Haekyung reached out and quickly cut off the minds of the nearest Hunters.

“Don’t.”

Even if it got interrupted because someone stepped in to block Im Haekyung.

Without turning their eyes, Im Haekyung answered in a voice that was still calm.

“Guild Master Song, the situation isn’t very good.”

“It’s a mental-type Dungeon, right? Just fight the Dungeon Boss. I can support you.”

“Support... doesn’t seem like it’ll help much.”

“Even so, does it make any sense to move people around like chess pieces, however you want? Even to the point of messing with their minds?”

There was an edge to the voice. The tone made it obvious she was wary of them, even if the voice itself didn’t carry fear.

Im Haekyung lifted the corner of their mouth at Song Hwayoung’s words. Either way, Im Haekyung could understand Song Hwayoung’s behavior well enough. There were things that were plainly predictable.

Even while that was happening, Song Hwayoung had her hands full getting the Hunters who’d fallen to the floor back on their feet.

“Right now... it’s better if you do what I say.”

“I just knocked them out, right?”

A faint anxiety rode on the voice that asked back. Im Haekyung let the arm they’d lightly extended toward the Dungeon Boss drop with a slack motion.

‘Seriously....’

Without even sighing, Im Haekyung clicked their tongue once, then slowly swept their hair back and looked at Song Hwayoung at a slant.

“Yeah, I only knocked them out. But even if I did mess with their minds... there’s something that matters right now.”

“.......”

“Do you think I’m going to kill the other Hunters and be the only one who gets out alive? Absolutely not....”

Song Hwayoung, half propped up, stared quietly at Im Haekyung. After a brief standoff, Song Hwayoung’s gaze gradually fixed on something beyond Im Haekyung.

“...Wait.”

“You lost your reason, right? I get it. That’s the kind of Dungeon it is.... Right after you saw your inner fear, if you saw me, you could’ve done it again.”

“.......”

Yeah. This was exactly the aspect where Im Haekyung “understood” Song Hwayoung.

Because it was more than possible that the frightening something Song Hwayoung had seen... was them.

Song Hwayoung didn’t answer. As if she wanted to affirm with silence.

Instead, she muttered something else under her breath.

“That... is nothing.”

At Song Hwayoung’s mutter, Im Haekyung turned their head halfway and looked behind them. The mental barrier they’d kept razor-sharp while controlling multiple Hunters and the Dungeon Boss cracked from a small fissure and ended up breaking. No—maybe they’d let it go, at least a little, on purpose.

The resonance really was high.

The fact that they’d used a Skill to suppress the Dungeon Boss had ended up affecting the entire Dungeon as-is.

A black, damp, squelchy floor was coming toward them as if waves were actually crashing.

“Honestly, earlier too, it was nothing....”

Song Hwayoung’s words trailed off more and more.

Song Hwayoung was a good Hunter. They were both A-rank, but even among A-ranks, there were levels. And Song Hwayoung was a Hunter who could be said to be at the very peak of A-rank.

So Song Hwayoung must have felt it too.

“No, noona.”

Im Haekyung cut Song Hwayoung off firmly.

“You should’ve listened to me earlier.”

“.......”

“I... failed.”

At those calm words, the Dungeon Boss’s mouth opened wide. The petals tore, forming a grotesque shape like it was smiling.

Right after that, a huge black tidal wave swallowed the Hunters.

To be lost in thought. It’s an idiom people use every day.

It’s such an ordinary phrase that most people have never really thought deeply about it, but once in a while, someone might wonder: why do we say “lost,” like you’re submerged?

Im Haekyung blinked, feeling that idiom with their body.

Even if what they were submerged in now wasn’t a simple thought, but a kind of fear.

It felt like being in water, like everything was closed in around them, but it wasn’t like they couldn’t breathe, or that their vision was blurry. Still, some unknown emotion surged and roiled inside. Was this... fear of death?

But fear of death is something every living thing feels, so can you really call that a person’s individual fear?

‘Let’s try again.’

Im Haekyung stopped that line of thought quickly and focused on the darkness in front of them.

If even this space was inside the Dungeon, they could use a Skill and get out. They’d have to accept some loss, but....

But when you’re lost in thought, it’s very easy to get swept up by another thought. In a fleeting instant, Im Haekyung ended up thinking something like that.

‘So what I’m afraid of is....’

The waves crashed fiercely again.

***

For an A-rank Hunter who wasn’t just wearing the title for nothing, Hunter Seok was pretty persistent.

“What? Why? Why don’t you like it?”

“It’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous? I told you to stay out of it because it’s dangerous?”

It was the opposite. They dragged me into the Dungeon even though they knew it was dangerous.

The more I thought about it, the less I understood. There wasn’t a single benefit they could get from shoving me into a Dungeon. Did they bring me just because they wanted to check something? If so, they’d carried out that goal perfectly.

Even if they brought me just to feed me shit, they’d done that plenty well too.

Walking in silence, whether by coincidence or not, we ended up reaching the place where those two Hunter corpses from earlier were.

“...That.”

“The Hunters I told you about earlier.”

“.......”

Only then did the bastard finally quiet down. They stared at me, then suddenly patted my shoulder.

‘What the hell is wrong with this guy?’

“You said you saw it yourself.”

“Yes.”

“If it’s your first time seeing an A-rank Hunter die.... And you haven’t been corrected to that Rank for long, so there’s no way you’ve ever been in a high-rank Dungeon like this.”

I hadn’t planned on coming into this Dungeon either. If some Guild Master hadn’t forcibly shoved me in. Hunter Seok, apparently having some thought process all on their own, started patting my shoulder in a way that got a little gross.

“Let go of my shoulder.”

“Oh, yeah.”

They yanked their hand back fast, and the end of it looked awkward, like they’d been thinking something fuckin’ stupid.

“Could it be the Guild Master’s the jealous type....”

“.......”

‘Yeah. They’re thinking something fuckin’ stupid.’

I ignored them and quietly looked down at the corpses lying on the floor.

“But why did you come all the way here...?”

Why would I. I walked and ended up here.

When I stayed silent again, they interpreted it on their own and nodded.

“To recover the bodies?”

“.......”

“You know you can’t recover them all. Is this your first time someone died in a Dungeon?”

Someone’s died...... a shitload.

‘Plenty of bastards I killed, too.’

When I stared off into empty air and played dumb, they suddenly cleared their throat.

“Yeah, you can still... be like that. But the bodies....”

Then, all of a sudden, a wind-like sound that felt like it was going to rip my ears apart came from far away. No, this is...... a scream?

I turned my head reflexively. Over there, a massive black curtain was rushing toward us like a wave.

“Stop talking and look at that.”

“What do you mean stop talk—.”

Hunter Seok turned their head at my words, saw the black wave, and shut up again.

‘Should we run, or not.’

My Status Window didn’t pop up this time either. But maybe because the fiend inside my body was in an environment where it could really start moving around, a nasty siren was blaring.

‘I can feel mana.’

And a moment later, without even time to run, a massive wave of magical power slammed over my whole body.

‘Ah, fuck—Im Haekyung, you son of a bitch!’