The deeper we crossed the bridge and entered, the redder the river’s hue became. The cave itself barely held its shape—like walking through the innards of a giant serpent. The ceiling looked ready to collapse at any moment, yet remained miraculously intact, forming a precarious harmony with the walls.
Baek Tae-beom stuck close by my side, casually taking care of monsters while rattling off a full list of safety tips—everything you shouldn’t do in a cave-type dungeon.
Yoo Ji-won passed by us as we walked.
“Take a look at this, everyone! How old do you think these relics are?”
[B.C. something-something??? LOL]
[Ji-won, can’t see your face T_T]
[Oh hey, it’s Baek Tae-beom]
[Doesn’t look recent, judging by the design]
[Why is someone skateboarding inside a cave, lmao]
[Eng plz :)]
The live stream continued as usual. A quick glance revealed the viewer count had shot well past 100,000. Even though the chat was a chaotic mess, Yoo Ji-won managed to filter out the decent questions and respond to them smoothly.
That’s a talent, too.
[CH.#fdl990/Free Wind] : Looks like one of our Contractors~
[CH.#fdl990/One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction] : Hermes’s Contractor is a streamer too?
[CH.#fdl990/Free Wind] : Seems like it, right? He’s pretty popular~ But Ga-hyeon doesn’t care about this sort of thing!
It wasn’t so much that I didn’t care—more like I simply didn’t bother with characters not mentioned in the original story.
[CH.#fdl990/Free Wind] : I feel like our Contractor would like Ga-hyeon~
[CH.#fdl990/One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction] : If that interest is just for streaming content, I’ll pass.
That’s when we saw it—a mural. Yoo Ji-won stepped closer, holding up his phone to get a clear shot of it.
“What’s this supposed to be?”
Jin Ha-yoon glanced at the image and shook his head with a heavy sigh.
“This mural is blasphemous and deeply unsettling.”
The grotesque painting showed a vicious-looking man throwing three children into a cracked cliff. Blue Star commented that whoever drew it had zero artistic sense. Baek Tae-beom whispered to me.
“Think it’s tied to mythology?”
“Probably.”
[CH.#fdl990/Warrior Who Protected Civilization] : So the rumors were true, huh?
[CH.#fdl990/Warrior Who Protected Civilization] : This really is a den of those who wish to bring about Destruction?
[CH.#fdl990/One Who Holds Two Snakes] : There’s too much blatant symbolism related to that Constellation… it’s disturbing tbh…
[CH.#fdl990/The First Brother Who Became a Star] : Look. Something terrifying clearly awoke here after lying dormant.
[CH.#fdl990/The First Brother Who Became a Star] : We have to protect our baby so he doesn’t get hurt.
[CH.#fdl990/The Fourth Brother Who Became a Star] : Hyung, really… Dong-chan can handle himself just fine.
Past the mural, the cave narrowed further. We did our best to avoid stepping into the crimson river as we squeezed through the tight path. It was dark, damp, and crawling with bugs. Every time I brushed the wall, I could hear insects skittering.
I nearly slipped at one point, but Oh Kwon-hyuk suddenly grabbed the scruff of my neck and yanked me upright.
“Be careful.”
I’m not some stray kitten, you asshole.
As I stared at him in disbelief, Baek Tae-beom, who had been standing beside me, suddenly grabbed my hand and closed the distance between us. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of his face drawing closer in the shadows.
I reflexively tried to pull away, but he quickly laced our fingers together and brushed his thumb over the ring on my fourth finger.
“Did you hurt your foot?”
“I didn’t. What are you doing?”
I finally managed to breathe again as I asked, and Baek Tae-beom chuckled like he found the situation amusing.
“I was worried you’d trip. Let’s just hold hands until we get over there.”
Who says I’m about to trip?
Now Baek Tae-beom was ignoring Oh Kwon-hyuk like he was just a rock on the roadside and talking only to me, which was just ridiculous.
“Do I look like a little kid to you?”
“Nope. You’re a grown man.”
Baek Tae-beom answered nonchalantly and continued walking, hand in hand. I had no choice but to match his pace.
Oh Kwon-hyuk, watching this, spoke up in disbelief.
“Choi Ga-hyeon. Can’t even balance on your own, can you?”
Is there any legal way to just bury that bastard’s mouth into the dirt?
[CH.#fdl990/One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction] : How can someone have such zero social skills?
[CH.#fdl990/One Who Guides the Dead] : I’m… sorry.
[CH.#fdl990/One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction] : You’re exactly like your Constellation, for real.
[Constellation ‘One Who Guides the Dead’ has taken critical emotional damage.]
[CH.#fdl990/One Who Guides the Dead] : Am I really that bad?
[CH.#fdl990/Free Wind] : Honestly, yeah, you’re kinda alike. Not much of a difference. Hard to say who’s worse.
[CH.#fdl990/One Who Guides the Dead] : ……!
Ignoring Anubis as he was suddenly forced to reflect on his entire existence, I trudged along the stony path.
At the very front, Lim Chang-joo shouted—
“Please prioritize your safety! Do not push each other!”
The sight of bright light ahead must’ve made everyone impatient. Despite Lim Chang-joo’s warning, people began scrambling to escape the narrow cave. Baek Tae-beom wrapped an arm around my shoulder and whispered quietly,
“Careful.”
But even with all that shoving and jostling to get out first, what greeted those who arrived ahead wasn’t awe—it was a collective sigh of despair.
I slowly took in the scene.
The first thing visible was the decaying land.
Not a single trace of greenery. The ground was stained in dark brown and red hues, not a single root taking hold. Sprouting across the collapsing terrain were massive green eggs, clustered like mold.
Below the cliff flowed bright red lava, and submerged within it was a towering city. The sky above, tinted crimson, swirled with monsters flying overhead—so strange it could only be described as uncanny.
A landscape seemingly embroidered with the very name of Destruction.
“What… is all this?”
Someone murmured.
Shockingly, the first among us to snap back to awareness was Yoo Ji-won.
“Everyone, take a look at this!”
He dashed ahead, excitement lighting up his face. His floating smartphone followed closely behind. I glanced at his information.
[Displaying subject information.]
[One Shot! Yoo Ji-won]
[Title: One Shot!, Brilliant and Flashy, Everyone Look Here…
Rank: A
Status: Cannot be confirmed.
Contracted Constellation: None
Coins Held: Cannot be confirmed.
Skills Held: [Bang Bang!] [Iron Wall Mentality] [Subscriptions and Likes Are a Must] [I Have a Question] [Magician of Language]…
An Awakened without a contracted Constellation.]
So he has <Iron Wall Mentality>. Makes sense—someone that famous as a streamer would need an unshakable mental fortitude. Maybe Yoo Ji-won was born with the perfect traits to become a streamer.
Still, his skill list is flashy as hell. It’s almost strange that he doesn’t have a Constellation yet.
“Wow~ this is the view from the third floor of the Tower of Hellnest! Isn’t it insane? What kind of treasures and monsters are sleeping here, I wonder? Don’t forget to like and subscribe while you watch! This has been Ji-won’s~ Dungeon Stream!”
I turned away from the screen showing his triple-layered cutesy gestures and scanned the area more closely.
‘What are these green eggs…?’
They looked like spider cocoons. They resembled what Angrboda had implanted in my soul.
I started to lean in for a closer look—only to suddenly be yanked backward by the scruff of my neck.
“What the—?!”
For a second, I thought this bastard was turning into Oh Kwon-hyuk. But then I saw it—long, slender fingers reaching out from the green egg.
And then came the screams.
As the eggs cracked open, human-like figures began crawling out, latching onto anything nearby. Though calling them “humans” was a stretch—they had no discernible facial features, and their pale white skin was ghostly and grotesque.
They dragged people toward the eggs or latched onto legs and pulled them toward the cliff’s edge.
“W-what the hell is this?!”
“AAAH! Get away from me!”
Baek Tae-beom pulled me into his arms, then slashed at one of the long arms reaching from an egg. The severed flesh dropped to the ground with a wet, sickening splat—and from the sliced stump, long spider-like legs began to sprout.
Insects’ limbs—spidery, centipede-like, some unfamiliar things—burst from their vaguely humanoid bodies. The creatures transformed into monsters in an instant.
Those grotesque limbs tore through Hunters’ abdomens, yanked out organs. Blood sprayed everywhere. The sight was so horrific, it was hard to keep my eyes open.
Cries for help rang out from all sides as the scene descended into chaos.
I broke away from Baek Tae-beom’s arms and shouted,
“Tae-beom! Help the others!”
But Baek Tae-beom stared down at me, wide-eyed, as if I’d said something utterly incomprehensible.
“Why would I help them when I should be by your side?”
“What?”
“How can I leave you and go fight?”
“What are you saying?! I don’t need that kind of overprotection!”
“What if something weird happens again? What if you get hurt? Can you really promise me you won’t?”
The flare in Baek Tae-beom’s voice left me speechless. Now that I thought about it… his combat style had always been overly defensive. Was that… because of me?
More screams erupted from every direction, spiking my anxiety.
“Fine, I’ll stick with someone else. I’ll stay by Oh Kwon-hyuk. Happy?”
“…That bastard?”
Baek Tae-beom’s voice grew sharper, angrier.
“You think that bastard’s better than me?”
“Are you trying to start more misunderstandings on purpose right now?”
Just then, someone shouted from up ahead.
“A boat! There’s a boat!”
