Lee Haru clenched his trembling fingers into a fist, hiding the subtle shake. He didn’t want to be afraid—but willing himself to stay calm was far easier said than done.
A raw ache churned deep inside him, and as he rubbed at his stomach with a closed fist, a loud thud rattled the door.
Haru, who had been resting his head against it, was caught off guard, smacked in the face by the sudden jolt. He rubbed his now flushed cheek with a palm.
“Haah…”
At the sound of a heavy sigh that followed, Haru pushed himself backward along the floor using his hips. Standing up and running would have been the faster choice, but a gut-wrenching sense of dread rooted him in place.
His legs gave out beneath him. He couldn’t stand. Staying low, he crawled across the floor toward the side of the bed and curled into himself.
He considered hiding underneath, but the gap was so narrow only his feet could squeeze in.
Click—
The door creaked open, and he instinctively held his breath. He slapped a hand over his mouth and nose, smothering any sound.
At first, it seemed manageable. But the longer he held it in, the redder his face became, the small contours of it flushing deep crimson.
How long could a person even hold their breath? His oxygen-deprived brain grew hazy, and he tried to force his thoughts in another direction.
Without that distraction, the terror crawling up his spine would overwhelm him.
He didn’t need to look to know—the presence in the room was far more perilous than ever before.
Hiding. Holding his breath. Haru knew these would never fool Black’s leader.
But even so, he wanted—needed—to put just a little more distance between himself and the impending threat.
“Haah… hah…”
In the end, he could not hold it. His lungs cried out, and he gasped for air in ragged, shallow breaths.
In the blurry edge of his vision, he saw black combat boots. Black’s leader was standing right in front of him, motionless.
Haru hesitated. Maybe he should run—right now, before it was too late. But just as the thought formed, something warm and wet dripped onto the back of his neck.
His hand instinctively reached up to wipe it off. His eyes—wide and shaking—lifted upward.
“Ah… Aaah…”
He could barely make a sound. No wonder—what stood before him looked like a creature pulled straight out of a horror film.
He had seen Black’s leader with grotesquely swollen veins before, but this… this was beyond anything he had witnessed.
His body had swelled to nearly twice its original size, the fabric of his clothes pulled taut, as if they might burst at any second.
He looked like a monstrous version of the Hulk. But the most horrifying part was his eyes—pitch black, with no trace of white—and his body drenched in blood.
The drop that had landed on Haru’s neck had come from that blood.
Whether it was his or someone else’s, Haru could not tell. But the sight of him, soaked in gore, sent Haru into full-blown panic.
Run. I need to run. I have to.
His frozen mind pushed itself to a single, desperate conclusion: escape.
Even without looking closely, it was obvious—the man had lost all reason.
And when he was rational, he had nearly choked Haru to death. In this state, he might snap Haru’s neck like it was nothing.
His body trembling uncontrollably, Haru began to move, crawling past the man.
Those ink-black eyes followed him with eerie precision.
The weight of that gaze on his back made him shudder as he crawled, spider-like, toward the door.
He knew he was still trapped in the monster’s grip. But even a few inches farther away—that was all he could do.
“Khuh…”
But before his fingers even grazed the door, a hand clamped around his neck.
Slick with blood, the grip at first slipped—but then it tightened, harder, unforgiving.
His airway constricted. Darkness overtook his vision for a moment, then snapped back into place.
The sensation of having his Guiding energy forcibly drained, again and again without rest—it was unbearable.
Desperate to survive, he raised his arms. He knew he should not provoke the man, but if this continued, he truly would die. He clawed at the hand choking him, but it was as useless as kicking at air.
Tears streamed down his face. Was this it? Was he really going to die here, helpless? It felt so damn unfair.
If I had known, I would have at least tried a proper kiss…
There were too many regrets to count. But the most pathetic of them all—he was going to die a virgin.
Sure, he had kissed Yu Je-hyun.
But it had only been a fleeting brush of their lips—barely even a kiss. To die without even kissing properly—how could this be real?
Then, the moment came.
Just a bit more pressure, and his neck would have snapped.
“Ghh… AAAAAGH!!”
Suddenly, the man screamed—an inhuman howl—as he clutched at his own face.
The hand around Haru’s neck lost its grip.
“Cough, cough—huh, ah…”
Sucking in the flood of oxygen, Haru gasped and wheezed, pushing himself backward with his palms, scrambling to get as far away as possible.
His back hit the door. His hands, trembling violently, reached for the doorknob.
If he got caught again—this time, he really would die. That thought devoured everything else.
“Where… cough… where do I go…”
Even after fleeing the room of screams, there was nowhere to run.
On a desperate hunch, he made for the front door.
Maybe—just maybe—the man, in his deranged state, had forgotten to lock it.
Using the wall as a crutch, Haru dragged himself forward. His legs trembled so badly, he could barely move. By the time he finally reached the entrance, his entire body was soaked in cold sweat.
A flicker of bitter disappointment swept across Lee Haru’s eyes as he realized the front door was still firmly locked.
“Kh… Guide…!”
At the guttural cry behind him, Haru’s eyes flew open, the faint tremble in his gaze replaced by raw alarm. He had to run. He had to escape. But he had nowhere left to go—he was cornered.
Even if he curled up beside the sofa, he would be found in seconds. The other rooms were no better—one had nothing but a lone chair, leaving no place to hide.
Would running into the dungeon be a better option?
The thought was irrational, but Haru was no longer capable of rational thought. Just like the one chasing him, he, too, had been consumed by terror.
The only upside to the man’s madness was the thunderous sound of his footsteps echoing through the space, making it possible to track his movements. The heavy, reverberating stomps were getting closer, each one hammering in sync with Haru’s racing heartbeat.
In this moment, he had only two options: get caught and die, or hurl himself into the dungeon.
The apartment was far too confined. He would probably die if he ran into a monster—but even that seemed preferable to being torn apart by Zero.
When Haru reached the door where the dungeon gate was located, he flung it open without a second’s hesitation.
“Guide…!”
He felt the man’s breath ghost across the back of his neck. There was no time left. Haru reached out toward the gate.
A strange, unseen force yanked at his body, drawing him inward. He felt a hand clutch his ankle, yanking back hard.
The man had caught him. But the gate’s pull was just a little stronger.
Rrrrip—
A sharp sound like fabric tearing ripped through the air, and the world around him flickered.
Then Haru fell—plunging into a bottomless abyss.
Every dungeon was said to have its own unique properties, but Haru’s knowledge of them came solely from books and online videos. He had mostly focused on the Guide’s role, so in truth, he probably knew less than an elementary schooler who had grown up in this world.
Is this really how I die…?
Everything that had happened flashed through his mind like a film reel unraveling. Waking up in a body so different from his own. That first day at the mansion to meet the S-rank Espers.
The incessant sobbing that haunted him, day and night. The ring he had discovered in the basement. And the fragments of the original Lee Haru’s memories that had gradually resurfaced.
It felt like ages had passed, but in reality, it had all happened in such a short time.
I am sorry, Haru. I really wanted to find the person who hurt you. I wanted—at the very least—to get revenge for you.
It was a promise he could no longer keep. He had vowed to tear off Kang Min’s mask, to reveal what he had done to Haru.
But before he could even begin, here he was—about to die inside a dungeon, falling into the unknown.
How far up had he fallen from? Why was he still falling?
Slowly, cautiously, Haru pried open his eyes.
A deep, endless blue sky stretched above him, not a single cloud in sight. He was falling—yet instead of tumbling headfirst, he was staring up at the sky, as if some invisible net were holding him level. It was bizarre, unnerving.
Steeling himself against the fear, Haru carefully turned his head to look behind him.
“…What is that?”
The sight that met his eyes was so unreal that he instinctively tried to rub them—but the force of the fall made it impossible to move properly, and he could only flail his limbs in midair.
