“Oppa! Something terrible has happ—!”
I closed my eyes as the face came closer, but what I anticipated next didn’t happen. It was because of Jeong Se-eun who appeared out of nowhere.
“Jeong Se-eun.”
“Sorry, looks like I interrupted.”
She didn’t normally teleport into other people’s homes, but since this was her own house, she used her ability to move around regardless of time or place. Jeong Seyeon shielded me with his body, and Jeong Se-eun covered her eyes with her hands, though she was clearly peeking through her fingers.
“It’s really urgent, should I leave? Seriously?”
“Leave.”
“Hmm. Fine. I’ll be back in one minute.”
After Jeong Se-eun disappeared, I immediately put on the clothes I had removed. Jeong Seyeon had an apologetic look on his face.
“I’m fine. If something urgent came up, I understand that Se-eun had no choice.”
Though I was much better compared to when I’d finished training, it was still difficult to say I was perfectly guided. Since the training wasn’t just moderate but pushed me to my limits without killing me, guiding was extremely important, but right now, whatever Jeong Se-eun had to say seemed more urgent.
“…”
Jeong Seyeon didn’t respond to my words but carefully brushed back my fallen hair and met my eyes. His complex gaze suggested he had something to say, but his attention shifted away when Jeong Se-eun reappeared.
“Did you know about the dungeon that opened?”
But the information Jeong Se-eun brought was something I had already heard from Peter. Looking slightly disappointed, Jeong Se-eun’s eyes lit up again as she asked us:
“Then do you also know it’s an A-class dungeon?”
“Wasn’t it C-class?”
“It was C-class at first, but apparently there’s another dungeon inside. They’re saying that one is A-class.”
It was such an absurd story that I wondered who she’d heard it from.
I had spoken directly with the Center Director just a few dozen minutes ago, and this was the first I was hearing of this.
“Are you sure you didn’t mishear? I just—”
“Oppa, your phone is ringing.”
As soon as I saw the caller, I had a bad feeling.
“Who is it?”
“The Center Director. Wait, let me answer.”
The timely phone call seemed to come as if to support Jeong Se-eun’s words.
“Yes, Center Director.”
“Can you come to the site right away? I’ll explain the situation when you get here.”
His urgent voice was mixed with the commotion at the scene. I agreed and got up from my seat. Despite not having heard a proper explanation, Jeong Se-eun was already celebrating that she had been right, while Jeong Seyeon quietly tensed up.
“Let’s go.”
“Shall we proceed according to the original plan?”
“Yes. This actually works out better. We can keep the Center Director occupied outside.”
It was unfortunate that we couldn’t lure the Center Director farther from home, but the situation was similar to our original plan. Jeong Se-eun transported me and Jeong Seyeon to our house, where we joined the others who were waiting.
“I’ll accompany you to the dungeon.”
Jeong Seyeon positioned himself next to me as the Guide who would provide guiding in the dungeon. Yang Garam expressed his intention to come along as well, but I declined since someone was needed to assist Do Wonjin.
With Jeong Se-eun’s help, we were able to quickly move near the site, and the Center Director, who had also promptly appeared, showed a rare look of pleasure at seeing us.
“It’s a double dungeon. While we were defeating the last Masu, another dungeon was discovered. And it’s set up in a particularly troublesome way.”
This partially matched what I had heard from Jeong Se-eun.
“How is it set up?”
“Whatever is surrounding the core can’t be broken no matter what we try.”
“What about the dungeon’s grade?”
“A-class.”
The very fact that the Center Director, being an A-class Esper himself, had called me meant that the situation couldn’t be resolved with his abilities alone. I was genuinely surprised that all of Jeong Se-eun’s information had been accurate, and I became a bit curious about what kind of family they were to have such impressive intelligence.
‘Maybe they’re not just ordinary gangsters?’
Feeling like it wouldn’t be good to dig too deeply, I decided to stop my thoughts there. In the meantime, the Center Director took me across the gate. As we moved through the dungeon with its winding paths like an ant colony, the Center Director stopped.
“Here it is.”
In front of him was another gate.
The Center Director immediately crossed the gate, and I followed him along with Jeong Seyeon.
The core of the A-class dungeon was floating in the air, covered with hornets.
It was quite a spacious area, but there were so many bees that the entire space was extremely noisy with the sound of their flapping wings.
“There are so many bees.”
I said while burning the bees that were flying toward us. I hadn’t realized from a distance, but up close, each bee was about the size of a baby’s fist.
“They’re not bees, they’re Masu. Unlike the bees we know, they spit poison stingers from their mouths, so be careful.”
The Center Director also used his telekinesis to prevent the bees from approaching within a certain distance.
“There weren’t this many Masu at first, but the more we attacked the core, the more their numbers increased. It seems the core summons Masu whenever it feels threatened.”
I immediately understood why he described it as troublesome.
“It seems like these Masu are more annoying than the core right now, so we should probably avoid the core and focus on reducing the number of Masu first.”
Based on what the Center Director said, if we don’t create a situation where the core feels threatened, Masu won’t be summoned. Thinking that we should first clear this environment that was preventing us from fully concentrating on the core, I spoke to the Center Director, and he handed me the band.
“Then I’ll leave it to you. We’ll wait outside the gate.”
I had assumed we would work together, so when I saw the Center Director planning to leave instead of helping, I wanted to throw the fire I had aimed at the Masu right at his face. I barely suppressed my anger by looking at Jeong Seyeon beside me.
“Then please take care of my Guide.”
I wanted to test the results of my week-long training, and while it’s true that having someone else around was uncomfortable, I didn’t feel good about having work dumped on me like this. But if I was to deal with the Masu, only the Center Director could protect Jeong Seyeon. Thinking about the “Flower Viewing” that would unfold in a few hours, I forced a smile on my stiffening face.
“It’s fine. I’ll wait here.”
Jeong Seyeon expressed his intention to remain by my side despite the threat. He ignored everything the Center Director said, but when I personally asked him to wait beyond the gate, he complied willingly. The Center Director didn’t seem pleased that Jeong Seyeon, who hadn’t budged at his words, immediately yielded to mine, and he crossed the gate with a disgruntled expression. That face alone somewhat eased my unpleasant feelings.
“Let’s do a test.”
Perhaps as a result of the training, I could open my abilities as naturally as breathing. Smoke rose from my body at an ultra-high temperature, and I could feel the Masu that had been rushing toward me hesitate as they sensed the heat. The Masu already near me burned to a crisp on the spot. I didn’t stop there but pushed my ability further to its limit. There was something Peter had told me that I wanted to try out.
‘At some point, you’ll reach a moment where you wonder if you’re even using your ability. That’s the beginning of awakening. After that, it’s not difficult at all. It will just naturally manifest before your eyes with a mere thought. You’re stepping to the next level.’
He said it wasn’t that he lacked eloquence, but rather that there was no better way to express it. He also added that when awakening occurs, the body would recognize it on its own.
‘Just a little more.’
I could feel the strain on my body, but it was still bearable. The dungeon’s core or the Masu were already of no concern to me. Due to the temperature exceeding the ignition point, even the Masu that hadn’t approached me began to catch fire, and the inside of the dungeon was instantly engulfed in flames. At some point, instead of the buzzing sound of wings, the dungeon was filled with the sound of burning Masu bodies and their horrific screams.
‘I can do more.’
When you endlessly pour out your ability, there comes a point where you think your body might not withstand it and could break apart. Until now, fear had always overcome me at such times, and I always stopped using my ability, but this time I ignored the warning.
And then my heart gave a huge thump.
“Ugh.”
The shock that spread to my brain made my body stagger. The band started rapidly sounding warnings about the risk of rampage. At that moment, as if the function to control my ability had broken, my ability flooded out regardless of my will. My vision turned completely white, and I couldn’t see anything, while everything around me was silent as if time had stopped. My whole body felt like it was in a state of zero gravity.
When I opened my eyes after what seemed like an eternity compressed into a moment.
Everything except me had disappeared.
Contrary to the expected two weeks, it was a second awakening that came a week earlier.
I cleared the dungeon too quickly, so I stalled for time under the pretext of receiving guiding from Jeong Seyeon. As it approached 10 o’clock, Do Wonjin’s smiling face floated into my mind.
‘By now, he must be excitedly setting the fire.’
Since it was time for me to execute my part of the plan as well, I deliberately sent Jeong Seyeon away in front of the Center Director, saying I had something to discuss with him.
“It’s getting late, and it’s a bit far to go to your home, Center Director. Should we talk here?”
Once the fire completely engulfs the house, Yang Garam will report the fire, and the Center Director will also be notified. I just needed to keep him occupied until then, so I was relaxed.
“I’m not going to eat you up, so why are you so cautious?”
“I’ve never thought about being eaten, but that’s an interesting way to put it.”
“Well, you never know.”
My previously relaxed mood was greatly disturbed by his words. While I might not have reacted this way before peeking into Joo Seolhyeon’s memories, knowing what he had done made it difficult to maintain my composure when hearing such remarks.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
