Subtle glances flickered between those gathered for the meeting. Maybe because they’d already fought together once, the easygoing atmosphere from before had shifted—everyone now carried a more serious weight.
“I thought having new members would be refreshing, but this is turning out harder than I expected.”
Baek Yeol-jin was the first to voice his discomfort. Given the exceptional abilities of each member, he probably assumed that unless an S-Class monster appeared, they’d be able to breeze through with ease.
“We can’t keep doing it like this. Honestly, with my fire attribute, the more people around, the harder it gets.”
He scratched his head, trying to seem casual, but his voice was direct and firm. Because of the goodwill he’d earned lighting up the cave earlier, no one dismissed his opinion with sarcasm or scoffing.
“Then what exactly are you suggesting, Esper Baek?”
Esper Lee Jae-yeol responded in a flat, professional tone.
“I’ll take the lead. How about you all back me up from behind for now?”
A few of the other Espers nodded, seemingly unopposed. Even Seo-ha found it to be the most reasonable approach.
‘None of them are strangers to leading a team. More often than not, they’ve probably been the ones giving orders, not following them.’
With a group full of team leaders, letting just a few take point would help preserve stamina and keep things efficient.
“Does it really have to be Esper Baek who goes first? We have no idea what kind of monster we’re up against.”
Kim Jun-hyuk, the only A-Class Esper in the room, challenged the suggestion. He didn’t seem against the idea of sending a small vanguard—but clearly didn’t like the idea of Baek Yeol-jin being the one to lead it.
And to be fair, Kim Jun-hyuk had a point. With the unpredictability of dungeon spawns, it was reckless to let someone take point just because they volunteered.
“Come on, it’s obvious whatever pops out of here is going to be vulnerable to heat.”
Baek Yeol-jin shot back, and his reasoning actually held weight. Seo-ha, arms crossed, gave a small nod. Han Ju-oh, meanwhile, seemed to have no interest in the debate and kept his eyes on Seo-ha instead. Seo-ha, catching on, flicked a glance to urge him to pay attention—but the room’s tension only continued to rise.
“That’s not guaranteed. You don’t have any hard data on this dungeon, Esper Baek.”
“Sure, this is my first time in this specific dungeon, but I’ve been in similar environments more than a few times.”
“And that’s exactly why it matters—it’s your first time. Dungeons aren’t something you can afford to take lightly.”
While dungeons could reappear periodically after being cleared, those cases were rare. Most data relied on comparing them to similar environments instead.
As Baek Yeol-jin and Kim Jun-hyuk continued to butt heads, Seo-ha found himself unable to side with either of them. Both arguments were perfectly valid.
“There’s something on your car that kinda looks like you…”
“Huh?”
Han Ju-oh spoke lazily, chin resting on his hand. Seo-ha looked up, confused—then grimaced as the memory hit him: the bobblehead stuck to his dashboard.
“That’s a dog.”
He’d found it cute and bought it himself—so it wasn’t something he could easily deny.
“Not a dog—a puppy.”
“Same thing…”
“It’s as different as fingers and toes.”
Seo-ha was just about to snap—Seriously, why bring that up right now?—when he felt a piercing stare and shut his mouth. He turned his head stiffly.
‘Senior Han Yeo-on.’
She was glaring, clearly unimpressed with his lack of focus.
“Guide Baek, even if your rank-up is recent, surely you’ve assessed the situation at least a little?”
Her tone carried subtle disdain. Seo-ha’s expression stiffened awkwardly—not quite a smile, not quite a frown, just caught somewhere in between.
He didn’t bother responding. He knew exactly why she was acting this way, and had half given up on engaging. But of course, someone else wouldn’t let things lie.
“There’s a way to fix all of this.”
Han Ju-oh again. Though his voice was calm and quiet, it immediately pulled everyone’s attention. Even Esper Lee Jae-yeol looked wary, especially since the comment came right after Han Yeo-on’s jab at Seo-ha—making it feel all the more pointed.
“What is it?”
“Replace the leader.”
“Rejected. That’s not an option.”
Leader Lee Jae-yeol shot the idea down without even considering it. Maybe he had expected Han Ju-oh to angle for his spot from the beginning, because his resonance surged sharply, almost violently.
“Why not?”
“Was that your goal from the start, Esper Han Ju-oh?”
“I’m talking about our current situation.”
The air between them crackled with tension—Lee Jae-yeol and Han Ju-oh both poised like drawn blades, neither backing down.
‘Why is everyone so quick to turn this into a fight?’
With Han Yeo-on still glaring at him, Seo-ha could barely sit still. The entire meeting had turned suffocating.
“Let’s not do this. How about we take a breath and try to talk things through?”
Seo-ha looked between the two men, his gaze steady yet laced with urgency, silently urging them to stand down—especially Han Ju-oh, to whom he gave a subtle shake of the head. That small gesture seemed to shift the mood, tilting the balance in favor of Lee Jae-yeol and Han Yeo-on.
“I’ll take the lead. Everyone else, provide support from the rear.”
As Seo-ha stepped back, Esper Lee Jae-yeol, now having reined in his earlier intensity, delivered a clear conclusion that gathered all opinions into a single direction. In the end, it was still Baek Yeol-jin’s plan—only with a different person at the front.
Seo-ha instinctively moved to stand just ahead of Han Ju-oh, as if shielding him from stepping forward. The rapid heartbeat he felt thudding against his back—he chalked it up to the remnants of the earlier battle.
***
‘Still… why did Ju-oh ask something like that?’
As the Esper departed, having sensed the tremors of an approaching monster, Seo-ha found himself alone once more as the next fight kicked off. His thoughts drifted to the moment when Han Ju-oh had wrapped his arms around him.
“What would you have done in that earlier fight?”
The question had come out of nowhere, leaving Seo-ha bewildered. He’d said something in response—vague, fragmented—he could barely remember the words now.
Whatever it was he mumbled about what he would’ve done, Han Ju-oh let him go without another word.
“Seriously… sometimes I just can’t figure out what he’s thinking.”
Grumbling under his breath, Seo-ha raised the binoculars to his eyes. Even after being Imprinted, married, and living together, Han Ju-oh was still impossible to read at times.
This time, with Esper Lee Jae-yeol leading the assault, the offensive formation had widened. The other Espers remained at the rear, stepping in only to intercept monsters that broke away from the main group. One such creature, a hulking bipedal beast well over four meters tall, was far from easy prey.
And the one Lee Jae-yeol faced was even worse—armed, twice his size, and attacking with bone-crushing force.
KWA-A-AANG!
The monster roared without restraint, seemingly unconcerned about triggering an avalanche. The sound reverberated through the snow-covered mountain like a rolling quake.
Lee Jae-yeol held his ground and steadily took the creature down—but to Seo-ha, the method was anything but efficient.
“Too wasteful.”
This time, one of the Espers had the firepower to sweep a wide area, but the elemental matchup wasn’t in their favor.
Lee Jae-yeol, as a water-type Esper, had to pour out an immense amount of power just to bring the monster down.
It was a shame Baek Yeol-jin had been assigned to the rear for this one. Still, saying anything now would only stir up another clash with Guide Han Yeo-on, so Seo-ha kept quiet.
“Uh-oh, unidentified hostiles incoming!”
“The vibrations underground are intensifying!”
“Wait—what is that?!”
Danger warnings erupted from all directions. Seo-ha turned his head and, seeing the monstrous horde surging toward them, sensed immediately that this would be a completely different kind of battle.
***
An avalanche crashed down.
Snow thundered from above in a roaring wall, about to bury everything in its path—until an Esper blocked it just in time with a massive shield. The sheer number of monsters piling in had finally triggered the collapse.
“They just keep coming.”
Seo-ha stopped for a breath and wiped the sweat from his brow. Though the air was freezing, his entire body burned from nonstop motion.
The never-ending stream of monsters felt apocalyptic. Their initial “unrated” classification probably had to do with ambiguous biological signatures.
Either way, he couldn’t just stand around because he was a Guide. The unstable terrain alone was dangerous, but what kept Seo-ha most on edge was the real possibility of a monster slipping past the Espers and reaching him.
A single stray out of thousands couldn’t be blamed entirely on the frontline—but for a Guide, even one was a deadly threat.
“Aagh!”
Seo-ha had just subdued a wolf-like monster with a rope-style electric stun weapon when a scream rang out.
A monster, eagle-like in shape but far too large to be natural, had swooped in to snatch Han Yeo-on. It missed her on the first dive and shot back into the air, while Han Yeo-on tumbled across the snow, stunned, staring up in shock. The creature didn’t retreat. It hovered—watching, waiting. It had clearly locked onto her as its target.
Seo-ha mentally called it an eagle, but it was more than twice the size of any real one, its body cloaked in white feathers and radiating an almost regal menace. Most terrifying of all were its enormous talons, flashing sharp as blades.
Han Yeo-on’s face drained of color.
She scrambled through the snow, grabbing something she’d dropped—a gun. She gripped it tightly in both hands, prepared to fire if the creature dived again. But her trembling arms cast doubt on whether she could land the shot.
