CH 35

“Ehhh? Why?”

<The place where I live has no name, and I, its owner, also have no name.>

“What? You don’t have a name?”

<Yes. Maybe it’s because all of this is just your dream. It is not strange. We won’t be seeing each other again.>

Sadness flashed on Seora’s face at once. She felt regretful that she would never see this beauty again.

<You’re regretful? You’ve only seen me once. It was just a coincidence that you and I met, so there is nothing to be sad about.>

“But what if I still want to see you? Am I never going to see you again? Is there no way to see you?”

As Seora puckered her lips and grumbled, the man looked at her with a strange smile, thinking it was a difficult situation and what to do with it.

<I’m not sure about that either. I never thought I’d see you like this.>

The man approached slowly.

Up close, the man was much taller than expected. Seora had to tilt her head back quite a bit, but she didn’t feel pressured.

His long fingers gently touched her shoulders. At that moment, an unknown emotion bloomed in his dark green eyes.

<… But it might be good for us if we do not see each other again.>

“Huh?”

<So, wake up from this dream. It’s not good to stay here long.>

The man left only those words and pushed Seora back. Seora, who opened her eyes wide, stretched out her hand but couldn’t reach the man with an unknown smile.

It should’ve been carpet on her back, but her body fell into the water with a splashing sound.

<Goodbye.>

Beyond the distant vision, the man’s thick lips seemed to have said so.

Seora’s consciousness quickly sank deep below the surface of the water.

***

“Ugh!”

Seora’s eyes widened.

Even though she had just woken up, she coughed for a long time as if she had fallen into the water and was barely dragged out.

Why? Why is it so hard to breathe? Did I dream?

“… Ah.”

The dream. Everything came to mind with that one word.

A mansion filled with pieces of jewelry and dazzling beauty. The person who looked at me with an unknown expression.

Seora let out a sigh. It was an unforgettable sight in a dream.

“Oh, what a shame. I wanted to see a little more. Why did he push me to wake me up because I sneaked in?”

She was so sad just thinking about it that she wanted to tear off the blanket. Even though it was a dream, she thought it was such a waste that she might not be able to see that beauty again.

“Oh, that scared me!”

Seora, lying on the bed and swinging her arms and legs, jumped up at the sudden alarm.

Wait a minute. Why is the alarm ringing? The alarm that goes off in the morning…

“Is that a wake-up call? Well, that means I woke up a minute earlier…?”

I got off work late yesterday, and now I wake up a minute early today?

Seo-ra was knocked down by the injustice that came at once after the disappointment left.

“Nameless, handsome beauty, couldn’t you wake me up a minute late…”

So what if your face is sculpture-like?

It’s useless…

Seora shed a tear out of sadness.

***

Hard ore material covered all sides. There were sparsely growing plants, but even that did not cover the desolateness of this land.

The five unidentified planets floating in the sky and the five-colored ore beneath them were no longer beautiful.

Jarim looked at this scenery for too long.

Really, too long.

“I’m sick and tired of this.”

A high-pitched voice came out through the crack of her chapped lips.

Jarim buried her body a little more in the huge ore she was leaning against. Once buried in a soft bed, her body had now become accustomed to this hard texture.

When the eyes filled with the desolateness of this land were about to close.

[The system of ‘Planet—Earth’ has encountered an error!]

At the system message that appeared in front of her, Jarim woke up.

“The system of Earth…?”

The message continued.

[Warning! An error caused a problem with the dimensional gate!]

[Warning! Please correct any errors!]

[Warning! Please correct any errors!]

[Warning! Please correct any errors!]

[The error has not been fixed. Dimensions are warped!]

[The dimensional door that connects ‘Planet-Earth’ and ‘Hang–Ba ██-R’ is forcibly opened!]

[Gate creation is complete.]

“… Ah.”

At that moment, Jarim felt it. A strange wave of mana was transmitted from somewhere in this wide place.

It’s not an illusion. There’s no way I’m mistaken. Indeed, the gate connected to another place other than here was opened.

“Finally.”

Her face, which had looked like an old giant tree, slowly came alive.

Ah, the moment she had been waiting for so long has finally come.

***

The strange phone call to the association came right after lunchtime when I was most sleepy.

Do Junyoung, who remained sober despite this terrible timing, frowned at the phone call of the dispatched employee.

“You’re saying that the dungeon rating cannot be measured?”

—Yes! Even the mana meter is weird. The gate is plain blue… It’s unusual. I think you have to come in person.

“I’ll be right there.”

Do Junyoung, who immediately reported this to the association president Song Hanna, decided to request assistance from each guild.

First of all, it could be dangerous because the grade was not measured, so S-class Hunter must deal with it, especially someone whose headquarters is nearby so they could be dispatched immediately.

So Do Junyoung called Clear Blue’s Han Suwon, Emissary’s Jung Hoyoung, and, most importantly, the Healer Yoo Soo-eun.

“Isn’t L-class supposed to do something like this?”

Yoo Soo-eun, who had rushed immediately according to the agreement with the association, complained as soon as she arrived. Han Suwon also agreed, but Do Junyoung shook his head.

“Hunter Kang Sejun went to deal with the gate that has now occurred in Daegwallyeong.”

“Ayy, how lucky.”

Four S-class Hunters stood in front of the gate. Normally, they should be able to feel the dungeon’s mana coming through the gate.

“I can’t feel anything.”

“I don’t think it’s normal at all. Measure again.”

As Jung Hoyoung gestured with her chin, an official from the association hurriedly approached and brought the mana meter to the gate. At that moment, a surprising message appeared before their eyes.

【War■! The ra■ of the ■ngeon is not stable!】

Everyone stared at the list of broken characters.

“That’s weird.”

In the 12 years after the cataclysm, countless dungeons were created and disappeared repeatedly, but everyone was sure that they had never seen anything like this before. It was the same with Do Junyoung, who read the weekly report published by the World Dungeon Management Organization (WDO).

That said, there was a high probability that what happened here was not normal.

The four people checked their equipment, ready to fight at any time.

“Let me say it again. Our goal is to look at the situation inside and reorganize the raiding party properly in the future. Avoid fighting as much as possible unless there is a particular situation.”

Do Junyoung, who clearly stated that the purpose was exploration, not attack, entered the dungeon with the other three. The name of the dungeon appeared before their eyes.

[The ■kened has entered Level ■ dungeon ‘■■’s Tomb’.]

***

And around that time.

[Administrator: (｡ﾟ´Д`ﾟ｡)/(._. )]

Seora, who was dozing happily on a workless afternoon after a long time, was startled by the sudden message from the administrator.

An emoticon that comforts you while crying. It was so ominous that it gave Seora goosebumps as soon as she saw it.

‘What is it?’

Seora stared at the administrator’s message with shaky eyes.

‘When was the last time the administrator comforted me?’

As someone who had blown the head of an S-class beast in one shot and even gotten a repulsive Headbang nickname because of it…

It was the day I met that guy who has returned in time five times!

‘Ahh! Lizaliza-nim. W-What’s going on this time?!’

[Administrator: (﹏)]

‘It has nothing to do with you?’

[Administrator: __φ(. . ;)]

‘Stop talking in weird emoticon. Did you do it, or did you not? Say it!’

[The system administrator protests that they did not do it.]

[Probably.]

“…”

How cold. An ominous feeling flies like a dagger and sticks in my heart.

What happened again this time? Hopefully, this isn’t a returnee issue again. Seora wanted to believe that. Although that was the only moment the administrator comforted her, she wanted to believe that this time would be different.

[Administrator: (¬_¬);;]

But Elizabeth-nim betrayed that belief. Seora’s face turned blue.

‘Exorcism! I need to do it!’

Exorcism? Seora thought if she could solve this misfortune, she was willing to do the blade dancing herself. Please, I’m begging you, I hope Jung Hoyoung will find a good shaman soon.

[T/N: It actually mentioned the item, Jakdu, meaning straw cutter, refers to the shamanic device on which a shaman performs the blade dance to demonstrate her spiritual powers. So Seora is saying that instead of letting the shaman does it, she is willing to do it herself as long as she can get rid of this ‘misfortune’.]

***

[The ■kened has entered Level ■ dungeon ‘■■’s Tomb’.]

When the broken system message was shown, the faces of the four people who entered the dungeon hardened.

“It’s good that we’re not going blindly, but it’s still not reassuring.”

Everyone agreed to Han Suwon’s whisper.

“Is there any dungeon with the word ‘tomb’ that is safe?”

“No, there isn’t.”

The name of the dungeon represented its characteristics. For example, the Level 2 dungeon ‘Cradle of the Harpoon Snake’ was the birthplace of the boss monster, so the name ‘cradle’ was attached.

Then what about a dungeon called ‘tomb’? Even if it did not state its rating.

“We must be careful, so this place won’t become our tomb.”

The dungeon was full of stone debris, and it looked like it used to be an ore zone. But nothing was intact.

Some were visibly cut, external forces destroyed some, and some left traces of something stuck.

“One thing is certain. This is a tomb of ores.”

Jung Hoyoung, who was good at exploring, tracked the traces on the ore fragments. Her face did not look very good.

“The cutting marks aren’t clean enough to assume they were made with a sword, but there isn’t evidence of a blunt weapon. These unique traces remain on most of the ore.”

“Most of it. If so, there is a high probability that only one person created this spectacle.”

“One person did all of this? Aish, what rotten luck.”

Yoo Soo-eun murmured, thinking that they had come for nothing. At that time, Han Suwon, who had a wide detection ability, put his finger on his index finger and whispered softly.

“Shh. I can feel footsteps.”

The four of them immediately lowered themselves and placed their hands on their weapons.

Unlike them, the enemy was running with a terrifying momentum, as if they had no intention of hiding their presence to the extent that they could all identify the enemy with the naked eye.

The four people opened their eyes wide.

“Who secretly crossed the gate before we came in?”

“No one. The gate is completely closed under my orders.”

“Then how do you explain that person running toward us? Are you saying it could be a humanoid monster?!”

Yoo Soo-eun pointed to the other party.

It was a woman with pale skin, tall stature, fluttering red hair, and golden eyes staring straight at them.

The running enemy was not in the form of a monster they had seen so far but in the form of a normal human being.