VSP 108

“Pshhh!” Blood spurted out with a loud noise.

Keeeeeek!

The boss collapsed, unable to land a single proper attack at Cha Dogyeong’s gesture. For a boss in an A-rank dungeon, it was a rather disappointing end.

“Hmm.”

Na Yookyung, a close-range dealer, would be left with nothing to do if Cha Dogyeong attacked first, so she stood quietly behind and watched him.

Today, Team 3’s Yookyung and Dogyeong were going on a raid together.

Their combination wasn’t as exceptionally good as the Choi siblings, who provided powerful support with utility, or the pairing with Jeong Siwoo. But they were a team that perfectly embodied the saying, “The best defense is the best offense.” They could take down the opponent before they could even be attacked.

Furthermore, with such a disparity in skill between the dungeon and the hunters, it was difficult to experience any real danger.

Of course, Na Yookyung wasn’t staring at Dogyeong’s back out of admiration for his skills. It was just that her quick wit, always on full display, had caught something.

“Dogyeong.”

“Uh.”

“Did something bad happen?”

Cha Dogyeong turned, as if he hadn’t expected the question.

Their eyes met. Neither of them harbored any ill will, so their expressions remained unchanged.

Amidst the cool breeze blowing through the dungeon, signifying a successful raid, only a strange exchange of glances took place between them. Of course, in these situations, Na Yookyung always won.

Dogyeong sighed softly. Anyway, Na Yookyung’s perception was incredibly good.

She took Dogyeong’s lack of comment as an acknowledgment and smiled.

“Why do you look upset? Is something not going your way?”

“Are you possessed by a spirit or something? That can’t even be called being perceptive.”

Even Na Yookyung thought to herself, sometimes, in certain areas, her perceptiveness felt like a god’s. But what can she do? She was born this way. She shrugged.

“What’s not going your way? Is there something you can’t handle when you put your mind to it?”

“Well, I don’t know. Not when it’s about people.”

“You usually don’t even worry about people.”

She tilted her head. Her genuine bewilderment was still evident in her gesture, but not a hint of malice.

Dogyeong smiled bitterly. It was just as Na Yookyung had said. Cha Dogyeong usually handled everything with a cool head, without much concern. He had no lingering attachments to anything. It was nice to have it, and it didn’t hurt to not have it. Most things were like that.

But this problem couldn’t be handled that way.

“Love?”

Dogyeong nodded, he couldn’t hide it from her, who had already guessed the problem from his silence.

“…That’s right.”

“Huh.”

“What kind of exclamation is that?”

“I haven’t heard anything lately about you dating.”

“Maybe you just didn’t hear it.”

“If that’s modesty, then forget it. Unless you’re secretly dating, you can’t help but have rumors spread. But you’re saying you’re worried about your relationship, and the world-renowned Cha Dogyeong isn’t the type of person to lie and hide anything.”

“Then,” she added, smiling meaningfully.

“Is it a man?”

At this point you might as well make a living as a fortune-teller, Dogyeong chuckled briefly, seemingly dumbfounded.

“What are you trying to say? You know I hate going around in circles.”

“Is it Sejun?”

The words that came out of her mouth, as if she’d been waiting for that, were close to the right answer.

No, not close to the right answer, just the right answer.

He didn’t think he’d usually let slip things like that, but seeing her answer so quickly, it seemed he couldn’t fool Na Yookyung.

No, maybe. Maybe he’d been leaking things about Seo Sejun without even realizing it. Strangely, it was impossible to think or act normally around Seo Sejun.

“Why do you think it’s Seo Sejun?”

Still, Dogyeong tried to deny it. But Na Yookyung smiled brightly, not feeling the slightest bit fooled.

“There are quite a few men around him, and you’ve been acting a bit weird lately.”

It seemed he really had been dropping hints. Of course, he knew he was good at hiding his true feelings, so it was more accurate to say that Na Yookyung’s intuition had reached a peak rather than that Dogyeong was constantly leaking information.

However, Dogyeong was more bothered by the many men around Sejun than by the fact that he had acted in a strange way.

He was already in a low mood because he was worried about Seo Sejun.

He felt strangely anxious and nervous. A feeling he had never felt before in his life, one that continued to drag Dogyeong down.

“Is your relationship with Sejun not going well?”

“Ha.”

Dogyeong sighed instead of denying it. After all, it was pointless with Na Yookyung, and she wasn’t the type of person to go around spreading rumors.

Dogyeong nodded.

“It’s difficult. Of all the people I’ve met, he’s the most difficult.”

“Oh my.”

Her eyes sparkled. Like someone who’d overheard an acquaintance’s interesting love story. Of course, an A-rank dungeon full of corpses wasn’t the ideal setting for such a conversation. But did the location really matter? It was a place where no one could eavesdrop, so it was perfect.

But Seo Sejun is difficult? As a romantic interest?

She wasn’t close to Sejun personally, but she knew he wasn’t as sensitive and irritable as he appeared. Of course, what Cha Dogyeong was talking about just now didn’t seem to be a simple personality issue.

And even if Sejun was difficult, would it really be a big problem for Dogyeong?

She tilted her head.

“Well… if it’s a fleeting interest, it’s okay to let it go, right? If he doesn’t respond, then there’s nothing you can do.”

If they were going to spend their lives as hunters anyway, they’d probably see each other faces. If their feelings deepened, it would be difficult to break up later. Na Yookyung, who had been mumbling, checked Cha Dogyeong’s expression and fell silent.

The moment she said the words, “break up,” she saw Cha Dogyeong’s expression harden.

Only then did she realize her mistake.

“You too are serious about him?”

“You ‘too’?”

Oops.

Her tongue slipped for the second time today and she smacked her lips exaggeratedly. Dogyeong’s expression softened and he sighed.

“You don’t have to look like that. It’s not like Seo Sejun has a lot of men around him for just a day or two.”

It seemed more like profound discontent than resignation. Yookyung, who had been watching Dogyeong’s reaction for a moment because of her slip of the tongue, quietly changed the subject. Since she had something to say anyway, the timing was also appropriate.

“Dating is good, but Dogyeong.”

“What?”

“Do you remember what we talked about before?”

“What we talked about before?”

“Recent dungeons… …The results of the Association’s internal analysis seem to be a bit serious.”

Just hearing those words, Dogyeong immediately knew what Na Yookyung was talking about. It was about the recent abnormalities in dungeon difficulty.

There had been several instances of “dungeons becoming strange” since then, but Na Yookyung’s expression had become graver, as if things had worsened.

“I think an S-rank dungeon will appear again.”

“It’s not like it never happened before.”

“I’m just saying it doesn’t seem to be a simple problem.”

“Really?”

“Since the Final Dungeon, S-rank dungeons have rarely appeared worldwide.”

“I know.”

The Final Dungeon brought peace to the world as soon as it was dealt with, as if it were the final boss of this world.

Of course, after that, the previous Association president caused a mess, so there was another stage that felt like the ultimate Final Dungeon… .

Anyway, after that, S-rank dungeons became rare, especially in Korea.

The emergence of EX-rank hunters, the disappearance of the most powerful S-rank dungeons… … At the same time, the frequency of high-rank dungeons dropped noticeably.

Many hunters grumbled about the overly peaceful nature of the situation, but for the general public, it was a happy ending.

Yes, the ending.

As if the highlight of a story had ended, the world, devoid of many threats, felt like a story that had finally reached its epilogue.

From that very moment, they no longer were under the suppression of some strange force. He often wondered why, but he couldn’t figure it out, so he kept it a secret.

“Why is that?”

“It’s a top secret right now… Within the Association, there’s speculation that the dungeon that’s about to appear this time will be similar in level to the Final Dungeon.”

Dogyeong clenched his jaw.

The final dungeon, so terrifying even to imagine, was the one everyone unanimously declared afterward, “This isn’t an S-rank, but an EX-rank dungeon.”

It’s a place where even S-rank hunters can’t guarantee survival. Had Seo Sejun not somehow intervened, less than half of the S-rank hunters would still be alive. It was a nightmare of endless traps and torturous mechanics that still haunted anyone who remembered it.