DPGR 101

“Ah! I’m fine, don’t come any closer!”

The first to falter was Kijoon, who had been holding the front line.

He had awakened from the nightmare just after Dojin and helped sweep through the second-floor monsters—so his stamina was bound to be depleted.

His body had been pierced and torn in various places in just a short time, leaving him a complete mess.

Wounds would appear, heal quickly, then be torn open again—repeating over and over until there was not a single uninjured spot left on his body.

But Kijoon wasn’t the only one in that state.

Yelp! Keeeng!

Heendungi, who had been guarding Sehun—

“Heendungi! Ngh…!”

—and Sehun, who had been casting spells under Heendungi’s protection.

Boom! Crash!

“Ah!”

“Noona!”

Jihye, who had been firing arrows from atop the ruins, and Yulchan, who had been assisting her attacks.

One by one, they were all getting torn apart at a rapid pace.

Watching it all from within the safe zone, Geonwoo and Sena nervously fidgeted, pacing in place.

“A-aren’t they going to die at this rate?”

“……”

“Do something!”

“I want to, but…”

They were both already holding handguns. It wouldn’t be surprising if they dashed out at any moment.

But Geonwoo glanced back at Jiho.

Still dazed, with a horrific handprint on his neck—a guide who looked half gone.

‘Can we really leave Guide Jiho here alone?’

Jiho was timid, yet sometimes recklessly brave. No one could predict when or how that bravery might surface.

‘If he suddenly acts on impulse and something goes wrong…’

Judging by Jiho’s current state, he didn’t seem capable of making rational decisions at all.

“If you’re not going, then I will!”

“Sena!”

“Move! If we wait any longer, So Yulchan’s going to die!”

While Geonwoo hesitated, Sena, unable to hold back her urgency, shouted and bolted out of the safe zone.

Bang—! Bang bang—! Bang—!

Gunshots rang out behind her. Geonwoo bit his lip nervously and looked toward Jihye beyond the wall.

She had already come down from the ruins with Yulchan.

Debris from the crumbling ruins, wrecked by monster attacks, was strewn all around her.

Bang—!

One of Sena’s bullets struck the back of a monster’s head just as it was about to pounce on Jihye and Yulchan.

Graaaah!

The monster was massive, so the bullet didn’t do much.

Guide-issued firearms weren’t made for killing monsters in the first place.

Crash! Boom!

Rather, the monster, provoked by Sena’s attack, went into an even wilder frenzy.

Geonwoo gritted his teeth as he saw Jihye barely dodge the monster’s tail and roll to the ground.

“Guide Jiho.”

He spun around. Jiho was still staring blankly into space.

Like a machine with its power turned off.

“Hold this.”

Geonwoo grabbed Jiho’s gun and pressed it back into his hand.

Then he locked eyes with Jiho and spoke with firm resolve.

“Get a grip. At this rate, everyone’s going to die.”

“……”

“I need to go to my esper. You, Guide Jiho—stay here. Stay still. Stay calm.”

He tapped the back of Jiho’s hand, which now held the gun.

“If anything happens, shoot. Got it?”

And with that, Geonwoo too dashed out of the safe zone.

As Jiho watched him disappear, the faintest trace of focus returned to his eyes.

Everyone was tangled up in the fight—espers, naturally, but guides Sena and Geonwoo too.

They were all desperate to protect something.

Themselves. Their teammates. Their partners. The ones they loved.

‘The one they love…’

Jiho’s gaze unconsciously turned to one spot.

Dojin, swinging his spear, was putting distance between himself and the monsters.

He had clearly been exhausted for some time. His movements were slowing, becoming less precise.

A monster slipped through his guard.

Though Dojin avoided the first attack, he wasn’t quick enough to dodge the claws of a second monster rushing in.

Slash—!

Blood sprayed through the air.

The scent of human blood triggered a chorus of monstrous screeches.

It was like they were celebrating the feast laid before them.

And Dojin wasn’t the only one struggling.

Everyone’s bodies were accumulating wounds.

Jiho took it all in—every desperate effort the Alpha Team made to survive, to protect.

‘Ah…’

He was the only one standing there uselessly in this chaos.

Like a misplaced sack of grain.

A mere ant, a weed, a speck of dust.

Seo Jiho was nothing at all.

“Agh!”

At the sound of a distant scream, Jiho jerked his head up.

Sena had been struck by a monster’s tail and was knocked to the ground. Yulchan instantly conjured a wall around her.

The monster charging toward the fallen Sena bounced off the wall with a dull thud.

Maybe the recoil had hit him directly—Yulchan coughed low and spat out blood.

Watching all of this, Jiho clenched his hands tightly. His short-trimmed nails dug into his palms.

‘No.’

His pale fists trembled violently.

A dull thud rang out in the distance. This time it was Kijoon, slammed by a monster and sent flying into the ruins.

He too coughed up bright red blood.

Right after, Jihye and Geonwoo, Sehun and Heendungi—all fell, groaning in pain.

‘No.’

Jiho’s eyes darted to Dojin. He wasn’t doing well either.

His entire body was slashed and broken, looking more like a bundle of rags than a person.

Blood dripped freely from his abdomen, though Jiho hadn’t even noticed when he’d been wounded.

The wound looked eerily similar to the one that had driven Dojin to death before the regression.

‘No.’

Click.

Jiho adjusted his grip on the gun.

A sharp ray of sunlight pierced through the thick clouds above, shining down on his feet.

Huuup—

He took in a deep breath.

Whatever had happened, pain clenched tightly around his throat as if it were closing up.

But Jiho used even that pain to anchor his awareness.

“—Baek Dojin!”

Jiho opened his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs.

He kicked off the ground and raised his gun straight ahead.

Bang!

A thunderous gunshot ripped through the air.

A silver bullet flew, accompanied by a flash, and struck the monster that was about to attack Dojin.

Screeeee!

With a wet thud, the bullet pierced the monster’s left eye.

A direct hit.

***

‘Damn it…’

Dojin stumbled and collapsed to his knees.

He clutched at his abdomen, searing pain blooming where his hand touched.

Hot, sticky blood was oozing steadily through his fingers, now dripping to the ground.

“Haa… Haa…”

His breathing was ragged. Every inch of his body throbbed.

Most people think the symptoms of insufficient guiding are things like headaches or nerve pain—

In more severe cases, coughing blood from organ damage, or temporary sensory failure.

But what espers in the field feared even more than that was something else entirely.

‘My natural healing’s practically gone. At this rate, I’ll bleed out before anything else kills me.’

He pressed down hard on the wound. The blinding pain snapped his thoughts back into focus.

How much longer could he hold out like this?

Could his team finish off all these monsters and defeat the nightmare demon without him?

Would it be better to go into a rampage here, wipe them all out, and die in the process?

‘If I’m gone… what happens to Guide Jiho…’

Dojin clenched his jaw. A dark shadow fell over his head.

The same monster that had gouged his abdomen was charging back in, drawn to the scent of his blood.

‘Ah…’

Should he rampage… or not.

But there was no meaning in debating it anymore.

There was only one choice left for him.

‘If I die, I’m taking them all with me.’

He had no other option—because he wanted to save Seo Jiho, his small, fragile guide.

Even if it was just a sliver of a chance, he had to bet everything on it.

Grit—

Dojin’s jaw tightened. Blood vessels burst in his eyes, staining the whites red.

He planted his spear into the ground and used it to barely pull himself to his feet.

Then, gathering the last of his remaining mana, he prepared to release it in a burst—

He would have.

If not for the sound of a gunshot by his ear.

Bang—!

The monster charging at Dojin shrieked and twisted its body.

Dojin turned his head to follow its gaze.

Far away, Jiho was running—charging straight into the hellscape.

“Ba—Baek Dojin—!”

He called out Dojin’s name. His voice was hoarse, scraping painfully against his damaged throat.

Then, as if determined to save him, Jiho raised the gun and aimed it straight at the monster.

The muzzle flared. More shots rang out, each one getting closer.

Now, any thoughts of rampage or self-destruction vanished from Dojin’s mind.

Jiho was pushing his way toward him, step by step.