DPGR 123

“What… what is all this…?”

Geonwoo couldn’t finish his sentence, frozen in shock.

In front of the buildings marked Guide Wing and Esper Wing, fragments of the collapsed bridge lay scattered, and among the debris, dismembered human body parts—unidentifiable—had fallen with sickening thuds.

The cold, hardened earth was soaking up a sticky, scalding liquid.

It happened right after the broadcast announced a press conference would be held at the Esper Wing.

It seemed the accident occurred just as the unpaired guides and general staff, who had been stationed at the Guide Wing to watch the press conference in person, were making their way over to the Esper Wing.

The problem was, what had caused the bridge to collapse like that?

‘Was it a terrorist attack? If not, then maybe…’

Geonwoo shut his eyes tightly. He thought of the recent, unprecedented, simultaneous appearances of dungeons.

Maybe it was the stench of blood, or maybe it was the thoughts racing through his mind, but his vision swam.

–WEEOOOO–!

Suddenly, emergency evacuation sirens and announcements began blaring.

–Emergency situation! Emergency situation!

At the same time, his phone blared a siren of its own.

!Emergency Alert!

Seoul, Seocho District – Dungeon appearance, threat level undetermined

!Evacuation advised!

(Seoul Metropolitan Government) 11:22 AM – Border alert issued for the Seoul area.

It was now a confirmed fact: a dungeon had occurred at the Korean Ability Center.

“This way! Don’t rush, move calmly!”

“You there, be careful! Rescue teams will arrive soon, those who can walk, evacuate first!”

The explosion on the bridge and the sudden dungeon appearance had thrown the area into chaos.

The dungeon’s creation had severed the bridge, blown off the roof, and shattered the glass walls on both sides.

It was rare for a dungeon to spawn inside such a densely populated building. Panic had erupted.

The Guide Director, who had rushed to the scene in alarm, staggered briefly at the horrific sight, then quickly collected himself and helped direct the evacuation.

While he was doing that, the rescue team arrived and began taking control of the situation.

“Here! Start with the stretchers!”

“There’s someone trapped under the debris!”

“One, two…!”

Clearly not their first time working together, the rescue of the injured proceeded swiftly.

Meanwhile, a staff member from the investigation team arrived carrying a dungeon detector and quickly began setting it up.

Wuuuung—

The detector shuddered as it picked up dungeon waves. The Guide Director, unable to hide his urgency, pressed the staff member.

“How much longer?”

“Uh, just a sec-it should show up soon… Ah! Got it!”

“What’s the dungeon’s rating?”

“B-grade… Huh?”

“B-grade? What kind of B-grade dungeon? What’s the size?”

“W-Wait, this can’t be right…”

“What’s wrong?”

“T-The time’s strange! Based on the energy readings, the break is expected in just over an hour!”

“…What?”

“This isn’t supposed to happen—i-is it broken?”

The staff member holding the detector trembled. She shut it off, turned it back on, and pointed it at the dungeon entrance.

But no matter how many times she recalibrated, the readings stayed the same.

The Guide Director stole a glance at the display. When he saw the words “B-grade, Large” on the small screen—

“One hour—no, 58 minutes! The break will happen after that!”

The staff member’s eyes were shaking violently. Her face had gone deathly pale.

She’d measured countless dungeon ratings firsthand, but never had she stared death so directly in the face.

“W-What do we do? Ah! Aren’t half the Beta Team and the whole Gamma Team currently in the Esper Wing? If they launch the raid…!”

A flicker of hope broke through her despair-stricken face. Just as the Guide Director was about to say something.

“Make way, please!”

The sound of footsteps thundered from the end of the hallway. Soon, half of the Beta Team and the entire Gamma Team rushed in.

The espers looked hurried, no doubt they had stopped to inspect the ruined interior of the bridge on their way.

Several of them recognized familiar faces among the scattered corpses and were visibly shaken.

Finally, the espers stood before the Guide Director. One of the Beta Team espers in the lead recognized him and spoke.

“We’ll commence the raid immediately! Please authorize us!”

Seeing the devastation and the massive toll on the guides, the espers’ fighting spirit was blazing.

They seemed determined to avenge the fallen guides by tearing apart the boss monster inside the dungeon with their own hands.

But the Guide Director hesitated.

‘Can I really let them go in like this?’

What were the chances they could clear a B-grade large-scale dungeon in just under an hour?

‘No. Not with this number.’

They were all highly capable, he acknowledged that.

But the scale of this dungeon was none other than large, and of B-grade.

The internal environment of the dungeon hadn’t even been identified yet.

Could they really manage to scour a massive terrain, locate the boss monster, and defeat it, while dealing with C to B-grade monsters that would ambush them along the way?

‘Impossible.’

He briefly considered: if Baek Dojin were here, maybe it could’ve been done.

But that was something he couldn’t change, so the Guide Director quickly accepted reality and began to think of alternatives.

‘I have to make the decision. Right now, I’m the only one who can take responsibility.’

A crushing sense of responsibility weighed down on the Guide Director’s shoulders. There were already many casualties, if he made the wrong call now, it would lead to even greater damage.

At the moment, only two options surfaced in his mind.

Either push ahead with the raid, or abandon it and prepare for what came after.

‘If we attempt the raid and fail, and the break happens…’

He ran the simulation in his head.

The gaping dungeon entrance. C- to B-grade monsters pouring out through it.

All the espers capable of stopping them would be inside the dungeon. The damage would snowball before they could even react, that much was clear.

On the other hand, if they abandoned the raid…

‘We’ll build barricades, evacuate everyone inside the building, and handle the monsters as they come out the entrance.’

It was a method that had been successfully used abroad a few years ago. Granted, that dungeon had appeared in a remote, uninhabited area and had only been D-grade.

‘Still, it’s not an impossible scenario.’

Whether it could be pulled off with the espers currently present was uncertain. But the survival rate seemed far higher in the second case.

“I’m not authorizing entry into the dungeon.”

“…What?”

“The time allotted for this raid is abnormally short. We now have a total of 53 minutes remaining.”

“What did you just say? 53 minutes?”

Even the espers, unprepared for this sudden information, widened their eyes in shock.

The Guide Director understood their reaction and quickly explained the situation.

“The dungeon is large and B-grade. As I just said, we now have 53 minutes… no, 52 minutes left. Attempting to clear a large B-grade dungeon in that time with just our current personnel is impossible. Therefore, I cannot permit entry.”

“Wait, hold on a second. Then what are you saying we should do? Just sit on our hands and watch this happen?”

One esper burst out in protest. The others only halfheartedly tried to hold him back.

Enduring the heat of their glares, the Guide Director gave his orders.

“We’re not just going to sit and watch. Gamma Team, start building barricades over here. Beta Team, assist with evacuating everyone in the building, then join the barricades and prepare for battle.”

“Barricades? You’re saying we should just wait around until the Break happens? Are you out of your mind?”

An esper charged at him, yelling. Though his words were rough, no one tried to stop him this time.

In fact, others seemed to agree with him. They bared their teeth, their neck veins bulging with fury.

“You said it’s a large B-grade dungeon! Don’t you know how many monsters that kind of dungeon can contain?”

“That’s right! If everything inside comes pouring out, the situation will spiral completely out of control!”

Murmurs and protests began to spread.

The espers started to pile on, pressuring the Guide Director. It was collective hysteria, plain and simple.

And it was understandable. Like the Guide Director, they also felt a massive weight of responsibility for this incident.

The bodies and blood of guides and regular staff scattered everywhere were enough to strip the espers of their rationality.

“We don’t have time to waste—step aside! In an emergency, we can enter without Center approval! We don’t want to hurt you, Guide Director!”

Someone stomped a foot and spat out the words like a threat.

Unlike the previous Guide Director, this new one was known to be gentle and peace-loving.

So they assumed a raised voice and a bit of intimidation would be enough to make him back down.

But they were wrong.

“Enough!”

“…!”

Veins bulged on the Guide Director’s neck as he raised his voice for the first time, shouting in a tone firmer than ever before.

“Shut your mouths and think realistically!”

He was the one responsible. He wasn’t some coward who would give in to pressure and throw that responsibility away.

He snatched the measuring device from a survey team member and held it up in front of the espers.

“The dungeon is right on the verge of a break! Can’t you understand what will happen if you go in now and it triggers?”

“……”

“Are you going to get everyone here killed? Can’t you see the people who are still alive? Have you forgotten your duties as espers?”

“……”

The espers, who had been shouting over each other moments ago, suddenly fell silent.

It seemed their sanity was beginning to return. They looked at the measuring device, trying to judge the remaining time and the feasibility of the raid.

The Guide Director raised a hand and rubbed his face with a troubled expression.

His voice came out tired, the ends cracked but steady.

“Time until the Break is 47 minutes. Listen carefully. In 47… no, 46 minutes now, that dungeon will explode. The damage will be beyond imagining.”

“……”

“Gamma Team, barricades. Beta Team, assist with evacuation. This is the best conclusion I can reach using my judgment.”