DPGR 124

In just a short moment, the Guide Director’s face looked exhausted. If the espers refused to obey his orders here, it seemed he no longer had the power to stop them.

Perhaps he was already thinking the espers might ignore his words and charge into the dungeon.

It certainly looked that way, he stepped aside slightly, glancing around at the espers at the front as if asking what they were going to do now.

Now, the espers could enter the dungeon at any moment, stepping past the Guide Director.

It would have been easy to pass by the Guide Director, who stood helplessly to the side with his hands hanging at his sides.

But they didn’t do that.

“…Everyone, get it together! We’re aborting the dungeon attack! From this moment on, prepare for a dungeon break!”

An esper from Beta Team who had been facing the Guide Director turned and shouted to everyone. His voice rang out sharply through the corridor.

The other espers looked slightly shaken, but quickly came to their senses and dispersed to take action.

The Beta Team espers assisted with moving the injured, and Gamma Team’s espers bustled around, quickly forming layered barriers around the dungeon.

“Bring all the defense artifacts! Hurry!”

“Raise any bleeding limbs above the heart! Once we reach the shelter, we’ll begin treatment right away!”

“This way! Everyone, come down this way! Stay in order!”

At the sight, the tension in the Guide Director’s shoulders loosened at last.

He patted the shoulder of the investigation team staffer beside him, who still looked at a loss for what to do.

“It’s dangerous here. You should head to the shelter now.”

“B-but….”

“Hurry. We’ll handle things here.”

With that, the Guide Director checked the break time displayed on the meter and set an alarm on his watch to match.

The staffer, watching him, bowed deeply and joined the line of evacuees.

The Guide Director let out a quiet sigh and took out his phone.

‘If we don’t send out alerts as fast as possible, the citizens won’t be able to evacuate in time.’

But his fingertips trembled uncontrollably as they touched the screen.

He had been trying to stay calm, but as a guide with no combat power, he was terrified.

Still, he couldn’t just drop everything and run away because he was scared.

Whether he wanted it or not, he wore the title of Guide Director.

“…Whew.”

Taking a deep breath, he searched for and pressed the number for the Office of the President.

VrrrRRRRRrrr…!

All around, the sharp wail of emergency evacuation sirens still echoed.

***

Meanwhile, Jiho, Geonwoo, and Sena were frozen in place, unsure of what to do in the face of the commotion outside the shattered window and the earsplitting sirens.

“Sh-should we go over there, maybe?”

At Jiho’s words, Sena widened her eyes and asked,

“You mean go look at the dungeon?”

“No, no! I just thought… maybe we should check on the situation….”

Geonwoo shook his head.

“Even if we go, there’s nothing we can do. The espers at the Center will handle the dungeon. For now, let’s just watch.”

With that, Geonwoo turned back to the TV still connected to Sena’s phone. The press conference scene on the screen was also in chaos.

The live chat on YouTube was flooded with question marks. What was that explosion just now? Did a dungeon open at the Center? What’s going on?

Then, perhaps because everyone received a disaster alert at once, messages confirming that a dungeon had indeed opened at the Center poured in all at once.

tpg**:** “Why’s everyone freaking out lol? It’s at the Center, so the espers there will take care of it in no time.”

It was right then, just as a comment caught all three of their eyes, that an unpleasant beeping sound blared from each of their phones.

Another disaster alert had arrived.

The three of them naturally assumed it was the dungeon’s grade report. Maybe a formal evacuation notice, too.

But when they opened it, the content of the alert was entirely different from what they’d expected.

“…Huh?”

Jiho’s eyes widened. A low, confused sound escaped from his slightly parted lips.

He couldn’t believe what he was reading, so he read it again. And again. Then rubbed his eyes.

Sena, also frozen in shock, muttered in a sharp voice,

“This… it really says the dungeon’s going to break in 40 minutes, right?”

“…Ha.”

Jiho hadn’t misread it. Sena said the same thing, and Geonwoo could only let out a hollow laugh in response.

Forty minutes. To be precise, forty-three.

On the TV, there was a sudden burst of movement. A secretary, who had been rushing around and coordinating with others, ran up with a pale face and whispered something into the Esper Director’s ear.

The Esper Director checked his phone and grimaced. He immediately grabbed the mic and began to speak.

“A dungeon has appeared at the center of the sky bridge connecting the Esper Wing and the Guide Wing. The dungeon is classified as a B-rank large type, and the remaining time until break is approximately forty minutes.”

The reporters typing frantically on their laptops froze at once. They jumped in surprise and began shouting questions all at once.

The Esper Director waved his hand, trying to calm them down, then gave up and spoke into the mic again.

“The message you just received is not an error. We don’t have time for this here. At the dungeob, preparations for a break are being made under the command of the Guide Director.”

As he spoke, a reporter standing in front of him raised his hand and shouted loudly.

“Why aren’t you attacking the gate! Do you know how many citizens live in Seoul? What’s the reason for sitting on your hands until the break erupts?”

He was accusing the Center of deliberately allowing the break to happen for some hidden agenda. The surrounding reporters, as well as the real-time comments, instantly became noisy at those words.

Some seized the moment to stir public anxiety, while others lashed out at the Center, revealing their fear.

Frustrated, the Esper Director raised his voice.

“We’re not choosing not to stop the break. We can’t stop it! We don’t have enough Espers to go in and attack the gate!”

Cries of “How can that be?” and “That makes no sense!” flew back and forth. Most people criticized the Esper Director and the Guide Director, doubting the abilities of the Espers.

Jiho watched the TV and the comment section with pained eyes, as if he were being attacked himself.

Geonwoo, who had been next to him, called out.

“Guide Jiho. We need to head to the shelter too.”

“…The shelter?”

“Yes. If the break doesn’t happen, we can stay here. But… if it really does, this place will be dangerous.”

As he spoke, Geonwoo gestured with his eyes toward the area near the skybridge, visible through a broken window.

Though the dungeon itself was hidden behind the building wall, their current location was close enough to the bridge to be in danger.

Meanwhile, Sena had cracked open the captain’s office safe. She tucked one spare pistol into her waistband and handed the other to Geonwoo.

“There were only two. Let’s hang onto them for now.”

“Alright. Let’s go, Guide Jiho. We need to hurry.”

Geonwoo held out his hand. Jiho glanced at the window, then took it and forced his stiff legs to move.

The shouting and cursing aimed at the Esper Director faded behind them.

The three of them ran toward the underground bunker designated as the shelter. Most of the people in the Center building were heading there too, so the small-framed Sena kept getting jostled around.

“Argh!”

Geonwoo and Jiho shielded her on both sides, but they couldn’t block people shoving past from behind.

In the end, Sena fell forward. With people sprinting up behind them, it looked like she might get trampled, so Geonwoo and Jiho stopped and quickly helped her up.

“You okay?”

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Ah, shit…!”

Sena winced and limped, biting back a curse. She must have twisted her ankle.

Because they couldn’t move quickly, a few people behind them started yelling for them to get out of the way and tried to push past again.

The three had no choice but to move aside so they wouldn’t get crushed by the crowd.

“We still have time. It’s alright. Let’s just go slowly.”

Geonwoo checked the time and said calmly. Just as he said, there were still about thirty minutes until the potential Break.

Jiho carefully asked Sena, who was frowning the whole time.

“Um, should I carry you?”

“What? You want to carry me? Ha! Worry about your own body first!”

Jiho wilted at her instant rejection. Geonwoo stepped in with a knowing grin.

“She’s heavier than she looks, so he’s worried he might not manage.”

“That’s not it!”

“If we’re being honest, Sena might even weigh more than Guide Jiho.”

“No I don’t!!”

Sena huffed and smacked Geonwoo’s back repeatedly. It must’ve hurt more than expected, because Geonwoo let out pained grunts and tried to fend her off.

“Stop, that hurts. Feels like I got shot.”

“If only I really could shoot you.”

The banter was out of place for the situation, and Jiho’s tension eased a little.

If those two, with more field experience than him, were acting like this, maybe things weren’t quite as dire as he’d thought.

Seeing Jiho’s expression loosen, Geonwoo looked slightly relieved and said,

“Shall we go now? I think I can carry Sena.”

“No thanks!”

“Alright, let’s move out.”

“Hey! Put me down!”

Clearly not his first time doing this, Geonwoo effortlessly hoisted the squirming Sena over his shoulder.

He had said he would carry her on his back, but even for him, it must’ve been difficult to do so with her thrashing, so this was the compromise.

“Argh! Ow! All the blood’s rushing to my head!”

“Sigh… I’m probably going to lose hearing soon.”

“Fine! FINE! I’ll ride your back! Happy now?!”

After a brief commotion, the three of them made their way without major trouble to the building where the bunker was located.

In the distance, they saw the door. It was the same door that Jiho had passed through in his previous life with the help of the Esper Director, to save Dojin.