DPGR 88

“Welcome. We’ve been expecting you.”

They had finally arrived at Narita Airport in Japan.

The Alpha Team members greeted the local operation commander and, after a quick introduction, got into a vehicle that took them to the situation room.

“Here’s the footage we’ve recorded over the past few days.”

There, Dojin and the Alpha Team reviewed video recordings taken by other espers during their investigation.

And during that process, they discovered something.

“Hmm… The butler monster that we saw in the earlier footage is nowhere to be found.”

At Dojin’s comment, the staff member showing the footage looked surprised.

“Oh, you’ve seen the previous footage?”

“Yes. But the sequence of events seems a little different this time.”

“We’ve been speculating among ourselves… It seems that the butler-shaped ‘entity’ only appears during the first run.”

“‘Entity’? So the Japanese Center doesn’t consider it a monster?”

“Well, it couldn’t be attacked, and it didn’t seem to physically exist. We’re guessing it was more of an illusion shown by the gate than an actual monster.”

“I see.”

Dojin nodded and turned his attention back to the footage.

In the video, espers were inspecting the other parts of the first floor, excluding the ‘banquet hall.’

There were occasional low-grade monsters, but nothing particularly dangerous for an S-class gate.

Still, it was too early to feel relieved. Dojin paused the footage and looked back at the staff member.

“There’s something strange.”

“What seems strange?”

“In the earlier videos, there seemed to be quite a few casualties… But I don’t see any bodies in this footage. Did you perhaps collect them before this was recorded?”

“Ah… No. We tried to retrieve the bodies as well, but we couldn’t find them.”

“You couldn’t find them?”

“Yes.”

The staff member nodded with an uneasy expression.

“Do you see those people in the black uniforms among the espers in the video?”

“Yes.”

“They’re part of our Esper Corps’ recovery team. While the investigators searched the site, the recovery team was supposed to retrieve the corpses.”

“And yet they found nothing.”

“That’s right.”

The staff member paused, swallowed dryly, then continued.

“We suspect… maybe another monster devoured them, or perhaps they’re in that area we couldn’t explore—the banquet hall…”

“The banquet hall.”

“Yes. That seems the most likely.”

Blood, dark red and splattered, stained the floor and walls of the hallway in the video.

But there were no signs of the bodies being dragged.

If monsters had dragged the corpses to the banquet hall, there should have been a trail of blood leading there.

“This… It would be best to investigate further.”

“Yes. We leave it in your hands.”

The staff member, and even the commander who had remained silent throughout, bowed deeply.

But despite their polite words, there was a faint trace of mistrust in the way they looked at Alpha Team.

After all, even Japan’s elite esper forces had been nearly wiped out.

They seemed skeptical that a small team from Korea could make much difference.

Still, not one member of Alpha Team showed displeasure at their attitude.

As always, they were confident in proving themselves through results.

“Shall we head to the site, then?”

Alpha Team’s gate entry happened sooner than planned.

They had already checked their weapons and prepared mentally during the journey, so there was no need for further delay.

The commander of Japan’s Esper Corps, who had gone in ahead to investigate the gate, rushed to the castle entrance upon hearing that Alpha Team would be deployed.

Behind him stood the leaders of Beta and Gamma Teams.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Shinichi Okamoto. Please, just call me Shinichi.”

The man in the navy military uniform typical of the Japanese forces spoke fluent Korean.

However, his lip movements didn’t quite match the sound.

Dojin assumed he was using a translation artifact for communication with the Korean espers.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Shinichi. I’m Baek Dojin, captain of Alpha Team.”

“Yes, Mr. Baek Dojin. Shall we head inside?”

“Before that, I’d like to set up a Safe Zone near the entrance.”

“Ah, of course. As you wish.”

A Safe Zone had already been roughly set up at the entrance, previously used by the guides from Beta and Gamma Teams.

However, it wasn’t created by a spatial ability user—it was more like a simple tent.

It did have a translucent shield spell over it, but it was far from secure.

After confirming the inadequate setup, Dojin gave a subtle signal to Yulchan.

“Yulchan.”

“Yep!”

Now confident again after becoming S-class, Yulchan proudly gathered his mana.

Woooong—

The air shimmered and trembled, then soon, a translucent space formed.

“If you knock on this wall three times, it’ll turn invisible.”

He demonstrated by tapping on the left wall—tap, tap, tap. Instantly, the translucent walls faded into the air as if melting away.

“This is…!”

Shinichi’s eyes widened. He could sense a faint trace of magic in the spot where the wall had vanished.

The wall hadn’t disappeared—it had merely been made transparent to seem that way.

“I read an article about an S-rank spatial Esper emerging in Korea.”

“That’s right. Our team’s Yulchan is that Esper.”

“Incredible. To achieve something like this at such a young age.”

“Thank you.”

“You were bawling every day saying you were useless—mmph!”

Yulchan blushed as he gave his thanks. Sena tried to tease him from behind, but was dragged away by Geonwoo.

Meanwhile, after confirming the stability of the Safe Zone, Dojin nodded and looked to Shinichi.

“We’d like our guides to get familiar with the layout inside, just in case.”

“Then they can accompany us for the initial investigation.”

Unlike Korea, where guides were treated favorably, Japan didn’t hold their rights in high regard.

Especially among high-ranking Espers, there was resentment toward having guides hanging around on the field.

Protecting guides while fighting monsters was simply not efficient.

But Shinichi made no sign of disapproval and readily allowed Alpha Team’s guides to accompany them.

Dojin gave him a grateful nod and signaled the team to take protective formation around the guides.

“This way, please.”

Though Shinichi seemed to think it a bit excessive, he said nothing and took the lead.

He soon pointed to traces of blood on the walls here and there.

“There were bloodstains sprayed up to this point. And signs of a struggle scattered throughout.”

“We saw it in the footage, but seeing it in person… there’s a lot more blood than expected.”

In addition, the angle and height of the spatter revealed several unusual traits.

“There’s a lot of it splattered around face-height. Either the monsters were quite large, or…”

“Yes. It could also be the work of flying-type monsters.”

Shinichi added this with a grim expression. Many vampire bats had been found on the first floor,

but given their small size and low attack power, they weren’t likely the culprits.

That meant they had to consider the possibility of some other airborne monster.

“Let’s go a bit deeper.”

Dojin took in the new information and resumed walking.

‘There’s a lot of blood splattered on the walls, but not much pooled on the floor. The bloody footprints are all human.’

His eyes followed the trail.

The footprints were scattered in the direction of the banquet hall.

And among them, not a single set seemed to belong to a monster.

That was what struck him as odd.

“Mr. Baek Dojin, shall we take a look at the banquet hall?”

“Pardon?”

“You might find something we missed. We’d appreciate it if you took a look.”

“Well, I suppose…”

Dojin had an uneasy feeling about the banquet hall itself, but he didn’t want to make a scene over merely checking the entrance.

He worried that overreacting might spread that unease to the others.

“Hm.”

And so, they arrived in front of the banquet hall.

“…So they weren’t dragged—someone walked in willingly.”

Dojin murmured as he followed the chaotic pattern of footprints.

Shinichi, not having heard him, turned to his colleagues and introduced Dojin’s team.

“This is Alpha Team, dispatched from Korea.”

“Oh-ho. Is that so?”

“Don’t be rude.”

“Hmph. Are we sure they’re actually any good?”

“Kazuki Sato!”

Some of the Japanese Espers openly eyed Dojin’s team with suspicion.

Only a few, like Shinichi, kept a polite front.

“So, when exactly do you plan to open the banquet hall?”

It was then that someone raised a hand and asked.

They had already searched every room on the first floor for several days.

They were eager to wrap things up and begin the second-floor investigation.

Shinichi was of the same mind, and he glanced at Dojin as he asked,

“We’ve finished the first floor. As Shigeru said, we’d like to check the banquet hall next.”

“Ah… Then let’s send the guides and support-class Espers back to the Safe Zone before we proceed.”

It was the obvious choice for Dojin.

Even though he was aware of the banquet hall’s suspicious nature,

he couldn’t risk keeping the guides and support Espers by his side.

However, to the Japanese Esper Corps, his caution came off as excessive.

“I heard Korean Espers don’t go through separate military training—perhaps they’re overly cautious because of that. Don’t you think?”

Someone muttered in a low voice.

It was quiet enough that the guides couldn’t hear it, but Espers, with their sharpened senses, picked it up clearly.

“What? Who just—!”

Jihye flared up and stepped forward, but before she could even finish, another Japanese Esper by the door snickered and interjected.

“There’s no need to be that cautious. The strength of our Esper Corps is more than proven. As long as no one lets their guard down like the last elite squad, whatever’s behind that door will be dealt with in an instant.”

Then, just to prove his point, he boldly knocked on the door—tap, tap.

Grrrnnnng—

A growl echoed from within, beastly and deep.

The Esper who had knocked turned around in alarm to look at the door.

And then—

Bang!!

“Uwah!”

Bang, bang! Bang—! Bang bang! Bang bang bang! Bang bang!

The door began to shake violently, as though something massive was ramming into it from the other side—again and again.