DPGR 91

The harassment disguised as guiding grew increasingly worse. The espers especially liked to hit Jiho’s face.

Some of them had said they’d been frustrated for a long time because they couldn’t leave visible marks thanks to Baek Dojin.

Only now did Jiho realize that Dojin had been protecting him from behind without his knowing.

‘I want to stop…’

Jiho’s body broke down rapidly.

Being surrounded by espers and forced to continuously guide them endlessly triggered his trauma.

Jiho’s mind quickly began to collapse.

Now, even the fact that he had regressed, that he was paired with Baek Dojin in this life, that they had entered the Japan Dungeon together—none of it felt real anymore.

He couldn’t tell if this was a dream, a hallucination, or reality.

While Jiho was being swallowed by the situation, a bill passed requiring the top 10% of unpaired guides to be dispatched into gates.

Now Jiho was being worked to the bone both at the center and in the field. Many espers relied on his outstanding guiding abilities.

Just because he was an S-rank, all the pressure piled on him.

“You call yourself an S-rank Guide, and this is all you’ve got?”

It wasn’t like Jiho had wanted to become S-rank. It wasn’t like he’d wanted to be a guide at all.

But the espers didn’t seem to understand that.

Jiho mumbled words he’d already said countless times before.

‘I want to stop…’

His consciousness gradually merged with the space and situation around him.

The more time passed, the more powerless he became. Only despair grew, slowly devouring him.

‘I want to stop…’

Jiho slowly closed his eyes. His awareness drifted. His vision beginning to shift was a sign.

Whoooosh—

And then, when he opened his eyes again, Jiho was standing all alone in a field of white snow.

***

Meanwhile, at the time Jiho was swallowed by the white light—

Zombie extermination was in full swing on the first floor.

“Kh….”

Dojin raised the familiar long spear in his hand and blocked a zombie lunging for his neck.

Crunch—grrk—

As the zombie bit down on the shaft of the spear, an unpleasant sound rang out.

Perhaps because Dojin was an esper with enhanced physical abilities, every zombie that rushed at him was uncommonly strong and fast.

But Dojin wasn’t someone who would fall behind to a mere zombie.

Splat!

Dojin gritted his teeth, put more strength into the arm gripping the spear, and swung it with force.

The zombie, which had thrown its weight onto the shaft with its jaw locked tight, lost balance and tumbled backward from the recoil.

Crash!

Grargh—grrk—!

The zombie bounced away and rolled across the floor, tangled with the others.

Dojin paused for a moment at its human-like appearance, but soon regained his composure and drove the tip of the spear into the zombie’s chest.

Grrk—grgh—grrrk—

The zombie flailed its limbs, showing no sign of pain, even with a spear through its chest.

Had it been a human, such an injury would’ve at least knocked them unconscious if not killed them outright.

“Captain! Let me handle this.”

“Yeah. Please do.”

It wasn’t like there was no way to deal with zombies.

You could destroy their head or heart beyond regeneration—or use magic to freeze or immobilize them.

“Whew…”

Dojin let out a breath as he watched Sehun freeze the zombie solid and shove it aside.

All along the hallway were corpses of zombies—some frozen by Sehun, others taken down by different espers.

‘I hope Jiho made it safely to the safe zone.’

After swinging his spear nonstop, Dojin finally had a brief moment of respite—and immediately worried about Jiho.

The last he had seen of Jiho was him running toward the end of the hallway, where the safe zone was, with help from Kijoon, Jihye, Geonwoo, and Heendungi.

“Uh, Captain.”

Just as Dojin was thinking he needed to finish clearing zombies and go find Jiho, a familiar voice called out behind him, and he turned.

There stood Yulchan, looking a little tired, with Sena hesitating beside him.

“Oh, yeah. Are you done?”

“Yes. We’ve made the space for now, but…”

Yulchan glanced around the empty banquet hall.

In the center of the space stood a wide, translucent barrier he had created.

“If we’re making a new safe zone, wouldn’t it be better to build it closer to an existing one?”

He offered his opinion hesitantly. It was understandable—he had been ordered to create the space without any context in the middle of a chaotic situation.

Naturally, Yulchan assumed this space was meant to serve as a secondary safe zone.

But Dojin shook his head and pointed at the pile of zombies on the floor and those still clashing with the other espers.

“No. It’s not a safe zone.”

“What? Then…”

“We’re going to trap the zombies inside that space.”

“…?”

It wasn’t the guides and espers who were meant to go in—but the zombies?

Before Yulchan could fully process what that meant, Dojin gave a confident shrug and abruptly drew a line on the floor with his spear.

A trail of flames flared up in the wake of the spearhead.

Dojin surveyed the remaining zombies—those still twitching or charging at the espers.

“Let’s herd them in.”

His voice was lower than usual, and his eyes gleamed sharply.

The chaos in the corridor was finally brought under control about thirty minutes later.

All across the floor were scratch marks and burn stains left behind by Dojin’s spear.

“Captain! This side’s all clear!”

“This area too! We’ve checked all the rooms!”

“We’ve also restrained the espers who were scratched by zombies or injured in unclear ways.”

The Korean espers had taken the lead in handling the zombie outbreak.

Because they didn’t recognize any of the faces emerging from the banquet hall, they had no hesitation in attacking.

In contrast, most of the Japanese military espers were reluctant to strike, hesitating at the familiarity of the faces, and focused instead on defense.

As a result, the majority of those killed or turned into zombies were Japanese espers.

They still don’t know exactly what turns someone into a zombie.

Some victims were found dead with bite marks, while others had only been scratched and still ended up as zombies.

With no clear understanding of the infection mechanism, they had no choice but to isolate and restrain everyone with injuries.

“Captain Baek.”

“Ah, Captain Yoon. Are you safe?”

“Yes, well enough…”

It was Yoon of the Beta Team who approached Dojin. Fortunately, he’d been far from the door when it burst open and had escaped unharmed.

Right behind him came Captain Kim of the Gamma Team, his face slightly pale.

Though he looked shaken and tired from the battle, he didn’t appear to be wounded.

Seeing them both safe, Dojin felt a small wave of relief.

“I’m going to check on the safe zone.”

“What? The safe zone… ah.”

Only then did Yoon and Kim realize that several members of Alpha Team were missing from the scene.

Among them was Dojin’s pair guide.

Looks like he got separated from his guide.

Since they all had their own pair guides, they understood the anxiety and urgency Dojin must be feeling.

“Go ahead. Don’t worry about things here.”

“Thank you. I’ll return quickly.”

“No need to rush. We’ll need time to regroup before heading to the second floor anyway.”

“Thanks.”

Dojin gave a quick bow and turned away in haste.

Sehun, Yulchan, and Sena silently trailed behind him.

Even knowing they were following, Dojin didn’t slow his pace.

He was on his way to the safe zone to find Jiho.

The unease he’d been trying to suppress welled up to his throat and shook him.

Something felt terribly wrong.

Kijoon and Jihye are with him… He shouldn’t be in any real danger.

Even as he repeated to himself that Jiho must have made it safely to the safe zone, Dojin’s heart beat with restless anxiety.

And that vague fear only deepened when they reached the middle of the corridor—at the base of the stairs leading to the second floor—where a white furball stood hesitantly with a troubled expression.

“…Heendungi?”

The little white fox stepped forward as if wanting to climb the stairs, then stepped back, pacing anxiously.

Upon seeing Dojin, he let out a sharp bark.

Yap!

“You… why are you here? Where’s Guide Jiho?”

Dojin clearly remembered seeing Heendungi closely following behind Jiho earlier.

He had even given the fox strict orders never to leave Jiho’s side no matter what.

But now, he was alone.

Whimper, whine, grrr…

Heendungi made an odd, frustrated sound—as if trying to explain or ask for help—then pointed its snout up the stairs.

Somehow, Dojin felt like he understood exactly what it was saying.

So that meant—

“Jiho… went up those stairs?”

Yap!

Heendungi barked again, more insistently.

Dojin, and the three following him—Sehun, Yulchan, and Sena—stared up the staircase with stunned faces.

The flickering torchlight on the walls cast an eerie glow up the stairs, swaying as though beckoning them upward.

Gulp—

The sound of someone swallowing dryly echoed quietly between them.