VSP 134

The server seemed to turn back after seeing the untouched salad and sensing the atmosphere inside the room, but the two remained motionless, staring at each other.

Did Sejun know? That he had made these two people, who would never have acted like this in a lifetime, behave so childishly.

Ryu Sehyun seemed lost in thought. In the end, it was Dogyeong who lost his composure first.

“So? You were going to give up and ask me to take care of Sejun for you?”

He knew Ryu Sehyun would deny it, but what came out of his mouth next was unexpected even from Dogyeong’s perspective.

“I never said I was giving up on Sejun.”

“What?”

“I never gave up, and I have no intention of giving up.”

Ryu Sehyun hadn’t even considered giving up. Dogyeong frowned, but Ryu Sehyun smiled.

“I just hope you don’t hurt him. While he’s by your side.”

He was someone who rarely smiled, so why was he smiling now? It was the smile of someone certain of his own convictions. It was a calm yet determined expression.

‘While he’s by your side?’ It was beyond absurd.

“This is the first time in my life I’ve heard such a declaration of war. I’m flustered.”

A wave of heat instantly surged through his head. A childish thought popped into his mind, and Dogyeong pressed his hand to his forehead. Ah, I’m really getting worked up.

“Hyung, you—”

Just as Dogyeong was about to say something, Ryu Sehyun’s phone rang. Dogyeong clicked his tongue. It was the ringtone he’d set specifically for emergencies, so Ryu Sehyun answered immediately.

“Yes, go ahead.”

His expression changed by the second. His calm face stiffened in an instant. Ryu Sehyun’s hand tightened around the phone.

“The entrance is blocked? What do you mean?”

While Ryu Sehyun was on the call, Dogyeong, who had been ignoring his salad or sulkily stirring it, lifted his head at the unusual conversation.

The entrance is blocked.

What entrance?

The dungeon entrance.

Dogyeong’s hand, which had been frantically searching for the missing subject, froze. The salad, mixed up haphazardly by Dogyeong’s hands, gave off a fragrant aroma, but in that instant, Dogyeong’s appetite vanished completely.

•••

Damn it, this damn mana.

Sejun panted from exhaustion as he cursed.

Ever since becoming a hunter, mana had been constantly dragging him down. Today, it was still clinging to his ankles.

“Ugh.”

He hadn’t eaten anything, so there was nothing to throw up, yet nausea surged like he was suffering from severe motion sickness. Sejun retched several times.

“…Are you okay?”

Jeong Siwoo glanced at Sejun and asked if he was alright. But Sejun didn’t have the mental capacity to respond.

His mana was draining away too quickly. Even with the ring that halved his mana consumption, his mana washing away like a tide made his stomach churn.

Hoya, because of his power, consumed a lot of mana. This was always a burden for Sejun, who had little mana to begin with. Today was no exception.

This must be a seriously flawed written code. Sejun thought self-deprecatingly.

‘Seo Sejun is like trying to run the latest AAA game on a floppy disk.’

Some self-proclaimed hunter expert had compared Sejun to this in the media, leading to a period where his nickname was “Floppy Disk.”

Most things about Sejun, even rumors or nicknames, were fast-food-like, quickly made and quickly consumed. Even that nickname didn’t last long.

‘The design was flawed from the start. It makes you wonder who set it up that way. It’s a subject of study even among us.’

Honestly, even he found that a bit funny when he heard it. Of course, the annoyance was stronger than the humor, so that feeling didn’t last long.

Is this right? Why is it always me who ends up like this? Feeling suddenly aggrieved, Sejun forcefully pounded his heaving chest.

“Ugh, fuck.”

After finally letting out a satisfying curse, Sejun, finding the system unavailable, retrieved a potion from his sub-space and drank it himself.

The problem was that even then, the snakes didn’t decrease in number and continued swarming in.

There were simply too many. From tiny thread snakes to anaconda-sized ones, they swarmed in disgusting numbers. No matter how strong Hoya was, he was alone. The spirits had been recalled long ago while trying to help him.

The only reason Hoya could hold out was because Jeong Siwoo was controlling the snakes all at once.

True to his S-rank Hunter status, Jeong Siwoo controlled dozens of snakes simultaneously. Yet, even with simultaneous mental domination, their numbers were overwhelming. Too many. Far too many. It felt almost impossible.

-…….

The enormous serpent with yellow eyes, reminiscent of a dragon, had only revealed itself once. It stared intently at the two from afar, showing no intention of approaching.

Its stance seemed calculated to drain their mana, shifting the advantage to itself.

Indeed, their mana was steadily draining. Jeong Siwoo possessed only an average amount of mana, and while the mana cost of mental domination wasn’t exceptionally high, he was handling the constantly swarming snakes all at once. He couldn’t hold out much longer either.

And if Jeong Siwoo fell, Hoya, who was minimizing his movements to conserve mana, would likely collapse soon after.

What should they do?

Sejun hadn’t overlooked the option of charging the boss first. But doing so posed too many risks.

Even if Jeong Siwoo stopped the surrounding snakes with mind control, more snakes kept appearing behind them. If Hoya left his position, both Sejun and Jeong Siwoo would likely be endangered simultaneously.

The bigger problem was that the boss constantly swam through the ground, quickly changing positions, making it seem impossible to catch up easily.

This was strange. Was an A-rank dungeon boss really smart enough to come up with such a strategy? The answer came immediately. No.

Many S-rank dungeon bosses were brutes who relied solely on force and charged headlong. There was no way an A-rank boss would be this clever. At least, that was Sejun’s experience so far.

The moment he realized something was wrong, Sejun’s mind flashed back to the Taesong Department Store, the strangest dungeon he’d encountered recently. Naturally, the question arose: ‘Could this also be like the Taesong Department Store, where detection isn’t working properly? S-rank but marked as A-rank?”

Finally, Sejun nudged Jeong Siwoo, who was standing next to him.

“Hey, Jeong Siwoo.”

“What?”

“You think this is weird too, right?”

Jeong Siwoo seemed to sense something off too. He didn’t look confused by Sejun’s question.

“……The difficulty is too high.”

Jeong Siwoo had apparently been thinking it was strange too. An A-rank dungeon is fundamentally a level a single S-rank hunter can handle alone. It was only because of safety protocols that two people entered.

But it’s difficult even if two people try hard? And the boss requires strategy?

Sejun clicked his tongue. They’d been hesitating all along because it was an A-rank dungeon, but now they had to make a decision.

“Anyway, the dungeon will just be left alone and overflow with time, so it’s better to retreat for now.”

Retreating from an A-rank dungeon could make news, and if it did, Sejun’s standing as a hunter—already facing bad public opinion—might worsen. But forcing a reckless push just because of public opinion wouldn’t be better either.

“Understood.”

The moment Jeong Siwoo agreed, Sejun looked toward Hoya. Hoya, who had been moving all along, glanced at Sejun briefly before returning to his hunting.

Hoya will be fine.

His intelligent summoned beast would surely understand Sejun’s intention and act accordingly without needing to be told. Sejun trusted Hoya.

The two retreated cautiously. With destroyed buildings everywhere and snakes constantly burrowing through the ground, they had no choice but to cross between rooftops toward the entrance.

During this, Sejun drank another mana potion and felt his hands start to tremble slightly as a side effect.

The incident occurred just as they had retreated far enough to see the entrance.

With a loud noise, the building they were standing on began shaking.

“……!”

As if sensing their retreat, the massive snake had already broken through the ground and building, advancing toward them.

The building, its foundation lost, began falling.

“Ah!”

In the process, Jeong Siwoo lost his balance and slipped. Below, where there wasn’t even a railing, was a drop that looked like a 7-story plunge.

In a split second, Sejun reflexively grabbed Jeong Siwoo’s hand as he was about to fall and pulled him toward himself.

It was at that moment.

“Ugh!”

A blue light flashed from the ground, and something shot out like a long whip, wrapping around Sejun’s neck and pulling him back.

Sejun, whose footing had been unstable from pulling Jeong Siwoo, couldn’t hold on and fell straight toward the cliff.

“Seo Sejun!”

Jeong Siwoo screamed, but Sejun, falling from the height of the seventh floor, was in no state to hear him.