VSP 152

If TV broadcasts were messy, private livestreams were even worse. It was a time when everyone thought their own opinion was the only one that mattered.

The Association maintained a single stance throughout. They told everyone to prepare for the disaster.

In Sejun’s case, he naturally wanted to take the Association’s side in this matter. It wasn’t just because he wanted to be on their team; it was because this dungeon was different from the ones they knew before.

Fortunately, most people listened to the Association and prepared for this disaster. There were a few cases where humanity seemed lost, like stories of excessive hoarding or people overcharging for lodging to those who came up from the countryside to survive, but most people helped each other to stay alive.

However, the fact that people had to make a living didn’t change whether there was a dungeon or not, so office workers still went to work. Schools for elementary and middle school students all closed, but most high schools didn’t. They claimed it was because the university entrance exam was close.

“…….”

Sejun put down the puzzle piece he worked hard to fit. His excitement cooled down. His stomach felt queasy when he thought about Asura.

[Seo Sejun.]

“Yeah.”

[You’ll win. This time.]

Sejun smiled at Ruya’s awkward attempt of comfort.

“I should.”

And finally, that day came.

That day, the daily life of Girl A, who attended a high school in Pangyo, Seongnam, was ordinary.

Lately, many dungeons appeared, and ambulances passed by with sirens blaring all the time. News stations reported the current situation provocatively with titles like “The Approaching Disaster.”

There were some unsettling things, like empty seats in the classroom because a few students refused to come to school out of fear, but most people spent their day just like usual.

She watched the news about how the frequency of dungeon appearances dropped significantly lately. On her way to school, she sent a message to one of her best friends who was skipping school, saying something like, “Isn’t it time to come back? Don’t you miss me?” and giggled.

She told her friend to come to school, but honestly, school was always boring. She complained about why they had to be high schoolers when she heard the news that elementary and middle schools across the country closed. Whenever she did, the teachers were busy telling her to wake up because the entrance exam was coming and they were next.

Since it was Thursday, she had lunch while having a serious conversation with her friend about how it was the most tiring day of the week and why it wasn’t Friday. After eating, she sat in her seat by the window for some sunlight and chatted with her friend.

Until then, the world was the same as always.

“Hey, did you see this?”

“What?”

Girl A looked at the phone screen her friend showed her and soon made a dull face.

“Do you think I haven’t seen that? I already looked through all the analysis channels.”

“Really?”

What her friend showed her was a compilation video of Seo Sejun’s recent activities. It wasn’t a very interesting video for Girl A, who watched each video when it first came out and even saw the compilation several times.

Girl A was a fan of Seo Sejun. She wasn’t a recent fan; she took pride in the fact that she supported him since he started his work as a hunter. To her, this was just showing her old news.

She felt a bit smug because she saw the video first and shrugged her shoulders, but then she heard her friend mutter.

“How on earth did Seo Sejun get this strong? He used to be treated as the absolute lowest rank. It’s amazing.”

However, the words her friend said while looking at the video late somehow got on her nerves.

“What are you talking about? When was Seo Sejun ever weak?”

“Huh……?”

“Who would badmouth an EX-rank hunter? People say his personality is bad, but that’s just what his haters say. He’s just cool and doesn’t care what others think.”

She truly thought so. What was wrong with her favorite star? People made a fuss just because he was a bit prickly. And with looks like that, he could be a bit rude; what did it matter?

But her friend frowned for a long time after hearing Girl A’s words. It was as if she didn’t know where to start refuting this nonsense.

When was Seo Sejun ever weak? He was weak for an all-time legendary amount of time…

“What are you talking about? How is Seo Sejun EX-rank? Some say he’s EX-rank if you just look at Hoya, but Seo Sejun himself…”

“Who’s Hoya?”

“……?”

At this point, she couldn’t tell if this was a joke or not. But as far as she knew, Girl A didn’t joke when it came to Seo Sejun.

“Seo Sejun’s summon! The summoned beast, Hoya! Didn’t you say you’re a huge fan of Hoya?”

“What? Seo Sejun’s summon is Ruya.”

“Who’s Ruya?”

“No, who’s Hoya?”

The two were silent for a while.

But Seo Sejun was a famous hunter. The summon he brought along was also naturally famous. It wasn’t something they wouldn’t know or would get confused about.

It was just as the two were about to start an argument over the conflicting information.

Boom!

“Kyaaa!”

“Oh my god!”

Everyone in the classroom, including Girl A and her friend, screamed at the loud noise and the feeling of the building shaking. The building shook precariously as if it might collapse, but it soon regained its stability.

However, their shocked hearts didn’t calm down, so the two trembled for a long while. Muffled voices were heard from all directions. Since the entire building shook, everyone was terrified.

“What was that? What just happened?”

“I don’t know!”

“The, the building isn’t going to collapse, right? What did they say to do during an earthquake?”

“Under the desk… no, at this point, isn’t it better to just escape outside?”

The two barely managed to talk, it was more like they talked on purpose. Their entire bodies still shook with fear.

Meanwhile, for some reason, the hallway was noisy. The murmuring grew louder, and shouts were heard. It didn’t seem to be just because of the earthquake earlier.

“What’s going on?”

They also went out into the hallway. The sound of students crowded against the windows shouting “What is that?” was loud. Everyone was huddled together, trying to see outside, so she didn’t really want to join in, but curiosity won in the end. Girl A and her friend hung onto the window and looked outside.

When they looked in the direction everyone else looked, they saw something. In the distance, something very big.

“Huh?”

She automatically exclaimed. What was that?

It was very big, but it wasn’t a building. Unfortunately, it was something she saw for the first time. There was certainly no such thing until this morning.

An egg?

Except for the fact that the size was too large, it looked just like something’s egg. The very big, oval-shaped object had an ominous black-red color. If that was really something like a chicken egg, anyone would judge it as rotten based on the color. To be precise, they would surely think it was poisonous.

“This is insane…what is that?”

“Is it a movie set? Can you build that in a day?”

“What is it? Nothing comes up even if I search!”

“I’m telling you, that suddenly appeared after smashing the buildings earlier!”

“It smashed buildings?”

Hearing that conversation, Girl A realized that wasn’t an earthquake. The impact of that giant egg appearing hit the area with a shock similar to an earthquake.

However, even if she wanted to hear the eyewitness accounts in detail, everyone was so excited that they just screamed, making it hard to get decent information.

“……Is that maybe a dungeon?”

That was the sentence that sounded particularly loud at that moment. The noisy students stopped talking at the same time. When everyone stared at him, the student who said those words muttered with a very flustered face.

“I mean, it’s been so noisy with all the disaster talk. Didn’t they say it was the Final Dungeon…….”

Everyone became quiet as if they lost their words. The students chatting in the distance also stopped talking when their surroundings suddenly became silent. In that moment of silence, where the sound of someone breathing heavily felt like the loudest noise, their phones began to ring.

It was the disaster alert.

The sound of alerts from everyone’s phones at the same time in the middle of that silence was creepy. Girl A checked her phone. Her hand was shaking as she took the phone out of her pocket.

It wasn’t just one disaster message. Receiving several at once made her afraid, it showed how dangerous and urgent the current situation was. Messages arrived in parts: an anomaly occurred, multiple overflows suspected, do not stay near windows, leave school immediately, go to the disaster shelter right now.

[(Emergency Disaster Alert) Multiple unidentified dungeons confirmed open. Non-combat personnel, please move to designated shelters immediately. Awakened individuals, please follow the Association’s control.]

The moment the last message arrived, the building’s lights went out. It was a blackout.

“Kyaaa!”

“What? What happened?”

“I think it’s a power outage!”

The students, who were listening to the broadcast quietly as if making a sound would lead to trouble, panicked. With the blackout, the lights went out and the broadcast cut off. The only thing they could do was hurry to the shelter according to the disaster message’s content.