VSP 34

The sight of him still trembling and saying he was scared was absurd. How scary could this be to a 26 years old man?

But his grip was so desperate that even Dogyeong, who normally would have frowned and shaken him off, left him alone.

But when someone hugged his waist like that, even the great Cha Dogyeong could not move easily.

“…….”

Dogyeong’s eyes flicked to the hand holding his waist. He was trembling all over, yet he was desperate.

Maybe he should have expected this from the moment Sejun, who normally never admitted it, had confessed honestly that he was scared.

“Haa.”

In the end, Dogyeong sighed and grabbed Sejun’s hand, even knowing it would be bothersome. Better his hand than his waist.

“Huh?”

When he suddenly gripped the trembling hand tightly, Sejun’s face went blank, as if he had not expected it.

“Stop whining. I’ll hold your hand.”

When he spoke and shook their joined hands, Sejun’s tear-streaked face softened in relief.

Sejun wriggled his fingers. Dogyeong wondered what he was doing, then saw him tightening his grip, making it more secure.

Dogyeong’s large hand was completely taken by Sejun. They interlocked fingers, flesh pressed tightly together.

“…….”

It felt strange.

Seo Sejun liked Cha Dogyeong, so in this situation, of course he would not dislike holding hands like a child’s game.

But if someone asked Dogyeong how he felt, he would only say it was strange.

Unlike Dogyeong’s hands, which were beautiful but filled with small scars, Sejun’s hands were smooth for someone who had been dragged into various battles as a summoner.

Soft and without calluses, the touch was strangely pleasant. That hand imprinted itself especially deep in Dogyeong’s vision.

It was smaller than his own, but still a man’s hand. Even so, Dogyeong could not explain why at that moment the touch felt strangely striking.

“I wasn’t whining.”

Sejun mumbled excuses, as if he misunderstood Dogyeong staring at him. But his voice was hoarse from screaming so much, so it had no force.

Dogyeong snorted. Sure, if you say so.

After that, silence fell around them. The two advanced for a long time, hands held tightly together.

Inside the dungeon, the corridor only stretched endlessly. It grew darker and darker, but they didn’t progress.

Of course, the real Super Horror House in the amusement park could not possibly be this long. The assimilation with the dungeon had clearly changed the inside.

“Hey, Cha Dogyeong.”

As Dogyeong walked, looking only ahead, a voice came from behind. He answered without turning his head.

“What?”

Unlike his quick reply, Sejun didn’t answer for a while. For someone who usually talked confidently and uselessly, he hesitated and mumbled. What Sejun finally said was unexpected.

“Do you… not dislike me?”

The moment Dogyeong’s head turned around at that unforeseen question, a heavy ominous noise echoed, and a massive number of evil spirits poured out in front of him.

“Tch.”

Dogyeong raised the hand not holding Sejun and swung it forward.

Kiaaaaak!

Most of the spirits vanished with that single strike, but the sudden flood was too much. Dogyeong had to send out more shockwaves several times.

When even the last spirit crumbled into dust, silence returned.

“……?”

At that moment, Dogyeong felt the back of his head prickle. He turned around.

His hand was suddenly empty.

The ominous feeling proved right. There was no one behind him.

Sejun was gone.

“…Seo Sejun.”

Dogyeong called the name of the person he had definitely been holding tightly, but Sejun gave no reply.

“Seo Sejun!”

Wooooo

The answer was not Sejun. Evil spirits now filled the space ahead of Dogyeong. Twisting their grotesque bodies, they advanced toward him.

There were far too many. And they were revolting. If Sejun had seen them, he would have fainted in less than one second.

The abnormality of the assimilated dungeon had begun. The number was excessive, overwhelming.

“Tsk.”

Looking at the evil spirits crawling out in swarms, white light shone from Dogyeong’s hand.

The spirits were cleared in an instant. But if the abnormality had truly begun, then this was only a sign. From now on, they would pour out endlessly.

Before that.

Where had Seo Sejun gone?

Of course, no matter how much people called Seo Sejun the weakest S-rank, he was still an S-rank hunter. Dogyeong acknowledged Hoya’s strength as well.

So even if he had been thrown far away, he would not be taken down so easily. But the problem was his mana.

On top of that, a summoner who failed to summon could do nothing in a dungeon.

If he was grabbed by a beast that drained mana like last time, Sejun, whose fatal weakness was his low mana, would be helpless.

He had said before entering that his mana had increased, but who knew whether that was truth or a lie. Even if it had, it could not have been by much.

And thinking back to how he shivered the whole way, looking like he wanted to crawl out of his skin, it did not seem like he could put up any proper response.

‘Do you… not dislike me?’

And of all things, why did his last words have to be that?

“Ah.”

Shit, so annoying.

Dogyeong no longer held back.

He raised his hand high, and the blade that had always flickered small at his fingertips grew to the height of a person. He hurled it forward with full force.

Kwa-kwa-kwang!

He could not see them, but he heard the evil spirits screaming. Dogyeong kicked off the ground and jumped forward.

Until now, his pace had felt slow to his standards because he had been dragging Sejun along. Now his assault burned faster.

His heart was growing restless, though he did not realize it himself.

•••

“Argh!”

At some point, Sejun was rolling. The hem of Cha Dogyeong’s clothes that he had been gripping tightly was gone, and he rolled like down an endlessly steep path as if it were a slide.

If it had been a real slide, at least he could have balanced himself. But it was practically like tumbling down a slick cliff. He rolled for a long time until finally he crashed onto a flat floor.

“Ugh.”

Even if the slope had been smooth, when he landed, the impact hit him like a tidal wave, he felt as if his whole body had been smashed.

No exaggeration, if he had not had the body of an S-rank hunter, but only that of a normal man, his bones would have shattered and he might have died. At the very least, he would have been critically injured.

He cursed several times in his head. At least his body was tough like an S-rank’s, even if nothing else was. Groaning, Sejun rubbed his aching body and staggered to his feet.

It was pitch black on all sides. He could not tell where he was. There was not a trace of light. Sejun fumbled at his pants, pulled out his phone, and turned on the flashlight.

By some miracle, even after all that mess, the screen was unbroken, and the phone shone brightly.

A long corridor appeared, with doors on both sides, like an old run-down apartment or a chicken coop.

The doors stood out clearly in the dark. The walls were marked with torn flyers, strange numbers, and red talismans stuck everywhere, making the hallway unsettling.

“Ah…….”

A weak sound slipped out of Sejun’s mouth. There was not much else he could say.

This… I’ve seen this kind of thing at the start of a horror game.

Though Sejun was too cowardly to ever play them himself, while browsing the internet out of boredom he had once or twice seen other people play.

Even then he had been too scared to watch past the beginning and had clicked away, but usually such games started with a place like this, where disaster suddenly hit.

Just like Seo Sejun right now. Goosebumps crawled over his whole body, and Sejun shivered.

“Cha… Dogyeong?”

Clinging to his last hope, Sejun called Dogyeong’s name. But only his own voice echoed in the narrow space. There was no reply from Cha Dogyeong.

Of course, there was no trace of anyone else. The place was so silent it was eerie, with only the drip, drip of water from somewhere breaking the quiet.

No, wasn’t this obviously a deliberately designed space, with intentional sound effects!

“Cha Dogyeooong…….”

Even knowing it was useless, Sejun kept calling Dogyeong’s name.

He could not remember clearly the path they had taken together, but it had not been this grim. Wasn’t this atmosphere far, far too terrifying?