VSP 35

Sejun thought the light was flickering, but it was his hand holding the phone that was shaking.

Sejun truly had no immunity to horror.

Even if this were a game, he felt he would not be able to move forward. Yet this was reality, and he had to cross that corridor himself. He could not believe it.

“Hey, hey… system.”

Sejun called his only conversation partner. But the system log did not update. It stayed silent.

Now that he thought about it, he realized he had been too busy trembling and screaming since entering the dungeon to notice, but the system had stopped responding at some point.

It seemed to be one of the anomalies of assimilated dungeons. The fact that he had suddenly been separated from his teammate after walking normally made no sense unless it was caused by the assimilation anomaly.

Of course, assimilated dungeons did not necessarily have bosses or monsters that were stronger, but no one could know in advance how their abnormal effects would trigger. That alone made them more threatening than normal dungeons.

Sejun wanted to cry. Without Cha Dogyeong, who had been the only thing allowing him to endure, he was left with only the corridor and one terrified man.

“Ha…”

Looking for something to lean on, Sejun almost summoned Hoya. But he barely managed to calm himself right before the summoning.

No, if I summon him, my mana will be drained immediately. Who knows what will happen here, and I’ll waste Hoya just because I’m scared? If the system isn’t responding, then the subspace might not respond either. I might not even be able to drink a potion. Hoya is the last resort. Get a hold of yourself.

Sejun pulled himself together.

Assimilated dungeon anomalies were well known dungeons where the gimmicks activated in strange ways. Their patterns were so varied and unpredictable that no one could foresee them.

In the end, Sejun clenched his teeth and started walking slowly down the corridor. His pace was so slow that even a turtle would have called him elder brother.

Thump thump thump!

“Ahhhh!”

When one of the doors suddenly rattled and something banged on it like a fist pounding, Sejun screamed and ran.

Then more loud pounding sounds came from the doors on both sides. It was a nightmarish sight.

“……! ……!”

He knew it was reality, not a dream, so he could not stop running. Inhuman shrieks poured from his mouth.

His pace, compared to when he had been crawling like a snail holding Dogyeong’s hand, was now S-rank hunter-like, fast as a bullet.

But the problem was this damned corridor had no exit. It went on endlessly.

Even after running desperately, the corridor never ended, and the pounding continued. Sejun finally understood and stopped, he whipped his head back.

Then, as if it had all been a hallucination, the pounding on the doors ceased. Under the weak light, the dark hallway looked even more ominous.

Woooooo

The same sinister sound from earlier slammed into Sejun’s ears.

“Huff, huff.”

Please, please, just stop that horrible sound!

Sejun thought it seemed better to go forward rather than back, so he turned toward the direction he had been running. But instead of the endless corridor, he saw a filthy wall blocking the way. He let out an empty laugh.

“Hahaha.”

He realized something then: a person can laugh even when fear reached its peak.

It had been a corridor just moments ago. Why was there suddenly a wall here? And those marks dotted across the wall, weren’t they bright red handprints that looked like bloodstains? No, in a place like this, they must really be blood.

Either way, the path was blocked. For Sejun, there was no choice but to go back the way he had come. He turned around to face the corridor he had just run down like a madman.

Of course, his frozen legs would not move easily.

Sejun had never enjoyed horror games, but sometimes when he had nothing to do, he had watched others play them a few times. Each time he thought, thank god it’s not me.

Even watching was terrifying. If it were me instead…

Just imagining it made his body shudder.

[If Sejun-nim went through that, you would just faint right away.]

The system had once said that when they watched together. Sejun had agreed. He had nothing to bluff with there.

‘I could faint instantly without asking questions.’

But now that it was reality, if he fainted he clearly saw a future where he would die. So he could not do that, this was still inside a dungeon.

Even just watching someone play made his whole body tremble. It was horrifying now that he has become the protagonist of a horror game in reality. He could not figure out how he had run earlier, and he had no courage left to run again.

Sejun’s body tensed from nerves. Then suddenly, something tapped his shoulder from behind.

Creak, creak.

Sejun slowly turned his stiff neck back. A pale hand stuck out from what definitely had been a wall.

That hand had tapped Sejun on the shoulder as if it were saying, look at me.

“……Ahhhh!”

Sejun now ran in the opposite direction. His mind was completely wiped blank.

He could not look back. If he saw the white-handed monster chasing right behind him, he felt sure he would faint on the spot.

“Cha Dogyeooong!”

In a time like this, there was only one name he could call. He had no idea where Dogyeong was, and it was obvious he would not hear him anyway, but Sejun screamed Dogyeong’s name until his throat ripped.

Did his voice reach?

Kwa-kwa-kwang!

“……!”

Suddenly, the wall of the corridor he had just passed exploded, and a massive man came out.

“Ahhh!”

Sejun screamed, thinking what the hell is this now! But then he realized it was not another trick of the dungeon. It was someone he knew all too well.

“Grr.”

Bulging muscles covered his body, dark fur layered over them. A protruding muzzle and sharp teeth, claws so thick and sharp that even brushing against them would be fatal.

Though he walked upright, his appearance was nothing but that of a wolf. A werewolf.

……Lee Dohun. He had transformed.

Dohun, who had appeared from who knows where, looked around, then noticed the monster chasing Sejun before he noticed Sejun himself. He swung his fist at it immediately.

Bang!

It was called a fist, but it was more like a nuclear bomb. The ghost–no, the monster–was ripped apart with a sound like a balloon explosion.

A monster that could have been a mid-boss of an A-rank dungeon disappeared instantly without lasting a single hit.

“What the hell is this?”

Dohun, who had no special intention other than punching the monster that rushed at him, shook his hand off and looked around. Then he spotted Sejun frozen nearby and stopped.

Even though his face was no longer human, the expression of annoyance was obvious.

“Why are you here?”

That’s my line.

You burst out of nowhere, smash the monster, and then ask the person already here why he’s here? But before Sejun could speak logically, Dohun seemed to realize something. “Ah.”

“That scream was you?”

Ha, of course.

Dohun scratched the back of his head roughly, he was irritated.

“Dogyeong wouldn’t scream, and he wouldn’t call his own name. I heard the sound, so I broke through. But Dogyeong isn’t here.”

Only this idiot is. Dohun let out a long sigh. At that, something welled up in Sejun’s chest.

This bastard.

But Sejun knew what he had to do came before arguing back. Even if his way of speaking was garbage, he was the one who had saved him.

“……Thanks.”

“What?”

Dohun looked like he had heard something completely unexpected. Sejun forced himself to speak calmly.

“I said thanks, for helping me.”

Whatever the intention, Dohun had helped him. He had saved Sejun, who had been too panicked to respond at all.

Dohun stayed silent for a while, then let out a short “Ha!” and scratched his head again roughly.

“Hey, Seo Sejun.”

Usually, nothing pleasant followed those words from Lee Dohun.

And this time was no different.

“You really are a moron, huh?”

His words were nasty as always.

Tok.

At that moment, Sejun heard a water dripping sound in his ear. But with Dohun picking a fight right in front of him, it was hard to pay attention to it.

Sejun grew annoyed too.

“Shit, I said thank you, so why the fuck are you flipping out?”

“Because you really are a moron. To say thank you here? What the hell is in that head of yours?”

Tok, tok.