By Zephyria Honeybee scanned Eui-jae up and down quickly. She didn’t seem to be able to shake off her suspicion. Good posture. Suspicion is an essential quality for a Hunter. Eui-jae held out his bare hands, as if telling her to touch him.
However, it only intensified the murderous intent that stung her skin.
“Don’t drop your guard. Do you want to die?”
Honeybee snapped sharply. The shadow that had been moving little by little behind her stopped abruptly. She didn’t lower her Rapier and kept her distance. I can’t help it. Eui-jae raised both hands to show his surrender.
“It’s me, Honeybee.”
But she didn’t fall for it so easily. Heh, she snorted as if to be heard, and pointed her Rapier at him.
“Just because you wear a mask doesn’t mean you’re J. Do you know how many impersonators there are?”
“…….”
“Explain properly. If there’s anything strange, I’ll cut your head off.”
“We met in front of the Dungeon. That’s when you told me about Lee Sa-young’s whereabouts.”
“…….”
The murderous intent that had been weighing down on his whole body subsided a little. Eui-jae didn’t miss the opportunity and pointed to his back with a nod.
“Lee Sa-young came with me, so check it out. He’s behind me.”
Sa-young, whose name was called, peeked out from behind the debris. He smiled faintly and waved his hand casually. Only after confirming Lee Sa-young’s existence did Honeybee slowly lower her weapon. Thank goodness. It didn’t escalate into a bigger armed conflict. She sighed, tucking her Rapier into her waist.
“Haa… Yeah, seeing that annoying face, I guess it’s real….”
“Are you talking about me?”
“Is there anyone else showing their face here besides you? Anyway, J, I’m sorry for attacking you suddenly. Sometimes there are Monsters that pull out memories from people’s heads….”
Honeybee bowed her head. Eui-jae waved his hand.
“No, it’s okay. I would have done the same.”
Haha, an awkward laugh passed between them. Soon, the smile disappeared from Honeybee’s prim face. Returning to her businesslike attitude, she pointed to the white floor.
“Then let’s get down to business. Why are you here? Both of you.”
“That’s what we should be asking. What are you doing? Here.”
Sa-young, who had been approaching hesitantly, stood next to Eui-jae. Honeybee glared at him as if she was dumbfounded.
“Can’t you tell? I came to investigate the Invasion Dungeon. And then you guys popped out.”
Only then did the person who had been slowly moving behind them reveal himself. It was a young man carrying a large machine on his back, bending over. Honeybee tapped the floor with her foot and glared sharply.
“I don’t think you’re that crazy… You didn’t enter our Guild’s Dungeon without permission, did you?”
“Too bad… I can’t live up to your expectations. I’ll sneak in next time.”
Sa-young sneered, taking out an ID card from his coat pocket and showing it. Jongno 3-ga Underground Dungeon access card. Honeybee, who read the letters slowly, crossed her arms.
“Wave Guild Dungeon. Wait… You came from there? But why are we meeting?”
“That’s the strange thing. Don’t you know anything? Anything strange.”
Honeybee glanced at the young man standing behind her. Receiving her gaze, he cleared his throat and carefully opened his mouth.
“That… Originally, this place was a castle-shaped Dungeon. With vampire Monsters… But recently, the back of the castle collapsed, creating a path leading to a white Invasion Shield.”
“We kept coming because a path that didn’t exist before was created. It was originally blocked.”
“Was this Dungeon invaded before?”
“No, not at all. Remember the day the big-mouthed Monster came out? The path was created around that time.”
“Then the invasion is….”
“It’s relatively recent.”
“So the inside of that Dungeon is connected to our Dungeon….”
Sa-young tilted his head slightly.
“Isn’t there any more information? Any other changes?”
Honeybee, who had been tightly shut her mouth, sighed and swept her hair back.
“I’ll be honest. Our Guild Leader’s absence is huge. Team Leader Han and I are running around, but we’re too busy taking care of the Guild members.”
Sa-young, who was tapping his chin with his finger, smiled.
“Aha… That means you didn’t manage the Dungeon properly. You didn’t even check it regularly.”
“Hey, we did the bare minimum of management, okay? And your Guild is weird! Checking every single blade of grass growing on the floor like perverts.”
“It’s not weird, it’s thorough.”
“Oh, is that so.”
Eui-jae pulled on the back of Sa-young’s coat. It was a sign to stop picking a fight. Fortunately, Sa-young glanced down at Eui-jae and changed the subject.
“Is he still in that state? Matthew.”
It wasn’t a very good topic of conversation, and upon hearing Matthew’s name, not only Honeybee, but even the young man carrying the huge machine, darkened their faces. The atmosphere was critical. A grinding sound was heard. Honeybee answered with gritted teeth.
“Still.”
She gritted her teeth so hard that it was closer to eujeuneu, ae. Eui-jae quickly tried to change the subject.
“I, I see. Did you happen to see any Monsters….”
“I was going to ask Song Jo-heon what the hell he did, but Jung-bin kept cutting me off. Ha, as if I was going to kill him or something?”
“You would have killed him. I would have stopped you.”
“What?”
Sa-young answered right away. This guy isn’t trying to put out the fire, he’s pouring oil on it! Eui-jae poked Sa-young in the back with his fist. In fact, it was closer to hitting him. Sa-young shrugged slightly and looked at him as if asking why. Eui-jae quickly shook his head left and right.
But the mouth of terror didn’t stop. Sa-young snorted and continued to speak stubbornly.
“Who was it that told you the location of the Prometheus lab, but instead of thinking of getting information smartly, you brought Gyu-Gyu and stirred things up, making it difficult to catch the tail?”
“…….”
“If you’re going to hunt, you should leave a few holes to use as traps. When are you going to fix the habit of acting before thinking?”
Honeybee lowered her head slightly. Eui-jae, who was listening, also lowered his head solemnly. From what he heard, Honeybee’s way of acting was similar to Cha Eui-jae’s. In that she does whatever comes to mind first. Thanks to that, Eui-jae’s conscience was also being pricked painfully.
Soon, Honeybee raised her head sharply. A firm look could be seen on her flamboyant face.
“I’m sorry. I was swayed by my emotions.”
“…….”
“I thought it was the best thing to do at the time. …But it wasn’t.”
“…It’s okay as long as you know. It’s not like I can’t understand.”
Sa-young sighed softly and took a step back. And he stuck close to Eui-jae and slipped his hand under his jacket and onto his back. This is real. Eui-jae ignored the hand groping his back and asked calmly.
“Did you see any Monsters on the way?”
“I didn’t see a single one, so I thought it was strange. How come they’re not there when we’re trying to find them?”
“It’s the same here. Were there any Monsters in the castle?”
“No. Not a single one. It’s like they all evaporated. Or they leaked somewhere….”
“…….”
Eui-jae scanned the surroundings with the Eye of the Tracker. But other than the people gathered here, there wasn’t even a trace of a small Monster, let alone a bug crawling on the floor. The inside of the Dungeon, which was originally different but connected as one, a wasteland where no trace of living things could be found. Not a single Monster could be seen. It’s like only an empty shell remains.
…Shell?
A long-standing anxiety stirred. The Invasion Dungeon is an invasion of the Destroyed world. With the gatekeeper gone, the invasion would have accelerated.
What would happen if the Destroyed world and the current world were completely merged?
Eui-jae looked up at the hazy sky. White ash was falling.
Rush hour, bus stop. A middle-aged man sitting on a chair had his head bowed. Cough, cough, his body shook every time he coughed roughly. People wearing masks stood away from the man and glanced at him. Green letters appeared on the small electronic display that announced the bus arrival time.
[Seasonal flu is prevalent, so be sure to wear a mask….]
Cough, cough, cough…. The man’s shoulders heaved more violently. Among the people glancing around, a man in a suit approached boldly. He carefully touched the middle-aged man’s shoulder.
“Excuse me, are you okay….”
The middle-aged man, who had been bowing his head, slowly raised his head. The first thing that caught his eye was the mask that was wet and stuck to his mouth. A white liquid dripped down his chin from under the mask. The middle-aged man’s eyes were opaque white. The middle-aged man, no, it opened its mouth.
Kieeeeeek….
A terrible scream flowed out. The man in the suit collapsed to the ground. Ah, ah, aah. His jaw clattered. His body wouldn’t move. Its body twisted little by little, shedding its human form. And then.
‘It’ opened its maw wide.