Chapter 364

What did I do? What a strange question.

“Nothing.”

With my mind at ease, the words came out leisurely. Sung Uijae pulled me up by the arm, then grabbed it and lifted it into the air, frowning.

“Blood?”

“I don’t know why this is on me.”

“You don’t remember?”

“I remember up to putting my hand in the water.”

“Is this a Dungeon that causes mental confusion?”

I frowned slightly at Sung Uijae for saying something strange.

“I’m completely fine right now.”

“You don’t remember getting blood on your hand, so how can you say you’re fine?”

Judging whether someone was fine or not simply based on their memory? Sung Uijae didn’t seem to know this, but normally, you knew yourself best. I calmly explained while wiping the blood off my hand.

“I know myself very well.”

“No, I don’t think you do.”

With a slightly more serious expression than before, Sung Uijae asked,

“Why are you already inside? You told me to go in before.”

“Ah, the schedule... got a little tangled. I came in once to scout it out.”

“Then what’s that?”

Following Sung Uijae’s gaze, I saw a single shoe lying there by itself.

‘Ah, the one I threw earlier.’

It was probably Executive Director Yoon’s final trace, but there was no need to explain it. It would have the opposite effect on Sung Uijae anyway.

“I don’t know?”

“Hey, Hunter Seo. Are you determined to get yourself killed?”

The moment I gave him a halfhearted answer, Sung Uijae’s voice dropped lower than before. He gripped my shoulder tightly, shoved me backward, and asked as though warning me.

“I really want to live.”

“Does it make any sense for you to enter a place like this alone at your Rank?”

“I was going to go in... and hide so the Dungeon Boss wouldn’t find me.”

“Then where is the Dungeon Boss?”

“How would I know?”

Sung Uijae squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again. He put a hand to his head with an expression like I’d just said some incomprehensible bullshit and he was going insane. As if a bastard like him even got headaches that easily?

“Hunter Seo. Do you not know what an A-rank Dungeon is? If something had gone wrong, I could’ve ended up finding your corpse. Does it make any sense to just stroll into an A-rank Dungeon when we don’t even have any prior information on what kind of Dungeon it is? At your Rank? What do you think would’ve happened if I’d come any later? Huh?”

“This place is really nice. It seems like somewhere that makes everyone happy.”

“Did you hear nothing I just said? I’m not happy at all right now.”

“Change your mindset.”

Leaving him behind, I began properly looking around the Dungeon. Something that could have been pale smoke or fog covered the whole place, so visibility was poor. Maybe because there was no distinction between the sky and the ground, it also felt as though I were floating in midair.

I examined the Dungeon carefully and came to a conclusion.

‘I don’t think it’s completely a mental-type Dungeon.’

Since the Dungeon Boss was called ‘Me,’ it seemed likely that something reflecting your own appearance would show up. Considering how alien the ‘me’ I saw in the lake spread across the ground like a mirror had looked, falling into that seemed to be the next stage.

“I think I roughly understand how this Dungeon works.”

“At least you got something out of coming in early?”

“Yes. But we can’t clear it yet, so let’s wait a little. Until the Hunter Association sends people.”

“You’re sure they’re coming?”

“Of course.”

Sung Uijae frowned at me as though he didn’t trust what I was saying, then sighed and demanded an explanation.

“Explain what you figured out about how this Dungeon works.”

Hmm.... How could I explain this to Sung Uijae? After thinking for a moment, I chose an intuitive word.

“Hunter Sung, so this place is....”

“.......”

“A kind of heaven.”

Close enough.

Just as I opened my mouth to continue explaining, Sung Uijae suddenly sighed and crooked a finger at me.

“Be quiet and come here.”

“......?”

I approached without thinking much of it, and Sung Uijae took an artifact storage case out from inside his clothes, then handed me one of the items inside.

‘It’s a Nullification Ring.’

The item he had gotten at the auction when I had barely first met him.

‘But why this?’

As I simply stared blankly at the Nullification Ring in his hand, Sung Uijae wiggled his fingers and said,

“Put it on.”

“Why?”

“It’s an item that temporarily nullifies Skills, and it works on mental confusion too.”

“I’m fine right now.”

“I said put it on.”

What a fucking pain in the ass.

I obediently put the Nullification Ring on my finger. The moment I did, I felt an unpleasant sensation, as though my mind, which had been clear until just now, suddenly became clouded.

“I feel worse.”

“Yeah, that’s your normal state, so keep wearing it. Inside the Dungeon.”

“No, I’m saying I feel fucking awful.”

“Yeah, sure. I was wondering why you were acting so strangely docile earlier.... Now you’re finally the Hunter Seo I know.”

What the hell was he talking about?

As I stared at him dumbfounded, Sung Uijae finally looked more at ease than before, as though he was now willing to listen to my explanation, and tilted his head.

“Go on, finish explaining.”

“I was right. It’s a kind of heaven. I’m telling you, it’s a place modeled after heaven. If you had to classify it, it’s closer to a mental-type Dungeon, but that doesn’t mean it has no physical substance. There seems to be a Dungeon Boss too.”

“Where?”

“Probably under the lake. It’s the only suspicious place in this space.”

“Everything looks suspicious to me.”

“That’s because you have no talent for appraisal, Hunter Sung.”

At my simple reply, Sung Uijae shook his head slightly and clicked his tongue. I ignored his reaction and continued explaining.

“It doesn’t seem like the Dungeon Boss has a separate form. It seems to be something that simply projects yourself. The lake looks almost like a mirror when you look at it.”

“What if we fall in and die?”

“There doesn’t seem to be any other way to clear it, so let’s try.”

“Fine. About when are the Hunter Association Hunters coming?”

No sooner had Sung Uijae finished asking than people entered through the Rift visible far away. There were two of them. It didn’t look like they had sent them with backup personnel in mind....

‘There’s an A-rank Hunter among them.’

The face looked familiar, so I thought I had probably met the bastard once before, either on a broadcast or at an event. It wasn’t as though I knew him personally.

I gave Sung Uijae a short answer.

“Now.”

Name: Han Jigyeong

Age: 31

Rank: A

Title: -

Main Skills: Binding (A), Piercing (A)

Growth Limit: A

Name: Kim Jeonghyeok

Age: 25

Rank: C

Main Skills: Silent Light (C), Running Start (D)

Growth Limit: C

The two Hunter Association Hunters spotted us and walked over. The A-rank Hunter, who offered Sung Uijae and me a handshake in turn, introduced his affiliation first.

“Hello, I’m Hunter Han Jigyeong from the Hunter Association. There’s an unreported Gate nearby, so we came to search the area.”

“Calling it nearby is a bit of a stretch. This should be quite far from Hunter Association headquarters.”

When I muttered lightly while looking at him, the A-rank Hunter’s gaze locked onto me.

“...Actually, there’s a missing person in this area. While searching for them, we found a Gate, so we came to see if they might have fallen in here.”

“Ahh.... A missing person.”

“But what brings the two of you here....”

“I had some personal business nearby and was looking around when I found a Gate.”

“Ah, Hunter Sung too?”

The bastard gave Sung Uijae one uneasy look, then nodded and asked seriously,

“Have you managed to figure out anything about the Dungeon?”

“If you had to classify it, it’s closer to a mental-type Dungeon, but it doesn’t seem to be a Dungeon that completely causes hallucinations or confusion. If I had to put it into words, it seems to draw out something from inside you....”

“Like a trauma Dungeon?”

“Maybe something similar?”

I pointed at the lake spread across the ground with my finger and continued.

“I think the answer is probably to go inside that.”

At those words, the A-rank Hunter looked at me for a moment before asking,

“What happened to your arm?”

“I put my hand into that lake, and only the part I put in came out like this. That’s why it seems suspicious.”

“.......”

I stepped aside for a moment and showed him the single shoe lying on the ground.

“This is....”

“For reference, I pulled this shoe out after finding it floating on that lake too.”

“.......”

“You said there’s a missing person, right? I think it might be worth investigating.”

“Wait, I need to talk to this guy for a second.”

At that moment, Sung Uijae cut me off, slung an arm over my shoulder, and moved some distance away from them.

“Hey, did you make someone go missing?”

“I didn’t make them disappear. Someone else got here first.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know either. That’s why I came in first.”

Obviously, that was complete bullshit.

Sung Uijae looked troubled, then sighed and said,

“So you’re going to send those guys down there?”

“Yes. I’m sending you too, Hunter Sung.”

“.......”

“You’re S-rank, so you won’t die. What does it matter?”

“So what’s the next part of the plan?”

“Clear it and come back out.”

When I said it casually, Sung Uijae’s brow furrowed sharply.

“That’s it?”

“Well, while you’re at it, want to kill those guys?”

“No.”

“Then why are you asking?”

“There has to be some intention behind it. Like doing something....”

“Just the three of you clearing it together and coming back out is enough. They’ll give statements for us.”

“Statements?”

At my explanation, he looked even more confused and sighed.

“Then I’ll just go clear it and come back, so you wait here.”

“You’re going to come all the way back here?”

“I will, so just stay put. After seeing what you were doing earlier, I don’t think you can handle it because your Rank is too low.”

I had planned to send only those bastards in the first place, but I didn’t think it was that much of a problem.

I glanced behind me, and the C-rank Hunter who had come with the A-rank Hunter was lying on the ground with a blissful expression, his fingers interlocked behind his head and his eyes gently closed.

“.......”

“.......”

The A-rank Hunter, who had been staring at the sight, woke the C-rank Hunter up, but the bastard merely waved his hand vaguely toward the sky with hazy eyes and said something to the A-rank Hunter without budging from the spot.

“Stay.”

“I’ll stay.”

We came to the same quick conclusion at the same time, and Sung Uijae turned around and strode over to them. The two forcibly pulled up the Hunter who was still lying peacefully on the ground, came to a brief agreement, then informed me.

“We’ll clear it and come back if you wait here. Hunter Seo, you’re support-type... so I don’t think you really need to go. This friend is a support Hunter too.”

“Yes.”

He looked pretty mentally checked out for someone who was supposed to provide support.

Anyway, one by one, they soon submerged themselves in the enormous lake to clear the Dungeon. Fine cracks spread across the flat Rift, and the lake quietly swallowed the people whole.

“.......”

I waved at them to say goodbye, then sat back down on the ground and watched the surface of the water smooth itself out again.

The Dungeon, which had become quiet in an instant, still had something strange about it, but I didn’t particularly feel as though it was affecting my body. Maybe it was because of the Nullification Ring Sung Uijae had given me, or maybe... well, I had adapted to it or something?

I sat comfortably and counted the time in my head.

‘It feels like it’s about time.’

I had sent only those guys in partly because the Dungeon was dangerous, but also because clearing the Dungeon wasn’t the objective in the first place. For that objective... I needed a very simple bit of mental manipulation.

How much time had passed?

The leisurely sound of footsteps echoed through the quiet space. Without bothering to turn around, I waited until the footsteps came all the way up behind me.

Only when I finally sensed someone’s presence behind me did I slowly tilt my head back.

“Was everything going according to plan?”