Chapter 199

The instant the intuition flashed through my head, I pressed the earbud.

"Hey — while you're all searching, has anyone come across any clock parts? Something like an hour hand or a minute hand. I just found what looks like a clock hand."

While I was at it, I added the theory forming in my head.

"What if the boss room opens when you gather the scattered hour, minute, and second hands and set them into the clock tower?"

Barely had I finished speaking when the raid leaders' voices came back through the earbud, threaded with faint hope.

[That's a sound theory. Certainly better than wandering aimlessly. We'll make clock parts our top priority and sweep everything.]

But the top-tier rankers' reactions were different.

[Hmm… I don't know. An anomaly-type Gate wouldn't be that easy…]

[I agree. It's too obvious.]

Han Jewoon and Julia were skeptical, but nobody had a sharper lead to offer either.

In the end, we pinned our hopes on my theory and threw ourselves harder into the search.

After we'd torn through I'd lost count how many rooms —

[Found one! Minute hand, inside a bathtub!]

[Over here — we've secured the hour hand from on top of a chandelier!]

Finally, all three clock hands were together.

When we reappeared in the main hall, faint hope flickered through the terrified eyes of the non-Awakened huddling there.

People who had never once set foot near a Gate in their lives.

For those who had only ever sat in safe offices sending others off to die, the air of a dungeon — where every breath was a life-or-death gamble — must have felt like a suffocating poison all on its own.

Even Cheon Sangmin and Cheon Sangyeon, who'd been holding the situation together, were watching us now, taut with expectation.

"Look over there! There really are three empty slots on the clock tower!"

At someone's shout, a hunter with a flight skill lifted lightly into the air.

Approaching the massive golden clock face, he carefully took hold of the hands we'd gathered.

"Fitting them in now."

Clunk. Clunk.

With dull scrapes of metal, the hands slotted into place.

But.

"…Nothing's happening?"

Nothing.

No boss appearing, not so much as a flicker of change.

The massive clock tower simply stood there, silent.

"What, that's it?"

"Wasn't that supposed to solve the whole thing?!"

Disappointment and dismay burst through the hall in an instant.

Everyone was murmuring, deflated, when—

"Mister! Try setting it to exactly twelve o'clock."

Sea-ah spoke up.

"What? Twelve?"

"The Gate opened at midnight, right? Just in case."

At that, the hunter hurriedly overlapped all three hands on the '12'.

Click—.

The second, minute, and hour hands all lined up perfectly over the number twelve.

Kra-ka-ka-krak—! Thunk!

At last, deep inside the clock tower, the sound of massive gears heavily meshing and turning rumbled through the entire hall.

And in the next moment, bizarre music began to swell through the space.

Ba-ba-bum~ bum!

Ba-ba-bum~ bum!

Ba-ba-ba bum ba-ba-ba-bum~

Is this… the Wedding March?

A sacred melody hideously out of place in a dungeon reeking of blood.

At the same time, mana light flashed from the floor and the chandeliers, and monsters came pouring out.

Ice sculptures with wicked spears, house-sized man-eating flowers — even grotesque beast-monsters shaped like orchestra instruments.

"All hands, prepare to—!"

Just as Han Jewoon started to raise his sword and shout, a strange sight unfolded.

The monsters weren't attacking.

If anything, they retracted the vicious killing intent they'd been spewing, quick as flipping a switch, and began quietly lining up along either side of the red carpet that ran down the center of the hall.

"…?"

"What in the world are they doing?"

Confused murmurs rose in a tangled hum through the hall.

Like wedding-hall staff flanking an aisle, the monsters bowed as one in courteous unison, opening up a path for someone.

At the same time, the instrument-shaped monsters lifted bows and drew breath in perfect concert, striking up a grand processional march.

While everyone stood frozen at the bizarre spectacle—

Kreeeeeeeeeeak — BOOM!!

The far end of the banquet hall.

The entrance and exit.

The massive front doors that hadn't so much as scratched under Han Jewoon and Julia's attacks flew open wide.

As everyone sucked in a shocked breath, out of the pitch-black beyond, it walked.

A full, sweeping wedding dress.

But not brilliant snow-white — a horrifyingly blood-red gown, soaked through.

The truly appalling part, though, was what was in the dress.

"…What is that?"

What was wearing the dress wasn't a person.

It was the standard pure-white Aphrodite statue you'd find in any art studio.

The cold, pallid texture of plaster, with no trace of life to it.

That hard lump of plaster, decked out in a scarlet wedding dress, creaking step by step down the aisle — the cognitive dissonance was ferocious.

But the truly grotesque part came next.

"WHERE IS THE HUSBAND!!! WHY WON'T HE COME!!!!"

"WE HAVE TO GET MARRIED!!!"

The ice sculptures lined up along either side let out ear-shredding shrieks all at once.

"!!!"

Insane. Did… did a monster just talk?

I was recoiling in horror, about to step back —

"KYAAAAAAAAAH—!"

The dress-clad Aphrodite statue loosed a bone-chilling scream.

The instant that grotesque sound struck the eardrum—

Krrrk—!

"…!"

My entire body froze solid.

Not a figure of speech — my feet were bonded to the floor, and I couldn't move a millimeter.

Only my mouth and eyes could barely stir.

"An area-of-effect binding skill!"

Han Jewoon's shout tore across the hall.

"It doesn't seem to have any immediate intent to attack, so don't force it and try to break out. This looks like an S-rank skill!"

Glancing over, I could tell Han Jewoon and Julia could easily shatter the binding.

But rather than provoke the boss, they held still and watched, careful.

"The bride has come to find her husband~♪"

"To find her husband and prepare the wedding~♬"

The ice sculptures broke into a bizarre harmony like an opera chorus, singing.

"The first thing we need… is a groom, of course~~!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The moment the song ended, massive ice sculptures moved in.

They started grabbing at the young men in the crowd, hauling them out roughly.

Thankfully the kids got passed over for being too small, but the back of my collar was seized by a sculpture's blunt hand.

"Director!"

I heard the kids' urgent cries, but I was dragged, powerless, into the center of the hall and set in a row with the other men.

Soon the plaster Aphrodite statue in her wedding dress approached.

The air was as vicious as a job interview.

"How about this one~♪"

At the ice sculpture's question, the statue tossed her head to the side, prim.

Kra-thud—!!

"Aaaaaargh!"

Along with a merciless rejection, the first man was flung like luggage and slammed into the wall.

The second and third went the same way.

Cheon Sangcheol, who was foaming at the mouth in terror, she didn't even bother looking at — flung him aside in one second flat.

Hold on… don't tell me…?

The interview process went on and on.

Looking closer, there was a pattern.

The face.

If a man's face was on the pretty side, she lingered in front of him particularly long.

Was this statue… judging on looks?

She almost picked Han Jewoon on the spot.

But the moment he flashed his signature sly grin, the statue flinched and moved on.

And at last, that plaster statue stopped in front of me.

Please move on. I don't even care if I get thrown against the wall — please, pass!

I was praying inwardly with everything I had when I felt it go wrong.

She was staring at my face — really staring.

Panicking, I did what Han Jewoon had done and pulled up a slick, corner-of-the-mouth grin.

I thought a sleazy smile would put her off enough to move on —

Zzzz-inng—.

Instead, the statue's pallid cheeks flushed a delicate pink.

"Found him~~~! Found the groom~~~!!♪"

"Wha—?"

The ice sculpture's exultant song sent me reeling in shock.

"No! Why me?! What in the hell?!"

"Our bride~ has a taste for blond delinquent types~~~~♬"

"You have got to be kidding!!!!"

While I was shouting, the ice sculptures lifted me clean off the floor.

"Direektuh!!!!"

The kids' faces went the color of ash as they cried out, but the grand orchestral swell swallowed their voices up.

"We've found the groom~ we must hold the wedding~~♪"

"When the wedding is ready~~~ the bride and groom may meet~~~♬"

"Four things must be prepared, and the wedding is in twelve hours~~~!"

"Ghhk!"

But I didn't have the room to take in the song properly.

Because I slammed into the bride's rock-hard body with a whump and a strangled grunt tore out of me.

"Director!!!"

The kids' fading screams — the last thing I caught before the doors sealed shut and cut my view off completely.

Thud, thud, thud.

Hauled somewhere by brute force.

When I opened my eyes again, I let out a small, incredulous laugh.

A bride's waiting room?

Blinding white silk curtains, gorgeous pastel fresh flowers filling every wall, an elegant white velvet sofa in the middle of the room.

It looked just like a scene from a friend's wedding I'd been to years ago.

But that was strictly from a distance.

Up close, it was grotesque beyond words.

The curtains were rotting flesh stretched thin, hanging damp and clammy; what I'd taken for fragrant flowers were monster organ fragments discolored to a blood red.

The crude imitation went past unconvincing and straight to actively repulsive.

For a kidnapper, the statue set me down onto the sofa with careful, delicate hands.

"When the wedding is ready, we shall be one forever~♪"

"Right here, together~~♬"

Once the ice sculpture that had followed us in belted out its saccharine wedding song, the statue twisted its stiff body around, bashful.

In that instant, my senses came roaring back.

The moment I'd entered the waiting room, the binding had released.

The second my hands and feet were free, I hauled up mana without hesitation.

"Explosion!!"

KABOOM—!!!

A massive mana explosion rocked the bride's waiting room.

But when the pale dust cleared, what unfolded in front of me left me speechless.

"Are you calling for the bride~~~~?♪"

The statue, which had taken the explosion square-on, turned to me without a scratch on her face.

...

"Ha ha…"

My attack had just been read as… a summons.

But as the silence stretched, the statue started to advance on me, giving off a strange pressure.

Instinctive alarm pushed me to blurt out whatever came to mind.

"Uh, so… the wedding… where's it going to be?"

Pause.

At the single line, the statue creaked and twisted her body around again.

"To worry about the wedding already~~♬"

"He is the prepared groom~~~♪"

"Fret not~~ we'll take care of it~~♪"

Singing all the while, the statue and the ice sculptures filed out of the bride's waiting room.

Turned overnight into the groom of an S-rank boss, I was left there, alone in the sudden quiet.

Right after Chae Junhyeok had been kidnapped by the grotesque plaster statue and swept away past the massive doors—

Kreeeeeeeak — BOOM!!

The instant those doors slammed shut, the area-wide binding pressing down on the hall lifted, just like that.

"Direektuh got taken again!!!!"

The moment their bodies were free, the kids' cries ripped through the hall.

"Why is our Director so popular?! Now even the monsters have their eyes on him!"

The kids bolted over and started pounding at the sealed banquet doors.

But no matter how they hammered or how many skills they poured into it, the doors held perfect and unmarked.

That was when Han Jewoon spoke, gentling the kids.

"Calm down. Junhyeok's going to be fine."

"Grrr — Guild Master, we don't like you!"

Riled up, the kids flew at Han Jewoon and started thumping their tiny fists against his leg.

"The Director got taken by that monshter and you say he'sh fine?!"

"You didn't even go save him!!"

Han Jewoon took the pummeling in silence and explained, calm.

"If anything, this works in our favor. We've locked down the clear condition, and Chae Junhyeok is safe for at least twelve hours."

"What do you mean?"

Sea-ah asked, biting her lip. Han Jewoon fixed his eyes on the sealed doors and answered.

"Think back to the lyrics of their song. The wedding must be ready before you can meet, and the wedding is in twelve hours. Meaning — for at least twelve hours, they'll treat him as the groom-in-waiting without touching a hair on his head."

At that, the kids' pummeling fists finally stalled.

Julia nodded as if in agreement with Han Jewoon and picked up, flat.

"Then this wedding preparation is the crux of it. They very clearly sang that four things must be prepared."

"Ah! I think I know what that is!"

While everyone was chewing over what the four items might be, Leo shot his hand up and stepped in.

"There's a Western wedding tradition called something four. The idea is that if the bride carries four special items on her wedding day, her marriage will be happy and prosperous."

At that, Seo Jihyeok pushed his glasses up and picked it up.

"Four items — you mean something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue?"

Leo nodded.

"Right. Finding all four in this venue is the condition to open the boss room!"

At Leo's clean explanation, color returned to the faces of the non-Awakened and the hunters who'd been hanging on every word.

"Easier than I thought! Can't we just grab whatever we already have and make it fit?"

"Right! I've got a blue ballpoint pen here, and I bought a new handkerchief today too!"

Relief that they might survive flooded through, and people started rummaging through pockets and pulling items out.

But Han Jewoon and Julia, watching the scene, wore expressions that stayed grim.