Chapter 200

"The clear condition of an S-rank anomaly-type dungeon like this — items that people happened to bring in from outside are never going to satisfy it. We have to find the real offerings the dungeon's asking for, in here."

Even after Han Jewoon's cold analysis, the terrified non-Awakened's fear soon burst outward into blind rage.

"How do you know without trying?! Being a ranker doesn't make you always right! We've been through the wringer ourselves!"

"Right! Something that at least looks close — we've got to try it before any hints show up! Better than sitting here waiting to die — let's throw something in!"

Just as the crowd, unable to master their fury, was clamoring out—

"L — look at that!"

Someone screamed, pointing at the massive golden clock tower in the middle of the hall.

With a heavy tremor, the body of the clock tower slid open, and out of it rose four altars.

Like the pedestals that hold offerings at a sacred wedding, each carried a shallow hollow on top where something could be set.

"Is — is that where we're supposed to put them?"

While people were murmuring and shifting anxiously, one man, seized by pure terror, lost his reason and bolted forward.

"I'm getting out of here right now!!!! I can't stand one more second in this horrible place!"

He started snatching things off the people around him — a fountain pen, an old pocket watch, a new handkerchief, a blue tiepin — and slapping them down onto the altars in whatever order he grabbed them.

"Stop!"

Han Jewoon caught the danger and lunged, kicking off the floor — but he was a step too late.

With a grotesque grinding noise, the clock tower registered the fake offerings on the altars and cracked open a massive maw.

"Huh…?"

There was no time to run.

Like a greedy beast, dozens of red veins burst out from inside the clock tower, coiled around the man's body over and over, and hauled him straight in.

Crrunch, krak—!

With a bone-chilling wet crunch, the man was ground down into another piece of the clock tower — no time even for a final scream.

The single drop of blood that fell to the floor was the only proof he'd been alive a moment before.

"KYAAAAAAAAH—!"

"HIIEEEK!!"

In the venue turned to chaos, Leo roared, veins standing out at his temples.

"Everyone stay put!! You ignore a Gate's rules like that and the whole Gate could come collapsing down on us!"

Alongside Leo's shout, Julia unleashed a chill killing intent that pressed down on the crowd.

Under the rankers' overwhelming pressure, the crowd went ashen and trembling, clapping hands over their mouths.

The room went silent as if cold water had been dumped over it.

Han Jewoon herded the terrified non-Awakened off to one side, then called the hunters together separately.

Hunters trapped in the banquet hall: roughly forty.

Setting aside support-type Awakened, the S-through-B-rank hunters actually capable of combat came to just fifteen or so.

A hopelessly thin force to bring against an S-rank boss.

Han Jewoon, Julia, Leo, and Seo Jihyeok pulled off to the side and kept talking.

"Since outside items don't work, it's clear the real offerings have to be found inside this Gate…"

"So we're back to combing the entire dungeon, like before?"

At Seo Jihyeok's hollow mutter, Leo raked at his hair, testy.

"Haah… we don't even know how many annex rooms this place has… twelve hours might not cut it."

The bleak discussion had just wound on when—

Kreee-krik-krik—.

Somewhere, a bone-chilling scraping noise, like bone dragged over bone, echoed through the hall.

The ice sculptures lined up on either side of the red carpet.

Grotesquely, their frozen jaws cracked open all at once.

Then, from between those stiffened lips, a horrifyingly cheerful harmony poured out.

"Aaahh~ an announcement for our esteemed guests~♪"

"The wedding of the groom, Mr. ■■■, and the bride, Ms. ■■■■■,~ is about to begin~♬"

Because it was leaking through frozen vocal cords, the name portions came out garbled into an unpleasant noise.

The sculptures paid it no mind, tilting their heads at grotesque angles as they carried on singing.

"Guests, please~ complete your offerings quickly and return to the venue~♪"

"The ceremony will be held precisely twelve hours from now~♬"

The instant the chorus ended—

BOOM—!

The massive golden clock tower shook with a bone-deep roar, as if the ground itself might give way.

Every eye snapped to the center. Deep inside, massive gears meshed with a heavy clunk.

Then, with an unsettling snap, the clock's second hand moved.

Tick, tick, tick—

Faintly trembling, the second hand began to run backwards.

"Wh — what…?! Don't tell me the clock's running backwards?!"

"That… that looks like a timer?!"

At the same moment—

Trrrrrrmmm—!

A quake heavy enough to crumble the ground rolled through the banquet hall, and the very structure of the dungeon began twisting grotesquely.

"UWAAAAH!"

Amid the tumbled chaos of screams, once the dust settled, an unbelievable sight came into view.

Where the once-solid banquet-hall walls had crumbled, four massive doors had thrust up into place.

A blue door, giving off a bleak chill.

An old door, decayed and rotting like it might crumble any second.

A new door, radiating a glow so brilliant it was chilling.

And a patchwork door, cobbled together from every kind of odds and ends.

"Wh — what is that?!"

"Doors, out of nowhere—!"

Panicked murmurs shot through with screams broke out among the non-Awakened.

The first to get their bearings in the chaos were the top-tier rankers Han Jewoon and Julia.

Locked on the doors, the two seemed to read the situation in a single glance and exchanged a sharp look.

"Everyone, gather round."

At the call, the hunters formed up with drilled precision.

Han Jewoon singled out the ones with detection skills.

"First things first — examine those four doors thoroughly. Traps could trigger, so no physical strikes."

On the order, the hunters cautiously approached the doors and studied their surfaces.

"Guild Master! Each door has a specific inscription and a strange number written on it!"

The hunters immediately recorded the information and threw it up as a blue holographic window.

Above the panel — glowing with a chilly light — the four conditions surfaced one after another.

Leo took in the dense English text, stepped forward, and spoke, heavy.

[The Old Door — Something Old]

"Dig through the dust of time to retrieve the tarnished golden vow."

0/5

[The Blue Door — Something Blue]

"Awaken the blue bloom frozen in sorrow, and survive the wave that follows."

0/2

[The Borrowed Door — Something Borrowed]

"Offer the dawn of your unlived days to the bride."

0/3

[The New Door — Something New]

"Pave the new path with your crimson essence so the bride may walk."

0/100

And at the very bottom of every door, one more line — painted over in blood-red — had been etched in.

"Only those bound by the groom's ties may cross the threshold."

"What in the world does any of this mean…?"

"A blue bloom frozen in sorrow? Crimson essence? What is this, a riddle?"

The eerie inscriptions, thick with metaphor, sent unease spreading like a plague through the non-Awakened and low-tier hunters who'd hung back.

That was when Julia — who had been staring at the hologram intently — spoke.

"These seem to be the clear conditions for each room."

At that, Han Jewoon, Seo Jihyeok, Leo, and the rest of the core combatants pressed in close and started digging into what the lines actually meant.

"The first, the Old door. A tarnished golden vow… gold connected to a wedding — good chance that's the wedding rings."

At Han Jewoon's read, Seo Jihyeok's finger swung to the blue door.

"Then the second, the Blue door — the blue bloom frozen in sorrow has to be the bouquet. The tricky part is the wave that follows…"

"You don't mean literally water coming down? Or — surely not a monster wave?"

"Could be. The trickier ones to interpret are the other two."

Seo Jihyeok looked down.

"The dawn of your unlived days. Could mean the future — or could mean physically taking someone's time. And the New door's crimson essence…"

"Blood, probably. Or life-force itself."

At Julia's dry addition, a suffocating silence settled for a beat.

"…Haah."

Leo dragged a dry hand down his face and pointed at the blood-red line at the very bottom.

"The real headache is this shared condition. Those bound by the groom's ties. Meaning only people connected to Chae Junhyeok can enter, right?"

At that, the hunters' eyes met one another, quick and natural.

At present, the people here connected to Chae Junhyeok came down to Veritas Guild, Bawi Guild, the three Cheonun Group siblings, and the kids.

"And the numbers written below — 5, 2, 3… and 100…"

"Head count allowed inside."

Julia answered, firm.

"I've seen it in other Gates before. Maximum number each room can hold."

"Five, two, three — fine. But a hundred? Why does that one room have such a high cap?"

Maybe a monster wave is coming.

Maybe they're squeezing blood out of a hundred people — so they need the head count. All sorts of grim guesses came pouring out of the hunters.

But nobody actually knew.

Just as each of them was fleshing out grim scenarios and wandering deeper into the maze—

Clap, clap—!

A sharp round of applause cut through the messy murmuring in one stroke.

Han Jewoon.

"Pointless speculation ends here. We've already burned an hour running in circles. Eleven hours left, that's it."

Having reset the mood, he swept a grave look over each of the hunters left in the hall and went on.

"Whether every member needs a tie to the groom, or one per party is enough to satisfy the condition — we won't know until we go in. No telling what gimmicks are waiting on the other side, so I'll build the raids around high-rank offensive hunters as much as possible."

Out of the fifteen combat-capable high-rank hunters, four were named as raid leaders to head each party.

Han Jewoon, Julia, Seo Jihyeok, and Lee Sea-ah.

Leo's eyes went round in surprise.

"Wait — Sea-ah?!"

"Strict rank order. And Sea-ah's tied to Chae Junhyeok, so she fits the condition too."

Han Jewoon drew the line firmly, and Julia nodded in agreement.

The adults' heavy eyes landed on her, but Sea-ah didn't shrink — she nodded, calm, and accepted.

"I don't mind. I want to save the Director as fast as possible. I'll help."

Han Jewoon nodded at her resolve.

"Eleven hours may sound like plenty, but there's no telling how long clearing each condition will take. To save time, we'll hit all four rooms at once."

Under Han Jewoon's careful calculations, the assignments went out.

Old Door: Han Jewoon plus four.

Blue Door: Seo Jihyeok plus one.

Borrowed Door: Julia plus two.

New Door: Lee Sea-ah and everyone else.

"Take up positions at your assigned doors."

On Han Jewoon's order, the four raid leaders stood at their door handles.

Nothing but the tick of the clock hand filled the hall, suffocating.

"Open on my mark, all together."

Han Jewoon tightened his grip on the sword hilt and evened out his breath.

Julia, Seo Jihyeok, and Sea-ah — taut with tension — exchanged a look.

"Then… one, two, three!"

On the count, the four of them threw their weight into the massive doors in unison.

That instant—

Ka-thunk!

"…Huh?"