Chapter 16

Chapter 16

“Whoaaaa?!”

For the first time, Haejin realized that the ground itself could move like a living creature.

This wasn’t a simple earthquake.

The ground shook, then surged upward, transforming into a gigantic wave that swallowed the entire area.

It was a natural disaster so overwhelming that even high-ranking Hunters, let alone ordinary civilians, could hardly react to it.

Buried beneath earth and debris, Haejin eventually lost consciousness.

* * *

“Ugh... Cough, khh!”

How much time had passed?

Haejin, who had been unconscious, finally opened his eyes.

Something warm and wet brushed his cheek.

“Pasu? You stayed by my side?”

“Woof!”

It was none other than Pasu.

He had been licking Haejin’s cheek while continuously keeping watch over the surroundings.

Was there another guard dog this kind and diligent anywhere in the world?

Haejin stroked the admirable dog, then calmly observed his surroundings.

‘It looks like a cave. But this strange feeling... Damn it. I really am inside a Dungeon, aren’t I?’

It looked like the middle of an enormous cavern.

There were torches attached here and there, but so few that even understanding the terrain was difficult.

He pulled out his phone and checked the situation.

There was absolutely no signal, so the stream had shut down long ago.

The final record was the emergency alert from the Management Headquarters announcing the Dungeon’s emergence.

Combined with the ominous energy filling the surroundings, there was no doubt he had been swept into the Dungeon.

‘At least the camper van fell in with me. But being trapped in a Dungeon with absolutely no information is still horrifying.’

The Dungeon’s rank, what monsters appeared, whether there were traps or poison-gas gimmicks.

He knew nothing.

For Hunters, information was literally a lifeline.

Fighting monsters wasn’t a game. It was reality.

One mistake could cost an arm or leg, or at worst lead to a miserable death.

Bark bark bark-!

Pasu, who had been watching the surroundings, suddenly barked loudly at something.

Haejin instinctively grabbed the sniper rifle lying nearby.

The moment he quickly loaded a round.

-Kerruk!

A monster emerged from the darkness.

It stood a little over one meter tall and wore shabby rags stitched together from some unknown hide.

Its skin was bright red, and it gripped a razor-sharp dagger carved from obsidian.

Haejin knew what it was.

‘A Red Goblin? Those things appear here?!’

It wasn’t an ordinary Goblin.

These monsters only appeared in intermediate-grade Dungeons or higher and were infamous for being especially strong and tenacious.

As though refusing to give him time to react, the Red Goblin immediately charged.

“Back, Pasu!”

The pitch-black blade flew toward him at incredible speed.

Fortunately, Haejin quickly moved into the camper van’s safe zone and took no damage.

Bang!

-Keruk!!

Haejin fired immediately afterward.

But the Red Goblin ducked beneath the bullet, then fled and disappeared into the darkness.

The immediate danger had passed.

But cold sweat began streaming down Haejin’s back.

‘If Red Goblins are appearing, that means this Dungeon I got dragged into is at least intermediate-grade. This might be a much bigger problem than I thought.’

He had survived only because, incredibly fortunately, the camper van had been dragged in with him.

‘Safe Property’ protected him, but the real problem was escaping.

‘If this is a newly emerged Dungeon, the boss absolutely has to be killed before anyone can leave. The Hunter Association has probably sent people, but until then, I’m completely trapped.’

The moment he encountered the monster, the reality of the danger hit him.

With slightly trembling hands, he checked the emergency message on his phone again.

[If you become caught within the Dungeon, hide yourself and remain calm while waiting for government Hunters to enter.]

Association Hunters were already moving.

But nobody knew how long clearing the Dungeon would take.

‘If this is an intermediate Dungeon where Red Goblins appear, even five days would be fast. If it drags out, it could take over two weeks. I’m supposed to stay trapped here that whole time? Without food or supplies?!’

This was bad.

He was honestly beginning to feel seriously anxious.

Even if he was safe from monsters, worst case, he could starve or die of thirst inside the Dungeon.

‘Wait. But my Skills are still working normally.’

As Haejin thought, a lightning-bolt idea flashed through his mind.

He had the camper van, which counted as his home, and his Skills were functioning.

Which meant?

‘No way. Does this actually work?’

Half skeptical, he approached the camper van.

Holding his pounding heart, he opened the door while activating his Skill.

‘Go Home!’

At that moment.

“Holy shit.”

When he opened the camper van door, a familiar landscape appeared before him.

Bright afternoon sunlight. Chirping birds and fresh surface air.

It was the pension he used as his base.

‘I really escaped. And that easily. This is insane!’

It was the moment Haejin discovered that all his Skills worked perfectly even inside a Dungeon.

* * *

Perhaps the Skills he had once considered useless were far more absurdly overpowered than he had imagined.

Haejin had never once heard of a Skill capable of freely traveling in and out of a Dungeon without restriction.

“The whole world’s losing its mind. Well, no wonder. It’s a Dungeon with Red Goblins.”

For now, he went inside the house and turned on the TV.

Breaking news was already being broadcast.

A man identified as the deputy director of the Hunter Association stood at a podium and spoke.

-The Hunter Association has currently made clearing the Dungeon and rescuing stranded civilians our highest priorities.

-In accordance with this, we have urgently dispatched eight government Hunters ranging from C to B-rank, and confirmed their entry into the Dungeon one hour ago.

-The Association will do everything possible to resolve this situation.

-We ask the public not to panic and to return to your normal daily lives.

-The Dungeon will be cleared. The people will be safe.

It was the obvious response.

If a new Dungeon appeared, it had to be cleared as quickly as possible by any means necessary.

Rescuing those swept inside was important as well, but the greatest reason was a Dungeon Break.

‘If time passes while the boss monster is still alive, monsters burst out of the Dungeon. And from that point on, it becomes a catastrophe.’

With even the deputy director of the Association involved, the Dungeon would surely be cleared eventually.

But as he watched the news, Haejin couldn’t stop feeling doubtful.

He clicked his tongue and muttered quietly.

“But it’s an intermediate Dungeon with Red Goblins. Only eight C-to-B-ranks? Can they really clear it with that? Hmm, that seems questionable.”

* * *

“Whew... That’s a lot of them.”

After finishing the emergency press conference about the Dungeon incident, the Hunter Association deputy director pushed through the crowding reporters and hurriedly climbed into a car.

The vehicle honked as it began driving away.

Besides the driver, there was one other man seated beside the deputy director.

A man in his thirties dressed neatly in a black suit.

The director of the National Intelligence Service’s Special Hunter Management Team, who used the nickname ‘Yeombani’ on internet streams.

“So, what’s the situation with the Hunters who entered the Dungeon, Director Yeom Myoil?”

“I was just about to report, sir.”

“Judging from your expression, things don’t look good.”

“My apologies, Deputy Director.”

Yeom Myoil spoke with difficulty in a subdued voice.

“A report came in ten minutes ago. Our equipment has limitations, so it isn’t very detailed.”

Normally, communication from inside a Dungeon to the outside was almost impossible.

As though it were classified as another world, radio signals simply didn’t pass through.

But the Hunter Association had somehow developed equipment capable of limited communication.

Of course, the information it could transmit was extremely restricted, almost like pagers from decades ago.

“The contents aren’t good.”

“How bad?”

“Too many Red Goblins. Three dead, all five remaining wounded. Further combat impossible, currently hiding. Requesting rescue... That was the message.”

“Haah.”

A dark shadow fell over the deputy director’s face after hearing Yeom Myoil’s report.

He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

After exhaling a deep cloud of smoke like a sigh, he rubbed his face.

“Do you know what I just told the public? The Dungeon will be cleared. Citizens will be safe. I put my title behind those words. And now you’re telling me they were nearly wiped out? They sent an SOS?”

“For now, we’ve taken measures to prevent that information from leaking.”

“I have less than a year left in my term. Why the hell did this have to happen now? Fine. So what about the backup team? What did the rankers say?”

Naturally, immediately after the Dungeon was discovered, the Hunter Association began contacting Hunters for the raid.

Their highest priority was reaching the top-ranked Hunters.

But unlike the public perception that treated them as heroes or idols, most rankers weren’t exactly paragons of character.

In simple terms.

“My apologies, but we couldn’t reach most of them.”

“Those arrogant bastards.”

Exactly as the deputy director said, they were arrogant bastards.

“Still, we managed to contact one. The fourth-ranked Hunter, ‘Radiance.’ We urgently requested that he clear the Dungeon.”

“Why are you trailing off again? You’re making me nervous.”

“...He’s currently in Japan. Even under the best circumstances, it will take at least five hours for him to arrive.”

“For fuck’s sake.”

Anxiety spread across the deputy director’s face.

Of all things, it had to be Red Goblins, monsters infamous for their strength and tenacity.

Their presence meant this was at least an intermediate-grade Dungeon.

‘The people inside won’t last five hours. If they all die... the responsibility will fall on me as the one who authorized the operation.’

And the lives of the Hunters inside weren’t the only problem.

‘If we fail to clear it quickly and a Dungeon Break occurs. If Red Goblins pour onto Korean soil...’

The greatest danger was a Dungeon Break.

If enough time passed without killing the boss, the Dungeon connected to reality and vomited monsters into the outside world.

If a Break truly happened, it would become a massive catastrophe.

Forget promotion after his term ended. The deputy director could end up taking the blame and going to prison.

Then where was the Hunter Association director, one might ask?

He was already sitting in the Seoul Detention Center for failing to prevent another Dungeon Break.

Which meant the director’s position was currently vacant.

At this rate, the deputy director might end up in the cell next door to the ‘former’ director.

“This is driving me insane...”

The deputy director chain-smoked while his leg trembled uncontrollably.

Watching him, Yeom Myoil cautiously spoke.

“Deputy Director. If you’re willing, I may have one plan.”

“A plan? Oh, yes. Yeom Myoil! A plan sounds great. What is it?!”

“I don’t know what you’ll think of this, but actually, right up until the Dungeon opened, I was watching an internet livestream.”

“An internet... livestream? W-why are you bringing that up now?”

The keyword appeared completely out of nowhere.

The deputy director stared at him, bewildered.

“You still watch those things these days?”

“Just hear me out. It was a stream by an unidentified Hunter known as the Masked Man. It appears that Hunter was swept into the Dungeon as well. If you watch the replay, the stream cuts off exactly when the Dungeon emerges.”

The deputy director looked puzzled.

Yeom Myoil pulled out a video he had personally recorded and even edited, then showed it to him.

The Masked Man.

In other words, a highlight clip from Haejin’s stream.

“What... the hell is this?!”

He was calmly grilling meat while apparently invincible and shooting at monsters rushing toward him.

The deputy director’s jaw dropped at the unimaginable sight.

“This man is strong. We don’t know his identity, but he appears to possess an unprecedented Skill like this.”

“Y-yes. It certainly seems that way.”

“If the Masked Man is inside the Dungeon, he should be more than capable of dealing with Red Goblins. And judging by how specialized this Skill appears to be in protection.”

Director Yeom Myoil’s eyes gleamed.

“Couldn’t we entrust the safety of our government Hunters stranded inside the Dungeon to him? We can simply compensate him afterward.”

Not missing the moment, Yeom Myoil drove the point home.

“How much budget does the Hunter Association currently have available?”

There was only one answer the deputy director could possibly give.

“Uh... How much do you need?”

“We’ll have to ask the Masked Man. Assuming our people manage to meet him alive.”