* * *
While I was quietly marveling at the scene, I noticed a man standing beside the monster’s corpse, listening to two others explaining something, his eyes glued to me.
Fiery red hair and a sharp, unforgiving gaze.
Unbelievably, Cha Rui was staring daggers at me with frightening intensity.
What the hell—did he run off to report me already?
I flinched, silently cursing the two clueless hunters and hurriedly nudged my dad forward.
“Dad, let’s go. Now.”
“Huh?”
But before we could slip away, Cha Rui was already approaching, faster than I could react.
He had been way off in the distance just seconds ago, but the moment I let my guard down, he closed the distance like nothing.
“Seo Inho.”
Gone was the intimidating aura, replaced by an expressionless, almost cold look as Cha Rui called my name bluntly.
I couldn’t just ignore him… so I gave up running and came to a reluctant stop.
“I heard you used some skill on my kids. That true?”
“Yeah… well, I did.”
Feeling countless eyes on me, I gave the slightest nod.
I wasn’t fond of this kind of attention, and my face stiffened awkwardly.
That’s when it happened. In an instant, Cha Rui closed the remaining gap, his ice-cold hand clamping around my throat.
My breath hitched, face contorting in pain as he squeezed.
“Urgh!”
“So that’s why the boss was dealt with so fast.”
I instinctively grabbed his wrist, trying to pry him off, but he didn’t budge.
What the hell is with these people—why does everyone try to strangle me the moment they see me?
First Do Soohyuk, now him.
Even the damn little bird that snuck into my pocket was suspiciously silent.
“Try using that bullshit skill on my kids again, and you’re dead.”
Cha Rui yanked me closer, whispering coldly by my ear.
“Stay holed up at home where you belong. Don’t crawl out here and piss me off.”
“Ugh…”
“Hiding’s what you do best, isn’t it?”
His voice was deceptively soft, yet the venom in it sent chills down my spine.
Despite my discomfort, confusion clouded my mind.
What the hell?
Do Cha Rui and ‘Seo Inho’ know each other?
His tone, the familiarity… it all felt too personal, like they had history.
But none of that was in the movie—the whole situation left my head spinning.
Grinding his teeth as if barely holding back his rage, Cha Rui suddenly glanced down at my hand gripping his wrist—specifically, the back of my hand.
“Like some lost damn dog…”
“W-What…?”
I frowned, trying to make sense of the cryptic words when—
“Let go of my son, you bastard!”
The father who had been frozen like a statue erupted, shouting at the top of his lungs.
I hadn’t known him long, but this was the first time I’d seen him so furious.
He rained punches down on Cha Rui’s arm, screaming so hard his voice cracked.
Even with S-rank armor, one wrong hit could break bones—it was reckless, bordering on suicidal.
I was about to tell him to stop when, faster than I could speak, Cha Rui suddenly let go.
No—he backed off, like avoiding something.
Coughing, I lifted my head and saw strands of Cha Rui’s red hair fluttering in the air, only to dissolve like dust.
“You shouldn’t lay hands on someone else’s brother.”
That voice… I let out a sigh of relief before I could stop myself.
Realizing it, I immediately slapped a hand over my mouth.
Have I lost it?
Depending on him of all people…
While I was still processing the shock, Cha Rui’s icy stare turned toward Woo Jaehyun, who had casually approached with his usual smirk.
“Brother, huh?”
Cha Rui’s eyes narrowed, Woo Jaehyun shrugged like it was no big deal, but then slowly turned to look at me.
His expression… there was a flicker of disappointment, maybe?
Or was I imagining it?
“Seo Inho, you’re really pushing your luck.”
The overwhelming pressure in his voice made me flinch.
At the same time, Woo Jaehyun’s faint smile faded, replaced by the same cold, deadly expression I’d seen once before.
“Why are you acting all chummy? It’s annoying.”
The moment he spoke, Cha Rui vanished from sight.
All that remained were faint strands of red hair dissolving like dust again.
Barely an instant passed before Cha Rui reappeared—right in front of Woo Jaehyun, moving with impossible speed.
Boom!
His attack lashed out like sharpened claws, slamming into Woo Jaehyun and sending shockwaves through the ground.
The pavement caved in, cars nearby blaring their alarms in unison.
“Kyaah!”
“Get back! Run!”
The sudden blast of wind sent people scattering in fear.
I quickly shielded my father, but my eyes stayed locked on the two of them.
At some point, they had created distance again.
Woo Jaehyun’s sleeve was torn wide open—a sleeve I’d bet was part of some S-rank armor, shredded in a single strike.
Nevertheless, Woo Jaehyun’s eyes, as he looked down at his arm, were filled with nothing but indifference.
But that only lasted a moment—he let out a heavy sigh, as if giving up, and in an instant, his demeanor changed as he launched a barrage of attacks.
Boom! Crash!
As always, Woo Jaehyun’s ability itself was eerily quiet, but Cha Rui was the complete opposite.
Every time he swung his arm, it was as if bombs were going off—deafening explosions tore through the surroundings.
The two of them were clearly holding back, probably conscious of the unawakened people around them.
And yet, the results didn’t show any restraint.
Furniture turned to dust and vanished, abandoned cars on the street were ripped apart like paper and hurled into the air.
As the cars crashed down from the sky with threatening noises, even the people stubbornly filming with their phones couldn’t hold out any longer and scrambled away.
“Crazy bastards…”
I inwardly cursed, keeping my eyes on them, but suddenly noticed something strange.
I narrowed my eyes.
Above the two still locked in their fight, something was shimmering in the air.
‘Huh?’
The vague, heat-haze-like distortion quickly sharpened into a familiar form.
I didn’t know why, but my body reacted faster than my thoughts the moment I recognized it.
‘A Gate.’
The two were so focused on their fight that they hadn’t noticed the Gate forming above them.
If I left them like this, they’d be helplessly sucked into it.
I planned to use my evasion skill to push them both out of the danger zone.
But of course, things never go the way I want.
“Shit!”
I managed to grab both of them, but by then, we were already floating off the ground.
The nausea hit me like vertigo, and by the time I realized it, the situation had completely changed.
The three of us were plummeting through the air.
The only good news was that the ocean lay below us.
The bad news?
I couldn’t swim.
‘No way!’
Moments later, a tremendous impact struck my body as I plunged into the sea.
Maybe because we fell from a cliff-like height, it felt like I was being dragged down into the deep abyss.
I instinctively held my breath before hitting the water, but for someone like me, practically drowning in a beer bottle, it didn’t help much.
The air in my lungs was gone in an instant, and my consciousness started to fade—when, like a lie, someone appeared.
A strong arm wrapped tightly around my waist, and I was rapidly pulled upward.
‘Splash!’
‘Cough! Cough, ugh…’
The moment we broke the surface, I choked on water and instinctively clung to the man in front of me.
His damp, beige hair brushed against my cheek.
‘Woo Jaehyun…’
“Hyung, are you okay?”
Even as I gasped for air, I felt a hand patting my back.
I didn’t even have the energy to reply, and just clung to him until we made it out of the water.
“Did you swallow a lot of water?”
“Uh… a little.”
My throat and nose burned terribly, making me cough repeatedly.
I collapsed onto the sand, catching my breath.
As I lay there, soaked to the bone, a tiny face peeked out from inside my heavy, waterlogged hoodie.
Sure enough, as expected of a spirit, the little Chirp was still perfectly fluffy and dry.
“You okay, Chirpy?”
Chirp!
Chirp scurried down my arm and wagged its tail proudly, as if showing off.
I scratched its chin as a rough compliment and turned my head.
Cha Rui, just as drenched, was walking out of the water.
He didn’t seem injured, but his sour expression made me quietly avert my gaze.
“Don’t tell me… is this a dungeon?”
I forced myself up and scanned the area, but something felt off—it didn’t seem like an ordinary dungeon.
The vast ocean, the palm trees visible between the forest… anyone could tell—
“Looks like… a deserted island.”
And not a small one either.
A fairly large deserted island.
The Gate still floating in the air behind us made me uneasy.
Nothing about this situation felt normal.
Just then, Woo Jaehyun brushed his wet hair back and approached me.
“Feels like an EX Dungeon.”
“EX Dungeon?”
In this world, an EX Dungeon referred to an out-of-standard dungeon.
In short, its difficulty couldn’t be measured.
The reason was that EX Dungeons played out like a story, rather than straightforward combat.
There was no simple strategy—unless you fulfilled the story’s conditions, there was no way to escape.
EX Dungeons were so rare that few had ever experienced one.
Naturally, information was scarce, and since no two stories overlapped, even anecdotes from others were useless.
That’s why even S-rank Hunters avoided EX Dungeons when they could.
If monsters attacked, at least you could fight them off—but here, you had to figure out the answers yourself.
‘Out of all possibilities, it had to be an EX Dungeon.’
I’d heard they appeared rarely, like once in a blue moon, even in movies.
Talk about rotten luck.
* * *
