* * *
Before he could finish his sentence, the fish whipped its massive body around.
A colossal surge of water erupted, pushing Joo Youngha far into the distance.
And before Seo Jaewon could process the situation, the giant tail lashed out at Joo Youngha.
KWA-ANG!
The pale silhouette, which looked almost fragile, flew through the water like a broken doll and slammed into the dungeon wall.
Thick silt rose, and the remains of the building that had been clinging to the wall crumbled into a heap.
“No!”
Seo Jaewon cried out, his face turning ghostly white.
The fish moved its massive body with unsettling grace, brushing past Seo Jaewon’s nose.
The light from the core on its forehead swung wildly in all directions, casting erratic spotlights everywhere.
It felt like the stage of a horror play.
The beast tore its maw wide open and charged toward the spot where Joo Youngha had fallen.
Its mouth was packed so densely with needle-like teeth that they seemed to be competing with each other to jut out.
“What are you doing? Run!”
Beneath the light, a familiar figure seemed to stagger to its feet.
And then, immediately—
GULP.
The fish swallowed him whole.
That was the end of it.
“……Joo Youngha!”
Seo Jaewon instinctively tried to throw himself out of the air bubble.
If Min Yoomin hadn’t been clinging to him, he would have done it.
“Hyung, are you crazy?! You’ll die if you go out now!”
“Move! Joo Youngha is—!”
Joo Youngha is…….
Is he dying again? Right in front of me?
His head spun.
Even when he closed his eyes, the image of those massive jaws devouring Joo Youngha remained vividly burned into his mind.
“Ah, Hyueuuuuung!”
Min Yoomin clung to his shoulder desperately, but Seo Jaewon couldn’t feel the weight.
Even the fingers digging hard into his forearm didn’t hurt at all, as if they belonged to another dimension.
But why did it feel like oxygen was running out?
Why couldn’t he move a muscle?
Having swallowed its formidable foe, the fish now prowled the water leisurely.
The light of the core flickered mockingly.
The light shifted in various directions as if searching for something, swaying, and then…….
Finally, it illuminated Seo Jaewon’s face.
“Uh, uh-oh……. That thing is coming this way. It’s not, right? Tell me it’s not!”
Min Yoomin whispered in terror.
The fish swam slowly toward them as if investigating.
Now that Joo Youngha’s presence had vanished, it seemed to have finally noticed them.
Only then did Seo Jaewon manage to seize his remaining sanity and cover Min Yoomin’s mouth.
“……Shh.”
He had to stay focused.
He was the team leader, and he had a teammate to protect.
That remained true no matter how desperate the situation.
Seo Jaewon forcibly shoved his shock-ridden self into the back of his mind.
‘Not now, not now…….’
But there was nothing he could do.
The other Espers had been swept away by the current and were missing, and even Joo Youngha had…… ended up like that.
Because thinking about Joo Youngha made his legs want to give out, Seo Jaewon fought not to think of him at all.
The only certain thing was that he, having lost his abilities, was utterly powerless.
The dimly glowing maw of the monster grew closer and closer.
That was when the anomaly occurred.
Twitch—
The fish suddenly stopped its movement and convulsed lightly.
“……?!”
Inside the gaping mouth, between the jagged teeth, something moved.
Seo Jaewon’s eyes met the thing inside the mouth.
It was the upper half of a merman.
It was reaching its skeletal arm out through the rows of teeth as if it were still conscious.
Soon, the fish’s throat gurgled as if it were trying to vomit.
No, that wasn’t the creature’s will.
Something like a mass of flesh was squirming deep inside the monster’s throat.
It was the corpses of the mermen—half-crushed, mangled, and fused together.
They began to force their way out of the fish’s body with awkward, violent, creaking movements.
Through the throat, the roof of the mouth, the gills…… corpses stuffed every opening, and more fingers reached out from the gaps to tear the flesh apart.
“Kaaaaack!”
Min Yoomin shrieked.
Seo Jaewon didn’t even think to cover his mouth this time.
Hands, arms, heads, and even more fish-faces revealed themselves.
They swayed and tilted limply like puppets, attempting to escape by tearing the fish’s flesh apart from the inside out.
Sensing the disaster, the creature began to writhe and struggle in panic.
Wrinkles formed in the muscles convulsing beneath the hard scales.
Every time the beast thrashed, a vibration like thunder was felt.
Stone dust billowed down from the submerged walls.
Eventually, the creature’s fin slammed into their air bubble.
Seo Jaewon had to hold onto Min Yoomin tightly to keep him from rolling across the floor.
“Aaaah!”
“Hold on!”
They barely supported each other, watching the fish with eyes full of horror.
It was gruesome, but there was nothing else they could do.
The fish’s hide began to boil in a bizarre shape.
The mermen who were being digested in its stomach were struggling and squirming to crawl out.
The creature’s blood poured out from the gaps in its corpse-filled maw, spreading into a dark blue stain.
“……!”
Only then did Seo Jaewon realize.
Something was controlling the mermen like dolls to rip the fish apart from the inside.
While it might be invincible on the outside, its interior was as fragile as any ordinary internal organ.
It was Joo Youngha.
Only Joo Youngha could do something like this.
From the monster’s painfully distended maw, the mermen’s corpses gushed out like vomit.
Even as they were torn and pierced by teeth, they stepped on, pushed, and pulled each other to crawl out, falling into the abyss.
If that wasn’t enough, other corpses crawled out through the gills and cheeks.
KUWOOOOOOO…….
The fish thrashed, slamming its body against the walls.
It was a movement closer to a neurological seizure than any form of resistance.
The air bubble containing Seo Jaewon and Min Yoomin was also swept by the current and bumped into things.
It was holding up for now, but the space was gradually shrinking with each collision.
‘Joo Youngha is doing something.’
Ironically, Seo Jaewon felt hope.
“Ugh!”
The air bubble vibrated and shook, but it held its ground tenaciously.
Thanks to that, Seo Jaewon could see everything clearly.
The mermen, who had been functioning as internal organs for the fish, tore at their host’s flesh as if in revenge.
The fish let out a painful scream and thrashed madly.
Its massive eyeballs bulged as if they would burst, then pop—they exploded, and a murky liquid denser than water flowed out like tears.
Through the empty eye sockets, more arms and faces forced their way out.
The fish’s movements gradually turned from resistance into meaningless, seizure-like twitches.
Its body, once like a massive and solid island, began to scatter into tattered rags of flesh.
In contrast, the attack from the inside grew more intense.
The belly, where even the scales had mostly fallen off, throbbed as if it would explode.
And then—
POP—!
Fragments of pale flesh scattered in all directions like pollen.
Merman corpses flew everywhere.
The remains of the fish, now nothing more than tattered lumps of meat, slowly sank to the floor.
Soon, a familiar face appeared from within the mess.
“…….”
Seo Jaewon’s breath caught in his throat.
Joo Youngha floated in the middle of the carnage he had created, his wheat-colored hair swaying gently.
Even the slowly drifting bits of flesh and bone looked like some grotesque decoration around him.
The light of the core cast a cold brilliance over everything.
The fist-sized stone did not sink with the corpses; it remained suspended in the water as if waiting for something.
When Joo Youngha looked at the core, it was sucked into his hand and grasped, as if responding to a call.
It was a Dungeon Clear.
At that moment, energy erupted from the core with a blinding explosion of light.
Hairline fractures of light began to etch themselves across the void.
Rumble…….
Seo Jaewon covered his ears.
Sounds like the earth shaking, glass breaking, and a taut string snapping rushed in all at once.
The water began to drain from the dungeon like a broken snow globe.
The space was collapsing because the dungeon was cleared.
Pieces of corpses and building debris were swept away by the water and vanished.
However, the air bubble stayed firm without bursting or being swept away.
It floated in the air for a while before lowering them onto a concrete structure once the water had sufficiently drained.
Joo Youngha descended after them.
“……Joo Youngha.”
Seo Jaewon called his name involuntarily. His throat felt tight for no reason.
Along with the pouring water, a mixture of emotions like mud rushed in.
Primal fear of immense power, bewilderment, and a bitter jealousy.
But the strongest emotion was relief.
Joo Youngha’s gaze met Seo Jaewon’s.
His eyes were hollow and clear.
No emotion could be felt in them.
He clearly didn’t know the terror or worry Seo Jaewon had experienced.
‘What were you thinking?’
Suddenly, a gap as cold and distant as the space between stars was felt.
“…….”
Joo Youngha stared at him for a long time before finally opening his mouth.
“My feet…… got wet.”
Seo Jaewon fell silent for a moment.
* * *
