* * *
“Wait, what?”
What do you mean, no?
Actually, I think I know why.
Seo Jaewon felt a sting of guilt, as if his inner thoughts had been read.
“The situation is a bit desperate. And I’m the team leader.”
“But you’re my Guide. You promised to give that to me, even if nothing else.”
Is he acting like this just because I’m his “exclusive” Guide?
Seo Jaewon hadn’t even said he’d give it to him.
Joo Youngha was the one who demanded it!
“Don’t be stubborn, Joo Youngha.”
“…….”
Joo Youngha simply threw a silent, accusing look.
The slight wrinkle between his brows and the minutely different angle of his eyebrows made him look quite displeased.
Yet, his eyes were large and moist, as if tears were about to well up.
Uncharacteristic of him, he looked genuinely hurt.
“W-what’s with you? Why are you making that face?”
“Because it’s mine, but you keep saying things like that…….”
Joo Youngha mumbled in a piteous voice, staring blankly at him with sad eyes.
They were sorrowful, watery eyes, like those of a herbivore.
Seo Jaewon flinched and reacted brusquely to hide his fluster.
“……I’m not an object, there’s no ‘mine’ or ‘yours.’ Stop acting like a child.”
As soon as Jaewon finished speaking, Joo Youngha whipped his head away.
“Tsk.”
Joo Youngha clicked his tongue lightly.
The watery-eyed look vanished instantly.
‘Wait, did this guy just pretend to be pitiful?’
“You brat, where did you learn to—ack!”
Without warning, Joo Youngha’s arm snatched Seo Jaewon’s waist.
The movement was so rough his jaw rattled, and he nearly bit his tongue.
“What do you think you’re—?!”
Just as he was about to yell into Joo Youngha’s ear, a roar slammed into his eardrums.
KWA-GANG!
The dark windows shattered as if exploding, and water poured inside like a tsunami.
Shards of glass flashed like blades, grazing past his ears.
“……!”
“This is getting annoying. I hate getting wet.”
Joo Youngha pulled Seo Jaewon close and soared into the air.
He grumbled lightly as if he had merely encountered a drizzle, swerving to avoid the jets of water.
It was a very relaxed and graceful turn, but Seo Jaewon’s heart was anything but calm.
“Joo Youngha! The team members!”
Below them, the water was rising at a terrifying speed.
Seo Jaewon frantically looked around for his comrades.
Fortunately, he saw Hwi Saul’s tree trunks scooping up a struggling Min Yoomin and pushing him toward a place where the water was relatively shallow.
It was the rocky altar where the mermen had been.
“Guide Min Yoomin!”
“Hegh…….”
Min Yoomin staggered as he barely climbed onto the blood-stained rock.
Having already swallowed some water, he didn’t seem to hear Jaewon’s voice.
On the rock where the water was shallowly rising, the mermen’s dark blue blood dissolved and paled.
However, dark stains still remained in a complex pattern.
‘No, it’s not just a stain.’
A line forming a large circle, a strange pattern filling the inside.
A concentric circle design in the center.
It looked like a celestial map, or perhaps a sequence of meaningless characters.
It was clearly drawn with a specific intent…… like a magic circle.
“……Joo Youngha, look at that!”
A wave the height of a building crashed over the rock, and the pattern flickered ominously.
Along with a blue light, a silver circle rose from the center of the pattern.
It was an eye.
A fish’s eye.
Seo Jaewon sucked in a full breath.
A massive wave swallowed everyone.
The clear water instantly surged over their heads.
The sound of the crashing waves was loud enough to tear his eardrums.
Under the water, it was unexpectedly dark; visibility plummeted instantly.
Light sources remained above, but they now appeared only as a bluish-green glow.
Beneath his feet, a vast, pitch-black darkness lurked.
“……!”
Seo Jaewon instinctively flailed his arms to escape the water.
But what met him wasn’t the resistance of cold water, but a dazed voice.
“Ow.”
……I’m not drowning?
He only felt a stinging pain on the back of his hand.
“That hurts.”
Joo Youngha rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking at Seo Jaewon with an accusing gaze.
He looked perfectly dry and fine.
Dumbfounded, Seo Jaewon looked around.
It was as if he were inside a glass marble with Joo Youngha.
He had no trouble breathing, and he wasn’t wet.
Joo Youngha’s telekinesis was pushing the water away, creating an air bubble.
It seemed to be the same trick he used to walk on water.
‘This is unbelievable.’
He could do something like this?
If I had known, I could have used it effectively long ago.
As if possessed, Seo Jaewon placed his hand on the boundary of the air bubble.
He felt a resistance that was cold as ice and slightly elastic.
He felt that if he pushed with more force, he could even stick his hand out.
“Don’t move too much.”
Joo Youngha’s arm wrapped around Seo Jaewon’s shoulder.
At the same time, bubbles rose in front of them, and his body was pushed back slightly.
Kwang!
A concrete brick slammed into the transparent wall.
The invisible current instantly swept the debris and bricks far away.
Seo Jaewon caught hold of Joo Youngha’s forearm without realizing it.
After that, it felt like being inside a storm.
The air bubble swayed back and forth, and all sorts of debris caught in the rapids shattered before his eyes and vanished into the darkness.
Tree trunks, rocks and gravel, shards of glass and signs, and even something shiny like merman scales.
But that too stopped before long, and silence soon followed.
Even the sound of the waves couldn’t be heard.
The interior of the dungeon was completely submerged.
“Where did everyone go?!”
Seo Jaewon looked around desperately, but he saw nothing but darkness.
It was a truly destructive current.
No matter how high-rank an Esper was, there seemed to be no way to escape.
Of course, an Esper could hold their breath for a few dozen minutes, but Min Yoomin was a civilian.
He said he couldn’t even swim!
Seo Jaewon hurriedly looked down at his wrist.
He tried to use the radio, but either it was dead from the current or the situation made it impossible to answer—no response came through.
However, he could at least confirm the life signals of Hwi Sara, Hwi Saul, and Ji Myunghoon.
Seeing the green dots blinking next to their names, it seemed they were still alive.
But there was no telling when those lights might go out, and for Min Yoomin, the Guide, he couldn’t even tell if he was dead or alive.
The watch’s GPS function doesn’t work in dungeons where satellite signals don’t reach.
It would be a few more years before real-time tracking based on relative position was implemented.
“What is this all of a sudden…….”
Just then, a bright mass drifted past in the nearby darkness.
Yellow…… hair?
“Guide Min Yoomin!”
Min Yoomin was floating near a broken railing.
He must have clipped himself the moment he fell into the water; the belt of a life jacket was hooked onto the railing.
It was impossible to tell if he was dead or alive, but small air bubbles leaked weakly from his mouth.
“Joo Youngha, hurry!”
Seo Jaewon urged, clawing at Joo Youngha’s arm.
But Joo Youngha didn’t budge.
“I don’t want to.”
It took a moment to process those words.
“What?”
“I’m just going to leave him there.”
Joo Youngha just stared at Seo Jaewon with his usual vacant expression.
Seo Jaewon’s vision went dark.
“Leave him? If you leave him like that, he’ll die!”
“Does it matter? Jaewon isn’t an Esper, so you don’t need a Guide.”
“What kind of nonsense is that!”
“It’s the truth. We just need to clear the dungeon, don’t we?”
Ah, it was that gaze again.
The eyes that looked past Seo Jaewon toward somewhere unknown.
A cold, expressionless face.
“Even I can’t hold out forever like this. I don’t want to waste energy and risk putting you in danger for no reason.”
There wasn’t a hint of hesitation or doubt in Joo Youngha’s tone.
They were the same eyes as in the Corridor Dungeon.
Terribly indifferent, with no regard for the lives of others.
This guy was dead serious.
If I lose my comrades again here…… I didn’t even want to think about it.
“I’m the team leader. Do as I say.”
“It’s no use no matter how much you say it. I only need to protect you.”
……I can’t get through to him.
“If Guide Min Yoomin dies—no, if even one of my comrades dies…….”
“Then the dead weight will be gone, so it’ll be easier.”
It felt like talking to a brick wall.
His stomach churned.
Even at this moment, time was ticking away.
While having this ridiculous argument with Joo Youngha, his comrades’ lives were in increasing danger.
‘……This won’t do. It’s time to change my approach.’
There was no point in trying to push my own logic against someone whose fundamental common sense was different.
I shouldn’t just dress up my words; I had to establish a logic that Joo Youngha could accept.
Seo Jaewon suppressed his emotions with all his might.
Then, he spoke calmly and firmly.
“Joo Youngha, think about it.”
Joo Youngha glanced at him with an unwavering expression.
“You said earlier that you wanted me to love you.”
“……Mmmm.”
The guy’s champagne-colored eyes rolled as he pondered.
A strange light flickered in his once inanimate gaze.
* * *
