Chapter 5
“Pick up the bags and follow us. If you fall behind, I’ll tie a rope around your neck and drag you— …what?”
At first, I thought I was the one shaking from the shock of entering a dungeon.
But when I saw the others stop mid-command and the large bags they had thrown on the ground wobble and fall over, I realized—
It wasn’t my body trembling.
It was the ground.
An earthquake?
Do dungeons even have natural disasters?
I’ve heard that anything can happen in a dungeon, but an earthquake right after entering?
“Hey, isn’t the ground vibrating? Was that in the dungeon info?”
“It just said it was a desert-type dungeon. What’s going on?”
Judging by their confusion, this wasn’t normal even for a dungeon.
I almost wished I was just overreacting because I wasn’t used to dungeons.
Even though it was a desert, it wasn’t particularly hot, yet cold sweat ran down my back.
“This feels bad. Let’s get out of here first.”
Right. If it felt good, we’d be idiots.
They were unpleasant people, sure—but if I got separated from Awakened fighters inside a dungeon, I’d be completely helpless.
I barely steadied myself and grabbed one of the bags.
Or tried to.
“Leave it. It’ll slow you down.”
Before I could sling it over my shoulder, Lee Eunhyun snatched it from me and casually threw it far behind us.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The other Hunters stared at him in disbelief.
Even I, who had never cleared a dungeon before, knew how important supplies were.
You can’t film inside dungeons, but Hunters often posted videos showing how they packed their dungeon gear.
Even high-rank Hunters always emphasized how essential emergency tools and potions were.
But Lee Eunhyun didn’t even look inside the bag before throwing it away.
“What you need right now is speed. Nothing else. Drop anything heavy or unnecessary.”
“What nonsense is he talking about?”
“You’d better listen.”
When something is too absurd, you can’t even swear.
That’s how I felt yesterday when he talked about regression.
While everyone stood there stunned by his boldness—
The trembling grew stronger.
And then I realized.
The shaking wasn’t coming from the entire ground.
It felt like something was about to burst out.
“Hey! Leader! That woman’s running!”
The moment I understood, I ran as fast as I could.
The ground farther ahead didn’t seem to be shaking as much.
Behind me, I heard shouting and arguments—and Lee Eunhyun’s voice—but I didn’t care.
I’m the only non-Awakened person here.
I’m the most urgent case.
“Ah, just leave her! What can a civilian do if she runs—Aaaagh! Wh—!”
Something exploded behind me.
Then a scream.
I thought I’d panic if something like this happened right in front of me.
But I wasn’t as shocked as I expected.
Maybe because I had already guessed.
Even when I heard the strange cry of some unknown creature mixed with the hunters’ screams, I didn’t turn back.
Whether they were good people or bad didn’t matter.
What could I possibly do?
Boom!!
“S-save…”
Lee Eunhyun was right.
All that matters is speed.
But even though I thought I was running with everything I had—
A man suddenly flew past me and crashed right in front of me.
How did he fly like that?
Did a monster hit him?
His side had been pierced by something, blood pouring out.
Still, he desperately crawled across the sand, trying to escape.
“I told you to drop anything heavy.”
No matter how much I valued my own life, it wasn’t easy to ignore someone like that right in front of me.
I hesitated—
Then something else flew in from behind.
This time, it wasn’t an injured body.
It was a whole person.
Lee Eunhyun closed the distance in an instant and scooped me up into his arms.
“What are you doing?!”
“You’ve got good instincts, but your body can’t keep up. I’m helping.”
Excuse me? I ran as fast as I could!
Is he saying I’m slow?
I was about to snap back—
But then I saw what I had been avoiding looking at behind me.
“Idiot! Use your skills! Where are the healing potions?”
“They’re broken! You threw the bag—Aaaagh!”
A scorpion.
No—can you even call something that big a scorpion?
A scorpion monster.
Even from my perspective, their skills looked powerful.
But they couldn’t pierce its shell.
Gunshots rang out—Hunter-modified guns meant for dungeons—but they seemed useless.
The massive scorpion swung its tail and pierced straight through one Hunter’s torso—
Then flung him away.
That’s how the man had flown toward me.
“Why? Want to go save them?”
“Are you insane?”
Lee Eunhyun whispered while holding me.
And without thinking, I answered.
How would we save them?
“With what power? That’s not a D-rank monster!”
“That’s an A-rank scorpion. And there are many of them. Bigger and stronger than normal specimens.”
Many?
I only saw one.
But then—
Even though that one had burst out of the ground, the earth was still shaking.
How many are under there?
“Then why are we standing still?! Put me down!”
I struggled to get free, but his arms didn’t budge.
I thought we had run far, but the ground beneath us was still shaking violently.
If you want to die, die alone. Why drag me with you?
“Good. You don’t have unnecessary sympathy. Hold tight.”
“Wait, put me down—ah!”
Suddenly my head snapped downward.
It felt like being thrown onto a violent amusement park ride without warning.
The pressure of the air knocked the strength from my neck.
I buried my face in his chest and clung to him.
There was nothing else to grab.
“If you’re scared, don’t open your eyes.”
Hearing that only made me open them wider.
Scared or not, I’d rather see what’s happening to me.
And what I saw—
Lee Eunhyun was jumping at least nine meters into the air while holding me.
Below us, three scorpion monsters that had burst out of the ground looked the size of fists.
“What is this…”
Should I be shocked that there are now four scorpions?
Or that a human jumped that high without a running start?
My brain felt overloaded.
“I don’t like it, but you seem lucky. Should we grab one more? Hold tight.”
“What?”
He had jumped, not flown.
Naturally, we began falling.
My heart dropped with us.
Midair, I felt him twist his body.
He landed, then grabbed an unconscious man by the back of his collar from the sand.
“If you don’t want to eat sand, hold your breath.”
My brain still wasn’t functioning, but he smiled with an annoyingly handsome face.
Then he picked up a few more blood-covered people.
For a moment, I thought my hair was just blowing in the wind—
But when I looked back, a scorpion’s tail had stabbed right into the spot where we had just been.
So this is what a dungeon is like.
“I told you to close your eyes. You shouldn’t damage such pretty ones.”
The man holding me—
Isn’t it crazy?
He’s really an S-rank Awakened.
“…Am I still dreaming…?”
Maybe I overslept, and I’m going to be late for work.
If I open my eyes, maybe I’ll see something even scarier than a scorpion monster.
The falling sensation even feels like those childhood nightmares.
Right.
This must be a nightmare.
I haven’t even gone to work yet.
I need to wake up.
“It’s not a dream.”
But do you feel pain and cry inside dreams?
Because I opened my eyes wide, sand blew into them, and tears spilled out naturally.
And Lee Eunhyun—
While still holding a grown man in his other arm—
Casually wiped my tears away.
In midair.
