Chapter 6 ….
Instant Dungeon (2)
“Monster movement…?”
Choi-yeon muttered, his voice uncertain.
The shifting sand and dust didn’t look like a normal natural phenomenon.
It could be a characteristic effect of the dungeon, but he considered another possibility.
Maybe the monsters were chasing the people who needed to be rescued.
It could have been wishful thinking. Perhaps he was just hoping that the people he knew, including the child, hadn’t been harmed.
Even if that were true…
Choi-yeon leaped from the top of a pine tree.
Trusting even a slight possibility, he ran in the direction where the dust swirled, stopping only when he could see the cause clearly.
“Seong-yoon…!”
The long ears of the rabbit mascot costume fluttered.
The orc’s spear swung, aiming to pierce or slash the ears.
It almost touched, yet didn’t, and with each near miss, dozens of stomping feet trampled the ground, kicking up more dust.
Possibility was no longer just a possibility.
It was a tremendous relief, but Choi-yeon acted instead of celebrating.
Seong-yoon was still okay for now, but if his running slowed even slightly, the orc’s spear would pierce the rabbit instantly.
Choi-yeon drew a flare and a mana smoke bomb from his waist holster and threw them around.
Fiiish! Bang! Phew! Bang…!
Light and smoke infused with mana erupted from the flare and smoke bomb.
Seeing the red flare rising and the gray smoke spreading across the wasteland, Seong-yoon immediately changed his path.
Flare and smoke.
It wasn’t hard to guess what those meant.
The orcs chasing him also scrambled to change direction.
The flow of movement was almost organic, like a streamlined animal’s body following its head, but…
“Stop! Fog has appeared! Strange fog!”
“But the rabbit went inside!”
“Hold! Stop for now! It could be poisonous smoke!”
“No poison! I don’t want poison!”
As soon as Seong-yoon entered the smoke, the orcs hesitated.
Unlike Seong-yoon, who entered without hesitation because he knew what it was, the orcs were wary of the suddenly appearing smoke.
“Circle it! Don’t let it escape!”
“The rabbit is huge! Must be delicious!”
Shapes spread wide around the fog.
Seeing that Seong-yoon hadn’t entered, Choi-yeon stopped for a moment to catch his breath.
Each inhale and exhale left a metallic taste in his throat—not from the fog, but from running almost non-stop until now.
“Hah, hah…”
“I’m so glad you’re safe, Seong-yoon.”
“Eeek!”
Startled by the sudden voice, Seong-yoon leaped.
Perhaps it was the rabbit costume, but he really looked like a large rabbit terrified of a predator.
Of course, after realizing who spoke, he became a rabbit overjoyed with delight.
“Yeon-hyung…! Ah, I’m alive! I missed you! I can’t see well because of the smoke, but seeing you here in the dungeon makes me so happy I could cry!”
“I’m glad too. But what about the girl who was with you?”
Choi-yeon’s voice lowered slightly.
The child who had been dragged into the dungeon with them was nowhere to be seen—only Seong-yoon remained.
It wasn’t just his pessimistic nature that made unpleasant thoughts flood his mind.
Surely not…?
Seong-yoon answered cheerfully, sensing Choi-yeon’s concern.
“Chae-eun is in a safe place!”
“A safe place…?”
A safe place in a dungeon?
The thought naturally arose, but Choi-yeon waited without asking further.
The orcs were merely hesitating, confused by the sudden smoke. Once they realized there was nothing to fear, they would charge immediately, so it was best to minimize unnecessary talk.
Seong-yoon pointed in the direction he had come from.
“If you go that way, there’s a forest. There’s a place blocked by a transparent wall-like barrier—it’s safe there. Even the orc attacks can’t penetrate it!”
“That’s…”
Choi-yeon swallowed his words.
A transparent wall that could withstand orc attacks.
He had a rough idea of what it was, but could hardly believe it was in a dungeon.
Had the child Chae-eun been harmed, it would make more sense.
If such a place truly existed and the child was safe, that was fortunate. But then why was Seong-yoon being chased by orcs in the wasteland? They could have just waited together for rescue.
“…Why weren’t you with her?”
“I couldn’t get in.”
“Huh…?”
“The transparent wall blocked me. Chae-eun passed through, but I couldn’t. That’s why I was running.”
“What…?”
Unbelievable words layered atop unbelievable words.
Was Seong-yoon telling the truth, or rambling in delusion?
Choi-yeon wanted to talk calmly, but…
“Sniff, sniff! It’s just fog!”
“It’s fog, not poison!”
“Charge! Eeek!”
“Rabbit meat! Rabbit meat!”
The orcs gave them no time.
Seeing the shapes of the orcs entering the smoke to devour the rabbit, Choi-yeon drew two daggers from his waist.
He whispered softly:
“Just wait a moment. It’ll be over soon.”
Then Choi-yeon’s smiling face vanished into the smoke.
Only his voice remained, quietly fading, while unspoken questions lingered in Seong-yoon’s mind.
“……”
Visibility was poor in the smoke.
Choi-yeon could not be seen, and only occasional sounds—whether from orc nostrils or mouths—reached him.
Within the gray fog, Seong-yoon was alone.
He crouched cautiously, fearing the orcs might notice the body inside the rabbit costume.
He could not relax.
This place was far too different to just follow Choi-yeon’s lead as before.
For an ordinary person, taking a moment of rest in a smoke-filled battlefield with dozens of orc legs pounding the ground was far from easy.
“Eeek, find it!”
“The rabbit must be in the fog!”
“Rabbit meat! Rabbit meat!”
The orcs’ voices reached him.
They exuded the confidence of warriors.
Seong-yoon covered his mouth with his hands. The costume prevented a full seal, but it provided some relief, muffling the groans and screams that would have escaped him.
Thud!
Then it happened.
The sound of a large, heavy object hitting the ground echoed.
What was that?
“Eeek, what’s that noise!”
An orc shouted, almost echoing Seong-yoon’s question.
No answer came.
Thud.
The same sound repeated, as if answering itself.
“What is that sound!”
“Answer me!”
“Enemy…! There’s an enemy! Find it!”
“Eeek!”
The orcs’ angry voices reverberated.
Yet it was the cry of a frightened beast.
A hunter would have immediately recognized the situation, but Seong-yoon, an ordinary person caught in the dungeon’s creation, was utterly confused.
What…? What’s happening?
Thud!
Another thud hit the ground—right next to him.
Seong-yoon silently praised his past self for covering his mouth seconds ago. Otherwise, he might have screamed in surprise.
“Gather!”
“That’s right, gather!”
“Come to me! There’s nothing here!”
The orcs were stupid, but they understood the situation—they were being hunted.
Confident warriors, now targeted in the smoke by someone they didn’t even know.
They stomped to gather in one place.
Thud, thud! Thud, thud, thud!
Among the stomping, a slightly different sound emerged.
“Hurry! If you’re separated, you’ll die!”
“Hurry—”
The orc’s words didn’t finish.
Instead, the ground thudded like a scream.
“Fox…? No, human! Not a rabbit!”
Finally, an orc discovered the hunter.
Not by seeking—the orc had just seen a companion’s neck pierced by a blade while running alongside.
Grin.
The hunter smiled and vanished into the smoke without attacking.
It robbed the warriors of their courage.
“…Get out! All of you, out of the fog! Eeek!”
They screamed in fear.
Did they not feel the terror in the voice?
“Fight in a visible area!”
“That’s right! Let’s go! If we’re seen—”
Their companions eagerly agreed.
Soon, the familiar noise returned.
After a few more thuds, the orcs fell silent.
The one who had made the loud noise earlier was dead.
But death did not guarantee survival. The orcs knew that silence alone would not save them from the blades.
Thud!
“…Came out!”
It was not entirely useless.
One orc emerged from the gray fog, exulting, arms raised high.
“Come out this way! This way—Eeek!”
The orc screamed.
A dagger flew from the fog, embedding in its upper pectoral muscle.
The orc, as if mocking, snorted confidently, ignoring its scream.
“Eeek! Such a small blade is useless! We are great—”
Thud!
The orc collapsed mid-sentence.
Unlike the orcs in the fog, it wasn’t killed outright.
Its body was filled with fat like a pig, so the dagger didn’t reach the heart.
However…
“My body… won’t move!”
The poison on the blade still penetrated.
The fat layer probably slowed the poison, but the dagger was long enough to pierce it.
“Poison! Eeek! A human dares to use poison… ugh!”
A dagger flew from the fog, stabbing the orc’s neck.
After confirming its death, the dagger returned into the fog, wire swaying behind it.
“……”
At some point, Seong-yoon had covered not just his mouth, but his ears. The noise was so loud it felt like his eardrums would burst if he didn’t.
Yet he could still hear.
Listening closely, he realized it wasn’t the orc falling he heard. It wasn’t from the invisible fog either.
It was the sound of his own chest, his own heart.
Thud, an orc falls. Thud, heartbeat. Thud, heartbeat.
Thud… only the heartbeat.
He realized he could now hear only one sound—
“Seong-yoon…?”
Choi-yeon had returned.
By then, the gray fog had dissipated enough to see him clearly.
The same calm, narrow-eyed face he had seen distributing flyers on the street.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Seeing Choi-yeon ask, Seong-yoon thought—no, decided.
Until now, he had never done so, but from now on he would not defy Yeon-hyung.
-And that was that.
The sound of the heartbeat no longer continued.
