# Chapter 110
The melancholic atmosphere, as if they would be facing the execution block tomorrow, didn’t last long.
Barely a few hours after they’d closed their eyes, news arrived that a Riska dungeon had appeared.
“A Riska dungeon at this timing.”
Their plan to try to contact Riska through the mineral and then attempt to destroy it was naturally abandoned.
Now Suhyun and Jiwon were standing in front of the Riska dungeon.
“…Indeed.”
Suhyun had a somewhat troubled face. It wasn’t as if the appearance of a Riska dungeon was particularly surprising.
“What are you thinking about?”
Jiwon noticed that he was conflicted about something.
As if there had never been a time when he couldn’t tell what Suhyun was thinking, Jiwon now easily caught the subtle changes in his expression.
The situation had made him even more sensitive.
Perhaps influenced by Suhyun entering the dangerous dungeon alone, Jiwon became anxious whenever it seemed like Suhyun was thinking about something.
“I was thinking… that I’m free from Riska’s mental domination.”
Why was it that uneasy premonitions were never wrong? Sure enough, the current state of Suhyun’s mind wasn’t good.
Jiwon moistened his parched lips before asking.
“So you want to enter this dungeon?”
Did it really have to be this way? Couldn’t they wait like usual?
These prickly thoughts seemed to seep into his voice.
“…If Riska dungeons are indeed where they use their abilities, I thought it might be closer to their base.”
“…”
“I don’t mean we should enter right away. It’s just that the thought suddenly occurred to me…”
“You were contemplating whether to go in or not.”
He had this bad habit of deliberately choosing dangerous paths.
“I was contemplating whether to ask you about it or not.”
“…”
Jiwon narrowed his eyes. Even if Suhyun said something irritating, Jiwon would forgive him, and when Suhyun was being kind and affectionate, Jiwon wanted to do even things he shouldn’t.
“I’m really sick…”
It was ridiculous. How had it come to this?
“Are you ill?”
“…Yes, I am. You’re bad for me, Esper.”
It was all because of that pretty face and gentle voice. The softness of his fingertips when he reached out, the firmness of his embrace when he held Jiwon—they were all problems.
“You make it impossible for me to refuse.”
Honestly, what Suhyun said made some sense. He had mentioned that while Riska’s attacks in regular dungeons left almost no trace, once detected, they weren’t difficult to avoid. They simply repeated the same attacks.
But Riska clearly possessed intelligence, and it was estimated to be quite high. Such an intelligent entity wouldn’t just repeat simple attacks.
So Suhyun had suggested that what we call Riska dungeons are likely where they use abilities with the power they’ve accumulated.
Not only Jiwon but also Wooyeon, Jungyeom, and the research team who later heard about it all agreed with this statement.
In other words, the possibility of making contact with their base might be greater in a Riska dungeon.
“…Let’s go in together.”
After organizing his thoughts for a while, Jiwon finally spoke to Suhyun.
The mineral that Choi Young had brought was the only one. Despite inquiries about similar minerals to associations across different countries, none had been discovered anywhere.
Before blindly experimenting with the only mineral they had, it was right to check if there were other methods available.
“Together?”
“Or would you rather go in alone?”
“…”
“You may be free from mental domination, but you can’t prevent your wavelength from becoming distorted. Surely you haven’t forgotten that?”
Jiwon spoke as if asking something obvious.
Suhyun’s mouth quivered several times. His intentions were clear. He wanted to say it was dangerous and ask Jiwon to just wait, but knowing that wouldn’t work, he was searching for some excuse.
“Esper, you know this is a bit much, right?”
Jiwon deliberately looked at Suhyun with a face full of displeasure.
“Are you making me the bad guy here?”
“Am I making you, Guide?”
“Even though I’m trying to cooperate despite knowing the danger, you’re trying to leave me behind because it’s dangerous for me.”
At his grumbling tone, Suhyun blinked.
“Am I just pushing my lover into danger while hiding behind…”
“That’s not my intention.”
As if he felt he shouldn’t keep silent, he shook his head resolutely. Jiwon smirked briefly before his expression hardened.
“Then we should go together.”
It was a resolute voice.
“If it were a regular dungeon, maybe. But knowing your wavelength will be distorted, I can’t send you alone.”
“…”
“For you, who has to pay attention to both monsters and Riska, I might be a hindrance.”
The thought briefly crossed Jiwon’s mind: what if Suhyun couldn’t avoid Riska because of him?
“But it’s more dangerous for the one who can’t regulate wavelength stability.”
But he decided to trust Suhyun on that part. Suhyun could avoid attacks from Riska and monsters, but guiding was Jiwon’s domain.
He had to follow to prepare for accidents.
“…Understood.”
After pondering for a moment, Suhyun finally nodded.
‘There’s also the option of not entering.’
He didn’t bother to voice this pointless thought.
“Good. Then shall we report first? We do need to report.”
At Jiwon’s words, Suhyun smiled sheepishly. Jiwon, who had deliberately emphasized the word “report,” quickly smiled along.
“…I should do some guiding before we enter, right?”
Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he was really smiling or not.
‘To think I’m guiding so he can be attacked by Riska.’
It was a bit heavy, but the decision had already been made. Jiwon barely managed to set aside unnecessary regrets.
***
Boom!
A massive monster collapsed under Suhyun’s attack. Though it looked about 10 times the size of a normal adult, it was no match for Suhyun.
“Haah…”
“Your wavelength is stable, fortunately.”
As expected, Suhyun’s wavelength had rapidly distorted, but thanks to immediate guiding, it wasn’t in an unstable state.
“…Well, 68 is acceptable.”
The stability level that had been over 95 had dropped to 68, which sent a chill down Jiwon’s spine, but objectively it wasn’t a very bad state.
For the old Suhyun, a level of 68 was considered high.
“Is the guiding not difficult for you? It seems to have dropped significantly…”
They say a frog doesn’t remember its days as a tadpole.
Jiwon smirked at Suhyun’s question. It had been so comfortable for a while that it almost felt like they were just hanging out rather than guiding, so today’s guiding was slightly painful.
However, it was at a level that he could easily handle.
“I never thought I’d hear this from an Esper whose stability level used to drop to around 40 every time.”
“Ah…”
Suhyun frowned slightly.
“I didn’t know that the guide doing the guiding also felt pain.”
“If you had known, would you have consistently received guiding?”
“Yes.”
“By coming to the center?”
“Yes.”
“Even though you had to pretend to dislike me?”
Recalling Suhyun’s words about wanting to appear as if he disliked Jiwon because he liked him too much, Jiwon’s question made Suhyun tilt his head.
“…I’m sorry.”
“…Can’t even joke around.”
Since he hadn’t said it to receive an apology, Jiwon felt awkward and muttered while turning his head away.
“…Can you still feel it?”
Then he changed the subject to the issue at hand—Riska.
“Yes. It’s watching us.”
Understanding immediately, Suhyun answered promptly.
While he was fighting monsters, there had been several attacks from Riska. Even then, he only noticed because Suhyun had told him; otherwise, he would never have known.
“…”
Now only one monster remained.
Suhyun had contained it in a sphere. This action made sense only after hearing that Riska wouldn’t appear anymore once the last monster was killed.
“…Is there anything special about it?”
With no more monsters to deal with, they finally had a little breathing room. Jiwon, who had been extremely tense the whole time without saying anything, asked as he finished guiding.
“I’m not sure.”
“Hmm…”
“…At least there hasn’t been anything so far.”
Suhyun, who had been slowly shaking his head at Jiwon’s question, suddenly had his eyes flash brightly. He pulled Jiwon’s arm to hide him behind himself and began to be on guard in all directions.
‘I can feel the wavelength.’
At that moment, Jiwon also felt multiple wavelengths that were completely tangled and not merging into one.
To explain it simply, it felt like entering a space where multiple Espers with chaotic wavelengths had collapsed.
A power created by absorbing Espers’ wavelengths. They were trying to use it to attack Suhyun.
It was evidence that Riska understood they were in its domain and that it couldn’t succeed with simple methods of attack.
“I’ll step back. Don’t worry about me.”
“Stay close.”
“What Riska is after is you, Esper, not me.”
“…”
“We need to find a way.”
Suhyun nodded as he watched Jiwon take a couple of steps back. He was concentrating on the presences around them with a cold expression.
“…!”
And just a few seconds later.
Something thin and pointed burst through the floor and fiercely charged toward Suhyun. Around it, a pitch-black energy was wildly clinging.
Kwang!
Suhyun, who had dodged the attack, struck it powerfully with his greatsword. The creature hesitated at Suhyun’s attack but only briefly.
As if it had no intention of hiding its body, relentless attacks poured toward Suhyun without pause.
“The wavelength…”
Meanwhile, Suhyun’s wavelength stability was rapidly dropping.
The creature knew. That time in this space was on Riska’s side.
No matter how well Suhyun blocked all the attacks, there would come a moment when his wavelength couldn’t hold out.
