# Chapter 162
“Huh!”
Iyeon’s eyes flew open. His chest expanded greatly, like someone who had just emerged after being underwater for a long time. His deathly pale face gradually stabilized as he blinked several times. His pitch-black vision slowly became clearer. Belatedly, he felt human warmth behind him. Iyeon slowly turned his head. A strong arm gripping his collar, a height much taller than his own.
“……Je Sano?”
No, how, I need to find you anyway, you were on TV… His rambling voice soon quieted as his jumbled memories sorted themselves one by one. A dark, worn-out corridor. The white moon reflecting in the window. The courage test. The black door.
And Je Sano.
The hero who until just moments ago had been on TV reached out his arm toward the blank white face staring at him.
“Were you crying?”
Only upon hearing those words did Iyeon realize his eyes and cheeks were wet. His jaw trembled slightly as he rubbed his face vigorously, as if pushing away Sano’s hand. In the past eight years, he had cried so rarely he could count the instances on one hand, yet this happened uniquely when he was in front of Sano. Somehow, it was embarrassing.
“Wow, I was completely immersed…”
By the time he finished wiping away his tears, Iyeon had fully grasped the situation. A deflated mumble escaped between his lips. Though it was something he had already experienced and considered a foolish flow of events, he identified more and more with Jeongyeon as time passed. At some point, he stopped thinking of them as separate. If Sano hadn’t appeared on TV, who knows how much longer he would have stayed like that.
The fantasy was eerily similar to the past. The only difference was that midway through, Iyeon had desperately insisted on getting out. In the past, escaping had been much slower. The decision to release his ability too… Let’s stop these useless thoughts. Iyeon shook his head slightly and asked.
“How did you get in here? And how did you know what was happening?”
Iyeon carefully removed Sano’s hand, which had been tightly gripping his clothes until then. His neck was starting to feel strangled from how firmly he was being held. Surprisingly, Sano let go easily considering how tightly he had been holding on, as if he might tear Iyeon’s clothes.
“You weren’t thinking of coming out.”
“Could you just enter like that?”
“No.”
Sano shook his head slightly and nodded in a certain direction. Iyeon blankly turned his head to follow and was startled.
“Oh, Jaekyung-ssi! Are you okay? What is this? Were you crying? Did you see a fantasy too? Are you alright?”
A few steps away, Jaekyung was looking in their direction, his face completely grimy, sniffling. His outer garment was gone, replaced with just a thin t-shirt, and he was clutching something about the size of his head tightly to his chest, curling up defensively as if afraid someone might take it away.
“Iyeon-ssi, sniff… Are you okay?”
No, what on earth happened to him to make a person look like that in such a short time? …It was a short time, right? While Iyeon missed his chance to reply due to this momentary question, Sano’s voice cut in.
“That guy opened the gap.”
“The gap? Jaekyung-ssi did?”
Iyeon looked at Jaekyung again with surprised eyes. He certainly looked disheveled, but… a Mugunghwa Tier 1 charging at a Level 3 variant? Setting aside whether that was possible, wasn’t Jaekyung’s superpower invisibility? Could he even make a meaningful attack against a variant?
“D-Dabalsin had trapped us inside its body. That means, sniff, the core must be somewhere around here too.”
Only then did Iyeon realize the identity of what Jaekyung was cradling like a treasure.
“No way… They wouldn’t have put it on display, would they?”
Dabalsin wouldn’t be stupid enough to trap intruders inside its body and then place the core alongside them like offering food. Jaekyung nodded at those words.
“That’s true. But Iyeon-ssi, remember when I said there was nothing about black water in Dabalsin’s abilities?”
“Ah, yes.”
“That was the hint.”
Jaekyung had stayed near Iyeon the whole time. But suddenly, Iyeon started calling out loudly as if Jaekyung had become invisible, and he couldn’t seem to hear Jaekyung no matter how much he responded.—At this point, Jaekyung checked several times to make sure he wasn’t unconsciously using his ability.— When Iyeon suddenly started running all over the corridor, Jaekyung had to stand far away to avoid being bumped into. He even tried grabbing him slightly, but Iyeon didn’t recognize him at all.
Then Iyeon finally stood in front of the door.
‘Iyeon-ssi, wait…’
‘Jaekyung-ssi? Are you in there?’
Just before, he had absolutely refused to go in. Said he would definitely die… Jaekyung forgot about stopping him and just stared at him stupidly.
His pale eyes, shining firmly, showed no sign of hesitation whatsoever.
‘You’d better not already be dead.’
Before Jaekyung could say anything to stop him, Iyeon’s back disappeared like mist the moment the door opened. Jaekyung stood there helplessly, his arm awkwardly half-extended. What should I do? Should I go in too? While contemplating this and stretching one leg toward the door, he heard a growling sound from far away.
The strangely familiar sound came from beyond the corridor, from the direction of the stairs.
Jaekyung paused, then turned and approached that area. The stairs, flowing with black waves, were still dripping thick liquid.
Between the railings, a black form was briefly visible.
“It’s a Nightmare Elephant.”
“…What?”
What Jaekyung saw on the stairs was undoubtedly a Nightmare Elephant. It was a variant he had seen up close several times before. There was no way he could mistake it. He’d never heard of any variant that looked similar to a Nightmare Elephant.
“My guess is that somehow a Nightmare Elephant got inside Dabalsin. But this place is Dabalsin itself.”
Dabalsin was instantly intoxicated by the smoke emitted by the Nightmare Elephant.
“So this is…”
“The black liquid is Dabalsin’s original water ability combined with the Nightmare Elephant’s smoke. That’s why touching the water causes hallucinations.”
“But… even though I didn’t touch it, I suddenly couldn’t see you, Jaekyung-ssi.”
“Most of the Nightmare Elephant’s smoke mixed with the water, but there must be trace amounts in the air too. So we’re both probably mildly intoxicated. The scenery we saw outside the windows was probably a hallucination as well. That’s likely why you couldn’t see me.”
“What about you, Jaekyung-ssi?”
“I… this is just a theory, but I think I might have some immunity. Remember when I pretended to experiment with releasing a Nightmare Elephant before? Even though I wore a gas mask, it might not have completely blocked everything. Variant ability systems can sometimes be very different from Earth’s environment.”
Jaekyung’s explanation was fluent. His face showed he had already analyzed and concluded this several times.
If there was a Nightmare Elephant, it was possible to roughly infer what might be behind the black door. Most likely, it would be filled with the Nightmare Elephant’s smoke. Considering how Iyeon’s back disappeared as if buried in clouds, that was probably correct.
“The Nightmare Elephant’s hallucinations are basically a technique for self-defense. So Dabalsin, intoxicated by it, would have instinctively guided the Nightmare Elephant to the safest place.”
Only then did Iyeon understand what Jaekyung was talking about. Seeing that Iyeon seemed to understand, Jaekyung nodded.
“Yes. Where the core is stored.”
If the core was near the stairs, it made sense why Dabalsin had lured them to the corridor. Taking prey to the place furthest from its heart was a completely natural action.
As far as Jaekyung knew, Dabalsin had almost no hostility or aggression toward humans. It was fine as long as you didn’t attack first. Of course, since it was intoxicated by hallucinations, he couldn’t guarantee… There was a peaceful method of hoping they could get out before starving to death.
But.
‘……’
Jaekyung anxiously stared at the black door where Iyeon had disappeared. The next moment, he walked toward the stairs.
It was almost a miracle that he remembered his outer garment was water-resistant. He tore his coat and tightly wrapped it around his feet and legs to avoid touching the black water. Even so, it was only basic water resistance, so it wouldn’t last long.
If I had known this would happen, I should have worn a raincoat. After this pointless regret, Jaekyung raised his head with a grave expression. His slender body gradually became transparent until it completely disappeared. In that state, Jaekyung stepped toward the Nightmare Elephant on the stairs.
It didn’t take long to spot the Nightmare Elephant halfway up the stairs and the black sphere glowing faintly above it. Unlike before, the space didn’t stretch. The invisible intruder wasn’t being detected.
After confirming that all four legs of the Nightmare Elephant were submerged in the water, Jaekyung took a deep breath and held it. He had to complete his action before his breath ran out.
His footsteps, gently parting the rough waves, were barely visible in the darkness. The Nightmare Elephant seemed to sense something was off and looked around a couple of times, but after confirming there was nothing there, it turned its head away again.
Jaekyung stretched his arms as far as he could. The round energy source filled both his hands.
If Dabalsin’s core was broken, Dabalsin’s power would weaken.
Then its control over space would also weaken.
His movement was swift. After lifting the core, Jaekyung immediately slammed it hard against the nearby railing.
