# Chapter 20
“No way…”
He definitely heard a laugh. He could be certain of it. But with that expression changing so quickly, Jiwon didn’t even dare to tease by asking why he was pretending otherwise.
“……”
Even though it was the same expressionless face, the quality was different. Suhyun’s face instantly became as cold as ice. Jiwon’s lips firmly closed too.
Unless asking whether he laughed was such a serious offense that it would make his face freeze over, something must have happened.
“What’s wrong?”
As if to prove this, Suhyun suddenly began striding forward. If Jiwon hadn’t quickly grabbed Suhyun’s arm, he would have surely rushed off somewhere alone.
“Wait here for a moment.”
Suhyun paused at Jiwon’s hand holding him, then immediately looked for Won Jungyeom. Then he sent Jiwon over to him as if passing him off.
“What are you saying?!”
Jiwon instinctively tightened his grip on Suhyun. Where was he going without him? Jiwon stubbornly held onto Suhyun, practically clinging to him.
“I don’t know where you’re trying to go, but if you’re going, let’s go together.”
No one could act alone here. That applied to everyone, regardless of who they were.
Suhyun furrowed his brow and looked down at Jiwon’s hand. He could easily shake it off with his strength, but he didn’t bother to do so.
“…Haah.”
After staring at Jiwon’s hand for a while, Suhyun let out a long sigh.
“Would you wait here for us?”
Then, as if he had made a decision, he asked. The person he was addressing wasn’t Jiwon but Won Jungyeom.
“I’ll just check with Guide-nim and come back.”
What did he want to check? Did Suhyun see something? Or did he sense something?
All kinds of questions floated around in their minds. Won Jungyeom was the first to respond.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we all went together?”
“…I’m not sure.”
Suhyun wasn’t being adamant. It would be difficult to answer definitively when he didn’t really understand what was going on.
“But I’m just going to check. I’ll go look by myself and come back.”
“There’s something strange, right?”
“I don’t know.”
Though he didn’t seem certain, Suhyun’s gaze was stubbornly fixed in one direction. Jiwon pulled on Suhyun to redirect his attention.
“You can’t go without me.”
No matter how hard he gripped, Suhyun could easily break free if he wanted to, but Jiwon expressed his stubbornness even in this way.
First he said they would check together, then right afterward he said he would go look by himself.
Even such minor inconsistencies bothered him. Strangely… Suhyun seemed unfocused.
“Five minutes. I’ll wait just that long.”
Won Jungyeom, after looking back and forth between Suhyun and Jiwon, suggested first.
“No more than that. So…”
“That’s enough.”
Suhyun nodded. In truth, Jiwon thought it would be better if Won Jungyeom and all the other Espers came along.
But there must be a reason for Won Jungyeom’s decision. He was definitely not the type to avoid danger out of fear for his own life.
“……”
Suhyun reached out toward Jiwon. Contrary to the expectation that he would grab his arm, he chose to lift Jiwon up.
“Ah…”
Since Jiwon, as a Guide, wouldn’t be able to keep up with Suhyun’s speed, it might have been the natural choice, but hanging from his shoulder like a sack of luggage was somewhat embarrassing.
Well, that feeling of leisure quickly disappeared.
“We’ll be back.”
“Be careful…”
Before Won Jungyeom could finish speaking, Suhyun began to run. Jiwon gripped Suhyun’s clothes tightly. He wouldn’t likely throw him away mid-journey, but as they say, “even the unlikely can kill.”
Moreover, Suhyun’s state was a bit strange now. He seemed not much different from usual, but there was something indescribably off about him.
“Huh…!”
In the meantime, the same scenery kept changing rapidly. Is this what it feels like to hang onto a sports car with your bare hands?
“Kuh, huck…”
Just a few dozen seconds.
Suhyun calmly stopped and put Jiwon down. While Jiwon’s vision was spinning, the one who had done the running seemed completely unfazed.
Even amid all this, Jiwon, exercising the willpower to not let go of Suhyun, was still firmly gripping his hand.
Perhaps because of this, Suhyun didn’t move first.
“…Haah.”
After staying still for a moment, Jiwon’s blurry vision finally returned to normal.
The passage width gradually narrowed, and an arch-shaped entrance was visible up close. The entrance was covered in pitch-black darkness. It was the darkness they had been seeing throughout this dungeon known as the Ant Hole. All room entrances were covered with curtains, and only when an Esper tore them could they enter the room.
This place was the same. The curtain that perfectly covered the entrance felt unusually large.
As Won Jungyeom had said, beyond this would be monsters identical to those they heard about in the briefing. It was certain they were undead-type monsters. Monsters with a hideous appearance, as if bones formed randomly with clay haphazardly attached to them. They were weak, but true to their name as undead, they would rise again several times.
Well… even that didn’t seem difficult to deal with.
“What’s strange?”
However, if what lies beyond is no different from before, then the possibility that Suhyun suddenly acted strangely is low.
Suhyun alone sensed something. To Jiwon’s eyes, Suhyun looked tense. It wasn’t an illusion, but an emotion so noticeable that it made Jiwon tense up as well.
“…I’m not sure.”
An S-class Esper’s intuition? If so, Suhyun shouldn’t have come here alone.
Russia’s S-class Esper Yenin had also rushed ahead alone, leaving other Espers behind. Everyone had heard about him and received orders not to act independently.
Yet when they came to their senses, they had naturally left Won Jungyeom and the other Espers behind and come here, just the two of them.
It’s strange.
A chill ran down his spine as a belated sense of unease crept in.
Does it make sense that all Espers would forget the Association’s orders?
“Wait a moment. We need to bring the other Esper-nims.”
Jiwon said firmly. It was dangerous for Suhyun alone.
“I need to go in.”
“Wait. You said you were just going to check.”
“To check, I need to enter.”
“No. The checking is done. This place is strange. So the other Esper-nims…”
Jiwon’s tone grew increasingly urgent. He couldn’t understand why Suhyun was being so stubborn all of a sudden.
“Don’t we have to defeat the monsters anyway?”
“Why would Esper-nim do it alone? When there are other Esper-nims!”
“Wait here.”
Unfortunately, Suhyun wasn’t listening to Jiwon at all. He tried to pass by Jiwon as if there was no time to spare.
“What am I supposed to wait for here? Why do you think I came into this dungeon in the first place?”
Wait here quietly? That made no sense.
The reason he entered the dungeon was to prevent Espers’ wavelengths from becoming distorted and going berserk. Yet Suhyun wanted to send in an Esper alone and have him wait here?
“So you’re really not waiting for other Esper-nims? You’re even trying to go without me?”
Jiwon moved before Suhyun. Suhyun just stared at Jiwon, who was gradually backing away.
“What’s the point if we don’t go in together?”
Whether something beyond this curtain would really make an Esper’s wavelength fluctuate or not was unknown. But if the possibility was high, then Jiwon had to follow Suhyun even more. As much as he wanted to bring other Espers… looking at Suhyun’s state, it seemed impossible.
“If this is that dungeon, Esper-nim will definitely go berserk. Well, since you went in alone, maybe only Esper-nim will die. But what happens next?”
Suhyun’s eyes were sunken. Perhaps because he once thought something was strange. It felt alien.
“Without Suhyun Esper-nim, I’ll die soon after. Since there doesn’t seem to be much difference between dying now or later, I think I should follow Suhyun Esper-nim in now. That seems like the best choice.”
Suhyun looked like he was entranced by something. Jiwon said this while retreating further and further. The end of the passage grew closer behind him. After a few more steps, the curtain, which was no different from a room’s door, would touch his back.
“…Guide-nim.”
“What?”
“Come here.”
Jiwon intended to lean his back against the curtain. Since an Esper had to tear the curtain to enter anyway, leaning on it wouldn’t cause any problems. It was far better than being left behind and losing him because he listened and kept his distance.
This was Jiwon’s definitive expression of his intention to go in together no matter what.
“Esper-nim will come this way anyway. Why walk twice?”
When Jiwon grinned, Suhyun’s eyebrows twitched.
“Alright. Since you’re determined to go in alone, I’ll cooperate. I just finished mentally preparing myself.”
Now just one more step and he would be at the monster room. Even if Suhyun tore the curtain and entered alone, Jiwon wouldn’t lose him.
Jiwon tried to calm his racing heart filled with anxiety. But it wasn’t easy. His lips were parched and he kept swallowing dry saliva.
It was because Suhyun’s condition was strange. The thought that they should be with other Espers, as the Association said, was gradually evaporating. If the other Espers also became strange like Suhyun, if they all rushed in to fight… if they all fought in there without paying attention to their wavelengths…
It would be total annihilation. In that case, it might be better to have just Suhyun alone.
Though he wasn’t sure if he was unconsciously trying to interpret the situation positively.
“Huh?”
Jiwon, who had been slowly backing away until his back touched the curtain, found his view suddenly flipped. It was because Jiwon’s body passed through the curtain as if nothing had been there from the start.
“Guide-nim!”
He faintly heard Suhyun’s surprised voice, and for a moment, his vision blurred.
Unlike the corridor where there was nothing except Suhyun, it was then that he found himself alone, facing numerous undead monsters.
